Wizard - Builds/Discussion - Page 249

On April 09 2014 08:08 oneofthem wrote:
wizards should try out other spells. frozen orb is not all that the class has to offer, far from it.

On April 09 2014 08:22 Duka08 wrote:
Someone that loves the arcane and/or fire builds should sell us on them! I saw a bunch of discussion in the last few pages on arcane stuff, but an overall recap and more importantly any cutoffs/pieces that make or break the build would be awesome! I'm bored of FOrb, so I wouldn't mind trying new stuff even if FOrb is still viable lol.

Same with fire. The fire build actually sounds really fun but how reliant on Mirrorball or other legendaries is it?

On April 09 2014 09:27 Masheyoon wrote:
Having finally been able to test out forb, I must say that the complaints about the nerf are somewhat justified due to the fact it goes beyond a simple decrease in radius:

-Chill duration has been reduced to the point that it is no longer worth it to use Cold Blooded (swap it for Elemental Exposure and you'll notice a difference, though it's not nearly as effective as Cold Blooded was pre-nerf). Chill duration has also been reduced to the point where forb is not particularly useful in slowing down mobs.

-AP regeneration has been reduced thanks to the Electrocute/Prodigy nerf. It's now actually more frustrating than it is fun to use forb due to its high resource cost.

-Crits have apparently been nerfed. I tried aiming dead-center at monsters, but I no matter how much and how hard I tried, I still couldn't get ticks to reach half the amount of damage I used to do. Might just be me, though... but I have seen others complain about this as well.

So I then switched over to Arcane Torrent and wow... it's infinitely better. It was already arguably better before the nerf, but now there is no question about it. Not to mention how CDR Archon remains untouched and ultra powerful. Way to encourage build diversity, Blizzard.

On April 09 2014 08:16 dAPhREAk wrote:

people are complaining on battle.net that arcane is too strong now....

it appears only the fire builds are safe! probably because its so fucking hard to get cindercoat and magefist.

On April 09 2014 10:59 Masheyoon wrote:
I actually decided to uninstall the game. Blizzard's poor decisions have only lead to limiting build diversity and discouraging players from investing in builds out of fear that they would be forced to backtrack said investment.

I don't mind forb being nerfed, just as I didn't mind the 1.0.8 WW barb getting nerfed, but as per usual, they nerfed the skill to the point of being tedious and frustrating and overall not optimal to use. It's not my idea of fun.

Thanks, Blizzard, but no thanks.

On April 09 2014 11:11 Valiver wrote:

Back before 2.0.1 every wizard was either CM/WW or archon, with almost no diversity at all besides some random sleetstorm builds and stuff like that. But now there are several common builds plus many other possibilities and they nerf one a little bit and they are "limiting build diversity"? This just isn't the case here.

I did some testing with Frozen Orb compared to the other orbs on a zombie target in act 1.

The 15 yard radius that it clearly states that it should be doing is not functioning, I can use a Arcane Orb - Spark and it clearly hits for 15 yards whereas I have to shoot my Frozen orb directly on or pretty much clipping the zombie as it explodes to get the explosion part of the Move.

I agree that it was far stronger than intended but now it doesn't even feel like it is exploding in a 15 yard radius for the explosion portion of the damage, feels more like it was unintentionally over nerfed.

On April 09 2014 11:33 Masheyoon wrote:


The problem is that they didn't nerf it by a little bit due to the reasons I mentioned in my above post. It was a significant enough nerf to render it unenjoyable. Like I said, I don't mind nerfing it down a bit, but they went overboard by nerfing its damage, seriously nerfing its AoE, reduced chill duration, and to top it all off, greatly reduced two AP generating skills that were really only useful for forb. It's just not fun anymore, and it's not fun being forced to change the way I like to play every time Blizzard releases a patch.

They limited build diversity because there's no longer a reason to chose forb over arcane torrent at the moment. It's much more powerful and not as tedious.

Really, the biggest issue, as I also mentioned, is that Blizzard only discourages investing time in a single build. There's also the matter that they don't release complete info on all the changes they make (Mirror Ball, for example, was nerfed but Blizzard didn't even mention it. That's unprofessional in my opinion).

EDIT: Apparently this nerf was an unintentional over nerf:

On April 09 2014 13:20 Dakkas wrote:


The nerf to arcane generation was entirely warranted, no other class could fill their resource bulb as quickly as a wizard could. Your post proves that you think you're being reasonable but you're just being fickle. There are vastly more builds now than before so you are categorically and objectively wrong when you say "limited build diversity". Bringing Frozen Orb in line with nearly every other class build is fair.

Maybe now you'll need to use a bit of strategy instead of mindlessly pressing your right-mouse button and killing everything on the screen.

But then again, if you're uninstalling a game just because one of the simplest and most OP builds was nerfed, the community is better off without you.

On April 09 2014 20:16 Masheyoon wrote:


I explained in that very post that you quoted that I don't at all mind a FOrb nerf, but the issue was that Blizzard yet again (just as they had done with the barb) overnerfed it to the point where people had to consider rerolling their item stats and consider a different build.

And the issue is that the skill was not brought in line, but actually lowered due to the fact that its now-lowered 15 yard radius doesn't even work (it's much smaller than the actual FOrb animation). Nerfing radius was definitely a good idea, sure, but not to the point where the animation itself lies to you. The chill nerf is also really big because the benefit of slowing down mobs is no longer there. You see, nerfing some of these things would be ok, but when you combine all of this with the AP regen nerf (which I will agree was needed, albeit again, 33% is a lot considering FOrb's cost), the skill was rendered frustrating.

But even then, I did not in any way state that I was quitting the game because an OP skill was nerfed. I quit because of how disappointed and discouraged I was thanks to Blizzard's tendency to cause players to backtrack their investments and the fact that they 1) don't admit to nerfing and instead attempt to cover it up by calling it a "bug fix" (what was the point to the PTR again?) and 2) don't provide complete info on their nerfs (MM was nerfed but Blizzard did not mention it, among others things of the sort).

On April 09 2014 15:46 Mithhaike wrote:
From my understanding, arcane torrent is mostly based on the cascade rune where your attacks can proc more attacks. Arcane torrent build is best vs packs that can be grouped up & bosses, but pretty trash vs trash mobs. If you consistently run with a pull monk in your party, arcane torrent is one of the best spells in terms of damage/ap. My friend and I have tested it out extensively and it is actually good in those situations... monks and fellow wizards with blackhole are your best friends. If you do not have those, I personally find arcane torrent (cascade) to be bad for soloing.