Originally Posted by
Lysah
I don't think it's possible to balance melee and ranged. It's simple fact that the ranged can do damage without taking any if they play conservatively enough, and there is nothing melee can do about that.
In short, that's why I believe they gave barbarians and monks so many options for healing. However, it is also simple fact that every rune/ability you take for healing is one less you take for damage.
Here's probably something along the lines of what I will do when I'm forced to play alone. Optional abilities are Ruthless passive and Revenge active, the rest is pretty much set right now. Of course, I'd probably hit up town and change builds to a much more single target build before I engaged bosses, mix/maxing and all that. Don't take the risk of going in with a less than perfect build playing the hardest difficulty on hardcore.