The fact that you can get act 4 gear in act 1 is enough of a game changer. The fact that they are also smoothing the difficulty spike is icing on the cake.
Remains to be seen what the Act 2 difficulty smoothing will be exactly, but any help there is something! It's very frustrating having to spend so long in Act 1 and feeling like you're getting no where.
I like the new NV mechanic (1 less guaranteed rare for Bosses, 1 more for champs/rares), coupled with the chance at ilvl63 items in Act 1 & 2, means farming should be more lucrative and quick as well. At the very least, you'll at least feel like you're getting more done in the same amount of time. I'm very much looking forward to it.
If by 'remains the same' you mean 'everyone will still make threads whining because they can't faceroll inferno', then yes, you are correct.
It's true that they are softening the difficulty curve for acts 2+, but I believe many people are thinking that means they are making it super - cake easy. So when they slightly soften up inferno and a lot of undergeared toons still die, there will still be people complaining =P
I personally, look forward to see how many people suddenly start yelling about how Blizzard has ruined diablo after the patch. I doubt besides small tweaks that entire acts will get smoothed out again, so when it's still hard for some people they will realize it will never get easier.
If by 'remains the same' you mean 'everyone will still make threads whining because they can't faceroll inferno', then yes, you are correct.
It's true that they are softening the difficulty curve for acts 2+, but I believe many people are thinking that means they are making it super - cake easy. So when they slightly soften up inferno and a lot of undergeared toons still die, there will still be people complaining bu
I personally, look forward to see how many people suddenly start yelling about how Blizzard has ruined diablo after the patch. I doubt besides small tweaks that entire acts will get smoothed out again, so when it's still hard for some people they will realize it will never get easier.
I don't want it to be super easy but I want to atleast have a chance I've put alot in and can't seem to break a barrier but I also wanna die and have fun, to easy =to silly, as it is right now its next to impossible without and flexibility in builds
I can't say I had much of a problem in Act II until after Mahgda, but the sewers were a bit rough. Some farming of Mahgda and a few upgrades later, I was fine.
I do think it will help though. I will be farming lower acts (I & II) on my other toon as I will now be able to get some really nice gear from them. That said, you could get nice gear before, just not awesome gear. It was always good enough to progress, people just want it easy.
Note that I am a Wizard, so I can't fully appreciate the hardships of a melee class. For them I'm sure the spiky damage reduction will be much appreciated.
I can't say I had much of a problem in Act II until after Mahgda, but the sewers were a bit rough. Some farming of Mahgda and a few upgrades later, I was fine.
I do think it will help though. I will be farming lower acts (I & II) on my other toon as I will now be able to get some really nice gear from them. That said, you could get nice gear before, just not awesome gear. It was always good enough to progress, people just want it easy.
Note that I am a Wizard, so I can't fully appreciate the hardships of a melee class. For them I'm sure the spiky damage reduction will be much appreciated.
The main issue i worry about is the AH(gold/real money). They are making the gear drops a little bit easier for people. Like with the act 4 stuff dropping on act 1. There are tons and tons of people who have made it to act 1, and simply can not progress much past act 1. With this change they can farm the hell out of act 1(which they likely already do) and get the more decent gear drops to sell on the AH.
So i think shortly after the patch drops we will actually see a large spike in item sales on the AH if this gear drop change does make a difference in actual drops. Right now you see mostly level 50-59 gear dropping on act 1. Very very few 60 items ever drop, and when they do most are just crap blue with no real stats(socketed ring comes to mind).
I do think some of the people who are having 'some' issues on act 2 will get the most benefit out of this patch. The people who can squeek by most of the act but have some issues here and there(like the mentioned sewers...). With the patch it should be just enough of a change for them to make the entire act a little more bearable for them. However for the people who have issues on the skeleton king and the butcher.... sorry
the problem is, in a1 there is no gear for a melee to survive in a2, same a2-->a3...
the bosses are never the problem, melees are broken. ranged invest 1mio and clear complete inf where melees have to buy stats gear WITH resists... so this is no gaming experience and not really fun.
ok in a2, IF u find a stormshield mit 25+% block u get 15mio, then ure inf a3 ready, but without this luck, u have to farm 2 years to get the gold^^...
i think, melee dmg reduction must be 45+% and some tweaking in the life transitions between the acts and its fine.
and the ilvl drop changes are good for all ppl, so i think prices get down
So by this, you're saying stormshield = 15 million, thus 15 million = 2 years? You might want to try selling some of the items you're getting in act 1, friend sold a few and he's already at 5 million. Nonetheless, my monk's cleared through Siegebreaker, so there it is possible. Act 2 was hard at first, act 3 is worse, though.
Edit: and fwiw i think they're going to overtune the damage down in 1.0.3, but we'll see.
All i want is for act 1 inferno to drop items that will help you in act 2. I've been farming act 1 inferno for weeks now and i get killed in 2 shots of pretty much anything. From the hundreds of rare items i have found in act 1 inferno, none helps me whatsoever in act 2. Fix this shit please.
I'm looking forward to this patch and hoping it will make progression a bit more entertaining for me on my barbarian. As it stands I have some fun in act 1 when I get a really challenging pack, but most of the time it's pretty easy. I can put on offensive abilities if I want, but I really can't go too far in offensive gear. It's made it so that farming act 1 really isn't overly interesting, I want to move on to act 2, but due to the gear drops I've found in act 1, I cannot get very far at all. Even in all defensive mode I end up taking too much damage.
The solution everyone has told me to do is to get more gear. The problem is all the gear I'm told to get is pretty much from act 2 or higher. So it's telling me that I need to have act 2 gear to play in act 2... this is just a logical fallacy. I think the blue post I saw that sums it up most is that if you can start to be offensive in Act 1 you should be able to at least start act 2 with a defensive build.
I enjoy Diablo 3, but I think inferno is just a bit too punishing for melee characters who don't have super amazing gear by virtue of bad drops or not being able to afford some items on the AH. By all means it should eventually get too hard for my gear, but as it stands it's not a gentle progression, it's a brick wall.
This isn't to say that ranged have it easy. I think it sucks that ranged have some cool skills that will never get used. For example, why use shadow power on a Demon Hunter if you're just going to get one shot and don't need the life leach. Why use the Chakram skill that goes off when you get hit if it means you're dead. My sincere hope is that this will mellow things out so that we see more viable builds and reward for more skilled game play rather than just a "nope, you're dead, try again later" system. I think this patch can make things a bit better. *fingers crossed*
I think it will help, but realistically it is punishing for ALL characters if you aren't geared appropriately. The last part is why 1.03 is happening though. The gearing properly is TERRIBLE at the moment unless you wanna fork out the gold/cash. I use the AH for a few things sure but when I never see an appropriate upgrade in Act 1 to gear for Act 2 because all of the gear that i need to gear with is in Act 2 or higher, there is a design flaw. I applaud the chance to get good gear from Act 1 (and even 3/4 hell) because we don't really have a chance to try Act II unless we spend crazy amounts of time getting gold or opening our wallets. I personally don't have the time for either.
I can't say I had much of a problem in Act II until after Mahgda, but the sewers were a bit rough. Some farming of Mahgda and a few upgrades later, I was fine.
I do think it will help though. I will be farming lower acts (I & II) on my other toon as I will now be able to get some really nice gear from them. That said, you could get nice gear before, just not awesome gear. It was always good enough to progress, people just want it easy.
Note that I am a Wizard, so I can't fully appreciate the hardships of a melee class. For them I'm sure the spiky damage reduction will be much appreciated.
Someone who appreciates the woes of melee!
I appreciate the woes of melee, cause I am the combination of both the quoted posts.
I am a melee wizard. I have killed Maghda, as of last night. I haven't spent a ridiculous amount of gold/RM (actually no money of my own, just money people paid for my items, and only like $9.50 so far) in the AH (maybe 2mil in gold so far, total). Act 2 was a brutally steep curve.
Act 1 Inferno: Butcher's regular quick hits are 2000 damage for me, the AoE spears is 5000, the big overhead smash is like 8000.
Act 2 Inferno: A lacuni hits me for 3300, a Desert Wasp for like 6000.
Does anyone see a problem when an Act BOSS hits like a paper doll compared to the white trash at the start of the next act? This is what the re-balancing of Act 2-4 of Inferno is going to address. The curve to move into a new Act is STEEP right now, to the point where certain builds just cannot do it. That also impinges in on the build diversity matters they also want to address and ensure they is more than 1 playstyle for each class (barring maybe Demon Hunters, cause you can't really play as a defensive one, what with all those amazing skills and passives for taking damage...)
To me, the bigger change of the difficulty curve will help alot more than just the item drop change. While 2% chance for an ilevel 63 in Act 1 is nice, it's not that great of a chance still, but the 8% for ilevel 62 will be a huge boon. It will help people move along at a better rate hopefully, be it financially or progression-wise.
Act 4 Inferno Barb (first character, over 200 hours played) and Act 1 Inferno Wizard (less than 30 hours played) here, and this is what I expect of the changes based on the real data I have seen thus far:
1) Because of the droprate change that CMs have explained in the patch, I can expect gear prices to drop substantially. Why? Because you can potentially get Act 4 drops in Act 1 and beyond which means a saturation of the higher end gear and an across-the-board drop on prices. Simple Supply and Demand Economics.
2) Life on Hit builds are getting a pretty significant nerf, due to the IAS nerfs.
This is what I can suppose will happen to the patch in terms of difficulty (for melee, because until skills are balanced in 1.1, ranged will have it just as easy or easier than they do currently):
1) Acts 2-4 monsters are tuned to compensate for IAS/LoH nerfs and melee can actually complete content without being carried by ranged, either by ranged farming gear for them or by grouping together. Ranged will continue to dominate because now the game won't be nearly as difficult for them because not as many monsters will 1-shot them.
OR
2) The monsters are not tuned to compensate for IAS/LoH nerfs and the difficulty for melee gets marginally better, but will have to wait for another patch (probably 1.1) for better adjustments. Ranged will continue as normal and may even be marginally better because of the 'nerfs' to Acts 2-4.
Also, am I the only one to notice and be miffed by the fact that Demon Hunters are the only class that can use a 2H weapon AND an offhand (quivers)? At what point is that fair, since they can potentially rack up 160k DPS (and possibly higher), compared to the other ranged classes, or even the melee classes, who probably need that ability more than DHs because they have a greater need for more stats than DHs.
Also, if you take a look at the datamined patch notes (which I admit are far from the release patch notes for 1.0.3) and see that there are no nerfs to Quiver IAS. Crazy, huh?
the problem is, in a1 there is no gear for a melee to survive in a2, same a2-->a3...
But that's simply not true. There are melee players who have done just fine farming Act I to get to Act II and Act II to get to Act III. It may take longer than you would like, but that's a far cry from saying it's impossible. That said, this patch will definitely make the process faster and more fun.
I can't say I had much of a problem in Act II until after Mahgda, but the sewers were a bit rough. Some farming of Mahgda and a few upgrades later, I was fine.
I do think it will help though. I will be farming lower acts (I & II) on my other toon as I will now be able to get some really nice gear from them. That said, you could get nice gear before, just not awesome gear. It was always good enough to progress, people just want it easy.
Note that I am a Wizard, so I can't fully appreciate the hardships of a melee class. For them I'm sure the spiky damage reduction will be much appreciated.
Someone who appreciates the woes of melee!
I appreciate the woes of melee, cause I am the combination of both the quoted posts.
I am a melee wizard. I have killed Maghda, as of last night. I haven't spent a ridiculous amount of gold/RM (actually no money of my own, just money people paid for my items, and only like $9.50 so far) in the AH (maybe 2mil in gold so far, total). Act 2 was a brutally steep curve.
Act 1 Inferno: Butcher's regular quick hits are 2000 damage for me, the AoE spears is 5000, the big overhead smash is like 8000.
Act 2 Inferno: A lacuni hits me for 3300, a Desert Wasp for like 6000.
Does anyone see a problem when an Act BOSS hits like a paper doll compared to the white trash at the start of the next act? This is what the re-balancing of Act 2-4 of Inferno is going to address. The curve to move into a new Act is STEEP right now, to the point where certain builds just cannot do it. That also impinges in on the build diversity matters they also want to address and ensure they is more than 1 playstyle for each class (barring maybe Demon Hunters, cause you can't really play as a defensive one, what with all those amazing skills and passives for taking damage...)
To me, the bigger change of the difficulty curve will help alot more than just the item drop change. While 2% chance for an ilevel 63 in Act 1 is nice, it's not that great of a chance still, but the 8% for ilevel 62 will be a huge boon. It will help people move along at a better rate hopefully, be it financially or progression-wise.
According to my observations, each sequential Act has a 3x damage modifier to all attacks from the previous Act.
Mortar was hitting me for 2k per hit in Act 1, 6k per in Act 2, and 18k per in Act 3, using the same gear (as an example).
I know for certain that a Shaman's Fireball hit me for 4k each in Act 2 and 12k each for Act 3. That modifier is crazy. Test it out yourself, I wouldn't be surprised if you found your results to be similar to 3x.
the problem is, in a1 there is no gear for a melee to survive in a2, same a2-->a3...
But that's simply not true. There are melee players who have done just fine farming Act I to get to Act II and Act II to get to Act III. It may take longer than you would like, but that's a far cry from saying it's impossible. That said, this patch will definitely make the process faster and more fun.
I am one of those Barbs.
I have gotten upgrades to my gear from Butcher runs (5 stack + 80% MF) the last 3 days alone; I got 2 good 1h wep (800+ DPS Sword/Spear), a GREAT Bracer (+52% Res All, +Str and +Vit), a SET Shield (Hallowed, 860 arm, 56% Res all, +stats too!, and it has glowy angel wings...... SWEET), several good rings (mostly Dex/Res, will AH them), a couple really nice 1h Xbows (+Dex +vit +damage 700dps-ish), A Skorn (820 damage +200str), A couple decent 2h-ers........
Made a couple mil gold on stuff that I sold, and up to $44 on the RMAH.
All Act 1 Inferno farming.
I personally cannot wait for BETTER drop rates, lol.
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What's your opinion?
no big in pact on dps but huge on game smoothness.
No way things are staying the same.
I like the new NV mechanic (1 less guaranteed rare for Bosses, 1 more for champs/rares), coupled with the chance at ilvl63 items in Act 1 & 2, means farming should be more lucrative and quick as well. At the very least, you'll at least feel like you're getting more done in the same amount of time. I'm very much looking forward to it.
It's true that they are softening the difficulty curve for acts 2+, but I believe many people are thinking that means they are making it super - cake easy. So when they slightly soften up inferno and a lot of undergeared toons still die, there will still be people complaining =P
I personally, look forward to see how many people suddenly start yelling about how Blizzard has ruined diablo after the patch. I doubt besides small tweaks that entire acts will get smoothed out again, so when it's still hard for some people they will realize it will never get easier.
I do think it will help though. I will be farming lower acts (I & II) on my other toon as I will now be able to get some really nice gear from them. That said, you could get nice gear before, just not awesome gear. It was always good enough to progress, people just want it easy.
Note that I am a Wizard, so I can't fully appreciate the hardships of a melee class. For them I'm sure the spiky damage reduction will be much appreciated.
So i think shortly after the patch drops we will actually see a large spike in item sales on the AH if this gear drop change does make a difference in actual drops. Right now you see mostly level 50-59 gear dropping on act 1. Very very few 60 items ever drop, and when they do most are just crap blue with no real stats(socketed ring comes to mind).
I do think some of the people who are having 'some' issues on act 2 will get the most benefit out of this patch. The people who can squeek by most of the act but have some issues here and there(like the mentioned sewers...). With the patch it should be just enough of a change for them to make the entire act a little more bearable for them. However for the people who have issues on the skeleton king and the butcher.... sorry
Edit: and fwiw i think they're going to overtune the damage down in 1.0.3, but we'll see.
The solution everyone has told me to do is to get more gear. The problem is all the gear I'm told to get is pretty much from act 2 or higher. So it's telling me that I need to have act 2 gear to play in act 2... this is just a logical fallacy. I think the blue post I saw that sums it up most is that if you can start to be offensive in Act 1 you should be able to at least start act 2 with a defensive build.
I enjoy Diablo 3, but I think inferno is just a bit too punishing for melee characters who don't have super amazing gear by virtue of bad drops or not being able to afford some items on the AH. By all means it should eventually get too hard for my gear, but as it stands it's not a gentle progression, it's a brick wall.
This isn't to say that ranged have it easy. I think it sucks that ranged have some cool skills that will never get used. For example, why use shadow power on a Demon Hunter if you're just going to get one shot and don't need the life leach. Why use the Chakram skill that goes off when you get hit if it means you're dead. My sincere hope is that this will mellow things out so that we see more viable builds and reward for more skilled game play rather than just a "nope, you're dead, try again later" system. I think this patch can make things a bit better. *fingers crossed*
I am a melee wizard. I have killed Maghda, as of last night. I haven't spent a ridiculous amount of gold/RM (actually no money of my own, just money people paid for my items, and only like $9.50 so far) in the AH (maybe 2mil in gold so far, total). Act 2 was a brutally steep curve.
Act 1 Inferno: Butcher's regular quick hits are 2000 damage for me, the AoE spears is 5000, the big overhead smash is like 8000.
Act 2 Inferno: A lacuni hits me for 3300, a Desert Wasp for like 6000.
Does anyone see a problem when an Act BOSS hits like a paper doll compared to the white trash at the start of the next act? This is what the re-balancing of Act 2-4 of Inferno is going to address. The curve to move into a new Act is STEEP right now, to the point where certain builds just cannot do it. That also impinges in on the build diversity matters they also want to address and ensure they is more than 1 playstyle for each class (barring maybe Demon Hunters, cause you can't really play as a defensive one, what with all those amazing skills and passives for taking damage...)
To me, the bigger change of the difficulty curve will help alot more than just the item drop change. While 2% chance for an ilevel 63 in Act 1 is nice, it's not that great of a chance still, but the 8% for ilevel 62 will be a huge boon. It will help people move along at a better rate hopefully, be it financially or progression-wise.
1) Because of the droprate change that CMs have explained in the patch, I can expect gear prices to drop substantially. Why? Because you can potentially get Act 4 drops in Act 1 and beyond which means a saturation of the higher end gear and an across-the-board drop on prices. Simple Supply and Demand Economics.
2) Life on Hit builds are getting a pretty significant nerf, due to the IAS nerfs.
This is what I can suppose will happen to the patch in terms of difficulty (for melee, because until skills are balanced in 1.1, ranged will have it just as easy or easier than they do currently):
1) Acts 2-4 monsters are tuned to compensate for IAS/LoH nerfs and melee can actually complete content without being carried by ranged, either by ranged farming gear for them or by grouping together. Ranged will continue to dominate because now the game won't be nearly as difficult for them because not as many monsters will 1-shot them.
OR
2) The monsters are not tuned to compensate for IAS/LoH nerfs and the difficulty for melee gets marginally better, but will have to wait for another patch (probably 1.1) for better adjustments. Ranged will continue as normal and may even be marginally better because of the 'nerfs' to Acts 2-4.
Also, am I the only one to notice and be miffed by the fact that Demon Hunters are the only class that can use a 2H weapon AND an offhand (quivers)? At what point is that fair, since they can potentially rack up 160k DPS (and possibly higher), compared to the other ranged classes, or even the melee classes, who probably need that ability more than DHs because they have a greater need for more stats than DHs.
Also, if you take a look at the datamined patch notes (which I admit are far from the release patch notes for 1.0.3) and see that there are no nerfs to Quiver IAS. Crazy, huh?
But that's simply not true. There are melee players who have done just fine farming Act I to get to Act II and Act II to get to Act III. It may take longer than you would like, but that's a far cry from saying it's impossible. That said, this patch will definitely make the process faster and more fun.
According to my observations, each sequential Act has a 3x damage modifier to all attacks from the previous Act.
Mortar was hitting me for 2k per hit in Act 1, 6k per in Act 2, and 18k per in Act 3, using the same gear (as an example).
I know for certain that a Shaman's Fireball hit me for 4k each in Act 2 and 12k each for Act 3. That modifier is crazy. Test it out yourself, I wouldn't be surprised if you found your results to be similar to 3x.
I am one of those Barbs.
I have gotten upgrades to my gear from Butcher runs (5 stack + 80% MF) the last 3 days alone; I got 2 good 1h wep (800+ DPS Sword/Spear), a GREAT Bracer (+52% Res All, +Str and +Vit), a SET Shield (Hallowed, 860 arm, 56% Res all, +stats too!, and it has glowy angel wings...... SWEET), several good rings (mostly Dex/Res, will AH them), a couple really nice 1h Xbows (+Dex +vit +damage 700dps-ish), A Skorn (820 damage +200str), A couple decent 2h-ers........
Made a couple mil gold on stuff that I sold, and up to $44 on the RMAH.
All Act 1 Inferno farming.
I personally cannot wait for BETTER drop rates, lol.