Addressing several problems

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Xendran wrote:

Blood magic removes your ability to run % auras or large numbers of auras. This is a big deal, because my templar auras double my dps from 3k to 6k.

% auras were put specifically for BM and CI. Also, saying you can't run % auras because you go BM doesn't mean anything. A lot of non-BM builds don't run and can't run % auras either cause they won't have enough mana to do anything else. This is not specific to only BM.

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grogor wrote:

I think this needs to be emphasized once again. Blood magic's weakness is the riskiness(or in some cases completely unusable) of using auras. Soon even purity is going to be a very very powerful aura.

Edit: Messed up the quote.

Like I commented on Xendran's post. Saying that a marauder can't run % auras is the reason why BM is balanced is somewhat funny imo. That's practically saying "Well, atleast a maruader can't run all the auras in the game so...".

What does that have to do with anything? Marauders aren't the only ones who can't run % auras. Many non BM characters can't run % auras either cause they won't have enough mana for anything else. BM's benefits greatly outweigh being able to run a few %, probably even 1 actually, % based aura.

Are you saying that not being away to run 1% aura is more taxing than investing in mana? So 1 keystone for 1 passive is worse than multiple points put into int/mana passives nodes just so you can run 1% based aura?

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Moosifer wrote:

I like alot of stuff in this post. I play mostly duelist and I did a templar for the week race (not a big fan, feel bad for turning my back on duelist as well). Hybrid armor is virtually useless. The only appeal is eva/armor gear is slightly higher base than pure armor/eva so with IR they can be decent but like you said late game with +mods, pure armor or eva becomes king.

More notes on placement. RT is something that you can get before lvl 20. Most maras won't ever have to deal with sub 80% CtH, my templar I got it around 20-30 and I had 75% CtH. It was rough but I never had to focus on getting accuracy nodes or dex, just had to get to RT quickly. If RT is going to stay in the mara tree it should be moved higher towards templar, basically even so they both reach it around lvl 30 and no sooner. I think that will add balance to the 2-3 hours races as well.

RT's problem isn't in how fast a mara/temp can get to it. It's the fact that in that section of the tree it doesn't present a drawback. It's 1 passive for free. They now have free points. Critting is hard to achieve in that section, so yes, RT is free. This is not the case for shadow. If a shadow doesn't crit, then they'll have to find other means to do dmg.

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Personally, I think life regen/BM is fine. It's easy for casters to get enough mana to run their stuff the only class that gets kind of screwed is rangers as they don't have the life regen for BM gems, BM is far and their skills cost alot so they have to focus on mana, most needing mana leech. I already suggested a while ago that golem's blood, the duelist's 1.5% life regen node be moved towards ranger so it's not easy access for maras but also helps rangers who want to use BM gems, like I did with my bow duelist.

Even witches and shadows use mana leech. BM is free for dueslist/maruaders. Keystones should present pros and cons. This is not the same for BM, RT, and US. Their current placements have to do with this.

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Lastly, Burnoutbrighter I completely disagree that mara's are OP. I think they are just much more polished than most classes. I've seen a bunch of rangers that have insane DPS and good surviviblity. Witches are notorious for being at the top of races with maras. I think the hybrid classes just lack any real identity of their own. Duelist is a fast mara. Templar is a mara with mana. Shadow is a ranger with ES.

I think moving some stuff around on the hybrid sections of the passive tree could make big difference to the classes. Adding hybrid armor bonuses will make them seem usable. I have alot of ideas for duelist tree that will make them usable without having to head over to mara/ranger areas also while bringing down some of mara's power and boosting ranger's options but my last post on it seemed to be ignored. Maybe next week after the dust settles from the ladders being reset (moved, whatever) I'll do a photoshop image showing my ideas on how to improve the duelist.

I agre with Burnoutbrighter that marauders are OP. They are OP because of the keystones available to them, which are free. Take resolute away, now he has to focus on accuracy. Move BM, now he has to focus on mana. Those extra points from those 2 keystones for a mere 2 passive points are used to stack more str. Now, no more. The marauder will not be as strong as he once was.

I would like to see your photoshop if you still do it.

I also have a couple more suggestions for CI

• Maximum life become 1
• Immune to Chaos Damage
• 50% more energy shield
• Never Crit

or

• Maximum life become 1
• Immune to Chaos Damage
• 40-50% less mana

You answer yourself in the OP, really. Marauders do start with a lot of 'tanky' nodes. But he does of course suffer damage wise if you go that route.

Does he still do enough damage to kill things relatively quickly? Yes. Because very high dps isn't really needed.

In the beginning every class will kill faster than the marauder. But he won't be very squishy, so he can gather larger groups before killing them, hence keeping the same pace. It's a decent balance if you ask me.

The ladders and races confirm this.

Currently all the classes are quite balanced in my opinion. They all have strengths and weaknesses you can build around and try to circumvent.

Saying that never critting is good is just silly, seeing as crit multiplier is the best stat in the game. I never use res. tech for this specific reason. Critting is both fun, and effective. Accurancy isn't really an issue if you know what you are doing anyway. Very easy to stack without spending passives.

I rarely use CI, either. Mostly because building around this keystone will be worthless in PvP. Maybe a little less with Vaal Pact, but it's still one crutch too much.

As I said, I feel the starting positions in the tree are very balanced now. Both for PvE and PvP. Some playstyle might be better for you, or easier to adapt to. But it doesn't mean the others aren't viable to a skilled and knowledgeable player.

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SoujiroSeta wrote:

I agre with Burnoutbrighter that marauders are OP. They are OP because of the keystones available to them, which are free. Take resolute away, now he has to focus on accuracy. Move BM, now he has to focus on mana. Those extra points from those 2 keystones for a mere 2 passive points are used to stack more str. Now, no more. The marauder will not be as strong as he once was.

I would like to see your photoshop if you still do it.

I still don't think BM is free. I always use BM in some form, passive or gem. When I used the gems I was able to run 5-7 auras and end up with the same amount of DPS or more if I were to not have to waste a socket on the BM gem. The big kicker is I could run determination, and with it's new buff that's a huge one now. Epsi is running 12k armor with mostly ES gear from grace, determination and a high eva chest mostly.

I put in my post that I do think that there should be a bigger gap between unwavering stance and IR.

Also the OP suggested BM be moved to shadow and how many LR nodes are over there that they could run that build?

I still stand behind it. Mara's section is just well done. RT is a little too easy but none the less, if they reworked duelist area so it wasn't a storing area for mara's to go from good to OP, I think it would balance them out more.