Monster Affixes Changing in PTR Patch
Blizzard Blues detail more changes in the upcoming test patch
The next patch is right around the corner, for the Patch 2.0.1 PTR and the Reaper of Souls closed beta. A flurry of Blizzard Blues posts in the last day covered many changes that will be coming in that patch. There will be changes to the monster affixes; new affixes like Thunderstorm are being adjusted, along with older affixes such as Molten, Plagued, and Frozen.
Along with the changes and new features in the next patch, we learned what won't be happening with the patch. A post on Tuesday shot down the idea of a character wipe or reset on the test realms. According to Nevalistis, there will not be any reset with this patch.
Now..when you say unlock Torment, is that just Torment 1, or Torments 1 through 6?
Confirmed. With the next PTR/Beta patch, Torment 1-6 will be available to all eligible players. Eligible players in this case = players who have at least one level 60 on their account (reaching level 60 on a single hero will unlock Torment for your entire account). This includes players who do not purchase the expansion.
But on the topic that such an outlier would exist, would it indeed be possible to unlock Torment on an account without unlocking Master (by having a level 60, but never having killed Diablo since he's no longer required to move up to NM/HL/IF)?
Also confirmed: unlocking Torment will auto-unlock Master.
In the next PTR/Beta patch, if you unlock Master or Torment difficulty and then die and archive your Hardcore hero, the highest difficulty unlocked by your now-dead hero will still be available to any other subsequent Hardcore heroes created.
There's a bug right now (which will be active in the next PTR/Beta patch), though, where unlocking Master and Torment with a Softcore hero will also unlock that difficulty for your Hardcore heroes. This isn't intended and will be resolved before ship.
On the beta right now, Torment 1 grants 300% extra gold and experience, and this bonus will increase with each slider tick (i.e. the bonus gets higher as you move through Torment II - VI). The difficulty also provides a bonus to get Legendary drops.
The gold/exp bonus as well as the Legendary drop bonus will be available to all players, while the bounty-specific bonuses, Imperial gems, and Torment-only Legendaries (these are level 70 items) will be restricted to the expansion.
I'm concerned about finding crafting recipes after the AH and RMAH is removed from the game. Third party websites are a gamble and I'm not socially savvy enough to find other players willing to trade. The gold based AH was very convenient for recipes and gems.
Our intention is that the only way to get crafting recipes is through finding them in-game. The required crafting materials, produced item, and recipes themselves will all be Bind on Account, so there won't be a need to search and trade for them.
Will the drop rate for these recipes be greatly improved?
It's still a work in progress as far as recipe drop rates go. Currently there is a bug that is causing an abnormal abundance of crafting plans, but we'll be fixing it in the next patch. After that, we'll have to keep an eye on things to see if they're dropping at a frequency we're happy with.
Those are some of the many changes and updates that will be arriving shortly in the PTR and Closed Beta patch. Check back for more info as it arrives, and keep an eye on our Blue Post Tracker or the RSS feeds for all the latest Blizzard Blues posts!
Along with the changes and new features in the next patch, we learned what won't be happening with the patch. A post on Tuesday shot down the idea of a character wipe or reset on the test realms. According to Nevalistis, there will not be any reset with this patch.
Damaging Monster Affixes
The behavior of the new Thunderstorm monster affix is being updated, along with the target areas of a number of other affixes. One of the goals with the monster changes in Patch 2.0.1 is to have damage that can be avoided, and where players have an incentive to do so. This will reward players for fighting more carefully against elite packs, instead of overpowering them without thought for the damage taken.
Post by Blizzard (Blue Tracker, Official Forum)
I appreciate the feedback in this thread. We've certainly gotten a lot on monster affixes in general, but the discussion occurring in here is much more focused and very helpful. I've been taking notes for sure! =)
Those CC affixes trigger from the unavoidable damage from things like vortex, wormhole, jailer, and thunderstorm (but especially thunderstorm).
I know this doesn't completely address what's being discussed here, but I thought it a good opportunity to share some of the upcoming changes for the Closed Beta and PTR, specifically on the Thunderstorm affix. The bolts generated by Thunderstorm will no longer "chase" targets, and subsequent bolts after the first will stay within the same general area. This should lend to making the affix a bit more avoidable, but be careful - the splash damage has been slightly increased to account for this change.
Many other affixes, such as Molten, Plagued, Frozen, and Frozen Pulse, have also had their target areas reduced, which again should allow players to more easily avoid some of these effects.
- Poison. Far, far too much damage in close quarters, and it should not instakill minions.
Poison Enchanted will also be doing reduced damage to pets, so you should see this result much less often.
This could be Blizz's way to make you stack CC reduction on gear. :(
The intention isn't to make you stack a particular stat - CC reduction is meant to be one of many choices in how you can handle an encounter. Is it really the only option, or do you feel like you can address the issue by using different abilities or different defensive stats? How do you currently handle these extremely difficult encounters when you experience them?
Those CC affixes trigger from the unavoidable damage from things like vortex, wormhole, jailer, and thunderstorm (but especially thunderstorm).
I know this doesn't completely address what's being discussed here, but I thought it a good opportunity to share some of the upcoming changes for the Closed Beta and PTR, specifically on the Thunderstorm affix. The bolts generated by Thunderstorm will no longer "chase" targets, and subsequent bolts after the first will stay within the same general area. This should lend to making the affix a bit more avoidable, but be careful - the splash damage has been slightly increased to account for this change.
Many other affixes, such as Molten, Plagued, Frozen, and Frozen Pulse, have also had their target areas reduced, which again should allow players to more easily avoid some of these effects.
- Poison. Far, far too much damage in close quarters, and it should not instakill minions.
Poison Enchanted will also be doing reduced damage to pets, so you should see this result much less often.
This could be Blizz's way to make you stack CC reduction on gear. :(
The intention isn't to make you stack a particular stat - CC reduction is meant to be one of many choices in how you can handle an encounter. Is it really the only option, or do you feel like you can address the issue by using different abilities or different defensive stats? How do you currently handle these extremely difficult encounters when you experience them?
Torment Difficulty on PTR
As announced earlier, the upcoming patch will let players on the Public Test Realm access the new Torment monster difficulty. So far, that has been restricted to accounts with level 70 characters, which in practical terms meant that only players in the Reaper of Souls beta could reach it. Lylirra has provided more details on the upcoming change to let level 60 players access Torment difficulty.
Post by Blizzard (Blue Tracker, Official Forum)
Now..when you say unlock Torment, is that just Torment 1, or Torments 1 through 6?
Confirmed. With the next PTR/Beta patch, Torment 1-6 will be available to all eligible players. Eligible players in this case = players who have at least one level 60 on their account (reaching level 60 on a single hero will unlock Torment for your entire account). This includes players who do not purchase the expansion.
But on the topic that such an outlier would exist, would it indeed be possible to unlock Torment on an account without unlocking Master (by having a level 60, but never having killed Diablo since he's no longer required to move up to NM/HL/IF)?
Also confirmed: unlocking Torment will auto-unlock Master.
What about the Hardcore player whose main (and only level 60+/post-Act-4) character dies and gets archived or deleted? Currently, he loses all progress in the Acts (at least as reflected on his Profile page) and it also appears that he has never reached level 60 when you look at his page. Will the game be storing hardcore level attainment/Act-completions differently to accommodate these new requirements?
In the next PTR/Beta patch, if you unlock Master or Torment difficulty and then die and archive your Hardcore hero, the highest difficulty unlocked by your now-dead hero will still be available to any other subsequent Hardcore heroes created.
There's a bug right now (which will be active in the next PTR/Beta patch), though, where unlocking Master and Torment with a Softcore hero will also unlock that difficulty for your Hardcore heroes. This isn't intended and will be resolved before ship.
While this is great news...what im wondering is the way it is now there is no incentive to play master difficulty instead of normal because the rewards and loot are the same. So what will the bonus be for us to play torment now instead of normal or master?
On the beta right now, Torment 1 grants 300% extra gold and experience, and this bonus will increase with each slider tick (i.e. the bonus gets higher as you move through Torment II - VI). The difficulty also provides a bonus to get Legendary drops.
The gold/exp bonus as well as the Legendary drop bonus will be available to all players, while the bounty-specific bonuses, Imperial gems, and Torment-only Legendaries (these are level 70 items) will be restricted to the expansion.
Lower Difficulty
One new feature in Patch 2.0.1 is the Lower Difficulty option, which allows a Diablo III player to immediately decrease the difficulty setting of the game. As noted by Grimiku, the design intention is to not allow players to change the power of monsters that they are in the process of fighting. We'll see if that is adjusted in the upcoming PTR/Beta patch, once it arrives.
Post by Blizzard (Blue Tracker, Official Forum)
I've been keeping my eye on this thread, but was waiting for confirmation before I jumped in with some info about the Lower Difficulty feature. Our intention is for the button to work in Hardcore and Normal, but for the effect to not happen immediately.
I just wanted to let you all know what our current goals are the Lower Difficulty feature, since it's very relevant to the Hardcore community.
*Edited for clarity*
I just wanted to let you all know what our current goals are the Lower Difficulty feature, since it's very relevant to the Hardcore community.
*Edited for clarity*
Hellfire Ring and Staff of Herding
Obtaining the Hellfire Ring has not been fully implemented in the PTR/Beta test so far, along with the process that involves the Staff of Herding. That is another area that will be addressed in the upcoming patch.
Post by Blizzard (Blue Tracker, Official Forum)
We are looking into the Hellfire Ring and also the Staff of Herding in the next Reaper of Souls beta patch, so keep an eye out for more information on that soon :-)
Crafting Recipes in Reaper of Souls
Once the big itemization changes happen with the Loot 2.0 patch, item recipes will be Account-Bound, along with the materials that are used to make them. The rate at which players obtain recipes is still being adjusted, through this beta period.
Post by Blizzard (Blue Tracker, Official Forum)
I'm concerned about finding crafting recipes after the AH and RMAH is removed from the game. Third party websites are a gamble and I'm not socially savvy enough to find other players willing to trade. The gold based AH was very convenient for recipes and gems.
Our intention is that the only way to get crafting recipes is through finding them in-game. The required crafting materials, produced item, and recipes themselves will all be Bind on Account, so there won't be a need to search and trade for them.
Will the drop rate for these recipes be greatly improved?
It's still a work in progress as far as recipe drop rates go. Currently there is a bug that is causing an abnormal abundance of crafting plans, but we'll be fixing it in the next patch. After that, we'll have to keep an eye on things to see if they're dropping at a frequency we're happy with.
Those are some of the many changes and updates that will be arriving shortly in the PTR and Closed Beta patch. Check back for more info as it arrives, and keep an eye on our Blue Post Tracker or the RSS feeds for all the latest Blizzard Blues posts!
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