After the increasingly shitty business practices of Blizzard I think the only way I'll be getting D2R is if I still have tokens on one of my WoW characters to turn into blizzbux
I mean, if you're concerned about the rewarding them for their business practices or not, paying via wow token actually means they get more money than if you just bought the thing
Man I've been banging this drum since the token came out.
You are not "pulling a fast one" on Blizzard by only spending tokens rather than using your own money.
Tokens cost $20, you get $15 in Blizzbucks out of a token. Even though you personally are not paying your own money for it, someone else is still paying for it and on top of that Blizzard is making an additional $5 overhead from that person for every $15 worth of tokens you pick up. You are not being smarter than Blizzard, you are rewarding them even more.
Hi, I’m Fara NoggLachlan, and for just 42 cents a day you can help a wayward hero start their journey in higher definition. There’s a hero who needs you. Your call says, “Die, foul demons and beasts.”
Ones I already bought with gold, years ago. Turning them into blizzbux does not generate more money for them.
There is no wording to your original statement that precludes the idea that you could buy yet more WoW tokens at some point between now and when D2R releases. Only that if you still had any at the time it releases.
If I had a WoW token of my own for every time someone criticized a game company's business practices while still buying that company's products I could retire... if they were convertible to real money, of course.
That's an incredibly stupid way to approach conversation. 'I know you didn't say this thing I want to yell at you about, but you didn't specifically say the opposite, so...'
That is so weird seeing those on a random weapon. I'm also guessing the 3 per class are more the transmog and not really the oranges on them since those are random.
So how is console/gamepad play supposed to work for D2R if it's essentially the same client/server as D2 (which was most definitely never meant to support gamepad play)?
So how is console/gamepad play supposed to work for D2R if it's essentially the same client/server as D2 (which was most definitely never meant to support gamepad play)?
Magic? Probably some pretty creative use of the UI revisions going on there.
Having tried it, I can say that it’s actually really good! Makes me wish D3 PC had it for speeds
So how is console/gamepad play supposed to work for D2R if it's essentially the same client/server as D2 (which was most definitely never meant to support gamepad play)?
I don't think it is the same, they've clearly done heavy work on it.
Oh OK. I really know very little about D2R and just remember some of the early articles where they said it was using the same "engine" under the covers or something (I don't remember exactly how they worded it), presumably to appease all the diehards that wanted as little change as possible.
It looks like it is basically the same server but they've probably rewritten the client from scratch. When you look at where they've done QoL improvements it seems heavily tilted in that direction. So the client can take care of all that fancy gamepad stuff and just send the same old coordinates and skill activation and such to the old server and it should work.
Like if you want to get real technical I'd imagine the client will take your analog stick position and calculate periodic "move to X,Y" events to the server, which would normally be generated by mouse clicks on X,Y.
Hello diablo thread. I haven't payed d3 since before seasons began. Me and a few people are picking up the console version to go through before d2r and do. So, what's some good goals to aim for starting seasonal characters so late. We're also going to do a full story playthrough even if that ain't "optimal"
Hello diablo thread. I haven't payed d3 since before seasons began. Me and a few people are picking up the console version to go through before d2r and do. So, what's some good goals to aim for starting seasonal characters so late. We're also going to do a full story playthrough even if that ain't "optimal"
The big thing about Seasons (aside from getting pets/portraits) is Haedrig's Gift. If you complete the first four Seasonal Challenges (which should mostly happen in the course of normal play) you'll get all 6 pieces of a Set Armor for your class. And for the most part a full Set Armor is a rather large jump in character power allowing you to challenge tougher content without waiting for the RNG to declare you worthy.
So even if you're not going to tackle the entire Season Challenge, you and your group should focus on getting Haedrig's Gift so you can explore harder difficulties and higher Greater Rifts, because more difficulty equals better loot equals more ways to play and have fun
Talk to the NPCs a ton and they will go over everything relevant from past games. Although that might be less impactful or a bit confusing compared to actually having played the games. As mentioned the story isn't that great either way and its not like there's a ton of deep story to catch up on from past games so I wouldn't get too caught up on it.
Can you understand Diablo 3's story and characters without playing the first two?
Not that I imagine they had a deep story...but still.
Really the only thing you need to know from the previous games is that Diablo is a thing, as are soul stones, and Tyrael is an angel, and Cain talks neat.
Oh, also Mephisto and Baal were Diablo's "brothers", the other two Prime Evils, they all died in D2.
Everything else is either new characters, new areas, or using previous characters that didn't have any real background and giving them some (Adria).
For sure, there was a ton of supplementary materials, novels and such, that makes it all a lot deeper, does a lot of world building outside of the games themselves, but none of it is necessary to get into D3.
If you're really concerned, just find a video of the cutscenes from the first two games, because that's pretty much the entirety of the lore that a player who only played the games, would have had.
EDIT: Also, yea, D3 is loaded with lore. It's everywhere, from talking to NPC's, followers, vendors, before and after almost every quest dialogue is added to many of them, plus a silly amount of lore books that you can find pretty much anywhere you're playing, that gives backstories on areas, enemies, demons, history, etc. Like, an actually crazy amount of in-game lore if you take the time to listen to it. IIRC there's a menu you can go back and relisten to any lore (from books or enemy kills) that you've previously unlocked, if you missed it, or it got interrupted.
Anyway, PTR stuff is looking decent. Inna's looks good, not a lot different than how it already played, just more viable now.
Apparently the ethereal weapons are bonkers stupid nuts, and my concerns they'd be hard to pick over the "correct" weapon for a build, didn't bear out. They have stats that, as someone in wudijo's stream aptly put it "They look like console weapons". Not video game console, like cheat console. They have fixed (blue) affixes with one random class passive and one random weapon (1h, 2h, or offhand) ability. Just way more affixes than a normal weapon and the damage affix can roll up to +100% instead of +10% (this is on top of the +100-200% damage that most of the ethereals have for your class or skill set). So, just insane. They also drop at lower levels so you should find some while leveling to speed that stuff up, which means also, that if you're aiming to get all the ethereals on all classes, it might not be too bad, and could just get them while leveling, if you're not concerned with playing said class more than that.
Curious about the end of S23 and the start of 24, though. Their usual timelines would be pushing S24 into late July or early August, and that's pushing the season into D2:R's release. Maybe that's the plan? To overlap and have this season make you want to preorder? I dunno. I'd be fine with July 30! Would be a nice break after an in-law family reunion.
Can you understand Diablo 3's story and characters without playing the first two?
Not that I imagine they had a deep story...but still.
There's a lot of lore if you feel like digging, but I'll catch you up on the basics:
Quick Prologue:
Heaven and Hell battle in the Eternal Conflict. Eventually, the world of Sanctuary is created and humans come into existence.
Heaven is led by a Council of Archangels: Imperius (Valor, basically the leader), Tyrael (Justice), Auriel (Hope), Itherael (Fate), and Malthael (Wisdom).
Hell is ruled by three Prime Evils, Diablo (Terror), Mephisto (Hatred), and Baal (Destruction). There's also four Lesser Evils, Andariel (Anguish), Duriel (Pain), Azmodan (Sin), and Belial (Lies).
The Lesser Evils get tired of the Prime Evils' shit and oust them out of Hell and exile them to Sanctuary. The Primes cause a ruckus there, but eventually a special group of magical humans defeat them and capture them in three Soulstones and lock them away.
Diablo 1:
Hundreds(?) of years later, the Prime Evils' "essences" have been radiating out of their Soulstones, starting to corrupt their respective surrounding areas. Diablo starts corrupting the Archbishop Lazarus, right-hand man to King Leoric, the King of Westmarch. Lazarus convinces Leoric to move his seat of power out near the little town of Tristram with his family. Surprise, deep below Tristram is where Diablo's Soulstone is buried.
As the player, you learn of crazy shit happening around this little town of Tristram, so you go there looking for adventure and loot and heroics. You meet Deckard Cain, an old scribe that gives you info. There's also Griswold the blacksmith who you buy armor and weapons from, and Adria the witch who you buy magical items from.
You enter the local church and find it's overrun by demons and monsters and undead. As you delve deeper, you go through ancient catacombs beneath the church, then a molten cave system, and finally into Hell itself. On the way you kill the corrupted Lazarus and then later defeat Diablo. Diablo's body turns to dust and there's some kid laying there. Turns out Lazarus jabbed Diablo's Soulstone into Leoric's youngest (Albrecht) kid's head to use him as a vessel for Diablo's return. Thinking you're some hero, and basically subtly corrupted from your journey into Hell, you slam the Soulstone into your head thinking you can contain Diablo.
Not a spoiler, but some clarification: Diablo 3 retcons it into it being Aiden, Leoric's older son, who defeated Diablo to save his younger brother and stuck the Soulstone in his head. I guess my poor D1 Sorcerer was just some chump that died along the way.
Diablo 2:
Surprise, whoever it was that jabbed Diablo's Soulstone into their head at the end of D1 (now called the Dark Wanderer) is now having some real bad problems! They are on some journey east and leaving chaos and death and destruction in their wake. Your player character in D2 is on the trail to defeat the evil!
Act 1 - Takes place in the areas around Tristram and you even visit the charred remains of the old town where you find Deckard Cain who hangs out with you again and gives info. Turns out Diablo got Andariel on his side and you defeat her to move on.
Act 2 - You go east to Lut Gholein, a fancy town in a desert. Looks like the Dark Wanderer was trying to find info on Baal's Soulstone, which some super wizard jabbed into his body long ago to try to help contain the evil. You don't find him, but it looks like Diablo also got Duriel to help him out and you defeat him to move on. Before you leave, Tyrael, the Archangel of Justice, gives you some tips.
Act 3 - You follow on to Kurast, a town in a dense jungle. Apparently the ruling council of this place turned into crazy murderous zealots. Turns out this is where Mephisto's Soulstone was. He corrupted them and was able to return to physical form. You defeat him and take his Soulstone with you (but don't stick it in your head like an idiot).
Act 4 - So yeah, turns out that Dark Wanderer couldn't contain Diablo and Diablo assumes his real form and goes into Hell to start some real shit. You go to the Pandemonium Fortress which is on the border of Hell and journey out into Hell. There's a special anvil and hammer out there that you use to smash Mephisto's Soulstone. You beat up Diablo and do the same thing with his Soulstone.
Act 5 - Lord of Destruction expansion. Turns out Baal was released from his Soulstone as well. He's up north in the cold Barbarian land causing trouble. He's corrupted the Worldstone, which is what was used to create Sanctuary. You defeat him, but it's too late for the Worldstone, so you gotta smash it. You also smash his Soulstone.
Yay, the three Prime Evils are defeated! Everything is good, right?
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
Dr. ChaosPost nuclear nuisanceRegistered Userregular
edited June 2021
I'm gonna be honest with you guys, half of the temptation in wanting to play Diablo 3 is wanting some necromancer power fantasy action (well, that and this seems to be the ultimate got podcasts to burn through genre).
How are Necro pet builds? Can they get a lil skeleton army going or is it more of a squad?
As you go up in difficulty Necro pets are mostly meat shields - you're expected to do the bulk of your damage with bone/poison/spirit spells and corpse explosion skills. There's even room for petless melee mancers. But your skellys, golem, and revives aren't going to kill things on their own.
Witch Doctor pets are much better at actually killing things though they also have a lot of builds where you can forgoe actual pets entirely
Almost looks like they tease the last class there with the "Knight" image. He's 2-handing a spear, but has a bigass shield strapped to his back. NPCs don't usually swap weapon loadouts.
How are Necro pet builds? Can they get a lil skeleton army going or is it more of a squad?
You can get a lot, particularly with Rathma's and Revives.
However, they don't actually kill anything, they just function as a cooldown reduction affix. It heavily diminishes the satisfaction of having an army, when said army would take an entire rift duration just to kill a single trash mob.
There are LoD/N (rings or gem that are used for non-set builds) that can make Mages a viable build, that sometimes still takes Skeletons, but they're used mainly for their, again, cooldown reduction, or to keep up a damage buff from the 2pc scythe/shield set (which can't be used with LoD/N anyway, so you're relying on them for CDR paired with a Zodiac ring, from resources spent).
But as Ringo said, Witch Doctor actually has pet builds where the pets are actually functional. Helltooth can produce a fun to play fetish build that, while not going to be pushing you high into the GR's, is fun to play casually and almost justifies how god awful the fetishs were in D2.
Also, next season, Monk will have an improved Inna's set that is a sort of pet build, they're impermeant, aside from your base ally, but you can summon more as you fight that are used to buff your damage, but they can also do their own damage; meaning there are two classes that are better pet classes than Necro. :rotate:
I hate it! But between D3 and how useless skele builds became in D2 on harder difficulties, I think it's time I start accepting that Blizzard just doesn't want Necromancer to be a pet class. It makes no god damned sense, but...?
As much as I want Skeletons not to suck, I can sympathize with the dev team not wanting to make a class that can just AFK while pets do all the playing.
0
Options
RingoHe/Hima distinct lack of substanceRegistered Userregular
As much as I want Skeletons not to suck, I can sympathize with the dev team not wanting to make a class that can just AFK while pets do all the playing.
I think some of this stems from D2 having PVP and trying to carry over the balance design goals in D3, but honestly it shouldn't matter. There are two Tempest Rush sets for Monk that are just "hold down one button, run at enemies" and I love them. If people want their pets to do the work then that should be made viable!
It's pretty hard to pin down what "viable" means in a game with pseudo-infinite difficulty and power scaling. Maybe my pet build can work on GR70 but not GR75. But if I grinded out more PLs and Augments and better rolled gear, then it could. But then it couldn't work on GR80. etc.
0
Options
Dr. ChaosPost nuclear nuisanceRegistered Userregular
Posts
Man I've been banging this drum since the token came out.
You are not "pulling a fast one" on Blizzard by only spending tokens rather than using your own money.
Tokens cost $20, you get $15 in Blizzbucks out of a token. Even though you personally are not paying your own money for it, someone else is still paying for it and on top of that Blizzard is making an additional $5 overhead from that person for every $15 worth of tokens you pick up. You are not being smarter than Blizzard, you are rewarding them even more.
If I still have tokens
Ones I already bought with gold, years ago. Turning them into blizzbux does not generate more money for them.
Hi, I’m Fara NoggLachlan, and for just 42 cents a day you can help a wayward hero start their journey in higher definition. There’s a hero who needs you. Your call says, “Die, foul demons and beasts.”
There is no wording to your original statement that precludes the idea that you could buy yet more WoW tokens at some point between now and when D2R releases. Only that if you still had any at the time it releases.
If I had a WoW token of my own for every time someone criticized a game company's business practices while still buying that company's products I could retire... if they were convertible to real money, of course.
Blackbog’s sharp
https://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/o27pez/new_ethereal_blackbogs_sharp/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
The oculus
https://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/o2617f/d3_ethereal_item/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Steam: betsuni7
Magic? Probably some pretty creative use of the UI revisions going on there.
Having tried it, I can say that it’s actually really good! Makes me wish D3 PC had it for speeds
I don't think it is the same, they've clearly done heavy work on it.
Like if you want to get real technical I'd imagine the client will take your analog stick position and calculate periodic "move to X,Y" events to the server, which would normally be generated by mouse clicks on X,Y.
The big thing about Seasons (aside from getting pets/portraits) is Haedrig's Gift. If you complete the first four Seasonal Challenges (which should mostly happen in the course of normal play) you'll get all 6 pieces of a Set Armor for your class. And for the most part a full Set Armor is a rather large jump in character power allowing you to challenge tougher content without waiting for the RNG to declare you worthy.
So even if you're not going to tackle the entire Season Challenge, you and your group should focus on getting Haedrig's Gift so you can explore harder difficulties and higher Greater Rifts, because more difficulty equals better loot equals more ways to play and have fun
the blood bishop is real and he is my friend
https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/diablo4/23665024/diablo-iv-quarterly-update-june-2021
Not that I imagine they had a deep story...but still.
Really the only thing you need to know from the previous games is that Diablo is a thing, as are soul stones, and Tyrael is an angel, and Cain talks neat.
Oh, also Mephisto and Baal were Diablo's "brothers", the other two Prime Evils, they all died in D2.
Everything else is either new characters, new areas, or using previous characters that didn't have any real background and giving them some (Adria).
For sure, there was a ton of supplementary materials, novels and such, that makes it all a lot deeper, does a lot of world building outside of the games themselves, but none of it is necessary to get into D3.
If you're really concerned, just find a video of the cutscenes from the first two games, because that's pretty much the entirety of the lore that a player who only played the games, would have had.
EDIT: Also, yea, D3 is loaded with lore. It's everywhere, from talking to NPC's, followers, vendors, before and after almost every quest dialogue is added to many of them, plus a silly amount of lore books that you can find pretty much anywhere you're playing, that gives backstories on areas, enemies, demons, history, etc. Like, an actually crazy amount of in-game lore if you take the time to listen to it. IIRC there's a menu you can go back and relisten to any lore (from books or enemy kills) that you've previously unlocked, if you missed it, or it got interrupted.
Anyway, PTR stuff is looking decent. Inna's looks good, not a lot different than how it already played, just more viable now.
Apparently the ethereal weapons are bonkers stupid nuts, and my concerns they'd be hard to pick over the "correct" weapon for a build, didn't bear out. They have stats that, as someone in wudijo's stream aptly put it "They look like console weapons". Not video game console, like cheat console. They have fixed (blue) affixes with one random class passive and one random weapon (1h, 2h, or offhand) ability. Just way more affixes than a normal weapon and the damage affix can roll up to +100% instead of +10% (this is on top of the +100-200% damage that most of the ethereals have for your class or skill set). So, just insane. They also drop at lower levels so you should find some while leveling to speed that stuff up, which means also, that if you're aiming to get all the ethereals on all classes, it might not be too bad, and could just get them while leveling, if you're not concerned with playing said class more than that.
Curious about the end of S23 and the start of 24, though. Their usual timelines would be pushing S24 into late July or early August, and that's pushing the season into D2:R's release. Maybe that's the plan? To overlap and have this season make you want to preorder? I dunno. I'd be fine with July 30! Would be a nice break after an in-law family reunion.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
There's a lot of lore if you feel like digging, but I'll catch you up on the basics:
Quick Prologue:
Heaven and Hell battle in the Eternal Conflict. Eventually, the world of Sanctuary is created and humans come into existence.
Heaven is led by a Council of Archangels: Imperius (Valor, basically the leader), Tyrael (Justice), Auriel (Hope), Itherael (Fate), and Malthael (Wisdom).
Hell is ruled by three Prime Evils, Diablo (Terror), Mephisto (Hatred), and Baal (Destruction). There's also four Lesser Evils, Andariel (Anguish), Duriel (Pain), Azmodan (Sin), and Belial (Lies).
The Lesser Evils get tired of the Prime Evils' shit and oust them out of Hell and exile them to Sanctuary. The Primes cause a ruckus there, but eventually a special group of magical humans defeat them and capture them in three Soulstones and lock them away.
Diablo 1:
Hundreds(?) of years later, the Prime Evils' "essences" have been radiating out of their Soulstones, starting to corrupt their respective surrounding areas. Diablo starts corrupting the Archbishop Lazarus, right-hand man to King Leoric, the King of Westmarch. Lazarus convinces Leoric to move his seat of power out near the little town of Tristram with his family. Surprise, deep below Tristram is where Diablo's Soulstone is buried.
As the player, you learn of crazy shit happening around this little town of Tristram, so you go there looking for adventure and loot and heroics. You meet Deckard Cain, an old scribe that gives you info. There's also Griswold the blacksmith who you buy armor and weapons from, and Adria the witch who you buy magical items from.
You enter the local church and find it's overrun by demons and monsters and undead. As you delve deeper, you go through ancient catacombs beneath the church, then a molten cave system, and finally into Hell itself. On the way you kill the corrupted Lazarus and then later defeat Diablo. Diablo's body turns to dust and there's some kid laying there. Turns out Lazarus jabbed Diablo's Soulstone into Leoric's youngest (Albrecht) kid's head to use him as a vessel for Diablo's return. Thinking you're some hero, and basically subtly corrupted from your journey into Hell, you slam the Soulstone into your head thinking you can contain Diablo.
Not a spoiler, but some clarification: Diablo 3 retcons it into it being Aiden, Leoric's older son, who defeated Diablo to save his younger brother and stuck the Soulstone in his head. I guess my poor D1 Sorcerer was just some chump that died along the way.
Diablo 2:
Surprise, whoever it was that jabbed Diablo's Soulstone into their head at the end of D1 (now called the Dark Wanderer) is now having some real bad problems! They are on some journey east and leaving chaos and death and destruction in their wake. Your player character in D2 is on the trail to defeat the evil!
Act 1 - Takes place in the areas around Tristram and you even visit the charred remains of the old town where you find Deckard Cain who hangs out with you again and gives info. Turns out Diablo got Andariel on his side and you defeat her to move on.
Act 2 - You go east to Lut Gholein, a fancy town in a desert. Looks like the Dark Wanderer was trying to find info on Baal's Soulstone, which some super wizard jabbed into his body long ago to try to help contain the evil. You don't find him, but it looks like Diablo also got Duriel to help him out and you defeat him to move on. Before you leave, Tyrael, the Archangel of Justice, gives you some tips.
Act 3 - You follow on to Kurast, a town in a dense jungle. Apparently the ruling council of this place turned into crazy murderous zealots. Turns out this is where Mephisto's Soulstone was. He corrupted them and was able to return to physical form. You defeat him and take his Soulstone with you (but don't stick it in your head like an idiot).
Act 4 - So yeah, turns out that Dark Wanderer couldn't contain Diablo and Diablo assumes his real form and goes into Hell to start some real shit. You go to the Pandemonium Fortress which is on the border of Hell and journey out into Hell. There's a special anvil and hammer out there that you use to smash Mephisto's Soulstone. You beat up Diablo and do the same thing with his Soulstone.
Act 5 - Lord of Destruction expansion. Turns out Baal was released from his Soulstone as well. He's up north in the cold Barbarian land causing trouble. He's corrupted the Worldstone, which is what was used to create Sanctuary. You defeat him, but it's too late for the Worldstone, so you gotta smash it. You also smash his Soulstone.
Yay, the three Prime Evils are defeated! Everything is good, right?
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
That Spider Host is nightmare fuel.
Oh, I'm definitely playing that one too.
Wait till you get to Diablo 2....
They look really cool in this game.
Doesn't seem to be. LE is rad, though, and you can necromancer your way through it!
Cain is real horny for heroes. Leah is the worst.
Fin.
Magic Online - Bertro
As you go up in difficulty Necro pets are mostly meat shields - you're expected to do the bulk of your damage with bone/poison/spirit spells and corpse explosion skills. There's even room for petless melee mancers. But your skellys, golem, and revives aren't going to kill things on their own.
Witch Doctor pets are much better at actually killing things though they also have a lot of builds where you can forgoe actual pets entirely
Almost looks like they tease the last class there with the "Knight" image. He's 2-handing a spear, but has a bigass shield strapped to his back. NPCs don't usually swap weapon loadouts.
You can get a lot, particularly with Rathma's and Revives.
However, they don't actually kill anything, they just function as a cooldown reduction affix. It heavily diminishes the satisfaction of having an army, when said army would take an entire rift duration just to kill a single trash mob.
There are LoD/N (rings or gem that are used for non-set builds) that can make Mages a viable build, that sometimes still takes Skeletons, but they're used mainly for their, again, cooldown reduction, or to keep up a damage buff from the 2pc scythe/shield set (which can't be used with LoD/N anyway, so you're relying on them for CDR paired with a Zodiac ring, from resources spent).
But as Ringo said, Witch Doctor actually has pet builds where the pets are actually functional. Helltooth can produce a fun to play fetish build that, while not going to be pushing you high into the GR's, is fun to play casually and almost justifies how god awful the fetishs were in D2.
Also, next season, Monk will have an improved Inna's set that is a sort of pet build, they're impermeant, aside from your base ally, but you can summon more as you fight that are used to buff your damage, but they can also do their own damage; meaning there are two classes that are better pet classes than Necro. :rotate:
I hate it! But between D3 and how useless skele builds became in D2 on harder difficulties, I think it's time I start accepting that Blizzard just doesn't want Necromancer to be a pet class. It makes no god damned sense, but...?
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
I think some of this stems from D2 having PVP and trying to carry over the balance design goals in D3, but honestly it shouldn't matter. There are two Tempest Rush sets for Monk that are just "hold down one button, run at enemies" and I love them. If people want their pets to do the work then that should be made viable!
Will have to try a necro on LE.
And ya high level barb is like a pinball beyblade.