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Significant Difficulty Changes Coming With Next Beta/PTR Patch

In the next PTR patch is for Torment to unlock once you reach level 60, the requirements for Master are going to shift and the difficulty will now unlock after you complete Act IV. Those and more upcoming changes were shared on the Official Forums today. Have a look at them and let us know if you think they're positive changes or not.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker/ Official Forums)

We've heard some pretty significant feedback regarding the current difficulties available to players on the PTR. As a result, the intent next PTR patch is for Torment to unlock once you reach level 60, which will provide access to players both on the PTR and Closed Beta.

As a result, the intent next PTR patch is for Torment to unlock once you reach level 60, which will provide access to players both on the PTR and Closed Beta.

To compensate for Torment unlocking at level 60, in the next PTR/Beta patch the requirements for Master are going to shift and the difficulty will now unlock after you complete Act IV. \o/

Is this to only test torment in the PTR or is this how it will run live?

While we do want to test the change itself on the PTR, it's not a PTR-only change (if that makes sense). Once 2.0.1 goes live, the goal is for players to be able to unlock Master difficulty after completing Act IV on one of their characters, and then unlock Torment difficulty after they reach 60 on one of their characters. 

This change will available for testing in the next PTR patch. (For clarity, the change will also affect the Beta, not just the PTR.)

I read that as "We (players) will need to complete all of act IV in Master before we can test torment difficulty". Is that correct?

Negative. As noted above, the way it'll work in the next PTR/Beta patch is that Master difficulty will unlock for your account after you've completed Act IV on one of your characters, and Torment difficulty will unlock after you've reached level 60 on one of your characters. 

Don't think so. It's more like completing Act IV unlocks Master, level 60 unlocks Torment but it's very confusing. Master difficulty is currently open from the beginning so.... @Nevalistis?

Note that the "unlock" is account-wide, not character specific. So, once a difficulty is unlocked, it's available to every character on your account, even brand new ones. 

Master is probably open for you because you've already met the criteria for it on at least once of your heroes (right now Master unlocks at level 60). The only difficulties that don't have an unlock component are Normal, Hard, and Expert, which are available right from the start.

Edited to add: Sorry for the confusion! I'll amend my previous post to make things a little more clear. 

So to clarify, does this mean it's possible to have Torment unlocked without having Master unlocked if we don't have the expansion/Beta?

You're talking about an outlier scenario where someone who hasn't already killed Diablo at least once by the time that patch 2.0.1 goes live decides that he/she wants to grind up to level 60 without ever completing Act IV? (Just clarifying exactly what you're asking here.)

Note: Using your account as an example, when patch 2.0.1 goes live, Master difficulty would be unlocked for you because you've already killed Diablo at least once (and thus completed Act IV). Similarly, Torment difficulty would be unlocked for you because have a level 60 on your account. 

Right now on the PTR and in Beta, Master unlocks at level 60 and Torment at level 70. In the next PTR/Beta patch, we're planning to change this so that Master unlocks once you complete Act IV (i.e. kill Diablo) and Torment unlocks once you hit level 60*. This would be regardless of whether or not you purchase the expansion**. 

*You only need to meet the corresponding criteria on one of your characters to unlock the difficulty for your entire account. 

**Still clarifying what levels of Torment will available for non-RoS players. Will get back to you on that.

No Account Wipe With The Next PTR/Beta Update

Some presumptions that there is going to be a Beta/PTR wipe today made Nevalistis pop in and clarify that not only there won't be wipes today, but there won't be any in the coming patch at all. Also, there is still no date for said patch.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker/ Official Forums)

Ros Beta Wipe today

Nope! We don't currently have a date to share for the next Closed Beta/PTR update, though it is currently being worked on quite extensively!

However, I can share that we are planning to not have a wipe with the next update. So if you are participating in the PTR or Closed Beta, the progress you currently have will carry over into the next patch for testing. =)

HC and the 'Lower Difficulty' Feature

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker/ Official Forums)

If you are playing by yourself and the fight is not going well you can pause the game and lower the difficulty from say Torment to Normal. I understand that in softcore if a person keeps dieing you don't want them to have to restart a new server to progress. But in Hardcore it makes a mockery of the game if we can lower to normal to get to safety. The next thing we will do is leave the game and remake a new game back at Torment difficulty. 

The difference is in Hardcore we won't be lowering the difficulty to progress we will lower the difficulty to get to safety. Once safe we will start a new server back at the higher difficulty.

You should not be able to lower the difficulty during a fight to save your character from death.

I've been keeping my eye on this thread, but was waiting for confirmation before I jumped in with some info about the Lower Difficulty feature. Our intention is for the button to work in Hardcore and Normal, but for the effect to not happen immediately.

I just wanted to let you all know what our current goals are the Lower Difficulty feature, since it's very relevant to the Hardcore community.

*Edited for clarity*

Affixes and Crowd Control Discussion

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker/ Official Forums)

I appreciate the feedback in this thread. We've certainly gotten a lot on monster affixes in general, but the discussion occurring in here is much more focused and very helpful. I've been taking notes for sure! =)

Those CC affixes trigger from the unavoidable damage from things like vortex, wormhole, jailer, and thunderstorm (but especially thunderstorm).

I know this doesn't completely address what's being discussed here, but I thought it a good opportunity to share some of the upcoming changes for the Closed Beta and PTR, specifically on the Thunderstorm affix. The bolts generated by Thunderstorm will no longer "chase" targets, and subsequent bolts after the first will stay within the same general area. This should lend to making the affix a bit more avoidable, but be careful - the splash damage has been slightly increased to account for this change.

Many other affixes, such as Molten, Plagued, Frozen, and Frozen Pulse, have also had their target areas reduced, which again should allow players to more easily avoid some of these effects.

- Poison. Far, far too much damage in close quarters, and it should not instakill minions.

Poison Enchanted will also be doing reduced damage to pets, so you should see this result much less often.

This could be Blizz's way to make you stack CC reduction on gear. 

The intention isn't to make you stack a particular stat - CC reduction is meant to be one of many choices in how you can handle an encounter. Is it really the only option, or do you feel like you can address the issue by using different abilities or different defensive stats? How do you currently handle these extremely difficult encounters when you experience them?

Various Item Concerns And Ideas

Originally Posted by Blizzard 

Set Item Stats Quality

I know I've said this before, but I'd like to reiterate that Set Items have been going through iteration behind the scenes. Not all of these changes have made it onto the PTR/Closed Beta just yet, but there's a bundle more of them coming in the next patch. =) As we approach the release of Reaper of Souls and more items are reviewed, you'll see them pop up for testing.

My point is: players are essentially giving up 3-5 slots for a particular set, which could have been equipped by other legendaries of exciting orange affixes. AND these makes set items lacking in comparison.

Travis mentioned this during the Design a Legendary episode hosted by Twizzcast, but generally speaking the "crazier" Legendary bonuses are usually reserved for completing Set Bonuses. If something sounds really cool, but is a bit too much of a must-have for a single gear slot, then it's a better candidate for a Set Bonus. In the same right, we also need to be sure that the cool things you get for completing a Set are worth not being able to equip other Legendaries in some of those slots. 

In short, what you're asking for is already being kept in mind. As we go into the next patch, I definitely encourage you to give us feedback on Set Item bonuses, because if something feels like it needs improvement, we definitely want to know!

For the Tal Rasha set, might I recommend that the (5% more to skill) is changed to added fire damage/added cold etc to all attacks. This way all 3 of the bonuses will work and it becomes useful if you use the passive elemental exposure?

I don't believe we've shared the full details on the revised Tal Rasha's set bonuses yet, so just to make sure we're talking about the same item, here's what the upcoming bonuses on this particular set will look like:

(2) Set:

• Cold skills deal 5% more damage.
• Fire skills deal 5% more damage.
• Lightning skills deal 5% more damage.
• Arcane skills deal 5% more damage.

(3) Set:

• +100 Resistance to All Elements
• Increases Arcane Power Regeneration by 2.00 per second.

(4) Set:

• Damaging enemies with Arcane, Cold, Fire, or Lightning will cause a Meteor of the same damage type to fall from the sky. There is an 8 second cooldown for each damage type.

The 4 Set bonus will work quite nicely with an Elemental Exposure build where you use varying elemental types across different abilities, as the cooldown for each type of Meteor is independent of the others. To really maximize this set's potential, you're encouraged to switch up your damage type, and the 2 Set bonus also encourages this style of play. 

This is a pretty good example of an ability that, on a single item, would be far too powerful and a bit of a no-brainer, but as a reward for a 4-piece, feels like an awesome perk to work toward and build around.

which feedback do you want on set item bonuses? if they are too weak or how we would set them and so on?

If there are sets you think could use improvement or don't feel line up with the powers of other sets, please let us know! Suggestions are always welcome, but it's helpful to know if a particular item is widely being regarded as less desirable.
Edit for typo. (Blue Tracker/ Official Forums)
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Purchasing Cosmetic Items (Suggestion)

for "cosmetic" I mean transmogrification skins, mini-pets, decals, avatar portraits, banner skins, wings, dyes and everything that does not inpact in the game mechanics, so no actual equippable items or buffs (like the pre-order only legendaries for the console version of Diablo 3).

"cosmetic" is very relative indeed, and I think this is an interesting discussion that a lot of people have shared quite varied opinions on so far, both for an against. I am blue tagging this it in hopes that this will encourage more people to share their views in here :-)

If you are not sure of the best way to share your views on this topic, then perhaps you can try to answer any or all of the following questions instead:
What do you think about the idea of having an option to purchase cosmetic items, be it for transmogrification or other things along the line mentioned by Nightshade above?Do you think cosmetic items should be reserved for things like rewards and rare drops, or should there be more ways to obtain such items?How much do cosmetic items matter to you, and how essential do you feel it is that more such items be added to the game in the future? (Blue Tracker/ Official Forums)
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Hellfire Ring and Staff of Herding Changes On The Way
We are looking into the Hellfire Ring and also the Staff of Herding in the next Reaper of Souls beta patch, so keep an eye out for more information on that soon :-) (Blue Tracker/ Official Forums)