Follower Function and Missing Boss Modifiers
Posted 22 April 2012 by FluxBashiok fielded a couple of more questions about basic game stuff this weekend.
The first addresses a basic change in the philosophy of the followers in D3. Mercs in D2 were hard to keep alive (at higher levels), but were hugely powerful in good gear, which made them all but mandatory for a lot of builds. The D3 devs liked the idea of mercs, but didn’t want them to be so strong that they were mandatory. Their solution? Tag-alongs who look busy, and have some useful debuffs and buffs, but who don’t do enough damage to really change the equation.
Sure he can be handy with a heal, but in combat? he is a joke. 1 damage per swing. His stats are just as good as a barbarians, even equipped him with a great weapon. But its always 1 damage. Why is he so weak?
You’re the hero, not your follower. They offer assistance in different ways, but they need you. They’ll die without your spirit and guidance. TO SANCTUARY!
It’ll be interesting to see how the 
Scoundrel and Enchantress compare. It’s acceptable that the Templar doesn’t kill so much, since he’s basically meant as a tank. But the other two are artillery support; what’s the good of an archer or mage that stays behind you if they can’t add significant damage? Debuffs? Distraction? Witty banter?
Another fan asked why the boss monster modifiers seen in the beta are so limited and unscary.
So my question is this, what happened to arcane?
Many affixes, and I believe the specific one you’re referring to included, were moved to later Acts and difficulties. Too tough for the intro experience. Dig?
There’s bad news for the OP, since Arcane was nerfed from the scary dragon heads to silly lawn sprinkler form, even before it was moved to later in the game. But we’ve seen a lot of other cooler boss mods added since then, and players who got to fight with them in the Over the Fence bonus content were well-pleased by their improved antics. See the Boss Modifiers article for a listing of all known boss mods, with screens and strategy info about all of them.
My personal guess is that follower damage has been capped to a percentage.
I asume something around that:
Templar: 10% of the regular damage,
Scounder: 20-35% of the regular damage,
Enchantress : 10-15% of the regular damage
“Witty banter?”
Yes, please. That’s what I thought it was supposed to be originally. Naturally, they have changed since, but I am looking forward to learning their backstories and listening to the scoundrel making fun of demons.
I first thought, “Mercs with banter? Ambient dialogue? Sounds great!”.
And then the templar opened his mouth and instant regret ensued. I’ve tried to count how many stupid things he’s said, but I lost track.
Hater rhetoric bars our way.
BUT THE WILL OF THE TEMPLAR IS STRONGER!
We are very different, you and I.
Don’t get me wrong, the templar is annoying. I still have hope for the scoundrel. I’m hoping he’s a bit like Daveth at the beginning of Dragon Age. Snarky, but not annoyingly so.
Nope, you’ll get the Dragon Age logain, without the good voice…
I haven’t heard his voice yet, but he appears to be a similar character to not Daveth but the blond Nolan North guy. Alistair?
Edit: Wait, yeah, I’ve heard his voice. One of the better in the game.
Alistair isn’t what I was expecting, but that also works.
I meant more as far as voice goes. Imagine his voice, made a bit older, grittier, and rogue-like. I don’t know who did the scoundrel but it’s not too bad.
He’s a clever guy, the scoundrel, and he often makes fun of the templar (and the player) in little bits of dialogue.
Hey, I see a new forum game. Reword their dopey lines!
The Templar’s dialogue is both a literal and a figurative barrier to my enjoyment of the game.
Agreed. None of my characters will be using him.
Bofe lichral an’ figgertives?!
http://i.imgur.com/B8wUh.jpg
I actually didn’t mind his dialogue, but he did like to run uncomfortably close to me. it was like he was always trying to hold my hand.
I wanted to tell him to give me a few meters of space.
I hope that in moving the arcane mobs to the later acts or difficulties that they’ve at least upped their capabilities so they aren’t the laughable sprinkler style.
[QUOTE]A while ago, when the beta was still young, that’s why I said A WHILE ago, I was watching streams of people playing Diablo 3. Very often, I would see one of the streamers encounter arcane affixed monsters where they had the power to summon arcane hydra. Now that I was able to play for meself, I have encountered plenty elite monsters but they only get 1 of 3 possible affixes: Knock back, teleporting and nightmarish. Not a single time have I seen Arcane or anything else.[/QUOTE]
REALY ??? I Just played Pit, there was a bat with “walling” affix he made huge wall and split people in party, that was awesome. What’s going on with people I see grumble everywhere
Same here, i found a plague bat with that walling affix as well in the den of the fallen but besides that i cant think of any other affix’s that i have seen so far.
fought the same one with molten and one with vortex lucky they were different bosses but the molten one basically kicked my ass so hard. +1 death.
Okay, that mercenary question was really, really noob. This is what happens when everyone gets their access to the open beta. Stupid questions like that pops out every now and then.
And maybe the Arcane boss was a little tough for the earlier acts, given that most of the really sweet and usefull skills and runes will be available on the higher levels. I am hoping though that affixes do upgrade in power and cosmetic as the difficulty changes. If we have a sprinkler in Norm, then it becomes a hydra on the next level, then a dragon, etc. But it is way too much work for Blizzard and they’d never do it. sigh.
how is it a noob question ?
the player wants to know why, even with a great weapon, the templar only does one damage ?
its a valid question
Bash’s answer, as usual, was no answer at all
if he had said, “their damage is capped at one” or “their damage id capped at 2% of yours” then that would have been an answer, but no, just Bash being Bash again
Merc do 20% of weapon dmg. There was blue about this, duno when it was…
That’s not what the player was asking, although I agree it’s a perfectly valid question.
If we’re already getting upset that people are asking about basic aspects of the game, then we are not prepared for launch I guess.
His answer was a valid answer, but it was an indirect answer. The damage of the templar is a reduced value, and Bashiok gave the reason for that reduction: the followers are useful, but they’re there to provide different kinds of support from just DPS.
I like the part where I jumped on my barb and the Templar ran at the speed of light to stay in the same radius.
Seriously though, first impressions of this game – AWESOME.
Can someone let me know, because I am a D3 beta noob, if the chances of finding a rare monster mob is increased when there are more players in the party?
I think I found only one during my first solo run through, from start to finish.
Then, when I partied in a group of four, I must have run into 7-10 on my way to the SK.
I didn’t want to play the beta, as I wanted to be a D3 virgin when the real game came out – but now I’m kinda glad I did; as I have been swayed from starting with a wizard/monk to starting with a barb/monk.
I didn’t even try the WD because he looked like a freak, spasm’ing constantly and whatnot. Gross.
Nothing is increased when you play in a party except difficulty of the monsters. Not gold drops, not magic find, not chances at items, not chances to find mobs, nothing. The only thing that increases, assuming you have a good party, is drops/hour because you should be killing things faster than you would alone. If you have a poor party you may as well not even be partying. Also, magic find is divided among all four players, so if you have a high MF and they have low, be prepared to have your MF reduced by a lot.
Thanks for that.
I like your Poke’mans
lol, thanks
Funny enough, nobody ever seems to realize she’s a pokemon.
That Boss Modifier article needs some updates. Waller and Jailer are both in the beta, and not in the list. I ran into a Jailer this weekend, and I’m still not sure what that red circle is all about.
You cant move at all. And unlike Nightmarish mobs, jailer mobs dont need to hit you to apply the effect, which can be quite devestating with builds/areas/mobs (even the big, fat, charging beasts in the Fields of Misery with the jailer mod, could easily hit off 75% of your HP, since you are unable to avoid the hit)
I am fine with followers not doing much damage. They all have different focuses which will be very helpful even without much added DPS.
Add followers add some decent crowd control in the form of slows or knockbacks (With more of these added via some of their skills). But each follower also has other major game effects.
-Templar: Passive Health Regen / Passive Resource Generation Rate (More mana for the player) / Heals
- Enchantress: LOTS of Crowd Control
- Scoundrel: Increased Crit chance OR damage buff when crits land.
In addition to this, any spell given to the follower which states damage based on % of weapon damage will be a decent hit based on the weapon you give them. Damage is clearly not the focus of followers tho.
If the “witty” banter of the other followers is as annoying as the Templars I’ll be leaving followers in town.
They talk to each other in town, and while the enchantress tries to defend the templar, the scoundrel kind of tears him up. Here’s a snip:
Enchantress: Please leave him alone. Can you not see that you embarrass him?
Scoundrel: I’m just trying to help. Here, watch this, my friend. I’ll tell her what’s on your mind.
(Imitating the Templar): ”Your foul, sinful magic has stolen my heart. Were it not for my stupid oaths and idiotic code, I would make a woman of you right here.”
E: Hold your words!
S: Don’t shout at me. I’m just true love’s messenger.
Or another:
S: Wait. If the tomes contained all these prophecies, wouldn’t your order already know what place they ended up in?
T: What?
S: They didn’t even read the damn things, did they? Otherwise they would know where to look.
T (Confused): I never thought of that.
The templar is supposed to be an idiot. But that doesn’t make him tolerable to be around.
That snippet was great, thank you.
Do the followers only talk amongst themselves or do they talk to NPCs like Cain as well?
^ Dunno I guess they might if it makes sense from a story prospective IE if Someone says something about the Templar’s tomes I would expect him to say something.
I think that, in town (where these snips are from), it’s just amongst themselves. But out in the game field, I think I’ve seen some dialogue where the, say, scoundrel will make a remark to Leah while you’re on a quest and she’s following you.
Does it bother anyone else that the CMs have been so communicative recently, yet so quiet during most of development? I would have loved this level of interaction and question-answering from the get go, instead of just the last three weeks before release. It seems like such a marketing sham. I feel that, since we’re all guaranteed Day 1 sales, we’re not worth the time or effort at all. It’s been 4 years of piss-poor interaction.
It’s all about reeling in the new fish, I guess.
Does it also bother you that the sun rises in teh east every morning?