MXL-2017 Belladona Elixirs (respec potions) monster drop only

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BeetleHunter
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Uhm, by following the docs and doing the challenges at the appropriate times ?
Amantalado
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void wrote:as far as i can see all the respec has done is given rise to complaints from those who it effects the most, which is not the gg players


Pretty much what I've noticed as well. And it does make sense that the veteran players are the ones who would be the least affected since they have a better idea of how to plan ahead for their characters in the later game based on past experiences, and wouldn't need to rely on many respecs. I can see this more negatively impacting new players who want to just experiment and play by ear rather than following a guide as it's for those players that the barrier of respec potions end up coming into play.
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Nitz
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Pub wrote:
BeetleHunter wrote:Last thing I want to add, I can never play the early game as it is intended to be played, just because there is no point in doing so on the realm.


How is Median XL early game intended to be played?


Farming 3 gris boxes and steam rolling all the way to lc2 without slowing down once.
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Solfege wrote:How big of an impact would there be if you could adjust your character's stat points (but not skill points) on-the-fly? Like, you upgrade your TUs or make a really good Craft with flat stat bonuses, and suddenly the extra points you've put into stat x aren't needed anymore and would be better used if you put them into stat y. Seems like it might be a handy feature, especially early on, to avoid having to do a full respec. But IDK what sort of abuse such a thing could lead to.


Just play SP with Plugy, problem solved :P

On a more serious, it really is a handy feature.

For the respecs, I really dont understand the fuzz about it. I basically read one guide and killed Baal with it, without having any other knowledge about game mechanis. But even if you don't read a guide, I am pretty sure you can get to the end of terror with just common sense and a little bit of time investment to run mephisto in each difficulty to get your TUs, so you can get some belladonnas and respec all you want.
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void
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Necroglycerin wrote:For the respecs, I really dont understand the fuzz about it. I basically read one guide and killed Baal with it, without having any other knowledge about game mechanis. But even if you don't read a guide, I am pretty sure you can get to the end of terror with just common sense and a little bit of time investment to run mephisto in each difficulty to get your TUs, so you can get some belladonnas and respec all you want.

well ofc the stuff pre ubers is pretty easy to do without many/any respecs. and idk about the ppl who are silent but it seems for many and for me the problem doesnt exist early on. im already lvl 120 with all ubercharms except 2, and i only dont get them because getting them would reduce my motivation to play by a lot (also i did most ubercharms on another char already and watched multiple streams getting them, so there, not that fun to do it over and over again), its not because i dont have enough respec pots for the ubers. instead now i focus on farming more stuff and trying different builds for fun. i want to have fun doing that. except its not so fun anymore to do that because it means that im constantly low on belladonnas and the best place to get them seems to be the cow level so i spend time in the cow level just to get them, all the while hating it because its a waste of time.

and then i see ppl say "oh its so fine i dont have a problem in terror" lmao me neither, farming respec pots doesnt stop sucking when your char is maxed out btw, sure its faster but its still a waste of time. or i hear "oh the drop rate isnt so bad i dont see a problem here", well good for you if you dont experiment all that much by yourself, others see it much differently, and while you dont suffer from bringing back ez respec, some people are pissed off during this patch with this rng respec mechanic. so you can consider that it would not be a problem for you in either situation, so overall more people would be happy if you just let the people who are annoyed with this have their respec while for you there is no difference.

and btw, more about gg players, they are lvl 120 in less than 8 hours after each reset (you saw it this ladder too didnt you?) and farming cow level. they are the first to find multiples of belladonnas just by killing tcows at /players 4+, but even /p 1 is fine, and nobody who has basic knowledge of the game will get stuck before that unless they play some completely new char, which gg players generally dont do, gg players generally play some build that they know well (look mr malice who only plays necro and is probably the most knowledgeable about nec out of all the players. he was also the first 120 this ladder iirc) and generally gg players have the same routine every time, so they already have a skill plan in mind and if they cant build around the 3 akara respecs + additional belladonnas then ill be damned.

and while in my case the problem doesnt have to do with respecs to do ubers, if the goal for a later point in time is to make as many ubers as possible any-build friendly, so respecs arent needed, then look at this patch, where there arent all that many significant changes to ubers, and see that it doesnt make sense to limit the belladonnas at this point because apparently those changes have not been sufficiently implemented yet

it looks like the only decent argument in favor of this mechanic is that it promotes sociability in some cases because new players are begging for those belladonnas, and ive seen those games on realm, some lvl 40, 80 chars, some generally lower level chars that are in need for those pots.

so pls come up with some more convincing arguments
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There also probably people who are annoyed by the rarity of some items and runes. Maybe just give everyone a full stash with endless respecs so everybody can play and try what he wants. For me D2 never was about that, it was always about finding stuff and then playing around with it, so yeah, if respecs are too easily accessible I find it kind of boring.

Maybe its because I just started playing with this patch and dont rememberevery detail from my previous median experience around 2008, but endless respecs without doing something for it just seems contrary to the principle why I loved D2 in the first place (where introducing respecs actually made me quit for the first time because it made things too boring) and is one of the main reasons I could never find real fun with Diablo 3
Pub
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Necroglycerin wrote:There also probably people who are annoyed by the rarity of some items and runes. Maybe just give everyone a full stash with endless respecs so everybody can play and try what he wants. For me D2 never was about that, it was always about finding stuff and then playing around with it, so yeah, if respecs are too easily accessible I find it kind of boring.

Maybe its because I just started playing with this patch and dont rememberevery detail from my previous median experience around 2008, but endless respecs without doing something for it just seems contrary to the principle why I loved D2 in the first place (where introducing respecs actually made me quit for the first time because it made things too boring) and is one of the main reasons I could never find real fun with Diablo 3


D3 was top echelon garbage. Even with the ability to respec on the fly in town, there was nothing to respect into. It's the only game my brain flat lined entire time playing. Game is extremely one dimensional.
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Yes it is, and not having to think about your build at all is one of the reasons for that.
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void
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fair point. it probably doenst convince anyone who is really against the current format, but i can understand where youre coming from. the problem is that others can see it the other way around and that perspective is understandable too
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void wrote:look at this patch, where there arent all that many significant changes to ubers, and see that it doesnt make sense to limit the belladonnas at this point because apparently those changes have not been sufficiently implemented yet


You're joking right? Just some examples off the top of my head:

- Kabraxis: no longer one shots melee characters with broadside, balefire damage reduced (for melee again), desync removed, lag reduced, corpse recovery made easier
- Xazax: 0 unavoidable damage in the whole fight, no unavoidable damage in melee unlike Brach
- Astrogha: FO cast range reduced for melees, statue spawn rate reduced, teleport rate reduced, boss reduces caster damage but not melee/ranged WDM
- BPR: cows no longer one shot, you can kill safely without corner abuse and HC levelling is now not retarded
- Void: final battle rng deaths removed, pride awful curse removed + getting to him is easier
- All bosses: 35% max physical or magic resist compared to 85+ with heroic shield before

Melee\ranged WDM and phys & magic users are much more viable this patch on all ubers compared to the entire duration of Ultimative.

Viable doesn't mean "better than the previously best builds", that was never the goal. Clearly when one build is even 10% more efficient at clearing something min-maxers will always use it and everything else is deemed "trash" by comparison. It's impossible to make all builds equal without trivialising the content and/or losing variety in builds but it's something we definitely improved on and will continue to iterate on in the future,