And wizard damage is determined by main weapon, and wands have no innate advantage other than whatever stats they have?
That's correct. Type of weapon doesn't mean much. I've been running my wizard with a dagger because it's the best weapon I have. Kind of weird for a wizard to fight with a dagger, but it's irrelevant in this game.
Harry Potter disapproves of Diablo III. Real wizards know a fitting wand is the most important thing. If Harry had a cheap wand or possibly a dagger he would've never fought Voldemort. Remember this one time where they have this epic fight and their wands kinda synchronize and Harry only escapes because of this? Diablo III makers must've been on crack for not thinking this through.
While I would probably agree with that, I think it's necessary for some. At least in diablo 2, some builds had very slow starts, and you needed some twinking to alleviate some of the inherent early game problems (for casters this would be mana and squishiness). I'm playing through pretty slowly, middle of act 2 with a demon hunter. But if I didn't buy a semi-suitable weapon off AH, I would have still been rolling with a lvl 8 requirement weapon when I'm already 16, and taking down blue hordes were painfully slow. Or I would have to buy something expensive off the merchants because no good bows were dropping and wearing all your best magic find could really kill your survivability. That video's a bit discouraging though. I'm tired of playing glass cannons that can be one shotted to death, but that seems like itd be inevitable for everyone in hell/inferno.
I've got you beat. My Witch Doctor is currently using a big 2-handed broadsword that has about 185 dps and +100 intelligence. He looks really, really goofy, but the stats are there.
Although I still didn't use the AH at all, I can confirm that the Demon Hunter was the toughest character for me on Normal difficulty. My equipment wasn't that great, and low-level DH abilities can struggle with crowd control when you're soloing (as I was). I actually had to have a friend with a Barb help me beat Diablo. I mean, this was Normal mode. I didn't have a problem at any point in Normal with any other my other characters. But then I hit Nightmare, found some amazing bows, and got some great abilities, particularly the half-cost rune for multi-shot, and now I just own crowds. DH is probably my best character now. FWIW: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#QchYTV!beY!abbaZZ I really love this build. When I get to Inferno I'm sure I'll be in trouble and will need to get more dodgy, but for now I'm pretty much just mowing everything down before they can even get near me.
Just did my second Normal play-through with a Monk (my first was with a Wizard). I didn't die a single time and got some nifty challenge achievements along the way (e.g. finish act 4 in under an hour). In fact, so far in Nightmare, I haven't died. Monks are pretty badass, I gotta say.
I'm only doing 1k DPS as a level 38 Monk in Nightmare. I'm trying to gem my loot as quickly as possible, but it takes too long to find gems.
I bought most my gems, up to the squares. Past that it gets pricy. I got a 52Monk... I can't remember what dmg he does. He really needs new equipt tho.
That's OK for level 38. My 45 Monk's "damage" rating is 1300 or so. I haven't died yet in Nightmare and I'm on Act 3... closest call was some Fire Chain / Vortex mobs. **** that combo.
I just don't want to feel like I'm dragging groups down. I don't know what DPS other players are doing but I just hope mine is enough to not look like a noob. :grin:
I think you're probably all right for level 38. DPS starts to trend upwards very quickly as you approach the level cap. Around level 50, my witch doctor did about 1500 DPS. Now at level 58, he does about 6000.
I haven't been getting good drops lately, and the ones that are good aren't for my class lol. I've been making a killing on the AH though. People will pay good money for loot they could probably find within like fifteen minutes lol. The great thing about the Monk is the passive ability that allows 100% of your dexterity to add onto your armor. If not for that, my Monk would probably get one-shotted all the time.
You need to make sure you're taking advantage of the Auction House on both ends. Save up for it and buy yourself some nice things. At your level, you should be able to deck yourself out pretty solidly for not much more than about 50k.
I bought some items from the AH to raise my DPS and Dex by a good chunk, but the really good items cost like 300,000-1,000,000 gold! Lol.
Use the price filter at the bottom. If you set a max price of, like, 20,000 or 30,000, you'll be surpriseds and what you can get. Without that, the AH really sorts it by price almost, so you see the ridiculously expensive junk at the top.
Wow. The AH just got me some killer items. I just upped my DPS from 1k to 2.3k and spent only 10k gold. :grin: Thanks to my high crit modifier I do 5k crit too. Yay!
Maybe I should visit the AH. I have some crappy armor and I'm actually having to run in Normal mode. :grin:
