Originally Posted by
Game
Hello friends! I decided to go with a slightly different approach with the upcoming patch. Usually I keep things secret up until the end just incase some content gets cut from the patch nobody gets let down, but I am going to go ahead and let everyone know what I am expecting (hopefully) to get into the upcoming 3.2 patch. This isn't everything as there are a few things I am definitely not sure if it will make it, but if we make progress on it then I will post it here as well later on!
For now we are definitely buffing rares. Uniques and certain sets have become quite dominant, making rares all but useless to pick up. I am looking at good old classic D2 for motivation here, while uniques will definitely feel more "unique" compared to rares, rares will be what they were in classic; they will have potential to be some awesome statsticks. In other words, nothing flashy, but great basic stats. I would give you more info, but I am still ironing out the details. I know we "buffed" them in the past but this should be a much more complex buff than before.
Summoner Druids are also getting some love. I re-designed Murder of Crows as it seems to be the least used new skill by far, and while it seems okay at doing 1 player standard content, it struggles at just about anything else. The way Crow Druids work now are pretty different compared to just about any kind of class in the game right now. Murder of Crows is now a channeled spell (think Arctic Blast or Inferno) and it covers a WIDE radius around you. The damage is definitely not bad, but the strong part of the skill is that it gives you a good amount of Life per Hit on anything it touches. The fact that it is a channeled spell as well means there are no FCR or IAS breakpoints, so you can tank just about anything with the right gear. The coolest part about this change is Ravens are now the main source of damage for Crow Druids. Ravens now gain more Crushing Blow % based on the TOTAL skill points in Murder of Crows, not just the base 20 points. You also can summon 1 extra Raven for every 5 points in Murder of Crows. For example, a level 50 Murder of Crows gives you 15 Ravens with 30% Crushing Blow. They now also apply Prevent Monster Heal. I also changed the Ravens AI, they will no longer only attack a target once just to blind them. They have higher attack speed and will swarm a target until it dies. So while you are tanking with your Murder of Crows, your Ravens are killing everything in sight. I have tested this quite a bit myself, and the play style actually is quite fun! I will be keeping an eye on this to see if it needs anymore adjustments.
Thunderstorm will also be getting buffed. It will now strike much faster at all levels, but you will feel this the most at higher levels. It now also has a 6% Damage Synergy from Lightning, because it just makes sense that a Thunderstorm gains strength from Lightning!
Another feature that I would think most people would consider a big one is the upcoming "Map" system. Name is still a work in progress, but you will now be able to obtain Maps throughout Hell Mode. Starting out in 3.2 there will likely be around 3 or so that drop rarely like the Key to the Courts of Justice but not quite as rare. In the future there will likely be Maps that only drop rarely from certain areas / bosses, but we have to start somewhere! These Maps will have specific rules to be activated, similar to the Puzzle Boxes you find in Dreamlands, and will take you to new levels with new monsters in it. Most Map levels will have items exclusive to that level, you can compare this to The Cow Kingdom and the Cow Queen Set, although I doubt there will be another Set. I would not rule it out in future maps though!
Not much info to give here but I am looking into some potential Whirlwind buffs.
I am going to be toning down some of the graphics / visuals on chance to cast spells, such as the Sindragosa spell on Frostmourne. This will not affect The Lich King's version of the spell though, just the chance to cast.
We will be buffing up some items that aren't on par with other items on the same level / price, for example a few of Cthulhu's items are almost never used while Frostfire is worth a hefty amount. People who already own these items will have a 1-time free reroll on the item by cubing it to get the new version.
As always there will be bug fixes / adjustments to clean up things behind the scenes, just like every patch. We have gotten more and more stable, we will continue that with this patch!
UPDATE: 2/9/2016
Damage Reduction % cap is now 75%, up from 50%.
Whirlwind has been modified to work like Classic Diablo II Whirlwind, meaning it is not affected by IAS.
Having - Enemy Physical Resists and - Enemy Magic Resists is now possible on items.
-Resists on items (Such as the -% resists on Facet) can now break immunities on monsters. Conviction or any other aura is no longer needed, but will still help! This should help sorceresses in endgame content immensely.
That's all I feel like typing for now, I may update later on with pictures when I get some stuff done to show you guys, or if a few other things I am working on are definitely going to work. I hope you look forward to it! If I didn't have so many people supporting the server I would never be able to justify spending so much time on these content updates, so I just want to once again thank you all for playing here and supporting us. Let's continue growing to be the best community and server that Diablo II has ever seen!
People are underestimating this buff.
Reply With Quote
Annihilus Account: Game
