Diablo® III

Neither vortex or nightmarish are difficult -UNLESS- there's an elemental affix.
(Nightmarish/waller/vortex/avenger is a free kill)

Fire chains does too much damage for something that can be unavoidable depending on mob size, and shielding is universally difficult

Firechains and Shielding are probably the two hardest affixes for my Monk. Fire chains hits for insane amounts against a melee and it is very hard to avoid since mobs move so fast. Shielding negates healing far too much. I'm sure they collect data on which mobs get the most kills and it wont' surprise me at all if those two and invulnernable minions doesn't lead by a large margin.

Nightmare, waller, desecrator, jailor are all trivial to deal with if you keep your cooldowns timed properly.

I would classify Nightmare and Shielding as annoying- not necessarily as tough.

Vortex and Firechains I would classify as tough. Vortex is unavoidable, however, while Firechains might be avoidable if the remaining affixes don't do anything to help it.

Vortex can be combatted by "hiding" or peering around corners and waiting for the monster to come. As a DH and WD, it's easily avoided for me by hitting SS or SW at the moment of getting pulled, so then I can run out AND maybe even avoid the next Vortex attempted by one of the Blue elites. By itself, it's nothing...combined with Fire Chains and you have yourself a nice BBQ. It truly is cheesy.

Why fire-chains and shielding?

For those who do not know what I am talking about:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/6923456/104_Systems_Preview-8_10_2012
"we’re adjusting some of the more frustrating monster affixes, such as Fire Chains and Shielding."

The real frustration comes from vortex and nightmare.
(From a melee's perspective, I'm sure these do not affect ranged much though)

I hate these affixes to death, they do not allow you to move where you want to and that pisses the hell out of me.

Or if an enemy is a jailer + waller. You can not even move when the walls drop right on top of you, while chaining jails right after the walls disappear wasting so much time even more so than shielding since you can neither hit nor move.

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Fire-chains: gtfo
Shielding: gtfo
Vortex: gtfo... o wait you can't
Nightmare: gtfo... o wait you're running into a wall while everything surrounds you

So you hate vortex and nightmare more than fire chains and shielding so they're wrong.

GTFO

As a Demon Hunter, the worst is mortar. As soon as you get close they spam those damn fireballs like there is no tomorrow.

08/10/2012 10:29 AMPosted by Kalandraka

As a Demon Hunter, the worst is mortar. As soon as you get close they spam those damn fireballs like there is no tomorrow.

That is by design though because so few of the other affixes really bother ranged so they had to make a couple specifically designed to try to keep it even. Most affixes are a joke on my wizard so I would hope they keep mortar around.

Fire chains + teleporter/vortex/fast can be a nightmare for melee. there is literally no chance for some combinations with fire chains.

08/10/2012 02:49 PMPosted by Lylirra

For example, we're giving players a temporary immunity to Fear after they've been Feared by a Nightmarish monster.

Hey pretty cool. I think Knockback elites should also be looked at this in that regard. I remember getting pinned against a wall smashing my keyboard but no abilities would fire off because I kept getting knocked back over and over again.

Fire Chains and Shielding were only provided as examples. We looked at every affix and have made adjustments to more than just those two. For example, we're giving players a temporary immunity to Fear after they've been Feared by a Nightmarish monster.

Keep in mind that the systems preview is more about explaining why these kinds of changes are being made, rather than detailing everything out line-by-line. (That's ultimately what patch notes are for.)

ty

08/10/2012 10:29 AMPosted by Kalandraka

As a Demon Hunter, the worst is mortar. As soon as you get close they spam those damn fireballs like there is no tomorrow.

Mortar is a joke for ranged. It has a large minimum range, and the maximum range is well out of range of all DH abilities.

I used to think Mortar as a Wizard was hard, until I learned how to play.

08/10/2012 02:49 PMPosted by Lylirra

For example, we're giving players a temporary immunity to Fear after they've been Feared by a Nightmarish monster.

My prayers have been answered.

mob Ai with fire chains is too high that needs to be nerfed a bit and shielding has too low of a CD that needs to be nerfed or at least make shielding just lower damage instead of preventing 100% of incoming damage

Some of these changes will make for some less frustrating evenings of gameplay.

08/10/2012 02:49 PMPosted by Lylirra

For example, we're giving players a temporary immunity to Fear after they've been Feared by a Nightmarish monster.

I don't think I could say thank you enough times for clarifying this.

Probably THE worst affix in the game, especially when you combine it with shielding.

08/10/2012 02:51 PMPosted by Seraphi

As a Demon Hunter, the worst is mortar. As soon as you get close they spam those damn fireballs like there is no tomorrow.

Mortar is a joke for ranged. It has a large minimum range, and the maximum range is well out of range of all DH abilities.

I used to think Mortar as a Wizard was hard, until I learned how to play.

Mortar is one of the easier affixes to counteract. You need to step inside the arc. Unless the elite pack has the fast affix or the enemy is fast already, you have enough time to get off a couple of shots before the enemies reach you. If the enemy is fast, that's where the skills that slow enemies down come in handy when you kite.

08/10/2012 10:29 AMPosted by Kalandraka

As a Demon Hunter, the worst is mortar. As soon as you get close they spam those damn fireballs like there is no tomorrow.

The mortars are garbage. When the elites use them they stand still (Caltrops/Jagged Edge is very funny).

I'm not going to worry about it, I feel Blizzard has had the time to do an an analysis of what needs to be changed. The way i see it, It has to be better than it is now.