Drop rate of high-end Diablo 3 items increased

The recent 1.0.3a patch for Diablo III has lifted the unintentional restrictions placed on purchases of the digital version of the game.

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A recent hotfix to Diablo III has increased the drop rate of high-end items in Act III of Hell difficulty and beyond, while ensuring that bosses will definitely drop at least one rare item when a player has four-plus stacks of Nephalem Valor.

The new drop-rate percentages were detailed on the Diablo III blog, increasing the drop chance implemented in patch 1.0.3. A couple bugs were also squashed in the hotfix.

In addition, the recent 1.0.3a patch removed the caps on players who purchased a digital copy of the game. The restrictions, which confined players to Act I of the game and a level cap of 13, appeared in the 1.0.3 patch, but were an unintentional side-effect of security measures to ensure against credit card fraud. It was originally reported that players were confined to the Starter Edition of the game, but Blizzard later clarified the report.

Contributing Editor
From The Chatty
  • reply
    June 29, 2012 8:00 AM

    John Keefer posted a new article, Drop rate of high-end Diablo 3 items increased.

    The recent 1.0.3a patch for Diablo III has lifted the unintentional restrictions placed on purchases of the digital version of the game.

    • reply
      June 29, 2012 8:07 AM

      Oh player base falling? Increase item drops!

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        June 29, 2012 8:34 AM

        havent played in about 10 days. feel great!

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          June 29, 2012 9:43 AM

          3 weeks here

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            June 29, 2012 3:19 PM

            I haven't replaced D3 with another game, but excitement is gone either way for me to jump in and play, where the fuck is PVP.

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              June 29, 2012 10:51 PM

              Pvp will be an unbalanced mess when it's launched.

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      June 29, 2012 8:09 AM

      [deleted]

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      June 29, 2012 8:21 AM

      It will be like this:
      - People start figuring out the best build and collecting gears specialized for the build. Other significantly popular gears will not have any audience.
      - Patch to nerf the 'overpowered' build released so those who have gears for less popular build/spec can be sold.
      - The cycle repeats until all build has the same popularity level (called 'balancing')

      Basically, we cannot play the game the way we want to play it. It has to be the way Blizzard wants it so it is 'fair' and no exploitation of the RMAH. For MMORPG, this is ok, but not for ARPG such as Diablo.

      But oh well, what can I say. I'm just one of those whiny gamer who wants to have fun and do what we want in the game. A dying breed :\

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        June 29, 2012 8:39 AM

        This seems like wild speculation, given that right now there's about two viable Inferno builds per class and they haven't actually announced plans to change it (although they probably will).

        I've always found it odd when players feel like they should have more say over how the game works than the people who made the game.

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          June 29, 2012 8:47 AM

          Actually, in the 1.03 dev diary, they said that the next patch after 1.03 would be a major class balance patch.. So a lot is going to change again within probably the next month or so.

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            June 29, 2012 11:14 AM

            Yeah, you're right, but before they start talking about details I'm not going to rail on them.

            Honestly, what this dude describes is probably going to happen, I just don't want to jump the gun. They NEED to do something to gameplay to prevent it from being one or two specs per class in Inferno. For example, I understand that kiting can be really powerful for ranged classes, but come on, eliminating snares and stuns is like removing 90% of the gameplay options.

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              June 29, 2012 12:01 PM

              I still believe that we're in sort of a public beta period right now. (I know someone's going to take that out of context and use it against me, but whatever.) They've said that they intentionally made Inferno harder than it needed to be so they could use the public to find exploits (like the 4 monk invincible group and other craziness we saw in the first two weeks) so they could plug the holes.

              I get the impression that they were terrified anything was going to be too powerful and exploitable and released the game with everything pre-nerfed. Legendaries and Sets suck hard. A lot of skills (and even entire families of skill types, like snares and stuns) just plain do nothing in inferno. Now that they've had some time to see what the public has done with what they have, they're going to start slowly buffing things. My guess is that snares, stuns, and WD pets (and some other stuff) will be tweaked to be viable in inferno. I also think some skills, particularly some passive skills that are just terrible, will be redesigned from the ground up to allow for more options. (Almost every class has 2 passive skills that are absolutely must-have for inferno, leaving at best 1 option, and usually that option only has 2-3 viable choices anyway.) I'm really hoping that this big class and legendary balance patch that is supposed to be coming gives me back some options... because I'm tired of only having 2 viable builds per character.

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                June 29, 2012 12:15 PM

                I'd qualify the first statement with "public beta period for endgame right now."

                Normal -> Hell is very well tuned and a lot of fun. Inferno is where a lot of the issues lie, both with perception and content, and where *stuff* seems to break down. This was intended to be the endgame content that people either progressed through slowly, or farmed for the awesome loots.

                Also, I don't know that "endgame" is something a developer can really get right on release. Seems like you need to have **stuff** there to test out, but be active and responsive in fixing & updating it as the community chews through it. How successful Blizzard will be at this remains to be seen.

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                  June 29, 2012 12:32 PM

                  Yeah, that's fair..

                  I'm not angry with Blizzard or even the game, yet.. I'm still having a blast when I can make time to play, but I will lose a lot of faith in the future of the game if they screw the pooch on the next patch. I already lost some with the drop rate hotfixes this week, I think people are going to gear up too fast and the economy is going to be even more screwed now. :\

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          June 29, 2012 8:49 AM

          I dont know, maybe I'm too spoiled with the way Titan Quest or previous Diablo game were. We are allowed to create the character any way we want and make it as overpowered (or underpowered) as much as we'd like and all the patches do was just fixing the game issues (not 'imbalances').

          Well, like I mentioned, I think people will be ok if it is an MMORPG, but this game is not.

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            June 29, 2012 8:53 AM

            D3 is kind of like an mmo now

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              June 29, 2012 9:42 AM

              I can now see it. I probably just still in denial and wish D3 still plays like D2, TQ, and D1.

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        June 29, 2012 8:40 AM

        [deleted]

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          June 29, 2012 8:46 AM

          Honestly, I am not. I don't have the game (yeah, what a nerve! Complaining about a game I didnt even play). I just read a lot of articles about it and hearing friends (more than one obviously) complained about the same aspect and that they were getting crap loot after beating a boss.

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            June 29, 2012 8:59 AM

            lol

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            June 29, 2012 8:59 AM

            That's because your friends don't know how to read properly. You get great look by killing elite monsters not by doing boss runs. Blizzard has been super clear on that.

            And the whining over ias getting nerfed ignores the fact that they rebalanced the whole game so that you didn't HAVE to use ias.

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              June 29, 2012 9:03 AM

              You can still get the same quality loot from bosses that you do from packs, you are at the mercy of the randomness for everything so 99.9% of the loot from anywhere is going to be shit, it's unavoidable.

              Heck, this patch also upped boss drops to two guaranteed rares with 5 stacks so they must not be that much against boss runs.

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                June 29, 2012 9:11 AM

                They want it like WoW where you clear trash before a boss becomes attractive. And I wholeheartedly agree. Endlessly repeating the same boss over and over again isn't nearly as much fun as killing a bunch of shit to get 5 Neph stacks and then killing the boss.

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                  June 29, 2012 9:27 AM

                  And it's been like that from the start in Diablo 3 because of nephalem valor. When anyone says boss run in this game, getting 5 stacks beforehand for the +MF bonus at the boss is a given or implied, isn't it?

                  But Dessicator82 saying you get great loot by killing elites and not doing boss runs is super misleading. You just get more loot from killing elite packs. And until you get your stacks up for the guaranteed rare drops it's generally just as bad as any boss loot. Interested to see what the boss loot is like now with 2 guaranteed rares.

                  Before with my +MF set & 5 stacks bosses and packs would give around 2-3 yellows, and a few blues for packs but like a dozen of them on the boss. It's probably not going to change much.

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                June 29, 2012 9:57 AM

                But you now get one guaranteed rare from each elite kill or champion pack at 5 stacks of NV (and I usually get 1-2 more at 5 stacks), and they're massively more plentiful (so you can kill more of them per unit time, more drops, more loots).

                I rage reinstalled D3 on Sunday night, and I'm actually able to farm A1 again--I just don't do butcher runs anymore. Now I do mid-act farming runs where I start on the skele king quest, farm up the cemetary crypts first and then start in on the lower cathedral levels. Usually I get a pack full of rares by the end of the act, and I'm making gold once again.

                I'm still annoyed that I've regressed a little, but at least I'm now able to do net-positive farming runs in A1 and am slowly replacing my low-50s gear with high-50s / I60/1 gear.

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                  June 29, 2012 10:10 AM

                  http://www.shacknews.com/chatty?id=28458547 + I'll never stop doing bosses considering the only set item / green I've seen was dropped by one. I know it's random like I said, that's the point. Great loot can drop anywhere, not just elite packs. There's no incentive for me to not kill a boss when I have 5 stacks, especially because they go quicker and quicker as my gear improves plus the act doesn't end right there and I can keep on hunting the remaining packs afterwards.

                  And even moreso now with 2 guaranteed rares. I never saw 2 rares not drop from a boss in inferno that I can remember though.

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                  June 29, 2012 10:33 AM

                  My strategy as of the latest changes has been to start on Black soulstone (act2). I go around randomly to get 5 stacks, kill Kulle and Belial, then run from beginning of the act until the end clearing elites. Bosses still do drop more loot than an elite pack so it's good to get them in.

                  If I were to do Act1, I'd do the same thing, but for Warden/Butcher, and then clear from the beginning again.

                  Act3 is a bit tougher for that, but siegebreaker is a good boss to start on there probably.

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                    June 29, 2012 11:00 AM

                    I basically clear elites and then say "okay, I've killed enough shit I'll kill a boss and go to bed now."

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            June 29, 2012 9:21 AM

            So you don't see the reason behind balancing a game that has a real money auction house?

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              June 29, 2012 9:40 AM

              Well, that is not the point, really.

              I meant the 'balancing' of this kind of game is not really necessary because:
              - This game is not meant to be MMORPG, in which balancing is fine.
              - THis game does not even have PvP, in which case of course balancing is necessary

              So touching your argument, yes, I understand the balancing is needed for the auction house. It's just I'm personally not fine with an ARPG game (such as this, like other ARPG games before it) tried to balance things as it makes me feel like I have to play the game the way they wanted me to play it. I guess the auction house is totally different topic.

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                June 29, 2012 10:24 AM

                [deleted]

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                  June 29, 2012 11:27 AM

                  I know this update is coming, but as of now, it is not yet implemented and who actually knows when the PvP is going to be implemented? I think the argument is quite right for now.

                  I also know that I disclosed already that I do not own the game, which is why you guys tore me apart. There is nowhere in my comment that I am 'trying to tell you what is what'. If you want to call it what it is, I call it prediction, and it might be wrong.

                  In any case, whatever argument I will have, you probably will attack me for it since I have not played the game (does dabble in the beta counts?). Please note that I'm not attacking anyone here enjoying the game. If you enjoy it, good for you.

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                  June 29, 2012 1:09 PM

                  How are they going to balance any kind of PvP when the game is so gear dependant? Outside it being crap and an afterthought?

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                    June 29, 2012 1:20 PM

                    As for afterthought and crap or not, it remains to be seen. I for one just lament the future plan of this game is (Why is there a PVP in my D3?? - kind of sentiment)

                    As my comment pointed, with the game so gear dependent and the loot drop increased (adding the nerf/boost as often as blizzard would like), the auction house is going to get more and more cashflows and blizzard definitely will get more money from people selling digital stuff/gear in the game.

                    Nobody's buying gears that boost strength? Let's boost that stats and nerf others so people can start buying strength gears. Then it MIGHT be a cycle for D3.

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                  June 29, 2012 1:13 PM

                  They said a long time ago this game isnt about pvp and they're not balancing anything for that

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                June 29, 2012 10:30 AM

                I don't agree with you, at all. For one, you (and many others) keep using this argument of "forcing me to play the way they want" but what you really mean is "equalizing the drop rate of my build with other builds". They aren't disallowing you from smashing pots all day, like people were doing. They are just making it so it's not the most effective way to play. That is a GOOD thing. Lots of people want to min/max and if the max is smashing barrels, that's fucking lame! That isn't "forcing me to play the way they want".

                Lastly, you don't even own the game, so how can you even make that comment?

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                  June 29, 2012 11:20 AM

                  It's a comment in a game news website. If you think my PERSONAL comment is offending you or anyone, feel free to ignore it. It does not have to be right, it is a comment after all.

                  I admit I'm probably still stuck in nostalgia, but if you ever played Titan Quest game where they dont control the percentage of the loot and instead focus on the game stability, then you know why I'm making that comment.

                  I am not saying this patch is a BAD thing. I just feel that with the way the game is going right now, it is becoming more of a 'play the way we want you to play it' instead of 'play however you want to play it and we will make the game stable for you' type of affair. And again and for the last time, this is not an MMORPG.

                  In the end, I'd rather be open and honest about it than me saying Oh I have the game, so I can complaint. I have been in the beta, watched my friends play the game, read articles so I think I have enough information to make a comment.

                  I know I'm not the only one as my friends already stopped even playing the game, but hey, like I said in the beginning, me and my friends probably are a dying breed.

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                    June 29, 2012 12:03 PM

                    So explain to me how they forced you to play a certain way. I already have countered your original argument of that, but you stated it again.

                    How does fixing imbalanced skills forcing you to NOT use it?

                    How about you then counter your own argument. Explain how if there is one extremely overpowered way to play, how is that NOT forcing people to use that build.

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                      June 29, 2012 12:51 PM

                      This will be a bit of a work to write, but I'll try. English isnt my native language (and I'm not saying it for an excuse) so be patient with me.

                      My (very own personal) expectation was that this game will be a good action rpg (not MMO) that resembles the Diablo games before it and TQ, where you can build any characters you want, make it as overpowered as you'd like and play with friends (or alone) anytime you want. The patches that they released were just to fix the game's issues (such as bugs, crashes, etc). Obviously, the patches that blizzard released not only does this but nerf and change the way your character will play out.

                      I put in the comment as to reply grandmasterlee's about being butthurt about the attack speed nerf. I know this because most of my friends told me about this and they got so pissed off they stopped playing the game. From the way you asked the question, it is not about the imbalanced skill that just bothers me, but the loot drop that was problematic before and now increased (which is good), but it got me thinking: If you are one of those people who have the overpowered build that got nerfed, what's your next move (besides complaining and whining, of course)?
                      - Create another character?
                      - Or maybe change up your character's spec so that it will be more powerful in other aspect (that maybe one day some other people can exploit to have another overpowered built)

                      I think most people perhaps will opt at choice number 2, which means in terms of loot, they will need to gear up with items that boost the other ability. What if instead of doing runs again (or spending another 20-40 hrs creating a new char going through the same exact storyline campaign), people will just run to the AH and buy items that will boost the other ability? It is easier, quicker. Bottom line, it will bring money to everyone (including blizzard).

                      What they can do is then just monitor and basically 'adjust accordingly' what their expectation is, essentially (at least it is for me) dictating how you should play the game. You already know what is happening to attack speed nerf, what's next? In the end, everyone might have similar characters. Again, just a concern and prediction.

                      I guess what Lucy Labia said is completely right. D3 is like an MMO now (except for subscription of course) which is why things got nerfed/boosted left and right. With PvP and ladderboards, I think the next logical step is start charging for subscription (I mean, why not?) in which case I'd stop treating this as an ARPG. I can find my own ARPG fix in T2 or Grim Dawn then.

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                        June 29, 2012 2:22 PM

                        The major character nerfs so far have been ones that basically made characters or specific groups immortal -- monk serenity, demon hunter's smokescreen, and the wizard's force armor.

                        The other nerfs (ex: nether tentacles only hitting a target once, instead of 2-4+ times) were mostly bug fixes that ultimately brought those abilities in line with the other abilities the class had, or removed an ability that was just broken compared to everything else (ex: hydras getting lok bonuses).

                        In the first case it "evens the playing field" so one class doesn't just rofl-stomp everything while others have to actually do it legit. The later case is bug fixes that mostly brought those abilities in line with the rest. People spin these as "blizzard removing choices," when it's actually the opposite -- you had an automatic decision, and now you actually have to choose how you want to play the class.

                        The IAS nerf isn't dissimilar. In the quantities it was appearing on items, the stat was a no brainer. There were no break-points, there was no balancing -- you maximized IAS. Period. Now it appears on quantities on par with crit damage & crit chance, and depending on all of your gear, can either be your best stat or your worse. There are break points now where none exist. You also can choose how you want to play the class, instead of having an obvious decision because it was so much more effective than anything else. Again, not removing choice or Blizzard telling you how to play the game, but putting the options on an even playing field so the decision isn't as obvious.

                        Except in the extreme circumstances, players were actually better overall relative to the content following the 1.0.3 patch. IAS wasn't the only thing nerfed -- Inferno was as well, and as a result people were more powerful relative to the content they were facing. The exception to this being glass cannons who didn't have the gear necessary to really be glass cannons, but were able to play like that because of IAS.

                        Also, you always have to temper the internets reaction to nerfs. A lot of times bringing something in line with other abilities is perceived as making that something completely useless. You can't just take the response at face value, and should toy with it yourself to determine its actual utility in the game's current stat. IAS is far from useless, and in many cases, is still the best stat -- just not obviously so. Like I mention above, there are breakpoints now (some obvious, some not so much), and that makes the game more interesting.

                        The patch previews surrounding 1.0.3 and 1.0.4 indicate the IAS nerf was a rare, one-time thing, and the balance updates will focus around making the under-utilized abilities useful as opposed to straight nerfing the primary builds. If this holds true, then it'll be another step in giving players the tools to play the game they how they want to play, as opposed to being pigeonholed into OP builds. The reaction will always be opposite, however, because that's what people do.

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                          June 29, 2012 3:46 PM

                          For every decision that you make, there are always different reactions to it. Some people will support it, some won't. I am making my own opinion as I read and learn about what they have right now, the problems, the praises (I never said the game is bad, even once), and where it is going. But you have to see that there is also a reason behind the decision. The way I see it (and I'm sure I'm not alone in this), the reason is not solely because of 'balancing' and 'post-release support'.

                          All this information about what each patch do is very good, but please remember that I do not have the game, thus I do not know all the details nor I am interested because, very honestly, I no longer have any kind of interest in the game because of things like this happening.

                          Why? Here is probably why:
                          it "evens the playing field" so one class doesn't just rofl-stomp everything while others have to actually do it legit. The later case is bug fixes that mostly brought those abilities in line with the rest. People spin these as "blizzard removing choices," when it's actually the opposite -- you had an automatic decision, and now you actually have to choose how you want to play the class.

                          Why won't you let players rofl-stomp everything and have fun with it? Because it is no longer fun then? Because it is not the way it should be played (I mean come on, they spent ~10 years planning and developing this game)? Or is it because that it will affect things/gears that will be sold and bought in the auction house? Evens the playing field for what, though? PvP (in D3)?

                          What about other people who have to do it legit? Well, it is really their choice now, isn't it? Because everyone (including you) already have purchased the game. Wait, are you purchasing D3 as a product or as a service? If they have disclosed in the beginning that this was to be a MMORPG, then I would have been fine with it and not bother.

                          You know what, I'm probably an old git who really do not know what I'm talking about. You should perhaps try visit RPS and see how they react for every D3 news, you'll probably be surprised. In the end, like I already said many times, if you are happy with D3 and really really support where the game is going, then really, I'm happy for you. I just am not happy with it and Blizzard (probably never will be) and there is no way you can change my mind. Blizzard probably can, but why would they want to do that? I'm just one customer and (again) a dying breed who just wants to have fun in his game.

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                            June 29, 2012 3:50 PM

                            You should probably play the game. You'll probably be surprised.

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                              June 29, 2012 4:00 PM

                              As much as I would like to, I already decided not to. I am already surprised at the direction they are going with this game in the beta, and although the final game right now should obviously be better than the beta, why would I want to play a game where I have to finish the same campaign 2-3 times before I can actually choose the difficulty that I want and compete for gears where all I want to do is play it (at most two times, one alone and one with friends) and just maybe (just maybe) rofl-stomp everyone with my friends?

                              Maybe you will tell me to stick in the past and go play D2. I am sticking with T2 and Grim Dawn, then.

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                                June 29, 2012 5:02 PM

                                I would say you're not playing the right games then; or rather, not taking full advantage of those games. I played through TQ no less than 16 times? And I'm talking Act 1 - Act 4 16 times. Like 5 characters in Epic (normal complete), 3 in Legendary (norm+epic complete), 1 completed Legendary.
                                That's what made the "no random landscape" so difficult in TQ. But the 2 Class Synergy made it WONDERFUL.
                                I probably only played through D2 10 times. So far I'm on 6 plays completed in D3. But that's mostly 5 chars into Nightmare. I'm definitely gonna get at least 4 more plays difficulties conquered. That'll be 10, equal to D2.

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                    June 29, 2012 12:07 PM

                    The problem is no one can debate with you because you're completely ignorant of the actual game. You're just a mouthpiece of the ignorant asshats who troll forums or inflammatory bloggers who troll for page hits with nothing to offer the discussion.

                    You're a brick wall, and not the good kind.

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                      June 29, 2012 12:30 PM

                      Wow, a personal attack now? Okay. You have not even able to point me at which point I attack anyone in this whole comment threads and you call me a troll?

                      Okay, think whatever you want about me being 'ignorant of the actual game'. If I disclosed to you that I have played the Beta extensively and in the end decided that the game is not for me because of different reasons, is it going to have much impact? I'm guessing no, so why bother, right?

                      I am not looking for a debate in the first place, anyway. It's just a comment and it just amazed me that some people in Shack actually have the time and willing to pick apart my comments word by word (if you want to discuss things, I'd be more than happy to talk about games), but offer nothing constructive and insults instead.

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                        June 29, 2012 12:45 PM

                        No personal attack -- a statement of fact. You make an uninformed statement, cite blogs and forum chatter as evidence, and then fall back to a blanket "it's my opinion" stance as if that somehow excuses your lack of actual knowledge on the subject.

                        If your statement was only about the content in the beta, then it would have some merit. Instead your commenting about the direction the endgame is going with regards to Blizzard's balance changes, which was not at all exercised in the beta.

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                          June 29, 2012 1:00 PM

                          Articles on Shack, Rock-paper-shotgun, Cinemablend, PC Gamer, and many others that you can find simply by googling. I mean it is really not that hard to read D3 news anywhere. Official forum is where the players go and voice their opinion/frustration/praise and submit their issues. Besides that, what else do you want? I am not falling to any blanket 'it is my opinion'. Simply all those events formed my own opinion and I am just stating it here as a comment.

                          As for beta, I said that simply to add to the fact that I am not completely foreign to the game and not familiar with all the issues. Take it anyway you want.

                          As for lack of knowledge on the subject, what is the subject we are talking about here? Diablo 3 right? Did I not hit the right points where I'm making comments about? Which uninformed statement that I made that offended you so bad?

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                            June 29, 2012 1:20 PM

                            Shacknews has been taking the sensationalist bend on most of their game coverage for the past few months (or more).
                            Cinemablend lies. I don't even consider that hyperbole -- they lie to drum up page hits.

                            I haven't seen rps or pc gamer's coverage.

                            The official forums are mostly dominated by idiots who have been trolled on multiple occasions by twitch streamers, and they still hold on to their ideas about session id exploits and the ah gold duping that turned out to be a hoax.

                            I'll likely reply with details in your other threads, but basically your hitting the soundbytes (the whole "we cannot play the game we want to play it") and applying them to completely different areas of the game, or exaggerating minor changes made immediately after release to imply completely different things.

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                              June 29, 2012 1:27 PM

                              Hey, whether they lies or not or piggybacking other site's news is not my business. The news is out there, along with speculations, reviews, feedbacks, and even some unknown journalists' "personal opinion" (my apology for throwing that words around). If you have been to RPS or PC Gamer, they always run stories about D3 every now and then.

                              Not all users who use the forum are total idiots and even then, you still able to find valid complaints and/or technical difficulties that is not caused by the users but more of the game limitation or limitation imposed by Blizzard, then you as a person can form your own opinion. Stories from friends can also be useful and why would they lie? If any, they would make it sound better so I go out and buy the game so we can play together (which is really what I want to do but I already made a personal commitment of not getting the game).

                              Now, your last paragraph. I might be going overboard with mentioning other 'minor changes', but all these changes should mean something right? I think it should at least be beneficial to the players. However, from what I can see so far, it is not.

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                                June 29, 2012 1:31 PM

                                Not your business? You're using what they report to form the entirety of your opinion about the game.

                                What you're doing is no different than reviewing a game based on youtube videos. I realize people think that's legitimate, too, but it's not. Your opinion of the game lacks any first hand experience, and is just parroting what the loudest people are saying about it. Claiming that's at all inaccurate grossly overestimates what you're doing.

                                Balance changes happen. They happened in Diablo 2, Titan Quest, Sacred 1/2, and every other arpg, rpg, or game that wasn't just dropped the second it shipped. This doesn't mean anything, other than Blizzard is supporting their product post-release.

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                                  June 29, 2012 3:17 PM

                                  You cannot take it out of proportion like that. I'm just saying that whatever they do to get the news out, I dont care. However, you need to also see that there are a LOT of articles out there and (again) other sources as well (forums and friends' feedback). If you are saying that you are not allowed or can't form an opinion and decision based on different sources and only solely on owning and playing the game, then I really do not know what else to say.

                                  And again, we are back at square 1. If my opinion feels soo lacking of 'first hand experience', why do you make it like it sounds the same as reviewing the game based on youtube videos? That is not really what I have in mind at all, not even close to the intention. Moreover, why are you so up in arms about all this? If you do not like it, again, feel free to ignore it and move on.

                                  Also, balance changes happen...in MMORPG. It does not happen in every ARPGs (certainly not Titan Quest and Sacred) and even if there is a patch, at least you have the option to not install it and still able to play with others (albeit the same version).

                                  I do not see anything wrong with supporting the product post-release (if any I'm sure all of us would demand it), but again that is not the point. What I'm trying to say is the balancing effort seems weird given its D3, but if you read the other comments, more and more people commenting that D3 is now becoming like MMORPG and that is why it is needed. I agree to that.

                                  • reply
                                    June 29, 2012 3:23 PM

                                    You just claimed balance changes are new to arpgs...?

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                                    June 29, 2012 3:36 PM

                                    Okay, this is obviously going no where, and because you really have no idea what you're talking about.

                                    What I'm saying is you have to temper what you read on blogs & forums with what's actually going on in-game. Both of those sources like to take the worst possible spin on absolutely everything and act as if that's the 100% truth. If you don't temper stuff what you read from those sources with reality, then you'll get a very jaded and one-sided view of what's going on.

                                    Also, regarding balance changes, Sacred, Sacred 2, and Titan Quest all had them. Torchlight had them as well. Balance updates aren't something specific to mmo's, or even Blizzard. The changes were also not strictly buffs -- they were both nerfs and buffs (the nerf to Spirit's Ternion attack in TQ is one I remember), so you can't claim they were strictly buffs, either.

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                      June 29, 2012 12:33 PM

                      You fail at argumenting, how old are you?

                      • reply
                        June 29, 2012 12:41 PM

                        How exactly is that a "fail at argumenting" ?

              • reply
                June 29, 2012 11:30 AM

                Diablo 3 is not the ARPG like the games before it. With the player economy and friend list integrated, it practically IS an MMO. Balancing is required to keep the game fresh and fair.

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                  June 29, 2012 11:43 AM

                  This is exactly what it is really. Honestly not the way I would have wanted it, but what can I do.

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                    June 29, 2012 11:24 PM

                    you can continue to not play it and continue to complain about it on an online forum.

                    you really have no leg to stand on in these discussions and I wish you'd stop participating in this thread.

          • reply
            June 29, 2012 9:23 AM

            You need to stop using the word "we" when you speak about D3 players then, if you aren't one of them.

            • reply
              June 29, 2012 9:35 AM

              I use the word 'we' as a gamer, not necessarily D3 players :)

              • reply
                June 29, 2012 9:48 AM

                [deleted]

                • reply
                  June 29, 2012 11:29 AM

                  Now you are using 'we'? :)

                  And no, I can put a comment as many as I want and need as this is an open discussion in a gaming website. There is nowhere that I even attack anyone here so if suddenly all the fanboys feel the need to be up in arms against me, so be it.

      • reply
        June 29, 2012 8:42 AM

        i'd rather a bunch of builds be viable than having to be pigeon holed into one workable OP build.

        • reply
          June 29, 2012 9:19 AM

          ^^^^^^

        • reply
          June 29, 2012 9:20 AM

          [deleted]

          • reply
            June 29, 2012 9:33 AM

            I haven't played a single minute of the game.

          • reply
            June 29, 2012 9:38 AM

            you don't need to own the game to think that's a good idea

            • reply
              June 29, 2012 9:40 AM

              [deleted]

              • reply
                June 29, 2012 9:43 AM

                In which case I can proudly say that no, I do not own the game.

                Just reading from people's pespective, articles, and forums.

                • reply
                  June 29, 2012 10:31 AM

                  So basically you are adding no value to any D3 discussion.

                  • reply
                    June 29, 2012 11:34 AM

                    You know that anyone can make an informed argument without having to own or play the game, unless you are telling me each articles that I had been reading are lies and that what people are complaining/writing in the forums (some of them my friends) are invalid.

                    • reply
                      June 29, 2012 11:43 AM

                      Quite a few articles have been straight lies, yes.

                    • reply
                      June 29, 2012 12:06 PM

                      I agree, you could make an argument. I wouldn't call it an informed argument. Also you keep stating things in the first person, and not third person. If you aren't one of the targets of this (IE player of D3) you can't keep saying "we" without causing drama.

                      If you were stating things properly in the third person, and citing where you read things, you'd just have been another comment in the pile. Even still, you shouldn't be getting responses, but we're all likely bored at work.

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                        June 29, 2012 12:26 PM

                        I keep stating things in the first person because it is solely my opinion, thus comment in this site. I feel that I am not alone in this group (fueled by friends of mine who actually owned the game and shared the same sentiment after playing the game), which is why I said 'we'.

                        With that aside, you are partially correct that I'm probably half-bored at work (its Friday after all), but there are a lot of D3 articles out there and you can even visit the official forum (do I need to even put the link here?) that you can read (and yes, I read a lot of gaming articles) and shape an opinion about how things are and where things are going.

                        • reply
                          June 29, 2012 12:35 PM

                          [deleted]

                          • reply
                            June 29, 2012 1:05 PM

                            I wont even go there to discuss age, seniority and stuff. I completely know that there are more people who knows the game more than I am and I really dont think I'm acting that I know everything so what is your problem?

                            If you really do not like how I stated my words, you can simply ignore it. Also, I really apologize that I do not understand your analogy about the AARP meeting and bedpans and stuff.

                            If you want to collaboratively attack me personally, feel free. If any, that comment really doesnt add anything to the thread now, does it?

                            • reply
                              June 29, 2012 1:09 PM

                              [deleted]

                              • reply
                                June 29, 2012 1:31 PM

                                It's Friday yo. When else is the best time to have a big hard argument about D3? :)

                                Plus, I'm a bit bored at work today.

                                • reply
                                  June 29, 2012 1:32 PM

                                  The best time is after you've played the game. God, you people are so annoying.

              • reply
                June 29, 2012 11:08 AM

                yeah but the problem is its not funny.

      • reply
        June 29, 2012 12:56 PM

        sounds like good game design to me

    • reply
      June 29, 2012 8:43 AM

      I hear people crying... ohh you must want a subscription then... ohh you dont ??? ok then deal with the changes lol

      • reply
        June 29, 2012 11:34 AM

        ^- ya rly...

        Diablo 3, a revolution in subscription based services w/o a subscription.
        or Diablo 3, auction house hero.

    • reply
      June 29, 2012 9:04 AM

      yay maybe i wont have to buy everything i wear ... i fckin hate shopping

    • reply
      June 29, 2012 9:09 AM

      As someone who just started Inferno last night, I'm glad I missed out on the drop frustration.

      • reply
        June 29, 2012 1:22 PM

        what class? I have a couple things you could have

        • reply
          June 29, 2012 1:34 PM

          Witch Doctor. I would have hit L60 last weekend, but my stupid zombie bears got broken in 1.0.3 and the alternatives were much less effective.

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            June 29, 2012 2:01 PM

            You can have any or all of this you want.

            http://chattypics.com/files/offer_4td6omiddd.jpg

            I have a couple things in the AH right now that probably won't sell that you can peruse also when the auctions expire.. The dagger is the best weapon drop I've had and it's not all that great but will do fine for Act 1.

            • reply
              June 29, 2012 3:18 PM

              OH SNAP SON all that stuff is sexy

    • reply
      June 29, 2012 9:18 AM

      Dammit!!! Now I can't post angry tin foil hat arguments about the RMAH. Now where am I gonna troll? I actually have nothing negative to say about this. In fact I'm slowing muttering out a whisper of a thank you.....

    • reply
      June 29, 2012 9:23 AM

      I beat it on normal this week. Now to replay it on normal with a different class... the demon hunter is pretty fun. From all the bitching, it seems like the content tourism approach is a little more fun than how a lot of you guys play.

      • reply
        June 29, 2012 9:30 AM

        Yep - I have played one act at a time with all character classes before moving to the next act. Just started Act II Nightmare and am still having tons of fun.

      • reply
        June 29, 2012 10:41 AM

        I'm actually really enjoying Nightmare. Normal felt like a giant tutorial, and it's not until Nightmare that you really encounter enemies that have any challenge. Also, better loot.

        • reply
          June 29, 2012 11:35 AM

          I agree, Norm was more like a hand held tour of the game. NM it started to get fun.

        • reply
          June 29, 2012 12:00 PM

          Normal seems tuned for a 4-player public game.

          ... and it's kind of awesome like that.

        • reply
          June 29, 2012 12:52 PM

          I agree, Nightmare is so much more fun where one wrong move can have you running in circles for 5 minutes kiting enemies :p

      • reply
        June 29, 2012 11:39 AM

        Inferno is basically bullshit. Both in terms of the gameplay and the usual approach that people take to it. It doesn't play at all like the 1-59 content.

        • reply
          June 29, 2012 12:16 PM

          I really dig inferno. It forces you to have decent gear, which is much easier to obtain now, and get a nice build going.

          • reply
            June 29, 2012 1:05 PM

            I like a gear check, and I agree that Inferno should be about that.

            I just think that having champ packs that are immune to CC with tons of affixes seems like a pretty lazy way to get there.

            Strictly speaking I don't know if they're universally immune to CC, I don't have experience with every class in Inferno.

            • reply
              June 29, 2012 1:24 PM

              The enchantress seems to be able to turn elites into chickens just fine.

              • reply
                June 29, 2012 1:36 PM

                Yeah, I'm not applying my terminology very well. By CC I was basically referring to stuns and roots being severely diminished. I understand that untargeted chicken-like spells seem to work, like the witch doctor frog thing.

        • reply
          June 29, 2012 1:20 PM

          [deleted]

          • reply
            June 29, 2012 1:39 PM

            I... Don't know why you'd say that Inferno is any less button mashing than the rest of the game. Because the monsters do more relative damage?

            • reply
              June 29, 2012 2:35 PM

              [deleted]

              • reply
                June 29, 2012 2:39 PM

                unless you have real godly gear, positioning and timing is really important in Inferno. That was even more true before 1.03 but, you still have to somewhat manage your cooldowns and positioning or you'll die more than you should.

      • reply
        June 29, 2012 11:50 AM

        Yeah, it's such a fun game! I don't power through games to get to the end like a lot of people, but I really like it and see myself playing it for a long time.

        • reply
          June 29, 2012 12:09 PM

          I took my Wizard through Maghda yesterday, then joined a 4-player public game thinking I'd just close out Act 2 and go to bed.

          ... four hours later Diablo was dead.

          WHY IS THIS GAME STILL DOING THIS TO ME?!

      • reply
        June 29, 2012 1:29 PM

        Demon Hunter was great fun till inferno for me. The game is awesome in Hell. Kind of frustrating in Inferno unless you enjoy playing day trader.

    • reply
      June 29, 2012 9:56 AM

      I actually like D3.

      • reply
        June 30, 2012 3:19 PM

        Me too. I play almost exclusively Hardcore mode, so it's almost like a different game than what everyone else complains about.

        HC economy isn't retarded, crafting isn't pointless, low level gear sells because people constantly need to level up new chars, and I think the player base has a lot more patience to play the game as intended (i.e. gearing and leveling up at every step before progresses instead of blowing past everything and hitting Inferno under-prepared).

        This change particularly helps HC players a lot, hopefully making it easier to gear for Inferno in the safety of A4 Hell.

    • reply
      June 29, 2012 11:34 AM

      [deleted]

      • reply
        June 29, 2012 1:26 PM

        I have yet to have a good weapon or piece of jewelry drop. Lots of resist all armor, though no one is buying at in the AH.

      • reply
        June 29, 2012 1:37 PM

        Found some awesome ilvl 63 MF shoulders last night for me yayaya

        • reply
          June 29, 2012 1:37 PM

          In act 1!

          • reply
            June 29, 2012 11:30 PM

            My current strategy is to just load up on MF, run act 1, and only pickup ilvl 60+ items.

            • reply
              June 29, 2012 11:31 PM

              Today I was hitting 250MF with 5 NV stack.

      • reply
        June 29, 2012 3:47 PM

        I've found just the opposite. While I DO get plenty of rares, I get less that are either useable, or have good enough stats to sell on the rmah/ah

    • reply
      June 29, 2012 3:11 PM

      HOW DARE YOU MAKE A MINOR CHANGE TO A GAME I PLAY! I'M OUTRAGED!!!

    • reply
      June 29, 2012 3:22 PM

      It would be interesting if they made updates optional but the AH and coop required the latest patch. How many people would opt out of significant nerf patches?

    • reply
      June 29, 2012 9:56 PM

      Just delete nephelim valor buff, its dumb.

      • reply
        June 29, 2012 11:16 PM

        I think it works for what they intend it to do. You shouldn't be trying to farm an area where you are struggling and if you have to kill 5 packs to actually start farming, you're going to stay in areas where you're effective. Otherwise people will continue to simplify farming to the quickest and easiest way of killing a single thing e.g. now unique mobs aren't guaranteed to drop blues because they were being exploited.

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