Massive Diablo 3 patch incoming

Diablo 3 enjoyed a monumental launch and very impressive sales figures, but the elephant in the room is maybe it’s just not as good as we all wanted it to be. Blizzard themselves have said it doesn’t have the longevity they were hoping for.

The developer is still working tirelessly to improve the game however, and a new patch, 1.0.4, is bringing with it a ton of changes, largely encouraging co-op play.

“Ideally we would like players who want to play solo to be able to solo, and players who want to play co-op to play co-op. At the moment though playing solo is the clear choice, even for those who would prefer co-op with some of their friends,” said senior technical game designer Wyatt Cheng.

Magic and Gold Find will no longer be averaged between the players, but now every player will gain full Magic Find stats, regardless of other players in the game.

“We originally added Magic Find averaging so optimal play did not involve people stacking what we call ‘adventure stats’ to the detriment of their party. While this may re-emerge as a problem, we think the current solution feels like too much of a penalty, and is doing more harm than good,” .

Monster health multiplier in co-op games will now be 75 percent across all levels, as opposed to scaling upwards as it does now. “This makes enemies far more manageable in co-op games, and rewards a co-ordinated group with a higher farming efficiency than playing alone,” Cheng explained.

Blizzard also want to make normal monsters a little tougher, and champions a little weaker. “Normal monsters die quickly and are usually just fodder, and champions and rares can feel like a brick wall. In general we’re looking to bring normal enemies up a smidge, and champions and rares down.”

Blizzard will also be altering weapon damage. “One of the general improvements we’d like to make to our item game addresses the difference between an item having a chance of being good vs. knowing the item isn’t going to be good before you even identify it,” said Cheng. “To help give weapons a fighting chance, the raw damage value on all level 61 and 62 weapons will be able to roll damage that extends all the way to the top end of level 63.”

Enrage timers have also been done away with, except for bosses. “The original intent behind enrage timers was to have a few encounters that served as a ‘DPS check’ that also add tension and excitement. Due to the randomness of champion and rare monsters, combined with a general philosophy of efficient farming, this was simply the wrong approach for us to take.”

Finally, repair costs are being reduced on high-end items by 25 per cent.