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  1. #1

    (Opinion) Fundamental problems with Witch Doctor class.

    Hey everyone. First, I would like to start off by saying that this is all purely opinion and is not intended to make anyone upset or start a war. Alright so... Witch Doctor. My personal opinion is that I wish Witch Doctor was two separate classes instead of this weird hybrid. Necromancer and Witch Doctor. The current Witch Doctor pets feel worthless. They die instantly and have no real utility. I would have rather had a class completely dedicated to pets so that they would actually feel useful... Necromancer. The Witch Doctor class would then be a DoT based class with bonus support abilities. I would have liked another class with a heal instead of just monk. I personally don't really like melee, and Witch Doctor seemed like it would fit the role of ranged support... but it doesn't feel that way to me.

    Now, if you like the Witch Doctor class as is, that is great and I really am happy you enjoy it! I don't mean to take any enjoyment away, just stating how I feel.

    Any opinions on this?

  2. #2
    Epic! Xothic's Avatar
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    People play witch doctor?
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  3. #3
    Man, all I remember happening on my necro was my skeletons dying constantly, and not having any corpses around.
    Once you go troll, you never reroll. -heard on cynicalbrit.com. Epic.

  4. #4
    They could fix that is what I'm saying. Having pets that are completely worthless feels really bad. I'd rather be full support then have these crappy pets taking up slots that could have been new abilities.

  5. #5
    Remember in D2 when the blood golem was bugged, and with it out + iron maiden meant a pet that never died(along with the necro?) The problem with pets is you have so many of them, and if they made them tougher, then basically you can solo inferno while in group with no fear.

    I gave up my necromancer too cause it's too weak. I went the summoning route and basically it was useless in a group. This inherently is the problem in games like these I guess.

  6. #6
    bump for opinions

    Mod Edit: Please don't bump threads.
    Last edited by mmoc99cfbcce04; 2012-05-26 at 07:23 AM.

  7. #7
    Pets scale with Vitality, armor and your resists; try stacking those. I'm not sure if it's enough to save them on Inferno (I highly doubt it), but before that, I know it helps considerably.

    Pets are very difficult to balance in games like this.

  8. #8
    The Lightbringer fengosa's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Caiada View Post
    Pets scale with Vitality, armor and your resists; try stacking those. I'm not sure if it's enough to save them on Inferno (I highly doubt it), but before that, I know it helps considerably.

    Pets are very difficult to balance in games like this.
    This. Pets suffer from the same scaling as barb/monks do later in the game. To have a viable pet centric build you're going to need gear but since a ranged/kiting build lets you spec more for damage and less for survivability it's better for people who want to progress quickly.

  9. #9
    I don't know about gear, but I'm currently playing through hell, and my gear is fine, but the zombie dogs die INSTANTLY. No matter what I do with spec/items. The big dude can live a bit longer, but he goes down pretty fast too. So I've pretty much given up on pets, and I use a different build.

    As for other things about the witch doctor, I really wish they'd fix the mana issue. It takes FOREVER to get some mana.(and nerf the 300% thingy)

    Also, the spirit walk thing doesn't always work as intended, so I've died a lot of times because its duration didn't go the entire way.

    Soul harvest is amazing tho' :P

  10. #10
    The zombie dogs are aweful atm . . . why are you using them? There are several perfectly viable wd builds with no pets at all, or just the big shambling horror.
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  11. #11
    Just rushed Act 1 NM and part of Act 2 on my WD alt in 2 hours while using boom-dogs build. It is really cool for leveling: basically, you rarely run out of dogs and if you do, it is for 30 secs max. And each one explode for 2500-3000 in 12 y radius, and you have 4 of them. And they ress/spawn from the dead enemies like crazy. Most bosses and elite/champ packs live about 5 secs. Just get a good weapon and some +pickup items (I have +32y bonus) and you are all set. Bet it isn't viable on Inferno, but now it is really, really fun and effective build to play.

    Upd. Ah, also they spawn plenty of health globes, really handy with such huge pickup radius.
    Last edited by Mithfin; 2012-05-25 at 05:25 AM.

  12. #12
    I like WD... I just wish it was either or instead of meh at both.

    ---------- Post added 2012-05-25 at 02:45 AM ----------

    Also, mana costs are too high right now.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Afflictid View Post
    bump for opinions
    My honest opinion about Witch Doctor pets?

    Blizzard: Here are all these cool skills guys! They are all viable skills!. You can build your character how ever you want! Trillions of skill combinations! These are great skills!!!

    *Trollface*

  14. #14
    The Insane Glorious Leader's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Duskmourne View Post
    My honest opinion about Witch Doctor pets?

    Blizzard: Here are all these cool skills guys! They are all viable skills!. You can build your character how ever you want! Trillions of skill combinations! These are great skills!!!

    *Trollface*
    And it's one of the most disappointing things so far. They're probably not to happy with the idea of a pet centric build because it's maybe a bit to passive I guess. At the same time if that were the case why bother having pets then? It's frustrating because as much as I like the WD I'm hesitant to push higher content because I know I'm gonna be pigeonhold into using specific runes and abilities.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Atrahasis View Post
    And it's one of the most disappointing things so far. They're probably not to happy with the idea of a pet centric build because it's maybe a bit to passive I guess. At the same time if that were the case why bother having pets then? It's frustrating because as much as I like the WD I'm hesitant to push higher content because I know I'm gonna be pigeonhold into using specific runes and abilities.
    I agree that it is disappointing. But it seems like anyone wanting to do inferno is very limited in viable builds. I thought what Duskmourne was hinting at was pretty funny too. They sell the new feature as providing all these combinations but yet most of them aren't viable.

  16. #16
    I can not express my dissapointment when i got my first char (WD) to 60 and hit inferno only to find I was truely usless. Managed to grind my way through to act 2 and gathered up 30k dps in my current gear, just farming skele king with max neph buff hoping to get some decent bits to sell and eventually buy some gear which has both damage/survivability on it.

    My current strat is to go mana build, high attack speed and try blow stuff up with zombie bears before i die and my cheat death wears out, using pets to take a few extra hits in the process.

  17. #17
    I am Murloc! Cairhiin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by oplawlz View Post
    The zombie dogs are aweful atm . . . why are you using them? There are several perfectly viable wd builds with no pets at all, or just the big shambling horror.
    The big shambling horror aka Gargantuan is also useless in inferno. The first zombie you see kills it in 3 hits. A normal zombie.

  18. #18
    High Overlord afhald's Avatar
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    i'm using pets only to have 2 skills in cooldown to keep have the passive +300% mana regen still active and in inferno they die instantly..

  19. #19
    Deleted
    like the class allot, it is a class canon. but man mana problems 24/7 ... :S

  20. #20
    Deleted
    The sole reason I am not playing Diablo 3 anymore is because of my disappointment with the witch doctor class. You are pretty much useless in a solo setting and once Barbarians and monks get enough defensive gear they will be able to solo further than you.

    My main issues with the witch doctor class:

    - Poor semi pet focus class
    - Defensive abilities too heavily focus on CC and not character survivability
    - Far too many short ranged attacks
    - Far too high mana cost unless you focus your entire skill box around having 4 abilities on cooldown.

    With lower mana cost on grasp of death (or spells in general), better pet tanking or more than 1 survivability spell, Witch doctors would be so much better at soloing. As it stands now if any monsters have the ability to surpass your grasp of death you are pretty much dead in between the 10-12 seconds your spirit walk is on cooldown.

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