Question about melee classes then and now.

[Yinzy]

So when ever I first started playing D3 when it first came out. I felt like it was close to impossible to play a melee class solo because the mobs would just 2 hit me. (as monk) Maybe I was doing something wrong but I believe that was a lot of peoples problems during that time when it first came out. So are the melee classes like monk able to do solo in higher difficulties? Are they a little more tankier than before?

[Lubricious]

In the beginning, you could be godlike until Inferno, and then you slammed into a brick wall like you described. With the current difficulty/builds, you can easily solo as melee so long as you balance your gear/stats/skills properly.

[Fencers]

Melee classes are are about the same as pre ROS. The only significant power jump for previous classes was Wizard- which is top tier in most respects.

Melee classes typically are more prone to death than ranged in relatively equal gear, because, melee. However, every class can solo the content regardless of the "danger" implicit of being in monster swipe range. So to speak.

[Coldkil]

Melee classes typically are more prone to death than ranged in relatively equal gear

I kinda disagree with that - the point is that every class has to focus on different gear to a degree. Yes, melees have an harder time to avoid things like Fire Chains and need to stay in melee with foes, but a more defensive playstyle makes things much easier - example Barbs with enough life regen are nearly unstoppable. Also it's worth to swap for a defensive cd or ability instead of going full offensive and dying more than necessary/unavoidable.

It's true anyway that a melee cannot do a "hit and run" tactic like a ranged character until it specs for that. Some of the affixes are really hell for melees, while a ranged can basically avoid all of them and the worst ones at at maximum really annoying but not real killers.

[Lubricious]

Things are only the same as pre-ROS if you are referring to the pre-ROS patch. Melee post the pre-expansion patch is nothing like melee in the early days of D3, as the OP was talking about. As it currently stands, a brand new melee character leveled all the way to 70 will not have to spend much time (if any) before going into Torment 1. This is a stark contrast from when a new melee going into inferno was instantly destroyed by some trash mobs, or any elite pack.

[Fencers]

I kinda disagree with that - the point is that every class has to focus on different gear to a degree. Yes, melees have an harder time to avoid things like Fire Chains and need to stay in melee with foes, but a more defensive playstyle makes things much easier - example Barbs with enough life regen are nearly unstoppable.

I may not be seeing your counterpoint. Gearing defensively actually doesn't mean like anything. You kinda just said as much.

Invariably, to be in melee puts a character at a higher risk of death. How one softens that risk is largely irrelevant if the dichotomy of the game is such that more defense means less offense (and vice-versa, of course).

I couldn't actually have the same damage set on my Barb as Demon Hunter and output comparable damage and survival. The game even artificially remedies this by having monks, barbs and crusaders receive less damage as default.

[Coldkil]

I just read "risk of dying" as "if i build the same playstyle on every class, melees are in a worst spot with survivability". To me risk of dying is only a thing that needs to be countered - the way to do so depends on what class i'm playing.

To me there's no "more risk of dying" but only "different degrees of optimization/efficiency".

But in the end it's only a different point of view and we're saying the same thing.

[Cyrops]

I feel like there are some glitches sometimes with various affixes.
My monk: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/c.../hero/23402280
Currently I have 1140ish all resists, that's abit over 75% damage reduction. I was previously farming T1, I could go several hours without dying, then suddenly I die in under 2s. I can face tank fire chains most of the time, then there are some champs that destroy me with a single chain, I don't know what is going on, really.

Anyway to OP's question, the melee plays VERY differently compared to launch vs now.

[Radio]

I feel like there are some glitches sometimes with various affixes.
My monk: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/c.../hero/23402280
Currently I have 1140ish all resists, that's abit over 75% damage reduction. I was previously farming T1, I could go several hours without dying, then suddenly I die in under 2s. I can face tank fire chains most of the time, then there are some champs that destroy me with a single chain, I don't know what is going on, really.

Anyway to OP's question, the melee plays VERY differently compared to launch vs now.

There are certain monster specific effects which synergise... annoyingly with affixes.

Biggest example are Succubi, the little fireball which they fire at you makes you take either 1.5x or 2x damage (someone correct me here) for 5 seconds.

[Cyrops]

There are certain monster specific effects which synergise... annoyingly with affixes.

Biggest example are Succubi, the little fireball which they fire at you makes you take either 1.5x or 2x damage (someone correct me here) for 5 seconds.

I know and I wasn't talking about that :X
I can track how many stuff I stand in :P

[Fencers]

I just read "risk of dying" as "if i build the same playstyle on every class, melees are in a worst spot with survivability". To me risk of dying is only a thing that needs to be countered - the way to do so depends on what class i'm playing.

To me there's no "more risk of dying" but only "different degrees of optimization/efficiency".

But in the end it's only a different point of view and we're saying the same thing.

Ah, I see. Yes, we are actually in agreement it seems then.

[Kazgrel]

It's infinitely more fun post 2.0 because you no longer have to go full on defense/prot/whatever in order to live long enough to kill things without having the difficulty on normal. I do not miss the early days of vanilla d3 at all (I had quit playing before the original ww barb builds started being viable).

[Bigbazz]

In terms of survival in high torment, it seems to be roughly along the lines of

Wizard/Barb/Monk/Crusader > DH/WD


There are differences of course, Wizard is the strongest class overall but with the type of gear that drops in ROS it's hard to really ballpark a whole class, there is a lot of "game changing" gear that can turn you from zero to hero.

[Captainn]

I feel like there are some glitches sometimes with various affixes.
My monk: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/c.../hero/23402280
Currently I have 1140ish all resists, that's abit over 75% damage reduction. I was previously farming T1, I could go several hours without dying, then suddenly I die in under 2s. I can face tank fire chains most of the time, then there are some champs that destroy me with a single chain, I don't know what is going on, really.

Anyway to OP's question, the melee plays VERY differently compared to launch vs now.

I hear you. The other day we were doing T2 rifts... Were having absolutely no problem, and then a frozen/poison enchanted Dark Moth champion pack literally steam rolled us with no warning. Like 1, 2, 3 death steam roll. RIP Hardcore characters. We were juuuust talking about going to T3 too since everything was so faceroll. I don't get it. haha