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Patch 2.3 Preview - Adventure Mode

A new blog post has gone up going over all the changes coming to Adventure Mode. Lots of insight and details on the changes to Crafting, Bounties, Nephalem and Greater Rifts, and the Hellfire Event. Check it out!

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Post)

Patch 2.3.0 brings a huge number of changes to Diablo III. From new features to an entirely new zone, there is plenty to discover for the first time. However, we’re not stopping there. We also have some quality of life and system changes coming to Adventure Mode, designed to make both leveling and maximum level play more smooth and streamlined experiences.

Crafterpiece Theater

Let’s start with the basics: crafting. Crafted items have fallen into a strange place where they feel too expensive to craft and, aside from a few select pieces, often not worth the effort. We’re aiming to fix that in Patch 2.3.0. First off, we’ve removed an entire tier of crafting materials, including Common Debris, Exquisite Essences, Iridescent Tears, Demonic Essences, and Fiery Brimstones. This leaves one remaining tier of crafting materials, making items salvaged at any level always useful. We’ve also trimmed the fat away from the list of crafting recipes for both the Blacksmith and the Jeweler. There is now a much smaller pool of recipes at each artisan level, and while there should still be a good mix of different types of gear to craft, each unlocked level should feel like a meaningful stepping stone that’s worth the crafting materials you spend. Disparities in crafting material abundance have been evened out, both in terms of how often they drop and how often you’ll require them for crafting: no more 72 Arcane Dust bracer recipes!

Left: The current recipe.                                      Right: The 2.3.0 recipe.

Crafting costs in general have been reduced across the board, especially for gear that’s intended for use while leveling or to help you gear up when first hitting level 70. Crafted Legendaries, for example, no longer require Forgotten Souls to craft (though they also no longer provide Forgotten Souls when salvaged). Instead, they will now require new Act-specific crafting materials that can be obtained at any level by completing bounties. This should make these items feel like a viable option for starting out whether you’re a new player or starting a new Season.

Bountiful Bounties

In addition to adding a new zone with its own new bounties to tackle, the rewards gained from bounties have been revised. Nephalem Rifts no longer require Rift Fragments to enter, so we needed to change the incentive behind completing bounties. In addition to being the only way to obtain the new Act-specific crafting materials used with Kanai’s Cube, we’ve shifted the reward from bounties to focus on being the primary source for gold and crafting materials. It’s also a great way to complete your crafting recipe collection as each cache guarantees at least two crafting recipe drops if you are missing any. If you want to craft a bunch of stuff, bounties are now the place to go to get started!

Bonus bounties are bound to be beneficial. We’ve also changed up the bonus Act mechanic. You’ll find there is now only one bonus Act active in a game at a time. Each player in a game who completes the active bonus Act will receive a Bonus Cache, stuffed to the brim with crafting goodies. Once the bonus Act has been completed, it will automatically rotate to a new Act, eliminating the need to start a new game to receive this benefit. Rather than navigating game menus, we want you to spend more time doing what matters: fighting the good fight and destroying demons.

Rifting It Forward

Nephalem and Greater Rifts both have a huge number of changes coming intended to draw a clearer line between the two. Nephalem Rifts are aimed at being a more relaxed version of a loot run while Greater Rifts are where you go to strut your stuff and push the limits of your nephalem heroes. Let’s start with the biggest change that you asked for: the Realm of Trials has been removed from the game. To accommodate this huge change, we’ve reduced the number of Greater Rift keys down to a single, universal type. These new keys are used at the Nephalem Obelisk to enter any level Greater Rift, up to one higher than the highest level you have previously completed (though if you totally crush a Greater Rift, you can still move up to 3 ranks at a time). In addition, we’ve removed Rift Fragments from the game. Nephalem Rifts are now open to players of all levels and difficulty, requiring no special key to access. 

Greater Rift tiers are even labeled with thier approximate difficultly equivalent. Greater Rift keys are now able to drop from Rift Guardians at any difficulty level, including Normal through Torment I. This chance scales up to 100% at Torment VI and there is an additional scaling chance for a second key to drop in the new Torment VII-X difficulty levels. Greater Rift keys are now only usable for one level and can no longer be upgraded. Instead, when you successfully complete a Greater Rift, you’ll automatically get the Legendary Gem upgrade screen. Please note you will no longer get the gem upgrade screen if you fail to complete a Greater Rift. Our concern is that players might tackle a Greater Rift well beyond their ability just for a chance at upgrading. This experience would feel sluggish and miserable and isn’t something we want to incentivize. There have been several other balance changes made to Rifts, including tweaks to Rift Guardian mechanics, enemy health, and the progress meter to even out the amount of time you spend clearing regular enemies versus fighting the Guardian. For more information, we recommend checking out the full PTR patch notes or simply giving the PTR itself a go!

Infernal Machinations

Last but certainly not least, the Infernal Machine event is getting a few minor but meaningful tweaks. The largest piece of feedback we’ve heard regarding the Hellfire Amulet and its counterpart Ring is that these items often felt too gated by multiple levels of luck. The time investment was high and, even after dedicating that amount of time, the payoff wasn’t guaranteed. While we still want the Hellfire items to be an investment, we’ve slimmed down the process to make it less time intensive to complete. To start, there is no longer a need to craft Hellfire Machines; the recipes have been removed from the game and each Keywarden now has a chance to drop an appropriate Infernal machine. The chance for an Infernal Machine to drop remains the same, though now appropriately continues to scale into Torment VII-X. 

We're cutting out that middle man, Haedrig. His interest rates were terrible anyway. In addition, the Hellfire Amulet is now guaranteed to roll with a socket. This removes a layer of luck to acquiring that perfect complement to your gear and should, overall, make the time invested into crafting one of these items feel well spent.

Less Mode, More Adventure!

Adventure Mode has been an extremely popular addition to Diablo III. You love spending time there, and we want that experience to continue being fresh, rewarding, and fun. These changes are currently live on PTR for testing, and we’d love to hear your thoughts on them. Which change are you most looking forward to? Have you given any of these changes a try? What did you think? Let us know in the comments and we hope you’re looking forward to Patch 2.3.0 as much as we are!

Blue Posts Round-Up

Nevalistis replied to some comments on the Adventure Mode preview, and we've rounded up the more meaningful posts below.

To summarize, patch 2.3 won't release until Season 3 has ended, unique crafting materials can drop from bounties before level 70, consoles should get the patch at the same date as PC and they will give out a 2 week notice before Season 3 ends. Read more below.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Source)

Crafting Materials Before 70

Found this statement a little misleading: "Instead, they will now require new Act-specific crafting materials that can be obtained at any level by completing bounties." From what I can tell from playing the PTR, and per the PTR Patch Notes, these Act-Specific Crafting Mats only drop at level 70...."Horadric Caches and bonus caches now contain an act specific crafting material starting at level 70" (From PTR Patch Notes)

That might be an outdated patch note. I've definitely received act-specific crafting materials from a bonus cache below level 70.

Still, I'll track this down to make sure there isn't a bug and/or that the notes get appropriately updated. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

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Greater Rift Completion Rewards

Not fond of the fact that you can no longer upgrade gems if you miss the timer. How frustrating to try to push yourself another level and miss it by 35 seconds and lose the option of getting through it next time because you weren't able to get that 8% chance to rank that gem up one more time. I understand the concern of people spending an hour in a grift that is way out of their league just to level gems, but what is the point of completely removing any reward from trying to push your own limits?

The reward from a Greater Rift isn't completely removed; the Rift Guardian at the end will still drop gear, materials, and Blood Shards appropriate to the level of Greater Rift that's been completed. There is still reason to finish a Greater Rift you've failed to beat the timer on, but you should no longer feel like you need to complete a particularly horrible slog (which was the intent).

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Patch Release Date

I have a really terrible feeling this patch will drop at the end of season 3.

The patch will not go live until after Season 3 has ended.

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Season End Notification

when does the patch come out and when id d3 resetting season 3

Keep an eye out for the end of Season notification. We'll be providing at least a two week notice. It's getting closer!

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On the Preview

Hmm.. none of this is really new info. Would rather see a release date.

As for crafting, it would be really nice if we could buy gems or gamble for Ramalama Gifts or Follower Tokens.

Not everyone has been playing the PTR or reads patch notes.

We don't typically provide release dates (as dates can and often do slip), but we are planning on giving at least a two week heads up for the end of Season 3. The patch will need to go out before Season 4 can begin, so I'd keep an eye out for that info!

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Patch 2.3 on Consoles

while the console version be patched anytime soon?

We plan to release Patch 2.3.0 for the Ultimate Evil Edition on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 at the same time it goes live for PC.

Diablo 3 Sells Over 30 Million

The Blizzard Q2 2015 earnings call happened today and, among numbers and information on other Blizzard franchises, they announced that Diablo 3, including Reaper of Souls and other variations, has sold over 30 million units worldwide!