I have always thought that the Strong Archers are OP. Now as the new ladder starts, MY new Sorc fully agrees with this. (my necro is just as fragile, but he has blockers to help with this).
My Sorc has died 7 times. Once because I got surrounded and the other 6 by Archers. Archers with melee, with casters = "&*$%^$% dam stupid archers!" This is especially bad when there are other players in the game. Even Strong Quill Rats can 2 shot My Sorc.
You want us to multiplay, we get good experience, good chat, its fun. But when I do, I die really fast, especially when the other players are at different levels, and we are not all in the same area. While we help each other all the time, we don't baby sit each other because of Archers. Multiplay is why I play CE, good community, good team play.
The Sorc has no defense against archers, literally no defense. Unless some one Twinks us the Angelic set, We have almost zero defense, and we have (at least to my knowledge) no way to improve the defense of the items that we have.
The small light radius adds to this problem as the Archers can kill you before you even see them.
I really like the new life and mana on kill you added, but it does little good if i have to constantly drink full rejuve potions to stay alive, I almost never see the leech effect because of the constant rejuve intake while waiting for a kill. This new laek does work great on the lower life monsters.
Having such a slow run/walk speed makes this problem worse as I can't avoid quick enough when I see an incoming missle. I have to always be on stamina potions as when my stamina hits zero, I will probably die if in battle.
This is relating to Act 1 only as I have not yet played in Act 2
Condensed Version: Give us some way to boost our defense, normal and against archers, especially the lower levels. We can not gamble or find most of the good items untill we are way above the level needed to wear the item. I never understood this reasoning in D2. There are good items for low - mid levels, but you need to be a very high level to obtain them. This really Promotes Twinking. I would rather not be so dependant on high level characters for gifts, just to get decent items for my level, items that we cannot obtain ourselves when we need them. Good Weapons are impossible to get untill you are over 80 or so, yet we need them at level 40 or so. I am not refering to uber items, just everyday stuff.
How about a way to get some low level Barb BO to help?. A rune as I think your are suggesting, not sure, would help but we don't have a way to add sockets at low levels, later in the ladder this is not a problem.
Anyways it is very work intensive to stay alive as a Sorc, why not add a little more fun and survivability for the Caster Sorc.
on a personal note: Happy belated Birthday and thanks for all the hard work. I hope you have a healthy and prosperous 2013.
robbe