Diablo 4

[Demitri_C]

6 minutes ago, Designer1 said:

Yeah, you can swap aspects on Legendary items. You have to remove it from the existing armour (which destroys the item) and then add it to the armour you want it on.

Yet anither thing i didnt know. So if you di this can you add a imprint as well? I assume its one or the other?

So many aspects to the game ffs its just hard keeping on top of it all. Lucky i kept the good gear just in case

Edited July 14, 2023 by Demitri_C

[dubbs]

When season 1 starts and everyone has to start with a new build, doesn't that also make our current character kinda redundant?  Surely everyone will be working to level up the new character and not bothering to play the non-seasonal stuff anymore?

[Demitri_C]

3 hours ago, dubbs said:

When season 1 starts and everyone has to start with a new build, doesn't that also make our current character kinda redundant?  Surely everyone will be working to level up the new character and not bothering to play the non-seasonal stuff anymore?

Meh im not sure how i feel about this re starting your charchter tbh. Feels like all that time and effort ive put in building the charchter is for nothing

Cant they come up with a concept whwn you have option whther you keep charchter or you want a new one with different levels?

Edited July 15, 2023 by Demitri_C

[Designer1]

31 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Meh im not sure how i feel about this re starting your charchter tbh. Feels like all that time and effort ive put in building the charchter is for nothing

Cant they come up with a concept whwn you have option whther you keep charchter or you want a new one with different levels?

You don't restart your character.

The Season character and content is completely separate from your existing playthrough. Once the Season is over, the character transfers over and you keep everything you've gained. It's just a really good way to keep the game fresh for people who have rinsed the main content. Its essentially DLC.

I'll be rolling a Rogue for it I think.

Edited July 15, 2023 by Designer1

[Daweii]

40 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Meh im not sure how i feel about this re starting your charchter tbh. Feels like all that time and effort ive put in building the charchter is for nothing

Cant they come up with a concept whwn you have option whther you keep charchter or you want a new one with different levels?

As @Designer1 stated your seasonal character is completely separate.

The reason for starting fresh with a new character is because the seasonal content isn't permanent. There are aspects that are permanent like the 6 uniques and 7 legendaries being added to the loot pool, and the battle pass cosmetics, but everything else isn't permanent. So, what this means is Blizzard can have fun in seasons. For instance Season 1 (Season of the Malignant) allows us to get Malignant Hearts that can be slotted into our jewellery, and Blizzard have stated that some of these hearts are game breaking in how powerful they are, but the reason they are game breaking is because in 3 months those hearts are getting deleted so game balance is less important.

This is also why they don't allow eternal realm characters to do seasonal realm content. Firstly, those that are Level 100 wouldn't have much fun in seasons as without XP and a real loot grind there is no game. Secondly, because the seasonal items are temporary, it would suck to log in at the end of a season and find your eternal realm character 10x less powerful because the seasonal stuff was deleted. Creating a new character knowing it has 3 months to live with incredibly powerful items/mechanics has been found to be the best way to do this. Diablo 4 isn't the first ARPG to do the seasonal structure. This is a decade of trial and error from multiple games in the genre to find what works best overall. 

Of course, starting from scratch every 3 months isn't for everyone, but for the most part the seasonal model is the reason Diablo 3 is still relevant, it's also the reason why people love Path of Exile, are starting love Last Epoch, and are likely going to love Diablo 4 for a long time to come.

PS. When I say a character has "3 months to live" I don't mean seasonal characters get deleted. Seasonal characters join your eternal characters on the eternal realm when a season ends, but given most seasonal players never play eternal realm once seasons are activated the character is effectively dead. That's what I meant. 

[Demitri_C]

43 minutes ago, Designer1 said:

You don't restart your character.

The Season character and content is completely separate from your existing playthrough. Once the Season is over, the character transfers over and you keep everything you've gained. It's just a really good way to keep the game fresh for people who have rinsed the main content. Its essentially DLC.

I'll be rolling a Rogue for it I think.

I think if i do it i will try the necronancer

[Daweii]

4 hours ago, dubbs said:

When season 1 starts and everyone has to start with a new build, doesn't that also make our current character kinda redundant?  Surely everyone will be working to level up the new character and not bothering to play the non-seasonal stuff anymore?

That's effectively how it works out. Diablo 3 had its first season in 2014 and since that point I have never played my eternal realm characters, I just roll a new seasonal one and have a blast with whatever overpowered/fun mechanics they have come up with for that season. Same for Path of Exile. I don't think I have ever played a standard league character, it has always been a character in whatever the current seasonal league is. Seasons do make eternal realm pretty redundant, which is why the focus in Diablo 4 right now is on getting the main story, altars and 100% map discovery done as those are the only things that carry over to seasons. 

[Designer1]

Battlenet:

Designer1#2294

[Demitri_C]

On 15/07/2023 at 12:17, Designer1 said:

Battlenet:

Designer1#2294

Keep forgetting to add you will do tomorrow. Will need to do a villatalk helltide and clear up. If your down @dubbs ?

[dubbs]

1 minute ago, Demitri_C said:

Keep forgetting to add you will do tomorrow. Will need to do a villatalk helltide and clear up. If your down @dubbs ?

Going to try and get some time in tomorrow evening so if we can, let's party!

[Demitri_C]

34 minutes ago, dubbs said:

Going to try and get some time in tomorrow evening so if we can, let's party!

Ergh tomorrow nights only night midweek i wont be on. Of you and designer are in Wednesday lets do this shit

[dubbs]

Wednesday doesn't work for me either and the new season starts Thursday 

[Demitri_C]

11 hours ago, dubbs said:

Wednesday doesn't work for me either and the new season starts Thursday 

So can we still play as we do now or does that all go and we have to do season 1?

Is there a option of the two i mean or as soon as season 1 starts you start all over again

[Designer1]

13 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

So can we still play as we do now or does that all go and we have to do season 1?

Is there a option of the two i mean or as soon as season 1 starts you start all over again

 

On 15/07/2023 at 11:22, Designer1 said:

You don't restart your character.

The Season character and content is completely separate from your existing playthrough. Once the Season is over, the character transfers over and you keep everything you've gained. It's just a really good way to keep the game fresh for people who have rinsed the main content. Its essentially DLC.

I'll be rolling a Rogue for it I think.

 

On 15/07/2023 at 12:05, Daweii said:

As @Designer1 stated your seasonal character is completely separate.

The reason for starting fresh with a new character is because the seasonal content isn't permanent. There are aspects that are permanent like the 6 uniques and 7 legendaries being added to the loot pool, and the battle pass cosmetics, but everything else isn't permanent. So, what this means is Blizzard can have fun in seasons. For instance Season 1 (Season of the Malignant) allows us to get Malignant Hearts that can be slotted into our jewellery, and Blizzard have stated that some of these hearts are game breaking in how powerful they are, but the reason they are game breaking is because in 3 months those hearts are getting deleted so game balance is less important.

This is also why they don't allow eternal realm characters to do seasonal realm content. Firstly, those that are Level 100 wouldn't have much fun in seasons as without XP and a real loot grind there is no game. Secondly, because the seasonal items are temporary, it would suck to log in at the end of a season and find your eternal realm character 10x less powerful because the seasonal stuff was deleted. Creating a new character knowing it has 3 months to live with incredibly powerful items/mechanics has been found to be the best way to do this. Diablo 4 isn't the first ARPG to do the seasonal structure. This is a decade of trial and error from multiple games in the genre to find what works best overall. 

Of course, starting from scratch every 3 months isn't for everyone, but for the most part the seasonal model is the reason Diablo 3 is still relevant, it's also the reason why people love Path of Exile, are starting love Last Epoch, and are likely going to love Diablo 4 for a long time to come.

PS. When I say a character has "3 months to live" I don't mean seasonal characters get deleted. Seasonal characters join your eternal characters on the eternal realm when a season ends, but given most seasonal players never play eternal realm once seasons are activated the character is effectively dead. That's what I meant. 

 

[Demitri_C]

Just reading up on the way season 1 works so its basically a new story and you start from scratch.  Feels abit frustrating i must admit as ive out some serious hours in my build and gettjng my charchter stronger

Grrrr

[Demitri_C]

1 minute ago, Designer1 said:

 

 

 

Thanks yeah i just realised i asked this on previous pages doh

Im debating whether to go necromancer rogue or do another sorcerer build. Im thinking latter as i like sorcerer 

Edited July 18, 2023 by Demitri_C

[Designer1]

New patch has gone live today. 

Only scan read the notes but it looks as though xp has been increased across the board which is nice.

[Daweii]

42 minutes ago, Designer1 said:

New patch has gone live today. 

Only scan read the notes but it looks as though xp has been increased across the board which is nice.

XP has been mostly nerfed. 

They buffed the XP gain for completing Whispers in WT3/WT4 which is great, although they didn't say by how much.

That said, they nerfed the XP earned from killing monsters higher level than the player quite dramatically. It has gone from a +25% boost to XP when a mob is +3 levels higher, to a +15% boost to XP when a mob is +10 levels higher than the player. Given the boost is now +1.5% XP per level up to +10, it means that we have gone from +25% more XP at +3 mob level to +4.5% more XP at +3 mob level. XP has been absolutely gutted there. This also means less XP from Helltide, as that has seen mobs buffed to always be +3 levels higher, but pre-patch that would have given all players a +25% boost to XP, but now it's +4.5%.  

They have also changed how mob level works in WT3/WT4 by allowing mobs to trail the players level in the overworld/dungeons by up to 5 levels. So if you're level 61 in WT3 the mobs level will be level 56. This is great for the power fantasy, but it's not great for XP as the player gets a -10% XP debuff for every level they are above the mobs. So, with mobs being up to 5 levels below the player, that'll mean 50% less XP from every mob you kill. Now, in fixed events like Helltide, and Nightmare Dungeons this won't be an issue as the mob level is set by the activity, but any non-endgame activities in the overworld/dungeons will actively punish the player for pursuing them in WT3/WT4.  

Quite a huge nerf to XP overall unfortunately.

[Designer1]

31 minutes ago, Daweii said:

XP has been mostly nerfed. 

They buffed the XP gain for completing Whispers in WT3/WT4 which is great, although they didn't say by how much.

That said, they nerfed the XP earned from killing monsters higher level than the player quite dramatically. It has gone from a +25% boost to XP when a mob is +3 levels higher, to a +15% boost to XP when a mob is +10 levels higher than the player. Given the boost is now +1.5% XP per level up to +10, it means that we have gone from +25% more XP at +3 mob level to +4.5% more XP at +3 mob level. XP has been absolutely gutted there. This also means less XP from Helltide, as that has seen mobs buffed to always be +3 levels higher, but pre-patch that would have given all players a +25% boost to XP, but now it's +4.5%.  

They have also changed how mob level works in WT3/WT4 by allowing mobs to trail the players level in the overworld/dungeons by up to 5 levels. So if you're level 61 in WT3 the mobs level will be level 56. This is great for the power fantasy, but it's not great for XP as the player gets a -10% XP debuff for every level they are above the mobs. So, with mobs being up to 5 levels below the player, that'll mean 50% less XP from every mob you kill. Now, in fixed events like Helltide, and Nightmare Dungeons this won't be an issue as the mob level is set by the activity, but any non-endgame activities in the overworld/dungeons will actively punish the player for pursuing them in WT3/WT4.  

Quite a huge nerf to XP overall unfortunately.

That'll teach me to speed read!

Must have been the Tree of Whispers bit I skimmed.

[Daweii]

8 minutes ago, Designer1 said:

That'll teach me to speed read!

Must have been the Tree of Whispers bit I skimmed.

Ahaha yeah. I also skimmed through it all at first and came away with a more positive reaction, but then I grabbed a coffee and sat down to read it thoroughly and I'm not impressed by these patch notes at all. 

There are some good things in there. Most of the new Uniques/Legendaries seem very interesting. The buff to silent chests so they give better loot is nice. The buff to Nightmare Dungeon loot is fantastic with 10% increased drop chance from elites, and a 50% chance to get an extra legendary on completion is great. The rest of it though? It's a ton of nerfs across the board. I feel so bad for anyone that only plays Mage/Sorceress in games like this, as Sorceress is dead. The seasonal mechanic (malignant hearts) takes up the sockets in jewellery, so that's an instant 750 armor lost. The Disobedience Aspect was nerfed, so another 1000 armor is gone. Critical Damage was nerfed by 17% across the board for all classes. Vulnerable was nerfed by 40% across the board for all classes. Many of the defensive aspects were all nerfed by 25%, so we'll now take 25% more damage. Sorceress already did the least amount of damage, and already had the least amount of survivability... I don't see how that class is viable in Season 1.

I am very curious to see how it goes. I don't mind if Diablo 4 gets harder, but I feel like I might be a minority when it comes to that. 

PS. The nerf to Helltide by making it harder, while also now requiring 250 cinders for a mysterious chest, and lowering the drop rate of cinders is definitely a choice that I don't agree with at all.