1.0.3, Attack Speed Changes, and Hypocrisy

[BellaStrega]

I've had 15% IAS rings on my monk for some time now.

Something bothers me about the way they're approaching nerfs (and talking about them). Can't really describe it at this point.

[FoxBat]

A lot of monk builds rely heavily on transcendence heals and the active effect on mantras. They'll be hurt by the IAS changes.

Maybe "balance" wasn't the right word. I've been abusing the aura spam to barely keep myself alive in Inferno, I know what it's like. I was more thinking that "spam aura on recharge" is terribly boring from a game design standpoint, vs. having to actually time the uses for when it matters, and giving Blizzard the benefit of the doubt that they hadn't intentionally enabled continuous aura spam. Also a cheap jab at the spammable spirit spenders that aren't auras. (Half of what makes the aura spam so good is you can keep generating while spending...)

[Athenau]

I don't like aura spam either, but that's what works right now. I think I'm going to shelve my monk after these changes and stick to my barb. At least IAS doesn't matter much when running a max-fury berserker rage build.

[MongoJerry]

I don't like aura spam either, but that's what works right now. I think I'm going to shelve my monk after these changes and stick to my barb. At least IAS doesn't matter much when running a max-fury berserker rage build.

Keep in mind that depending on how much the damage output gets reduced in Act 2 and 3 Inferno that maybe you won't have to spam it so much.

[RiotInferno]

I forgot that the Blizzard community at large (aka not on these boards) typically complains the game will be largely unplayable after X patch.

I don't know how much the ASI change will effect Monks, (as I don't play one), but I think it will just take a little bit of time for people to re-learn how to not die.

It helps that they are doing it at the same time as the Inferno changes.

[Treesh]

I don't know how much the ASI change will effect Monks, (as I don't play one), but I think it will just take a little bit of time for people to re-learn how to not die.

It really just depends on your build and your personal playstyle as to how much it will affect the monks. I currently don't have any IAS on my monk and haven't for a while, but with some builds, it was a necessity for spirit generation because I was using a lot of spenders.

[Magicbag]

Patch notes from Euro servers:
http://www.diablofans.com/blizz-tracker/...3-now-live

[RiotInferno]

Yeah, I read that earlier. As a DH, I'm torn on the changes.
It's obvious, that NT is one of the best DH skills, hands down. Ever since I hit 60, that has been my primary attack. So now, I'm looking forward to going back and trying some other things (like Multishot!)

What saddens me most is the MF nerf for breakables / chests / racks. What's the point of having environmental stuff, if they don't really help us?

[Mavfin]

What saddens me most is the MF nerf for breakables / chests / racks. What's the point of having environmental stuff, if they don't really help us?

Blame all the people who would rather put on MF and kill the environment, bash barrels, jars, etc, than face monsters if they can avoid doing so. And will spend all day doing it if they can get decent rewards from it.

[Quark]

Nope. Blame the bots, and Blizzard's issues with trying to prevent them.

[RiotInferno]

What saddens me most is the MF nerf for breakables / chests / racks. What's the point of having environmental stuff, if they don't really help us?

Blame all the people who would rather put on MF and kill the environment, bash barrels, jars, etc, than face monsters if they can avoid doing so. And will spend all day doing it if they can get decent rewards from it.

I will argue a small percentage of that fault is on blizzard. If they didn't make Act 2/Inferno such a face-beating, people wouldn't resort to tricks to try to get better gear / gold.

That being said, people do like having something to do other than killing monsters all day long.

[Mavfin]

I will argue a small percentage of that fault is on blizzard. If they didn't make Act 2/Inferno such a face-beating, people wouldn't resort to tricks to try to get better gear / gold.

That being said, people do like having something to do other than killing monsters all day long.

As Quark points out, it's also part of removing easily bottable stuff, too.

Blame the people who don't want to play the game.

[MongoJerry]

What saddens me most is the MF nerf for breakables / chests / racks. What's the point of having environmental stuff, if they don't really help us?

I think they're trying to make it so that the best way to get items is to kill dangerous monsters.

•Meteor• Skill Rune - Star Pact •Now deals damage as Arcane instead of Fire

I don't understand why this was changed. There were so few Wizard skills that dealt fire damage as it was.

•Crowd Control Reduction from items and skills will now reduce the percentage value of Slow, Chill, and Attack Speed debuffs rather than reducing how long the debuff lasts •For example: previously, if you were debuffed by a 60% slow that lasted for 2 seconds while wearing gear that provides 20% Crowd Control Reduction, your movement speed would be reduced by 60%, but only for 1.6 seconds. Now, the same amount of Crowd Control Reduction will reduce the Slow effect to 48%, but the effect will remain for the full 2 second duration.

Interesting change. Does crowd control reduction affect things like jailor and frozen? That's what I eventually wanted it for.

•Legendary items with the +Attack Speed bonus will now correctly provide a bonus to attack speed •Please note that this fix will only affect new Legendary drops. Existing Legendary items will be addressed in future patch.

Wait... wait... wait... so, we might have some items in the AH where you don't know if the attack speed bonus is going to work or not?

Lots and lots of boss and mini-boss changes

Very interesting... I think I like most of the changes, since they should make the encounters a bit more exciting. I hope that rares start dropping the first time bosses are killed in a difficulty.

[Quark]

•Meteor• Skill Rune - Star Pact •Now deals damage as Arcane instead of Fire

I don't understand why this was changed. There were so few Wizard skills that dealt fire damage as it was.

Well, it's thematic, and now it'll work with Temporal Flux.

•Legendary items with the +Attack Speed bonus will now correctly provide a bonus to attack speed •Please note that this fix will only affect new Legendary drops. Existing Legendary items will be addressed in future patch.

Wait... wait... wait... so, we might have some items in the AH where you don't know if the attack speed bonus is going to work or not?

Same as before. IAS = Increase Attack Speed, designed to work on weapons. Doesn't work on armor. Some Legendaries were getting IAS, and not getting a benefit. ASI = Attack Speed Increase, works on armor. Certain legendaries randomly got one of the two - you have to pay attention to what it says to know if it works or not.

My guess is the quick fix is to make sure everything new that drops gets ASI. The slower fix is to make IAS work on armor or backfix all IAS armor to be ASI instead.

[MongoJerry]

Game on! The crafting cost changes were pretty dramatic. The three items I'm focused on making are:

Resplendent Defender (lvl 58 shield):

Before: 38 Essences, 8 hoofs, 11 tomes, 30,303g
After: 14 Essences, 2 hoofs, 2 tomes, 3,720g

Resplendent Espaldiers (lvl 57 shoulders):

Before: 15 Essences, 4 hoofs, 4 tomes, 12,210g
After: 7 Essences, 2 hoofs, 0(!) tomes, 2,046g

Resplendent Warlord Boots(lvl 59 boots):

Before: 20 Essences, 4 hoofs, 6 tomes, 15,873g
After: 10 Essences, 2 hoofs, 1 tome, 2,728g


Even more important to me than the gold cost reduction is the massive decrease in the tomes costs. Tomes were always the most scarce resource in my crafting, so these cost reductions are going to be huge for me.

[Mavfin]

I'd love to hear from someone who doesn't rage all the time and/or hasn't already written off the game how the Act 2/3/4 adjustments are. I'm hearing on other forums of wizards elite-tanking in Act 2 Inferno, for example, but I have no frame of reference on their gear, etc.

[Quark]

I'd love to hear from someone who doesn't rage all the time and/or hasn't already written off the game how the Act 2/3/4 adjustments are. I'm hearing on other forums of wizards elite-tanking in Act 2 Inferno, for example, but I have no frame of reference on their gear, etc.

I will be trying just this tonight, with a gear set that handled Act 1 easily with the spec. No fancy linkage thanks to work!

Details can change slightly, but:
Spectral Blade / Deep Cuts
Meteor / Star Pact
Slow Time / Stretch Time
Diamond Skin / Crystal Shell
Magic Weapon / Force Weapon
Energy Armor / Prismatic Armor (this'll get switched to Force Armor if necessary)

Critical Mass
Galvanizing Ward
Glass Cannon

[NotSoDarklord]

According to a reddit poster the base damage values for lvl 62/63 mobs has been drastically reduced as follows.

62: 52807.09375 -> 33686
63: 113486.9609375 -> 63615

These are base damage values. My understanding is that individual mob types have their own percentage modifier that is used to define the mob specific damage ranges.

From my own (very limited) experience with the patch mobs hit my tanky barb noticeably less hard. I had to "catch myself" running around solo Act 4 Inferno with 2 damage abilities (WotB and Berserkers Rage) whereas before attempting to run around without my full defensive skillset would have been immediately noticeable.

[MongoJerry]

62: 52807.09375 -> 33686
63: 113486.9609375 -> 63615

Wow, that's a huge change, if true.

[Mavfin]

62: 52807.09375 -> 33686
63: 113486.9609375 -> 63615

Wow, that's a huge change, if true.

If I read that right, if Act 2 was level 62s, then it hits a lot easier than before, and, if I assume level 63 for Acts 3 and 4 then they hit just slightly harder than Act 2 did before.