The Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Harmful Content

The root of the balance problem is the skill tree system. GGG have two choices, forget about balance and let the player base do want they want. Or redesign the skill system where class can't go into other class tree.

Patch .11 screwed everything up. Before Patch .11 there was somewhat diversity. Post patch everybody is force to pick certain keystone to survive. Without a complete redo of the system, PoE balance post patch is fuck up beyond repair.

If GGG want to balance the game they need to make a skill tree for each class. No overlap no going to other class tree. In fact you can't see the other class tree.

If GGG unwilling to do redo the skill tree system they should stop wasting their time to "balance" the game. Allow the players to play as the like and make new contents.

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deadlylag wrote:

Patch .11 screwed everything up. Before Patch .11 there was somewhat diversity.

Not quite, I would say this started with 0.10

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deadlylag wrote:

The root of the balance problem is the skill tree system. GGG have two choices, forget about balance and let the player base do want they want. Or redesign the skill system where class can't go into other class tree.

Patch .11 screwed everything up. Before Patch .11 there was somewhat diversity. Post patch everybody is force to pick certain keystone to survive. Without a complete redo of the system, PoE balance post patch is fuck up beyond repair.

If GGG want to balance the game they need to make a skill tree for each class. No overlap no going to other class tree. In fact you can't see the other class tree.

If GGG unwilling to do redo the skill tree system they should stop wasting their time to "balance" the game. Allow the players to play as the like and make new contents.

I fail to see how the skill tree is the root cause. Most of my suggestions are numbers tweaks, or adding downsides to various things to remove power from them in a way that scales and adds variety.

Tree changes are also not related to problems found in item design or skills/supports.

Lastly, 0.11 was actually a pretty good set of changes.
0.10 had more problems by count. I also just re-read the 0.10 patch notes and balance explanation and stumbled across this quote:

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Qarl wrote:

We do not want Chaos Inoculation to be considered a must have, but an interesting choice for specialised builds.

It seems clear that something has gone wrong here.

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deadlylag wrote:

The root of the balance problem is the skill tree system. GGG have two choices, forget about balance and let the player base do want they want. Or redesign the skill system where class can't go into other class tree.

I couldn't disagree more; the root of the balance problem are things that don't make the skill tree matter, things that are not build-dependent. IIQ/IIR affixes, Labyrinthine on maps, and the universal applicability of the Life Leech support gem (outshining physical-attack leech) are examples of what I consider to be strong balance problems.

At OP -

RE: Koam's Heart - I won't talk about bows, since bow users have little repercussion using it as you have said, so I will focus on 2h weapons. 2h weapons are inferior to both dual wielding and shield + weapon setups in pretty much every way from my own experiences. There is a whole list of cons, and the only pro on the list is being able to use Koams. Koam's is an improperly balanced item, yes. If energy shield didn't exist, it would be broken, and in desperate need of a patch. But since there is an alternate source of health, which is energy shield, and is much easier to stack in higher quantities, right now I don't think that having the current Koam's is the right way to do. This is turning into a life vs. energy shield talk, but I think it is somewhat relevant to the item.

RE: Shav's - There are a lot of ways to balance it, but making it so that it has clear drawbacks that don't break the item's usability is important. The only reason to really go low life, high energy shield over the likes of CI is pretty much Righteous Fire right now. If you over nerf Shav's then you could end up breaking that particular build type, and give further incentive to go CI.

RE: EoC - The drawback is using the item. The only reason life builds don't use it, is since stuns are generally calculated on life, like other statuses. With base life being like 500, pretty much every other attack will stun a CI user without immunity. That's why EoC is popular on CI builds, not because the item is particularly strong.

RE: Cleave - Well, GGG just needs to develop more abilities that use both weapons for dual wielding. Most melee abilites just use main hand, or alternate hands, for damage calculation. Cleave for groups, Dual Strike for single target is what dual wielders are pigeon holed into right now. It isn't that the other options are weak, they just aren't made with dual wielding in mind.

RE: Discharge - Plenty of abilities are weak to effect when grouped with the right build+gear. Ice Nova is an unfair comparison, since it is a terribly underwhelming ability. Should all abilities be nerfed to the level of Ice Nova?

RE: WED - I don't think the benefit is that great. Since elemental damage has been disincentivized by GGG by heavily buffing physical damage, I think keeping WED as it currently is is the right thing to do. On a side note, I do think that WED and MPD, along with Faster Casting and Faster Attacks, are some of the most boring support gems, and should be removed. They add such a boring bonus, just purely upgrading a skill in an uncreative way that cuts down the options for skill linkage, but that could just be me though.

RE: IR - ideally, they should be equal, though. The problem lies with evasion sucking, so removing the node won't do anything to fix the problem. Tweaking the formula is better than the bandaid number change. The mechanic of dodging is weak, not the actual numeric scaling, imo.

RE: Vaal's Pact - The problem is no one will use it how it is intended to be used, since it is pretty weak.

RE: I don't think Int/Str/Dex builds are really focal points to any builds, except maybe ones that revolve around that one unique staff. Skill points are mostly just wasted nodes that just happened to be acquired getting nodes that people actually want, besides the min to use the skills.

At Real_Wolf
RE: Auxium - The thing is ES isn't that hard to stack already. ES builds aren't like life builds that need to squeeze every bit they can get, ES builds just need a strong chest and they are good, for the most part. The resistance to chill and freeze is strong, but aren't game breaking best in slot gear.

RE - EoC: Yeah, stun immunity does not make a character invincible, it isn't that strong of an item, and assists builds that don't have high life.

RE - Cleave: not at the same time though, which is what I was talking about.

RE: - Discharge is also very gear dependent, and relies heavily on uniques to be viable.

RE: WED - Which is what I said, and not from the passive tree stand point.

RE: IR - Then the formula needs to be changed, then.

pneuma, what do you think if they changed IR to instead of converting all your evasion to armour to split all your armour and evasion equally between them?
example:
4000 armour
1000 evasion
becomes
2500 armour
2500 evasion

and the same the other way around

also your feedback was really fucking spot on

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Verb wrote:

pneuma, what do you think if they changed IR to instead of converting all your evasion to armour to split all your armour and evasion equally between them?
example:
4000 armour
1000 evasion
becomes
2500 armour
2500 evasion

and the same the other way around

also your feedback was really fucking spot on

Then it wouldn't really be Iron Reflexes, a keystone that suggests the character doesn't evade attacks, but instead reduces damage taken by rolling with the blows. If any change were to be made, I'd suggest it would instead change the standard chance to evade formula into its own damage reduction formula separate from armour, that generates its DR value by comparing evasion to accuracy, rather than comparing armour to damage taken. Unwavering Stance could then be changed to remove all evasion, rather cannot evade attacks.

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CanHasPants wrote:

Then it wouldn't really be Iron Reflexes, a keystone that suggests the character doesn't evade attacks, but instead reduces damage taken by rolling with the blows.

It used to seem like it mean that. Now you're not using your dexterity defensively, so it now seems more like a kind of 'mind over matter' thing. Either that or your evasion clothes are now laced with Iron.

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CanHasPants wrote:

Then it wouldn't really be Iron Reflexes

Thats the point, change the fucking name if it doesnt fit(why did you have to point out the thing about my post that had nothing to do with the actual idea? why not give your opinion about the actual idea?!)
you ******* ************!!!!!

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dudiobugtron wrote:

Either that or your evasion clothes are now laced with Iron.

Personally I always wondered how clothes can make you evade more...