+Level affixes and why I mostly play melee now

Wanted to bring this topic back up since it's been on my mind. The +level to spell/minion skills affix is so overwhelmingly strong compared to everything else that it kind of breaks itemization for casters and summoners.

For melee, finding or crafting a new weapon is genuinely exciting. There's actual variety in what makes a weapon good and different pieces can shine for different reasons. Upgrading gear feels like a real progression system.

For casters and minion builds? Your weapon and amulet slots are basically just +level stat sticks. The gap between having it and not having it is just too massive to ignore, so nothing else on the item really matters. Find a +skill item in the campaign? Probably gonna be using it until maps.

It makes gearing those builds feel really flat. Instead of evaluating items on the sum of their parts, you're just checking for one affix and the rest is secondary.

I've ended up gravitating almost entirely toward melee builds because the gear loop actually feels rewarding. That's probably not the intended experience.

Anyway, here's to hoping this is finally fucking addressed next league.

i mean its no different with melee skill levels too you know

maybe you're able to get away with not having the highest level available more-so, im not sure, but its still miles beyond any other stat available for scaling in general

ya i really wish they'd address the issue too. im not sure why they made all skills scale so exponentially with levels. if you can only get +2 thats not bad to miss out on, but to miss out on 10? ya its literally half the damage.

Its the same thing for melee


If you want damage that is.

Well for melee you also need at least two good physical damage prefixes or the weapon is vendor trash.


When asked the question on the importance of +spell levels for caster weapons, this is exactly the reason that GGG gave. Attack weapons also have mandatory mods.

Think they want a mod to be important so that it's easy to recognize what is a good weapon.