As I mentioned, I ended up spending most of yesterday playing Diablo 4 in checking out the new Season 7. Since I played on the PTR, my enthusiasm probably wasn’t as high as previous seasons but I wanted to at least give the Season 7 a start and see how far I could progress. I ended up choosing a Companion Druid of all things because I was already familiar with a similar build and tried it on the PTR with a good deal of success. Other builds from what I read seemed bugged out whereas Companion Druid sounds fairly strong at low levels.
For the most part, I’ve been playing on Normal difficulty just because I was having issues accumulating the Aspects I needed. Before I talk about the Season 7 and Companion Druid build, I wanted to point out that at the moment the pool of Aspects is getting ridiculous. It’s similar to how Diablo 3 has a bunch of worthless Legendary items whose purpose only serves as Forgotten Souls. The chief difference is that Forgotten Souls in Diablo 3 feel more impactful than when you shred a worthless Legendary with a useless Aspect in Diablo 4. So at some point, I really hope that the number of Aspects either get cleansed or consolidated together a bit more.
Next, when I first tried out the PTR, I found myself confused by the Season 7 mechanics. It took some time for me to understand how each of the mini quest in those zones operated. Luckily, the mechanics now are better defined and move fairly quickly. I heard a few might bug out but there’s enough of these areas and quests to not worry about so much. There is a little bit of FOMO in the way the mechanics work especially when someone spawns a mini boss in the zone. There’s a natural instinct to help with the fight since those bosses produce good rewards. But I think it’s better just to keep moving at your own pace because of the sheer frequency of these events happening.
My main complaint, which is ironic and one shared by others on the reddit forum, is that the amount of loot produced in these zones is absurd. I’m not complaining about increased loot since the last season mechanic produced almost nothing. But the loot in these new headless hunt zones become problematic due to screen clutter. I frequently have to stop and drop items that I pick up on accident while sifting through the most important stuff. While some people argue that a loot filter would help the game, I think the better solution is just to keep these items as materials. Besides, I thought that’s what higher difficulties was supposed to do.
Along the way, I did a bunch of strongholds to help with the reputation grind as well as leveling process. The witch zones are probably far better for leveling but I hate going backwards and doing strongholds at higher levels just because they feel tedious. The only strongholds that haven’t been cleared out are in the new expansion zone. I probably will do at least two, one of which has a waypoint which is always useful. The other will be for the potential legion event.
There is the season journey that I read is more grindy than usual. I’ve been pecking at it and unlocked a few levels. I’ll probably do more once I complete more lower level objectives. My current objective is to get more currency to level up my witching powers since those scale quite nicely and have key effects unlocked at higher levels. There’s also the season pass portion with the bonuses but it’s really just a lot to handle since those witching zones are pretty immersive once you start.
As far as the companion druid goes, I think without the witching powers it would suffer greatly from lack of AoE attacks. It’s still not S-tier but with the witching powers combined with the fixes (namely just giving minions a summoning type of tag across the board and sharing values with the player) the companion druid feels fairly strong. I don’t think it’ll do well in stuff like high level Pits and probably terrible in Inferno Hordes but at least with bossing, it should be really good. The gear requirements aren’t that bad to be honest with only one Uber unique that could help propel it to the top and two uniques that make the build really come online. The one key runeword involves a magic rune that is easy to acquire. So it’s not that bad as a starter build.
Unfortunately, I did not see what I was hoping would become a thing which is Hurricane doggos. There is the new Aspect that gives Wolves your Hurricane ability in mini form but there hasn’t been a single person that has put together a build for this. I think it’s more of a problem of trying to do too much. While the idea is a novel one, adding Hurricane without focusing on getting nature damage up makes the Aspect more of a nice-to-have while you’re leveling as opposed to something that deserves to be part of the core build. It’s a real shame because the concept on paper sounds good just in practice I don’t think it does much except add to the useless pool of Aspects that keep growing out of control each season.
The build that everyone is talking about for Druids though is Catacylsm. This one does sound good for Inferno Hordes. I might transition my current build towards Cataclysm if I can make decent progress with it. But it might be better for stuff like AoE and farming. Also, outside of one Mythic unique, the rest of the gear doesn’t look hard to obtain. At least with Companion Druid, I could easily farm up Tormented/Ladder bosses for potential Mythics along with the required uniques then swap once I get those pieces.
Of course, I am bummed that Companion Druid isn’t as strong as I would like it to be. I still want to play it a bit but I ended up stopping last night since I got bored before hitting level 60. I thought about HotA + Earthquake since that looked to be the strongest but there was bug (that incidentally got fixed today) which caused one of the unique not to work. However, I’ll probably continue with my Druid until I hit a wall. Also, I need to farm up more gear particularly runes and mythics before I’d consider transition to a new class this early.
Truthfully, I wanted to finish up Wizardry 6 since I was on a roll. I thought about going down to the Mines which has a little fountain that regenerates a bunch of important stats and just grinding for long periods until my party hit level 10-11. I think I have more fun doing that than playing Diablo 4 at the moment. Part of the problem with Diablo 4 for me is that none of my friends play it. It’s kind of a dead game. Without any enthusiasm from people, it’s hard to play the same game over and over again. Yes, I’ve played Wizardry 6 ages ago AND beat it but that was decades ago so I’ve forgotten all that whereas Diablo 4, while being fresh with a new season and tons of QoL, feels like the same old, same old. Last season was fine just because I had a great character that I could work with. Right now, I don’t get the same feeling.
That said, I have felt more enthusiasm for Wizardry 6 mostly because I enjoy the meaningful progress. It is a painfully slow game in terms of progression and you do need to grind for hours and days to get where you need to be. But when you hit that next level and get the right bonus points, it does feel rewarding. Since I have a party of level 9 characters, I thought about what the next two levels would look like per character.
First, a little background. I’m trying to get around 10+ skill points per level. Because a few characters had died along the way, there are small gaps where I can focus level on certain characters. That means, if I’m close to a level, I can save and go back and forth to try and obtain the right amount of attribute and skill point bonuses.
- Samurai – The goal here is to get Thaumaturgy up to where I can cast level 4 spells. I want him to eventually get Iceball but I want to also get spells that help buff the party. It might take 2 levels before I can hit that next spell casting level so in between then, I think I’ll try to grab Magic Missile for group-wide attacks (and to increase his magic school spell pool) and one other spell if I don’t have enough points in Thaumaturgy. Or I might try for Fire Shield as Fireball spells can be nasty against my party. But Magic Missile is definitely a must as I need to start building up magic school spell points as later on I’m going to need Magic Screen as a permanent buff. If I can get 10+ points per level, I will spend at least 1 per level on Kirijitsu. That little amount can make a massive impact in any fight.
- Monk – I really need to build up her Mental spell pool more than anything after learning Psionic Blast recently. I might just pick up Cure Lessonr Cnd or Divine Trap. I think she also has some Earth based spells but only Armormelt is left for her to grab. Cure Paralysis would be good but I’d prefer her to have more Mental spells overall. The only 5th spell level spell is Death and I think it’s weak so I might make that a “nice-to-have” once I hit that spell level of Theosophy. The only really useful spell from here on out is Mind Flay but that’s ways away. Lifesteal would be better in rare instances where there’s no other choices. And like my Samurai, any additional skill points when I receive a full 10+ would go to Kirijitsu.
- Ninja – I’ve honestly been having a tough time getting good skill points for him. I read that higher Intelligence helps so I might have to do a few resets before leveling. Unfortunately, he shares gaining levels at the same time as my Bishop. So I need to be judicious when I reload. That said, I’ve been allocating more points into Alchemy and skipped Skulduggery last time on accident. Usually, I try to add 2-3 points into Skulduggery but I gain so little points that it’s not worth it. Also, if I’m purely grinding out experience, Alchemy and Kirijitsu end up having a far higher value. That said, unless I start gaining massive amounts of bonus skill points, I doubt that I’ll be able to obtain spell level 3 of power. That means, my immediate choices for spells will be really limited. At least for level 10, I probably will pick up Itching Skin or Cure Lessor Cnd. Mental spells really aren’t an Alchemist’s specialty but with little other choices, then being a utility caster isn’t so bad.
- Bishop 1 – I originally planned to split my Bishops up in terms of focus at this stage. I think I might have this one focus more on Thaumaturgy to try and grab Iceball as soon as possible. This Bishop is my last leveler as she hit an untimely death that I felt wasn’t worth restarting the game. The only side benefit is that I can put more emphasis on when she levels which makes the experience more discretionary. If the next spell category is Mage, then I’ll probably pick up Stink Bomb to continue building up her Air school spell pool. Then when she swaps back to Theology/Priest spells, I’ll probably grab either Armorplate, Enchanted Blade or Silence.
- Bishop 2 – Since she levels in parallel with my Ninja, I have to be judici0us in choosing to permanently allow her to accept that level. That said, I think I just need a single point in Thaumaturgy for the Fireball spell. The rest will go into Theology to make her my primary healer. Definitely, her next Mage spell will be Fireball and I will try to get her enough Theology to obtain Cure Poison.
Around level 10-11, people say that one should consider swapping professions. I read how parties can hit the River Styx around this level and that’s roughly around when you want to change professions. In the past, due to my unfortunate blockage, I had to compensate in grinding in that one Enchanted Forest zone for weeks until I got a cluebook. Because of that experience, I realized that leveling in that zone was much more fun than progressing the game and I ended up getting to a whacky high level with multiple professions and all spell schools before touching the real end game. So I might continue on a similar path if I can determine I’m able to handle that particular area.
To get there, I’m thinking of just going to that one zone in the mines with the fountain and sitting n spinning until I get to at least level 10. From there, I’ll give that Enchanted Forest a second try. That said, no matter what I need to figure out how I want to swap professions. The goals here will be to give each character the invaluable Ninjitsu skill, Kirijitsu and a new spell school. Some of these might not happen from day 1 so I might have to figure out a compromise as I see myself changing profession at least twice in this game. Given my characters, here’s my thought process:
- Samurai – Ninja would seem like the logical choice but I do have a little freedom here. The problem becomes party slots 4-6 where you’re required to have either ranged weapons or an “extended” weapon like a polearm to fight from the rear. The Lord is another good choice but then I would miss out of Ninjitsu. One other idea is to make my Samurai a Ranger. I would still be able to use Ninjitsu as well as gaining the invaluable Alchemy spell school but not have to deal with the high experience requirements of a Ninja as well as be able to attack further back. The only downside to playing a Ranger is that I would be forced to deal with ammo so that is a major thing to consider.
- Monk – Valkyrie. Given both my Monk and Valkyries are female, they would make for an excellent swap not just in classes but party order position. My Monk is already filling the role of a tertiary healer/utility class with an emphasis on mental conditions and low healing during combat. So this would nicely overlap and only require my new Valkyrie to build up her Polearm skill, which is trainable, and focus all skill points on Theology. Hopefully, by this point, I’ll have an Oratory of 20-30+ which will make casting much easier.
- Ninja – Since my Ninja has a lot of good core skills in play, the most logical choice would be to switch him to a Bishop. Part of the profession swap is to move the physical party members around as well as gain skills in a reasonably efficient manner in the new profession. In swapping to a Bishop, I will already have a decently built up Fire, Air and Earth schools of magic which should make leveling up the new profession that much easier. But I would like to obtain some of the high level alchemy spells before changing.
- Valkyrie – Monk. Again, the class swap makes a lot of sense here in shifting these two around. Originally, I thought about swapping my Samurai and Valkyrie where my Valkyrie becomes a Samurai while my Samurai becomes a Lord. It’s still possible but Ninjitsu becomes the most important skill for the final fights and it’s better to train that up early on. The other option would have been to turn my Valykrie into a Bard which would give her both Music and Ninjitsu as well as Thaumaturgy but in all honesty, Bards are far better for starting parties than mid to late stage parties. Also, getting at least one point Kirijitsu is imperative. If I do swap my Valkyrie into a Bard, I could reposition her into the rear but that does mean I’ll have to do more profession swaps earlier than I may want.
- Bishop 1 – Ninja. At least one Bishop will move into the melee spot and swap gear. Also, I should have very good spells by this point and mostly would need Ninjitsu, Kirijitsu and one melee skill (Hands & Feet). With the high attribute requirements of a Ninja, the fall to level 1 won’t be as impact compared to a bland fighter for instance.
- Bishop 2 – If I do switch my Monk into a Valkyrie and my Valkyrie into a Bard, then Bishop 2 will become a Monk to start gaining Psionic spells on top of becoming another melee character. In all likelihood, moving my two Bishops into melee to replace my Monk and Ninja makes more sense than my Valkyrie becoming a Monk. If I do a three profession swap, then I can always swap my first Valkyrie into a Ninja.
So here’s what I’m thinking the 1st profession swap will look like (in order):
- Valkyrie -> Bard. I move her to the rear (5th) slot. She won’t need Kirijitsu right away but does level up fast and gain Mage spells very fast as well as become a utility class through Music.
- Samurai -> Ranger. Allows me to move him into the 4th slot and use ranged weapons as well as gain Ninjitsu and Alchemy. Like a Bard, Rangers advance fairly fast so all spells will go into Alchemy and I’ll be hiding in shadows most of the time.
- Monk -> Lord. I could go for Valkyrie but the minimum requirements to become a Lord is much higher which means that I won’t lose as many attributes swapping professions compared to a Valkyrie. I’ll still be able to use all my Valkyrie armor and probably have a better weapon which makes my Monk a great #1 slot.
- Bishop #2 -> Monk. I probably will swap my Monk and Bishop #2 at the same time. I cannot afford to lose a tank class. But the Lord will give some buffer.
- Bishop #1 -> Ninja. Again, I’ll do this when I swap my other Ninja. But I will need three melee fighters. Bard can do okay with enough hit points but it won’t be easy for a while.
- Ninja -> Bishop. I can delay this part because I think it’s easier to swap my Bishop to a ninja than lose that #3 melee slot. Usually, around level 3-5, I think these classes will be enough where the new order becomes doable.
With that in mind, the 1st class swap final party order might look like:
- Lord
- Monk
- Ninja
- Ranger
- Bard
- Bishop
Then to move to a 2nd profession swap, I’ll have more freedom by this point since everyone ought to have their Ninjitsu built up as well as their spell school points at a high level. So that party might go:
- Lord -> Ranger. Takes over my Ranger’s spot and gains Alchemy spells and quick level. Alternatively, I could just swap to Ninja. Still missing Mage school though.
- Monk -> Ninja. Probably last class swap for this character. Will have access to all schools and is only missing Alchemy. But in swapping to a Ninja, I have a high attribute requirement and won’t drop too many points
- Ninja -> Monk. I could swap to Psionicist but the attribute drop won’t make it worth it.
- Ranger -> Lord. Only missing Psionic school. Debatable whether to do one more class swap for spell school completion. Lord is very strong on its own as a class for end game
- Bard -> ? Samurai would’ve been logical here to get the gear back and Kirijitsu but lacking in variety of spell schools. Real question is whether those additional two spell schools are worth it at this point compared to the Samurai gear. If I go to a Samurai, I’d make this person #1 in line. That would force the new Lord to move to the 4th slot and use polearms or spells.
- Bishop -> ? Same dilemma.
Conclusively, it would seem that doing anymore than 2 profession changes would feel wasteful outside of getting back to where one started (I think that’s what i did). It is nice having all schools of spells per character but outside of the big bugged AoE ones, there’s not really significant of a difference overall to make it worth grabbing. The only things you really need are ensuring the first three slots have solid melee and the last three can attack somehow with one being ranged or extended weapons use. However, I do believe getting Ninjitsu and Kirijitsu by all characters is imperative because you can hide for multiple rounds of combat which trivializes all the boss fights. Also, if you get Kirijitsu on a ranged class like a Ranger, then combined with Hide in Shadows, you pretty much should be instant gibbing most nasties that are hidden in the rear.