Balance Changes in Path of Exile: Betrayal

Got a BF marauder and an arc totem guy. Looks like i'm pretty fucked. I`ll wait for the patch notes tomorrow but i'm starting to look at alternatives in case both my builds are done. (again they appear to be patching for the top 0.1% instead of the 99... fml)

Betrayal is a good name not only for the league, looking on what they did with stat sticks, making game more and more average, like other hack & slashers.

Question, does this mean that I can't be using Prismatic Eclipse as a offhand weapon for sunder?
Eventho sunder only uses mainhand for attacks?

This feels like a really bad way to implement nerfing stat-sticks. I'm sure you've considered these things and random forum post #123456789 isn't likely to change anyone's minds but these are my thoughts anyway:

It only effects melee, not spells so the change doesn't even effect some of the most blatantly powerful stat-stick uses.

It severely damages the ability to play melee dual-wield on a budget because now you need to spend exactly twice as much. I basically don't see myself ever taking duel-wield nodes again on any build that isn't using (relatively affordable named unique)x2. I might be able to acquire one really nice mainhand weapon and then offhand it with a budget stat stick but two? not a chance. Rip affordable dual-wielding.

Prismatic Eclipse, Relentless Fury, and Death's Hand were all just murdered in their sleep. FFFFF Remember that point about playing on a budget? I've never owned a shaper stat stick, Death's Hand and Prismatic Eclipse have always been my solid offhand buddies, now they're dead. This makes me really sad.

I mentioned that this doesn't even hit stat sticks for spells, right?

Seriously, you gotta change this plan in regard of screwing stat sticks for dual wield!

You can't kill melee in a game where casters and rangers already are insanely overpowered in comparison, then destroy all kind of aoe skills (the worst change in game history) which hurt mainly the melee classes, nerf them to the ground and then destroy their only Chance to just deal a bit of damage, compared to casters ?!
What is the plan of this change? Want this game to be ranged only?

Dear 1.000 hours Balance Team.... why do you hate melee so much???

First terrible changes to Atlas tier 14-15 and now this nonsens to melee stat stics...
and killing movement melee skills by the way?

I dont ask "why", it is too obvious. History repeats each new league patch notes, 1.000h balance team completly out of touch with the game.

I like these dual wield changes for thematic and consistency reasons, but in terms of balance it's yet another head scratcher.

It's a bit odd to be running around holding an extra sword that was just along for the ride. Why not hit some guys with it? Or hold something "useful" like a shield or a torch or something? Or put both hands on your actual weapon for more power? That said, do thematic concerns matter in a game where the screen is so inundated with effects that the characters can't be seen? And where IAS is so abundant that the hero's arm literally disappears because he's swinging so fast?

In terms of consistency, skills swinging only the main hand weapon, while others would alternate for no apparent reason was kind of an odd choice.

In regards to the statstick nerf effect on melee specifically, it's kind of a moot point. I've been playing this on/off since closed beta, and melee balance has always been in an awkward place. A long time ago GGG decided that the only way to create a challenge was to have monsters capable of absurd damage spikes. They doubled down on this with the stance that Save&Exit is an integral part of the game to be balanced around. With these philosophies they have painted themselves into a corner where they cannot use game mechanics (stuns, ailments, whatever) to create difficulty and must rely purely on defeating the players reaction time.

This leads inexorably to the conclusion that the only safe play is to stay the hell away from the monsters and kill them instantly where possible. Statsticks gave some melee builds a damage boost that helped them instagib monsters, but the underlying issue, that melee violates the stay away from the goddamn monsters lest they one-shot your face off rule, is still there. We see this further in GGG's attempts to "fix melee" by adding more AOE "melee" skills and supports that effectively turn it into just a "short ranged" attack. Actually walking up and hitting individual monsters *with your sharpened stick* is a terrible idea in PoE, further compounded by a crappy UI that doesn't really lend itself to name-lock attacks. You will never see the equivalent of a Zeal-Paladin in PoE endgame. The damage/hp/droprates of monsters are just not scaled around this and no buff to melee skills will change this.

In summary: just another in a long line of really bizarre balance decisions. Normal behavior circa 2012. Nothing to see here.

I hope the Droprates of high end (1h) Weapons is better in Betrayal.. cause now you need 2 good Weapons instead of 1 + Stat Stick.

Pretty big limitation!

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Braverion wrote:

Alright, read my comments again and tell me where I wrote that I reached level 90. I said I delete characters reaching standard. So once again, read my comments, reply to them, not to what you made up.

The first guy said "Say dude without any char lvl 90" to what you responded that you "delete most chars once they reach standard". so sorry if I misunderstood but it seemed it was your response for the lack of lvl 90 char. If it's not the case, then I just don't get why you mention that you delete your characters, but okay.

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Braverion wrote:

After playing delve together with a couple of friends decided to actually tryhard and play the next league competitively as well as getting the week after league launches off at work. So you are wrong again with your "No, you won't "fall back in ladder" because you're not playing competitively (And also because everybody else will be subjected to the same changes)." as well as the "fact" in the brackets - because no, spellcasters are not subjected to the same changes.

Up until now, you didn't play competitively. And I can't read the future.

And when I said "everybody", I meant all players. All players will be playing the same game, starting from scratch in the same league, and all competitive players will chose a build accordingly. If dual wield builds are as dead as you claim, then they'll switch to spellcasters. So no, you're not at a disadvantage, nobody's forcing you to stick to melee/dual wield.

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Braverion wrote:

I would accept any criticism that would criticize my opinion, not me as a player (Exactly like you failed to do but managed to write about it). But only replies of this sort i got were positive, so where is the problem?

I'm not criticising you as a player. You can reread my post, I've been pretty clear about my lack of judgement on that part. You can play however you like, and you are totally free to not care about challenges.

If you consider me saying you weren't playing competitively "criticism", it's not. It's an observation. I myself don't play competitively at all, always go for a different build to keep things new, fun and interesting, and never bother to go past 24 challenges because I don't like the grind, and don't want to spend too much time on the game. So no, no judgement on that part, you're definitively free to play however you like.

I didn't say that to mock you, but to point out why Garamaganda didn't take your post seriously when you complained about ladder, when up until now you clearly didn't seem to care about it.

But if you plan on changing that and compete for ladder or something, during the next league, good for you. I wish you good luck and determination.

So... bye bye melee.

Also, why give champion more tools? They are op already, impale mods should have been given to the gladitor ascendancy, since the changes to ascendancy it feels so underwhelming. Also, thematicaly makes sense, gladiator is the ascendancy that is phys based.

GGG y u do dis? ;_;