 | My thoughts on the changes to Marauder/Sunwuko's(1) | Category: PTR FeedbackNovember-23-2014 11:49 PM PST (10 years ago)  |
| I am indescribably tired of the fact that every time there is a viable build it gets nerfed into the ground. After spending over a year with my demon hunter struggling to find a viable build I finally could because of the cluster arrow build, and then it gets nerfed. I adjusted to this, found the full marauder set, struggled to get the specific stats to optimize dps to advance through greater rifts, and now, once again it gets nerfed into the ground. I find it pretty amusing that Blizzard runs a weekly column called "Play your way Thursday" when ever single time I try to play my way, which happens to be the only viable way, it gets destroyed, and I get bullied into the next only viable build. So now, in an effort to put Marauder on par with the new, sub-standard demon hunter set it gets nerfed. Now both the new set and Marauder are on par, because they are both !@#$ compared to what Marauder was. To exacerbate my frustration further I spent the entirety of my time during season one playing with a monk and trying to get the Sunwuko's set; a bad choice. because now it gets destroyed as well. In conclusion, every time I get to an enjoyable place with any of my characters, "variability encouragements" completely wreck the fun I was having. This leaves me with two options: continue to play fun builds until they inevitably see their end leaving a perpetual dread of the impending doom that awaits my character constantly over my head, or move on to doing something else. Of course the fact that I am taking the time to post this, and Blizzard's actions provide a forgone conclusion for this dilemma. EDIT: Ok so after the PTR finally had a wait time of less than 2 hours, I tested the changes made to the Demon Hunter and I have this to say: With minor changes and NO ancient legendaries, I could beat a higher level of greater rift (36 vs. 40). This, however, does not negate my previous views entirely and somehow magically make me happy with these decisions. I would be happy if I had a choice in the matter (no retroactive changes were made to Marauder), so I could have a lazy build and an active build. The point also remains that Blizzard forces players into the "Blizzard approved build" which is obnoxious. My feelings are a bit ambivalent though. I struggle with whether a bit more numerical power is worth completely altering a way to play that I have come to know, love, and have put a great deal of time into building toward. | ||
 | My thoughts on the changes to Marauder/Sunwuko's(26) | December-3-2014 3:09 PM PST (10 years ago) |
| We're very careful about retroactive changes. We try our utmost to avoid them, especially because we know some folks get attached to their build. However, in cases where the gameplay can be genuinely improved, there are exceptions we're willing to make. Set items are one of those exceptions, particularly because of their "sticking power." Once you get a full set, you're very reluctant to move away from it, because it did take time to acquire and put together. On the flip side of that is putting in a new version of the set, which then requires players to reacquire it all over again. It also doesn't solve issues that are created by sets with unhealthy gameplay. When defining unhealthy gameplay as something that's either unengaging or legitimately painful (emotionally or physically) to play, it's something we need to address. Both the Sunwuko and Marauder's changes fall under that category of unhealthiness, though for different reasons. We want gameplay to be engaging (which Marauder's wasn't accomplishing) and enjoyable to play (which Sunwuko's offered, but in a way that was physically painful to execute). These changes are both quality of life fixes, though it may be hard to discern that at a glance. Marauder's still revolves around Sentries, but now in how they make you better and more powerful. Sunwuko's is still the set where you generate clones, but now they make your spenders more powerful. The path on how we accomplish those goals has changed, but the intent is to make sure that the level of power is the same (or better), even if the journey there is a little different. | ||
