Diablo III

Greater Rifts Cave Maps Shrinking in Patch 2.4

Another round of PTR hotfixes also balances skills and items

By Matthew Bramblet on December-3-2015 (8 years ago)
The lengthy and desolate tunnel maps in Greater Rifts are disappearing in Patch 2.4. Along with the other improvements in the patch for Nephalem and Greater Rifts, only small cave maps will be generated for Greater Rifts. This change was part of a big round of hotfixes that rolled out on the PTR. Here are all those hotfixes, and a sneak peak at other changes coming soon in upcoming patch 2.4 PTR builds.


Long Cave Tunnels Removed From Greater Rifts
Patch 2.4 will bring updates to Nephalem and Greater Rifts, to help with Rift progression and the maps used. The latest PTR hotfixes added another change specifically for Greater Rifts. Developer Wyatt Cheng posted on reddit about the map update. Only the smallest of cave map sizes will be generated for Greater Rifts, and they will have more monsters to slay. This doesn't apply to the "spider cave" style maps, which are unchanged.
We roll 3 different sizes of caves. Small, Medium and Large. This refers to how long the cave is. Small is short, medium caves are longer, and large caves are the ones on live that feel like you're trekking through them forever.
You can only roll the small one now, we don't want to remove all caves completely as that limits the diversity. In the event that you do roll a small cave it will have far more monsters per square foot than you currently have on live.


PTR Patch 2.4 Hotfixes
The newest round of hotfixes on the Public Test Realm are balancing shifts, as the developers try to get skills, newly empowered Legendary items, and class Sets close to the same power. The goal is to have multiple gearing in patch 2.4 for each class, and not classes reduced to a single Set that is dramatically better than everything else. These new hotfixes further modify the patch 2.4.0 PTR patch notes, and the first round of hotfixes.
Post by Blizzard (Blue Tracker, Official Forum)
The following hotfixes have been deployed:

General

  • Medium and Large cave maps will no longer appear as Greater Rifts. Population within small cave maps has been increased for Greater Rifts. (12/1)


Items

  • Legacy of Raekor
    • 6pc
      • Increased damage bonus from 300% to 500%. (11/24)
        • This change has been reverted. (12/1)


  • Might of the Earth
    • 6pc
      • Reduced damage bonus from 1200% to 1000%. (12/1)


  • Firebird's Finery
    • 6pc
      • Firebird's Finery has received a slight redesign. You now receive a flat bonus when any elite is burning rather than a bonus based on the number of elites burning. (12/1)
        • The 50% damage bonus from White monsters will properly stack.
        • The player will only receive one stack of the 600% damage bonus at a time.
        • The 600% Elite damage bonus can stack with the 50% damage bonus from White monsters.
        • The stack of 600% Elite damage bonus works properly with Elites, Uniques, and Bosses.


  • Blade of the Warlord
    • Reduced damage bonus from 500-600% to 400-500%. (12/1)


  • Lord Greenstone's Fan
    • Reduced damage bonus from 250-300% to 80-100%. (12/1)


  • Fortress Ballista
    • Shield reduced from 4-5% to 2-3% (12/1)


  • Delsere's Magnum Opus
    • Spectral Blade, Explosive Blast, and Wave of Force all now benefit from the bonuses of this set. (12/1)


  • Monkey King's Garb
    • 6pc
      • Increased damage bonus from 1000% to 1500%. (12/1)


  • Tal Rasha's Elements
    • 4pc
      • Has been redesigned
      • Arcane, Cold, Fire, and Lightning attacks each increase all of your resistances by 25% for 8 seconds. (12/1)
    • 6pc
      • Increased damage bonus from 300% per stack to 500% per stack (12/1)


  • Seeker of the Light
    • 6pc
      • Increased bonus damage from 750% to 1250% (12/1)


  • Raiment of the Jade Harvester
    • 2pc
      • Instant Haunt damage dealt reduced from 120 seconds to 60 seconds (12/1)
    • 6pc
      • Reduced the amount of DoT damage detonated by Soul Harvest from 300 to 150 seconds worth (12/1)


  • Lakumba's Ornament
    • Damage reduction increased from 5% to 6% per Soul Harvest stack (12/1)


  • Tall Man's Finger
    • Damage bonus reduced from triple damage bonus to double damage bonus (12/1)


  • Zunimassa's Haunt
    • 6pc
      • Increased damage bonus from 400% to 800% dealt to enemies hit by your spenders (12/1)


  • Thorns of the Invoker
    • 2pc
      • Reduced damage bonus from 50% to 25% (12/1)


  • Deathwish
    • Reduced damage bonus from 75-100% to 60-80% (12/1)


Crusader

  • Iron Maiden
    • Reduced Thorns bonus from 100% to 50% (12/1)


Monk

  • Fists of Thunder
    • Static Charge
      • Splash damage reduced from 50% to 30% (12/1)


Legacy of Nightmares Set Power
There has been ongoing discussion about the power of the revamped Legacy of Nightmares ring Set, after the damage on the set was boosted very high and then lowered on the PTR. The rings will open up a lot of options for players to use Ancient Legendary items, instead of a full class Set.

Barbarian Improvements in Upcoming PTR Patch
Developer John Yang answered a few questions on Twitter related to Barbarians, including a bug fix and item improvements that are scheduled to arrive in upcoming PTR builds.
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