The news has come out during the campfire chat yesterday about the new patch with the announcement of one of the most anticipated features that had been in demand for a while: Runewords. Runewords were introduced in Diablo 2 and were a favorite of hardcore fans due to being able to create special items using sockets and runes. However, the new Runeword system isn’t exactly the same and I wanted to break it down on how it’ll work here.
In the old Runeword system from Diablo 2 using socketed ethereal gear, players could combine runes to form special Runewords that provided a special ability based on the word that was formed. With some gear, you could go higher than two runes which allowed for very unique gear that allowed for godlike abilities. Those combinations and the fact you either needed to find or trade for key runes are what made Runewords popular.
The new system still requires players to, of course, discover the runes themselves but the implementation mechanic is far simpler. You still need a double socketed item, which includes pants, two handed weapon, chest and helmets (which are being upgraded with a second socket) but you can only use two Runewords at a time (which makes me think of this more as a toned down version of a Soul Shard from Diablo 3). To activate a Runeword, you only need two, one which is an activation type that creates the basis of how one gathers a new resource called Offerings and the effect, which requires a certain number of Offerings and has an internal cooldown before it can be used again. Each type has their own rarity ranging from magic, to rare to legendary. There are no unique runes (at least for now)
The ability runes can do various things like reduce cooldown or perform a class’ ability at an enhanced level (not the second node but meaning a better version). An example of this was shown in the form of the enchanted version of a Sorcerer’s teleport, which changes out your Evade into Teleport but also makes your character Unstoppable. There’s another aspect of the ability runes where you have an “Overflow” condition that allows for additional things that may happen like gaining more Wolves.
Some people compared this to the way Season 3’s Seneschal’s Governing and Tuning Stones work. The exception is that you don’t have as many options to boost up the abilities and require a trigger with a special resource cost to make these abilities work. My interpretation of this system is that it’s a way for the developers to avoid changing the UI/UX bar with the 6 keybindings or attempting to fix problems with certain classes without forcing more Aspects onto the player and adding more gear slots. For instance, using a Potion to gain Offerings that can compliment builds. The trick is that while technically you can mix and match, there’s always going to be a “best way” to optimize a build.
For instance, one ability would proc Meteorites. The current Sorcerer Meteor build has down time that is dependent upon your overall CDR as well as the Starfall Coronet’s internal CDR. So if you want to play Meteor but have a poorly rolled Starfall Coronet, you could probably combine some sort of trigger for the Meteor rune to occur during the downtime. Then another Runeword that lowers your cooldown can bring your overall CDR with Meteor to the point where the downtime isn’t as noticeable.
Another usage is for classes that require more Aspects than can be allotted due to gear slot constraints (such as in cases where you want to use a unique that replaces a normally useful Aspect), the Runeword system pretty much gives you almost a secondary Aspect on a piece of gear. An example might be the Lightning Bolt dance Aspect for a Druid. This could function as a higher form of that Aspect too but you might want to use a different Aspect to compliment this power. With more resource based Runewords, I think the goal there is to gradually phase out generator/basic type of abilities so people focus on Core or some other main skill or deal with the CDR shitshow.
Finally, the last use case is being able to employ another class’ native ability. Again going back to the teleport example, you could give that to say a Necromancer, who traditionally had problems with movement (or lack thereof) with Blood Mist being their only GTFO of trouble skill besides a standard evade. With Runewords, Necromancers can adapt Teleport in lieu of their Evade and free up Blood Mist for a different skill (like say Bone Storm) not to mention gain a form of Unstoppable.
While the idea is neat, my main criticism of the implementation for Runewords is that it’s too simple and limited. Because items can’t have more than 2 sockets, you can’t further augment a Runeword. I’m assuming that for classes that have the base power like a Sorcerer with Meteorite, the ability will get augmented from other supports on gear and passives. But for what the developers want in “coming up with builds” I really don’t see this as being a thing. I think a build would require more options and customization by having additional support factors. The problem then is that you start getting into the Path of Exile area where you have support gems that augment an ability.
Next, I can’t see people doing too much mixing and matching simply because there’s not a lot of great options. Some of the cross class abilities might seem good on paper but I think these “new” abilities are going to end up being augments or gap fillers. I would have preferred if the system was closer to the Seneschal system where you had additional support capabilities connected to a certain trigger. Or that we could employ all four two socket pieces to use Runewords where the limits could be something like 2 magic, 1 rare and 1 legendary. Then perhaps, certain items like say weapon, shield or chest, you can have 4 sockets for more support capabilities that can make up for the lack of a regular gem.
I’m sure at this stage, it’s just experimental and they probably want to see how powerful these items make a character. With the mercenary follower and legendary node on glyphs at higher levels, it would seem that you gain some power advantage for the expansion but I can’t see these effects being that huge of a game changer in the scheme of things. I still think builds are going to be fairly limited until we get more gear slots, more sockets, more allowances for Runewords, the ability to hire multiple mercenaries at once and more paragon boards. Or perhaps giving us back something like the Vampire Powers and possibly a Kanai’s Cube system for adding more unique and/or legendary aspect effects.
I can’t say that I’m totally unhappy with this change but I do think there should be more available just to increase the complexity of the builds.
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