The removal of ALL aura specific mastery reservation nodes ruined the league for me

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raics wrote:

I'll go on a limb here and ask - was stacking auras even any fun in the first place?

If I had to guess the reason, they probably gave us cheaper defensive/utility auras for the cost of one mastery because people like big numbers too much. Now people saw the value and got into the habit of using them, they really did, last time I checked determination had 70% use rate at high level. In softcore. That's pretty amazing, but also kinda ridiculous, so I assume they will now check if the same auras stay popular and decide if defense really should be cheaper or not.

No it wasn't fun, certainly not fun grinding for that stupid enlighten 4 gem or ashes of the stars. And having so many auras that you run out of skill slots.

Early in a league you're using determination / grace and purity of elements to fix res and be ailment immune. This will already reserve almost all your mana even with reservation clusters. No offensive aura at all, just basic defense boost. If you don't do this you will not level up past 85-86 and will six-portal every map.

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Esubane wrote:

Early in a league you're using determination / grace and purity of elements to fix res and be ailment immune. This will already reserve almost all your mana even with reservation clusters. No offensive aura at all, just basic defense boost. If you don't do this you will not level up past 85-86 and will six-portal every map.

I'd agree those auras are really useful but that's a bit of a hyperbole, I wasn't using any of that this league and haven't noticed the character dying too much. And I'm not so good that I'd just cruise with a setup that's unacceptable for league start, I did use determination in the gauntlet, though :)

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Esubane wrote:

If you don't do this you will not level up past 85-86 and will six-portal every map.

I got to L97 (easily) this league using only Grace and later Aspect of the Cat as my only defensive auras...

I did (by pure corrupting luck as it was the only Enlighten I had drop this league, and the only one I corrupted) get a L4 Enlighten, but I was running fine on a bought corrupted L3 for most of the league.

Auras are useful, but how many you can use needs to be restricted. When something is used by so MANY builds, that is usually because it is too good and needs to be nerfed.

Look at the new masteries for alternatives... There are so many useful defensive ones that more than make up for the small restriction added on auras...

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Cyzax wrote:

Look at the new masteries for alternatives... There are so many useful defensive ones that more than make up for the small restriction added on auras...

Yeah, most defense masteries are winners in this patch.

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Cyzax wrote:

Look at the new masteries for alternatives... There are so many useful defensive ones that more than make up for the small restriction added on auras...

Ok i'll bite. What are all those incredibly useful defensive masteries you are talking about? ES recover from phys hit, 10% instant leech, 1% max res for full armor gear and maybe 15% increase for using no life armor but that's pretty much it. Rest is niche or outright trash. That's supposed to compensate for 1 or 2 auras? Don't make me laugh.

/edit I guess 10% phys as chaos can actually be counted as well for CI/DF builds.

This will again hurt weaker build the most.
I hope you all love being glued to Diadem, Enlighten 4 and Ashes.

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Cyzax wrote:

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Esubane wrote:

If you don't do this you will not level up past 85-86 and will six-portal every map.

I got to L97 (easily) this league using only Grace and later Aspect of the Cat as my only defensive auras...

I did (by pure corrupting luck as it was the only Enlighten I had drop this league, and the only one I corrupted) get a L4 Enlighten, but I was running fine on a bought corrupted L3 for most of the league.

Auras are useful, but how many you can use needs to be restricted. When something is used by so MANY builds, that is usually because it is too good and needs to be nerfed.

Look at the new masteries for alternatives... There are so many useful defensive ones that more than make up for the small restriction added on auras...

Leveling up was easy on my glass cannon too, but that wasn't a league start. I hit 98 in solo-running 5-ways I farmed myself with legion specced maps. In maps I was dying a lot, but in 5-ways - not at all.

Maybe mapping just isn't the best exping method. Especially juiced like Legion with 100% more life sextant and scarabs.

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Baharoth15 wrote:

Ok i'll bite. What are all those incredibly useful defensive masteries you are talking about?

I said useful, not 'incredibly useful'...

However, that is based on the premise that GGG deemed that aura's in their current state are used by way too many builds as a no-need-to-think mechanic against generally taking damage.
This evaluation is entirely correct in my opinion. As such, aura nerfs did need to happen.

Remember, nothing prevents you from using aura's... you just have to use one or two less. If your build doesn't work without them, that validates that GGGs evaluation of aura's being too powerful is correct...

As also said, I got through to L97 with ease this league without having to use more than Grace and Aspect of the Cat.

Look at the new masteries with new eyes, and see how well they'll synergise with the reduced number of aura's you can still use. You can not use all the auras you could before, nor should you be able to!

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Esubane wrote:

Maybe mapping just isn't the best exping method. Especially juiced like Legion with 100% more life sextant and scarabs.

I've found that for efficient levelling, you have to condition yourself to work in one of two play modes at specific times...

When levelling, only run content you know you can handle. Setting up the atlas for map sustainability enable you to only speedrun blue (or white if you want) maps incredibly fast and level quickly.
You generally won't die, and you level quickly. You'll make LOADS of currency!

When you're tired of this and want some more diverse gameplay, wait until you've just levelled, then let'er'rip... For me that is sometime after L95, this league it was L97. You'll still die, but given you've made the decision you're not levelling, it won't matter at all...

Even i'd agree with auras being to mandatory and powerful. But just removing them without compensation is what's generally called a nerf - AGAIN.

Saying you got to 97 with 2 defense auras isn't really an argument, you can make level 100 with zero defense given the right skill/dps/map juice. If you just run white/blue maps there is almost no chance of dying no matter how glassy you are.

I can in fact use all the auras i used before, just that i have to buy cluster jewels for it now. It's again that ever repeating pattern of nerfing base power and shifting it to gear.