Diablo III's Massive, Free Loot 2.0 Patch Goes Live

[Steven Bogos]

Diablo III's Massive, Free Loot 2.0 Patch Goes Live

The 2.0.1 patch brings with it a huge list of changes, including completely revamped loot, difficulty, and class abilities.

Those of you who have left Diablo III unclicked since its less-than-optimal launch may want to consider firing it up for the massive new Loot 2.0 patch that it has just received. The patch, as always, is completely free to players, and does not require the Reaper of Souls expansion set. The highlight of the patch is the long-promised "Loot 2.0" loot revamp [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/127079-Update-Diablo-IIIs-Loot-2-0-Breakdown-Less-Better-More-Epic], which basically ensures that you'll get less loot, but it will be better, more epic, and tailored to the class you are playing (no more wizard hats with +strength). In the three hours I played since the patch was released, I found three upgrades for my character, two of which were legendaries.

As well as Loot 2.0, the 2.0.1 patch brings with it an absolute wealth of class changes, much too numerous to list here. Just know that every class has had new runes and skills added, and various other skills tweaked, or balanced. The Wizard, for example, can now make entire builds specialized around a single form of elemental damage (fire, frost, lightning ect). Read the full patch notes here [http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/12671560].

There's also a revamp of the game's difficulty, which was previously broken into four levels (normal, nightmare, hell, inferno), and then made increasingly difficult with the addition of monster power. There are now five regular difficulty settings (normal, hard, expert, master, and torment ), with torment having a "difficulty slider" that goes all the way from torment 1 to torment 6. Each level offers new bonuses and rewards, visible in the difficulty selection menu, and you can now lower the difficulty in-game.

Paragon levels are now also global for all of your characters, and infinite, meaning players can constantly make improvements to their character.

I don't really know how to describe this patch in any way other than "amazing". As soon as they got rid of Jay Wilson, Blizzard has made nothing but sound decisions for Diablo III, and the culmination of those decisions is this patch, which simply focuses on making the game fun, as fun as all those hours I sunk into Diablo II back in the day.

And because I'm sure someone will ask in the comments, no, it hasn't removed the always-online requirement, and yes, the Auction Houses will shut down this month [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/127881-Diablo-III-Auction-House-Closing-Down].

Source: Blizzard [http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/12671560]


Permalink

 

[Seracen]

Hmmm. One step closer to me playing the game I was gifted by my friend last birthday.

To be honest, I don't care to legitimately level my characters in this game anymore, I just want to run through the story. It's sort of like in Skyrim and Oblivion. Once I have broken the game to the point that my character was OP anyway, I don't care to re-level subsequent new creations. So while I played legitimately the one time, I totally used console codes to give myself extra levels on subsequent playthroughs.

However, I am not about to use cheats to uber level my character, then get banned b/c the darn thing is always online. Moreover, I have had bad enough luck retrieving save states from other always-online games, and don't relish doing the same with this title.

Bah, I'm rambling...screw you Activision...

 

[shintakie10]

This patch was amazin. A ton of the more garbage spells got buffed to actually be worth something. A lot of the overpowered things got toned down or outright removed.

Plus all the extra loot is sweet.

 

[Ictarius]

Gentlemen,this is how hope looks like. A huge list of changes in Blizzard forum page.
I really missed reading those.

 

[Paragon Fury]

Its a much better game now, though the old wasn't as bad as people made it out to be.

But I have to learn how to play my DH all over again.

 

[-Dragmire-]

There are now five regular difficulty settings (normal, hard, expert, master, and torment ), with torment having a "difficulty slider" that goes all the way from torment 1 to torment 10. Each level offers new bonuses and rewards, visible in the difficulty selection menu, and you can now lower the difficulty in-game.

Tiny correction, Torment levels only go up to 6.

source:http://us.battle.net/d3/en/game/guide/gameplay/game-difficulty#general-changes

 

[Eric the Orange]

After just playing around with it for a little bit I can say the loot is a HUGE improvement. Now about 75% of what you pick up is decent for you character as compared to the 10% it was before.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I hate to ask this because I'm afraid I have already discovered the answer based solely on the lack of information, but is this and/or Reaper of Souls coming to the PS3 version as well? Or is this and the expansion only for PC and PS4 users? I would really like a solid, soul-crushing resounding "No" so I don't keep holding out hope...

 

[Ferisar]

I hate to ask this because I'm afraid I have already discovered the answer based solely on the lack of information, but is this and/or Reaper of Souls coming to the PS3 version as well? Or is this and the expansion only for PC and PS4 users? I would really like a solid, soul-crushing resounding "No" so I don't keep holding out hope...

The changes here have already taken effect on the console version for the most part, but from what I've heard from someone else: yes it is, as well as Reaper of Souls. Loot on consoles currently (I think) is like... Loot 1.5. But I'm fairly positive 2 is supposed to be on there soon(tm)

EDIT: As far as the rest of the changes, I've no idea. The difficulty levels will be part of the base game from what I understand, so that should be available to consoles with a patch when it arrives.

 

[black_knight1337]

A bit slow aren't we?

It's great though. Over 50 pages of all round good changes. It's got me playing again and by the looks of the clans and communities (and competitor stats) it's done the same for a lot of others too. I wouldn't be surprised if Blizzard gives out current player numbers some time around RoS' launch, would probably be at least the 3 mill they quoted last time.

 

[teebeeohh]

literally the most important change is that frost orb is back, bitches.

but to be fair, i honestly think diablo 3 wasn't as shit as everyone made it out to be, everyone just had the massive hate-boner they have for thief right now.

except the auction house, that was shit.

 

[Hawkeye21]

Expect to see a lot of teasing for "Reaper of Souls", like crusader only items dropping, abilities and skills for levels 60+ available only with expansion, yet present in your skills menu, bounty shards counter in the inventory, etc. They are going full "LOOK AT ALL THE THINGS YOU DONT HAVE!"

Also, lots of issues still remain, like broken mob scaling, and legendary items still rolling worse stats than rares.

 

[Rattja]

This is all well and good, but it still does not give me the freedom Path of Exile currently is offering me.
Less but better drops sounds good, just not sure I can go back to a game where I have to farm gold again at this point.

 

[Zulnam]

I forget; did they add PvP by now? Haven't played this in almost a year.

Hmm... Neah...

 

[Neonit]

I have to say, i enjoy it a LOT more than i did before.
See, i wasnt in the "diablo 3 is a spawn of satan!" camp, i kinda enjoyed it for a moment, but it got boring really fast.

I dunno what really made the change, but its a lot more fun than before. I guess it could be related to the fact that loot is more interesting (i actually found myself changing my skills depending on loot) and combat is more... i dunno, satisfying. I find myself having more combat and less walking around in empty plains than before.

Anyway, i decided to try it out so i could decide whenever to buy the expansion (and im pretty sure thats why the patch launched first) and i have to say, they did sway me over.

The only thing i dont like is the fact that crafting makes stuff for your character. I was playing a sorcerer, and wanted some strength gear for my follower. I couldnt find an option to change the stats that it rolled, so i was forced to make a barbarian, get to the first town, craft those items, put them into a stash, relog, and equip my followers. Needles to say, a dropdown menu with "which class do you want to make it for" would make things a lot easier.

 

[Hawkeye21]

I forget; did they add PvP by now? Haven't played this in almost a year.

Hmm... Neah...

They did awhile ago, but it gets boring after about an hour. It's an arena type thing.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Yeah, but does it...

And because I'm sure someone will ask in the comments, no, it hasn't removed the always-online requirement

..ah, nevermind.

Still, this is a solid step towards coaxing a purchase out of me. Of course since Blizzard games pretty much never ever go down in price, we aren't nearly there yet, still... baby steps...

 

[major_chaos]

Wow that changelog is amazing. So many crap skills look useful and most of the broken auto-pick choices are heavily nerfed or just gone, not to mention they actually added new runes for many skills. Loot 2.0 also sounds like it fixes one of my few big gripes with D3 and should improve the experience overall. On the other hand I'm not sure how I feel about the new difficulty system because I'm a huge fan of the D2 way of doing it, but I'll need to actually play around with the new system before I pass judgement. Overall looks like an amazing patch and I can't wait for RoS to finally give me more ARPG goodness.

I just love how on the official forums the impossible to please fanbase has started screaming that the game is RUINED FOREVER because they can't bum ledgendaries of their friends now. I really do not even Blizzard at this point. I'm fairly sure that as far as the internet is concerned they can do no right.

 

[elvor0]

"no, it hasn't removed the always-online requirement"

You mean it's still a steaming pile of rancid shit? Good to know, thanks. I won't have to spent money on this filth.

How long has it been since its launch? Feels like forever. *googles* May 15, 2012, daaaaaaaaaamn these bastards sure took their sweet ass time. And only now is it becoming slightly playable, what they hell have people been doing all this time?

Seems a bit extreme. Okay I agree the always on requirement needs to go away for people who just want to play single-player, but it does not automatically make the game shit. D3 was good in it's base form, it wasn't great, but it wasn't Guise of the fucking Wolf, or the worst game on the planet like people make it out to be. It was a streamlined, modernized version version of D2, it feels like the natural progression of D2, for a game which came out in 2012, which is what everyone wanted.

I still don't understand why people hate D3 so much. I mean /really/ fucking hate it. I understand the hate levelled at the always on requirement, and you are completely in the right to refuse to buy it on that basis, vote with your wallet. It doesn't personally bother me because I pretty exclusively play it multiplayer and my connection is very stable, but you shouldn't be forced to be connected if you'd prefer to just play single player.

I've yet to play it with this new patch, but feedback so far has been positive. I'm not sure I like the change to the way the difficulty settings are, just because Normal Nightmare Hell has been a staple of the series and does really change how the level system works, /but/ I shall reserve my judgement until I've actually played the damn thing.

Furthermore, real money auction house? Now that it's gone, you bet your sweet ass the black market will pop back up again, just like it did in D2. As long as people are willing to buy items, it will exist. At least the RMAH was a safe way to do it through Blizzard, and you were guarenteed not to be ripped off or not recieve your item. Granted, most of the black market is pretty good in terms of service, otherwise people wont buy anything from them but the point still stands.