Diablo 3 Impressions

Hyena · Post by **Hyena** » Wed May 14, 2014 11:53 am

New patch is up, and holy balls is it a doozy. My Crusader is near invulnerable now, and I saw a HUGE difference in playing on Torment 1. Was dying quite frequently, but now I'm rarely in trouble. New passives and damage boosts across the board to all classes. Almost as powerful a patch as the old 1.10 patch for Diablo II that made it a different game.

Vorret · Post by **Vorret** » Thu May 15, 2014 11:28 am

Playing my WD, up to 530k dps and 4m thoughness ... still feels like I'm not hitting hard enough and I got terrible, TERRIBLE luck with drops, all legendary are stupid 2 handers or good items with no main stats, wtf guys.

I've been trying to get the helm that boost pet damage, I've sunked all my blood shards on that in the past 2 weeks and all I got so far is two legendary that are very subpar, it's starting to seriously piss me off and I'm about to drop the game for something else.

Trozam · Post by **Trozam** » Thu May 15, 2014 12:33 pm

Starting today, through next week, Blizzard has increased the Legendary drop rate by 100% (aka double) for the second anniversary of D3.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Thu May 15, 2014 12:33 pm

Crappy legendary drops are necessary... if you are planning on doing much crafting.

My issue is the reverse. I mostly get decent legendary drops. Probably because I still have so many slots that don't have legendaries or set pieces.

So I'm having a hard time doing much crafting of sets due to a lack of materials.

Vorret · Post by **Vorret** » Thu May 15, 2014 1:14 pm

TheMix wrote:Crappy legendary drops are necessary... if you are planning on doing much crafting.

My issue is the reverse. I mostly get decent legendary drops. Probably because I still have so many slots that don't have legendaries or set pieces.

So I'm having a hard time doing much crafting of sets due to a lack of materials.

oh I don't want to be in BiS gear after 2-3 run but it's beyond ridiculous now, I'll do 5-6 rifts fill my inventory 7-8 times with rares and not one is an uppgrade, heck, I've had the same weapon since I hit 70, haven't found a suitable replacement yet (and I was para 30ish when I hit 70 I'm now 78)

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Thu May 15, 2014 1:15 pm

Nothing you get before 80 matters. Just get to 80 and THEN get the good loot.

Vorret · Post by **Vorret** » Thu May 15, 2014 1:47 pm

coopasonic wrote:Nothing you get before 80 matters. Just get to 80 and THEN get the good loot.

Are we playing the same game?

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Thu May 15, 2014 1:47 pm

coopasonic wrote:Nothing you get before 80 matters. Just get to 80 and THEN get the good loot.

Do you know something that I don't?

noxiousdog · Post by **noxiousdog** » Thu May 15, 2014 5:31 pm

coopasonic wrote:Nothing you get before 80 matters. Just get to 80 and THEN get the good loot.

Concur.

Vorret · Post by **Vorret** » Thu May 15, 2014 9:17 pm

You do know the max level is 70, right?

noxiousdog · Post by **noxiousdog** » Fri May 16, 2014 1:17 am

Vorret wrote:You do know the max level is 70, right?

What about the next expansion?!!? Huh??!!

Actually I thought it was 70, but I misread your post mentioning paragon and got confused.

Vorret · Post by **Vorret** » Fri May 16, 2014 9:04 am

Found my helm yesterday... not with Blood shards.
Not from an elite, not from a monster or a chest or an event.

Nope.
A barrel.
A stupid barrel.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Fri May 16, 2014 9:11 am

That's where I got the majority of my legendaries - barrels, crates, and other such objects

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Fri May 16, 2014 9:22 am

noxiousdog wrote:Actually I thought it was 70, but I misread your post mentioning paragon and got confused.

Same.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Tue Jun 10, 2014 3:54 pm

New patch - 2.06

I think these are true based on the forum (I'm not at home to see for myself). These are the official notes. Predictably some people are losing their minds over the crafting changes. I'm still trying to get to Level 70, so no big deal for me.

CLASSES
Barbarian
General

The animation speed for Leap has been increased

The new speed is now faster than it was for both male and female Barbarians pre-patch 2.0.5

The animation speed for Earthquake has been slightly increased
Monk
Philosophy
We felt that Momentum was not as strong as some other Monk passives. The buffs to Momentum should help bring it more in line with its peers.

While there are no additional changes at this time, we intend to buff other abilities in a future patch to open up more build diversity.
Active Skills
Wave of Light
Skill Rune - Pillar of the Ancients
Bug Fix: Fixed an issue causing the pillar created by this rune to have collision
Passive Skills
Momentum
Reduced the distance required from 30 to 25 yards

Damage bonus increased from 15% to 20%

Duration increased from 4 to 6 seconds
ITEMS
General
Increased the drop rate of all class-specific Set items

Affected Sets:
Immortal King's Call, Natalya's Vengeance, Inna's Mantra, Zunimassa's Haunt, Tal Rasha's Elements
The Legacy of Raekor, Armor of Akkhan, Embodiment of the Marauder, Raiment of a Thousand Storms, Helltooth Harness, Firebird's Finery, Might of the Earth, Thorns of the Invoker, The Shadow's Mantle, Monkey King's Garb, Raiment of the Jade Harvester, Vyr's Amazing Arcana

This change will affect the drop rates from all eligible sources including monsters, chests, destructibles, and Kadala Class-Specific Items
Monk
Philosophy
Legendary items are just as important to class power as class skills. We recognize that the Monk class sets went out underpowered, and are substantially increasing their damage to be closer in comparison with the sets of other classes. Additionally, the Raiment of a Thousand Storms 6- piece bonus has been redesigned slightly to allow the damage to be higher, more controlled, and more deliberate.

Monkey King's Garb
(4) Set Bonus
Explosion weapon damage increased from 100% to 1600%

Lowered explosion delay from 1 to 0.5 seconds

Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that cause the Spirit spent counter to reset when an item was picked up
Raiment of a Thousand Storms

(6) Set Bonus
Will now be triggered only by Dashing Strike

Weapon damage increased from 100% to 3000%

Damage radius decreased from 20 yards to 15 yards

Damage dealt can now be a Critical Hit

Removed the target cap

The visual effect will still be capped at six targets

Bug Fixes:
Fixed an issue introduced in Patch 2.0.5 that prevented the +% Haunt Damage, +% Locust Swarm Damage, and +% Rend

Damage item affixes from being applied
CRAFTING
Legendary crafting recipes have received several changes:
Philosophy
Legendary crafted items are meant to be both a stepping stone into end game items and a good place to spend crafting materials at the end game. While we like the fantasy of having the unique crafting materials, obtaining them was either keeping too many people from being able to complete the recipes in a timely manner or encouraging game flipping and similar less than ideal patterns of play in order to acquire them. As such, we are removing the requirement for unique items when crafting Legendaries.

Unique crafting materials are no longer required

Legendary crafting materials will no longer drop

Existing Legendary crafting materials will now be grey and have had their sell prices increased

Level 70 crafted sets and Legendary items with unique properties now require additional Death's Breath

Level 70 crafted Legendary items without unique properties have had their Death's Breath costs removed

Death's Breath is no longer required for most Artisan training costs

The Mystic no longer requires any Death's Breath to train

The Blacksmith and the Jeweler now only require 1 each to learn the first rank of level 11
USER INTERFACE
+% Skills damage bonuses will now display on the details page

+% Elemental damage bonuses will now display on the details page

Paragon bonuses will now be reflected in Character Profile Damage, Toughness, and Healing values

Community chat will now be joined by default and the settings for which channels you have joined or left will be saved

Edit: Added official notes - working on formating

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Tue Jun 10, 2014 4:02 pm

Wait, so now set/uniques don't require those unique crafting items to make?

Did they just make crafting much easier?

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Tue Jun 10, 2014 4:05 pm

Yep.

"Philosophy:
Legendary crafted items are meant to be both a stepping stone into end game items and a good place to spend crafting materials at the end game. While we like the fantasy of having the unique crafting materials, obtaining them was either keeping too many people from being able to complete the recipes in a timely manner or encouraging game flipping and similar less than ideal patterns of play in order to acquire them. As such, we are removing the requirement for unique items when crafting Legendaries."

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Tue Jun 10, 2014 4:14 pm

Well, that's good for me personally. I don't play enough to get those long-term timesinks.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Tue Jun 10, 2014 4:35 pm

Heh.

The Blues wrote:There is currently a bug that is causing some Legendary crafting materials to continue to drop after the patch. We’re still looking into the specifics of the bug, and don't have a current estimate to share on when this will be fixed (or how: via hotfix or patch). In the meantime, thanks for your reports!

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Tue Jun 10, 2014 4:50 pm

People are crazy. The dropping of the legendary crafting mats means that more people can actually play at T1. Awesome change.

Alefroth · Post by **Alefroth** » Tue Jun 10, 2014 8:24 pm

I had more legendary crafting items with no recipe, than vice versa.

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Tue Jun 10, 2014 9:14 pm

Those old items vendor for a ton, so don't throw them out.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Wed Jun 11, 2014 10:31 am

Anyone know what RiF is?

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Wed Jun 11, 2014 10:39 am

Rift if Forward.

It's a way to power for shards and souls. Still not 100% on how it works though.

Here's the most coherent explanation:

NinjainSpandex 6 points7 points8 points 1 month ago
You leave the game, then you can either make your own(run through and invite people), or join another game, rinse repeat. The main point of Rift It Forward is to get blood shards/forgotten souls as fast as possible. If you are looking for people to run rifts with, then there are other communities for that(Reddit chat usually has people grouping for rifts)
permalink

[+]i2cube 15 points16 points17 points 1 month ago (2 children)
Oh! So the original host will essentially get infinite number of free rifts (except the first one)?
permalinkparent

[+]NinjainSpandex 15 points16 points17 points 1 month ago (0 children)
Correct. So if you are running rifts solo, just invite people.. they get shards, and you get a free open.
permalinkparent

[+]SacalaitSplycer#1996 0 points1 point2 points 1 month ago (0 children)
I have seen people post request first opening with invite back to opener but it is usually only t6. but you could request a initial opener.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Wed Jun 11, 2014 10:56 am

Ahhhh, thanks.

I can't do Rifts yet, but I think I get the gist of it. One person spends to open a rift, then invites others to join them and all get the payout. Smart.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Thu Jun 12, 2014 2:02 pm

So I have 4 Level 52 characters and 1 Level 48 who was working her way through the game for the third time. It just dawned on me - there is no Hell mode anymore. I don't have to play through it again at a certain difficulty to get to level 60 and unlock the higher levels - I just have to play long enough to unlock them. I can bounce around, can't I, doing just the Acts that are fun?

See, this is what comes from take a year or two off - old habits die hard.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Thu Jun 12, 2014 2:03 pm

stessier wrote:So I have 4 Level 52 characters and 1 Level 48 who was working her way through the game for the third time. It just dawned on me - there is no Hell mode anymore. I don't have to play through it again at a certain difficulty to get to level 60 and unlock the higher levels - I just have to play long enough to unlock them. I can bounce around, can't I, doing just the Acts that are fun?

See, this is what comes from take a year or two off - old habits die hard.

Right, just unlock all the acts and then play whatever you want.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Thu Jun 12, 2014 2:15 pm

As I said, I am slow.

So, when does Act V open up? I have the expansion. Does any character that's killed Diablo get to do it, or do I have to go through Act IV with each to get Act V open?

On the plus side, my computer is quite ancient (2007) and I always got slow downs in the sewers or anyplace there was water. I don't know what they did, but nothing slows me down now - it's fantastic to get enemies coming out of the woodwork and spells going off everywhere and no stop-motion animation!

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Thu Jun 12, 2014 2:17 pm

I think the pattern now is beat the game once to unlock Adventure Mode, run Adventure Mode for shards and rifts keys until you hit max level and unlock Rifts. Run rifts to get phat loot, going back to adventure mode when you run out of rift keys.

Somewhere in there you get tired of the repetition and call it quits or you continue having fun and play forever.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 2:27 pm

So when last I played about a year ago, my wizard was on her third play through in the low Level 40s. She was just starting the quest to reattach our friend's head when I booted up again. I played from there until the end of Act III and got her up to Level 52 - 1 level ahead of all of the rest of my characters who had already killed Diablo for the third time. At that point I realized I could now play at any difficulty (minus Torment for the time being) and any Act. I had just upgraded to Reaper and wanted to play Act V, but also wanted to do so in order.

So I started a Crusader. I just entered Act II with I'm guessing 8 hours in. I'm at Level 32 and have had something like 8-10 rares over that time. Two were plans, which was pretty disappointing considering they are low level weapons, but everything else was usable at the time it dropped. I've been playing on Master (whatever is just below Torment) since my first rare dropped and having been raking in the gold - over 200k so far. I crafted one belt - which turned out quite nicely - but otherwise hoarded my money. Well, I did spend about 50k upgrading all the gems I had.

This is way more fun that it used to be. Last year, it was an accomplishment to finish the Acts and continue using just stuff I found or could craft (I never used the Auction Houses). Now the fun is seeing how many enemies I can get on the screen to destroy in glorious battle and then looting their soon to be rotting corpses! I enjoy seeing yellow and blue as it means an excellent chance of an item with stats that matter and a real chance at an upgrade.

I know I'm late to the party, but this is really fun again! I can't wait to get Greoffrey up to Act V and past Level 60.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 2:34 pm

For some reason 3 didn't grab me at all like 1 and 2 did. I tried and tried it online but just didn't care for the rush rush rush online attitude. So i played it solo with my Hunter and I actually finished it alone last year and deleted it. been thinking of making a wizard type. My Hunter couls wipe anything out though.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 2:37 pm

Daehawk wrote:For some reason 3 didn't grab me at all like 1 and 2 did. I tried and tried it online but just didn't care for the rush rush rush online attitude. So i played it solo with my Hunter and I actually finished it alone last year and deleted it. been thinking of making a wizard type. My Hunter couls wipe anything out though.

If you haven't booted up since March 2014, go back and try it again. Loot 2.0 changed everything. It's a lot more fun/rewarding. And I only played with a group for a bit. Playing solo fits my time allotment much better and I get just as much out of it.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Mon Jun 30, 2014 9:08 am

Does anyone else have performance issues in Act V? My computer is old, but I played Acts I-IV with no issue. Now that I'm in Act V, many, many areas experience slow downs. The worst is the Refugee Areas (where my stash is). It's quite annoying.

Also, I started this Crusader fresh maybe 14 days ago. I beat Diablo at Level 59.5 over the weekend and started Act V. I'm now Level 66 and just died for the first time on Urzael. I was on Torment I. Up to that point I had had a few scares, but always managed to pull it out. I don't think I do enough DPS to beat him at this point without perfect timing. For all the other elite battles, there are a ton of guys on the screen so the Holy Hammer does a bunch of work for me. This one on one battle is much harder for me to survive.

Also, the drops seem way worse in Act V. Many, many normal or just blue items. Rares are few and far between. Kind of annoying.

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Mon Jun 30, 2014 11:45 am

Just finish Act V as fast as you can to move on to Adventure Mode. Which is where the real game starts. It's not clear that the best way to get through Act V is by trying to clear it at the highest difficulty possible, many people including myself did it on Normal so as to be able to speed through it.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Mon Jun 30, 2014 1:01 pm

I don't mind the slow going too much. It's a little vexing that the Checkpoints are so far spaced - takes me over an hour to clear most areas - but otherwise the fights are fun even if the drops stink.

My biggest concern remains the poor performance. When I finally get to Adventure mode, it would be fun to farm in some of these areas - but not if I have to put up with that.

ChuckB · Post by **ChuckB** » Mon Jun 30, 2014 1:37 pm

stessier wrote:I don't mind the slow going too much. It's a little vexing that the Checkpoints are so far spaced - takes me over an hour to clear most areas - but otherwise the fights are fun even if the drops stink.

Same here - for me, the Checkpoints are also too far apart (combined with the procedural levels that make you "lose" your progress) and led to overly longs sessions (some for me were around 1.5hrs) just to get to the next point, which --at least for me-- is way too long for a game like Diablo. I would certainly prefer sessions around 20-30 mins

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Mon Jun 30, 2014 1:47 pm

I can't comment on the performance as I just upgraded my computer before RoS came out and everything's been fine. You can generally finish a bounty on Normal in half hour or less and a Rift on T1 (assuming you are properly geared) in 40 minutes.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Mon Jun 30, 2014 1:48 pm

ChuckB wrote:
stessier wrote:I don't mind the slow going too much. It's a little vexing that the Checkpoints are so far spaced - takes me over an hour to clear most areas - but otherwise the fights are fun even if the drops stink.
Same here - for me, the Checkpoints are also too far apart (combined with the procedural levels that make you "lose" your progress) and led to overly longs sessions (some for me were around 1.5hrs) just to get to the next point, which --at least for me-- is way too long for a game like Diablo. I would certainly prefer sessions around 20-30 mins

Agree 100%. I thought I might just be slow, but the Westmarch area and the Graveyard each took right around 1.5 hours. The lead up to Urzael only took about 50 minutes, but it was only because I had to leave for work and skipped two of the doorways to Events.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Mon Jun 30, 2014 10:33 pm

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you thought those were long, you are going not going to enjoy the marsh.

It takes FOREVER. Especially if you do every underground passage.

You really might want to think about dialing back the difficulty. Just to make it faster.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Tue Jul 01, 2014 9:11 am

TheMix wrote:I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you thought those were long, you are going not going to enjoy the marsh.

It takes FOREVER. Especially if you do every underground passage.

You really might want to think about dialing back the difficulty. Just to make it faster.

Oh Joy!

I beat Urzael, but I did dial it back to Master. I died two more times before giving in though. I'm pretty sure I could have beaten him - I changed up my skills for improved survivability - but it would have taken a long time as I was just plinking him to death. He was at about 40% the last time when I mis-timed my Iron Skin and ended up in his flame thrower for about 1.5 seconds - that was all she wrote. Took 10 minutes to get that far too. On Master, took about 7 minutes and was never in any real danger. He also dropped a legendary weapon that added another 30% to my DPS, so still slowly making progress.

Question about Adventurer's Journals - these are useless now, right? I just sell them? Why are they still dropping??