Looking for any good reviews for how the builds and classes actually play.
For example, I've played mid 50s firewall and ice shards sorc. Ice shards felt like I was always waiting for frost nova. Even with ice shield sharing the load I'd always end up with a handful of stragglers or an elite with 30% life left and I'd be waiting on mana for weak raw shard casts.
Firewall felt better because the waiting for mana could be done while hydras worked and I kited around the death zone. Stacking up dps and working bosses into the ranges I wanted was also a challenge and fun. However, sorc seems like it's destined to be waiting on mana or cooldowns.
Now, I worked a hammer barb into the 40s and I'm having a lot more fun. I'm in control of choosing the right targets to keep death strike rolling and the rotation for arms master is a challenge that yields better results. I'm in more control of the game essentially. A boss can't just walk out of my 10-firewall nova setup. Barb is just more engaging for me because -- while barb sure have cooldowns -- gameplay isn't tied to them.
Alternatively, I leveled a druid to 15 and it felt like a good loop was there for bear pulverize. I got taken out of it because bear couldn't beat a boss. Wolf did in the next try, and I liked the teleport aspect of the werewolf swipe, but not that I couldn't control when it teleports.
What do you all think? Anyone aware of reviews that approach the game this way, instead of regurgitated build guides?
I think that one of the most disappointing things about D4 is that it actively punishes you for wanting to try new things via high respec costs and gearing/aspect requirements. This is especially true at end game because there is no "Refund All" for paragon boards. Hence why (accurate) build guides are so important.
Another thing that makes theorycrafting difficult yourself is that due to all skills being %age based, it's much harder to plan out the math behind a build.
Finally, while it's relatively easy to try out different builds while you're leveling, the landscape of what is viable when you hit WT3/WT4 completely changes as Glyphs start generating more of your DPS/survivability than the skills in your previous build, which dramatically changes what your build may look like. This change at end-game is great for variety (leveling builds are different to end-game builds), but due to the aforementioned way that D4 punishes you for wanting to try new things, it makes it pretty difficult in WT4+ to play anything but the "meta" builds.
All that being said, the Dev update tomorrow mentioned that they'll be going over Season 1 details as well as a bunch of QoL changes that are upcoming. So my fingers are crossed for at least a "Refund all" for paragon boards, if not multiple "Spec"/Armory slots.
I think for the first two weeks I changed at least parts of my build every day. At level 100 this is much harder because you need more pieces if you want to go back and forth, but luckily my rogue build is so fun I am not wanting to change it.
Now I have rolled a barb alt and am once again just changing builds a lot, I don’t think the cost is that restrictive. At 90+ you can make ~500k per dungeon run. Which takes less than 10 mins.