 | Just for additional context, i also did Standard Legendary with on-lvl gear. because BST tickles my brain like that. so Beastmaster has had some hype along the way. it's a long-requested job, and especially being a pet job to fill the void that old SMN left behind. but many are not quite satisfied with it, whether it be due to being such a slow job, or Crucible just not being their style. and right off the bat is what's wrong with BST - it is 100% intended to play in Crucible and pretty much nowhere else. it's easy to see why people would be so whelmed by BST outside it. pets are kinda whatever, aoe control with treant/chimera/buffalo is novel for a while but thats all it is, and it has a distinct lack of BLU's versatility in roles (though it should be noted this only happened for BLU at lvl 60, from Aetherial Mimicry!) or sheer deletion power. now, to the Crucible. this place is an... attempt at a roguelike, but with set paths and enemies, with the RNG instead being relegated to gear drops and whatnot. every enemy node is either a test of skill, patience, or sheer tenacity, with gear (and pet choice, later) playing into which of those three youre gonna need the most of. it sounds scary, and ive seen and read so many players give up BST or just get to 50 without every touching the place. Crucible, however, is required job story content. it makes sense WHY in-story, but i can understand why this requirement is a turn off for the job. now, with all that being said, i definitely found Crucible fun. it felt great getting Legendaries on clears and actually solving the fights in a way i was comfy with. however, it is not easy and oftentimes not even simple. but it felt rewarding. my only issue with Standard Legendary is that it sets the wrong expectations for the later boards. see, because of the pointing system, you dont have a choice but to take only 3 beasts of the same type, which limits your choices and creativity in problem solving the fights. which, ironically, makes "just clearing" runs for the boards a better lesson as you step into degrees. ah, degrees. these add an hp and dmg multiplier on enemies, the exacts of which varies per enemy. first degree (henceforth D1) is what we call a "cheat code" for getting legendaries - it's 4.5k points in exchange for tankier enemies who hit slightly harder than standard. i 100% recommend you to just do Legendaries on this difficulty - it sets your mentality up for D3 grinding later. D2 is... an odd sheep. it rewards nothing, in exchange you... get some practice on new mechanics you may not have seen instead..? i guess. i dont see the point, because D3 is the true endgame of Beastmaster. enemies on D3 hit way, way harder and have way more hp (highest i know is a straight up x3.1 hp multiplier lol). this... is not as bad as it sounds for MOST enemies - if anything D3 finally allows BSTs to truly experiment with gear and pets (because legendaries on standard or even d1 means youre not feeding your pets!). i actually think many bosses are elevated at this level, with my particular favorites being Flauros (DDR baby!), Ymir and Sahagin (a great lesson on learning your burst) and Strix (another great lesson for learning that holy shit, Borrow actually matters). the fights begin to show themselves to their full extent, and I began to appreciate the way theyre designed (even if some are direct ports of old fights lol - hello there rafflesia), and started having fun. a lot of enemies that i started thinking "man, these deal too much damage", i found eventual solutions to (Gargoyle becomes a lot simpler with a blink tome, Coblyn and Quelling Wave borrow!), and most of the time i was satisfied with said solutions. HOWEVER, there are some enemies that are just... lets just say annoying. theyd have lots of hard hitting unavoidables, hard hitting autos, or mechanics that just go "oh you dont have X item? say byebye!". not gonna spoil which ones, but they exist, and they were my absolute banes on D3. overall though, D3 was what made me appreciate BST very much. and that is also a problem. yes, D3 is when your creativity or optimization becomes rewarded for picking certain beasts. which, yknow, is the whole thing with BST. but D3 isnt something many people are doing right now, let alone clearing - but it's the place where many of their complaints are addressed. long rotations? we have long fights. parting blow is just a nuke to use asap? hell no, not on D3! mitigation is pointless? heh, i really wish it was. many beasts i used to dismiss on Standard became my absolute MVPs, like Pugil, Puk, Cobra and Drake. but it's a steep barrier of entry. now normally steep barriers of entry isnt really a knock against content. but when the heart, soul and full skill expression of the job is locked behind high difficulty SOLO content, it really becomes understandable why BST ended up missing for many, many players. but i can assure you, if you give BST an honesty try and do Legendaries and D3s, youll see that it's actually a really well made, well balanced job. so what can be done? frankly, no clue. theres a TINY amount of players who have even done D3 - should balancing be done around that kinda playerbase? theres like, maybe 400 D3 clearers total (atm, 377 on lalachievements, with some disparity based on private profiles), and most of the ones i know of still have beef with D3. maybe theyll have to gut the content to make it accessible, but id rather not have that. but they need to find a way to showcase BST's strengths on lower difficulty content rather than having it be behind D3. tldr; BST fun, Crucible fun, D3 can be hard, but that's where BST shines the most as a job. i hope players give it another go, because i havvent been this obssessed with a job since i was a new player stumbling along with Black Mage in 2.0, and i want others to sincerely like BST as well. submitted by /u/Blazen_Fury [link] [comments] |
Continue reading...