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[aliencowz7]

Where's the best place to farm for experience at the moment?

As far as I know spamming act 3 boss is the best exp on any difficulty at any level right now for pure exp. both the kill and quests after him give large sums of total experience and you can just keep resetting it for runs that take very little time.

 

[scy]

Where's the best place to farm for experience at the moment?

Absolute best EXP for time invested? Find the easiest quests to repeat and do that (Act 1 Wortham, Act 2 Second-to-last Boss, Act 3 Final Boss, none of the Act 4 ones are better than the Act 3 one).

If you want to kill things, just probably the last dungeon of the Act. Or any other location with super high mob density (Act 3's Keep has a lot of this).

 

[Noirulus]

ah i dont know how you do vault man. I had to abandon it in favor of SS once I got to NM.
it's delay is just killer. not sure if new SS/tactical or vault will have the edge, havent tried sentries yet.

When I can get my technical problems fixed, I'll give something else a go. Maybe Preparation/Smoke Screen instead of Vault/Shadow Power?

As for Sentry, I just randomly had it on. I haven't put the other skills in the Devices section to much use.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

Can't imagine the millions of cries from ALL classes players when Blizzard nerfs/ boosts dozens of skills over the next year.

 

[Koroviev]

Can't imagine the millions of cries from ALL classes players when Blizzard nerfs/ boosts dozens of skills over the next year.

It's okay, popcorn is cheap.

 

[Deadly]

Probably. I played at launch for a few years and I remember all sorts of awful and patch changing classes drastically (my launch Corpse Explosion Necro cries to this day).

Yeah I remember the necro being really strong during launch. Corpse explosion, bone spear, bone spirit... And then it was all nerfed shortly after.

 

[aliencowz7]

Can't imagine the millions of cries from ALL classes players when Blizzard nerfs/ boosts dozens of skills over the next year.

I think at this point class balance is pretty close to being good enough to let be for a while. Melee needs a little buffing but aside from that they really just need to nerf infernos difficulty level.

It isn't even challenging hard, its frustrating hard and I cant imagine the vast majority of players are going to keep putting up with it for much longer. Hell isn't even a viable replacement due to how easy it becomes and how much better all inferno items are then the best hell items.

 

[zlatko]

Can't imagine the millions of cries from ALL classes players when Blizzard nerfs/ boosts dozens of skills over the next year.

That's the Blizz cycle. The fact people still get tight over this shit is a mystery to me.

SC2 QQ on Blizz forums is off the wall. Has been since release

 

[lordy88]

I'll chime in on the Demon Hunter talk.

I'm absolutely digging the shit out of this class! Level 57 sporting a base 6300 DPS that goes up to 11000+ with the Sharpshooter Passive (I know, it then resets after the next strike, etc.)

Build:

Vault/Tumble
Multishot/Fire At Will
Elemental Arrow/Frost Arrow (SO GOOD)
Hungering Arrow/Cinder Arrow (I'm not sure which skill rune has the best single-hit DPS)
Companion/Bat Companion
Rain Of Vengence/Dark Cloud

Vengeance/Sharpshooter/Archery Passives

So, I'm sporting about 8 Hatred Regen a second with my quiver + Bat, and in concert with Vengeance giving me 150 total hatred makes it possible to spam the hell out of Frost arrow. That means consistent 170% DPS with AOE and 1 sec slow ALL DAY. Throw in some Multishots to keep the crowd at bay, hungering arrows when kiting is needed, and a free rain of vengeance every 30 seconds makes damage dishing rarely an issue for me.

Vault is where I have a love/hate relationship. I absolute love this skill when it works. I can zoom around like a baller (since I get half off the second cast), and dodge lots of attacks with ease. However, there are problems that I consistently run into. a) Sometimes the skill just doesn't work when I cast it. I push '1' on my keyboard and the skill does not act. This really blows. b) I cast it, and there is an extra second delay that isn't consistent. Sometimes it's slow, sometimes it is super responsive. c) Sometimes I cast the skill twice quickly to make sure it works, making me zoom BACK into the crowd I just vaulted from (since now I'm aiming back at the crowd), and most of the time killing me.

So you see, if Blizzard assesses this situation with Vault, I would be a very happy man. Otherwise, this might get a bit frustrating over time...

Anyway, DH for life!

 

[Fenderputty]

Yeah I remember the necro being really strong during launch. Corpse explosion, bone spear, bone spirit... And then it was all nerfed shortly after.

I played the class WAAAY after launch. No wonder I thoguht it was a horrid class.

 

[SnakeswithLasers]

And how would you expect them to go about testing that and getting numbers. Even if they crunched numbers for weeks I'm sure the players would completely surprise them and ruin their data. They were expecting players to surprise them and if anything that is what they have learned in all their experiences over the years.

Part of developing any software is testing and getting numbers from your users. You do know that the HP/resistances/damage of monsters in all the areas are tuned and actively decided. Those decisions are based on numbers that the devs come up with. If the devs don't have a basic player model in place to decide the balance of monsters and areas, then I'm completely mystified as to how those decisions are made.

Because that varies by class, build, player skill, and a variety of other things? "Oh, guess I need 2k DPS to ride" is an awful idea. They've done a damn good job of a general progression through the game on Normal. It's not quite the same for Nightmare/Hell/Inferno but that's kind of the point.

Because they've done such a great job of progression on normal implies to players that the progression will be smooth throughout. I'm not sure how making it less obtuse than "just die over and over again before you realize you need to backtrack" by putting up some arbitrary minimum suggestions (not hard rules) could hurt the experience. Of course it wouldn't be applicable for every build/class--but the point is that you put a minimum suggestion on the content, then your first check of: 'Hey I'm having trouble in area X' is "Are you the right level? Do you meet the minimum suggestions? If not, you may want to gear up first. Otherwise, let's talk about build and tactics."

They already made normal mode for people like that, no reason to dumb the game down any further.

It's not "dumbing it down" to give guidelines for people who may not be familiar with the series or genre.
Dumbing it down implies that it will have an adverse affect on your experience due to the removal of features or streamlining of some complexity, so I would ask: How exactly does DPS/Level/Health suggestions make the game too simple for a genius like you?

They actually do do that. In the public games tab there's a recommended level for each quest.

Issue with this being that I've seen people in here (for example) at level 30 with 150 DPS and people at level 30 with 650 DPS, so it ought to be more refined. WoW used a very simple color coded quest mechanic due to the way everything scaled as you leveled. A one level ding would make a huge difference between what you could hit and conversely, what could hit you.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

I think at this point class balance is pretty close to being good enough to let be for a while. Melee needs a little buffing but aside from that they really just need to nerf infernos difficulty level.

It is for PVE.

Can you imagine PVP?

Ha, can't wait for the whiners.

 

[Tacitus_]

Re: AH.

Inferno viable gear starts at 100k and goes up to over a million for great items. That's pricey enough and we don't have much loot from the later acts yet.
Who gives a shit if you can get a level 20 1H with a socket for 5k and a square gem for another 5.

 

[arimanius]

Kungen made it to Inferno HC with his Barb.

I'm just now getting ready to beat normal mode on my barb and watching him play inferno is making me sad. Doesn't look like fun at all and he has to stack health and use all defensive runes/skills.

 

[Opiate]

I would love to have this discussion as I think it affects a very core component of the game and my enjoyment and my longevity concerns. I'm going to mull this over.

It absolutely reduces the longevity of normal/nightmare/hell; I think that's inarguable.

What we're not sure of, yet, is how the longevity of Inferno will pan out. If tuned properly with intelligent loot tables (i.e. appropriately rare that simply AHing the best items is not feasible for most people due to cost), then it may provide lasting skill and loot challenges that simply didn't exist in Diablo 2, because Diablo 2 did not have a max level instance.

We don't know yet, unfortunately. A lot of these balance concerns are difficult to argue without knowing how "end game" will pan out -- from the class balance concerns to the AH prices for top tier items to the PvP. I thought Barbarians were very underpowered for Inferno until yesterday, when I saw a Barbarian easily, easily clearing Act II inferno, at which point my position changed from "Barbarians need buffs late game" to "Barbarians are fine, they just need slightly better gear than a Wizard would because they're melee."


I think we'll just have to wait and see.

 

[Nitsuj23]

How do I kill mobs that heal themselves? I'm in Act 4 on Nightmare as a Monk and I'm trying to kill a rare Wrath the Betrayer. It has three minions and between the four my attacks do absolutely nothing. If I do start to kill one of the minions it just heals to full health. Is this normal? I have no clue what to do.

 

[Shouta]

Do any high lvl monks use way of a hundred fists? It looks really cool and seems to be a good primary so far...plus Im guessing that even though there are only three parts to the "combo" (initial hit, 7 quick hits, one big hit at the end), that each of the 7 quick hits have a critical chance equal to a regular hit? Thats what it seems like at least, considering how many criticals I'm getting.

I use it myself but mostly for the damage. If I need to burn something down quick, I use it plus Fists of Fury like I mentioned above. I think the 7 counts as one critical but I could be wrong. I have a low crit rate so I don't know.

I like FoT > Quickening still but I also have 23-ish% Crit still so it works out. I think it attacks faster than WotHF or maybe that's just my brain playing tricks on me, really. I just need to try what I have planned to see if I still generate enough Spirit. BoP was fun but if I can keep up a steady spam of skill use, it technically doesn't matter that I lost it. Technically.

Yeah, Quickening is still pretty good if you have a higher crit rate and if you have a high attack speed. It's not going to instantly refill you like it did prior to getting fixed but it'll be quick enough, I think. You'll definitely need an additional source for stability though. Sweeping Wind/Inner Storm would be a good choice without giving up Time of Need or Boon from Healing Mantra.

 

[DeathGlobe]

So the sharpen and contrast tweak is that getting people banned or is it safe.Also is there possibility it works on mac

 

[aliencowz7]

It is for PVE.

Can you imagine PVP?

Ha, can't wait for the whiners.

I certainly hope they don't spend any time whatsoever on balancing pvp. It is literally impossible to balance pvp in a game with so much randomization and emphasis on stats.

Just make it more like d2 pvp where people can take from it what enjoyment they personally get and less like wow pvp where its a main focus of the games development cycle to tune for pvp and rankings etc.

 

[firehawk12]

As far as I know spamming act 3 boss is the best exp on any difficulty at any level right now for pure exp. both the kill and quests after him give large sums of total experience and you can just keep resetting it for runs that take very little time.

Absolute best EXP for time invested? Find the easiest quests to repeat and do that (Act 1 Wortham, Act 2 Second-to-last Boss, Act 3 Final Boss, none of the Act 4 ones are better than the Act 3 one).

If you want to kill things, just probably the last dungeon of the Act. Or any other location with super high mob density (Act 3's Keep has a lot of this).

Cheers, I'll try the Act 3 boss again... although those pools of death are scary.

 

[scy]

Because they've done such a great job of progression on normal implies to players that the progression will be smooth throughout. I'm not sure how making it less obtuse than "just die over and over again before you realize you need to backtrack" by putting up some arbitrary minimum suggestions (not hard rules) could hurt the experience. Of course it wouldn't be applicable for every build/class--but the point is that you put a minimum suggestion on the content, then your first check of: 'Hey I'm having trouble in area X' is "Are you the right level? Do you meet the minimum suggestions? If not, you may want to gear up first. Otherwise, let's talk about build and tactics."

Perhaps. I can't comment, I suppose, since I played D2 a lot and I approached Nightmare/Hell/Inferno with expectations and knowing how they'll be. Normal curves fairly well and, for the most part, Nightmare does as well once you get over an initial slump. Hell is a bit rougher and Inferno is :lol.

I really wish they put a Difficulty requirement on equipment. That would help some of the AHing Nightmare drops for Normal out but also at least gives players an idea of what Nightmare equipment is and how it compares to what they have.

 

[echoshifting]

I certainly hope they don't spend any time whatsoever on balancing pvp. It is literally impossible to balance pvp in a game with so much randomization and emphasis on stats.

They won't, and that's going to make the whining a lot worse.

You could drown an elephant in the PVP tears which will be shed over this game.

 

[zoukka]

Re: AH.

Inferno viable gear starts at 100k and goes up to over a million for great items. That's pricey enough and we don't have much loot from the later acts yet.
Who gives a shit if you can get a level 20 1H with a socket for 5k and a square gem for another 5.

The people who are not yet in inferno.

 

[Lamiafusion]

Just got to Hell with my Monk (51) just in time for them to nerf Mantra of Healing -_- I now have to spend some serious time getting the gear I need and the AH is just pissing me off more and more.

Anyways, say I have a weapon with 90 dps with 140 dex + 50 vit. Is a weapon with 200dps with 40 dex + 50 vit that much better? I get increased attack and armor from dex but I am not sure how those numbers effect my overall stats. Like does 10 dex give me +1 dps?

 

[Opiate]

I'm just now getting ready to beat normal mode on my barb and watching him play inferno is making me sad. Doesn't look like fun at all and he has to stack health and use all defensive runes/skills.

Just to make it clear, everyone has to do this for inferno right now, because it's so difficult. When things are difficult in video games, priorities change from "how can I kill things in a cool/efficient manner?" to "How can I not die?"

Second, he's playing hardcore, which makes death a particularly and especially serious threat. Because I play softcore, I can put more offensive skills/stats on because it's more fun and faster farming -- I just die occassionaly in late hell/inferno, but that's okay because it wastes about 30 seconds of my time, instead of resetting my character entirely.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

Just to make it clear, everyone has to do this for inferno right now, because it's so difficult. When things are difficult in video games, priorities change from "how can I kill things in a cool/efficient manner?" to "How can I not die?"

Second, he's playing hardcore, which makes death a particularly and especially serious threat. Because I play softcore, I can put more offensive skills/stats on because it's more fun and faster farming -- I just die occassionaly in late hell/inferno, but that's okay because it wastes about 30 seconds of my time, instead of resetting my character entirely.

same reason why I honestly can never find any enjoyment in playing hardcore.

 

[scy]

Yeah, Quickening is still pretty good if you have a higher crit rate and if you have a high attack speed. It's not going to instantly refill you like it did prior to getting fixed but it'll be quick enough, I think. You'll definitely need an additional source for stability though. Sweeping Wind/Inner Storm would be a good choice without giving up Time of Need or Boon from Healing Mantra.

Off-hand, my Attack Speed is okay. 2H Daibo so 1.10 base and I think ~30% IAS. That and my 20-ish% crit should let it still be the best Spirit generator for me. I have some Life Regen and the drop in Mantra of Healing's has me wanting to try other things. Inner Storm and Retribution's Against All Odds with that _should_ be fine for Spirit but until I try it, who knows.

Plus, that's just for Hell and I probably won't even need to change anything for that difficulty anyway to be honest.

 

[Absinthe]

Currently half way through Act 1 nightmare with my Monk and reading this thread:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5149150706?page=1

is starting to worry me a little.

Anyone having the same issues in later difficulties with the Monk?

Does the Monk really get outclassed by the DH and WD as you lvl up?

 

[aliencowz7]

Off-hand, my Attack Speed is okay. 2H Daibo so 1.10 base and I think ~30% IAS. That and my 20-ish% crit should let it still be the best Spirit generator for me. I have some Life Regen and the drop in Mantra of Healing's has me wanting to try other things. Inner Storm and Retribution's Against All Odds with that _should_ be fine for Spirit but until I try it, who knows.

Plus, that's just for Hell and I probably won't even need to change anything for that difficulty anyway to be honest.

This brings me to an issue I actually have with monk since its my only char so far. It is incredibly hard to justify using any aura but healing in a effective way. I kind of wish they would add in better health regen or up the rate of healing orbs or something because without healing aura on it feels inevitable to eventually get worn down health wise.

Sucks since it eliminates so many potential interesting skills if we can't figure out viable builds without healing aura.

 

[scy]

Anyways, say I have a weapon with 90 dps with 140 dex + 50 vit. Is a weapon with 200dps with 40 dex + 50 vit that much better? I get increased attack and armor from dex but I am not sure how those numbers effect my overall stats. Like does 10 dex give me +1 dps?

DEX is a +1% Damage Multiplier per point:

(Weapon Damage + DamageFromArmor) * (1 + DEX/100)

So if you have 1000 DEX right now, that 90 DPS weapon is around 990 DPS; losing 100 DEX but moving up to 200 DPS makes it 2000 DPS. Essentially.

 

[LCGeek]

Can't imagine the millions of cries from ALL classes players when Blizzard nerfs/ boosts dozens of skills over the next year.

I can and it's delicious.

Cheese is cheese no matter the flavor. If blizzard keeps the attitude and action right I stay if not owell I have other violent mindless genres in gaming that keep me coming back as well.

 

[krameriffic]

I feel what we're complaining about, then, is the ease with which trading occurs, and how that affects opportunity cost. I am not saying that this isn't a real topic of discussion, but it's a different discussion than most of are having dealing with the AH.

This is exactly right. It's much like the arguments about the dungeon finder mechanics in WoW. On the one hand, it makes it so much easier and more efficient to put groups together, see content and get loot. On the other, it reduces some sense of community between players and eliminates the social aspect of forming groups. The mechanical nature of the AH does the same thing to trading.

For me, full utilization of trading was one of my greatest pleasures in D2. Admittedly, I didn't do a lot of this during the leveling process, but now that I'm max level in D3, I feel some of the impersonal-ness of the system of an AH. Instead of finding trade games or watching trade channels and forums to find people to trade with, I simply scan through an ingame interface looking for deals.

The AH is infinitely faster and opens up the market to a massive number of people who would otherwise not participate in the more hardcore trading communities. At the same time, it removes some of the social and communal aspects of what trading used to be in D2. As with every game design decision, there is a tradeoff, and ultimately, I am OK with the AH. If you don't like how it affects you while leveling a character, don't use it.

 

[Dresden]

Currently half way through Act 1 nightmare with my Monk and reading this thread:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5149150706?page=1

is starting to worry me a little.

Anyone having the same issues in later difficulties with the Monk?

Does the Monk really get outclassed by the DH and WD as you lvl up?

lol

Also reading QQ threads on battle.net forums is a terrible idea for any game.

 

[Cipherr]

I do think its odd how so few max level items seem to drop from hell. I mean you do get some, but it seem the majority of them come from Inferno. That's probably not good design if inferno is strictly meant for the really hardcore gamers.

I think because of little things like that, folks don't really realize that inferno isn't suppose to fall to completion like the difficulties before it (thanks in large part to most people probably spending tons of money to upgrade at the AH). I mean, Hell was pretty tough if you didnt get a whole bunch of awesome equipment from the AH allowing you to steamroll it.

no one will use anything other than SS and preparation in higher difficulties though. Unless they take them away completely, they are 100% necessary. Unless you're cool with dying over and over until you beat an elite mob.

Wanna bet? I'm looking hard at shadow power now along with prep. With nether tent/potion/15% protection Sentry/caltrop kite, for those 3 seconds you can keep yourself up and you can chain them as it has no cooldown and the same discipline cost as SS. That opens the possibility of Vit/Dex/Resist build where you use SP to keep yourself up to take a few hits in Inferno.

 

[Shouta]

This brings me to an issue I actually have with monk since its my only char so far. It is incredibly hard to justify using any aura but healing in a effective way. I kind of wish they would add in better health regen or up the rate of healing orbs or something because without healing aura on it feels inevitable to eventually get worn down health wise.

Sucks since it eliminates so many potential interesting skills if we can't figure out viable builds without healing aura.

Easiest fix would be to remove the timer on Breath of Heaven or make it much shorter so we can heal ourselves but I think they're afraid Monks would get an infinite source of healing and damage because of it as long as you have the SP. Of course, that's not a real practical issue because monks have to stay in and melee to gain SP exposing them to damage so it'd balance out a little better than I think Blizzard believes it would.

 

[scy]

Anyone having the same issues in later difficulties with the Monk?

Does the Monk really get outclassed by the DH and WD as you lvl up?

Eh, I group with a Wizard and WD a lot and they feel like they're just tagging along half the time. Inferno changes things, certainly, but that's the truth for every class.

This brings me to an issue I actually have with monk since its my only char so far. It is incredibly hard to justify using any aura but healing in a effective way. I kind of wish they would add in better health regen or up the rate of healing orbs or something because without healing aura on it feels inevitable to eventually get worn down health wise.

Sucks since it eliminates so many potential interesting skills if we can't figure out viable builds without healing aura.

Pretty much. I'm hoping for the best with Retribution + Against All Odds but I'm 80% certain I'll be back to Mantra of Healing and +VIT or Resists rune.

 

[Absinthe]

lol

Also reading QQ threads on battle.net forums is a terrible idea for any game.

So you're saying it's probably BS?

Eh, I group with a Wizard and WD a lot and they feel like they're just tagging along half the time. Inferno changes things, certainly, but that's the truth for every class.

Good to hear. Up to this point things have been smooth with the Monk build I have. No AH, just good drops and rolling through Nightmare. I like a challenge so Hell should be good, just wouldn't want to rely on AH to survive it.

 

[Cipherr]

This is exactly right. It's much like the arguments about the dungeon finder mechanics in WoW. On the one hand, it makes it so much easier and more efficient to put groups together, see content and get loot. On the other, it reduces some sense of community between players and eliminates the social aspect of forming groups.

I dunno if you could equate the two quite that easily. I mean, I can start my Wizard/Barb/WD alt right now and level all the way to Inferno without using the AH to help me trivialize the game. Doing so would be a lot more easy than hopping into WoW right now and trying to manually configure 5 man heroic runs consecutively with people from your server (Not guildies).

 

[aliencowz7]

Easiest fix would be to remove the timer on Breath of Heaven or make it much shorter so we can heal ourselves but I think they're afraid Monks would get an infinite source of healing and damage because of it as long as you have the SP. Of course, that's not a real practical issue because monks have to stay in and melee to gain SP exposing them to damage so it'd balance out a little better than I think Blizzard believes it would.

Yeah I think that would work well enough for anything aside from shielding elite packs since its so hard to generate spirit from them.

It kind of just feels very limiting when we have 4 auras each with 5 runes and in reality one aura with like 2 maybe 3 runes on that aura are worth ever equipping right now.

I can't even really tell if alot of the runes are working correctly too, it doesn't feel like the 20% damage resist rune seems to work on aura of healing.

 

[Ferrio]

Re: AH.

Inferno viable gear starts at 100k and goes up to over a million for great items. That's pricey enough and we don't have much loot from the later acts yet.
Who gives a shit if you can get a level 20 1H with a socket for 5k and a square gem for another 5.

Ya if it's priced appropriately, I've snagged lots of stuff for cheap. Shit goes fast though, can't tell you how many times I've hit "buy" and it was already sold. Ugh was an ammy with vit+resist+attack speed+socket... for like 20k

 

[mileS]

The nerfs and buffs will only get more intense when the PvP is added. God I can only imagine how terrible that is going to make the game. Sorry PvP in diablo silly imo, and the amount its going to change the classes in general is going to be one hell of a roller coaster I think. Oh well, wait and see.

 

[Cpt.Underpants]

Is dual wielding Barbarian still viable on Hell and Inferno diffulties?

Most barbarians I've seen have one handed weapon and shield in hand

 

[scy]

Easiest fix would be to remove the timer on Breath of Heaven or make it much shorter so we can heal ourselves but I think they're afraid Monks would get an infinite source of healing and damage because of it as long as you have the SP. Of course, that's not a real practical issue because monks have to stay in and melee to gain SP exposing them to damage so it'd balance out a little better than I think Blizzard believes it would.

Adjusting the scaling for it would be nice.

Really, I'm surprised Dodging doesn't give some Spirit. That seems like it should've been in place from the start if they wanted us to Evasion Tank things.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

The DH,wizzy whine on the forums is delicious...and they're still by far the most viable classes.

 

[Tacitus_]

The people who are not yet in inferno.

But why? The leveling gear hardly matters, who cares if it's cheap.

 

[krameriffic]

Currently half way through Act 1 nightmare with my Monk and reading this thread:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5149150706?page=1

is starting to worry me a little.

Anyone having the same issues in later difficulties with the Monk?

Does the Monk really get outclassed by the DH and WD as you lvl up?

The monk is perfectly fine up through act 1 of inferno. At that point, things get a bit dicey for both the monk and the barbarian. If you're really embarrassingly well geared, you can handle act 2, but even the best geared barbs and monks can't really handle act 3 and certainly not act 4 while solo.

They've also pigeonholed you into what builds are effective in inferno because of how ridiculously hard the enemies hit. You have to build tanky past a certain point. You'll typically run a single spirit generator and then heals, blinds, invulnerabilities and other utility skills. You don't get to run a build focused primarily on DPS because melee classes, by their very nature, will get hit, and getting hit without a super tanky build will rock your face on inferno.

I would say that the monk is in a better position than the barbarian. The barb depends almost entirely on a few 2 minute cooldown abilities that greatly increase your damage output for 15 seconds to kill champion and elite packs, which is an unfun concept in Diablo in my opinion. Their survivability, even when geared to the point of having net damage reduction greater than 95% against all damage types, is predicated entirely on one ability: revenge.

Revenge is the greatest design flaw with the barbarian class because it's the only viable way for them, ostensibly meat shields, to recover health consistently. Life pools get so big and life on hit and life leech is so diminished and weak compared to your health pool that the barbarian's few abilities that restore health based on your maximum health are absolutely required in every single build.

Monks have a buttload of dodge, and their tankiness is a little more RNG, but a little less fire and forget cooldowns and spamming a really big AoE self heal like revenge. If you're curious about how the class can perform in inferno, watch this guy:

http://www.twitch.tv/cadburryftw

He's in act 2 soloing as a monk and performing OK. He streams pretty consistently in the mornings on his monk.

 

[Lanbeast]

Is dual wielding Barbarian still viable on Hell and Inferno diffulties?

Most barbarians I've seen have one handed weapon and shield in hand

If I can find another good 1h, I'm going to try for a frenzy dual wield build with shitloads of health regen/health drain.

 

[Violet_0]

Arcane Enchanted Horde Extra Health

kill me

Spoiler

I'm already dead

 

[Fragamemnon]

Is dual wielding Barbarian still viable on Hell and Inferno diffulties?

Most barbarians I've seen have one handed weapon and shield in hand

Hell, certainly so.

With extreme gearing I think it would be possible for at least some reasonable portion of Inferno. Act 1 certainly with reasonable gearing, for sure. The white damage ramps up dramatically in the later acts so you'd need some way to offset the incoming increased damage from loss of block when dealing with mob packs, that's about it.

Shields are just being used in melee in Inferno to help control spike damage and increase overall mitigation-it's currently the path to least resistance to progression.

 

[zoukka]

But why? The leveling gear hardly matters, who cares if it's cheap.

That leveling is also a lot of gameplay hours and I would like them to be enjoyable. Not everyone is on nolife mode.