Blizzard Quote [source]

>Welcome to the Diablo III Ask the Devs global Q&A. In this thread we'll be collecting your questions regarding itemization, having the community vote for their favorites, and then posting the answers we receive from the developers approximately one week later.

[STATUS]
OPEN! Please submit your questions and/or vote up your favorite submissions from other players.

[TOPIC]
The topic for this month is itemization.

To view our latest update on itemization in Diablo III, click here. We also encourage you to check out recent posts made designers Wyatt Cheng and Travis Day for more information.

[HOW IT WORKS]

• On the date and time specified in this post, we'll unlock the thread and you'll be able to submit your questions regarding itemization (as well as vote for questions you'd like to see answered).
• After 48 hours, we'll lock the thread. At this point, you will no longer be able to submit questions or vote.
• We'll then look for the posts with the most votes in participating regions and pass them on to the Diablo III development team.
• The following week, we'll provide you a list of answers delivered directly from the developers. Depending on how many questions the developers answer, we may break their responses into multiple parts (posted on different days).

[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 projects, 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.
• 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.
• Vote for as many questions as you like, keeping the above tips in mind.

For more information about Ask the Devs, click here

Blizzard Quote [source]

That’s one of the reasons we added the Monster Power system: it allows players to further tune how challenging enemies are in each difficulty setting, regardless of level. Also when Travis Day spoke about allowing Legendary items to scale up in our recent Developer Journal: Itemization Update, that means they will be able to drop at lower levels too. We’ll be looking not only at letting low-level Legendaries drop at higher levels, but we’ll also be allowing higher level Legendaries to drop at lower levels. In addition, the targeted drops we mentioned in the Itemization Update are intended to improve the level up game as well.

Below are some specific examples we’re considering which we feel will benefit all players, regardless of level:

• One idea that we have discussed is “targeted Legendaries,” where named NPCs have an increased chance of dropping specific legendary items. For example, The Butcher could have an increased chance of dropping The Butcher's Carver.
• Another idea is that we introduce a system that will help alleviate some of the bad randomness players encounter by ensuring that at least some of the Rare and Legendary items you find will be something good for your class.
• We've also discussed allowing bosses the first time you kill them in each difficulty to have a guaranteed chance to drop a Legendary.

Blizzard Quote [source]

We are looking to improve co-op farming efficiency in 1.0.8. Co-op play in general is a big focus of the 1.0.8 patch and efficiency is definitely one component of that. Co-op is already more efficient for some players, but this is the exception rather than the norm. The degree of co-op efficiency depends heavily on the co-ordination of the party, skill builds, and the relative gear level of the teammates. Since launch we've made some modest changes to encourage co-op play but there's still room to go farther. At the same time, we don't want to go so far as to make multiplayer feel "mandatory" for those who prefer to play solo, but we still want to err on the side of being co-op favorable.

There's also a number of hurdles to co-op play beyond raw efficiency, so we'll be looking to alleviate/solve some of those hurdles too. The Identify All feature in 1.0.8 is an example of this. Sometimes the trip back to town to sort through a bag of gear is enough of a hurdle to make somebody feel playing co-op isn't worth it. Nobody wants to be in the dungeon fighting monsters while your teammate is off in town identifying a full inventory.

Blizzard Quote [source]

Lots of good comments here! Just a few quick points

1. As a point of clarification, "dropping less loot on the ground" is not slated for 1.0.8. It's part of our general philosophy for beyond the 1.0.8 timeframe.

2. I really like the suggestions that don't make multiplayer feel mandatory. Suggestions along the lines of "I don't want to feel penalized for playing with my friends" or "provide a small bonus to overcome the logistical overhead" are in the scope of what we're thinking.

3. We totally see the appeal of having more than 4 players in a game, but it has its downsides, and the big one is that the screen becomes so crowded you can't tell what's going on. It's important that a player can discern important information from the game world and make tactical decisions based on this information. We know some of you may disagree and you'll always want 8 players, and I can respect that. This is something we've debated heavily though, and feel strongly about.

4. We've discussed the "leecher" problem. Nothing to share yet but it's definitely rough when it happens.

Thanks for all the great discussion thus far!

Blizzard Quote [source]

We're looking at making some adjustments to monster density, and right now we'd like to see if we can get those changes in with 1.0.8. The trick with adjusting density is that, by doing so, we could inadvertently create another "most optimal" route in Act I, II, or IV. It's the kind of thing we'll be doing a lot of internal testing on before hand, and likely something we'll want to have up for additional testing on the PTR.

Blizzard Quote [source]

Yup! Pretty much this.

We're spending time working on monster density in Acts I, II and IV because while optimal routes are inevitable, we want things to be close enough that options exist.

Currently we have a situation where a small number of specific runs are twice (or more) as effective as your average run. This margin is too large and overshadows other factors. Our goal is to make the monster density in Inferno close enough that factors such as your skill choices and gear level start to become more relevant. Let's suppose you were trying to optimize XP/hour. What if a cookie-cutter Archon build on MP1 had one optimal run, but an SNS Wizard on MP3 had a different optimal run? Different areas also have different monsters with different abilities. Some classes have an easier time dealing with particular monster types, this can cause the “optimal run” to shift as well. If we get the overall densities closer, these other factors will start to become more relevant rather than the current situation where the raw monster density of a run dominates all other factors.

When things are close enough, you may try a run that is a little less XP/hour if it means increased Demonic Essences. Maybe you just really enjoy the art of the Act I jail. Maybe you just want some variety and haven't been to an area in a while. Maybe you want to do a full play through in co-op with a friend. It’s a matter of degree -- these aren't tradeoffs most players would make when the run results in a 50% loss in efficiency, but if the difference is 5-15% then these other factors come into consideration.

So, like Lylirra said, our goal is to avoid creating a new “most optional” run, and instead provide players with an environment that allows them to choose from multiple different options.

Blizzard Quote [source]

Ok I've finally caught up on all the responses in every location I could find them! This blog was written a while ago and between when I wrote it and when we released it a lot more relevant ideas came up so I want to mention a couple of them. I'm going to keep this short and to the point so I can get back to working on actually improving the game instead of talking about it. ;)

Below is a list of things that players can hopefully expect to see as soon as patch 1.0.8.

Mob density

Acts 1, 2, and 4 will be receiving some adjustments in Inferno difficulty games. We want to try to make all of the acts as comparable as possible so that players don't feel they always have to farm the same areas of the game repeatedly, diversity is the spice of life.

Multi Craft

We want to make it easier to craft lots of items, so we plan on giving players the ability to specify how many of an item they want to craft and then to make that many. Want to make 20 Archon Shoulders of Dexterity? Cool, push the button and watch it go.

AH tooltip compare

Ever wish you could compare the item you are thinking about buying with the item you are wearing? You want it, we want it, and we hope to have it in game soon.

In addition to the changes we introduce in 1.0.8 we also have longer term plans to address issues that need more attention. I mentioned a lot of these long term plans in the blog and outlined some of our philosophies that will drive the itemization of Diablo forward. One of those ideas that I saw mentioned repeatedly in response to the blog is the fact that class specific items can roll non class appropriate primary stats, we have plans to change this down the road. While random really is at the core of Diablo in so many ways this is certainly one of the areas where it has no potential to benefit players. Wizards don't use Strength, Demon Hunters don't use Intelligence so let's just remove those as potential random attributes on Orbs and Quivers respectively.

Blizzard Quote [source]

For right now (since 1.0.8 is still being developed), we aren't going to have a lot of additional details to share about what's included in the patch. As development continues, though, we'll be sure to share more information -- most likely in the form of a patch preview blog like we've done in the past, as well as just talking about stuff in here in the forums.

The distinction I was making with my previous post is that most of the changes Travis' discussed in his blog aren't coming with 1.0.8, but are instead being planned for sometime after 1.0.8 ships.

(PS - HI WYATT. HI TRAVIS.)

Blizzard Quote [source]

Sorry but it is hard to follow. What features or changes are not included in patch 1.0.8?

No worries. :) The only changes we've confirmed to be working on for 1.0.8 so far are Identify All, a new multi-craft option, monster density adjustments, and AH comparison tooltips. Travis sums everthing up quite nicely here: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/8087879561?page=4#76

The other changes in Travis' blog are being discussed for after 1.0.8.