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!
Overall really loving the game so far though. As melee I get smacked around a lot and maybe its just me but the gear wall is a very steep climb using only your feet and if you want to do it without aid of the auction house I'm convinced it's literally right now impossible as a melee class.
Attack speed mixed with generators just make it too good compared to other things. 1-2 seconds to get to full resource is just too good.
That's like, the 2nd best part!
Can't wait for this patch. This gives me much hope for the future of the game.
Annnnddd, yes.
iLvl 63 should be max 0.5% in a1.
so theres still a chance, but now it might be even more efficient to farm a1, you dont have to go any def etc
this sucks....
why would anybody go farther than a1/ a2 now, besides the challenge?
in a1 you never fucking die, it shouldnt be rewarded that you suck and cant progress cuz you're bad
plus now BOTS will have a very easy time
maybe i will make one myself now, everybody will have one anyways -.-
Act 2/3/4 is more of a gear check more than a skill check.
I can imagine some of the simpler bots doing just easy gold runs, like on pots maybe but I can't imagine one running elites right now without being caught.
Right... and when you die in hardcore your character is deleted. So it seems like they're almost drawing a parallel between paying full repair costs as being as bad as your character being deleted. That's probably just them exaggerating it a bit though, or maybe me just reading into it in a odd way.
I'm on a Monk and I love the challenge too. The issue is rather significant in A3 and A4 when you are nearly forced 80% defensive talents. It puts you into a homogenized build focuses almost exclusively on defense - to even get past white mobs. Defense should be forced into the play-style on packs, not on your build. A2 started out alright for me and got progressively worse until I dropped about 2M on the AH. Now I'm about 10M+ in on gear in A3/4 and it's still kind of dumb how much defense is required.
I know "Casuals GTFO uv Inferno lol go back U mom's basement bad grammar runon sentence etc etc etc" But if you aren't a casual and feel yourself Hardcore, then play Hardcore. The current state of A3/4 make the game uninteresting for the extremely large majority of players. While I do welcome these changes, I do certainly hope they don't overcompensated and make a blind fool able to play A4. I'm only looking for a smoother climb and less spikey damage from mobs.
Oh, and the people concerned about repair costs.... really? If I'm working on A3, dying plenty, doing whatever, I still get around 200k/hour and spend about 20k in repairs. Gold is certainly not hard to come buy in this game.
Nobody could be this stupid.
I completely agree with this, at least that's the way it is right now.
A2/3/4 favor the players with the most time to play the game and thus the most time to farm gear/gold. I consider myself a pretty damn good player, but I haven't been able to get into A2. It's not because I'm not good, it's because I just haven't had the time to farm the gear yet.
You act like all classes have generators. Think about the big picture and realize that some classes (WD/Wiz) don't have generators. This change completely screws them. To make matters worse, attack speed affects the casting animation for WD so it's nearly impossible to kite without high attack speed.
This is a really sloppy change to make after people have spent lots of time and money acquiring gear under the old formula. It's not very fair imo.
Won't it hopefully just even out nearly?
They're not removing it, just making it less appealing compared to other stats. It's pretty obviously the best stat overall right now as far as I'm concerned. So it makes it a "must have" on items in Inferno. I don't like the idea of anything being a must have, especially not to the point of where attack speed stands right now.
The higher level item drops should scale more with the difficulty of the acts IMO. So instead of 2,4,8% in A1,A2,A3&4, it should be more like 1,3,8%
I'm abit concerned about the attack speed nerf. This will affect all the class and most likely demon hunters the most!
I've spent 10's of millons gearing up my both my monk and demon hunter and I'm affraid the nerf is gonna be to big and the value of my current gear will just drop insanely...
Just my 2 cents