How many Wizards are using...

[rapeseed]

This thread is getting really interresting. Good posts everyone.

http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/s...te-and-AP-cost
As I discribed in this thread, my simple testing with disintegrate and AP cost gave results that were a little off... Im not sure what it means yet, but im guessing that AP spent is in general a little less than it seems to be, and thus, reaching the "I have sufficient AP to use my spells as desired" breakpoint is probably easier than our calculations - thus slightly more favoring the 1-hnd. Until I figure out exactly how this works, math is not going to cut it all the way. I have to go with my gut feeling to what feels right, and change for the 1-hnd + source when I have the funds to make it feel right.

Freedom regarding wich stats you can choose on your items has been mentioned, but more importantly, this also applies to your skills (which are also somewhat more independant of your gear/wealth). If using a slower weaon allows you to drop astral presence for glass cannon and/or drop your signature spell for hydra, forceweapon, familiar, or perhaps a defensive skill like diamondskin, then the DPS calculation suddenly gets a lot more complicated. With my wizzard, illusionist + wormhole is actually my biggest AP spender, and I would often die to tough packs of teleporting fast soulrippers and the like becouse I couldnt attack while at the same time use teleport nearly constant. Running out of AP is now a no-issue, and I feel I could sacrifice some DPS on paper for the control this gives me...

[galzohar]

Nothing really comes close to wicked wind's coefficient, btw. Maybe caltrops but good luck generating massive amounts of discipline with it that can compete with the wicked wind procs. Basically if you don't generate enough discipline to practically chain-cast smoke screen, your nigthstalker procs aren't anywhere near as overpowered as a wizard can make his critical mass procs.

Anyway, due to both AP efficiency only being situationally important (not to mention only important for very specific and rather underpowered specs) rather than always important combined with the fact that a 0-AP wizard still has a signature spell that does OK damage, means that it is OK to give up some AP efficiency if the DPS gain is big enough. It all ends up to how much vs how much, really, but since DPS gained from 1h+source is so big I don't see how some mediocre amount of AP efficiency can compensate.

[JackalYYC]

Note to OP: You might want to try dropping your signature spell for Ray of Frost - Cold Blood in the left-click. Should be very AP-efficient for you, and as noted above it won't suffer from a longer animation.

I'm actually quite happy with how things are playing for me with Spectral Blades, even considering the slow cast rate! I'm definitely getting something from all the posts here though, and will, at some point I'm sure, switch things up.

The intent of the original post was just curiosity if anyone else chose to use a 2H over 1H + OH.

[FireVengeance]

Ill throw in my two cents to add to the chorus. IMO 2 handed is only good at times on your lvl up and gear up progression. I used a self found one for a while at lvl 30 to 40 or so because of high damage. Agree with most its not viable in the end game to compete against 1 hand + source for stats and dmg.

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[Painman]

It would be a lot better if 2-handers actually had the potential to be 2x as powerful as 1-handers, but they don't. If they were, I guess that would make the DH an OP class since they alone can equip a 2H and still use the offhand slot.

FWIW, 2-handers were sub-optimal for endgame Sorcs in D2 as well. And Staves were what Blizz originally envisioned for Sorcs. But then everyone went and used Culwen's Point + a shield instead. In D2X they pretty much admitted their flub by giving us The Oculus.

[galzohar]

They don't need to be twice as strong, but need to be able to have a lot more stats than they do now, including the damage stat.

[magicrectangle]

They don't need to be twice as strong, but need to be able to have a lot more stats than they do now, including the damage stat.

You could fix them for us and for the other classes at the same time pretty much by doubling their potential crit damage roll to 200%, and doubling their max number of sockets to 2. Increasing their max stat rolls would be a decent thing to do also.

Of course you'd either need to not do this with bows/xbows, or nerf quivers, otherwise you'd be making DH ridiculous.

[galzohar]

I think increasing all stats (less than double) would be better than doubling some stats. But since Blizzard don't care about having some stats dominate all other stats I guess they could just do that too.

Obviously bows/crossbows are a different beast (and Blizzard agreed when they gave them overall lower damage than other 2h weapons).

[rapeseed]

patch 1.04 will make me very satisfied with the two-hnd buff

[magicrectangle]

patch 1.04 will make me very satisfied with the two-hnd buff

I'll reserve judgement. Until we actually see what the new 2h weapons look like, it will be hard to say if they'll be viable for wizards. One thing is for sure though, you won't get any ap-on-crit from them, even with the buffs, which rules them out for critical mass builds, at the very least. (The slowness also rules them out for critical mass builds I suppose)