Official Game Guide Updated
The official game guide has been update on some basic gameplay information. If some of your questions are not answered there, don't forget to check out our Diablo III recap.
Whether you’re new to the Diablo series or a grizzled demon-slayer looking to make the most out of your character build, we’re here to help!
Today, we updated the Diablo III game guide with tons of information on the gameplay and world of Diablo III -fighting monsters, exploring the realm of Sanctuary, understanding items, and plenty more.
While this guide hits all of the basics, we know you have some more nuanced questions about the gameplay mechanics of Diablo III, and we're planning to expand the guide with answers (and even more details) in the future. In the meantime, if there are any particular aspects of the game you're curious to know more about, feel free to let your voice be heard in the comments!
The Road to Whimsyshire - Gibbering Gemstone
The road to Whimyshire can be a long one if you don't know where to start! As most know, you will need to craft the Staff of Herding in order to enter. In order to craft this item, you will need to collect a few items around the world! One of these items is the Gibbering Gemstone.
You will be farming for this item in Act III, in the Fields of Slaughter. Even in Normal there are many elites walking around, so rares are to be found while farming. You will want to select the following quest (which can be done on any difficulty).
You will be looking for a random tile called Caverns of Frost. This can spawn in at least 5 'confirmed' locations. (Though, if you look at the map layout picture, at every location that there is a 'weapon' that should also be a spawn location for the cave, though after 100+ runs, I would recommend just searching for first 4). This tile also shares as spawn with the Icefall Caves. One of these two caves will always spawn. You can see the four spawn locations, as well as a path below.
Once inside, you will want to head to level 2. Here you will find the unique mob named Chiltara. Chiltara will not always spawn. In fact out of about 20+ runs, he has only spawned twice. Once killed, he will drop the Gibbering Gemstone which is a white item, so be on the look out. At the very least there will always be a Resplendent Chest as well as a high chance for a treasure goblin!
So for the people that just want to get in...
Monk Nerfed, More Hotfixes to be Listed Tomorrow
Blizzard has been actively hotfixing spells the last few days, some are reporting a hotfix on Force Armor on the official forums. Bashiok has just posted confirming a massive nerf on Boon of Protection
We're in the process of removing the on-use benefits of the Mantra of Healing rune, Boon of Protection. The hotfix change is:
Amount of damage absorbed is now capped at the amount of healing provided by Mantra of Healing in the first 3 seconds after activation
We recommend discontinuing its use until the rune is replaced with a new rune and mechanic in a future patch.
The Boon of Protection rune was approximately ten times over its budget on the benefits it provided, and it was quite simply a mistake on our part to let the rune ship as it was. We don't intend to take these quick and drastic measures often, but considering the severity of the issue, we felt it important to correct it swiftly.
We're shooting to post a full list of recent hotfixes tomorrow, and will be looking to answer questions once that's live
I think it was a mistake to point this out specifically when I'm sure it will be one of many things hotfixed. Monks are going to think that they're the only ones being hit.
No doubt, but considering the change being made we felt it would have the greatest impact if someone was unaware, and a larger hotfix list couldn't wait. As I said we should have all the hotfixes we've been implementing in a post up tomorrow, and overall are working on our hotfix communication process for Diablo III.
Wait, so you're going to take it out entirely?
It's essentially being nerfed to the point of obsolescence until we can implement a new rune in its place in a future patch.
All great and dandy but now the Monk class is dead late game until some unknown time... Now what?
We've made a number of class changes (again, intend to post about all of them tomorrow) and we want to monitor how those shake out before we attack any content difficulty changes. Our intent is to get classes a bit more aligned, verify no new issues crop up from these hotfixes, and then considering all the factors we'll look at content. It's not a preferred method of operating, I'd say, but just because the game is so new we don't think quick decisions on overall balance is the right approach when the metagame is still shifting.
Let me follow up by saying that in general class balance is an ongoing investigation, and by no means do we believe the game is now perfect, but we're also seeing evidence that supports (with a few nerfs to wizard and demon hunter) the monk and barbarian are not as bad off as they seem.
A large part of the monk and barbarian designs are based on survival models that mimic the concept of the class itself. The idea of a monk is that he survives through being agile and difficult to hit, and his healing and survival scales particularly well by focusing on mitigation stats like dodge, resists, and armor. The concept of the barb is that he survives through a huge health pool, and healing himself through damage (%life on hit stats), which is potentially a bit obvious with all the life return skills but can't be overstated.
The game is young, there were some skills that threw things out of whack, and we expect the landscape to settle out a bit more evenly. Or at least change again so we can continue to monitor the impact. Maybe we're wrong, maybe there's no current chance for monk or barbarian to compete with ranged, but our current suspicion is that's incorrect and until we know for sure we're not going to turn any dials.
the caverns of frost can appear on very top of the map too...
that would be the '5th' I said (though it seems there could be 6-7 if it does use the locations of weapons), but out of... at least 56 runs, only these four spawned. so the other spawns (I swore there was one at the top left) seem to be low, or just RNG is RNG
but point being, those four you can check rather fast, and get in and out
edit: Just did 15 more quick look arounds, still only getting those 4 spawns in normal, so I would still suggest looking at those four spots for this guide
Glad to see they're gong to nerf Wizards and Demon Hunters. Now, if only they'd do something about Barbarians in endgame.
On a different note, I thought the vial from the oasis in Act 2 was like 1000 times harder to get than the gibbering gem. It took me maybe 5 clears to get her to spawn.
A rare spawn chest in a cave thats opened by a rare spawn. I think it took about 7 clears of the cave to get it, and god only knows how many runs to get the Alchemist to spawn.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
We're all newbs, some are just more newbier than others.
Burned out Warcraft addict turned Diablo III addict.
formerly 3/8 H DS10, YAY CASUALIZATION!
Glad to see they're gong to nerf Wizards and Demon Hunters. Now, if only they'd do something about Barbarians in endgame.
On a different note, I thought the vial from the oasis in Act 2 was like 1000 times harder to get than the gibbering gem. It took me maybe 5 clears to get her to spawn.
A rare spawn chest in a cave thats opened by a rare spawn. I think it took about 7 clears of the cave to get it, and god only knows how many runs to get the Alchemist to spawn.
haha yeah, doing that one tomorrow. I was lucky, had to do about 6-7ish loads for the mine to open (luckly its always in the same spot) chest was there first try for me.
The chatgem took me the longest of all of them
Also on a side note, just did 17 more runs, and got the top leftish one, adding it
Molster the force armor part is incorrect. In fact i started the blizzard post you linked.
It happens that force armor wasn't working for an hour after maintenance came back, and only on US. We were also getting a lot of dcs.
It started working again later and now it's working as usual.
I hope they don't start nerfing the content to oblivion because people are bitching that their class is not viable in late game. They need to fix the class not the content.
Maybe ppl are not supposed to be rolling through inferno after 1 WEEK!! Most "clears" I've seen were using gimmicks/cheese and bypassing all the actual hard stuff (elite/champion packs) in later acts. If anyone has a link to a stream of someone doing a full clear not using cheap mechanics I'd like to see it please.
I hope blizz will be smart enough to address these issues the right way and balance the classes accordingly. They do not need to nerf the content if anything make it harder! (a good example would be to remove the rezzing fest that occurs when groups are doing bosses on Inferno). Theres basically no pressure because when people screw up they just get rezzed and keep going. Props to ppl doing it on hardcore!
They said Inferno would be hard and I think they delivered. Let's hope it stays that way and get even more difficult as they fix the OP crap ppl are using to get through.
people are actually whining about Wizards force armor getting nerfed? Are they fucking retarded? Wizards arent supposed to be tanks, just like demonhunters, they get oneshot from everything.
I totally agree with you. I play a wizard and I think this rune is bullshit and makes no sense. A caster should not be tanking hits like no one else. They should change it so some of the damage is absorbed by arcane power instead of health kinda like a mana shield or something. In it's actual form it's overpowered plain and simple.
Inferno is cleared when you can do all elites/rares/whatever, kill diablo, and do Inferno whimyshire. It might not be hard but a secret level is still part of the game and the game is not cleared until you've done it all.
I hope they don't start nerfing the content to oblivion because people are bitching that their class is not viable in late game. They need to fix the class not the content.
Maybe ppl are not supposed to be rolling through inferno after 1 WEEK!! Most "clears" I've seen were using gimmicks/cheese and bypassing all the actual hard stuff (elite/champion packs) in later acts. If anyone has a link to a stream of someone doing a full clear not using cheap mechanics I'd like to see it please.
I hope blizz will be smart enough to address these issues the right way and balance the classes accordingly. They do not need to nerf the content if anything make it harder! (a good example would be to remove the rezzing fest that occurs when groups are doing bosses on Inferno). Theres basically no pressure because when people screw up they just get rezzed and keep going. Props to ppl doing it on hardcore!
They said Inferno would be hard and I think they delivered. Let's hope it stays that way and get even more difficult as they fix the OP crap ppl are using to get through.
I'm sorry - have you ever been to Inferno Act II? It sure looks to me like you weren't.
It seems like all these issues should have been figured out in the closed house testing. I mean really how freaking hard was it to figure out 99% of these exploits. Many of the "pro gamers" had figured out how to game a lot of these systems before the game even came out. Pretty disappointed with blizzard atm.
You might also want to add Smoke Screen on Demon hunter, its been nerfed from 3 sec with rune to about 1-2 sec with rune. The tooltip havent been changed tho. But I counted secs and its less now.
Dear God I hope you're wrong. The ONLY reason I rerolled from my Hell Wizard to a Demon Hunter was because of Smokescreen...
In Hell/Inferno even with Smokescreen+Preparation, it isn't enough to survive as a Demon Hunter. Just because it's op in Normal/Nightmare is no reason to nerf something... And why are people complaining about Wizards taking hits? Every class should have the ability to be equally tanky, this game is meant to be soloable by ANY class if people have forgotten this...
As it stands, EVERY class, even built pure tanky, gets 1 or 2shot in Inferno. I hope they don't nerf Demon Hunter so much that I'm forced to go back to my Wizard... I was planning on getting +20 Max Discipline gear to make my Smokescreen (and with Preparation) nearly 100% up time in Inferno. But if they reduce the duration by 1/3, that could be a significant wrench in my plans...
I mainly switched from Wiz->DH because Smokescreen>Diamond Skin. One is invulnerable, other is huge-hp shield. In Inferno, hp, regardless of how high, is gone in seconds, if not sooner... -.-
so what this thread says is that in order for a barb to survive and progress through the game we have to do sh1t damage and stack vitality? while demon hunters/witchdoctors/wizards can all focus on pure dps stay at range and mow everything down? where is the logic in that? i played a barbarian because i liked how they were able to mow everything in their path down in d2. this is a bad philosophy to go with even with a health pool as large as it can be you step towards a rare mob with fire around it and you will die. at that point the only ability for a barbarian is to switch to a throw build and kite the mob around the room.
that being said i have switched to a witch doctor and all i have to do is stay back slow and throw spiders at everything and i win. there is no balance when it comes to melee vs ranged as with all blizzard games. your developers need to pull their heads out of their behinds and stop thinking only about ranged.
thanks Blizzard for ruining Barbarian and Monk gameplay in the first week of release. you should be ashamed of yourselves
Official Game Guide Updated
The official game guide has been update on some basic gameplay information. If some of your questions are not answered there, don't forget to check out our Diablo III recap.
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Today, we updated the Diablo III game guide with tons of information on the gameplay and world of Diablo III -fighting monsters, exploring the realm of Sanctuary, understanding items, and plenty more.
While this guide hits all of the basics, we know you have some more nuanced questions about the gameplay mechanics of Diablo III, and we're planning to expand the guide with answers (and even more details) in the future. In the meantime, if there are any particular aspects of the game you're curious to know more about, feel free to let your voice be heard in the comments!
The Road to Whimsyshire - Gibbering Gemstone
The road to Whimyshire can be a long one if you don't know where to start! As most know, you will need to craft the Staff of Herding in order to enter. In order to craft this item, you will need to collect a few items around the world! One of these items is the Gibbering Gemstone.
You will be farming for this item in Act III, in the Fields of Slaughter. Even in Normal there are many elites walking around, so rares are to be found while farming. You will want to select the following quest (which can be done on any difficulty).
You will be looking for a random tile called Caverns of Frost. This can spawn in at least 5 'confirmed' locations. (Though, if you look at the map layout picture, at every location that there is a 'weapon' that should also be a spawn location for the cave, though after 100+ runs, I would recommend just searching for first 4). This tile also shares as spawn with the Icefall Caves. One of these two caves will always spawn. You can see the four spawn locations, as well as a path below.
Once inside, you will want to head to level 2. Here you will find the unique mob named Chiltara. Chiltara will not always spawn. In fact out of about 20+ runs, he has only spawned twice. Once killed, he will drop the Gibbering Gemstone which is a white item, so be on the look out. At the very least there will always be a Resplendent Chest as well as a high chance for a treasure goblin!
So for the people that just want to get in...
Monk Nerfed, More Hotfixes to be Listed Tomorrow
Blizzard has been actively hotfixing spells the last few days, some are reporting a hotfix on Force Armor on the official forums. Bashiok has just posted confirming a massive nerf on Boon of Protection
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
The Boon of Protection rune was approximately ten times over its budget on the benefits it provided, and it was quite simply a mistake on our part to let the rune ship as it was. We don't intend to take these quick and drastic measures often, but considering the severity of the issue, we felt it important to correct it swiftly.
We're shooting to post a full list of recent hotfixes tomorrow, and will be looking to answer questions once that's live
I think it was a mistake to point this out specifically when I'm sure it will be one of many things hotfixed. Monks are going to think that they're the only ones being hit.
No doubt, but considering the change being made we felt it would have the greatest impact if someone was unaware, and a larger hotfix list couldn't wait. As I said we should have all the hotfixes we've been implementing in a post up tomorrow, and overall are working on our hotfix communication process for Diablo III.
Wait, so you're going to take it out entirely?
It's essentially being nerfed to the point of obsolescence until we can implement a new rune in its place in a future patch.
All great and dandy but now the Monk class is dead late game until some unknown time... Now what?
We've made a number of class changes (again, intend to post about all of them tomorrow) and we want to monitor how those shake out before we attack any content difficulty changes. Our intent is to get classes a bit more aligned, verify no new issues crop up from these hotfixes, and then considering all the factors we'll look at content. It's not a preferred method of operating, I'd say, but just because the game is so new we don't think quick decisions on overall balance is the right approach when the metagame is still shifting.
Let me follow up by saying that in general class balance is an ongoing investigation, and by no means do we believe the game is now perfect, but we're also seeing evidence that supports (with a few nerfs to wizard and demon hunter) the monk and barbarian are not as bad off as they seem.
A large part of the monk and barbarian designs are based on survival models that mimic the concept of the class itself. The idea of a monk is that he survives through being agile and difficult to hit, and his healing and survival scales particularly well by focusing on mitigation stats like dodge, resists, and armor. The concept of the barb is that he survives through a huge health pool, and healing himself through damage (%life on hit stats), which is potentially a bit obvious with all the life return skills but can't be overstated.
The game is young, there were some skills that threw things out of whack, and we expect the landscape to settle out a bit more evenly. Or at least change again so we can continue to monitor the impact. Maybe we're wrong, maybe there's no current chance for monk or barbarian to compete with ranged, but our current suspicion is that's incorrect and until we know for sure we're not going to turn any dials.
Poll - When is Inferno 'Cleared'
regradless, ill change it up just in case (as the whole point of that section has changed with the blue post now)
that would be the '5th' I said (though it seems there could be 6-7 if it does use the locations of weapons), but out of... at least 56 runs, only these four spawned. so the other spawns (I swore there was one at the top left) seem to be low, or just RNG is RNG
but point being, those four you can check rather fast, and get in and out
edit: Just did 15 more quick look arounds, still only getting those 4 spawns in normal, so I would still suggest looking at those four spots for this guide
On a different note, I thought the vial from the oasis in Act 2 was like 1000 times harder to get than the gibbering gem. It took me maybe 5 clears to get her to spawn.
A rare spawn chest in a cave thats opened by a rare spawn. I think it took about 7 clears of the cave to get it, and god only knows how many runs to get the Alchemist to spawn.
Burned out Warcraft addict turned Diablo III addict.
formerly 3/8 H DS10, YAY CASUALIZATION!
The chatgem took me the longest of all of them
Also on a side note, just did 17 more runs, and got the top leftish one, adding it
It uses javascript, thats about it, we both use polldaddy
If you were US I would =( My EU character is still in act one D=
Off to bed for me now tho
It happens that force armor wasn't working for an hour after maintenance came back, and only on US. We were also getting a lot of dcs.
It started working again later and now it's working as usual.
Until those hellspawns are dead, you can't say you've cleared inferno!
Fun while it lasted!
Maybe ppl are not supposed to be rolling through inferno after 1 WEEK!! Most "clears" I've seen were using gimmicks/cheese and bypassing all the actual hard stuff (elite/champion packs) in later acts. If anyone has a link to a stream of someone doing a full clear not using cheap mechanics I'd like to see it please.
I hope blizz will be smart enough to address these issues the right way and balance the classes accordingly. They do not need to nerf the content if anything make it harder! (a good example would be to remove the rezzing fest that occurs when groups are doing bosses on Inferno). Theres basically no pressure because when people screw up they just get rezzed and keep going. Props to ppl doing it on hardcore!
They said Inferno would be hard and I think they delivered. Let's hope it stays that way and get even more difficult as they fix the OP crap ppl are using to get through.
I totally agree with you. I play a wizard and I think this rune is bullshit and makes no sense. A caster should not be tanking hits like no one else. They should change it so some of the damage is absorbed by arcane power instead of health kinda like a mana shield or something. In it's actual form it's overpowered plain and simple.
lol... act 2 is nothing compared to the later acts. Imo act 3 is where it really ramps up
In Hell/Inferno even with Smokescreen+Preparation, it isn't enough to survive as a Demon Hunter. Just because it's op in Normal/Nightmare is no reason to nerf something... And why are people complaining about Wizards taking hits? Every class should have the ability to be equally tanky, this game is meant to be soloable by ANY class if people have forgotten this...
As it stands, EVERY class, even built pure tanky, gets 1 or 2shot in Inferno. I hope they don't nerf Demon Hunter so much that I'm forced to go back to my Wizard... I was planning on getting +20 Max Discipline gear to make my Smokescreen (and with Preparation) nearly 100% up time in Inferno. But if they reduce the duration by 1/3, that could be a significant wrench in my plans...
I mainly switched from Wiz->DH because Smokescreen>Diamond Skin. One is invulnerable, other is huge-hp shield. In Inferno, hp, regardless of how high, is gone in seconds, if not sooner... -.-
that being said i have switched to a witch doctor and all i have to do is stay back slow and throw spiders at everything and i win. there is no balance when it comes to melee vs ranged as with all blizzard games. your developers need to pull their heads out of their behinds and stop thinking only about ranged.
thanks Blizzard for ruining Barbarian and Monk gameplay in the first week of release. you should be ashamed of yourselves