skills based on weapon damage

[vnny]

played the beta over the weekend, only had time to play the wizard. but im sure my questions branch out to all classes

One weird thing about skills is that a lot (or maybe all) are based off of weapon damage. This really kind of confused me at first, and I think its still weird. So one skill, magic missile for example. its damage is something like 150% of weapon damage. So if I have a sword equipped that does 10 damage then magic missile damage is 15. OK so now my motivation was to get a weapon that did the most damage, as if I was a barbarian…. So I found that weird.

I was holding a 2 handed axe for a while, as a wizard…. It just didn’t make much sense. It was a battle between extra damage of a 2 handed weapon vs. the extra modifications that a weapon/shield combo would allow, i understood that increases to intelligence also increased damage. Eventually I switched to 1 handed weapon like a dagger (based solely on damage) and a shield (because i now had an open hand) I really didn’t care for the extra protection the shield gave, cause the beta was to easy. Later I crafted a wand that did better damage than any other one handed weapon I could find and killing the king gave me an orb thingie, but really i was done playing already so.

what my question is, will an end game wizard be going for the highest damaging 2 handed item ? How will they balance it to make any sense? is the intelligence damage modifier going to ultimately give the skills the bigger damage increase vs the highest damaging weapon? or at some point will the high damage swords/axes etc.. going to be class locked for barbarians, therefore ruling out an end game wizard using some lvl 60 great sword of ridiculousness.

maybe im answering my own question as i write this down and think it through.

[Such Violent Storms]

Striving for big weapons with big damage will boost your damage, and in some cases you may see a Wizard staggering around with a goliath axe. But that's because they haven't found a good wand/staff yet.

Wizard weapons -- wands, etc. -- can roll magical properties that straight-up boost Wizard damage. +24% Wizard damage. They also can roll +Arcane Power and Intelligence boosts. Large axes/swords also have a slow attack speed, which means a slow casting speed. High end wands/staves will pretty much always be better than a big axe or sword for the Wizard.

[MRR]

All skills being based on weapon damage is a very drastic change and definitely takes some getting used to, but here's how it breaks down:

• With skill damage always being based on weapon damage, we get away from the situation in Diablo 2 where some classes were more or less item-dependant than others. You can't just play a caster and ignore gear any more, and you're not punished for playing a weapon-wielding character who isn't a twink. All classes have to compete for gear, so item drops (and magic find) become equally important for everyone. This doesn't directly answer your concerns, but hopefully helps to give you some insight into the change.
• With regards to wizards with giant axes... sometimes that will be the way things work out. It's a bit different, but at least it's something unique. However, this will be rare, because the types of item modifications wizards value - such as extra Arcane Power and +Intelligence - have an increased chance of showing up on wands and staves, and much less chance to show up on a giant axe. In the early stages of the game there isn't a lot of selection as far as weapons with strong modifiers go, so you might have a sword or an axe that's better for a wizard than a wand. Later on, however, the chances of finding the right modifiers on a wand increase, so you shouldn't see as many end-game wizards with giant axes.

@Such Violent Storms: Are class damage modifiers still in the game? I thought they took out things like "+Wizard Damage" a while ago, instead focusing on +Intelligence (or +Strength/Dexterity for other classes)?

[Ghardum]

I didn't find any +Wizard dmg items. If they're in the game it's most likely later acts.

One thing to keep note of as well. Many class specific items, such as orbs for wizards, also have a "generates an extra X arcane" etc type mods on them. So with that in mind, it'll usually be more efficient to use your class specific item, then whatever other item will give you the most dps.

Also do look at your DPS tab in your character sheet. If an item does 50 dps but 0 to intel (in the case of the wizard), and a wand does 45 DPS but adds X to intel. Equip each and see how it changes your DPS.

[vnny]

I didn't find any +Wizard dmg items. If they're in the game it's most likely later acts.

One thing to keep note of as well. Many class specific items, such as orbs for wizards, also have a "generates an extra X arcane" etc type mods on them. So with that in mind, it'll usually be more efficient to use your class specific item, then whatever other item will give you the most dps.

Also do look at your DPS tab in your character sheet. If an item does 50 dps but 0 to intel (in the case of the wizard), and a wand does 45 DPS but adds X to intel. Equip each and see how it changes your DPS.

i also didnt see any % to wizard damage.

i get what your saying im just wondering what method will rule, big axes/sword or wizard specific items, and also, will the best of the best sword/axes be locked to a barbarian or other class therefore kind of negating this whole thing.

[vnny]

I didn't find any +Wizard dmg items. If they're in the game it's most likely later acts.

One thing to keep note of as well. Many class specific items, such as orbs for wizards, also have a "generates an extra X arcane" etc type mods on them. So with that in mind, it'll usually be more efficient to use your class specific item, then whatever other item will give you the most dps.

Also do look at your DPS tab in your character sheet. If an item does 50 dps but 0 to intel (in the case of the wizard), and a wand does 45 DPS but adds X to intel. Equip each and see how it changes your DPS.

i also didnt see any % to wizard damage.

i get what your saying im just wondering what method will rule, big axes/sword or wizard specific items, and also, will the best of the best sword/axes be locked to a barbarian or other class therefore kind of negating this whole thing.

[Srikandi]

Well, you can check out the items pages to see what is currently known about what items are in the game.

But most of the discussions conclude that there will be no one answer for every Wizard, or every member of any other class, because weapon speed has serious implications for resource management. Basically, you'll want fast speeds for resource generating skills and slow speeds for resource spending skills, and which is more important to you depends on your build (including also passives, since some of those dramatically affect your resource allocation).

[MRR]

There are many item mods that can't be found in the beta that have been datamined from other parts of the game. I checked Diablowiki to see if they had a list of known item modifiers but their list is quite out-of-date (the page still lists runes as an item).

[Such Violent Storms]

There are many item mods that can't be found in the beta that have been datamined from other parts of the game. I checked Diablowiki to see if they had a list of known item modifiers but their list is quite out-of-date (the page still lists runes as an item).

http://diablonut.incgamers.com/item/...t-greater-wand

The first block of affixes are all of those which, as of datamined data, can roll on a wand. There's lots of AP buffs, and +Intelligence. Intelligence is the Wizard's attribute and increases Wizard damage, so that's what +Wizard damage is now. There's also skill-specific affixes, like the one for Energy Twister.

Wizards will be using wands, don't worry

[Hexen]

Wizards will be using wands, don't worry

Oh no, i liked how my wiz in beta swung that big sword. Looks cool IMO.