Synergies from Charges

[Thirty-Thirty]

Ahoy,

I recall seeing a Pat post of a bonemage, and one of the questions that popped up was whether or not he'd exploited the Marrowwalk "bug".

Now, if I'm not mistaken, all charges give and get synergies as if they were real skills, as long as you haven't put any real points into that skill. My question is, is this really a bug? Has Blizzard said so? Do we frown upon it?

Acknowledged, it does make certain builds ridiculous, particulary in the Marrowwalk case, since thats a level 33 synergy: otherwise impossible. On the other hand, it does make certain builds possible: remember the Fireball Templar who uses Moonfall and a Ring of Firebolt? And hybrid rabid wolves using the Wisp Projector? And decent dual elemental druids with Stone?

And while on the subject, are there any other interesting builds that exploit charge synergies? Can you think of any? There aren't likely to be many, but they could be interesting anyway.

Cheers,
30-30

[DeathMaster]

Ahoy,

I recall seeing a Pat post of a bonemage, and one of the questions that popped up was whether or not he'd exploited the Marrowwalk "bug".

Now, if I'm not mistaken, all charges give and get synergies as if they were real skills, as long as you haven't put any real points into that skill. My question is, is this really a bug? Has Blizzard said so? Do we frown upon it?

Acknowledged, it does make certain builds ridiculous, particulary in the Marrowwalk case, since thats a level 33 synergy: otherwise impossible. On the other hand, it does make certain builds possible: remember the Fireball Templar who uses Moonfall and a Ring of Firebolt? And hybrid rabid wolves using the Wisp Projector? And decent dual elemental druids with Stone?

And while on the subject, are there any other interesting builds that exploit charge synergies? Can you think of any? There aren't likely to be many, but they could be interesting anyway.

Cheers,
30-30

You already know the poplur build.

I believe it was a bug, however, blizzard didn't feel to fix it, and they like it that way. Just like they liked the way how concentrate increase hammerdin damage. If you want proof, just look b.net, if it is a bug, they would fix it already by now. But, they instead released new runeword just for it. They like it.

[tenaka]

@Thirty-Thirty: The general SPF consensus is that it is acceptable to use this bug, though there are some people who disagree

@DeathMaster: I think thats pretty faulty logic. There can be countless reasons they havent fixed it. Perhaps they don't know how without breaking or completely rewriting how synergies work. Perhaps it would just take more time (and therefore money) than they care to spend on a game that has already sold most of the copies it will sell. Perhaps they are fixing it and just aren't done yet. Also, they could have very easily already decided on those new runewords beforehand and just not changed them. For me the glaring issue that tells me it is a bug is that it only works if you put 0 pts in the skill. If it worked the same either way I could see it being a feature but benefitting from NOT spending a skill point is an obvious bug.

[frosty]

Ahoy,

I recall seeing a Pat post of a bonemage, and one of the questions that popped up was whether or not he'd exploited the Marrowwalk "bug".

Now, if I'm not mistaken, all charges give and get synergies as if they were real skills, as long as you haven't put any real points into that skill. My question is, is this really a bug? Has Blizzard said so? Do we frown upon it?

Acknowledged, it does make certain builds ridiculous, particulary in the Marrowwalk case, since thats a level 33 synergy: otherwise impossible. On the other hand, it does make certain builds possible: remember the Fireball Templar who uses Moonfall and a Ring of Firebolt? And hybrid rabid wolves using the Wisp Projector? And decent dual elemental druids with Stone?

And while on the subject, are there any other interesting builds that exploit charge synergies? Can you think of any? There aren't likely to be many, but they could be interesting anyway.

Cheers,
30-30

That must be me. :o

Carrion wind for Rabid druids
Stone for Fireclaw Wereforms.
Metalgrid + Stone for uber lumpy.

The bug/feature/whatever is allowed in PvM but slightly cheesy (I know, but I like cheese. ) but I think it is a no-no for PvP.

No idea on whether it is a bug or a feature. Not that I cared much about it anyway.

@Uzziah: Thought so. I got mixed up over the golems. :o

[Uzziah]

You can also include well built mastery sorceress, summoner barbs, summoner paladins (though they are much weaker than their barb brothers), poison daggermancers and magibarbs.

I have 2 threads on this subject one is a debate on whether this is a bug and the second is on what builds can be made with it. Just check my threads posted you can find them pretty easily if your interested.

Edit @frosty bloodmoon and stone for uber gumby, iron golem charges for the clay golem are pretty much worthless, 100 defense compared to 200 and some defense really means nothing in hell, the life bonus to 3005 life for the gumby is much better.

[Chimaira]

I think the charge synergy is a bug...but a useful one. I think it adds quite a lot to the game, and even the Marrowwalk bug isn't überpowerful, since Bone doesn't do insane damage to start with (except for PvP, but Diablo II is a PvM game so go figure). I think it's very cool, and see zero reason to frown upon it...if it's in the game use it.

[NeckRomancer]

You already know the poplur build.

I believe it was a bug, however, blizzard didn't feel to fix it, and they like it that way. Just like they liked the way how concentrate increase hammerdin damage. If you want proof, just look b.net, if it is a bug, they would fix it already by now. But, they instead released new runeword just for it. They like it.

Hmmm...what rune word is this DM?

Anyway, just my $0.02: the Hammerdin bug was discovered way back in D2 classic. It was fixed in 1.04 IIRC, restored in 1.05 after much protests from players (since the Hammerdin was and remains the most viable Paladin build)and enhanced in 1.10. In 1.05 I think, the Conc effect was reduced by 50% (as it is currently). I think it's no longer viewed by Blizz as a bug; otherwise, they would not have provided the damage enhancement for 1.10.

The excessive damage of hammers may be seen as an imbalance though and may be nerfed in a future patch. That is only my opinion.

However, Blizz from my experience usually lets 'acceptable' or 'tolerable' bugs linger, even something as hazardous as the FE bug. Releasing a patch seems to take a heavy toll on Blizzard, what with development and quality control requirements. With D2 several years old, any enhancements on it are most likely extremely low in Blizzard's priority list. So I believe inaction on Blizzard's part on these bugs doesn't mean these bugs are accepted. It may just be that they don't think it's really that big a deal that they have to fix it.

[NSXdreamer]

Blizzard's standard of tolerance is just so weird, which lead me to really think they liked the synergy bug just like how they eventually adopted the concentration bug. I mean it took them a grand total of 3 days to fix the grinding bug since its discovery, that's what I call swift action. But the synergy bug as been known since what, 1.10a? Yet they never did anything about it.

[Thrugg]

I'm not sure how much large-project coding you guys have done before, but all bugs are not created equal.

The synergy bug is fairly involved. It is not a missing < sign or something, like the Grinding bug and the Andy bug. They are storing skills provided by charged items in the same structure as they store the class skills (which you can see if you hit 'S' while playing, your skills from appear there alongside your regular skills). To fix this bug properly they'd have to store that information somewhere else. "Somewhere else" needs to be visible to the user interface (as your skills are displayed there when you hit 'S'). You interface is managed in your client code. Changes to the client code require a full patch, and all the testing that entails.

I imagine it will be fixed if there is ever a 1.11.

It definitely is a bug though, by any definition of the word. If you use it, you are exploiting a bug, just like if you are running Andy. Which is of course entirely up to you, but some people disapprove of it.

[skoolbus]

This is straight from blizzard.

Enhancements and other changes
...
-Added synergy bonuses to many skills. The bonuses boost the effectiveness of the higher-level skills based upon the number of points allocated to the lower-level (synergizing) skills. Players are rewarded for using skill points earlier rather than hoarding them all for later 'cookie-cutter' distribution to high-level skills.
...

This isn't a bug, rather a new part of the game, same as Atma healing you and resists from antidote potions. I'm tired of everyone going around whining if you use the " synergy bug"