How out of date is our knowledge of skills? - Page 2

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Would that matter? The Wizard has plenty of spells that suit melee combat just as well as ranged. I wouldn't be surprised that it could potentially become the "tankiest" out of all the classes with all those defensive buffs/abilities. If they kept the Enchant like skill, that should be more than enough to give the Wizard a distinct melee style from smashy Barbarian or comboing Monk.




The "problem" is that the skills you are referring to are almost completely defensive. Tanking, sure, but dealing damage will likely be an excruciatingly slow process.

I say "problem" because I don't really see the dev team having a responsibility to support this. If I were on the team, I imagine that I wouldn't be asking "How many melee abilities should we add?" as opposed to "How many abilities do we actually need?". Unless it was a group buff, I would probably pare them all out, myself.|||Killing power might not be that big of a problem. It obviously wouldn't match dedicated melee classes, but they can't match the sheer quality and quantity of defense available to the Wizard.

While the melee Wizard does not have have access to the awe-inspiring Shockwave, it will probably end up having very high damage per regular attack thanks to a well pumped Enchant like skill (hopefully it is still in). Throw in the Hydra, which has ideal skill rune complements in form of the Inferno or poison puddle variant, and you can now stand in the thick of the enemy crowd, rapidly cutting down the elite monsters with your high power melee while the Hydra takes care of that Fallen style enemies that are clustered all around you.

There is still potential in Spectral Blade and Mirror Image here for offensive purposes, whenever naturally or through skill runes or specific items. Ideally, by giving Mirror Images a % of your damage in their attacks (think DotA).

Personally I like this idea of a melee Wizard more. It has a very different stylistic and mechanical approach to melee than either the Monk or the Barbarian, relying on powerful melee strikes with supporting spells to take care of crowds while you hit with Magic Weapon boosted melee under the shield of your defensive spells.

Spectral Blades damage should be tied to weapon damage rather than whatever method other Wizard spells use for damage boost, though. Otherwise it feels like a gimped Cleave that sucks for a normal caster and for an actual melee caster.|||Quote:










While the melee Wizard does not have have access to the awe-inspiring Shockwave, it will probably end up having very high damage per regular attack thanks to a well pumped Enchant like skill (hopefully it is still in). Throw in the Hydra, which has ideal skill rune complements in form of the Inferno or poison puddle variant, and you can now stand in the thick of the enemy crowd, rapidly cutting down the elite monsters with your high power melee while the Hydra takes care of that Fallen style enemies that are clustered all around you.




That's the exact kind of gameplay I am hoping for out of a melee wizard. With Arcane Power vs. Fury it will be almost opposite and complementary style characters. Fury builds up and then you "lay down a monster", whereas with Arcane Power, you drop aoe and debuff to start the fight, then clean up with your super defenses and boosted melee.

As it used to be, magic missiles could have debuffs (I think some that even enhanced the damage monsters take!) attached to them and such, and the idea of laying down a hydra and firing off some MM before closing for melee sounds fun as all getout.

And I'm with Konfeta, the more I think about this kind of play experience, the more I want to try it. I don't think the other classes really have anything lined up (that we know of!) that will play along those lines.|||Quote:










As it used to be, magic missiles could have debuffs (I think some that even enhanced the damage monsters take!) attached to them and such




Wasn't that based on arcane tree passives?

I wonder how much the passives have changed, too. If they're still directed towards individual skills or more trending towards types of damage overall.|||The skills can have changed drasticlly over the year but they proberbly wont change as much from this Blizzcon to the next as everything is pretty much ready to go as far as concepts goes.

Its what i think atleast.|||Well from latest info its bye bye passive skills (at lest from the skill section)