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Blizzard Talks Diablo III Rebalancing

 

Diablo III has been out for a few weeks now, and Blizzard is now talking about tweaking the Demon Hunter, Monk, and Wizard classes. The studio is tempering those comments by saying that they won't be adjusting class balance unless it determines that a particular skill is game-breaking.

Regarding the changes to Lingering Fog, Boon of Protection, and Force Armor: "We determined these skills were simply more powerful than they should be, and we felt their impact on class balance and how each class was perceived warranted hotfixes as soon as we were able," Blizzard wrote in a post on the official Diablo III forums. "However, we don't want you to be worried that a hotfix nerf is lurking around the corner every day. If a skill is strong, but isn't really breaking the game, we want you to have your fun. Part of the enjoyment of Diablo is finding those super-strong builds, and we want players to be excited to use something they discovered that feels overpowered. A good example of this is the monk Overawe rune, which many players have identified as being quite good. We agree it's good, but we don't think it's so far out of line that we're going to swoop in and hotfix it out of existence."

Blizzard says that the first hotfix, version 1.0.2, is coming next week, and will address server issues. The following patch, 1.0.3, is designed to focus on class balance.

In addition to talking about the upcoming changes in class balance, Blizzard released a series of Diablo III facts. Here are some highlights; check out the post for the complete list.

  • On average players have created three characters each
  • 54% of Hardcore players chose a female character
  • The majority of Hardcore deaths (35%) occur in Act I Normal
  • The most common level 60 build in the game is only used by 0.7% of level 60 characters of that class (not including Passive diversity)

 

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Comments
  • I keep hearing about these issues and how barbs wont make it inferno in general.
  • Diablo3? If you can even call it that. Its funny that Torchlight did D3 better than D3 did. This game is a joke, the entire game in it's full length is shorter than the first act of Diablo2. Can't believe you guys gave it such a high review. Fail.
  • We're not here to talk about you, this is a serious matter. I will force the narwhals and squid to make peace...or war will ensue, is that understood, Mr. Shark?
  • Well this is interesting. I can't wait to see what they have in store.

    Also join the Diablo III group kthxbai www.gameinformer.com/.../default.aspx

  • It really shocks me how players complain about that game being way too easy, while also complaining about all these nerfs to OP skills that are making it easy cuz it screws up their builds.

  • It really shocks me how players complain about that game being way too easy, while also complaining about all these nerfs to OP skills that are making it easy cuz it screws up their builds.

  • Is it true that the Barb and Monk cant make it through on the harder difficulties because i'm getting Diablo 3 this week and the Monk looks pretty sweet
  • I can't even get through nightmare mode with Demon Hunter! Demon Hunter SUCKS... for now.
  • Nothing in an Action RPG should ever be nerfed, instead everything around it should be buffed.
  • It's easy to lie with statistics. While some numbers are "fun", like how many create males versus females, I believing they are really yanking us with the level 60 build stat. For instance, the different between .7% and 30% could simply be a rune difference. Damage instead of radius? The builds are completely different! See?! We put in customization! Bleh. Games okay though.
  • What i would like to know is...what exactly did they change?

  • Sadly Blizzard is failing hard at properly talking to the community. This article was a minor step in the right direction but it skirted over the numerous truly game ruining problems. Itemization is boring, Inferno is artificial difficulty and boring (if any of you tools say Inferno is hard go play a truly great difficulty game like Dark Souls you troll). They lightly touched on it with "spikiness" but didn't talk about all the issues with bosses and elite packs. This is Blizzards worst game ever and it saddens me that it may not be fixable with the attitude the development team has been showing. It's like there trying to funnel desperate players into the RMAH. FYI Anyone who isn't in Inferno Act 2+ has zero right to comment on Inferno.
  • Thank you Blizzard, for putting up with all these raging assholes who want to bad mouth your game. I love every ounce of Diablo 3, keep up the good work.

  • The game is alright in my oppinion. I think in D2 Act 2 was decently hard  and the boss was pretty difficult by yourself since hes so fast and freezes you if your close. In D3 its sorta progressive in terms of difficulty, i like it when you forgot how hard the boss was if you weren't prepared then found out the hard way :P

    But D3. still a decent game

    that's just my oppinion though.

  • I dont trust them..nor do I trust my force armor anymore.
  • I don't think I should have a problem with my Hardcore Monk on Normal because I don't think I really died playing through the first time. Nightmare is a different story...

  • when will they release a Mac FPS fix? they said "soon" on D3 message boards. "soon" is what I tell girls when they ask to hang out but I don't want to see them. So if Blizzard is at all like me I don't think I'm gonna be able to play on my Mac

  • I'm glad that the devs care, but their attention should be on getting the Auction House running properly.
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