Patch Notes

[Paelos]

Well, it's not so much that they had the farmers, it's the WHERE the farmers would exploit. If you plan entirely around that, you can sacrifice game design that would otherwise be fun for the rest of the population.

Blizzard's plan with this kind of stuff is very simple. They crush it to nothing so the behavior is immediately stopped. Then, in the next couple of patch passes, they add in a more moderate fix after some reflection time.

[Job601]

The enrage timers are complete horseshit. We are in total agreement there. It was my fear when I originally hear of them, and son of a bitch if it didn't come true within a month.

I have to agree.  I think some kind of enrage timer is probably necessary to prevent exploiting, but these time values seem punishingly short.

[Arinon]

I know Zoltun Kulle was crazy exploitable but if he ports to players and ceiling smashes from anywhere now that's probably fixed.  The new 3-4 min enrage times seem a little tight but not too bad.  If I was playing Hardcore I might have a different opinion.  Those guys tend to do no damage and you won't really know if you brought enough until it's too late.

They can fix NEW Legendary IAS but not existing versions of the item?  Weak.  How is someone supposed to know if they are buying an old or a new version of Inna's Glory or whatever?

[apocrypha]

Thing is, they haven't fixed IAS. In any way. It's still just as powerful and desirable as it was before, it's just that you can't get as much of it!

The correct fix to IAS is diminishing returns. That would retain the sanctity of gear stats not changing after you've purchased an item and it would have given them something they could easily adjust as they saw fit in the future.

[Xanthippe]

That's far too sensible!


In other news "Reporting another player using the Report > Spam option will now mute that player for the duration of your gaming session"

Why only the duration of your gaming session? These are the same farmer/botters that Blizzard supposedly wants to get rid of. They're certainly the ones I want Blizzard to get rid of.

Why aren't they permanently added to my block list? Bizarre.

[Tarami]

Thing is, they haven't fixed IAS. In any way. It's still just as powerful and desirable as it was before, it's just that you can't get as much of it!

The correct fix to IAS is diminishing returns. That would retain the sanctity of gear stats not changing after you've purchased an item and it would have given them something they could easily adjust as they saw fit in the future.

I think the correct choice would have been to do what it says on the tin - make you swing faster. Same DPS, just more attacks (meaning less damage per attack). Indirectly buffs chance-on-hit type abilties, which is enough for a single stat. Tweak values to balance it against other stats.

[01101010]

Still kinda /boggling at the fact they not only nerfed MF/GF for objects, but also nerfed the objects themselves. So no more kicking over barrels for some change? Is this even a Diablo game anymore? I guess we can bypass the environment now, and go strictly to the bosses.

I am not totally bagging on the patch, but holy shit that is a HUGE part of the game that they just made irrelevant.

[Paelos]

I think the long term fix would be to tie the barrel/vase/etc drop rate to the amount of monsters in the zone. That way, the safe areas drop nothing while the high pop areas drop rewards.

I don't believe the barrels should ever be tied to MF/GF. That would just encourage the clear-gear concept which is just manipulation.

[apocrypha]

See, I specifically remember some Blizzard person (might even have been Jay Wilson) talking in an interview about the first time they got a unique item from a barrel in D2 and how awesome it was and how it changed the way they saw barrels and how they wanted to keep that feeling in D3.

We're just over 1 month after release and the biggest emotion I feel about the game now is... disappointment. 

[Miasma]

I am displeased that I no longer have a reason to smash barrels and vases.  This is diablo ffs.  Just another avenue of fun taken away because they turned my offline single player game into a shitty, poorly thought out bastardization of an mmo.

[Furiously]

What's it do to clouds and pinatas in whimseyshire?

[Mrbloodworth]

They are making adjustments, not on the merit of balance and fun, but on the Auction hall.

Some, had seen this coming.

[Ingmar]

They'd be making these same changes without the AH - they did this same kind of thing in D2 - they'd just be making them slower because they wouldn't have the instant feedback of prices, what's getting listed, etc.

[Malakili]

I know the pitchforks are already out, but as far as I know this has already been hotfixed and I am still finding stuff in barrels.  Is there another patch coming which is nerfing it further?  It seems like there is a bit of an overreaction here.

[Mrbloodworth]

They'd be making these same changes without the AH

Highly unlikely.

[Ingmar]

They would absolutely be nerfing the shit out of farm spots and techniques. The only thing the AH does in that respect is possibly help them find them faster.

[Malakili]

They'd be making these same changes without the AH

Highly unlikely.

Another person who forgot how many patches Diablo 2 had before they got it right and thought the game was just spit out as 1.09 or later?

Maybe that is unfair, ok ok.  But seriously, to hear you guys talk Diablo 2 was perfect from the start and the only reason Diablo 3 is getting patches is because Blizzard forgot how to make games between then and now.

[01101010]

What's it do to clouds and pinatas in whimseyshire?

They are treated the same as any other chest. The official forums had some people bitching and crying about rendering the staff useless now and wanting their 2million back for their inferno staff. It was delicious to read for about 3 minutes before the air grows foul with the screams of many Bothans.

[Shatter]

Anyone try out Act II, III or IV Inferno since patch?  How much easier is it?  Also read that repair costs are now beyond retarded, like 20K + repair costs for all rares. 

[Miasma]

Official forums seem to think it was a huge nerf to acts 2-4 but it could be bullshit.  Some are saying the repair costs are so high that even if you don't die you spend more on repairs than you collect, I'm hoping that's bullshit.

I don't think that repair cost increase will last a week once people start having to pay it.

[Job601]

Official forums seem to think it was a huge nerf to acts 2-4 but it could be bullshit.  Some are saying the repair costs are so high that even if you don't die you spend more on repairs than you collect, I'm hoping that's bullshit.

I don't think that repair cost increase will last a week once people start having to pay it.

I just don't get it.  When did a more punishing death penalty ever make a game more fun?

On the other hand, people wanted a gold sink to keep prices down.  Here's a gold sink.

[Segoris]

So the game moved from +attack speed as the best gear affix to ignores durability loss, awesome! 

[Sjofn]

That's far too sensible!


In other news "Reporting another player using the Report > Spam option will now mute that player for the duration of your gaming session"

Why only the duration of your gaming session? These are the same farmer/botters that Blizzard supposedly wants to get rid of. They're certainly the ones I want Blizzard to get rid of.

Why aren't they permanently added to my block list? Bizarre.

I assume your block list has a cap on how many people can go on it, and in theory by the time you play again, that bot will have a new nonsense name it is spamming with, so why clog up millions of ignore lists with nonsense names or some shit.

[01101010]

So the game moved from +attack speed as the best gear affix to ignores durability loss, awesome! 

Ding! Farming gear just went there... Seriously, you now have to farm to pay your repair bills but in doing so incur more durability loss? Good grief. I guess it is a way for Bliz to make people quit playing and thus stablize the servers better...

[Segoris]

It seems the new hot item for crafting is 5affix glove patterns, roughly 40-50% of the mats, 30-40% of the gold cost for slightly less profit than 6 pattern

[Shatter]

I was waiting for this patch to move to Act II Inferno...just played a bit and 3 deaths cost me 13K.  Mobs can still hit hard but definitely less life but easier then before however someone trying to proceed through Act II without gear farming too much prior will be raped by the repair dude. 

[Phred]

They have no idea what the customer base is here, do they ?

Actually I think they do, and I like the change. People were fighting into areas where they'd have chests, switching gear, and then looting the chests. That's the kind of stupid farmer bullshit you get that has nothing to do with the actual game. It's the same crap you saw with people farming vases in Inferno Royal Crypts.

So you like people to be forced to play the way you want?

[Phred]

I would bet on them re-upping the drop rates for objects in the game.  They just swung a big hammer to avoid botting and farming vases, their ultimate solution is to just have magic/goldfind stop working on them. Now that this change is in, rates for drops in them will likely go back to where they were.

I wouldnt hold my breath.

[Paelos]

So you like people to be forced to play the way you want?

Tell you what. You convince me that reloading the same area in Inferno with no monsters and just cracking open vases over and over again is actually playing the game, and that such behavior would exist without the AH/RMAH, and then yeah I'll admit I'm forcing people to play the way I want.

[Xuri]

Cracking open vases (and barrels) is the most fun in the entire game. I would subscribe to an MMO where the only purpose was to smash barrels, using a multitude of different weapons and abilities.

[Phred]

That's far too sensible!


In other news "Reporting another player using the Report > Spam option will now mute that player for the duration of your gaming session"

Why only the duration of your gaming session? These are the same farmer/botters that Blizzard supposedly wants to get rid of. They're certainly the ones I want Blizzard to get rid of.

Why aren't they permanently added to my block list? Bizarre.

Because in their infinate wisdom Blizzard made the block list too small so you would be constantly removing names of banned players. I guess the theory is that either the reported account will be banned within 24hrs (lol right) or the spammer will have recycled the character to avoid block lists.

[Merusk]

The theory is that the spammer will get banned or simply move to a new name within that timeframe.  WoW's rightclick>report does the same thing.

The perma-ban list is short because it's stored serverside, like everything else, so giving 100 slots to everyone is wasted space on the database.

[Amaron]

Patch is amazing.  Pretty much every class can progress much easier than before.  The people who were just zerg dieing with crappy gear that had good offensive stats are whining like mad which is great.   You can now get great gear in act 1 with magic find.  Crafting heavily improved.  The nephalem valor change is amazing.  Once people fix their crappy gear and realize they aren't forced to do high acts anymore I think a lot will change their tune.

Even the IAS thing is really justified.  Considering everything great in this patch the idea of whining about them overdoing a hotfix to a serious chest exploit is just..  

People were selling spots to cleared pony maps for crying out loud.

They can fix NEW Legendary IAS but not existing versions of the item?  Weak.  How is someone supposed to know if they are buying an old or a new version of Inna's Glory or whatever?

If it says "Increased Attack Speed" it's broken.  That affix is weapon only.

[Salamok]

Cracking open vases (and barrels) is the most fun in the entire game. I would subscribe to an MMO where the only purpose was to smash barrels, using a multitude of different weapons and abilities.

Personally I think the nerf to chests is worse than barrels and vases.  I switched to farming Act IV hell to avoid the repair bills and it sucks total ass when you go into one of those little sanctuary/chapel event type rooms where the "big" reward is a huge glowy chest and you end up collecting more from the vases in the room than you get out of the damn chest.  I think I had an exquisite chest or some shit that dropped 120gp and a white mask, glad they went through the effort to craft an entire area of the dungeon to hold that piece of shit.  Also super tired of clicking on weapon racks that drop nothing.

All that said I am feeling the loot buff that the elite packs in Hell Act IV quite nicely.  Treasure Goblins with 5 stacks of NV are pretty sick now that they are actually dropping level appropriate gear.

[Trippy]

Patch is amazing.   Pretty much every class can progress much easier than before.    The people who were just zerg dieing with crappy gear that had good offensive stats are whining like mad which is great.   You can now get great gear in act 1 with magic find.   Crafting heavily improved.   The nephalem valor change is amazing.    Once people fix their crappy gear and realize they aren't forced to do high acts anymore I think a lot will change their tune.

Even the IAS thing is really justified.    Considering everything great in this patch the idea of whining about them overdoing a hotfix to a serious chest exploit is just..  

People were selling spots to cleared pony maps for crying out loud.

They can fix NEW Legendary IAS but not existing versions of the item?  Weak.  How is someone supposed to know if they are buying an old or a new version of Inna's Glory or whatever?

If it says "Increased Attack Speed" it's broken.   That affix is weapon only.

Stop putting so many fucking spaces after your periods.