I really like the new MP and Infernal machine. Although it seems that it serves to widen the gap between poorly geared players and those who have godly gear. The better you are geared, the easier it is to benefit from the drop rates for keys and organs. Arguably, people with crumby gear would benefit much more from the Hell Fire ring.
I am ok with it taking me a long time to gear up and get to the infernal machine and MP past lvl 1 (I am poorly geared), but it does seem that the main change for poorly geared players is the much nicer item drops.
You're totally right about the "widening the gap" thing in general. You get mediocre gear for a few 100k and even badly rolled legendaries/sets for single digit millions. But BiS items are getting more and more expensive; a decent Wizard 1h weapon costs several hundred millions (I've been watching the market for weeks now). I suspect that in a few weeks you won't get BiS set/legs for less than a billion, considering how the gold->money inflation is going at the moment.
However, I kind of disagree about the Hellfire Ring. Casual players even benefit from a badly rolled Hellfire Ring, which might make you lose a few 2-5k dps - but if you're stuck at around 50k or 80k dps, I'd rather go with the 35% exp which is a huge boost and will allow you to quickly gain a higher paragon level and subsequently better loot.
If you're a high-end player with insane gear, you can craft multiple rings per week. I know some of these players who have 250k+ dps and/or are farming at least MP8. They are not wearing the ring, because they need awesome stats. Try to get a Hellfire Ring that can replace a BiS legendary/set: it's almost as difficult to get as trifecta gloves. In the end, the casual players who need 1-2 weeks for the Hellfire Ring will wear it; the high-end players most likely won't. Plus, in the end, some of these players might try to get as many Hellfire materials as possible which slows down leveling; if you're getting 5 buffs, killing the key warden and starting a new game it's more inefficient in terms of experience and legendary farming than getting 5 buffs and killing as many elite packs as possible.
I am ok with it taking me a long time to gear up and get to the infernal machine and MP past lvl 1 (I am poorly geared), but it does seem that the main change for poorly geared players is the much nicer item drops.
Is this a wrong assessment?
However, I kind of disagree about the Hellfire Ring. Casual players even benefit from a badly rolled Hellfire Ring, which might make you lose a few 2-5k dps - but if you're stuck at around 50k or 80k dps, I'd rather go with the 35% exp which is a huge boost and will allow you to quickly gain a higher paragon level and subsequently better loot.
If you're a high-end player with insane gear, you can craft multiple rings per week. I know some of these players who have 250k+ dps and/or are farming at least MP8. They are not wearing the ring, because they need awesome stats. Try to get a Hellfire Ring that can replace a BiS legendary/set: it's almost as difficult to get as trifecta gloves. In the end, the casual players who need 1-2 weeks for the Hellfire Ring will wear it; the high-end players most likely won't. Plus, in the end, some of these players might try to get as many Hellfire materials as possible which slows down leveling; if you're getting 5 buffs, killing the key warden and starting a new game it's more inefficient in terms of experience and legendary farming than getting 5 buffs and killing as many elite packs as possible.