Blizzard Quote [source]

We know some of you have burning questions for our developers about Diablo III, its design, and the philosophy behind certain game changes. So, to help douse the flames of inquiry, we're introducing Ask the Devs, an informal Q&A series which we'll be hosting monthly in the official forums.

The format for Ask the Devs is simple: we choose the topic, you choose the questions. Literally! Not only will players have the opportunity to submit questions for the developers, but we'll also be using the forum's voting system to help us identify which of those questions the community wants to see answered most.

            

How It Works:

• Each month, we'll select a new Ask the Devs topic and post what the topic is ahead of time in the forums.
• On the date and time specified in the forum post, we'll unlock the thread and you'll be able to submit your questions on the chosen topic.
• When the thread hits its cap (500 posts), no more questions will be allowed.
• At that point, we'll ask you to use the thumbs-up button to vote for the questions you'd like to see answered.
• After about 24 hours, we'll lock the thread, at which time you will no longer be able to vote.
• We'll then look for the posts with the most votes in every region and pass them on to the Diablo III development team.
• Approximately a week later, we'll provide you a list of answers delivered directly from the developers.

 

Rules:

• Only one question per post.
• Stay on topic. Questions that don't relate to the chosen topic (even if highly-rated) won't be sent to the developers.
• Discussion posts are not allowed! We ask that you only post questions in the Ask the Devs thread. If you would like to discuss related topics, please do so in another thread.
• You can vote for questions at any time while the thread is unlocked.
• A highly-rated post does not mean it will be answered, but we'll do our best to answer as many questions as possible.
• "Dislike" votes don't count.

 

Tips:

• Please don't post or vote for questions you know we won't answer. We're not going to use these Q&As to announce new features, expansions, or release dates. By the same token, we're also not going to answer questions that touch on subjects outside of the game and its design.
• Keep your question concise. One to three sentences should be plenty to explain background and ask a question.
• Vote for as many questions as you like.
• All "Like" votes count. While you can't see the vote tally, we can. Even if a post is already highly rated, your vote still means something to that question (potentially) being answered.
   

We'll be opening up the first round of questions on Tuesday, January 29, at 10:00 a.m. PST. The topic is Patch 1.0.7, so make sure to bookmark this thread and get ready to "Ask the Devs"!

Blizzard Quote [source]

Updates to patch notes can be found in red. Last updated January 22 at 5:45 p.m. PST.

Below you'll find the preliminary PTR patch notes for 1.0.7. Please note that this isn't the final version of the 1.0.7 notes and that some changes may not be documented or described in full detail.

To provide feedback on these changes, please visit the PTR Feedback forum. To report any issues you experience while playing, please visit the the PTR Bug Report forum. Additional information about the PTR can be found in the PTR FAQ.

PTR Patch 1.0.7 - v.1.0.7.14161

These notes will be updated through the course of the testing process. Please be aware some changes may not go live until a new PTR build is released.

Table of Contents

• Patch Features
• General
• Achievements
• Auction House
• Battle.net
• Bosses
• Classes
• Crafting
• Items
• Monsters
• User Interface
• Bug Fixes

 Patch Features

New Feature: Dueling
For those who wish to test their mettle against fellow Nephalem, your time has come. Players will now be able to duel one another in a new zone designed specifically for this style of combat. This zone can be accessed by speaking with Nek the Brawler located at the inn in New Tristram, and supports 2 to 4 players in a Free-For-All format.

To learn more about dueling, click here!

 General

• Nephalem Valor stacks will now persist through Acts
• Base pick-up radius for all characters has been increased from 1.5 yards to 3 yards
• The resurrection timer will no longer increase if a player is killed multiple times in a row
• Players should no longer play a flinching animation (causing them to briefly lose control of their character) if they are hit by multiple monsters at the same time
• The experience bonus rewarded for killing monsters on Monster Power levels 1-10 in Inferno has been increased:
  • MP 1: 25% (up from 10%)
  • MP 2: 50% (up from 20%)
  • MP 3: 80% (up from 30%)
  • MP 4: 120%(up from 45%)
  • MP 5: 165% (up from 60%)
  • MP 6: 215% (up from 75%)
  • MP 7: 275% (up from 95%)
  • MP 8: 340% (up from 115%)
  • MP 9: 420% (up from 135%
  • MP 10: 510% (up from 160%)
• When resuming a game, players will now be placed in town instead of at the last known checkpoint (a portal will be available to take you to your last known checkpoint, if desired)

 Achievements

• General
  • Subjugators now count towards the achievements "We are Champions" and "Champion's Collection"

 Auction House

• User Interface
  • Cancelled PayPal auctions will now display a UI error
• Bug Fixes
  • Stash Tab Art will now properly update when viewed in the Auction House

 Battle.net

• General
  • Monster Power is now available for Public Games
    • Players can now select their desired Monster Power level from a drop-down when joining Public Games provided that the “Enable Monster Power” box has been checked in the Options menu
  • “Report Botting” has been added to the right-click > report player menus
  • The Battle.net UI now displays how many players are online

 Bosses

• General
  • Izual is now included in the list of bosses that grant an extra reward when you have 5 stacks of Nephalem Valor, and the overall reward for killing him has been increased

 Classes

• Barbarian
  • Bug Fixes
    • Threatening Shout – Grim Harvest should no longer cause monsters to drop loot multiple times
• Demon Hunter
  • Bug Fixes
    • The Reflects Damage affix will now properly reflect damage caused by Bola Shot
• Monk
  • Active Skills
    • Cyclone Strike
      • Weapon damage increased from 100% to 313%
    • Dashing Strike
      • Weapon damage increased from 160% to 303%
    • Exploding Palm
      • Explosion damage increased from 30% to 50% of the target’s maximum health
    • Inner Sanctuary
      • Radius increased from 8 yards to 11 yards
      • Skill Rune – Forbidden Palace
        • Damage bonus increased from 10% to 15%
      • Skill Rune – Sanctified Ground
        • Now reduces enemy movement speed by 80% (up from 60%)
    • Lashing Tail Kick
      • Weapon damage increased from 235% to 470%
    • Mystic Ally
      • The amount of damage a Mystic Ally can take from a single hit is now capped
        • The cap scales with the player's level, and is further reduced by the player's Armor and Resistance
      • Skill Rune – Eternal Ally
        • Weapon Damage increased from 40% to 60%
        • The Eternal Ally now has a 100% chance to be reborn after 3 seconds (up from 50% and down from 5 seconds)
      • Skill Rune – Fire Ally
        • The cooldown of the Fire Ally’s special attack has been reduced from 8 seconds to 4 seconds
      • Skill Rune – Water Ally
        • The Water Ally’s special attack now reduces enemy movement speed by 60% (up from 30%)
        • The cooldown of the Water Ally’s special attack has been reduced from 8 seconds to 4 seconds
    • Sweeping Wind
      • Base weapon damage increased from 15% to 20% per stack
      • Skill Rune – Blade Storm
        • Weapon damage increased from 20% to 26% per stack
      • Skill Rune – Cyclone
        • Weapon damage increased from 20% to 26% per stack
    • Tempest Rush
      • Weapon Damage increased from 85% to 155%
    • Wave of Light
      • Weapon damage increased from 390% to 829%
  • Passive Skills
    • Near Death Experience
      • Dying will now reset the cooldown
  • Bug Fixes
    • Fixed an issue where Sweeping Wind was not actively updating its damage and attributes from the player
• Witch Doctor
  • Active Skills
    • Spirit Barrage
      • Skill Rune – Well of Souls
        • The secondary missiles fired by this rune can now hit the primary target
• Wizard
  • Active Skills
    • Arcane Orb
      • Weapon damage increased from 175% to 200%
      • Skill Rune – Obliteration
        • Weapon damage increased from 228% to 260%
    • Blizzard
      • Weapon damage increased from 210% to 510% over 6 seconds
      • Proc coefficient increased from 0.01 to 0.0125
      • Skill Rune – Grasping Chill
        • Proc coefficient increased from 0.01 to 0.0125
      • Skill Rune – Frozen Solid
        • Proc coefficient increased from 0.01 to 0.0125
      • Skill Rune – Stark Winter
        • Proc coefficient increased to from 0.005 to 0.0125
      • Skill Rune – Snowbound
        • Proc coefficient increased to from 0.01 to 0.0125
      • Skill Rune – Unrelenting Storm
        • Weapon damage increased from 280% to 680%
    • Shock Pulse
      • Weapon damage increased from 105% to 150%
      • Proc coefficient increased from 0.667 to 0.8
      • Skill Rune – Fire Bolts
        • Weapon damage increased from 152% to 195%
        • Proc coefficient increased from 0.667 to 0.8
      • Skill Rune – Explosive Bolts
        • Weapon damage increased from 70% to 105%
        • Proc coefficient increased from 0.5 to 0.8
      • Skill Rune – Lightning Affinity
        • Proc coefficient increased from 0.667 to 0.8
      • Skill Rune – Living Lightning
        • Weapon damage increased from 37% to 52%
  • Passive Skills
    • Critical Mass
      • Critical Mass now affects the cooldowns of Archon: Teleport and Archon: Slow Time while in Archon Form
    • Temporal Flux
      • Now reduces enemy movement speed by 60% for 3 seconds (up from 30% and 2 seconds)
    • Unstable Anomaly
      • Now activates upon receiving fatal damage (changed from when a player is reduced below 30% Life)
      • Dying will now reset the cooldown
  • Bug Fixes
    • Blizzard Critical Hits now correctly have a chance to proc Arcane Power on Crit

 Crafting

• General
  • A new crafting reagent, Demonic Essence, has been added to the game
    • This reagent is account-bound and can be acquired from Elite monsters in Inferno difficulty
    • Nephalem Valor will not be required in order for Demonic Essences to drop
    • However, each level of Monster Power will increase the drop chance of Demonic Essence from Elites according to the following values:
      • MP 0: 20.0000%
      • MP 1: 23.0000%
      • MP 2: 26.4500%
      • MP 3: 30.4175%
      • MP 4: 34.9801%
      • MP 5: 40.2271%
      • MP 6: 46.2612%
      • MP 7: 53.2004%
      • MP 8: 61.1805%
      • MP 9: 70.3575%
      • MP 10: 80.9112%
  • The drop rate for Blacksmithing Plans and Jeweler Designs has been increased by 400%
• Blacksmith
  • Four Rare recipes have been added to the Blacksmith: Archon Spaulders (Shoulders), Archon Gauntlets (Gloves), Archon Armor (Chest Armor), Razorspikes (Bracers)
    • Each crafted item will have the following characteristics:
      • iLevel 63
      • 6 Affixes
      • Account-bound
      • Similar to the Hellfire Ring, it will have four variants, each guaranteeing a fixed core stat which will have the highest range available in the game
    • Crafting the item will require 1 Demonic Essence (other reagent costs will vary per recipe)
• Jeweler
  • A new Rare recipe has been added to the Jeweler for an Amulet
    • This amulet will have the following characteristics:
      • iLevel 63
      • 6 Affixes
      • Account-bound
      • Similar to the Hellfire Ring, it will have four variants, each guaranteeing a fixed core stat which will have the highest range available in the game
    • Crafting the item will require the 1 Demonic Essence as well as:
      • 100,000g
      • 1 Perfect Gem (varied depending on which core stat you select)
      • 1 Fiery Brimstone
  • A new tier of account-bound gems of has been added to the game: Marquise
    • Marquise Gems stats are as follows:
      • Marquise Emerald
        • Weapon: Increased Critical Hit Damage by 110%
        • Helm: +33% Extra Gold from Monsters
        • Armor: +62 Dexterity
      • Marquise Topaz
        • Weapon: Melee attackers take 2200 per hit
        • Helm: 33% Better chance of finding magical items
        • Armor: +62 Intelligence
      • Marquise Amethyst
        • Weapon: Each Hit adds +700 Life
        • Helm: +19% Life
        • Armor: +62 Vitality
      • Marquise Ruby
        • Weapon: +150 Minimum and +150 Maximum Damage
        • Helm: Increases Bonus Experience by 33%
        • Armor: +62 Strength
    • These gems can only be created at the Jeweler and will require the following reagents:
      • 3 Radiant Star Gems
      • 20 million gold
      • 1 Demonic Essence
    • Un-socketing Marquise gems will cost 5 million gold
    • The designs for the Marquise gems will drop randomly from all level 63 monsters
      • Note: The designs are not account-bound

 Items

• General
  • Crafting Plans and Jeweler Designs have been added for all of the new Rare recipes listed above
    • These plans (excluding the chest piece) will drop randomly in the world, but have a 50% chance to drop off the following bosses when you have 5 stacks of Nephalem Valor:
      • Skeleton King
      • Spider Queen
      • Maghda
      • Zoltun Kulle
      • Ghom
      • Cydaea
      • Rakanoth
      • Izual
    • The Archon Armor recipe can be purchased from Squirt the Peddler for 1.5 million gold each
    • Please note that neither the Crafting plans nor the Jeweler Design are account-bound
  • Holding shift while buying health potions will attempt to purchase 5 potions at once
  • Follower items below iLevel 60 will now no longer drop in Inferno
  • Goldskin now has a limit on the number of times it can proc on a single target
• Vendors
  • Squirt the Peddler no longer sells Dyes, but (as noted above) will now sell the plans for the Archon Armor recipe for 1.5 million gold each
• Bug Fixes
  • Goldskin will no longer proc when attacking monsters that drop no loot
  • Plans: Staff of Herding can now be dropped on the ground, or sold to a vendor for 0 gold
  • All Staves of Herding can now be sold to a vendor for 0 gold

 Monsters

• General
  • The Reflects Damage affix has been redesigned:
    • It will now apply a short duration buff to the monster and will only reflect a percentage of damage dealt back to the player while that buff is active
    • A visual effect will display whenever the durational buff is active
  • Damage dealt by pets to monster with Reflects Damage affix will no longer be reflected back to the player
  • Damage dealt by the Molten affix has been reduced by 40%
  • Damage dealt by the Plagued affix has been increased by 120%
  • Fallen Lunatics should now detonate in a more consistent manner
  • The Triune Berserker before Alcarnus should no longer swing faster after a few attacks
  • Keywardens:
    • The Act II Keywarden (Sokahr) should now only use its mortar ability in Inferno difficulty
    • The Act III Keywarden (Xah’Rith) should now only use its rain of corpses ability in Inferno difficulty
    • The Act IV Keywarden (Nekarat) should now only use its earthquake and charge abilities in Inferno difficulty
• Bug Fixes
  • Rare Sand Dwellers will now spawn in The Forgotten Ruins
  • Champion Plague Swarms will now spawn in Cryder’s Outpost
  • Champion Fallen Cur will now spawn in The Storm Halls

 User Interface

• General
  • Legendary items now have a new mini-map icon
    • This icon should now persist properly and be shown on the mini-map so long as the player is in the same zone as the dropped item
    • Note: The icon will only display when Legendary items are dropped by a monster, not a player
• Bug Fixes
  • Fixed an issue causing the Enable Monster Power option to reset
  • Fixed an issue affecting the scroll speed of text
  • Vendors will now properly display an Armor tab when you are in an Inferno game with Monster Power set above 0

 Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where new Hardcore characters were not labeled as Hardcore on the homepage
• Fixed an error that could occur when closing the World of Warcraft client while the Diablo III client was still running
• Players will now be properly removed from both the party and the game session whenever a Vote Kick has passed
• Players will no longer be disconnected from the game whenever vote kicked during a boss encounter
• PTR Bug Fixes/span><
  • General
    • Using the PTR Character Copy feature for a region on which you have no active characters will no longer result in login errors or your PTR account becoming locked
  • Crafting
    • Marquise designs and Archon crafting recipes are now searchable on the Auction House
  • Dueling
    • Players are now correctly considered "Elites" in PvP and PvE combat
    • Players should now be automatically healed and have all active debuffs removed upon leaving the Scorched Chapel
    • Followers should no longer become hostile towards players after exiting the Scorched Chapel
    • Storm Armor shocks can now be dodged
    • Nek the Brawler will no longer die if another player joins or leaves a game while someone is standing near him
    • It's no longer possible to have inactive followers providing buffs in duels
  • Items
    • Goldskin's proc will no longer work when in the Scorched Chapel
    • The Puzzle Ring's proc will no longer work when in the Scorched Chapel
    • The Incense Torch of the Grand Temple and Neanderthal can now drop

Blizzard Quote [source]

We will be performing scheduled game maintenance for Diablo 3 on Tuesday, January 22nd. Maintenance will begin at 5:00 AM PST and is expected to last for 2 hours. During this time Diablo 3 will not be available for play. In addition, many web services will be unavailable.

Thank you for your patience.

Blizzard Quote [source]

This thread saddens me greatly. I know that the Battle.net forums have earned a reputation for rough justice, but I do not believe justice is being served by how people are speaking about Jay’s departure from Diablo III.

I am very proud of the Diablo franchise and what the team was able to accomplish with Diablo III. As a gamer I have enjoyed the game and played for many, many nights with friends and family. I’m not, however, going to use that as an excuse. The Diablo community deserves an even better game from Blizzard and we are committed to improving it. We have a talented team in place and have no intention of stopping work on Diablo III until it is the best game in the franchise.

I’m the only person in this thread who has actually worked with Jay. I hired Jay to head up the Diablo project and had the pleasure of getting to work with him, both in building the team and designing the game. He has great design instincts and has added so much to the franchise with his feel for visceral combat, boss battles, and an unparalleled knack for making it fun to smash bad guys. I’ve worked with many, many designers at Blizzard and Jay is one of the best. He has a great career at Blizzard ahead of him and I guarantee that you will enjoy Jay’s game designs in future Blizzard games.

If you love Diablo as much as we do, then please continue to let us know how you feel we can improve the game. If you still feel the need to dish out blame, then I would prefer you direct it at me. I was the executive producer on the project; I hired Jay and I gave him advice and direction throughout the development process. I was ultimately responsible for the game we released and take full responsibility for the quality of the result.