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Balance on Legendary Drops

Lylirra cleared a bit of confusion on the nerfs of some Legendary drop rates and also gambling.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker/ Official Forums)

Let me clear this up a bit, because I think this is interpreting too much from an individual patch note.

The drop rate on specific Legendaries, ones with exceptionally powerful abilities, were lowered. The overall drop rate of Legendaries has stayed the same.

The reason for this is that Legendaries are now accessible through the Blood Shard vendor (purchases have a chance to give you a Legendary item). This is a pretty significant change, and we'd like to see how this interacts with drop rates and acquisition before we tweak numbers elsewhere.

Is it not also the case that the blood shard vendor cannot drop higher tier legendary items, such as the more powerful ones you guys lowered the drop rates on further? Or can the vendor drop every legendary in the game?

While Kadala cannot produce Torment level Legendaries, don't interpret "more powerful" as specifically meaning Torment level. While I see that jump in conclusion, it's not an accurate statement. By "more powerful," we're referring to items that have particularly strong effects. That's not exclusive to Torment level Legendaries.

It also further reinforces "bag farming" in normal as an easy way to get blood shards to gamble with and bags for legendary drops.

We're definitely watching for feedback on reward structure, and making sure that higher difficulties feel more rewarding. Not all the changes we have in mind to enforce this were able to make it into this patch, but it's a concern and we're keeping an eye on it.

Zakarum, Paladins, Templars and Crusaders

Nevalistis shared a lot of interesting lore information on the Light and its followers.

Originally Posted by Blizzard

Zakarum lore? Did someone call me by name? ;P

do they worship the light or some god in particular?

The Paladin, Templar, and Crusader are all from different branches of the Zakarum faith. The Zakarum itself is a series of teachings from Akarat, the founder of this religion. Very little is known of Akarat himself, as after he spread his teachings in Kehjistan, he ventured into the east and was never seen again. The worship comes from embodying a series of ideals rather than the belief in a centralized deity.

The Paladins serve as the militaristic branch of the Zakarum faith. It's important to note that this is an overarching group, and includes but is different from The Order of Paladins, where the Diablo 2 Paladin had his origins. This order broke away during the Zakarum Inquisition and later merged with the Knights of Westmarch. There are several orders of Paladins, so think of them as a very large organization, many with different goals or motivations, though all devoted to the Zakarum.

The Crusaders, at the time of General Rakkis' journey that ended in founding Westmarch, were created in secret and sent to the East, by a Zakarum cleric named Akkhan. He was growing concerned that there was a darkness creeping into his faith. The Crusaders still continue this mission, seeking a way to purge the evil that has tainted their faith.

The Templar are a different branch of the Zakarum founded in Westmarch, well after the city itself was founded. Very little is known about their ultimate goals or internal operations. If this is something you're interested in, I definitely recommend talking to Kormac.  His story will be explored a bit more in Reaper of Souls, as will the stories for the other followers and artisans.

Could you verify this Nevalistis? Is Zakarum dedicated to the worship of Light and Angels?

The original writings of the Zakarum are detailed in The Book of Cain, and it is described that Akarat received a revelation upon seeing a being he referred to as Yaerius, or "son of light" in his native language. There's contention on whether Yaerius was truly an archangel, or whether it was an echo of Uldyssian's sacrifice during the Sin War.

This spurred the thought that humans were powerful beings of Light, and Akarat set out to spread the word that this Light existed within each human. 

It's not so much that Zakarum is the worship of angels and the Light specifically, so much as it is the ideal that this Light exists within each human and humans should seek to acknowledge their "inner light" in order to live good lives. The sight of what was interpreted as an angel spurred this belief, and the acknowledgement of Light as a concept is certainly important, but neither are really a central focal point for worship.

The Zakarum do, generally, look at angels as "the good guys," but that's more of a jump in logic than part of their beliefs. Demons are bad, angels fight demons, so therefore angels must be good.

Malthael, on the other hand, appears to be spending much of his time in Reaper of Souls involved in an extensive PR campaign to clear up some of this confusion about the relationship between man and angels, so we may see this change. 

- The souls of sinners are punished in Hell, while the souls of the faithful are rewarded in Heaven.

This is more that this is a belief some denizens of Sanctuary have, and is not actually part of the Zakarum faith. Remember that the Burning Hells and High Heavens are literally physical locations in Sanctuary's universe. I'm note sure where this crept in as part of the tenants, short of being a misinterpretation from details in The Book of Cain or from taking the goal of the Sin War (to claim the hearts and souls of humankind) too literally. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Hnng. Nope. Can't resist the pull of lore!

Also, what are the Origins of the Light? What is the "Light" from the High Heavens, and where does it come from?

I covered a little bit about the Light and the tenants of the Zakarum faith a bit earlier today, but I'll rephrase so it more applies to your questions.

The following is covered in The Book of Cain. When Sanctuary's universe was first created, there was but one being: The One or Anu. Anu warred with himself, and eventually cast out his darkness, forming the beast Tathamet. These two aspects battled for centuries, and when they finally both perished, their remains formed what we know of as the High Heavens and the Burning Hells.

The remains of Anu leaked forth the Light which formed into Angels and the High Heavens. This Light currently emanates from the Crystal Arch (which is said to be the backbone of Anu, as someone mentioned above). 

The Light that the Zakarum refers to, however, refers to the Light that exists within each human. This could be referencing as far back as the origin of Sanctuary, in which case the Light could be the remnants of the angelic bloodlines that helped create the original nephalem. It's a bit open to interpretation at this point, as is common with most faiths, fictitious or otherwise. =) (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Are Numbers Too Large in RoS

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker/ Official Forums)

Quite a lot of good feedback in this thread so far, thanks for that guys :-)

The concern about large numbers in RoS, both in regards to damage as well as health pools, is one that has been brought up before and this is also a topic we are looking for more feedback on.

To those of you who are concerned about large damage numbers, could you tell us a little more about what kind of damage values you would like to see in game? Also, what would you consider a decent progression of your character's damage output?

To those of you who are concerned about large health pools (especially on the higher difficulties), could you tell us more about the kind of health pools you would expect to see in said difficulties? And how do you think those health pools should correlate with your charaters damage output?

Lastly, what is your opinion on torment difficulty in regards to damage and health pool numbers in general? Besides increased health pools/damage of monsters, what do you think should set the higher difficulties apart from the lower ones?