Diablo 3: Making Paragon More Interesting

Paragon levels have come a long way since its original implementation in response to making endgame play more rewarding. While it is nice to gain points that can be allocated into free stats of your choice, the static stats gained seem to be a rather bland usage of Paragon points that will eventually boil down to spending Paragon points into one's primary attribute (STR, DEX, INT) or Vitality. To put it another way, endgame character progression in terms of Paragon is largely uninteresting because the player levels up, gains a point, and spends it on stats. Why not spice it up a bit?

After a long discussion with a friend on this topic and some thinking, I have come up with a possible method of making Paragon leveling more interesting and rewarding, particularly when it comes to the facet of RPG-style character development and customization that some players complain Diablo 3 lacks (though it can be argued that the various ways a player can build their character in terms of Active and Passive skills is customization). This system is called Nephalem Prowess.

What is Nephalem Prowess and how does it work? Nephalem Prowess uses a talent tree style design to allow a player to greatly improve their character, making Paragon farming rewarding. At level 60, the player gains a prowess point to spend. Every 25 Paragon levels grants another prowess point. To advance to the next tier in the prowess tree, 4 points must be spent in the tier. This means that by the 5th tier, a player is Paragon level 500. To max out the entire tree, a player has to reach 1550 Paragon. Additional tiers can be added later on.

Here is an example of some Nephalem Prowess effects players can acquire:

"NEUTRAL PROWESS"

This entire picture is a placeholder image to better display how a Prowess tree would look like. All image assets belong to Blizzard Entertainment. Effects are presented in a left to right format.

TIER ONE (12 POINTS, 4 EFFECTS)

• Health From Wealth (4 points): Picking up gold heals you by an amount equal to 12.5/25/37.5/50% of base gold value picked up. This effect is amplified by gold find from items and Paragon, but not from difficulty.
• Nephalem Endurance (2 points): Nephalem Glory lasts an additional 15/30 seconds. Health globes collected increase the duration of Nephalem Glory by an additional 2.5/5 seconds.
• Nephalem Strength (2 points): Increases your damage when affected by Nephalem Glory by 5/10%.
• Enhanced Learning (4 points): Increases experience gain by 5/10/15/20% (multiplies with all other effects).

TIER TWO (12 POINTS, 3 EFFECTS)

• Material Gain (4 points): Crafting materials have a 15/30/45/60% increased chance of dropping (multiplicative). Drop rates can be increased over 100% (causing the value to overflow and potential cause additional crafting materials to drop. For instance, if the base drop chance is 100%, then with 4 points in Material Gain, there is now also a 60% chance for a second piece of that crafting material to drop).
• Might of Birthright (4 points), Requires Nephalem Endurance, Nephalem Strength: When enemies drop a Health Globe, they have a 7/14/21/28% chance of dropping a Power Globe as well. In addition, while affected by Nephalem Glory, resource generation is increased by 1.5/3/4.5/6% per stack.
• Expert Adventurer (4 points): Increases experience gain from quests and bounties by 7.5/15/22.5/30% (includes rift closure, etc). Increases the amount of rested experience granted by Pools of Reflection by 25/50/75/100%.

TIER THREE (12 POINTS, 4 EFFECTS)

• Touch of Life (3 points): Increases the radius of your Health Globe and Gold pickup by 2/4/6 yards. In addition, healing effects on you are 7/14/21% more effective.
• Blessing of the Ancients (1 point): Increases all your attributes by 5%.
• Broad Coverage (4 points): Increases the chance for Area Damage to apply by 5/10/15/20%. Increases the radius of Area Damage by 1.5/3/4.5/6 yards.
• Master the Enemy (4 points): Reduces damage taken by enemy modifiers by 2.5/5/7.5/10%. In addition, basic enemies grant 12.5/25/37.5/50% more experience.

TIER FOUR (12 POINTS, 5 EFFECTS)

• For the Hoard! (2 points): Guaranteed loot drops (such as Elites, Champions, Uniques, and Chests) have a 12.5/25% chance of dropping an additional item.
• The Glitter of Gold (2 points): Increases the price of items sold to the vendor by 25/50% plus an additional 5/10% of your Bonus Gold Find (from equipment and Paragon only, not difficulty increases). This effect is quadrupled for Legendary items sold.
• Rites of the Nephalem (4 points): Increases the duration of all shrine effects by 25/50/75/100%. In addition, shrines also have a 25/50/75/100% chance of granting Nephalem Glory.
• Expedient (2 points): Increases your movement speed by 2.5/5%. Increases your base movement speed cap by 5/10%.
• Lucidity (2 points): Reduces the cooldown of your follower’s skills by 10/20%. In addition, your cooldown and resource costs are reduced by 1/2%.

TIER FIVE (3 POINTS, 3 EFFECTS)

• Nephalem Prosperity (1 point), Requires For the Hoard!, The Glitter of Gold: Guaranteed loot drops (such as Elites, Champions, Uniques, and Chests) have a 25% chance of dropping another additional item. In addition, the gold price of all NPC services (vendor, repair, crafting, etc) is reduced by 10%.
• True Revelation (1 point), Requires Rites of the Nephalem: Nephalem Glory now deals all types of elemental damage and can stack an additional time (this effect applies to party members), granting more effects:
• Level 4 (Nephalem Glory): Attacks have a chance of firing multiple rays of energy from the sky down on nearby enemies (within a screen length or so) with each of the five rays dealing 200% weapon damage as all elements. Damage taken is reduced by 15%.
• Total Mastery (1 point), Requires Expedient, Lucidity: Increases your movement speed by an additional 5% and your follower gains access to their 5th skill. In addition, you gain an aura that increases the attributes of your party members within 200 yards by 2.5% (does not stack).
• Templar: Bringer of Justice (60 second cooldown): The Templar smashes the ground, pulling in enemies within 20 yards, dealing 250% weapon damage as Physical, rooting them in place, and taunting them for 3 seconds. In addition, the Templar’s damage dealt is increased by 30% and his damage taken is reduced by 75% for 12 seconds.
• Scoundrel: Arrow Barrage (40 second cooldown): The Scoundrel swiftly fires 10 arrows that deal 150% weapon damage as Physical each. Each shot applies the effect of Crippling Shot and/or Poison Bolts, depending on the skill the Scoundrel has learned (applies both if the Scoundrel has access to both). The Scoundrel’s attacks reduce the cooldown of Arrow Storm by 0.5 seconds.
• Enchantress: Arcane Illusions (60 second cooldown): The Enchantress summons two magical clones of herself that can use Charm and/or Forceful Push and attack at 50% effectiveness. When the effect ends, the clones explode, dealing 200% weapon damage as Arcane to enemies within 10 yards. Each clone has a 50% chance of leaving a Health Globe. While the clones are active, the Enchantress is immune to all enemy effects (damage, crowd control, etc).

In the end, while this Nephalem Prowess suggestion doesn't necessarily need to be in-game, making Paragon leveling more interesting would help make the endgame more rewarding, which is the reason the Paragon system was implemented to begin with.