Diablo 3 received a major patch this past week, and while a minor bump in version number might not seem like it warrants the descriptor of "major" - the patch really is a significant update adding a ton of polish to the already well supported game two years after release.
A few of the big changes involve the rifts themselves, which now feature treasure goblins that can spawn not only gold but legendary items, gems, and other goodies when killed. The town in Tristam has also been reorganized bringing the vendors all around the main square giving easier access to trade, craft, and improve your items and equipment during adventure mode. Several changes have also been made in how stats are presented to the player, making sure the messaging is clear.
Of course the patch tweaks many of the current builds, enhances many of the legendary items, and balances out numerous skills across all of the classes.
We played a bit of the new patch the other night diving into a rift and greater rift. We discuss the changes in more detail as we see them throughout the night, including one of those pesky treasure goblins!
Here are the full patch notes from Blizzard.
GENERAL A message will now display in chat when a Treasure Goblin has been killed or escaped Players can no longer go Brawling while a Greater Rift they paid to enter is open The "Monster Kills grant X experience" affix is now multiplied by game difficulty Healing The "Healing" stat on the character sheet has been replaced with "Recovery" Recovery is an estimate of how much Toughness you are expected to be able to recover in combat and is calculated using a combination of your Healing, Life, and Toughness The Healing number will still be viewable in the character sheet if you mouse over the Recovery stat Life per Vitality has been increased from level 67 to 70 Base Life at level 70 has been increased Healing from Health Globes has been reduced Pet and Follower Life has been increased Social The total number of players in a Community and in Community chat will now be displayed on the roster page The presence information displayed in Clan and Community rosters, and the Friends List is now more detailed The Clan Roster will now display the duration that a member has been offline The Clan Roster can now be sorted by offline durationCLASSES
General Improvements have been made to the prioritization of abilities that utilize damage shields (e.g. cheat deaths, absorb shields, and % Damage Reduction) Pets Several monster attacks that are intended to be avoided by players that weren't already dealing reduced damage to pets now deal significantly less damage to pets Fixed an issue that prevented players from being healed by Life per Kill when an enemy was killed by a pet Barbarian Active Skills Frenzy Skill Rune - Vanguard Movement speed increased from 15% to 25% Furious Charge Skill Rune - Dreadnought Has been redesigned Now grants Furious Charge two charges Demon Hunter Active Skills Chakram Skill Rune - Serpentine Damage type changed from Poison to Cold Evasive Fire Skill Rune - Parting Gift Damage type changed from Poison to Physical Skill Rune - Gas Grenades Has been removed Replaced with "Cold Grenade" Leaves behind a puddle of cold on the ground that Chills enemies for 3 seconds Deals Cold damage Skill Rune - Suppression Fire Has been redesigned Now causes Multishot to knockback the first 2 enemies hit Has been redesigned Cooldown has been removed Now has 2 charges, with a recharge time of 8 seconds Recharge time is affected by cooldown reduction Hatred cost reduced from 30 to 20 Cooldown increased from 2 to 3 seconds Skill Rune - Choking Gas Has been removed Replaced with "Vanishing Powder" Removes the Discipline cost Increases the cooldown to 8 seconds Skill Rune - Echoing Blast Damage type changed from Poison to Cold Grenade Multishot Sentry Smoke Screen Spike Trap Passive Skills Custom Engineering Has been redesigned Now increases the maximum number of charges and active Sentries from 2 to 3 Night Stalker Has been redesigned Now causes your primary skills to generate an additional 4 Hatred Monk Active Skills Epiphany Bug Fixes Fixed an issue that could sometimes cause players to get stuck on a wall when teleporting with Epiphany Witch Doctor Active Skills Haunt Skill Rune - Grasping Spirit Has been removed Replaced with "Poisoned Spirit" Haunted enemies take 20% increased damage from all sources Damage type changed from Cold to Poison Wizard Active Skills Hydra Significantly increased the amount of Hydra attacks per cast Attack Speed now affects how fast each Hydra head attacks Weapon damage reduced from 195% to 165% Skill Rune - Arcane Hydra Weapon damage reduced from 245% to 205% Skill Rune - Blazing Hydra Damage dealt over time no longer scales with Attack Speed Weapon damage reduced from 185% to 155% Weapon damage reduced from 275% to 255% Weapon damage reduced from 305% to 255% Weapon damage reduced from 400% to 330% Skill Rune - Frost Hydra Skill Rune - Lightning Hydra Skill Rune - Mammoth HydraITEMS
Life on Hit and Life Regeneration have been increased by 25% at all levels The rarity of the rarest Legendary items in the game has been reduced The stack size of Crafting Materials and Gems has been increased from 1000 to 5000 Ancient items have been added to the game Ancient items are more powerful versions of Legendary items Ancient items roll from increased value ranges for certain affixes Ancient Mojos, Orbs, and Shields roll with increased Damage or Shield Block values Ancient items can now drop at Torment I or higher The drop chance will increase with each Torment level Any Legendary or Set item has a chance to be dropped or crafted as an Ancient item Legendary or Set items purchased from Kadala have a chance to be an Ancient item Band of Untold Secrets No longer drops New Legendary potion Fears enemies within 12 yards for 3-4 seconds on use Legendary power added Whenever a gem drops, a gem of the type socketed into this item also drops The additional gem that is dropped will be of the same quality level as the original gem that was dropped Note: Existing versions of this item will not be affected. Only new versions of the item will roll with the added Legendary power. Legendary power is no longer affected by Proc coefficients Can now proc more frequently Barbarian The Legacy of Raekor (2) Set Bonus The first enemy hit by Furious Charge takes 100% additional damage (4) Set Bonus Furious Charge gains the effect of every rune Enemies hit by Furious Charge take 3000% weapon damage over 3 seconds Note: This DoT cannot crit. Instead, your Critical Hit Chance and Critical Hit Damage will be calculated into its damage. (5) Set Bonus Demon Hunter Embodiment of the Maruader Philosophy note: These changes are intended to shift a large portion of the damage from the Sentries to the Demon Hunter in order to promote more active gameplay. These changes should be a slight net increase in power once you become accustomed to the new playstyle. Has been redesigned (2) Set Bonus Companion calls all companion types to your side (4) Set Bonus Sentries now cast your Hatred spenders every time you do Your generators, Chakram, Cluster Arrow, Elemental Arrow, Impale, and Multishot deal 100% for every Sentry you have active (6) Set Bonus Helltrapper The Caltrops, Sentries, and Spike Traps summoned by this item can no longer exceed the normal cap of those skills Monkey King's Garb Philosophy note: With only some minor adjustments to supporting gear, build, and playstyle, Monks with four pieces of the updated Monkey King's Garb should be able to match or even exceed their previous best Greater Rift time and level. With a complete optimization of the new Set bonuses, Monks should easily (or at least reliably) exceed their previous best Greater Rift time and level. Has been redesigned (2) Set Bonus Casting Cyclone Strike, Exploding Palm, Lashing Tail Kick, Tempest Rush, or Wave of Light causes a decoy to spawn that taunts nearby enemies and then explodes for 1000% weapon damage Decoy explosion now deals the damage type of your highest +% Elemental Damage (4) Set Bonus When your decoys explode, you gain a buff that increases the damage of Cyclone Strike, Exploding Palm, Lashing Tail Kick, Tempest Rush, and Wave of Light by 500% for 3 seconds Sunwuko's Shines Now rolls with a guaranteed empty socket rather than Attack Speed Carnevil Bug Fixes Poison Darts cast by Fetishes should now properly benefit from your +% Poison Dart damage Firebird's Finery (6) Set Bonus The infinite DoT no longer deals damage to Rift Guardians if the player gets too far away Going back within the allowed range should resume the DoT damage Note: The following Seasonal items will be not be available to PC players until Season 2 begins. These items will also be exclusive to Seasonal characters until the conclusion of Season 2. New Legendary Gems have been added Esoteric Alteration Gain 10% non-Physical damage reduction Upgrade rank grants: +0.5% non-Physical damage reduction Rank 25 unlocks: While below half Life, your resistances to Cold, Fire, Lightning, Poison, and Arcane are increased by 75% Gem of Ease Monster kills grant +500 experience This is multiplied by the difficulty multiplier This is intended to be an exorbitant amount of experience for a low level character For example: A level 1 monster grants 40 experience A level 55 monster grants 8,700 experience A level 60 monster grants 18,700 experience Upgrade rank grants: +50 experience per kill Rank 25 unlocks: Level requirement reduced to 1 Regenerates 10,000 Life per Second Upgrade rank grants: +1000 Life per Second Rank 25 unlocks: After not taking damage for 4 seconds, gain an absorb shield for 200% of your total Life per Second Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard Class-Specific Items Crusader Belt of the Trove New Legendary Belt Every 6-8 seconds, Bombardment is cast on a random nearby enemy Demon Hunter Odyssey's End New Legendary Bow Enemies snared by Entangling Shot take 20-25% more damage from all sources Halo of Arlyse New Legendary Ring Your Ice Armor now provides 50-60% Melee Damage Reduction and automatically casts Frost Nova whenever you take 10% of your Life in damage Note: Existing items will not be affected by the following changes. Only new versions of the items will roll with the added Legendary power. Barbarian The Undisputed Champion Legendary power added Frenzy gains the effect of every rune Monk Gungdo Gear Legendary power added Exploding Palm's on-death explosion applies Exploding Palm Wormwood Legendary power added Locust Swarm is cast on a nearby enemy every second Now rolls with +20-25% Poison skill damage as one of its four primary affixes Witch Doctor Wizard Several existing class-specific Legendary items have been updated to include a unique Legendary power Fixed an issue that allowed damage from Gem of Efficacious Toxin to be reflected back onto the player Fixed an issue that prevented the damage bonus from Bane of the Trapped from being applied to enemies that are Blinded or Charmed Fixed an issue that prevented Invigorating Gemstone from correctly reducing your damage taken while Frozen or Blind Fixed an issue that prevented Invigorating Gemstone from correctly healing you when you are hit by a Blind effect Fixed an issue that prevented the damage bonus from Bane of the Trapped from increasing the damage dealt by clones created by the Monkey King's Garb Bottomless Potion of FearACHIEVEMENTS
Season 2 Conquests have been added The Lord of Bells is no longer required to complete "You're Not The Boss Of Me"ADVENTURE MODE
The New Tristram town hub now has an improved layout Note: The changes apply to Adventure Mode only Whimsydale is now more rewarding Bounties & Events Bounties that were disabled after Patch 2.1.0 have been re-enabled The following events have received several changes, including changes to their completion requirements A Miner's Gold The Jar of Souls The Matriarch's Bones The Miser's Will The Scavenged Scabbard Clear the Barracks Changes have been made to the first floor of The Barracks to make it easier to locate the second floor Players can no longer resurrect at checkpoint Players now resurrect at corpse after a delay The respawn timer will increase with every death The amount of Gold and Experience awarded upon completion of a Greater Rift has been increased Many maps have received changes to the way their layouts can be generated for Nephalem and Greater Rifts Monsters Monster density has been increased in several Greater and Nephalem Rifts Monster damage in Greater Rifts level 26 and higher has been reduced The following Rift Guardians have received several changes; they should less be frustrating, but still dangerous Bloodmaw Bloodmaw presented an unchallenging and unfair fight due to a combination of one-shot damaging abilities, stuns, and AoE damage. His Leap attack has been modified to address these concerns, but will trigger more often to make the fight feel more dynamic. Erethon Erethon has received minor changes to his dash attack. The AoE element has been replaced with a ranged attack to give more challenge to ranged characters. Rime was an unfair opponent for melee players. The fight has been restructured so that his AoE can no longer overlap and the duration of each has been reduced. In addition, his ranged attack should be more threatening to ranged characters. Rime Pylons are now less likely to spawn next to each other Conduit Pylon Now deals damage based on player Weapon Damage Now attacks a limited number of targets Will now attack the same target less frequently Shield Pylon Now reflects damage back to attackers Duration has been increased from 30 seconds to 1 minute Now knocks enemies into the air and deals damage to them Now breaks Waller for the full duration Now breaks destroyable objects (e.g. Doors, Barrels, etc.) Speed Pylon The time between waves has been shortened Minor changes have been made to the types of monsters that can spawn Rewards now scale based upon the rank of the Keystone you receive Keystone of Trials no longer plays the Legendary item sound, or displays the Legendary item minimap icon when dropped Pylons Realm of Trials Fixed an issue that allowed Follower skills to be changed while in a Greater Rift Nephalem Rifts Bug FixesCRAFTING
Blacksmith Salvage All will no longer salvage items that are currently Transmogrified or have gems socketedFOLLOWERS
Templar Bug Fixes Fixed an issue that caused Inspire to grant an incorrect amount of Wrath regenerationMONSTERS
The Extra Health and Vampiric monster affixes have been removed from the game Anarch Maximum dash range has been reduced Now has a short dash that will be used at close range Corrupted Angel Maximum dash range has been reduced Unholy Shield has been removed Reduced this monsters XP, damage and survivability to bring it in line with other zombies Maximum leap range has been reduced Stun duration has been reduced New Treasure Goblins have been added to the game Be on the lookout for the Gem Hoarder, the Blood Thief, the Odious Collector, and Malevolent Tormentor The new Treasure Goblins can only be found in Adventure Mode Now always appear in front of a portal Now have a special minimap icon Now only drop their best loot on Torment I difficulty or above Some changes have been made to the way Treasure Goblins try to escape Inferno Zombie Punisher Treasure Goblins