Block is an inflated Defensive Stat that is way too OP and completely out of Line

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Pashid#4643 wrote:

Isn’t endgame already in a piss easy state?

Depends on how you view it in light of diversity.

I don't necessarily find juiced T17's "piss easy" when I'm doing non-meta builds. Hell, I don't find T17's "piss easy" if I'm not rolling for a few minutes either. I think the diversity versus endgame is in an OK state. I'm not asking for block nerf, I'm just saying that if they're going to nerf block as OP is asking for, they also need to tone down some other stuff.

BTW, we already have harder content in terms of Valdo's and deep delves, but people don't seem to want to do much of that.

Oh wow, ES stacker is op. What a revelation...

If block, like the title says, would be way too op, everybody who had a chance to win would have started the last gauntlet with gladiator. Yet, no one who actually played to win $ did start with Gladiator...I wonder why that was???

There was even a bug which was indeed op. Only it wasn't op when it really mattered, what a shame...

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Strickl3r#3809 wrote:

If block, like the title says, would be way too op, everybody who had a chance to win would have started the last gauntlet with gladiator. Yet, no one who actually played to win $ did start with Gladiator...I wonder why that was???

Got literally zero to do with Block and everything to do with Glad being a niche and, frankly, garbage tier Ascendancy by comparison, with little to no actual identity or interesting mechanics. In case you still wonder why that was.

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Phrazz#3529 wrote:

I don't necessarily find juiced T17's "piss easy" when I'm doing non-meta builds. Hell, I don't find T17's "piss easy" if I'm not rolling for a few minutes either. I think the diversity versus endgame is in an OK state. I'm not asking for block nerf, I'm just saying that if they're going to nerf block as OP is asking for, they also need to tone down some other stuff.

Hence I said outside of juiced maps, which are the only reason for why you may want to invest into a better character outside of personal goals.
Cause being real even t17 maps are getting tackled by some mediocre optimized builds day 3 during a fresh league, and that's a sad state for something that's supposed to act as "aspirational" content.

But it's obvious that they are not going to nerf block, cause it's not in a op state, nor is the game really balanced around with block in mind.
It's more likely that they adjust the current popular shield options but even that is quite unlikely.

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BTW, we already have harder content in terms of Valdo's and deep delves, but people don't seem to want to do much of that.

Deep delve? barely hard these days as it was never adjusted or changed to fit modern standards, difficulty gets soft capped at some point and enemies only get tankier, which is also not a problem with how much damage you can throw onto any build these days.
It's also not the same experience as mapping so I can see why it's rather a niche side activity.
Valdo's yes maybe, but with half of the maps being a meme, or a total hc simulator it's also not really something for everyone.

I think the only reasonable option would be to either buff content difficulty up to modern standards or do the opposite and tone player power down till it's more on paar with what's considered as endgame. But both would require a lot of headache and work so I can see why GGG never truely makes a step into any direction and only takes small steps in terms of adjustments.

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BaumisMagicalWorld#0673 wrote:

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Strickl3r#3809 wrote:

If block, like the title says, would be way too op, everybody who had a chance to win would have started the last gauntlet with gladiator. Yet, no one who actually played to win $ did start with Gladiator...I wonder why that was???

Got literally zero to do with Block and everything to do with Glad being a niche and, frankly, garbage tier Ascendancy by comparison, with little to no actual identity or interesting mechanics. In case you still wonder why that was.

Lol, show me your block build that blocks boss mechanics and is therefore op. I don't care which ascendancy...

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BaumisMagicalWorld#0673 wrote:

Got literally zero to do with Block and everything to do with Glad being a niche and, frankly, garbage tier Ascendancy by comparison, with little to no actual identity or interesting mechanics. In case you still wonder why that was.

What you describe was the old gladiator pre redesign.
The reworked glad is pretty bonkers in many ways.

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Pashid#4643 wrote:

What you describe was the old gladiator pre redesign.
The reworked glad is pretty bonkers in many ways.

Nah. Slayer is still far better, Champion even more so.

Lucky Block on Svalinn if you wanna feel truly OP, it's otherwise not even needed to make an OP character. The base Block, while really strong, isn't necessary for easy Block cap.

Aggravated Bleeding? Bleed mastery, Bleed notable and glove implicit.

Explosions? Wow, crazy. A mod found on several unique gloves, body armour, weapon synth implicit, jewel.

I have yet to see anyone legit build around Weapon Master.

War of Attrition is meh, only applies to hits and ailments and has a long ramp time.

Big yawn of an Ascendancy, and at no point in PoE history have I ever considered Glad to be interesting. GGG clearly doesn't know what to do with it. Even Ascendant makes for a better Glad.

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Strickl3r#3809 wrote:

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BaumisMagicalWorld#0673 wrote:

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Strickl3r#3809 wrote:

If block, like the title says, would be way too op, everybody who had a chance to win would have started the last gauntlet with gladiator. Yet, no one who actually played to win $ did start with Gladiator...I wonder why that was???

Got literally zero to do with Block and everything to do with Glad being a niche and, frankly, garbage tier Ascendancy by comparison, with little to no actual identity or interesting mechanics. In case you still wonder why that was.

Lol, show me your block build that blocks boss mechanics and is therefore op. I don't care which ascendancy...

Have to agree with Baumis here, reaching max block/spell block on better Ascendancies than Gladiator is a non-issue. I still like block, tho...

As an aside, I find a well set-up mana-stacker with a proper arcane cloak + Frost shield automation + suppression a good deal more tanky that max block builds for pinnacle content. Especially for what matters in those types of battles.

The truth is, if you lay down some serious currency and tree support, you can make a character well neigh unkillable, and that applies to leech, armor, damage conversion, evasion, suppression and even regeneration. Throw in things like Svalin, Defiance of Destiny, cluster jewels or some of the defense based ascendancies, and you have very very durable characters.

Not sure that this is really a problem. You make sacrifices for this level of defense, and being extremely durable AND having strong damage output is a very very expensive proposition.

If people are getting extreme levels of damage AND high defense, then that should be gated behind extreme currency investment - and it mostly is. If combinations are yielding both cheaply, then the skill gems/ascendancies/nodes/runegrafts/gear enabling it tend to be adjusted.

But to be clear, I am not bothered by very very very high levels of defense and damage as long as it's gated behind huge investments.

Why?

Because that is definitionally aspirational, and gives players something to work towards.

The only time I see it as a problem is when both can be achieved on a budget. At that point it becomes bad for the game's staying power.