Patch notes thread (2.6.10 PTR)

[Coldkil]

While the changes are kinda interesting, the game as a whole has zero traction for me. GRs as endgame are shallow and boring to me with no reason whatsoever to get higher, since loot is all the same and nothing actually changes. New season thing looks interesting aswell, but in the end it just allows for some build to do +5 GR and that's it.

[Tymion127]

Messerschmidt's Reaver
New Legendary Power: Reduce the remaining cooldown of one of your skills by 1 second when you slay an enemy.

This at least allows a Perma Archon Build on low level or without perfect CD rolls

[Saphyron]

I love the new legendary gem.

[Puri]

Funnily enought this game comes back every once in a while. One of the funniest things:

The Executioner
New Legendary Power: Attacks will slay enemies with less than (5-10%) health.

Good idea to put a mandatory item in the pool.

EDIT: to be clear, a power like that is way too binary to work in a good way. If the % is too low, then the clear speed gain is negligible and the item is useless. If it's too high, then it's automatically better than anything else being it a flat monster hp reduction basically. And you cannot really balance it as the right spot changes based on character damage, GR level, etc so it's relative to the player/enemy power ratio, which is constantly fluctuating.

It's not really mandatory and it also is not hard to balance for single player. The 10% variant is simply equal to a flat 11% dps increase. That's not really an extraordinary strong increase, compared to weapons that add 50%-200% damage to your main skill, or 50% elite damage.

But obviously it's going to be mandatory for support builds in multi player games. The 0 dps supporter then increases the overall group dps by 11%, which is a major chunk.

[Thelxi]

Frankly I don't like the season buff, at all. The damage buff sounds perfectly fine, but playing around big and unreliable CDR and RCR buffs is not something I'm interested in, at all. If anything just the idea of it annoys me. Fishing for good rifts is one thing, but then also fishing for optimal circles.. I'd rather leave that shit to other people who don't mind this kinda crap to stay competitive.

[Puri]

Frankly I don't like the season buff, at all. The damage buff sounds perfectly fine, but playing around big and unreliable CDR and RCR buffs is not something I'm interested in, at all. If anything just the idea of it annoys me. Fishing for good rifts is one thing, but then also fishing for optimal circles.. I'd rather leave that shit to other people who don't mind this kinda crap to stay competitive.

Not only that, but assuming it works like having an oculus ring on a follower for most specs it's almost impossible to actually use the circle due to survivability, ability to actually reach it (without losing damage) or spec placement requirements. It's most likely a major deal for four player groups where probably every player has the chance to proc it.

So I will probably skip this season, I don't see it adding as much fun as the previous two season buffs.

[Thelxi]

And now that I have read all the notes the only thing that really stood out to me was adding a belt to the sage's set which is very nice.

The LoN gem is nice for some people that like their LoN builds, but personally I much prefer a regular green item endgame builds since they are MUCH easier to roll good ancients with. The LoN season was fun but I don't think I will ever commit to another LoN build again. The grind is just too much for me; I'm hardcore but even I have my limits. How easy to roll items are is a big factor in what class/build I go with every season to begin with.

I didn't see much else interesting in the notes. I was hoping they would rework firebird for wizards to function outside of strictly pushing your limit in GRs, but nope.

[Saphyron]

And now that I have read all the notes the only thing that really stood out to me was adding a belt to the sage's set which is very nice.

The LoN gem is nice for some people that like their LoN builds, but personally I much prefer a regular green item endgame builds since they are MUCH easier to roll good ancients with. The LoN season was fun but I don't think I will ever commit to another LoN build again. The grind is just too much for me; I'm hardcore but even I have my limits. How easy to roll items are is a big factor in what class/build I go with every season to begin with.

I didn't see much else interesting in the notes. I was hoping they would rework firebird for wizards to function outside of strictly pushing your limit in GRs, but nope.

I like the LoN builds because of the many different builds you can do from it.
Even if some of them are not top tier builds having LoN makes them usually fun and still viable for grinding T16.

[Seifa]

Well, i'm happy to see Echoing Fury gives Frenzy to all classes, just like in Diablo 2 some items gave spells from other characters to everyone. Sure, it might not be much, maybe not even good, but i like the idea behind this legendary power.

Well, not exactly as Frenzy Skill, since it is on kill, but i like the mechanic of stacking up attack speed regardless :P

[RobertoCarlos]

While the changes are kinda interesting, the game as a whole has zero traction for me. GRs as endgame are shallow and boring to me with no reason whatsoever to get higher, since loot is all the same and nothing actually changes. New season thing looks interesting aswell, but in the end it just allows for some build to do +5 GR and that's it.

Also you get the gear you want in a day or two then spend the rest of the "season" grinding the same gear but hoping for ancient/perfect rolls....yay

[Coldkil]

Also you get the gear you want in a day or two then spend the rest of the "season" grinding the same gear but hoping for ancient/perfect rolls....yay

Yeah, that's basically why. When your investment in something is little, then it has very little traction over the long term. Which sucks, because the playstyle and combat flow of D3 is still the best i have played in the recent times and other games still cannot match it (while being better in terms of content and depth).

Hopefully the next Diable keeps the combat and makes content/character building actually interesting.

[Kontinuum]

Our crew is hard at work crafting additional Themed Seasons, a new set for each class, dozens of Legendary powers, and some class balance changes. Quality of life and the occasional gameplay system updates are also within scope, as we evaluate how we can keep bringing new magic to the world of Sanctuary. These updates won’t arrive all at once, so if you don’t see something for your class right away, don’t worry; there’s something coming for everyone.

https://us.diablo3.com/en/blog/23093785

[MechaCThun]

a new set for each class

I am both pleasantly suprised and utterly hyped to hear this.

[Coldkil]

On PC alone, we saw nearly as many people return for Season 16 as Season 11

Yeah, it does just mean that the 10 people still playing in season 11 have played season 16. While number of players doesn't matter much, the current design of the game makes me puke and a new set is just another prebuilt thing that end in the "i play it if it's the strongest".

This whole thing is backwards imho. Though i'm gonna follow the updates.

EDIT: themed seasons are as bad as they can conceive them. The are not attractive and don't add anything to the game. It's stll just "get set X, run GRs". Which is why most people left. A "stand in circles" mechanic doesn't change literally anything.

[Biomega]

just another prebuilt thing that end in the "i play it if it's the strongest".

That's almost unavoidable, though, if the content is difficult enough. At the lower end of difficulty, people are playing whatever they like and having fun with it - but if all you're looking at are the Top 100 ladder rankings for each class, then of course you'll end up with a lot of cookie-cutter setups. If it can be mathed out, then there'll be something that is objectively the best for a given set of circumstances.

At the end of the day, Diablo-like games have always been this way: farm gear to be able to farm more gear more efficiently. Rinse, repeat.

D3 has opted for the seasonal approach, where things peak around seasons for a month or so and then drop off again until the next season. Other games like D2 or PoE stretch things out more with a much more random loot system and/or less streamlined competitive content modes. Whether or not that's fun for you is a subjective decision, they're certainly two very different approaches to a similar model.

[Khain]

At this point I'm so sick of GRs and the current state of D3 that I just wanted it to die. And by the looks of it they plan to keep it on life support and that means no D4 announcement this year and for a long time.

[Puzzony]

At this point I'm so sick of GRs and the current state of D3 that I just wanted it to die. And by the looks of it they plan to keep it on life support and that means no D4 announcement this year and for a long time.

It's the opposite, they are making some new content to drop around Blizzcon to hype up people for the D4 announcement and rake in those sweet preorders.

[Coldkil]

That's almost unavoidable, though, if the content is difficult enough. At the lower end of difficulty, people are playing whatever they like and having fun with it - but if all you're looking at are the Top 100 ladder rankings for each class, then of course you'll end up with a lot of cookie-cutter setups. If it can be mathed out, then there'll be something that is objectively the best for a given set of circumstances.

At the end of the day, Diablo-like games have always been this way: farm gear to be able to farm more gear more efficiently. Rinse, repeat.

D3 has opted for the seasonal approach, where things peak around seasons for a month or so and then drop off again until the next season. Other games like D2 or PoE stretch things out more with a much more random loot system and/or less streamlined competitive content modes. Whether or not that's fun for you is a subjective decision, they're certainly two very different approaches to a similar model.

I strongly disagree. That's a huge flaw in game design if the only thing you can do is tackling a timed randomized dungeon that's infinitely scaling - it pidgeonholes everyone into the same things.

I'm all for efficent farming, that's what i like about ARPGs. In D3 there no farming at all because you can deck out your character in no time and then it's all ladders which are basically useless. D2 and PoE manage to give everyone content without focusing on a single playstyle.

The biggest problem in D3 are actually GRs and ladders. They make the whole game shallow and uninspired.

EDIT: i'm not against "meta", and i well know it's a part of the genre. The point is that in D3 "meta" is the only relevant thing. In PoE you can run a non meta build and have thousands of hours of content at your hands because a) ladders are an optional part and b) you don't need to burn everything as fast as possible. It's not that you're forced to push GRs in D3, but if you take out that, what's left?

[TigTone]

Did I read that right? New sets?

[Kontinuum]

Season 18 begins August 23, alongside the latest Diablo III patch.
https://us.diablo3.com/en/blog/23093786