BDF: I'm a gamer, brewer, engineer, science lover, and slowly becoming more and more of a fan of fantasy books, my most recent love being The Stormlight Archive. I work full time, with a long commute so my play time is limited to evenings and weekends. For many years I played World of Warcraft but stopped when I couldn't devote enough time to raid and like many others I suffer from a serious case of rose colored glasses about Wrath and specifically Ulduar.

Solving puzzles is fun by bearing down on them with all the math my education can muster, which with the proper motivation I channel into making a spreadsheet tool for some niche of Diablo 3 or doing tests to discover some hidden underlying numbers.

I go hiking when I can, usually trying to explore the next nearest state or federal national park that I've not yet been to. I listen to alot of news radio and enjoy sitting down with a beer and my buddies and mulling over current events.

BDF: I brew beer and I’ve synthesized and stabilized ferro-fluid before (fluid that forms and moves to magnetic fields).

BDF: Only since the launch night of Diablo 3, I have never played any of the previous ones and only happened to try diablo 3 because it came free with the WoW 1yr pass.

BDF: dabble in different games I get from steam, Skyrim being one I often return to along with borderlands 2. Though I’ve been trying hearthstone again lately since one of my close friends started playing it on his iPad.

BDF: I play both my witch doctor and my monk, though in the past I’ve played barb and demon hunter up to lvl 60 as well. My monk I use primarily for speed farming bounties on normal mode with a tempest rush build, though I’d love if that play style could be competitive in higher difficulties in its own right. My witch doctor I use for clearing the highest difficulties in the game with the most speed and efficiency. I have fun on it to be sure, but there isn’t much choice for farming when an identical set of gear can perform vastly better on one class than it does another.

BDF: I am currently in the Vizjerei clan which is comprised mostly of active wizard forum and community contributors. Included in our ranks are such theory crafting titans as Loroese, Dolynick, and others as well. The atmosphere is one of comradery, constructive criticism, and a willingness to help. I wouldn’t be exaggerating to say that being in such a clan is a major driving force in my motivation to push on the loot hunt in this game.

BDF: My favorite item was moonlight ward back during 2.0 at lvl 60. The animation felt powerful, its range of effectiveness was supremely small forcing the player into super close combat with a large pay-off. It has no internal cooldown so a build could be designed around trying to figure out how to maximize its potential by experimenting with different skills and abilities. It was rare and its power matched its rarity. Currently on live it is a shadow of its former self, I’m not sure why it even has 4 displayed charges if it can never detonate faster than they can be generated.

BDF: Usually the numerous times where someone on my friends list whispers me or invites me to a game and I have to find a way to explain to them that I no longer remember who they are. Kinda like forgetting someone’s name….and then also the entire nature and context of your history with them.

BDF: There was a period of time during the initial push to kill diablo after the launch of the game that I remember the most. Inferno difficulty was a brick wall for many, the first quest in act 2 was a barrier for most, and those that made it beyond did so leaving a bloody trail behind them. I was one of the latter group, but then one day something just clicked.

I laid down my hydra and blizzard and went to spamming piercing orb, and everything seemed to slow down around me. Mortars seemed to fly in slow motion as I strafed and stopped mere inches away from where they would land. Projectiles would stream past me close enough for my character to feel the breeze in their wake yet I wouldn’t think twice about it. I was in the zone…dealing damage, dodging attacks that were sure to kill me near instantly, yet not flinching or feeling any hesitation, my mouse and fingers moving almost as if of their own will.

Many gamers have entered this state before, but it isn’t something that happens often for me, but it happened on Inferno in fresh lvl 60 gear.

BDF: It would be Kvothefrom the Kingkiller Chronicles. A wizard of sorts, but with abilities that follow a predictable and strict set of laws, almost an extension of commonly understood newtonian physics.

BDF: Back on launch night I hadn’t really decided what class to play, and had very little background in what to expect, but the description of mixing and matching elemental magics appealed to me. I wondered what might happen if I cast a fire spell on a frozen enemy…would it melt? Would it shatter? The possibilities seemed endless and being one who likes to explore the unknown, I choose to pursue the mysteries of the arcane.

BDF: If I had to choose one of the elements it would be lightning. Force powers and all of that, but I would much prefer if mixing and combining different elements had some kind of tangible effect. Outside of the elements however I like to retaliate against enemies who deign to attack me through thorns on my wizard. I would love to make this a central pillar of my play style.

BDF: I would say Blizzard is my favorite skill, mostly because back when +blizzard duration items were available I could cover the entire map in a snow storm and maintain it indefinitely. It just felt right that a wizard could so change the environment and control the theme of the elements around them. I wasn’t just doing cold damage, I was changing the weather and the very climate around me.

BDF: I am currently running an Arcane Archon build. My damaging spell outside of archon is arcane torrent and I’ve managed to squeeze Tal Rasha’s 4-set bonus in as well since I needed the 3-set for the arcane power regen anyway.

BDF: I would want a return to the ‘master of the elements’ theme. I’d like an interaction between using skills of various elements, the most elementary of which would be a combination type of attack. Freeze an enemy and now it conducts electricity better, causing lightning damage done to it to also be dealt to nearby enemies. Maybe killing an enemy tagged with arcane damage will then have a chance to return resources in the form of arcane energy or to be turned into a different element by a following spell for a different bonus. With the introduction of ‘<Element’ skills deal X% more damage’ I feel like wizards’ core identity has been stripped and distributed to all. I would love some of that defining trait back.

BDF: Mitigation, Mitigation, Mitigation. HP without substance is meaningless.

BDF: “Ohh…what does this button do?”

BDF: “You’re almost not worth it!”

BDF: Dolynick

BDF: How prominent a role should Thorns be in choosing a wizard’s playstyle?

Posted by: BDF09/25/2014 09:27 AM

*Disclaimer* These answers were generated in 2.0.6, before wizards became the phenom they are today.

Posted by: Machado09/29/2014 11:39 AM

I know some guys who brew beer. But you're the first one I meet which synthesizes ferro-fluid.