Having different,… let’s called them “tiers” fo affixes is not necessarily a bad thing.
Some affixes are just more valuable and better. Having (some) bad affixes is a good thing to make loot more refreshign and exciting, because if every stat is super strong and you “only” wait for synergistic stats, that’s also not necessarily more fun.
But there definitely needs to be a balance, we definitely need enough medicore affixes that are alright for almost every build, some very good ones and some abd ones.
And within the “very good” one category, we need enough variety to be desired by a plethora of builds
I still think 4 affix slots is fine. LE might just needs some re-evaluation/overhaul of certain affixes, especially older ones.
But with the recent announcement, implementing more “top tier” very exicitng affixes is definitely a good thing IMO.
Think of it this way, if these affixes are really powerful as a prefix that ultimately removes 50% of the choice in prefixes on that item (you only have a “choice” within 2 slots) because more likely then not you will value this affix over everything else right now. Then the choice is really between at most 3 affixes or even less than that, to fill in second optimal prefix. You can look at overwhelming powerful prefixes in the context that they both removing choice and creating the façade of adding it too. I think it is a… problem within this system we have now.
I wish this kind of powerful mod was not a prefix or a suffix but something we could slap on to an implicit with crafting. I wouldn’t mind if that would take a slight nerf to prefixes we have now to keep it not from power creeping.
Edit: I want to step back a little from what I said. Yes, it does limit your choices pretty significantly imo with prefixes on an item BUT it also gives it back. You kinda gain little choice back with your skill trees. Where you might just slapped on added melee now those 1-2 extra Warpath points: you are converted that stat to give you increase warpath radius + more damage using warpath. Which I think its interesting.
while for some buidls the + to skill X is definitely very powerful an desired.
I don’t think they are a no-brainer choice on all builds.
Especially if you are going towards a mroe defensive character, you might take some of the other prefixes instead, or as i already stated earlier, maybe +X to a defensive/utility/buff skill that grants you defenses.
We might just need even more prefixes, liek entirely new ones, a mix of offensive, defensive and hybrid ones, what ever.
Maybe do a balancing pass on some affixes and make them all attractive.
From what it seems to me, these prefixes are going to be pretty much build defining to have one of these prefixes on your gear. You have no idea how many step ups I have made where I was just 1-2 points short in the skill trees to take advantage of something else that would make the build so much better.
Personally i would find more interesting if they give us more body slots to wear/use, like shoulders…
Would give more itemization options than more affixes.
Ultimately, over time another piece of gear will still fall into the same rabbit hole. It’s not about how many pieces of gear we have it’s about the limitations of those pieces within the system.
They are. You get more benefits from certain skillpoints in the skilltree then from passive trees and sometimes a higher increase then crafting offers. There are so many skills I would setup differently with 1, 2 or 3 skillpoints more that it makes me drool all over the place.
I’m with Macknum on this, the number of skill points is far more of a constriction than the number of passive points & they are therefore (often) more powerful such that an increase in the number of skill points you have access to is a significant increase in the potential power you have access to. Therefore it’s a no-brainer to take them if at all possible.
Imagine being able to get an additional 40-60% more damage on a skill, compared to 5-10% increased?
For Example look at Tempest Strike… yeah i know the skill suxx ballz but anyway… with 3 more points my whole testing skillpath is thrown away and i came with something new that might even make this skill a charm. We’ll see. 3 More points in Cinder Strike… LOL even more bonkers… 1k ignite chance with ease here I come.
Sure the Rogue will benefit the most out of it because the skillsetup of the class is awesome and all other classes are BS compared to it but there are some skills that will highly benefit from 1-3 skillpoints. Just another 5% AS here 25% Crit dmg there and so on and so forth. There are a lot of intresting options this way.
Don’t get me wrong… +X for skill Y is a blunt 1980 style approach of a mechanic and I dislike it pretty much but at least it’s something. Non the less it narrows down the diversity because you want it on each item. Not to mention if you can have the same skill on let’s say chest and weapon and all of the sudden you have +6 or +9 on a skill.
+skills being a prefix on the weapon would be interesting since then you’d have to choose between flat damage (or % damage for spells) and additional skill points. That might be an interesting choice.
That’s interesting, but i guess we would need more smartloot then, because weapons are not bound to any class (except bows).
Would be really bad finding weapons with other classes affixes too often.
Also the spell stuff might need a slight buff in numeric value to keep up with skill point.
There could be additional affix slots but the instability rating could stay the same. So you would not get t30 items. Max could stay t20 and you have the choice which affixes not to max.
But I like the idea to have it as a unique affix that can be added on any item (maybe with some restrictions) once. They could be drops from certain endgame activities like mono bosses (like blessings that can be connected to items)
Something like this is a must have, as the addition of skill affixes will make the affix choice mandatory, as others already said.
