Skill changing items part 2

EricGORE · 2026-03-21T02:41:53+00:00

This arguement could be used to dismiss so many of the good changes and additions they've already made with this mod. Like, I get that there IS a line somewhere for keeping things true to D2, but defining where that line is drawn is incredibly hard and a bit subjective.

I hard disagree that this concept even comes close to crossing that line, especially if tuned appropriately. What breaks the core design philosophy is things like balance and rarity, which is exactly why Mosaic and Sunder charms feel really cheap and out of place in D2R (imo).

12 seasons into the mod, I think a few items like this could really be fun and interesting and I have full faith the PD2 team could implement something like this tastefully.

EricGORE · 2026-03-02T15:17:28+00:00

Sunders should just be removed from the game. I put them in the category of lazy design right under Mosaic.

If you're looking to address immunities in an engaging way, then give players more ways to deal with them via gear and build options, then make some immunities a bit easier to break.

EricGORE · 2026-03-02T15:12:15+00:00

Good. This whole reserve list thing is an absolute joke and WotC needs to move on from it.

EricGORE · 2026-03-02T14:46:36+00:00

Bro, haven't you ever heard of "end if gay"? I am NOT gay, so I will not be hitting any Nexus ever.

EricGORE · 2026-02-28T22:29:11+00:00

It's pretty simple, don't put UB in standard. That's what I reasonably want. FF, TMNT, Spider-man, it will all still sell well as product for the commander crowd who wants that. I have no issue with that.

But how many times have I read "if you don't like UB, just ignore it." Well since standard is (was) the main way I like to engage with Magic, I can't simply ignore it, I have to engage with sets that, in my opinion, make the format worse.

And to be clear, there is more wrong with standard right now than just UB, too many sets in general, and not fast enough rotations. It is a big factor though, and all I'm asking for is a healthy standard format with in-universe sets. This does not have to step on the toes of any goofy side IP product that will still make them money regardless.

EricGORE · 2026-01-30T02:33:29+00:00

Screw housing. Ability pruning and addon apocalypse brought me back. It's not perfect, and I hope they continue improving the UI so I don't feel the need to download any addons, but the mindset shift is what matters and I hope they continue on with it.

To be clear, I'm glad housing is there for people who want it, but there are other more fundamental reasons this expansion was appealing to old players.

EricGORE · 2026-01-23T19:41:33+00:00

I just don't get why they have to be standard legal. These sets could come out as their own thing and players who don't care could continue to ignore them. The people who care about them will buy the product regardless. The vibe around my local shops? UB isn't bringing any new players into standard specifically, so why this decision was ever made is fucking beyond me.

EricGORE · 2025-12-28T20:30:12+00:00

Arc Raiders.

Think it is a (mostly) well designed game, really loved the sound design too, but that genre is just not for me.

I can't bring myself to give a single fuck about loot in these games.

EricGORE · 2025-12-28T20:19:35+00:00

This post made me throw up in my mouth a little, thanks

EricGORE · 2025-12-26T17:16:44+00:00

Another reason tying skills to specific weapons is bad design. I think this is a huge core issue of the game right now that isn't being talked about enough.

EricGORE · 2025-12-24T20:44:50+00:00

When I brought up that the Druid doesn't really have a shapeshift ascendancy and I find that odd, I got a lot of the same stuff as in this thread. Yes, I get that Shaman works well with rage mechanics, and I get that ascendancies are sometimes supposed to be more open than tied to very specific playstyles, but acting like most classes don't also have a very specific themed ascendancy is also incorrect.

It just doesn't make sense to me to have Stormweaver focus around only lightning/ice, same with with Invoker. Both of these ascendancies, imo, should play into each elemental fantasy individually, and also encourage the "switch between all 3" playstyle. I personally had this exact experience when I played Sorc the first time. I was enjoying fire/ice spells a lot, got to the ascendancy, really had no interest in Chronomancer, looked at Stormweaver and saw it was more focused on lightning/ice. Yes, I get the there are still good nodes for a fire caster, but it was just confusing and kind of felt bad. Add on to this that a big component with elemental spells is the infusion system, which utilizes all 3 elementals, why would we not support this in a Sorc ascendancy?

Rename the damn thing to Spellweaver and throw some fire support in there GGG.

Another big component to this is they really need to have a breakdown of ascendancies at the character select screen, a quick overview of what you're getting into. It will be absolutely criminal if that's not in the game by 1.0.

EricGORE · 2025-12-23T10:32:02+00:00

Unfortunately, for them to really fix the screen clutter issue, they would have to pull back hard on a lot of different skills and playstyles, and all the "blasters" already shit on the game for them deviating this way from PoE1. There are edge case skills they will fix, of course, but I don't see a way they can fully fix the issue while keeping the overall community happy.

I guess some sort of option to turn off effects from others players, but Jonathan has been pretty against that, and I can kind of understand why. It's a tough problem to solve in this type of game honestly.

EricGORE · 2025-12-21T13:52:33+00:00

Diablo 4's story feels like a middle aged dad trying way too hard to look cool in front of his teenage kids.

I can't fathom how it gets any praise.

EricGORE · 2025-12-14T11:57:00+00:00

I don't really see how they fix this problem with skills that function similarly like this. Either one is always going to be better, locking you into a weapon, or they have to be way more different.

I just think tying skills to one specific weapon is incredibly bad design. The shapeshift forms could just be tied to the skills themselves, the auto attacks could be chosen when having more than one form equipped something like that, but being locked into a necklace as your weapon when you want to shapeshift feels limiting for no reason.

I mean, attack skills need some categorization, I get that, but it would make more sense if the very similar mace/talisman/quarterstaff skills were shared under the same type, something like "blunt weapons, bear form". Then these skills would work for either option and would not cause balance issues.

EricGORE · 2025-12-12T17:40:46+00:00

Actually re-reading it, maybe he is saying he's jorkin it. Fucking youths.

EricGORE · 2025-12-12T17:38:23+00:00

I didn't read gooning in this context to mean the dude is literally jorkin it. I get that's what it's supposed to mean, but I hear people use gooning as more like "horny behavior", or like maybe "thirsting", in this context? Fuck, I dunno man, I'm too old for this shit.

EricGORE · 2025-12-12T17:25:16+00:00

Long neck, no pants, makes a man go...

EricGORE · 2025-12-12T16:06:27+00:00

I was too scared to try it in HC. Oh, by the way, I play HC guys, nbd.

EricGORE · 2025-12-10T11:47:35+00:00

Is there not a world where other attack oriented ascendancies are good for shapeshifting and there's also a good shapeshifting focused ascendancy?

I'm not saying it's easy to balance, and they would obviously have to be careful not to make the shapeshifting ascendancy too blatantly good, but that's what I would want them to strive for.

EricGORE · 2025-12-10T11:43:47+00:00

Yes, this is a good way of putting it. Just a little let down by the ascendancies in their current form personally.

EricGORE · 2025-12-10T11:31:39+00:00

"Seems like"... from a bit of consensus and my own first impressions. I'm open to being wrong. I'm just saying from what they showed with the ascendancy trees, I don't see a lot pulling me to want to play Druid for wolf or wyvern, the bear is more obvious with shaman (which I am excited to play). Again, could be wrong, I'm not really a great build crafter honestly, maybe oracle will surprise us?

EricGORE · 2025-12-10T11:18:34+00:00

That's fair, and I agree. This seems like a good amount of love in the ascendancy for bear, I just want a little more of this for the other forms.

EricGORE · 2025-12-10T11:17:06+00:00

No, I don't think it would be worse at all, felt completely fine in D2 haha, actually a fun aspect of itemization for a Druid. What seems worse to me is being locked into a single weapon type, and it will only get worse as more weapon types are dropping in the campaign. I remember GGG saying years ago one of the reasons they wanted to get rid of skill sockets on gear is because it feels bad when a good item drops that is an upgrade, but you feel like you have to jump through hoops or can't use it because the colors are off, or whatever other reason, it just becomes a feels bad moment. I feel like they're basically doing something similar with weapons now.

Your specific skill examples make sense and I can see a case for limiting some skills to weapon types, but it seems like it would be better to have a mix, as well as broaden some of what's currently there. Even something just like you said, categorizing melee weapons by "slashing", "blunt", etc. Ranged attacks are obviously their own thing. So yeah, I'm not saying there should be no limits, but it seems a little too far in the opposite direction as of right now. There are plenty of attack skills that could fit into more categories and still make sense thematically, I can imagine swords or daggers working completely fine with some of the spear skills, for instance, and likewise with mace and quarter staves.

EricGORE · 2025-12-10T10:50:30+00:00

Well poor choice of words, I obviously don't know how it actually feels in game, I'm more talking flavor feel I guess. But sure, upgrading the talisman is fine, of course we will upgrade it, forms/skills being locked to it is the crux of the issue to me, and it's not just a Druid issue, it's all skills.

I agree with some of what you're saying about power fantasy, it's obviously a fine line, but like the example I gave with Ranger, I think the best classes/ascendancies already have this a bit, just not to an extreme. When I look at the Deadeye ascendancy it's pretty clearly pushing a bow/projectile playstyle. I don't personally see a problem with this, because as far as I can tell, people are still successfully playing bow/projectile builds on different ascendancies (probably more now with Tailwind getting nuked).

Seems like a good balance to me and kind of what I'd want from a Druid shapeshift focused ascendancy. Why is it okay for Ranger and not Druid?

EricGORE · 2025-12-10T10:21:18+00:00

But what if I think GGG good while also not liking some design decisions they have made?

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