Are wands and staffs that shoot projectiles a good thing?

I have been thinking about this for a day or so. At first I thought to myself "its a no brainer of course they are good." But after I sat and thought about it, what do wands and staffs that shoot projectiles really do? They take away from the skills, instead of casting a spell you just use your weapon. After all Bliz did with making the skills awesome, if they were to add in Projectile shooting wands and staffs it would take away from the caster classes.

I would like to get your input on this. What do you think? Should Bliz have them in D3 or leave them out?|||staffs and wands may give the player free missiles to shoot (no mana use) nd also certain bonuses(attributes and skills etc).... but your point is quite right too....i wonder whats the use of the orb or globe which she equips... ??|||I'd rather have the staff/wand augment the spells cast, in a way. Perhaps changing the colour of the spell to the colour of the staff/wands jewels or inherited evilness/holiness.|||Quote:








I'd rather have the staff/wand augment the spells cast, in a way. Perhaps changing the colour of the spell to the colour of the staff/wands jewels or inherited evilness/holiness.




Not a bad idea. They could add new abilities to the spells you cast, such as tacking on extra damage or some rider-on effect such as stun or slow.|||I think this is like arguing normal attack is taking away from combat skills.|||Quote:








i wonder whats the use of the orb or globe which she equips... ??




They add stats. It's like a shield that doesn't block. Basically how the Necromancer totems *should* have worked in D2.|||I played the demo at Blizzcon 09, and while I can't comment on damage, the projectiles moved so freaking Slow that there would be no reason to use one unless you're out of mana or feel like Cherry Tapping.|||Quote:








I think this is like arguing normal attack is taking away from combat skills.




Bingo. They're more "stat sticks" than anything. After awhile, all weapons become "stat sticks" w/ damage being one of the most important stats on them. Of course, I don't think you can use melee skills w/o a weapon, though. I could be wrong.|||Quote:








I think this is like arguing normal attack is taking away from combat skills.




I'd like to point out the use of these when out of mana (Or, in the wizards case, their resource will no doubt have some restrictions). Say that you see a pack of mobs and decide to take them on, and run out of this resource when there's still a couple of them left. If you have a ranged alternative that doesn't take anything from the primary resource, but still, like I said, lets your stay ranged then I'd say it's a good alternative even if it's not doing that much damage. I'd definitely prefer that for my old sorceresses instead of having to either go into melee when OoM, or run away in wait for mana. This way, the skills stay the primary source of damage, while the ranged "free" projectiles stay an alternative for situations like these.

But stat sticks are still their primary use, I don't think there're any arguments with that.

Tl;dr: I vote yes for these kinds of items in D3.|||are you guys discussing Harry Potter or or the wizard from Diablo3 in here?