Newb drawn in by 2017 and his questions

Hey there,
I have some questions regarding the new update and hoped somebody would tkae the time for some of them

First off: I have played MXL in singleplayer for quite a while, however the furthest I have gotten was terror act 2 with a trap rat build...i tried a lot of other builds but fell off after lvl 24/at tran athula
For the new patch i wanted to experience all the things of median and so I ended up here :lol:

1. A lot of ppl talked about holy melee paladin for the new patch. I searched for some build guides but only found one for a retaliate build...is that really it? and will that get strong enough for all ppl to hype it or am i missing something?

2. Starter build: My idea to start is a fire/frost sorc since she seems buffed a bit in the update and it was the very first build i played in MXL. Is there any other build to consider when targeting endgame as fast as possible/get a first experience with heroics or ubers? I'm basicly open to all palystyles

3. Leveling tips: I know of prefered farming spots/runewords/TU uniques and i'm capable of reading the doc, however is there something more veterans might know and be willing to share?

4. For the first time I want to start playing in MP for the new patch, will the loss of plugY hit hard/require a lot of micro manageent since i am quite the hoarder since i fill multiple tabs really fast...i might be useless but i like to have it :flip:

5. Thank you for your time and consideration and hello MXL community, I'm glad to be here

Enthapythius wrote:1. A lot of ppl talked about holy melee paladin for the new patch. I searched for some build guides but only found one for a retaliate build...is that really it? and will that get strong enough for all ppl to hype it or am i missing something?

Yep you're missing something: the new version isn't out yet, not even the newer doc, so is really too early to talk about whole builds.

Enthapythius wrote:2. Starter build: My idea to start is a fire/frost sorc since she seems buffed a bit in the update and it was the very first build i played in MXL. Is there any other build to consider when targeting endgame as fast as possible/get a first experience with heroics or ubers? I'm basicly open to all palystyles

Same as above; plus, mana sorc seem to have been buffed even more than cold or fire

Enthapythius wrote:3. Leveling tips: I know of prefered farming spots/runewords/TU uniques and i'm capable of reading the doc, however is there something more veterans might know and be willing to share?

I'm not more expert than the doc so I won't answer this one, but one thing I can say: donations are highly appreciated and also useful if you want to play MP because you'll have some tg to spend and help you on the way to 100% completition

Enthapythius wrote:4. For the first time I want to start playing in MP for the new patch, will the loss of plugY hit hard/require a lot of micro manageent since i am quite the hoarder since i fill multiple tabs really fast...i might be useless but i like to have it

I'll be honest, for the type of person you are it will hit as hard as a brick, BUT it's nice to learn to leave behind some things even in a game. You'll get used to play in the new way and in the long run it'll be much funnier

Enthapythius wrote:5. Thank you for your time and consideration and hello MXL community, I'm glad to be here

Welcome aboard! I'll give you your first thumb up

1. Can't speak to Holy Melee Paladin b/c I never play Pally. Regarding guides in general, they exist simply to demonstrate one way a specific build and gear combo can play, but it doesn't mean that's the only viable route to take. Best thing to do is experiment and find what works best for you.

2. There are a lot of changes this patch, so the old standard starter builds may not be so viable this time around. Regarding Sorc specifically, I like Fire Sorc personally, but Lightning/Cold has been the standard caster build. Vampyra wrote a nice guide for it. Worth looking into to get a general idea of the build, but again, with the new changes, the viability of standard builds has been called into question.

3. It's not hard to reach clvl 120 by A1 Destruction just through normal play, so there's really no need to find dedicated levelling spots. That said, T-Cows and D-Cows are fairly standard areas. There are others, such as Tristram, Worldstone areas, Dunc, etc., but again, it's not really necessary for playing normally.

4. Losing PlugY is kind of a pita at first, but muling on realm is easy. Just follow the rules.

Welcome Enthapythius

Median Xl is luckily one of the most balanced games there are. Ofc some tweaks are always appreciated, but in general every single build can get to 120 and do many ubers.
It's just that at certain points you need gear checks. for example for Tran Athulua you need lots of defense in order to not die to the incoming arrows. A3 bloodmage merc can also help you alot there because of the skill "gift of inner fire" that he uses, which instantly heals you fully.

Concerning gear: There are some things you need to focus on. For example casters mainly focus on: Life after kill, + skills + spell damage -enemy resist and so on. If you use poison you can also focus on "on kill" procs.
Ranged wdm builds on the other hand focus on a good weapon damage, crushing blow, movement speed in order to be able to kite the enemies, trielemental damage, ll, life after each kill, good on striking and on kill procs (mainly those on striking procs that can trigger another proc. Like 10% chance to cast arrow on striking). Pls note that ranged builds usually don't want to have lots of str requirement and rather focus on dex and vitality.
Melee wdm builds usually need to focus on more since they need to tank more than the other build options: Defense, life, total character defense, trielemental damage, vitality, good weapon damage, on attack and on striking and on kill procs, maxblock, cb, ll, life after each kill and so on.
And there's stats that you always should be focusing on like avoid, + max resistance, +all stats, and so on.

Just look at the docs and find your tiered unique gear that you consider best for the build you're playing.

btw. wdm= weapon damage modifier. that means you're using skills that depend on the damage of your weapon.

I hope I was able to give you a little bit of help.

Enthapythius wrote:1. A lot of ppl talked about holy melee paladin for the new patch. I searched for some build guides but only found one for a retaliate build...is that really it? and will that get strong enough for all ppl to hype it or am i missing something?

the retaliator is about 11 years old and changed very slightly in therms of gameplay since then . you must get hit in order to retaliate , it's that simple , no rocket science .

other than that you max plague for extra poison damage , get some procs and boost the defence/damage reduction . put a Bear stance craft/rare shield asap and the build is done . may be combined with colosseum or solar flare + incarnation as your own personal tastes decides .

the build has not changed much in this new patch , it's actualy almost the same , it just got buffed with more damage for retaliate and longer lasting buffs /decreased timers , making it more likely to be played than it was in the last few years .

there are 3 holy melee builds in my compilation that will be updated asap , and since plugy will work with the new patch , it would not take me very long .

Doesn't solar flare give you retaliate nova without requiring you to be hit?

that is if you go for solar flare . since it's not a "must have" you must get hit if you skip it (1 second more duration is still not making it less annoying . maby 10 seconds could have made it decent imo) . incarnation is not boosting the damage of oskills or procs and just for that life leech it's not really worth the trouble and skill investment (decent attack rating can also come easy from proper gear and few points into dexterity) . lak /losim/vindicate are more than enough to have constant full life bulb. colosseum / investing into a vessel / divine judgement for conversion would help a lot more instead.

unless you go as caster or hybrid and really need that elemental damage buff in order to be efficient , solar flare and incarnation are not something mandatory for pure melee builds . i believe those skillpoints have better places to go

ChuckNoRis wrote:since plugy will work with the new patch

Do you mean the items from pre-M2017 will work in the new patch?