GGG Why should auras be meaningful instead of compensate in builds?

GGG about auras:

"

Their effects were not impactful enough. If you had six active ones, it was a big difference, but each individual aura wasn't incredibly meaningful.

To solve this, we're making auras more powerful but are increasing their mana reservation costs. There are new aura cost reduction passives that allow you to specialise in having many auras if you still want to be a full-on aura character. Now each aura that affects you can really be felt and there's a lot more diversity in aura loadout. When we're testing high level characters it's amazing how different they feel when different combinations of auras are selected.

the problem with the aura changes is the way in which GGG wants us to use the auras. from their post it seems they want players to use an aura as a meaningful, build defining thing. this seems to be in direct conflict to the way people use auras now.

so far players make a build and use auras to supplement areas in which the gear/passives is lacking. for example, you make a build and realize you need more defense and resists. so you slap on purity and grace. or someone may want to augment damage so they slap on the elemental auras. what i mean to say is that i don't make builds based on a certain aura. i use multiple auras to get extra small effects in areas which helps my core build.


with the changes announced, it seems like GGG wants us to think of an aura and make a build around that. it's the complete opposite of what people actually do at the moment. so u're gonna have to plan ur passives and your gear around the 1-2 auras that u wanna use.

i simply don't like this change. to me auras are ways to slightly enhance my build and compensate for what it lacks. i don't wanna make build revolving on a more powerful aura. i like having the flexibility to mix and match gear and passives knowing that i can compensate problems with small effect auras.

i'm all for nerfing bugs like stacking 7 auras with BM items that you're not wearing but most people didn't even know or abuse stuff like that. we're all happily running 3-4 auras on our mana. i don't like the way GGG wants me to plan my build around auras. this change is simply uncalled for and i think it has a negative impact on build diversity. it also makes gearing up way harder since you won't be able to compensate lack of damage and defense with a few auras.


at least his is what i understand from the aura changes.

tl;dr: if you don't have the attention span to read my full post, piss off.


edit: clarified title

no

Don't use aura's then?

I have builds which use no auras and do just fine

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inamory wrote:

with the changes announced, it seems like GGG wants us to think of an aura and make a build around that. it's the complete opposite of what people actually do at the moment. so u're gonna have to plan ur passives and your gear around the 1-2 auras that u wanna use.

Right now, you can (with minimal/no effort) run 3-4 auras on any non-BM build.

I think the goal is for someone who is running 4 auras to be playing an "Aura spec" where they have made sacrifices in one area in order to run those extra auras, rather than just running them because you're not using the mana anyway.

I think if they significantly decrease the cost of clarity (other auras go up), it could be a good change. We'll see.

we dont know how this will work out, but i also have my concerns. i hope they wont wreck overall balance for average chars or existing builds that simply need several auras to be playable or fun at all (and im talking about a simple, non-standard melee that uses - lets say - determination, grace, haste, hatred. take one and perhaps its compnsable. take two...).

but as said: lets wait what it brings and hope its well tested and thought-out.

oh, and to all the "then dont use auras"-nobrainers: well, i have a built that uses no skills at all. i like standing in town and blurting nonsense all day trough all available channels sometimes. perfect build for that, no skill or brain needed. (and if you cant refrain from this comments: builddetails, gear, current level or... gtfo? ;)

edit: it would be great though, if - in said example - it would be possible to drop 2 auras and use only 1 defensive and 1 offensive with the same effect... would make room for more curses/skills etc.

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FacetiousTomato wrote:

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inamory wrote:

with the changes announced, it seems like GGG wants us to think of an aura and make a build around that. it's the complete opposite of what people actually do at the moment. so u're gonna have to plan ur passives and your gear around the 1-2 auras that u wanna use.

Right now, you can (with minimal/no effort) run 3-4 auras on any non-BM build.

I think the goal is for someone who is running 4 auras to be playing an "Aura spec" where they have made sacrifices in one area in order to run those extra auras, rather than just running them because you're not using the mana anyway.

I think if they significantly decrease the cost of clarity (other auras go up), it could be a good change. We'll see.

well if you invest passives in aura nodes just to be able to run 3-4 auras, it sounds bad. i mean right now i already had to use passives in % mana nodes to run those 4 auras. i can't imagine going all the way to reduce mana reseved... it's so far away on the tree. to me an aura spec should be able to run 5-6 auras but 3-4 for all the points invested.

I'm usually the one who says "wait and see how it plays out when it's released" but I have to agree with the OP on this one. Auras working the way they do right now are just fine in my opinion.

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inamory wrote:

well if you invest passives in aura nodes just to be able to run 3-4 auras, it sounds bad. i mean right now i already had to use passives in % mana nodes to run those 4 auras. i can't imagine going all the way to reduce mana reseved... it's so far away on the tree. to me an aura spec should be able to run 5-6 auras but 3-4 for all the points invested.

3-4 auras would likely be the cap running them all on mana with no eldritch battery.

I imagine 5-6+ will still be possible as an aura spec running multiple auras off both life and mana.

Or think of it this way.
-most builds get 1-2 auras without investment
-for 3-4 auras, you need a few points in reservation nodes, or to do fancy things with EB or life
-for 5-6 auras, your whole character needs to be built around them

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FacetiousTomato wrote:

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inamory wrote:

well if you invest passives in aura nodes just to be able to run 3-4 auras, it sounds bad. i mean right now i already had to use passives in % mana nodes to run those 4 auras. i can't imagine going all the way to reduce mana reseved... it's so far away on the tree. to me an aura spec should be able to run 5-6 auras but 3-4 for all the points invested.

3-4 auras would likely be the cap running them all on mana with no eldritch battery.

I imagine 5-6+ will still be possible as an aura spec running multiple auras off both life and mana.

Or think of it this way.
-most builds get 1-2 auras without investment
-for 3-4 auras, you need a few points in reservation nodes, or to do fancy things with EB or life
-for 5-6 auras, your whole character needs to be built around them

well for 3-4 auras, those reservation nodes are scarce and all in the duelist/marauder area. unless significant passive tree changes are made, i can't see how a witch, shadow or ranger gets there without huge passive waste that's unrelated to their core build. so this goes back to my point of making a build based on aura rather than having the aura supplement your core build :/