1.04 Legendaries are a slap in the face

[Kurki]

I feel that the update that Blizz gave us about changes to Legendaries shows us one of two things:

1 - Blizzard is completely out of touch with what players want and need, with the game itself, and has run out of good decision makers with creative potential

- or -

2 - They are sugarcoating the fact that they have no intention of really changing the game, because it is working as intended with full dependancy on GAH-RMAH combination for anybody wishing to progress in Inferno. So they feed us little morcels to make it look like they're listening.

Granted, we have not seen all the legendaries, and we do not yet know how they will address itemization in general, drop rates and MF. But so far, here is the problem with their "spin" on the 1.04 legendaries.

1 - Legendary weapons need to have the highest damage in the game.
2 - Legendary armors need to have the highest stats in the game.
3 - Special effects and procs are either irrelevant or overpowered, they should not be the focus of the item
4 - Above all else, these items must be farmable.

Drop rates and self-sustainable farming are the real issue, not the sparkles on the items and side-effect procs.

Has Blizzard addressed this? Not yet, so let's wait and see. But I'm not holding my breath.

[Karth]

You're saying that the legendary items displayed should be 1-4 and are not from what you can see? Perhaps you should reword your post for clarity.

[Death_StrikeR]

What I have seen so far had already exceeded my expectations.
Altho are many things need to be addressed, asking too much from an already big patch is being such a spoiled brat.

[Davidus]

"Legendary weapons need to have the highest damage in the game."

there is only two 2H weapons that better than the new skorn in the EU AH atm

[WhiteGiant]

"Legendary weapons need to have the highest damage in the game."

there is only two 2H weapons that better than the new skorn in the EU AH atm

but that is also because the planned 2h weapon buff is not in effect for 1.03 ; but it is for 1.04.
so generally speaking i think that pretty much all of the best 2h weapons of 1.03 will at best be considered average in 1.04.
because the bars for 2h weapons will be raised.

[Lanthanide]

A lot of people seem really happy with the new legendaries.

In general I'm a bit underwhelmed. To me it looks like what they've mostly done is taken the crap legendaries, added sparkly graphics and some gimmicky proc effect. Not *every* legendary item needs a proc effect. Most of the ones they showed still didn't have any sort of theme or creativity in the affixes outside the proc effect.

[Painman]

Can we maybe, like, wait and see and stuff? See how they interact with other changes?

They're not a slap in the face (yet) because we don't have all of the pieces of the 1.04 puzzle.

...

Screw it, haters gonna hate.

[Karth]

but that is also because the planned 2h weapon buff is not in effect for 1.03 ; but it is for 1.04.
so generally speaking i think that pretty much all of the best 2h weapons of 1.03 will at best be considered average in 1.04.
because the bars for 2h weapons will be raised.

What about the 850 dps one handed ilvl 60(!!!) weapon displayed? It seems to hint that legendary weapons will certainly be on par with high quality rares. That 1500 dps skorn also has almost 200% crit damage and a socket available for another 100% on top of being on par with the absolute best dps rares available presently.

You really think they're going to raise the bar so far that this becomes average? If so, what happens to the poor dual wield or weapon+shield builds?

A lot of people seem really happy with the new legendaries.

In general I'm a bit underwhelmed. To me it looks like what they've mostly done is taken the crap legendaries, added sparkly graphics and some gimmicky proc effect. Not *every* legendary item needs a proc effect. Most of the ones they showed still didn't have any sort of theme or creativity in the affixes outside the proc effect.

Those 'gimmicky' proc effects, strange constant effects, and huge bonuses to particular skills or attributes could be central to whole builds, it seems to me. What exactly did you expect them to do? Not every legendary there has a proc effect. What kind of theme or creativity do you need?

Goldskin: 100% gold find and sometimes causes enemies to spit up gold when you hit them. Obviously a gold finder's dream.
Buriza: 74% chance for ranged hits to piece! over 10% chance to freeze on hit. Clear D2 Buriza theme.
Three Hundredth Spear: 12% move speed, big strength, 40+% ancient spear/weapon throw damage. Beautifully aimed at a throw barb.
Fire Walkers: fire resistance and a permanent fire trail. I can't think of anything that suits such an item name better.

All the rest seem to follow along.

[Karamo]

NVM

10 chars

[Kurki]

To me it looks like what they've mostly done is taken the crap legendaries, added sparkly graphics and some gimmicky proc effect. Not *every* legendary item needs a proc effect.

Exactly. It's all about the sparkles, the real issue has yet to be addressed. Maybe it will, maybe it won't.

You're saying that the legendary items displayed should be 1-4 and are not from what you can see? Perhaps you should reword your post for clarity.

OK, for clarity:

Unless legendaries become the go-to item for every slot, and they can be farmed on your own without resorting to the GAH-RMAH, then any other changes, be they procs or effects, will not make the community happy over the long term. I believe Blizzard is avoiding the issue with little tweaks that will not fix the issues. The issue, to repeat, is:

Legendaries must in general be better than all but the perfectly rolled rare. These legendaries must be farmable on one's own without needing to resort to the GAH-RMAH combo. Anything short of this D2 farming system will eventually turn more people away from D3 than it attracts.

- or simply put -

What is the point of introducing and then tweaking Legendaries if no one uses them because they are too hard to find and because a decent rare is better?