Patch 1.05 Preview

[Chesspiece_face]

All has been quiet on the Diablo front of late but with the release of the Preview of patch 1.05 things are starting to look even more interesting.

1.04 was a huge step in the right direction in my estimation and 1.05 looks to be another leap forward.

Looking forward for more specifics on these announced items.

[FoxBat]

"Monster Power" sounds promising, it could be botched horribly, but there's great potential there. Particularly if base mob damage is getting nerfed. Big question is how it will work in multiplayer games.

[Archon_Wing]

Monster power and the uber bosses sound like what people need for an endgame.

The defensive bonus changes looks completely awful though; it feels like unneeded tinkering just for the sake of tinkering:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/6...age=15#292

[Chesspiece_face]

Monster power and the uber bosses sound like what people need for an endgame.

The defensive bonus changes looks completely awful though; it feels like unneeded tinkering just for the sake of tinkering:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/6...age=15#292

I don't see any problem with the defensive changes. Everything they have mentioned with this preview seems to be what is needed to balance out the end game.

By lowering the damage output of enemies in conjunction with lowering the overall power of defensive cooldowns you open up build diversity throughout Inferno (as it stands now). My read is that this is a major step away from their release mentality that Inferno is "ZOMG destroy your face every step". I think after 1.05 pretty much anyone will be able to play through Inferno and 'finish' the game (this has been a high point of contention with a lot of people) and that instead of hearing stuff like "I can farm act 2 with no problem but I die all the time in act 3" you will hear stuff like "I can farm Monster 3 pretty well but can't do Monster 4 yet".

What you will end up seeing is that for entry Inferno the defensive skills are less mandatory and it feels like less of a brick wall in places but as you move up the Monster # ladder the defensive skills will still remain fairly attractive. Overall this will just smooth out the progression and difficulty curve.

[Archon_Wing]

Wrong link from me: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/7155884/...-9_14_2012

Monster power and the uber bosses sound like what people need for an endgame.

The defensive bonus changes looks completely awful though; it feels like unneeded tinkering just for the sake of tinkering:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/6...age=15#292

I don't see any problem with the defensive changes. Everything they have mentioned with this preview seems to be what is needed to balance out the end game.

By lowering the damage output of enemies in conjunction with lowering the overall power of defensive cooldowns you open up build diversity throughout Inferno (as it stands now). My read is that this is a major step away from their release mentality that Inferno is "ZOMG destroy your face every step". I think after 1.05 pretty much anyone will be able to play through Inferno and 'finish' the game (this has been a high point of contention with a lot of people) and that instead of hearing stuff like "I can farm act 2 with no problem but I die all the time in act 3" you will hear stuff like "I can farm Monster 3 pretty well but can't do Monster 4 yet".

What you will end up seeing is that for entry Inferno the defensive skills are less mandatory and it feels like less of a brick wall in places but as you move up the Monster # ladder the defensive skills will still remain fairly attractive. Overall this will just smooth out the progression and difficulty curve.

IMO, it's not necessary to make the game easier. 1.03 and beyond weren't really making the game hard based on monsters doing too much damage (that was before 1.03 where monsters did on average 100k). 1.04 act 1/2 inferno is a pale shadow of its former self and it is viable to farm to gear for the next act whereas before it was almost impossible-- I'm vendoring 800 dps weapons because nobody will buy them and they drop with reasonable frequency.

What was considered the annoying part about 1.03 inferno is that certain affixes and crowd control abilities by monsters were considered cheap and there were particular monster types that did unusual amounts of damage, as well as having enrage timer.

1.04 almost has it right. It nerfed the annoying crap and softened enemy blows as well as certain monster types being overpowered. It is extremely reasonable and I think even with moderately priced items on the AH, people have more flexibility than they'd think. It's not 1.02 anymore-- you can sacrifice resists and armor a bit. The idea of using a 2 handed monk dropping bells powered by Mantra of Conviction sounded unthinkable a month or two ago, but things are very different now.

I would rather have underutilized skills be brought up as powerful as popular skills rather than overused skills made as crappy as underused ones.

It's just that I feel that one should have to put more effort into beating the highest difficulty of the game. The original concept of inferno was sound in spirit, although due to poor balancing came across as too demanding of grinding in practice.

Of course the other problem is that with the content being even easier, it gives a disincentive to go get overkill items, and good items you find won't even sell. That will lead to people complaining about not finding loot, though sadly they'll never know that rarity is relative. Remember how I was bitching about the shield? Well, that was never really solved on principle but it surely got resolved through prices :p -- found an extremely cheap replacement as prices have plummeted. But that's not a really bad thing.

Fortunately, the uber whatevers will offer an option for the overgeared to tackle. So at least the economy will straighten out, hopefully by the time pvp is out.

It's just that I think for once we've reached a balance where the risk and reward for the difficulty levels has worked out fine. This isn't to say it's perfect, but radical changes now may upset a fragile balance. I'm just not a fan of hammer balancing.

[ErickTheRed]

I really liked the patch 1.04 game-play changes, and the rebalancing the defensive skills and the crowd control changes talked about earlier seem like another great step to me. I might even get to dust off my idea for a lightning themed wizard.

At first I was concerned when I read that they were also making the game easier, but on second thought I don't think it matters since the prices on the ah impact difficulty as much as the tuning. Before 1.04 it cost 5m-10m to buy gear to beat the game, and top end gear makes it trivial. The cost will decrease, but I'm not sure how much I care. If when they are finished tuning I find it viable to beat the game without using the AH then I will be happy. I have a long term project going to play each class without using the AH and only sharing amongst themselves and using the crafters. It sounds like this is becoming more realistic.

[MonTy]

I have a long term project going to play each class without using the AH and only sharing amongst themselves and using the crafters. It sounds like this is becoming more realistic.

I have a lot to say on that topic. I feel Blizzard has really short-sided players who would like to play without using the Auction House. The current drop rates are way too low for players with that preference. I first started playing with the intentions of not using the AH, but eventually started using it to progress through Inferno. It felt nice- instant gratification. But then the game became all about gold. How much gold can I get this run. How much gold can I sell this for so I can buy better gear. It became a game of mindless butcher runs and market house dealings.

Eventually I gave away my softcore gear and played Hardcore, a mode I haven't done in previous Diablo series. I still used the AH but due to the nature of HC, you play slower, and the game is much more exciting. Using the Auction House felt more legit, knowing that people are risking their character to play or farm for gear. It was also a thousand times less cluttered and gear you find would sell more often and cheaper.

While I enjoy Hardcore immensely I wanted to try a new account and not use the AH, so I got a character to Hell but I felt the time needed to find better drops and move on was not entertaining enough, so I stopped playing and gave the account away to a friend. Said friend didn't enjoy the game and returned the account, so I gave it a try again and leveled one of each class to nightmare or close to it. But I stopped as I personally find the item drop system so uninteresting.

To cut this short, I simply wish they would allow a game mode where item drops were much higher in quality, but in return you can't trade or sell that gear. I love the skill system, I love the combat, just not the loot :(

[LochnarITB]

To cut this short, I simply wish they would allow a game mode where item drops were much higher in quality, but in return you can't trade or sell that gear. I love the skill system, I love the combat, just not the loot

But wouldn't the end result be the same as buying off the AH? You would quickly be uber-ized and then bored once again. I have not bought anything off the AH. Only my wizard is in Inferno but eventually they will all be there. All but my barbarian are hitting Hell (oops, better update the sig). I enjoy the gameplay. It doesn't matter that I am seeing the same areas. Every so often I still see a new event (or at least one I don't remember) but it is mostly repeat. I see it as no different than re-watching a movie I enjoy or re-reading a good book. Waiting for drops that upgrade my toons is OK. As my toons grow, the good drops that do happen feel more and more precious and exciting, not something to be scorned for the lack of. Of course, I am a very patient person and, as you all know, I'm a bit of an odd duck so YMMV.

[MonTy]

But wouldn't the end result be the same as buying off the AH? You would quickly be uber-ized and then bored once again.

Not as quick as buying off the Auction House, but not an ungodly number of hours needed to clear Inferno in the current state without the AH.

Also, that's great you're making progress. Keep us posted :)

[Archon_Wing]

IMO, it's very viable to self-farm your own gear-- it's not like pre-1.03 where it was literally impossible to gear yourself for the next act. Act 1 only dropped 61s as the highest and Act 2 only dropped 62s as the highest. This was obviously a terrible joke-- trying to take on pre-patch act 2 with 61s was the equivalent of wiping your behind with sandpaper and progression wasn't possible for 95% of players had people not used the skip act exploit and acquired higher level items to sell on the AH.

But now 61s and 62 drop in hell mode. Most of them still suck, but you can prep your character through inferno.

It would still take a much longer time than using the AH, but I don't really see the problem with that. Trading with other players is supposed to make the game easier, just like how the game is easier if you have a group helping each other out and sharing items.

Of course, I love the AH so much I want a web browser version of it, so YMMV. My current Wizard in hardcore has hilariously outgeared the content in hell just because I was so worried about dying that she's maxed out as much as I can given my funds. I've always liked to get ahead on the progression curve for many rpgs I've played. But at least it's funny and allowed me to survive disc'ing in front of elites.

[Concillian]

While I enjoy Hardcore immensely I wanted to try a new account and not use the AH, so I got a character to Hell but I felt the time needed to find better drops and move on was not entertaining enough, so I stopped playing and gave the account away to a friend. Said friend didn't enjoy the game and returned the account, so I gave it a try again and leveled one of each class to nightmare or close to it. But I stopped as I personally find the item drop system so uninteresting.

To me, loot feels at least reasonably interesting when you have a 5 stack of NV. I often have 2 rares getting to a 5 stack and then it seems like almost half and half. ilvl is a secondary issue, that may be a little off from ideal, but rare:magic ratio feels alright when you have a guaranteed rare on a random pack and 2 from a scripted boss.

However, when put into hardcore mode, this system downright sucks. Leveling hardcore becomes unnecessarily tedious, and leveling is a substantial portion of the hardcore game.

[Archon_Wing]

I think items would be less tedious if an NPC could ID them all at once. The cast animation is annoying when you have 60 rares and 57 of them aren't even worth looking at. You just waste so much time doing stuff like that instead of spending time finding even more things.

[Concillian]

I think items would be less tedious if an NPC could ID them all at once.

The tedium I'm referring to has nothing to do with the ID time. The issue is that there is so little ID time because you get so few rares when leveling... and a fair amount of playtime in hardcore is leveling.

The NV system works okay when you're 60 while playing the majority of your play time, but this is not often the case with hardcore.

You're either twinked (AH or self-twinked) or you're checking vendors for blues, as they often have better loot than drops. Once you get 60, the NV system corrects the issue, but going from 30--> 60 is tedious without guaranteed rares from anything.

At 60+, the loot is about the only thing it can be. I mean you'll reach some point where loot can't get much better eventually. That point is going to be largely the same amount of time input from 60 if you're talking about using the AH, if drop rates change, prices will eventually shift so that your 57 of 60 are not interesting will happen after a similar number of hours played as it does now. That's part of the way the market works. No, that part of the system I don't really take issue with. It's getting an inventory full of magic items with 0-2 rares for 30 levels.

[Archon_Wing]

I guess it's kinda true that the real game doesn't start til 60 as items are concerned. However, in the earlier difficulties you also have the option of stacking more MF and +exp gem since you don't have to worry that much about survival until hell mode. I suppose 50-60 sucks the most. I can't say I've had trouble making yellows appear in nightmare and such. Hell mode sometimes will offers outright upgrades as drops even with some AH usage. It's just that the item isn't for you a lot of the time but that's only natural with 5 classes in the game and why the AH exists.

Also, while leveling is annoying in hc, it also means lower level items in hc have value in the AH, as opposed to softcore while you might as well vendor anything less than ilvl 62. It's not hard to gather several hundred k just by Ah'ing any halfway decent item that comes across. As a result the HC economy is way better and I ended up caring more about loot since that random blue or yellow in late nightmare could be 50k right there. There's really nothing in softcore that could compare to this.

For me in hc the greatest anticipation was just before my wizard hit 60. Massive shopping spree ensued. :p

[ErickTheRed]

I mostly like the way the AH works for my main character. It allowed me to relatively painlessly get past the hump of hell and levels 51-60. After 60 it made for a pretty satisfying progression - every session was able to afford some upgrade, and I went from barely able to handle act I to smoothly farming it to barely able to handle act II to beating Belial before patch 1.03.

I have a quibble with the AH progression now in that my analysis is the best thing to do is to save up the 80M for the Immortal King's chest piece but I'm not finding rares that sell often so it's very slow going. However, I can farm act 3 smoothly so it doesn't really matter that I can't easily afford the top end items.

Where I find the system falls down is when I want to play around with alts and variant builds. I stopped playing my wizard partially because it was very unsatisfying to hit 60 buy some stuff, and then find that I overgear act I. Similarly I tried a weapon throw based build on my Barbarian the other week. With the gear I have I crush act I with just about any build, found act 2 mostly easy except for a few packs I had no chance against, and act 3 too much to handle. So I didn't really get much interesting playtime out of that experiment. I really miss the Diablo II/Titan Quest experience of having a character organically grow. Knowing that I could very slowly farm up the gear I need to play around with variant builds isn't a satisfying - I don't want to spend a huge amount of time farming on alts. Stopping at nightmare doesn't do it for me either - most builds require runes or skills that aren't available by nightmare anyway.

[Archon_Wing]

I think something really needs to be done about Act 4.

Act 4 in its current state is trash. It's harder and has the same drop rates as Act 3-- while being more sparser, too short, AND having less elite packs. This isn't inferno exclusive-- it's even inferior in hell mode. A few runs of Act 3 (just the Keep, Bunker, Stonefort, and Rakki's crossing) in hell got me a paragon level on my wizard. Doing all of Act 4 caused the bar to barely move. Plvl 2 doesn't require that much more exp than 1, but the thing is by the time I have 5 NV I'm already almost at Diablo.

Currently, the only reason to enter Act 4 is to get achievements and if you want to frustrate yourself with practically undodgable corrupted angels and oppressors.

It may not be viable to make Act 4 longer atm, but it's entirely reasonable to give Act 4 much higher drop rates than Act 3.

With the game getting easier, everyone is going to be converging on to Act 3, and running the same place over and over can get boring for many. At a certain point the only Act that will matter is Act 3.

I think a even simpler solution is to carry NV stacks between acts. Perhaps they could add +1 to the maximum stacks for completing an act until you leave the game.

As a side note, it is completely viable to farm your first few (or even 10) levels of paragon in hell mode especially if you rock an exp gem. That doesn't mean it's better than inferno, but for those that don't use the AH, this becomes rather valuable to have the extra mf/gf.

[Chesspiece_face]

At a certain point the only Act that will matter is Act 3.

I'm fairly certain that the inclusion of Monster+ difficulties will also end up expanding the viable farming acts back to 1 and 2. They have already said that cranking up the difficulty will boost possible rewards with it.

Now this doesn't change the issue with Act 4, but I foresee that next patch the choice between Act 1-3 will be more based on personal preference than being forced into one based on drop rates.

[Chesspiece_face]

Official patch notes have been posted Here.

[Archon_Wing]

The NV changes are great, and the chests will hopefully be decent again.

Follower buff... might just be the unsung hero of this patch.

Items below iLevel 58 no longer drop in Inferno difficulty Square-quality gems no longer drop in Inferno difficulty

Now that's something.

Overall, very impressive changes.

[MonTy]

Changes look fantastic. Will probably go back to my self-found/crafted only account with the monster power feature. I really need a tougher challenge in early difficulties.