I'm kinda feeling lackluster about this expansion pack. Yes, the new Act and new class are definitely welcome. I'm excited about the new Loot although it sounds like many of the loot drop changes are not exclusive to the pack itself. I guess I'm feeling underwhelmed because I remember the day that D2: Lord of Destruction was announced and it added so much. I was hoping for some new or re-worked gems (gimmee skulls, they looked so cool!), runes and runeword bonuses for socketed items, etc.

Here is what I see we are getting in the expansion exclusively:
- 1 new class
- 1 new act
- level cap up to 70 (and in turn a whole new slew of legendaries and set items)
- the mystic

And, that's it, right? I guess I've noticed is Blizzard is careful to say the "first expansion pack as been announced" but it feels like this is half of what it could of been. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about the changes they have planned, but for the stuff that is exclusive to the expansion pack, I find myself wanting more.

Here are the skill descriptions that we know so far:

These first two were copied from screenshots and should be 100% correct.

Scourge
Scourge your enemies, surrounding them in threads of hallowed power. The threads cut and bleed enemies that they attach to, and will seek out new enemies to latch onto and punish.

Fist of the Heavens - Well of Retribution
Create a well of holy lightning at the target location that will electrocute nearby enemies.

The rest of these were read off the screen at Gamescom by a guy in a YouTube video:
.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUSp_gR7VaI
He does have an accent but most of the time it sounds like he read things correctly.
I have italicized his direct quotes which sound weird to me.

Heaven's Fury
Call down a furious ray of holy power that burns and damages all enemies.

Falling Sword
Launches yourself into the heavens and comes crashing down on your enemies.

Judgement
Pass your judgement on all enemies in an area.

Law of Valor
Whenever you deal a critical strike against an enemy there is a chance you and your allies will deal more damage for a short period of time.

Law of Faith
When you dodge you an your allies will move faster for a short period of time.

Law of Justice
Cooldown: 30 seconds
Active: Recite a Law, granting you and your allies 900 All Resistances for 5 seconds.
Passive: Whenever you block you, there is a chance you and your allies' resistances will increase by 300 for 5 seconds.

Blessed Hammer
The Blessed Hammer spins around you damaging any enemies around you.

Blessed Shield
Hurls a celestial shield through the air smashing it into enemies.


Passives

Stand Your Ground
Your block chance is increased by 5% and your dodge chance is decreased to 0%.

Indestructible
Gain 1% armor with 5% life missing.
I think this means: Gain 1% armor for every 5% life you lose.

Wrathful
Gain 5% Wrath regeneration for 3 seconds when you block. "Wrawr"

Heavenly Strength
You can wield 2 handed weapons in your main hand while holding a shield in your off hand. Your maximum movement speed is reduced by 10%. "I want both"

Vigilant Unlocked at Level 34
Increase your life regeneration by 413, increase your total life regeneration by 3% and reduce non-physical damage by 2%. "Constant vigilance!"

Holy Cause
Increase the amount of Holy damage on your weapons by 10%. The proc effect of Holy weapons is increased by 10%. "Let Heaven's might be unleashed upon the wicked."

Finery
Gain 34 resistance to all elements for every different color gem socketed. If you have 5 different color gems socketed into your gear you gain another 34 resistance to all elements.

Against All Odds
When sourrounded by 4 or more enemies within 15 yards you gain 10% critical hit chance for 5 seconds

Someone posted this in Diablofans.... True or not, who knows?


"Mystic artisan NPC:
Transmogrify: changes gear appearance, costs: 1 demonic essence, 1 fiery brimstone, 1 shadow stone
Enchanting: re-rolls 1 item affix, costs: 1 demonic essence, 1 ghost essence, 1 gem (any, higher tier = better roll)
Salvage reagants: whites = ghost essence, shadow rares (Act 5 rares) = shadow stone..."

Does anyone know if there is a limit to the number of times you can re-roll an affix? If there isn't then what is to stop someone from simply grabbing gear with the right number of affixes and re-rolling it until its godly?

Posted by tsukiyomi at 08/23/2013 04:00 PM

Does anyone know if there is a limit to the number of times you can re-roll an affix? If there isn't then what is to stop someone from simply grabbing gear with the right number of affixes and re-rolling it until its godly?

It becomes BoA when you use it I believe.

Do you think loot 2.0 and para changes will come right before xpac or some time prior to xpac?

Posted by douvinsky at 08/22/2013 03:20 AM

@gnawol

Are you still playing D3 or are you waiting for expansion?

i haven't played in a long time now,i logged in a few times after my daughter was born but wasn't feeling that "spark" i once had when i played.. I'll be back for the expansion though since there's finally some new content :-)

Posted by zerokewl at 08/24/2013 12:09 PM

Do you think loot 2.0 and para changes will come right before xpac or some time prior to xpac?

Everyone in Blizz is saying loot 2.0 and paragon will be a major patch before the expac...

Mystic/Lv70/Crusader/Act 5 is expac required.

Posted by mentok1982 at 08/23/2013 01:38 PM

Heavenly Strength
You can wield 2 handed weapons in your main hand while holding a shield in your off hand.

And this is how they get around the sword and board damage issues...has noone seen this yet? Imagine an LS skorn with uber shield stats. That crusader will be nigh unstoppable.

Crusader can't use Skorn?

hehe, crusader won't use Skorn, because Crusader comes out with exp that contains whole new tier of wpns.

But @Baldy I see your point. But is the same complaint ppl have against Manticore + Deadman's Legacy.
2H Wpn + stats from "off hand"


*Edit. Also... if I remember correctly the original game released with the barbarian being able to duel-wield 2H wpns.

Posted by Mehsiah at 08/24/2013 03:07 PM

Posted by zerokewl at 08/24/2013 12:09 PM

Do you think loot 2.0 and para changes will come right before xpac or some time prior to xpac?

Everyone in Blizz is saying loot 2.0 and paragon will be a major patch before the expac...

Mystic/Lv70/Crusader/Act 5 is expac required.

Yes I saw that, but I was wondering if the patch will come out just before the Xpac releases or if it will come out a month or two prior. if not we have a long time of boring grinding with no major changes.

Posted by mentok1982 at 08/23/2013 01:38 PM

Vigilant Unlocked at Level 34
Increase your life regeneration by 42, increase your life regeneration by 3% and reduce non-physical damage by 2%.
Why 42 life regen and 3%? Sounds weird.

Maybe cause it's the Answer to Life, the Universe, & Everything...? ;-) hehehehe...

Posted by Mehsiah at 08/23/2013 03:46 PM

Someone posted this in Diablofans.... True or not, who knows?


"Mystic artisan NPC:
Transmogrify: changes gear appearance, costs: 1 demonic essence, 1 fiery brimstone, 1 shadow stone
Enchanting: re-rolls 1 item affix, costs: 1 demonic essence, 1 ghost essence, 1 gem (any, higher tier = better roll)
Salvage reagants: whites = ghost essence, shadow rares (Act 5 rares) = shadow stone..."

Did they list their source?

When you transmogrify, don't you also need the piece of gear that you want your old gear to look like? Like if I wanted to change a Grandfather 2h sword to look like the Maximus 2h sword, I would need to use a Maximus.

Posted by mentok1982 at 08/26/2013 05:03 AM

Did they list their source?

When you transmogrify, don't you also need the piece of gear that you want your old gear to look like? Like if I wanted to change a Grandfather 2h sword to look like the Maximus 2h sword, I would need to use a Maximus.

I think transmogrify is just palette swaps. I don't think you change the form of the sword itself.

Posted by mentok1982 at 08/26/2013 05:03 AM

Posted by Mehsiah at 08/23/2013 03:46 PM

Someone posted this in Diablofans.... True or not, who knows?


"Mystic artisan NPC:
Transmogrify: changes gear appearance, costs: 1 demonic essence, 1 fiery brimstone, 1 shadow stone
Enchanting: re-rolls 1 item affix, costs: 1 demonic essence, 1 ghost essence, 1 gem (any, higher tier = better roll)
Salvage reagants: whites = ghost essence, shadow rares (Act 5 rares) = shadow stone..."

Did they list their source?

When you transmogrify, don't you also need the piece of gear that you want your old gear to look like? Like if I wanted to change a Grandfather 2h sword to look like the Maximus 2h sword, I would need to use a Maximus.

Its the word from people who have played it at Gamescon.

Shamelessly stealing from diablo incgamers, but it sounds like they may be planning a 5th difficulty level and I doubt it's going to be one below normal. Adding a level beyond Inferno would definitely make the clvl 70 cap and reagents much easier to implement. We could also be assured that nearly all of our Inferno mats will be useless and it will be very easy to restrict the best mats to Inferno+1. It also allows them to have higher grade gems to drop from monsters to keep the gem crafting balanced if they want to add 1-3 tiers of gems without crushing players under Gold requirements.

edit: further shameless theft: Diamond gem reduces cooldowns in helms, adds AR in armor and +%elite damage in weapons right now. Reduces cooldown could be huge, the others are just meh for me. I suspect the +%elite damage is going to have to go up to the +50% range to be useful.