Some really nice input so far folks. Based on this - so far it seems we can make a distinct guide for Barb
I was thinking about some things last night as well. A traditional barbarian would likely be the same as a fighter, it used to be old common practice to dump everything to dex and as dex was changed people balanced their dex down from using 200+ to 100-120 dex as their standard builds... then of course people starting blossoming ideas such as above. Before, strength used to be actually less regarded, no one used it, making it very cheap - much like dexterity items are now.
So far it is looking like this for a
rough ideaTraditional Barb - 100-120 dex, dex/str armor/charms, ee weapon
Meat Shield - 75-100 vita, 100-120 dex, rest strength, ee weapon and armor
Strength barb - all strength, items, stats, ee weapon and armor
Smart Barb - 50-75 intell, 50-75 dex, rest strength, ee weapon and armor
I kind of want to lean away from "hybrid builds". What I mean is, fighters have 10 intel, barbs have 5 intel to start. They were definitely meant to be a melee character. It's not that they don't have a good ability to heal themselves, but the gear needed and the healing charms needed are generally expensive and the basic concept for a starting character requires a lot of "strategy and planning". Also, 99% of everyone, who started a fighter or barb never made an intell melee class. This was an after thought generally after you've played paladin and monks and have some pretty nice gear to carry your way.
But the other concept is something fundamentally sound. By no means I am saying it's not a sound idea but the fundamentals are incorrect for the class and it's usually perpetuated by exceptional gear.
Most new players, if they use any kind of appropriate gear likely using 50-100 ee items, as 100 ee items are still "expensive" to most ranging from 150-600 fg each. So lets take in to account, a whole climb worth of gear at 60-75 ee, which ranges from 50-250 fg each. Is it really enough to use an "intell barb"?
Quote (lordballak69 @ Sat, Aug 1 2009, 10:01am)
i play only hc
75 base vit
then add stats to dex to = 100 - 120 WITH mq gear
every other point in str.
CLUBS only.
my weller has 110dex .. rest into str.
i use str charms + Dex plates..
With is a very good distinction also. I know your point and it is very key. Some people might interpret 120 stat dex + gear then get some screwed up character with 170 dex and nothing left to use. I definitely think we can word it careful to make that a key point
It has also become common for "us" to think in terms of mq gear also. I think a lot of people may not realize this until they've done 1-3 mq's. I can see some poor fella right now "how the hell do i get 120 dex at lvl 15???"
This post was edited by przy on Aug 1 2009 08:05am