Patch 1.0.3 Preview
Blizzard has just posted a massive patch 1.0.3 preview. There is a lot of info below including a few tables and strongly suggest you read the full post, but for those in a hurry we have a quick rundown.
DiabloFans Quote:
Legendaries Drop rates have changed in 1.0.3 The highest ilvl can drop in act 1 inferno but at a lower rate than act 3 and 4. You can view the table in the post to see all the percents.We won't be seeing the Legendaries stats change this patch however when they are done high level Legendaries should be flat out better than blue items. Nephalem Valor With 5 stacks of NV bosses will now only drop 1 "guaranteed" rare instead of 2. (They will still have a high chance to drop more just like before, just one less "guaranteed" one.Elite packs will now drop a bonus guaranteed rare when you have full stacks of NV Group Play Monsters will not longer have bonus damage per additional player in coop games. Inferno Balancing Act 1 feels just how they want it.Getting to Act 2 is to large of a step, if a barb and monk can clear Act 1 with an offensive build and murder everything, they should be able to switch to a defensive build and do okay in Act 2Act 2,3 and 4 will have have monster health and damage adjusted to make them fit smoothly. Deaths and Repair Costs Repair costs at 60 are almost not noticable, and due to this they see a lot of people simply "graveyard zerging" enemies.They had a few ideas on how to discourage this, ultimately they will be increases repair costs between x4 and x6 their current values. Attack Speed Attack speed modifier will now properly work on all items.Players currently feel that Attack Speed is one of the "required" stats, and blizzard does not want this. They have two ideas to fix this and are looking for feedback on them. They are currently leaning toward the first idea. Reduced how much attack speed can be found on an itemadd a hidden modifier that basically adds diminishing returns on attack speed. Gems As stated before, both the Blacksmith and the Jeweler will become a little cheaper.There is a table in the post below showing you the new cost for crafting the first 8 tiers of gems. (They only require two of each gem type now, along with reduced gold cost) Class Balancing Patch 1.0.3 will not be focused on class balancing. (there will be a small number of skill changes)Patch 1.1 will be the patch for most class tweaks which will have focus on punching build diversity up a few more notches
Originally Posted by Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
(Last month we gave you a glimpse into how we were taking in initial feedback on the game, and ideas for some potential system changes we could make. Today we wanted to follow up and provide concrete info on some of the changes we’ve been working on, and give everyone a heads up before the 1.0.3 patch hits later this month.
Bridging the Item Gap
The ilvl (item level) of an item determines the statistical budget for its power. The way the game is currently set up, Act I drops ilvl 61 gear and below, Act II drops ilvl 62 gear and below, and Act III and IV drop ilvl 63 and below. Unfortunately this has caused two main issues. The first is players who find an Act too difficult feel compelled to use the auction house in order to progress. The second is that certain classes, skills, and play styles are less gear dependent than others, so although great items are making their way into the game economy, people feel pigeonholed into a handful of viable strategies. For a lot of people they would rather do something frustrating or boring in Hell Act IV (such as having Tyrael fight for them or breaking vases) for a chance at a "top-tier" upgrade, rather than fight hordes of monsters in Inferno Act I. We’re shifting to a philosophy where the best items in the game can drop from many different places, so a wider variety of play styles are viable. If you would rather chain-pull elite packs in Act I rather than 3 minute cat-and-mouse in Act IV, we'd like you to be able to do that and know you can still find the best items in the game.
Nothing would explain it as well as just sharing the intended drop rates coming in the next patch, so here they are. Note that the drop rates vary slightly by item type; the table below represents an approximate aggregated rate of all item types:
New drop rates for 1.0.3
As you can see, players who would rather murder monsters 4x as fast in Inferno Act I can do so knowing they have a chance at amazing items, and players who want a challenge can kill in Acts III and IV in Inferno and be rewarded with a higher drop rate.
You Keep Using That Word
As previously mentioned, we’re going to be reviewing Legendary items in a future patch. Legendaries won’t change in 1.0.3, but it’s still something we’re actively working on. When we’re done, high level Legendaries should be flat out better than blue items, they’ll carry a good amount of power with them, and they should also be distinctive or memorable in the benefits they provide. We’ll be able to share more information on the specific changes we’re making after 1.0.3 launches.
The Nephalem Difference
It’s no secret that our goal for the end-game item hunt is players hunting monsters packs, building to five stacks of Nephalem Valor, and then killing a boss. While we’re seeing a lot of that occurring, what we’re missing is people feeling like it’s worthwhile to continue onward after killing a boss. To help hit that goal we’re lowering the number of guaranteed Rare items on bosses when you have your full five stacks of Nephalem Valor from two guaranteed Rares to one guaranteed Rare (you still have a very good chance at multiple rares, it's just no longer guaranteed). In exchange, all champion and rare packs will now drop a bonus guaranteed Rare item when you have your full five stacks of Nephalem Valor. The change benefits players with more overall drops, and a reason to push to continue progressing.
You Into the Group Thing?
We’re removing the bonus monster damage per additional player in a coop game. Our design goal is for players who prefer to play solo to be able to play solo, and players who prefer to play in groups to be able to play in a group. We feel the bonus monster damage per additional player is one of the biggest inhibitors to wanting to play with your friends. In a perfect world, single player and co-op would be absolutely equal, but that’s not attainable when you consider item properties such as “Life on Kill” or skills such as Archon which simply scale better when you are solo. Since the variety and breadth of game mechanics essentially dictate that solo vs. group play will never be 100% equal, our goal is to make them as close as possible but err on the side of coop in cases where we need to make adjustments. The inherent logistical requirements when forming up with other players and attempting to work together effectively warrants some added benefits.
Oh Yeah!
Inferno balance right now has a difficulty gap in which Act I feels about right, but Act II feels like trying to bust through a brick wall. In patch 1.0.3 we’re going to be lowering that wall by adjusting the damage and health of monsters in Inferno Act II, III and IV. We feel like Act I Inferno is in a pretty good place. Our design goal with Acts II, III and IV is to keep them challenging, but smooth the difficulty ramp out a bit. If a monk or barbarian is geared well enough that they can use a heavily offensive build and murder everything in Act I, they should be able to swap to a more defensive build and do okay in Act II. As they gear up they can begin adjusting back to becoming offensive in Act II, at which point they can jump into Act III with a focus on defense, and so on. Difficulty certainly ties into itemization, encounter and enemy tuning, and class balance, and all of these things together are going to paint a more reasonable difficulty curve as you hit Inferno in 1.0.3.
Paying for Your Mistakes
Current repair costs at level 60 are barely noticeable, and because of that we see a lot of people wonder if “graveyard zerging” tough enemies or “chain rezzing allies on a boss” is intended gameplay – it definitely is not. To help solve the issue we evaluated a number of new death mechanics, such as just allowing the resurrection timer to increase even higher, disallowing resurrection during boss fights, or putting a debuff on you when you resurrect (such as reduced combat effectiveness). Ultimately we felt that increasing repair costs was the best solution that preserves the fast paced style of the game. Repair costs on level 60 items are going to go up a lot. Our goal is the next time a player is graveyard zerging a boss, it should occur to them that “this is probably not an efficient way to go about things”. We’re currently evaluating repair costs between 4x and 6x their current values. In the face of increasing costs, we recommend listening to the Hardcore players out there as they probably have some helpful advice on how to minimize repair costs. Following this change zerging a boss will still be possible, but our intent is that it won’t be optimal, and players who are seeking to be as efficient as possible will adjust their item hunting routes accordingly.
Whoa, Whoa, Nice Shootin’ Tex
We’re fixing a number of bugs with Attack Speed, mainly related to the stat not working on some items, but we’ve also decided we need to reduce the effectiveness of Increased Attack Speed overall. Many players have commented that Increased Attack Speed is such a dominant stat they feel it’s required. While we don’t have an issue with there being important stats, Increased Attack Speed in particular has secondary effects on mobility in combat, resource generation and resource consumption. We want there to be options and considerations for how you gear up, and one uber trump-everything stat can really work against choice and options. There are two different solutions we’re considering to reduce the effectiveness of Increased Attack Speed. The first is to simply reduce the value on all the items to their desired values. In general our desire is to never change items as that makes them feel less concrete, but the upside is you would still be able to look at an item and know exactly what you are getting. The other approach is to change the formula used for attack speed aggregation so that stacking attack speed from multiple slots suffers from diminishing returns. The downside of that approach is that it introduces yet another hidden modifier on an item property (and many people dislike hidden modifiers), and complicates the already difficult decision of item gearing. We’re currently leaning toward the first solution, to simply reduce the value on items, but we’d be interested to read people’s thoughts on the problem.
JustThree Two Easy Payments
We previously hinted that Blacksmith and Jeweler costs are coming down, and overall it will be far more reasonable to train them up and craft items. The most dramatic reduction is on the combine costs for tier 2-8 gems. The gem combine costs for Perfect Square and above will remain unchanged.
Nerf Them, Buff Me
Class tuning is not a major focus for 1.0.3. There will be a small number of skills changes, but for the most part we want people to continue experimenting and enjoy their skills for a while. Our goal was and continues to be build diversity, and though we see quite a bit of build diversity, we think we can do much better. Class tuning will be an ongoing process, and we’re targeting the 1.1 patch for most class tweaks, with a focus on punching build diversity up a few more notches.
But What About…
While these are a few of the larger systems adjustments we’re making, the 1.0.3 patch will include many fixes, quality of life enhancements, Auction House improvements, and other changes. We hope you look forward to the patch as much as we do getting it out there, and again we appreciate your continued feedback. See you in-game!
Bridging the Item Gap
The ilvl (item level) of an item determines the statistical budget for its power. The way the game is currently set up, Act I drops ilvl 61 gear and below, Act II drops ilvl 62 gear and below, and Act III and IV drop ilvl 63 and below. Unfortunately this has caused two main issues. The first is players who find an Act too difficult feel compelled to use the auction house in order to progress. The second is that certain classes, skills, and play styles are less gear dependent than others, so although great items are making their way into the game economy, people feel pigeonholed into a handful of viable strategies. For a lot of people they would rather do something frustrating or boring in Hell Act IV (such as having Tyrael fight for them or breaking vases) for a chance at a "top-tier" upgrade, rather than fight hordes of monsters in Inferno Act I. We’re shifting to a philosophy where the best items in the game can drop from many different places, so a wider variety of play styles are viable. If you would rather chain-pull elite packs in Act I rather than 3 minute cat-and-mouse in Act IV, we'd like you to be able to do that and know you can still find the best items in the game.
Nothing would explain it as well as just sharing the intended drop rates coming in the next patch, so here they are. Note that the drop rates vary slightly by item type; the table below represents an approximate aggregated rate of all item types:
New drop rates for 1.0.3
Item |
Hell Act III and IV |
Inferno Act I |
Inferno Act II |
Inferno Act III/IV |
---|---|---|---|---|
iLvl 61 |
9 % |
18% |
19% |
24% |
iLvl 62 |
2% |
8% |
12% |
16% |
iLvl 63 |
0% |
2% |
4% |
8% |
As you can see, players who would rather murder monsters 4x as fast in Inferno Act I can do so knowing they have a chance at amazing items, and players who want a challenge can kill in Acts III and IV in Inferno and be rewarded with a higher drop rate.
You Keep Using That Word
As previously mentioned, we’re going to be reviewing Legendary items in a future patch. Legendaries won’t change in 1.0.3, but it’s still something we’re actively working on. When we’re done, high level Legendaries should be flat out better than blue items, they’ll carry a good amount of power with them, and they should also be distinctive or memorable in the benefits they provide. We’ll be able to share more information on the specific changes we’re making after 1.0.3 launches.
The Nephalem Difference
It’s no secret that our goal for the end-game item hunt is players hunting monsters packs, building to five stacks of Nephalem Valor, and then killing a boss. While we’re seeing a lot of that occurring, what we’re missing is people feeling like it’s worthwhile to continue onward after killing a boss. To help hit that goal we’re lowering the number of guaranteed Rare items on bosses when you have your full five stacks of Nephalem Valor from two guaranteed Rares to one guaranteed Rare (you still have a very good chance at multiple rares, it's just no longer guaranteed). In exchange, all champion and rare packs will now drop a bonus guaranteed Rare item when you have your full five stacks of Nephalem Valor. The change benefits players with more overall drops, and a reason to push to continue progressing.
You Into the Group Thing?
We’re removing the bonus monster damage per additional player in a coop game. Our design goal is for players who prefer to play solo to be able to play solo, and players who prefer to play in groups to be able to play in a group. We feel the bonus monster damage per additional player is one of the biggest inhibitors to wanting to play with your friends. In a perfect world, single player and co-op would be absolutely equal, but that’s not attainable when you consider item properties such as “Life on Kill” or skills such as Archon which simply scale better when you are solo. Since the variety and breadth of game mechanics essentially dictate that solo vs. group play will never be 100% equal, our goal is to make them as close as possible but err on the side of coop in cases where we need to make adjustments. The inherent logistical requirements when forming up with other players and attempting to work together effectively warrants some added benefits.
Oh Yeah!
Inferno balance right now has a difficulty gap in which Act I feels about right, but Act II feels like trying to bust through a brick wall. In patch 1.0.3 we’re going to be lowering that wall by adjusting the damage and health of monsters in Inferno Act II, III and IV. We feel like Act I Inferno is in a pretty good place. Our design goal with Acts II, III and IV is to keep them challenging, but smooth the difficulty ramp out a bit. If a monk or barbarian is geared well enough that they can use a heavily offensive build and murder everything in Act I, they should be able to swap to a more defensive build and do okay in Act II. As they gear up they can begin adjusting back to becoming offensive in Act II, at which point they can jump into Act III with a focus on defense, and so on. Difficulty certainly ties into itemization, encounter and enemy tuning, and class balance, and all of these things together are going to paint a more reasonable difficulty curve as you hit Inferno in 1.0.3.
Paying for Your Mistakes
Current repair costs at level 60 are barely noticeable, and because of that we see a lot of people wonder if “graveyard zerging” tough enemies or “chain rezzing allies on a boss” is intended gameplay – it definitely is not. To help solve the issue we evaluated a number of new death mechanics, such as just allowing the resurrection timer to increase even higher, disallowing resurrection during boss fights, or putting a debuff on you when you resurrect (such as reduced combat effectiveness). Ultimately we felt that increasing repair costs was the best solution that preserves the fast paced style of the game. Repair costs on level 60 items are going to go up a lot. Our goal is the next time a player is graveyard zerging a boss, it should occur to them that “this is probably not an efficient way to go about things”. We’re currently evaluating repair costs between 4x and 6x their current values. In the face of increasing costs, we recommend listening to the Hardcore players out there as they probably have some helpful advice on how to minimize repair costs. Following this change zerging a boss will still be possible, but our intent is that it won’t be optimal, and players who are seeking to be as efficient as possible will adjust their item hunting routes accordingly.
Whoa, Whoa, Nice Shootin’ Tex
We’re fixing a number of bugs with Attack Speed, mainly related to the stat not working on some items, but we’ve also decided we need to reduce the effectiveness of Increased Attack Speed overall. Many players have commented that Increased Attack Speed is such a dominant stat they feel it’s required. While we don’t have an issue with there being important stats, Increased Attack Speed in particular has secondary effects on mobility in combat, resource generation and resource consumption. We want there to be options and considerations for how you gear up, and one uber trump-everything stat can really work against choice and options. There are two different solutions we’re considering to reduce the effectiveness of Increased Attack Speed. The first is to simply reduce the value on all the items to their desired values. In general our desire is to never change items as that makes them feel less concrete, but the upside is you would still be able to look at an item and know exactly what you are getting. The other approach is to change the formula used for attack speed aggregation so that stacking attack speed from multiple slots suffers from diminishing returns. The downside of that approach is that it introduces yet another hidden modifier on an item property (and many people dislike hidden modifiers), and complicates the already difficult decision of item gearing. We’re currently leaning toward the first solution, to simply reduce the value on items, but we’d be interested to read people’s thoughts on the problem.
Just
We previously hinted that Blacksmith and Jeweler costs are coming down, and overall it will be far more reasonable to train them up and craft items. The most dramatic reduction is on the combine costs for tier 2-8 gems. The gem combine costs for Perfect Square and above will remain unchanged.
Gem Quality |
Previous Cost |
New Cost |
---|---|---|
Flawed |
3 Chipped + 500 gold |
2 Chipped + 10 gold |
Normal |
3 Flawed + 750 gold |
2 Flawed + 25 gold |
Flawless |
3 Normal + 1250 gold |
2 Normal + 40 gold |
Perfect |
3 Flawless + 2000 gold + 1 Page |
2 Flawless + 55 gold + 1 Page |
Radiant |
3 Perfect + 3500 gold + 2 Pages |
2 Perfect + 70 gold + 2 Pages |
Square |
3 Radiant + 7500 gold + 1 Tome |
2 Radiant + 85 gold + 1 Tome |
Flawless Square |
3 Square + 20,000 gold + 2 Tomes |
2 square + 100 gold + 2 Tomes |
Nerf Them, Buff Me
Class tuning is not a major focus for 1.0.3. There will be a small number of skills changes, but for the most part we want people to continue experimenting and enjoy their skills for a while. Our goal was and continues to be build diversity, and though we see quite a bit of build diversity, we think we can do much better. Class tuning will be an ongoing process, and we’re targeting the 1.1 patch for most class tweaks, with a focus on punching build diversity up a few more notches.
But What About…
While these are a few of the larger systems adjustments we’re making, the 1.0.3 patch will include many fixes, quality of life enhancements, Auction House improvements, and other changes. We hope you look forward to the patch as much as we do getting it out there, and again we appreciate your continued feedback. See you in-game!
Wondering what they are going to do about Invulnerable Minions/Reflect Damage mobs.
But seeing as how if repair bills go up who is gonna say to them selves "yea keeping this 5 stack of neph is worth the the repair bill!" when ur not even guaranteed 2 golds anymore and if u kill a boss. and elite mobs u only get a guaranteed gold if u have 5 stacks already?!?!" Idk bro someone show me the bright side dont get me wrong i love the patch but the repair bill is what gets me.
Coop was difficult in inferno act 2-4. Not everyone has furbished gear. Hell was still tolerable but once you took that step into inferno, especially act 2+, what was previously safe for a wiz (2-3 hits to die with force armor), became a one shot death as damage exceeded the low force armor treshold. The increased incoming damage really encouraged defensive builds which became increasingly hard to maintain as more players joined. In a 4 player game, a player who could maintain a reasonable defensive build while solo might find it just isn't working. Not everyone has a 1k weapon in their hand either, the dps requirements to burst down elites before they used their enrage timer made it difficult to use coop as having allies just made it harder to meet the enrage timer. A rebalance is definately welcome to make inferno act 2-4 more fun.
The drop rate change really helps. Currently you can roll really powerful ilvl61 items in act 1 inferno that can help you steamroll act 2 but the probability is very low, so low that people are grinding act 1 and seeing limited results. It is more efficient to grind gold and buy upgrades than hope for a ilvl61 rare with 4-6 good affixes.
Item rebalancing is necessary as well. Currently any weapon, even an ilvl63 one, without at least 2 of the 4 dps mods will not be worth a damn. You need a huge +fixed dmg affix, +ias, +%dmg and +mainstat. Of all the 4, the mainstat is the lowest priority. Outside of your main weapon +ias and +crit (only with enough) far exceed the dps potential of +mainstat and +fixed dmg to the point where they are arguably necessary in an item because you wouldn't swap them out with any other affix.
I trust Blizzard to balance and change as needed to make this more fun. Currently I just farm act 1 inferno and raise alts because the rest of inferno just isn't fun.
I'm not a casual player... I have multiple toons at 60 on hardcore... =/
Both those mechanics are good ideas, but they aren't tweaked properly. Invulnerable Minions can at times be damn near next to impossible without kiting them for what seems like forever... and Reflects Damage can cause the same thing, where you have to kite thing around and wait for cooldowns/potion cooldowns.
Ah yes, the "casual player" thing. Where this random guy thinks it proves that he's good at the game because a mechanic requires him to run around like an idiot for five minutes to not die. Because that's "fun" and "challenging".
Anyone complaining about inferno needs to look at the numbers.
The game has sold around 6 and a half million.
Blizzard stated on average everyone has 3 characters.
That is 19,500,000 characters created so far.
Only 1.9% of those made into inferno.
So only 370,500 characters have made it to inferno. Still a small number compared to 19 million.
They also stated 80% of characters was still in normal. So this inferno change will affect a small group of players and people won't be bashing their heads against their keyboards no more.
quote for truth man.
Anyways, this fixes a lot of the major flaws that people have been complaining about since the majority has reached inferno. Great changes it's good to see that blizzard is listening.
On the flip side, I'm not sure about the repair solution. Blizz has this strange way of finding a problem and then punishing EVERYONE for it. I don't personally zerg things in the game - if I can't get past something, there's no harm to me in just reloading the game and farming more stuff. Blizz seems to take the easiest way out for some of these problems, and it adversely affects unnecessary people. Not to mention that you're going to be killed ALOT just from normal monsters in the later Acts, so they're punishing you're natural progression in a way. I'll reserve judgment for now because it may work well with the other changes, but, on paper, I do not like this change.
This is of course assuming that they nerf the Treasure Goblin spawn point in Act II, if not then 4-man groups will be constantly camping that point.
Boss is nothing compare to elite pack. Try a pack where even Tyreal couldn't finish them. Fast, mortar, health regen and you see what I meant. Tyreal couldn't even move. You get 5 or 6 of them hitting you every second
I'd propose allowing shields/invunerable minions to not absorb projectiles, so that you can actually hit the non-shielded ones. As for reflect damage, either fix it so that it can't kill you directly (leave you at 1hp), companion damage has no effect on your health, and/or so that only a certain number of ticks of the reflect can happen every second (so that aoe doesn't kill you in less than a second).
Most of the game is faceroll of gearroll. At least we had one or two fights we were "stuck" for a few hours until we overskilled it.
The changes to multi player are great. I was unaware monsters got a boost in damage when other joined. I thought only their hp changed. This is certainly a welcome change for me as most of my plating is in a group.
Repair costs going up is something I was hoping for. It really did seem ridiculously low. Never once did I go to repair and even think about the cost. Death will now be at least a small deterrent instead of a complete non issue.
The changes to champion pack and boss loot guaranteed rares are also great for me. I enjoy clearing a whole act and will get more loot after the changes. It is weird that bosses currently drop more loot than champions with a full NV stack, but have the reputation of dropping less somehow.
Overall most of the changes are excellent, but I fear nerfing inferno and making item level 63 drops available in earlier acts will be too much of a swing to the easier side. I would prefer just the item change.
hell, increased revive timers prevent a lot already.
Anyways bring on the patch.
I think he meant attacks per second, but still funny