Diablo III Launcher Upgrade Incoming
Diablo III is permanently moving to the new Battle.net app.
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker/ Official Forums)
In preparation for death's imminent descent, your Diablo III game launcher will soon be upgraded to our new desktop app for Battle.net. You'll receive the update automatically with Patch 2.0.1, arriving in the weeks leading up to the March 25 release of Reaper of Souls. If you want to upgrade your launcher in advance and save yourself a little time on patch day, just download Battle.net now!
Battle.net features single sign-on functionality that allows players to log in once to access Diablo III, World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, and the upcoming Heroes of the Storm, and lets you stay logged in for up to 30 days. Players can also install games directly through the app and keep them up-to-date automatically, as well as stay on top of the latest Blizzard news. For more information, check out the Battle.net web page.
Once Patch 2.0.1 goes live, the upgrade process will begin automatically the next time you start up the current launcher for Diablo III—or click here to download the app now and get ahead of the game.
More on the Legendary Drop Rates
Feedback on drop rates is still highly valued on the official forums. Go and give your opinions!
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker/ Official Forums)
How come thats the fact when almost everybody including blues agreed the droprates where to low, and now they are even lower?The overall drop rate of Legendaries has not been changed, and is thus the same as before. Granted, the drop rates on some specific Legendaries with really powerful abilities were lowered though, which was done because said Legendaries are now accessible through the Blood Shard vendor.The drop rates that we currently have is probably not final and will most likely be changed until release so just relax and don't complain about things like this when we're still in betaComplaints do not help much indeed, but constructive feedback does. The line betweeen complaints and constructive feedback is not always easy to identify though, but that is okay as long as the feedback is objective :-)
We are still testing and tuning the drop rates and the reward structure, so we are looking for feedback on this. To those of you who are concerned about the drop rates, could you tell us a little more about why you think the drop rates are not what they should be? Also, what would be a decent drop rate in your opinion?
The Boulder Barb Beta Build
Forum user TheWaldemar has put together a very well working build for the Barbarian, where the primary tool for destruction is the Ancient Spear/Boulder Toss. He has given a good explanation of the build in his topic and has also put out a nice video of it. So far the feedback from our Barb forums has been great!
So does that mean we could see a release of late February for the patch?
So that means they actualy think the drop rates is fine for legendaries now ?
Really? I spent an entire day playing on the ptr. I got 4 legendaries the entire day. 3 of them was guaranteed drops. 1 was random drop.
1 legendary drop in about 16-17 hours is NOT ok. That was with a rather effective build and effecient farming
If anyone here has ever made a game before, you immediately know the difficulty of balancing abundant innovation. The more complex/rich in dynamic features your game is, the more likely it is that it will be hard to tune to that "feels right" setting.
That being said, Blizzard is essentially the best benefactor you could ask for on a game like Diablo 3. We should be able to make a drop system work. I'm not sure if anyone has ever played the game Phantasy Star Online (my favorite item hunting game next to D2, it's a must play for ppl who enjoy Diablo) but that's the closest game I've played where the item hunting is extremely difficult, though it feels perfect. The vast quantity of items in PSO is both diverse and practical. There definitely are those few items everyone seeks out that are "the best" but there are plenty of viable choices that with the right character, are just as lethal. Also, there were a lot of exclusive items dependent on race/gender.
I believe Diablo 3 is trying to achieve certain comparable values in their item model. However, do realize how many people will be playing this game (how many will be playing ~6-10 hours at any given time, among more extremists) versus the quantity of people currently participating in the beta. I've read a lot of posts on Battle net about how it was no fun to find all their gear so quickly and easily and be done with the game. With the elimination of the Auction House (and apparently, limited form of trading) we can hope to face a great challenge for finding gear in RoS.
So the drop rates for the legendaries with more powerful effects are dropped considerably. I'm not sure of the precise drop rate, though I think if they are making it even a slight possibility you can gamble for said legendaries, that such a change makes sense. Again, think of the many people who will be playing simultaneously. We don't want a game to launch where after the first week, someone has cleaned it out. Now you might be thinking, "So what if the drops come rolling in? Even if it's 'powerful' gear, you can only trade to your friends playing with you so it's not like they'll be in circulation!". I would say to those of you thinking along those lines to consider at this point what makes certain items so valuable. Is it because of their raw stats? Is it how they look? Is it because they're impossible to find? Does it just look cool? Itemization is arguably all of Diablo 3 (if you take out the fighting :P) so why wouldn't it be the greatest challenge of the game? We want low drop rates for the good stuff. I don't want to join a public match and see the same 3 douche bag classes with the same build and the same glowy sword everyone has (transmog aside, i'm talking cookie cutter item standardization)...
I'm sure there can still be great ideas implemented into the drop/trade system, but I agree with the direction they are taking it. It might not be pleasing everyone, but I'm all for what's in the best interest for the balance of the game because everyone is just out there to exploit the mechanics and ruin it for everyone else.
Abstract_Chaos You should give that opinion somewhere on our forums where I'm sure a lot more people would take a stab at your ideas.
I think this sums it up right here.
One HUGE factor, if they raise drop rates too high...is that the more legendaries that drop, the more selectivity people can have with which legendaries people see as "awesome and/or must-have" and which ones people see as "garbage." I mean, one only has to look at what the Auction House has done in that regard. Anyone with enough gold or real world money can go to the Auction House right now and have literally the entire library of D3 items open to them at any given time. And look what happens any time anyone links a legendary in chat...what do people say within seconds? "brimstone"..."vend"..."trash"..."no X? [where X is the one stat it needed to be "good"]"
Yet, when drop rates are low, people have more incentive to make happen what they can with what they have available. They find a legendary that gives them a nice stat boost, but not a lot in terms of superpowers. They can brimstone it, sure...or they can make it into something good however they can for the time being.
Plus, as I've been saying lately...low drop rates of legendaries also means more emphasis on Paragon Point allocation synergizing with Rares, as well as Enchanting Rares in the expansion. If legendaries are dropping a few times per hour, why bother picking up Rares for anything but salvage? If legendaries aren't dropping often, there's much more incentive to look closer at what Rares are dropping, and even sometimes...yes...TRADE for specific Rares that have stats on them that synergize with Paragon Points and existing item buffs.
The more legendaries that drop? Far less incentive for any of that.
I mean, look at the video clip of the Boulder Barb. His gear isn't using anything insanely special. Skorn, Lacuni and Andariel's Visage...IK belt, maybe Blackthorne boots...nothing OP, really. Yet he's put together a really cool build that uses smart skill choices and Paragon Point synergy. Very well done.