Saturday, June 30, 2012

Diablo 3 changes, damage calculator, hotfix and more

Diablo III Damage Calculator
Dyril has posted about a nice damage calculator that he has been working on. The calculator does not require a spreadsheet and dual wielding is included in the calculations. You are able to save all your stat information, making it much easier to return at a later time and compare it with new gear.

Make sure to take a look at his thread for more information as well as give any feedback. He has been actively updating the tool based on feedback.


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Hotfixes for June 29th

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

  • General
    • Identifying an item will no longer allow players to circumvent a skill’s attack animation cooldown
    • Fixed a bug that allowed players to temporarily increase their attack speed or double-cast a skill by clicking repeatedly on Town Portal while performing an ability
    • Fixed some additional (but rare) game crashes
  • Auction House
    • Fixed a bug that was causing stacks of commodities in a player’s stash to update incorrectly if the items being sent from the Completed Tab were purchased from multiple different sellers

Item Budgets
Bashiok hits the forums giving some basic information on item budgets.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

It is one piece of what determines an item's "budget". You can think of an item as a blank slate, and by placing specific labels on it that have pre-determined "costs" the item essentially has a number of points it can then "spend on itself". The game will say "This is an ilvl 63 rare set of gloves". Those labels determine what affixes it can have, its maximum and minimum ranges, as well as damage, speed, armor, etc. Essentially every part of the item is determined by its type (common, magic, rare, legendary), what kind of item it is (head, chest, sword, etc.) and item level. Crafted, Legendary and Set items follow the same rules, but can have set affixes on them that don't change but still have a range to roll.

Item's also have broad ranges, and will overlap. The below concept of that overlap is in no way accurate or indicative of anything at all, except to illustrate the overlap. :)

Completely made up power scale that has no basis in anything:

<--------ilvl61-------->
   <--------ilvl62-------->
<--------ilvl63-------->

I'm probably missing something in there, but that's the basic gist. We're working on adding a ton of the more nitty gritty game design specifics to the Game Guide up-top. We're shooting for something not too unlike the old Arreat Summit to detail systems and the inner workings of the game, which should help with this specific question as well.

Colossal Golgor Double Hit
It appears the Colossal Golgor is currently attacking twice.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

A crystal shield used to absorb a double swing from the fat colossus and now it destroys the shield and half my life.
We're aware the Colossal Golgor is bugged, and attacking twice. The other situations you mention aren't on our radar, but we'll look into them.

As for overall damage increases, no changes went in, but we'll do some spot checks just to make sure no bugs cropped up from some of the other fixes.

Are you going to fix the repair costs, or am I just going to stop playing since I lose 50k-100k gold a night due to the fact that you nerfed my class to the point where it's unplayable? Playing a DH with no passive defenses or active defenses (lol 1 second SS with a 2 second CD) is a joke.
We like the repair costs where they are now. I'd recommend hitting up the DH forums and see if there's some help others can offer. There are a few guides and threads that might provide some helpful tips on staying alive.


Battle.net Balance and WoW Subscription
Bashiok posted confirming that they are working on getting WoW subscriptions working with battle.net balance.

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Purchasing through your Battle.net account should allow you to use your Battle.net balance. It's not an option on the Blizzard Store, though, which is separate from digital purchases directly on your account.
What can I purchase with my Battle.net Balance?

I'm just curious as to why I cannot pay for my WoW subscription with it. Seems really silly.
We're working on it!

Originally Posted by Blizzard 

Possible legendary Updates in 1.0.4?

My wording is usually picked pretty carefully. We're not changing it. New set in 1.0.4 might be different though.

Did you mean 1.1, or are Legendaries getting updated sooner now?
We'll have more information as we get closer to future updates. :) (Source)

RMAH and Item Drops
JOURNALISM! I think the claims in the original article have been sufficiently addressed as being devoid of context and fact by others here as multiple replies have been made, very publicly, on the topic.

If you'd like to discuss the basic premise of the AH and item drops, feel free, but I don't think that spreading misinformation is particularly helpful to any onlookers who don't happen to read each page. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Blizzard at Gamescom 2012

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

The largest games convention on Earth is happening in Cologne, Germany from August 15 to 19 this year. Blizzard Entertainment is excited to announce our presence at gamescom 2012, where visitors will have the chance to witness the world premiere of the World of Warcraft®: Mists of Pandaria™ opening cinematic. The latest creation from Blizzard’s cinematics team will be shown on giant screens at our booth on Thursday, August 16, the first fully public day of the event.

We’re also pleased to announce that this year we’ll be showcasing World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, Diablo® III, and StarCraft® II: Heart of the Swarm™! Don’t miss your chance to experience the games first-hand and to meet members of the development teams. In addition, be sure to get creative and join in our famous dance and costume competitions.

Visit the Blizzard Entertainment booth in Halle 6.1 (B21) at the Koelnmesse in Cologne and prepare to be epically entertained. For more information on gamescom, check out the official site.
New Diablo III Wallpaper

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Picking out the appropriate desktop wallpaper to fit your tastes and complement your décor can be an arduous task. To that end, we'll be offering you help every Friday (...roughly) by featuring a new downloadable Diablo III, StarCraft II or World of Warcraft wallpaper image on our community sites.