How We're Approaching the Melee Rebalance in 3.7.0

TLDR: I believe the melee experience would be enhanced if regular and magic enemies were less lucrative in xp and items. I also think if skills were more directed toward single target and clear speed with a few in between players would find more joy in all builds.

Currently, it is much more time efficient to just play a character that can power clear the whole screen - a task most melee skills struggle to do. On top of lack of skills that perform this action, I dont want to play with a two handed weapon at range... that just... I mean come on?

I love playing items Ngamahu's or Abbearaths hooves, but because I still need to kill as many monsters as fast as possible, i either have to create an outlet to spread damage or use abilities in conjunction that isn't actually an ability I want to use/see, but because it's the most effective, i would be wasting time doing otherwise. On top of confining ability use, the screen also ends up becoming cluttered with non melee graphics like heralds, or it gets so cluttered that it takes away from the experience of being "melee."

The other thing is that when you use an ability like tectonic slam, you don't need another skill. That's SO BORING! I think the whole game state would be improved if you could fine tune the ability system so that AoE, multitarget, and single target abilities each stood apart from one another.

Sry for grammar & what not. Very little sleep and even less edits.

I have some ideas.

*Armour can mitigate big hits not just the small ones.
*More multiplier behind resolute technique.
*Physical Penetration just like Elemental Penetration.
*Remove the increased physical damage taken from the Abysses Helmet.
*Increase the Strength requirement for melee gear so casters/archers will struggle to get the required strength.
*Increase the benefit of strength only for certain classes.
*More mitigation for elemental damage. Armour nodes like '15% increased armour, 4% Elemental absorption (for example).
*Marauder/Duelist have physical and elemental higher defense scaling. As in 20% more/increased on base values.

Being 'One Shot' when you've got tons of mitigation is an awful feeling, Especially in the higher levels.

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Headsoup wrote:

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Haurd wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQnxZeHTbAo

Don hits some major issues

Sadly the big issue highlighted there imo is the opposite, it is that single target is irrelevant so all focus is on screen clearing aoe - and turning single target into that.

Can't even just scale up single target damage skills unless they remove the ability to combine the skills with aoe gems (e.g. Melee splash).

Actually it would be good if aoe range/ease/flexibility all round was reduced, but I'm likely in the minority with that view...

I think he has good points but one thing I feel that shouldn't be done is putting "melee fixes" into an ascendancy or tree node or item.

I mean look, I think it's great to have melee bonuses in ascendancy nodes and on items, but I don't think those should be requisites to do a melee build.

Like Lycosidae for example is fixing a major flaw with attack builds where you can't crit unless you have either really high accuracy or "enemies cannot evade" on your gear somewhere. I don't feel like giving up your shield to fix inherent problems with attacks is something that should be necessary when you don't have to do that as a caster.

Granted that isn't specific to melee (well, I guess you can't bow with lycosidae but wanders can do it). But I hope GGG recognizes that items enabling builds might be ok but you shouldn't need items to fix INHERENT FLAWS to a specific type of gameplay, just like you shouldn't have to pick gladiator to be melee because it has melee splash in the ascendancy tree. That ascendancy tree should be a bonus, not a bandaid. IMO.

Ancestral protector: this totem type i like to see some changes to. Atm only warchief totems is useble.

Daggers. In my world a dagger is a fast attack weapon ( just not in poe )
A cepter 1.45 towards a dagger 1.2 makes no sense.

Any change staffs will be buffed melee wise?

Hit change is outdated. Plz for 4.0 remove the to hit change. Spells allways hit ( unless spell dodge/block ) make melee allways hit unless dodge or block.

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Edit: And Cyclone is now a Channelled skill.

Poggers!
Cast while channeling cyclone boys! No more relying on crit and hit mechanics, the game is on!

Cyclone is the only character I've made that has actually been fun to play, even though it was not strong enough to make it all the way to shaper/elder. I was planning to redo another one next league but my fear is that like the last couple leagues it will be broken and screwed up with the same lack of testing and balance everything has these days.

• Add a lesser fortify effect to all melee skills, and make fortify support a little better.

• Add some AoE to all melee skills and make melee splash an improvement to that area.

• Allow multistrike attack animation to be canceled with movement.

• Change Leap Slam to jump straight to the desired direction instead of walking to the point where leap can be done.

• Vigilant Strike: How about this skill generates energy shield as long as it deals damage >=D

I hope attack damage overall gets the attention not just melee part.

Some way to *forbid* the conversion on a skill (lets say if supported with Brutality) would be realy nice.

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matgog wrote:

• Change Leap Slam to jump straight to the desired direction instead of walking to the point where leap can be done.

check attack in place option lol

Make abyssus great again