Will I ever just use attack?!?

[:1]Maybe this has already been explained, but I'm confused about the monk's resource. From what I understand, Spirit is generated by combo skills and used for auras and other attack skills. Sounds good...

But is there any cost for the combo skills?? They make spirit, so spirit cost isnt the issue. Can I just rely on combo skills for my regular attack since they dont cost anything? If thats the case, I guess I would never be attacking with the non-skill normal attack.

That seems to be the case for other classes too....the normal attack is almost meaningless. The Barb can use cleave, the Wiz Magic Missile, and the WD just relies on mongrels (at least thats what we saw on the gameplay videos).

Any idea how the Monk's combos are gonna be balanced? Will I ever have a reason not to use a combo instead of a regular attack?|||Think of this brain twister. If a Barbarian's double swing costs -2 mana, would I ever use Norm Attack?



All Diablo games have had this same trend: norm attack helps you level. When you get points (books in D1), you mostly swap to that, keeping the mana in check. D3 has abundant mana, so no need for the older skill.|||Quote:




All Diablo games have had this same trend: norm attack helps you level. When you get points (books in D1), you mostly swap to that, keeping the mana in check. D3 has abundant mana, so no need for the older skill.




Seems like the way its gonna work. The normal attack will last until the first combo skill becomes available, then its bye-bye -after that the successive combos are used.

I guess just swinging your sword or smashing your staff is a last resort now. |||It's always been a first and last resort.|||In Diablo2 you were forced to play with the basic attack for quite a while because the skills were using a lot of mana at low level. And it was boring. Especially with casters that should not be obliged to use weapons to hit their ennemies. At higher level you would never use the basic attack, you would replace it by another attack on your mouse.

I guess in D3 we will use auto attack only until we get our first point to put in a skill. So basically just during the introduction, the time for newcomers to understand the basic controls of the game (click, click, click) and introduce the way the skills are working. After that I guess as you that you will only use skills all the time. But, once again, I think it is better than spending 5 levels with (essentially) auto attacks and saving the mana/ressource for the tougher packs/monsters.|||I've used normal attacks in D2 (at a high level, of course) - against a champ with mana burn! My items weren't so great at the time, but I'm sure some of you had this experience.

I'm crossing my fingers that this mana burn (or resource burn?) won't come back to haunt me in D3. That was a pain in the *** WITH POTIONS so with more restrictions put on them, I don't think I'll have a fantastic gameplay experience should this ever come back (I hope you're reading this, Bash).

But even if it comes back, you wouldn't actually change your skills to normal attack to do normal attack - chances are, combo attacks will automatically become normal attacks when there's no spirit, just like in D2.|||Quote:




But even if it comes back, you wouldn't actually change your skills to normal attack to do normal attack - chances are, combo attacks will automatically become normal attacks when there's no spirit, just like in D2.




No, combos do not require any ressource. So they will remain combos moves. You won't be able to use other skills though.|||Combo attacks build spirit and cost nothing. As soon as you select one as your skill, you will never use normal attack again because spirit is your resource, and using normal attack prevents you from building it.

All the references to mana in this thread have me facepalming. Read up on spirit here.|||Mana is shorthand for whatever resource.