Just returned to d3 few questions

[Zeta333]

So since returning iv noticed alot of things are different. Mind you i stopped playing about 4 months after release.

You dont seem to progress through the difficultys anymore, you can choose which difficulty and you get certain bonus's?

Have they changed gems at all?

I did notice they changed health pots as that used to be a major gold sink, it seems they merged them all into one. Are there any other tiers?

From what i hear uniques are more common now i only ever saw one on my way to 53 before i quit.

When i quit i had really good gear for my level but it seems in 10 minutes of playing i doubled my hp and almost doubled my damage, did they increase the scale over the time since release?

Anything else that i might not notice at first? Iv read the patch notes off and on but without playing its hard to gather some of its context.

[DarkTZeratul]

You dont seem to progress through the difficultys anymore, you can choose which difficulty and you get certain bonus's?

This is correct, though you have to beat Diablo to unlock Master difficulty and hit level 60 to unlock Torment.

Have they changed gems at all?

It takes fewer gems and less gold to merge them into higher-level gems, and they added a new gem type. Otherwise no.

I did notice they changed health pots as that used to be a major gold sink, it seems they merged them all into one. Are there any other tiers?

Nope. One health pot type that restores a percentage of your health.

From what i hear uniques are more common now i only ever saw one on my way to 53 before i quit.

That's correct.

When i quit i had really good gear for my level but it seems in 10 minutes of playing i doubled my hp and almost doubled my damage, did they increase the scale over the time since release?

They completely overhauled the loot system so that you're more likely to get better drops, and with stats you can use.

[Omertocracy]

Difficulty is scalable pretty much at will now, yes.

Gems are unchanged except they added in the OP Diamond.

One rank of health potions that heal 60% plus whatever your bonus healing is.

Uniques are now something like 100x as likely to drop. I had three drop in 30 seconds recently.

Loot 2.0. messed with all the stats. 2.0 items are approximately 30%* better than old 1.0 items.

Tyrael is still a jackass. Cain is still dead. (Player Character) is still an overly arrogant dick.

* Source: My sphincter.

[Zeta333]

So question about cow level 2.0

I just got the nightmarish staff of herding pattern but it seems the mechanics for this must have changed as the instructions dont make alot of sense. Has it changed or do i just need to find the plans for staff of herding as well.