Witch - Fire, sucks.

I'm playing a fire witch right now. It's sort of viable but it's BY FAR the worst form of elemental damage. Fireball is like Freezing Pulse's crippled and retarded little brother, and ignite is an awful joke compared to the amazing elemental ailments of cold and lightning. Firestorm is horrible, no further analysis is needed there.

Fire needs the following changes:

- Firestorm needs to do more damage and last longer. Make it a bit like Blizzard in Diablo.

- Fireball's base projectile speed needs to be increased by at least 50%.

- Fire damage in general needs to be further ahead of cold damage. Right now, fire spells and affixes do like 5% more damage than their cold counterparts.

- Not sure what to do about ignite. DoTs are never good in ARPGs, but I guess its runtime could be condensed so the damage at least becomes noteworthy.

- Freezing Pulse is clearly overpowered and nerfing it would indirectly make fire builds more viable.

Change ignite from a dot to some kind of stun mechanic. Rename it to 'impact' and let it be fire's form of CC which would compare much better to freezing.

What if in addition to the (small) chance to flee, there was a higher probability of chance to interrupt on burn?

Also, while burn does not stack, I think successive burns should extend the burn duration. The other way of thinking about is that "burn should queue."

I also like the notion that fire skills are "explosive," and could therefore convey something that has impact effect.

Fire should be the element with the highest damage and largest AOE at the cost of slow cast.

"

Josephoenix wrote:

fire trap /molten shell / flame totem / fireball / firestorm / righteous fire
k...
now to NOT include the bow / melee fire skills...
k...
now 3 shots of whiskey
k...
now 3 more
k...
looks at screen
k...
yep! I see only 2

need some more fire skills/spells that use spell damage/fire damage/elemental damage and burning damage!

Get on it... lol

Fire trap - definitely not very witch like. Also requires dex.
Molten shell - it's a tank tool. In order for it to do damage you must take a LOT of damage. Definitely not something most witches like to do.
Flame totem - to me this is really strange since one can do spell-totem + firestorm. Also requires strength.
Righteous fire - more of a melee skill to be honest since it requires proximity to targets. Again witches like range.

Also, ice is OP. Has movement slow, attack speed slow AND its own dedicated stun in ADDITION to normal damage stun. Then there's culling strike like shatter. Lolz.

"

Keyen wrote:

"

bingobill wrote:

make a video of this, i have never seen vaal merci 2shotted by anything.

I did, it's right here (Sorry, in fact, it's 4 fireballs with 2 crits):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bvBjdhHNOHY

And my gear was absolutely crap, < lvl40. Just maligaro, searing touch and this 4 L mentionned before.

So, yeah, go ahead, let's buff ignite, i will like it.

Holy What!

well i think u just proved Fire to be rather effective - Im sure u could sub out 1 support gem to use LMP\GMP for trash clearing?

As I am currently lev 63 in HC merc I know fire has exceptional Aoe (lmp\fork) I personally prefer fireball over Freezing pulse simply due to the range + wider AoE (died at lev 52 on my pulse witch due to CC proc fails followed up by an embarrassing puncture death).


so with this video and my personal experience leveling a frost and fire witch in HC (tho not yet making it to end game) id choose to re roll fire any day... also worth a mention, in HC almost no one will go frost over fire or lightning "must be a reason for this"? - so OP you dislike like the DMG of Fire, because why? because u have placed your passives wrong? or you are using the wrong kit?

maybe fire is rubbish in dmg for farming quickly when u dont have to worry about death. As I see it Fire is rather decent as it stands - even as frost molten-shell seemed OP, decent armor and death to anything that dare breaks it?

Oh btw OP, why are u crying Nerf on LMP\GMP instead of using them?

well thats my 2 cents - i am just hoping fire isn't Nerfed and curious to see what extra fire talents \ items or whatever are added or changed


@Hydrogenium

Fire trap - definitely not very witch like. Also requires dex.

if u choose to use LMP\fork u would already have 60 dex from 2 passives + all attributes on an item

Molten shell - it's a tank tool. In order for it to do damage you must take a LOT of damage. Definitely not something most witches like to do.

Molten shell seemed OP when i was a frost witch - a tiny bit of my ES removed for a near guaranteed death of countless mobs

"

Srafty wrote:

well i think u just proved Fire to be rather effective - Im sure u could sub out 1 support gem to use LMP\GMP for trash clearing?

Yep, i'm running a gmp/fireball/critical damage/elemental proliferation/fire pen for trash clearing.
I'm less effective against boss, but it's fine.

"

engqvist85 wrote:

I'm playing a fire witch right now. It's sort of viable but it's BY FAR the worst form of elemental damage. Fireball is like Freezing Pulse's crippled and retarded little brother, and ignite is an awful joke compared to the amazing elemental ailments of cold and lightning. Firestorm is horrible, no further analysis is needed there.

I'll take your complaints and raise you a Fire Witch 4-shotting Vaal just a few posts above yours. Do that with cold/lightning and I'll be impressed.

"

engqvist85 wrote:

Fire needs the following changes:

- Firestorm needs to do more damage and last longer. Make it a bit like Blizzard in Diablo.

Firestorm already does ridiculous AoE damage and this isn't Diablo. Funny how General Chat in game is full of nothing but Diablo talk and how everyone complaining on the forums is asking for changes similar to Diablo. If you want Diablo, go play Diablo.

"

engqvist85 wrote:

- Fireball's base projectile speed needs to be increased by at least 50%.

This is valid. The base projectile speed is horrendously low. Anything moving at the speed greater than that of a tree can dodge Fireball. Q_Q

"

engqvist85 wrote:

- Fire damage in general needs to be further ahead of cold damage. Right now, fire spells and affixes do like 5% more damage than their cold counterparts.

If you want the safety/cc of cold spells, use cold spells. That's what you kids don't seem to understand - This is Fire, not cold. Stop comparing it to cold. Stop asking for it to be changed to cold-type spells. Fire != Cold.

ps how much damage are you doing when you're slapping ice spear and gmp on a totem? dat dps

"

engqvist85 wrote:

- Not sure what to do about ignite. DoTs are never good in ARPGs, but I guess its runtime could be condensed so the damage at least becomes noteworthy.

When Ignite is clearing mobs faster than you cast your next spell, it's never a bad option. Stop using fire wrong.

"

engqvist85 wrote:

- Freezing Pulse is clearly overpowered and nerfing it would indirectly make fire builds more viable.

Fire is already viable. Again, that 4-shotting Vaal video a few posts above yours. How many times have you seen cold/lightning do that?

"

Jakabov wrote:

Change ignite from a dot to some kind of stun mechanic. Rename it to 'impact' and let it be fire's form of CC which would compare much better to freezing.

It's not a cold spell. Stop trying to make it out to be one.

"

Hydrogenium wrote:

Fire trap - definitely not very witch like. Also requires dex.

Definitely not very "witch like" but still used in many builds and specs because the damage scales so damn hard and scales off spell damage. Are we trying to make elements more "spellcaster"-esque or are we just flat out complaining?

"

Hydrogenium wrote:

Molten shell - it's a tank tool. In order for it to do damage you must take a LOT of damage. Definitely not something most witches like to do.

Still provides free armor regardless of whether you're face-taking or not.

"

Hydrogenium wrote:

Flame totem - to me this is really strange since one can do spell-totem + firestorm. Also requires strength.

Still a valid option. Also, lol @ "requires strength."
Wasn't aware there were no Strength nodes near Witch for at least 31 points.

"

Hydrogenium wrote:

Righteous fire - more of a melee skill to be honest since it requires proximity to targets. Again witches like range.

This is a valid point. More of a gimmicky/niche skill.

"

Hydrogenium wrote:

Also, ice is OP. Has movement slow, attack speed slow AND its own dedicated stun in ADDITION to normal damage stun. Then there's culling strike like shatter. Lolz.

Also no damage with all of the supports you're slapping on it to take advantage of its cc for multiple targets. Did I mention sucks for single targets?

"

I'll take your complaints and raise you a Fire Witch 4-shotting Vaal just a few posts above yours. Do that with cold/lightning and I'll be impressed.

You keep clinging to that one useless example when it's plain for everyone to see that fire is shit in real gameplay. If fire was as amazing as a few people in this thread keep insisting, it would be played more commonly. The fact is that despite there being an incredibly strong fire damage unique, it's still by far the worst element for general gameplay. It's playable, but it's not worthwhile -- kind of like physical damage.

"

Firestorm already does ridiculous AoE damage and this isn't Diablo. Funny how General Chat in game is full of nothing but Diablo talk and how everyone complaining on the forums is asking for changes similar to Diablo. If you want Diablo, go play Diablo.

Talking like that basically disqualifies you from any rational discussion. You're the worst kind of person to have on a game forum and nothing you say can be taken seriously now that you've exposed yourself as clueless and ignorant of how to improve games. You are the very kind of person who has given game forums such a terrible reputation for being full of absolute morons.

"

Jakabov wrote:

You keep clinging to that one useless example when it's plain for everyone to see that fire is shit in real gameplay. If fire was as amazing as a few people in this thread keep insisting, it would be played more commonly. The fact is that despite there being an incredibly strong fire damage unique, it's still by far the worst element for general gameplay. It's playable, but it's not worthwhile -- kind of like physical damage.

Physical damage is worthwhile and viable. You seem to cling to that "If it was good it'd be popular" phrase. How many times does "popular" shift throughout time? How many times does today's "popular" become tomorrow's old?

How about we stop using bad logic? Fire is viable. Fire can be deadly if you build it right. See the bolded? That's what 90% of the people in this thread are doing wrong. You don't play cold the same as lightning. You don't play fire the same as cold either. So stop trying to compare them, since they have two different sets of gems and 2 different elemental effects.

If you think fire sucks, you just don't play it right. There's obviously a few things in this game that need a tweak, fire is one of them. However, it's no less viable than the horrible damage of cold spells after linking 50 supports to it or relying on lightning's shock to do damage since it has ungodly wide damage ranges.

PS Physical builds are viable. Do you even play this game?

"

Jakabov wrote:

Talking like that basically disqualifies you from any rational discussion. You're the worst kind of person to have on a game forum and nothing you say can be taken seriously now that you've exposed yourself as clueless and ignorant of how to improve games. You are the very kind of person who has given game forums such a terrible reputation for being full of absolute morons.

This is coming from the "This game is hard please make it more like Diablo" guy over here. Please, calm the fuck down. If Diablo skills were so much better, go play it. Same Genre? Definitely. Same game? Not a chance in hell.
Not every MMO is based off another, just like not every ARPG is based off another. I'll say it again: If Diablo was so much fun, what the fuck are you doing here?

Stop being so fucking bad at a game that's still in beta and learn to play. This isn't rocket science or a college course, it's a fucking video game. Why is this so difficult for you?