imo Mana, Energy Shield and Leech are not good enough

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Aim_Deep wrote:

I can't even tell mana difference., I just get gear with +mana instead of +ES like back in the day when it was converted with EB. Its not hard to have 3000 mana like the old days either. CI casters would know this. You basically always got + mana and + regen on all applicable gear.

Speaking of CI it's the only special case that need more life leech. Mainly because you have no option for defenses to mitigate since your just a big health sink. So you take big hits and need to heal faster or next hit will kill you. I'd like to see a 2% behind CI.

I have to disagree, it's hard to get 3000 mana now even if you get +mana on all applicable gear (and +60 mana from quest reward), much harder than you could do with old EB. Hell, old EB even scaled your % mana with ES (well, that "part" given by ES), and with few decent ES pieces you could invest points only into some hybrid life/ES or life/mana nodes, and have all mana you need, even for MoM and (old) AA plus reserve half of that pool for auras. Now, if you use MoM, you cant afford reserving mana (it's same to reserving your life), and you struggle getting enough mana pool, as base mana pool is far too low.

Yes, you can do it, but you need massive investments to do so, cause you need other stats too. When "normal" build looks for item with 4 good affixes (usually life + 3 suffixes), he find those. But when "mana-intensive" build looks for items, he needs 5 good affixes, which makes itemization more a pain in ass. And god forbid you need 6 affixes, like those on boots...

Honestly, I really agree with the idea of increasing the mana from int to a 1:1 ration, at least to test out how much some little changes can solve.

Obviously, Talisman comes out soon, with the rebalancing to mana costs for casters, so we'll have to see, but if they don't make a big enough difference, I am hugely in favor of making this chance. It also will make int. feel more impactful to those of use who aren't CI or EB.

But, we'll have to wait and see.

It seems GGG share my opinion on several points, made in this thread.
There will be balance changes in next patch:
Base mana per level increased.
Base spell damage increased.
Incinerate damage nerfed.
Leech nodes buffed, and some of them provide elemental leech as well.

We'll see, if those changes fix things, or not.

I play a level 90 caster enjoying a play style of spamming arc effectively using a 4L. From the very start of playing this game, I've always been drawn to the challenge and dream end game goal of a 6L set up.

I have been investigating what would be necessary to transiton to 6L, and it has been disappointing so far, as it seems that the investment and cost to do so may not be worth the benefits, if even possible at all.

I discovered this thread yesterday, and as such, found it an incredibly absorbing read.

Kudos and thanks to the OP and all who have posted after.

I would be very interested to hear everyone's thoughts and experiences, in the light of the changes in the last expansion.