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PTR Specific Changes

• Certain areas in Act II and Act IV have received further adjustments to monster density

General

• The Magic and Gold Find granted by Fortune shrines can now exceed the 300% cap

Achievements

• Bug Fixes
• The "Uncaged" achievement now requires the player to stay alive during the encounter
• The "Good Eye" achievement now requires the player to stay alive during the encounter
• Fixed an issue that caused the "Self Sufficient" achievement to sometimes not be awarded the first time a player killed Diablo
• Fixed an issue that caused the "Death Trap" achievement to not be awarded the first time a player completed the criteria

Bosses

• Bug Fixes
• Skeleton King
• A bug causing The Skeleton King and The King of the Dead to not play an animation when performing their Whirlwind attack should now occur less frequently

Monsters

• General
• The health of normal Spiderlings has been reduced by approximately 68%
• The health of Elite Spiderlings has been reduced by approximately:
• 4.5% for Champions
• 3% for Rares
• 9% for Rare minions
• Poison damage dealt by Brood Hatchlings has been reduced by 40%
• Experience granted by the following monsters has been reduced:
• By 75%:
• Brood Hatchlings, Cavern Spiders, Spiderlings, Stygian Crawlers, and Tormented Stingers
• By 50%:
• Bile Crawlers, Doom Wraiths, Shade Stalkers, Shadow Vermin, Skeletal Crawlers, and Spine Lashers
• The chance for the following monsters to drop loot has been reduced:
• By 50%:
• Bile Crawlers, Doom Wraiths, Shade Stalkers, Shadow Vermin, Skeletal Crawlers, and Spine Lashers
• By 25%:
• Brood Hatchlings, Cavern Spiders, and Spiderlings

Totally understand. It's a legitimate concern. The best response to your question is actually covered by our exploitation policy, which I linked previously:

Bug Exploitation

Some bugs are minor and do not affect gameplay, but sometimes bugs can be used to provide an unfair advantage to certain players or negatively affect the game itself. An appropriate penalty for exploitation is determined by whether or not:

• The exploit is performed intentionally, maliciously, or repeatedly
• The exploit damages another hero or their gameplay
• An attempt has been made to conceal the exploit's use

While certain exploits can be cut-and-dry, most are complicated beasts. Sometimes, players will use an exploit and not realize it. Sometimes, an exploit will exist, but it won't be damaging to any other player or the economy. In those situations, our priority will always be to fix what’s wrong as quickly as we can so that the game is better for everyone (as opposed to calling down the banhammer). If someone is actively abusing an exploit, though, and doing so maliciously and knowingly, then yeah, we might step in -- but it would likely be something that's handled on a case-by-case basis. Again, our primary goal is it to improve the game environment, not get some sort of revenge, so whether or not someone is penalized really depends on the individual situation.

Even so, the best course of action if you know an exploit exists is not to use it. If you want to submit a report, you can (and we'd be thankful for it), but that'd be going above and beyond.

And somebody read the submissions from here: http://us.blizzard.c...bmit/hacks.html Correct?
Correct, both our hacks@blizzard.com and Hacks web form inboxes are reviewed. As noted, though, reports submitted via those outlets will not receive a response.

As you said it yourself, dev team knew about it, released it live and I bet many ppl already exploited game mechanic, that was implemented in the client via official patch.
On the contrary, I said that we did not know about the bug when the patch went live. I'm not sure if that's better or worse in your mind, but it was issue on our end, and we’re already taking a look at our reporting processes to see how we can improve them to reduce the chances of something like this happening again.

We're not infallible, though, and we may not catch every bug or report, but we can always do better. It means a lot to us that players submit bugs and report exploits, and we want to make sure they're being utilized in the right ways.

This week's community commentary is focused on Hardcore mode. We have a great resource for new Hardcore players to share from Pokebunny on the TeamLiquid forums, as well as a fun challenge from KeiGu on the EU forums.

If You're New to Hardcore:
Are you considering playing Hardcore, or are you new to Hardcore and looking for some helpful tips? Pokebunny has put together a great resource for new Hardcore players on the TeamLiquid forums. It covers how to start Hardcore, what character might be right for you, and even a FAQ from some expert Hardcore players. Take a look at the guide, and feel free to leave him feedback, suggestions, or share some helpful advice of your own.

If You're a Veteran:
KeiGu on the European forums has a great Hardcore challenge for any of you veterans out there. The short version is you need to kill Inferno Diablo in a solo game with as little gear as possible, and post a video of your victory! Are you up for the challenge? Take a look at the thread for a full list of rules if you're interested in joining the fray.


Have you been thinking about playing Hardcore? If so, did you find the guide helpful? And for our Hardcore veterans, are you a champion ready to risk it all by fighting Diablo bare-chested? Let us know!