Angry_School:
If we're talking about a BotD cb, I'm not sure I see how the IK set pieces would make it a lot easier to get to the frame; i mean, the gloves do add 25% when you get 3 pieces, and with the 60 on the weapon, you still need 63% to get to the last frame. Now, since you mentioned not using an IAS armor, that would mean you'd need to get 65% ias between your helm, shield, amulet, and possibly belt; if you used the IK helm, you'd have two sockets, so maybe 30% there, along with 20% from the amulet and 15 from stormshield. That would do it, but in that scenario, you're losing the bonuses from Arreat's Face. If you went gloves, belt, and boots, you'd miss it, since you'd have 25 from the gloves, 15 from the helm, 15 from the shield, leaving you 8% short, unless you popped another jewel in your armor, or instead went glove/boot/armor, leaving you the belt slot for goldwrap or siggard's. I'm not quite sure how you'd manage it, but I'm interested in knowing what you were meaning by it, as I'd like to have the knowledge.
I agree with you about them being worse in pvp than the whirlwind barb, and I've likewise been saying that all along. No offense on the "built before yours" thing
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Varg:
I don't argue with you because I know how stubborn you are in general
I remember the last time we argued over something (the ironskin vs. bash thing), it wasn't until we broke out the math proving that they were virtually identical (I believe it broke down to 7.78 opportunities to be hit per 1000 for ironskin, compared to 7.7 for bash?) that it ended. I even went so far as to alter the guide to reflect different tastes, as Longscar previously mentioned, so it's not right to say that I just lend a deaf ear to things I don't particularly agree with. Now, I'm not going to get into all of this in general, but I would like to point out a few things.
First off, I've never said that swords were worthless; I have a sword barb myself. Likewise, I wasn't saying the only reason you'd use one is for uniques, but was instead putting that up in response to the original poster's worries, since he was having a hard time finding a good weapon to use, and that is one of the bonuses swords have, that there are so many of them. That's why I said that, which you took way out of context as me meaning that was the ONLY good thing about them.
The reason I support axes for this build in particular is because you'll more often than not want to take advantage of a shield on a conc barb, and as we all agree, berserker axes are the best one-handers around. They have much lower requirements than the cb, which means more points for vitality, along with better damage in general. Then, as I mentioned in the original response to the poster, they do hit breakpoints a lot easier than cb's do. I wasn't referring to the 9th frame in particular, I was talking about ANY breakpoint. I mean, a BotD cb requires two outside items to even get to 10 frames (89%), while the berserker just needs one, so thus, it is easier to hit a decent frame rate in general with a berserker axe.
Now, I'm not saying swords arn't good. I love them for multi-class pvp whirlwind builds, since you can switch to two-hands against sorcs and such. They're great there, no argument. And they are a nice weapon in general. But like the others have mentioned, I just mean to tell people what's the best, and for a 1h barb, or a pvp barb that is just going to be fighting other melee classes, a berserker axe is better. Sure, it might just be a few hundred damage better, but that adds up, and since they get to frames easy, you can wear a better gear-spread overall.
I suppose I put down swords a lot for a few reasons: first of all, prior to the patch, the game has been very unfairly skewed towards them, what with the 3 chip recipe and all the nice uniques; and secondly, because the general tendency is for people to pick swords. I dunno what it is, if it's a masculinity thing based on what they look like, or what, but that's typically how it is. Now that 1.10 has come out and changed things around a lot, I think it's time for other weapons to shine, like axes and polearms, which are both better than swords in their respective categories. I havn't been overly biased against them though, as I virtually always mentioned the benefit a sword has in being able to switch between the two, though I have made sure to emphasize the fact that if you know whether you're going to be going perpetually two-handed or one-handed, there are better selections.
Now, as for all the mess about "credit" and "fame": I do realize I get a lot of praise thrown my way about this guide, and I'm very appreciative of it all. However, I have always been very humble about it, and, as you've mentioned, I've never taken credit for designing the build in general. It is true, I sat down and designed the build on my own a long time ago, and then posted it on request of board members following the patch, but I am very sure that others have done the same; the mathematical probability of it all is very high, what with the small amount of skills to choose between for the class.
However, since I am the first person to post a guide in this forum as to the construction of such a barb, it is understandable that some people will refer to it as "Hal's Build," which is in a sense accurate, if you think of it in terms of the build I used in my guide. I don't take credit for creating the conc barb whatsoever, and as I mentioned, I am positive that others have built barbs with the exact same skill layout; no one can take credit for skill distribution in general, since you can easily change one point, and it's an entirely different "build." Thus, when someone thanks me for the "build," I just think of it as they are thanking me for the writing the guide to designing a conc barb with that particular skill set-up.
I'm not blindly "accepting it with smiles," as you say, since I know what they really mean. If someone else had written a conc guide and posted it, it would've been referred to as their build instead. Hell, even I title builds based on who I know that wrote the guide; people just use it as a descriptive term for a certain set of skill to easily convey a message. For example, when I use my Meteorb sorcs, and people ask me what my build is (see, another instance where possession is attached to "build"), I usually say "I'm using Sasja's build," since that's the name of the first person to write a guide to the skill distribution I'm using.
While I'm on the topic, I want to point out that's why I titled the thread as I did, "Hal's 1.10 Conc Build Guide," since it's not a guide to every conc build out there, and I wasn't taking credit for the skills. It's a guide to a particular build of conc barb, and so I attempted to title it appropriately.
Credit isn't what's important though; it’s the fact that it's helping people. All and all, the guide has been viewed a good 60,000 times here in the forums, along with whatever hits it has gotten in the Compendium and Diablovodoupe (the czech site that asked permission to translate it for their readers). Now, I know that doesn't mean that that many people have actually used the build and such, but that's still a helluva lot of people who have gained some insight into the class. Hell, I'm really glad I wrote the damn thing on a personal level too, not because of all the attention it has garnered me over here, but rather because of all the people it has let me meet that I have made good friends with (even some irl who live in my state) like Oscar and Paulie, Ty, l2aider, DhR, and so many others, not to mention the mental security I've gained knowing that I can write something that will be enjoyed by the masses.
Anyways, that's about it. I'd like to think that the reason people give me a lot of attention around here is because I'm friendly and helpful, often available, and I try my best to help them out whether it be in the forum, via email, pm, or aim, or even in the game, not because of the guide. This was long winded and such, so I'm sorry about that. I don't know much about you in general Varg, and make no assumptions as to what you're like in real life, though based on the way you respond in the forums, can't you see why a lot of the previous posters have a rather poor opinion of you? I know you don't care what they think and all, but I'm supposing that's why they have the impression they do of you.
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Anyhoo, let’s try and let this go guys, people come to this thread for help. I’ve dispatched a notice to Zoso, asking him to come delete the last page or so of posts, ridding the forum of this ugliness and letting us get back to business.
-Hal
edit: I forgot a period.
My disagreement is with those very few who will likely not even partake in this discussion so everyone talking about credit and praise when that is the sole point I have is rather...pointless.
