Hotfixes Nerf XP and Change Set Drops

Two new hotfixes were announced on Friday and are now live, that shift the balance of certain types of gameplay. The first hotfix lowers the experience on "swarming" types of monsters, those small creatures that attack in groups and have very low health. The second hotfix changes where class Set items can drop, by restricting them to Torment difficulty. These changes boost the usefulness of playing in Adventure Mode which is part of the Reaper of Souls Expansion, and encourage players to jump into the higher difficulties when they are geared for them. Here's a look at the announcements and explanations about these hotfixes, and what they mean for Diablo III players.


Nevalistis provided some background on the two changes that were just hotfixed, the latest in the many changes done as part of the Patch 2.0.3 Hotfixes. The change in experience is to discourage players from finding some area of the game with a group of easily killed monsters, and resetting the game over and over to just kill those creatures. The developers want to encourage more engagement in the game world, whether in the campaign or the upcoming Adventure Mode. The experience players could achieve by simply farming certain areas was considered too great, compared to the experience that will be provided by completing Bounties and Nephalem Rifts in the expansion. The hotfix makes those small, easily killed monsters provide less experience.

In a few other posts, Nevalistis gives an idea of the type of creatures that are now providing less experience. The change was done to the smaller, lower health monsters. Figuring out the exact changes has been difficult, because of another bug that seems to be active. For this weekend only, there is a +100% experience bonus in Diablo III. But from testing done in the wake of these hotfixes, it appears that the 100% experience buff may not be affecting level 60 characters. That naturally makes the hotfix experience nerf seem more drastic than it actually is, when comparing the experience gained before and after the hotfix. If that bug is indeed active, it is a temporary one, since the experience buff will go away for all characters on Monday.


The other hotfix change involves the class Set armor, which will now only drop in Torment difficulties. This is in addition to the previously listed Torment-only drops at level 70; those items include Legendary potions, powerful items for Followers, and other types of Set armor. This is being done to encourage players who have good enough gear to go into Torment, to get into those difficulties even at level 60.

These type of changes are part of the rebalancing process after Patch 2.0 overhauled many parts of the game. We may see further changes along these lines after the expansion lands, as the developers make sure the game is balanced properly for the new content. Ultimately, the goal is to have the best rewards in both experience and loot come from the most interesting and difficult content in the game.