An opinion on the passive tree : An analysis of how tree design might hold classes back

From http://poestatistics.com/beyond/ (top 15000)
Witch, 4845, 32.3 %
Shadow, 2863, 19.09 %
Ranger, 2352, 15.68 %
Marauder, 1605, 10.7 %
Scion, 1431, 9.54 %
Templar, 1178, 7.85 %
Duelist, 726, 4.84 %

From http://poestatistics.com/rampage/ (top 15000)
Witch, 5008, 33.39 %
Shadow, 2993, 19.95 %
Ranger, 2873, 19.15 %
Scion, 1248, 8.32 %
Marauder, 1199, 7.99 %
Duelist, 966, 6.44 %
Templar, 713, 4.75 %

It's pretty clear that there's a large disparity here. I'd like to provide some thoughts about the three least popular classes: Duelist, Scion, and Templar and provide some suggestions on how I think they could be improved. Now, these improvements are not going to be along the lines of "just add a wheel of nodes in X spot and you're golden"! These types of changes take a lot more work. Rather, I want to examine the current passive tree and provide some high-level thoughts about what makes certain areas work and certain areas not work.

For the first analysis I decided to consider the amount of "travel" nodes each class has in their section. A travel node is defined as a minor node, like +10 dex, or the first nodes from a starting class that must be passed through. When you look at the tree, each class corresponds roughly to a particular section of the tree (Scion is a little less clear). I wanted to examine the travel nodes for each class to see if there was a discrepancy. If a class has to travel more, it's a sign they might be less efficient. These, of course, are my best estimates for what the relative zone of each class is.

Next, after doing that I wanted to see how many nodes a class has access to from their zone. That is, counting up all the nodes from the clusters from the class zone, but without extending that classes range more.

Next I was curious to see the spread for each class. That is, what types of builds does that class support? For example, a marauder could be 1h, 2h, maces, axes, etc. Just having the total number of nodes available isn't as useful without observing how spread out between different types of build paths these nodes are. For this measure I ignored defensive nodes (hp, es, etc.) and focused more on the offensive spectrum, since these nodes to be the most specialized. To get an idea I roughly used the criteria that when a class zone had multiple wheels in a certain area that was a "build path." Random 1-of wheels (like knockback for example) were not looked at here.

I also took a quick note of the number of notables and keystones because it was interesting to me, but simply looking at the numbers here is maybe not as useful as the other information.

In short:
1) How many travel nodes?
2) How many nodes accessible from zone?
3) Main build paths?
4) Number of notables?
5) Number of keystones?

Witch
37 travel nodes
223 available nodes from clusters
5 main paths (fire, cold, lightning, minions, wands)
~47 notables
2 keystones


Shadow
31 travel nodes
232 available nodes from clusters
5 main paths (mine/traps, physical, elemental, daggers, claws)
~53 notables
5 keystones


Ranger
34 travel nodes
232 available nodes from clusters
4 main paths (bow, 1h, dual wield, swords)
~47 notables
4 keystones


Marauder
36 travel nodes
215 available nodes from clusters
8 main paths (totems, maces, staves, axes, swords, fire, 1h, 2h)



Scion
27 stat nodes (traveling here is a bit harder to evaluate)
235 available nodes from clusters
5 (slightly more general) build paths (bow, totem, caster, melee)
~42 notables
4 keystones


Templar
32 + 1 disconnected int node as travel
187 available nodes from clusters
7 main paths (1h, 2h, totems, caster, staves, minions, mace)
~38 notables
4 keystones


Duelist
43 travel
195 available nodes from clusters
6 main paths (dual wield, axe, bow, sword, 1h, 2h)
~41 notables
4 keystones

I believe that even this rudimentary data has some useful things we can (likely) infer. To start, I think there is a correlation between popularity and the relative amount of travel nodes, available nodes, and build paths.

If we examine the most popular (Witch) vs. the least (Duelist) we notice that the witch has 37 travel nodes compared to 223 overall nodes whereas the duelist has 43 travel nodes to 195 available nodes. These ratios show that the witch just has a lot more options for their passive points, and has to "waste" less points to do so. Furthermore, the witch has fewer build options--there's only the 5 build paths compared to the 6 build paths for the duelist. As such, when constructing a witch build it is easier to get more nodes relative to your build while spending less points. I believe that these reasons contribute, in no small part, to the unpopularity of the Duelist.

Templar is also fairly unpopular, and it suffers the same problem as duelist. In fact, it has the least access to nodes as well as a lot of build paths, thus making it tough to pick up just the points you want. Templar, if I recall, used to be much more popular. I believe that the decline in popularity is due to the improvement of the shadow and witch starting areas, as well as the previous marauder starting area improvement. Now Templar doesn't have as nearly as good of starting area and suffers the "too many builds" problem.

Ranger and shadows are both very popular right now, and this information seems to suggest why. They have not a ton of travel nodes, access to a ton of potential nodes, and are relatively focused on build paths.

And what about Scion? On a first glance it looks like Scion should be a lot stronger than the popularity would suggest. I believe that Scion suffers from three main issues:
1) "Too many build" problem
2) Starting nodes not as powerful compared to other classes
3) Build paths do not actually let you connect the tree more easily from Scion

1) I believe Scion suffers most from the "too many builds" problem. Yes, there aren't a ton of travel nodes and there's a fair number of node. However, everything splits off into so many different ways that for any path a Scion takes their build is likely losing out on the usefulness of much of the rest of their zone.

2) Additionally, the Scion starting nodes are weaker than their counterparts in the other areas. Example: 6% projectile vs. 8% projectile in Duelist/Ranger, 10% + 6% spell damage vs. 16% + 10% spell damage in witch, which definitely hurts her.

3) Lastly is the issue of tree connection. Scion seems like it would be great to connect different parts of the tree, right? Well, this isn't really the case. Let's look at an example of a Scion who wants Eldritch Battery and Iron Grip (diametrically opposed keystones) vs. a Shadow who might want to do the same thing.

Scion:


Shadow:


You'll notice that the Shadow spends more points total, because he doesn't lie directly between the two keystones. So, let's just examine the path connection Eldritch Battery and Iron Grip. For the Scion we spend 27 points. In fact, all of these points are just connecting the two nodes. For Shadow, we spend only 26! If you notice, it takes 7 points to get around the Scion starting area, whereas the Scion spends 8 points in her "starting nodes." The Shadow does spend 4 nodes just on stats, but they actually save a point and get some pretty good EV nodes too, while also having access to some other very powerful nodes (life, crit, etc.) In general any class can take similar routes on any direction with similar benefits. As a result tree connectivity with Scion doesn't actually work as well as it seem like it should, given the positioning of Scion

The new leagues have some huge disparity in the popularity of each class, which is the motivation for examining the passive tree. There are many factors which could factor in to this, although it is my belief that since the passive tree supports all builds, this is the first place to look.

The main takeaways from this analysis are that the less popular classes have access to less nodes (in general), tend to spend more time traveling around, and have less focused build paths. Scion was a special case where her merits of connecting the tree don't actually work as well as it should seem.

To strengthen the less popular classes, I believe that some of these inherent issues in the trees need to be addressed. It's unlikely that adding just a couple nodes or buffing up a few passives will change this very much. Granted, the game is always in a state of flux, so I imagine that these changes would happen eventually, although I thought I would provide some of my thoughts on the issue.

Marauder: 64 Nodes
75% increased Melee Physical Damage
50% increased Physical Damage with One Handed Melee Weapons
50% increased Physical Damage with Two Handed Melee Weapons
4% increased Attack Speed with One Handed Melee Weapons
4% increased Attack Speed with Two Handed Melee Weapons
40% increased Accuracy Rating
+46 to maximum Life
35% increased maximum Life
3.3% of maximum Life Regenerated per Second
106% increased Armour
7% additional Chance to Block with Shields
40% increased Block Recovery
40% increased Defenses from equipped Shield
+15% to all Elemental Resistances
+24% to Cold Resistance
+24% to Fire Resistance
+24% to Lightning Resistance
10% reduced Mana Cost of Skills
15% increased Life Recovery from Flasks
You Take 20% Reduced Extra Damage from Critical Strikes
262 Strength (52.4% increased Melee Physical Damage and +131 to maximum Life)
34 Dexterity (+68 to Accuracy Rating and 6.8% increased Evasion Rating)
34 Intelligence (+17 to maximum Mana and 6.8% increased maximum Energy Shield)

Ranger: 53 Nodes
40% increased Melee Physical Damage
36% increased Physical Weapon Damage with One Handed Melee Weapons
20% increased Physical Weapon Damage while Dual Wielding
39% increased Projectile Damage
62% increased Physical Damage with Bows
25% increased Attack Speed
4% increased Melee Attack Speed
14% increased Attack Speed with One Handed Melee Weapons
10% increased Attack Speed with Bows
30% increased Critical Strike Chance with Bows
60% increased Accuracy Rating
20% increased Projectile Speed
+32 to maximum Life
25% increased maximum Life
1% of maximum Life Regenerated per Second
62% increased Evasion Rating
4% additional Chance to Block while Dual Wielding or holding a Shield
6% additional Chance to Block with Shields
30% increased Block and Stun Recovery
60% increased Defenses from equipped Shield
30% chance to Avoid being Stunned
8% increased Movement Speed
16% increased maximum Mana
20% increased Mana Regeneration Rate
20% increased Mana Recovery from Flasks
34 Strength (6.8% increased Melee Physical Damage and +17 to maximum Life)
202 Dexterity (+404 to Accuracy Rating and 40.4% increased Evasion Rating)
34 Intelligence (+17 to maximum Mana and 6.8% increased maximum Energy Shield)

Witch: 61 Nodes
62% increased Spell Damage
16% increased Elemental Damage
16% increased Elemental Damage with Spells
28% increased Cold Damage
28% increased Fire Damage
28% increased Lightning Damage
12% increased Area Damage
18% increased Cast Speed
115% increased Critical Strike Chance for Spells
10% increased Critical Strike Multiplier for Spells
20% increased Radius of Area Skills
Minions deal 30% increased Damage
Minions have 20% increased maximum Life
+2 to maximum number of Skeletons
+1 to maximum number of Zombies
20% increased maximum Life
+34 to maximum Energy Shield
79% increased maximum Energy Shield
30% faster start of Energy Shield Recharge
+15% to Cold Resistance
+15% to Fire Resistance
+15% to Lightning Resistance
55% chance to Avoid interruption from Stuns while Casting
+20 to maximum Mana
48% increased maximum Mana
60% increased Mana Regeneration Rate
34 Strength (6.8% increased Melee Physical Damage and +17 to maximum Life)
34 Dexterity (+68 to Accuracy Rating and 6.8% increased Evasion Rating)
202 Intelligence (+101 to maximum Mana and 40.4% increased maximum Energy Shield)

Duelist: 56 Nodes
41% increased Melee Physical Damage
28% increased Physical Weapon Damage with One Handed Melee Weapons
39% increased Physical Weapon Damage while Dual Wielding
34% increased Physical Weapon Damage with Two Handed Melee Weapons
24% increased Projectile Damage
30% increased Physical Damage with Bows
22% increased Attack Speed
8% increased Melee Attack Speed
3% increased Attack Speed with One Handed Melee Weapons
3% increased Attack Speed with Two Handed Melee Weapons
11% increased Attack Speed while Dual Wielding
6% increased Attack Speed with Bows
16% increased Accuracy Rating with Two Handed Melee Weapons
+2 to Melee Weapon and Unarmed range
+12 to maximum Life
25% increased maximum Life
1% of maximum Life Regenerated per Second
54% increased Armour
40% increased Armour and Evasion Rating
10% additional Chance to Block while Dual Wielding
10% additional Chance to Block with Shields
20% increased Defenses from equipped Shield
32% increased maximum Mana
40% increased Mana Regeneration Rate
133 Strength (26.6% increased Melee Physical Damage and +66.5 to maximum Life)
133 Dexterity (+266 to Accuracy Rating and 26.6% increased Evasion Rating)
24 Intelligence (+12 to maximum Mana and 4.8% increased maximum Energy Shield)

Shadow: 62 Nodes
12% increased Melee Damage
77% increased Physical Damage
40% increased Physical Damage with One Handed Melee Weapons
36% increased Projectile Damage
12% increased Spell Damage
78% increased Elemental Damage
28% increased Cold Damage
28% increased Fire Damage
28% increased Lightning Damage
27% increased Attack Speed
8% increased Attack Speed with One Handed Melee Weapons
18% increased Cast Speed
130% increased Critical Strike Chance
35% increased Critical Strike Multiplier
10% increased Projectile Speed
5% chance to Freeze
5% chance to Ignite
5% chance to Shock
+12 to maximum Life
24% increased maximum Life
+5 Life Gained on Kill
42% increased Evasion Rating
+10 to maximum Energy Shield
30% increased maximum Energy Shield
10% faster start of Energy Shield Recharge
+8% to all Elemental Resistances
5% increased Movement Speed
+10 to maximum Mana
34% increased maximum Mana
20% increased Mana Regeneration Rate
+5 Mana Gained on Kill
34 Strength (6.8% increased Melee Physical Damage and +17 to maximum Life)
103 Dexterity (+206 to Accuracy Rating and 20.6% increased Evasion Rating)
113 Intelligence (+56.5 to maximum Mana and 22.6% increased maximum Energy Shield)

Templar: 60 Nodes
22% increased Melee Physical Damage
38% increased Physical Damage with One Handed Melee Weapons
38% increased Physical Damage with Two Handed Melee Weapons
54% increased Elemental Damage
40% increased Elemental Damage with Weapons
24% increased Cold Damage
24% increased Fire Damage
24% increased Lightning Damage
8% increased Area Damage
10% increased Accuracy Rating
20% increased Radius of Area Skills
6% increased Cast Speed
+30 to maximum Life
25% increased maximum Life
1% of maximum Life Regenerated per Second
44% increased Armour
25% increased maximum Energy Shield
+20% to all Elemental Resistances
+20 to maximum Mana
16% increased maximum Mana
60% increased Mana Regeneration Rate
10% reduced Mana Cost of Skills
133 Strength (26.6% increased Melee Physical Damage and +66.5 to maximum Life)
34 Dexterity (+68 to Accuracy Rating and 6.8% increased Evasion Rating)
135 Intelligence (+67.5 to maximum Mana and 27% increased maximum Energy Shield)

Scion: 87 Nodes
40% increased Melee Physical Damage
36% increased Projectile Damage
44% increased Spell Damage
23% increased Attack Speed
15% increased Cast Speed
30% increased Critical Strike Multiplier
+20 to Accuracy Rating
12% increased Radius of Area Skills
+30 to maximum Life
49% increased maximum Life
2.2% of maximum Life Regenerated per Second
+10 to Armour
+50 to Evasion Rating
24% increased Armour and Evasion Rating
114% increased Evasion Rating
+20 to maximum Energy Shield
56% increased maximum Energy Shield
6% additional Chance to Block while Dual Wielding or holding a Shield
+10% to all Elemental Resistances
+18% to Cold Resistance
+18% to Fire Resistance
+18% to Lightning Resistance
12% increased Movement Speed
+20 to maximum Mana
24% increased maximum Mana
60% increased Mana Regeneration Rate
100 Strength (20% increased Melee Physical Damage and +50 to maximum Life)
100 Dexterity (+200 to Accuracy Rating and 20% increased Evasion Rating)
100 Intelligence (+50 to maximum Mana and 20% increased maximum Energy Shield)