It's almost time... for Death!

Path 2.0.1 has been released for Diablo 3 which is the gateway patch to the newest expansion Reaper of Souls. Check out the patch notes below. There are quite a bit of changes, much more then even what Blizzard themselves posted so login and start gathering some new toys to defeat Mathael.

 

GENERAL

  • Pools of Reflection have been added to the game
    • Pools of Reflection provide a 25% bonus to experience
    • This bonus persists until you reach a set amount of bonus experience (equal to approximately 10% of the current amount of Paragon experience needed to reach the next Paragon level) or your character dies
    • Gathering additional Pools of Reflection bonuses increases the amount of total experience bonus a character can receive until character death, stacking up to 10 times
    • This experience bonus persists on logout
  • Nephalem Glory has been added to the game
    • Occasionally during battle, monsters will drop Power Globes when damaged or killed
    • Power Globes grant the Nephalem Glory buff, which causes players to deal additional damage in the form of golden lightning bolts and increases their movement speed for a short time
    • This buff can stack up to three times
  • New hero stats have been added to the game
    • These include Toughness, Healing, Splash Damage, Cooldown Reduction, and Resource Cost Reduction
    • Life Steal has been redesigned and is now less effective at higher character levels
      • At level 60, Life Steal is reduced to 10% effectiveness
  • Players now have the ability to resurrect in multiple places when they die in Normal (non-Hardcore) games
    • You may choose to either resurrect at your body, in town, or at the last checkpoint you encountered
    • Players may not resurrect at their body during a Boss encounter
    • Players may only resurrect at their body a maximum of three times in a row
  • Player hit boxes have been adjusted to more closely represent character models
    • Both male and female models of the same class share the same size hit box
  • Followers now automatically level with characters
  • Quests now occasionally grant item rewards when completed during the leveling process
  • Gold can no longer be traded
  • Graphics engine has been updated to support reflections
    • Reflections can be turned on in the Options > Video menu
    • Note: This setting is not recommended for players running minimum system specifications

 

BOSSES

  • Many bosses have had their mechanics revisted and retuned
    • The following bosses have received the largest changes to their encounters:
      • Maghda
      • Siegebreaker
      • Azmodan
      • Iskatu
    • In addition, the enrage timers for the following Bosses will only be enabled in Torment I and above:
      • The Butcher
      • Zoltun Kulle
      • Belial
      • Ghom
      • Siegebreaker
      • Rakanoth

 

CLASSES

  • All classes have undergone significant revision. Additional details and patch notes will be available in the near future. In the meantime, we encourage you to log in and explore the new changes for yourself!

 

CRAFTING AND ARTISANS

  • Crafting has received several quality of life changes
    • Crafting materials have been condensed into two item level tiers: 1-60 and 60-70
      • This change is to reduce the amount of stash space consumed by crafting materials and simply older crafting recipes
      • All crafting materials currently in character inventories and stash have been converted accordingly
    • All crafted items will now roll with stats appropriate to the character crafting them, using the Loot 2.0 Smart Drop system
      • Please note that items designed to roll specific stats, such as the Archon Armor patterns, are exempt from this system
    • Items purchased from vendors are now flagged as such, and cannot be salvaged

 

DIFFICULTY

  • The difficulty system has been completely revised
    • Nightmare, Hell, and Inferno modes have been removed
    • Difficulty is now dynamic and monsters will level up with your characters
    • There are now five difficulty settings to choose from: Normal, Hard, Expert, Master, and Torment (1-6)
      • Normal, Hard, and Expert are immediately available
      • Master unlocks upon completing Act IV
      • Torment unlocks upon reaching level 60
      • Torment level also includes a difficulty slider, offering an additional six adjustments with increasing rewards and more powerful monsters
      • Each level offers new bonuses and rewards, visible in the difficulty selection menu
    • You can now lower your difficulty setting in-game
      • However, increasing your difficulty still requires exiting your current game
      • This option is disabled in Hardcore mode
    • To account for these changes, monster density has been adjusted across all Acts

 

EVENTS

  • Cursed Objects
    • Chests and Shrines around Sanctuary now have a chance to be cursed, starting an event once they are inspected
    • Like other events, completing a Cursed Chest or Shrine provides a small gold and experience reward, as well as either a Radiant Chest or a random Shrine buff
    • These events offer a variety of challenges, including endless monster waves and timed events
  • Infernal Machines
    • Torment level difficulty is now required to use Infernal Machines

 

ITEMIZATION (LOOT 2.0)

  • Itemization has undergone a major overhaul:
    • Legendary and Set items are now Bind on Account
      • Players in multiplayer games may trade Legendaries and Set Items they find with others who were present for the drop for up to 2 hours after the item is acquired
    • The Smart Drop system has been implemented
      • All items that drop have a chance to roll as "Smart Loot"
      • Smart Loot items roll intelligently based on the character being played (example: A Wizard is more likely to find items with Intelligence or bonuses to Wizard skills than a Barbarian)
      • Class specific items will no longer roll stats inappropriate to their class (example: Intelligence will no longer appear on Mighty Weapons or Belts)
    • New item affixes have been added to the game
      • This include Splash Damage, Cooldown Reduction, Resource Cost Reduction, +% damage to Physical damage skills, and specific Class Skill Bonuses
    • Item properties have been separated into two categories: Primary and Secondary
      • Primary Stats include: Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Vitality, Critical Hit Damage, Critical Hit Chance, Attack Speed, Life per Second, Armor, +% Life, Bonus Damage to Elites, Bleed Damage, All Resistance, Sockets, and all new affixes listed above
      • Secondary Stats include: Gold Find, Thorns, Bonus Experience per Monster Kill, Chance for (Fear, Stun, Blind, Freeze, Chill, Slow, Immobilize and Knockback), Ignore Durability Loss, Bonus Healing to Health Globes and Potions, Bonus Pickup Radius, Single Resist, Life After Kill, and Level Requirement Reduction
      • This is to prevent stats that directly and indirectly increase character power from competing with one another
    • Stat ranges on items have been narrowed significantly (example: instead of an item having a stat range of 1-200 Strength, its range might now be something like 140-200)
    • Legendary powers now roll in a range, instead of a static amount
      • Example: The Legendary Spirit Stone “The Laws of Seph” has the legendary affix “Using Blinding Flash restores [75-100] spirit”
    • Players can now view the stat ranges of items by pressing and holding CTRL while an item's tooltip is open
    • All Legendary items have been reworked with one or all of the above points in mind
    • Potions have been condensed to a single type; they now provide 60% of your total health when consumed
      • All Potions currently in character inventories or stashes will be converted to the new Potion type

 

MONSTERS

  • Monster affixes have been revisited and retuned
    • Arcane Enchanted
      • Spawn effect now shows which direction it will start rotating
    • Desecrator
      • Damage now begins low, but quickly ramps up to its maximum damage
    • Frozen
      • Increased the number of Frozen crystals spawned by monsters with this affix
      • Frozen no longer increases how many crystals are spawned based on the number of players in the game
      • Frozen crystals now deal area of effect damage over time to players as they build up to their explosion
    • Jailer
      • Now does a small amount of damage when applied to the player
    • Vortex
      • Now does a small amount of damage when applied to the player
    • Mortar
      • Now has an outer impact area that does less damage than the center of impact
      • Now detonates if they vertically hit a wall
    • Plagued
      • Monsters with this affix now sometimes drop a pool under players as well as under themselves
    • Reflects Damage
      • No longer reflects a portion of incoming damage
      • Now reflects a fixed amount of damage per attack
    • Elite and Champion monsters now have five new possible affixes
      • Frozen Pulse: A shard of ice follows targets around before freezing in place and pulsing cold damage in a small area
      • Orbiter: A nexus of electrical energy appears, surrounded by additional balls of lightning that orbit in a large area
      • Poison Enchanted: Summons globules of poison matter that spread in a cross pattern, dealing damage to those caught in their wake
      • Thunderstorm: A powerful bolt of lightning strikes the ground, emanating a small wave of electrical energy
      • Wormhole: A pair of portals appears, dealing damage as it tears unfortunate targets from their location and transports them elsewhere
  • Monster density has been revisited
    • Density has been retuned around the new difficulty system
    • Elite and Champion packs can now spawn in a larger variation of pack sizes
  • Wasp projectiles can now be dodged and blocked

 

PARAGON (PARAGON 2.0)

  • The Paragon leveling system has been completely revamped
    • There is no longer a cap on the number of Paragon levels a player can gain
    • Paragon levels are now account-wide and shared across all characters
      • Note that Paragon levels are tracked independently between Hardcore and Normal modes
    • Players no longer gain static bonuses upon achieving Paragon Levels and bonuses currently earned by players have been removed
    • Players now earn Paragon points each level to spend in one of four separate categories: Core, Offense, Defense, and Utility
      • Players with existing Paragon levels have been granted the appropriate number of points to distribute amongst these categories
    • With these changes in mind, the Paragon leveling curve has been updated
    • Note that all Paragon experience earned across all characters prior to this patch has been totaled and recalculated into your new account-wide Paragon level
      • Paragon points can be allocated by clicking the Paragon button in the Character Paper Doll and Inventory screen (Default Hotkey C)

 

SOCIAL FEATURES

  • Clans and Communities have been added to the game
    • Clans
      • Anyone may create a Clan, and doing so gives access to the Clan window (default hotkey N)
      • Joining or creating a clan displays your clan tag next to your name
      • Clan members can view the Members Roster, a private chat channel, and a News & Info tab for Clan affairs and information in the Clan window
      • Clans support up to 120 members and require an invitation to join
      • Players may only be a member of one Clan at a time
    • Communities
      • Anyone may create a Community, and can view their Community details in the Social tab (default hotkey SHIFT + O)
      • Community members have access to their Members Roster, a dedicated chat channel, and a News & Info tab for sharing stories and Community information
      • Players may join any number of Communities they wish
      • Communities do not have a membership limit; however, if the number of members exceeds 100, only Officers and above will be displayed in the Members Roster
      • Communities can be designated as Private or Public; Private Communities require invitation to join
      • Communities are organized by categories, including but not limited to Classes, Regional, and Game Type

 

USER INTERFACE

  • Several quality of life changes have been applied to the User Interface
    • The Difficulty and Game Creation menus have been completely redone
    • The in-game Menu has been revised
    • The waypoint list has been replaced with a waypoint map
    • Skill tooltips now show damage type if Advanced Tooltips are enabled
    • Several new social options have been added to support Clans and Communities
      • These can be accessed in the Options > Gameplay menu
    • New chat colors associated with Clans and Communities have been added
    • There is now an option to enable icons for dropped items instead of text
      • This can be enabled in the Options > Gameplay menu
    • There is now an option to automatically skip all cut scenes
      • This can be enabled in the Options > Gameplay menu
    • Item labels for Gold piles are no longer displayed
      • This is to reduce visual clutter; values are still displayed when gold is picked up

World of Warcraft News: 2/18/2014

(Or: SIXTY BUCKS? Sure... why not?)

Well, Patch 5.4.7 has landed, and some very interesting things went down.  The full list of notes will be included below, but here are a couple of the big things that hit with this.  

world-of-warcraft-level-90-boost.jpg
  • New in-game store added
    • A simple UI added to allow for in-game purchases, for level boosts and more (To be released)
  • Level 90 boost enabled
    • For a measly $60 USD you can increase ANY character new or old to 90, keep in mind that the free boost for one character is still on the table for Warlords, but in the meantime, feel free to unleash the beast for the low low cost.
  • New PVP season
    • Season 14 ended, congratulations to all the gladiators, and let Season 15 BEGIN
  • Honor gear item level is increased to 522, Conquest gear item level is increased to 550.
  • The new gear drops from the Celestials, too.
  • The Krasarang rares now only drop honor once per day.
  • Timeless Isle weapons are all automatically upgraded to ilvl 489 including ones you already own! Easier bridge to the LFR meaty goodness.
  • For the two of you complaining about AV still, there are terrain changes and NPC changes in Alterac Valley
  • Dampening will start at 5 minutes in 2v2 arenas only

Alright, those were the highlights, here are the official notes:

Classes

  • Druid
    • Talents
      • Heart of the Wild now provides the following benefits from PvP Power when activated.
        • Restoration Druids now receive 50% of their PvP Power applied towards damage while the ability is active (down from 100%).
        • Feral and Balance Druids now receive 100% of their PvP Power applied towards healing while the ability is active (down from 120%).
  • Rogue
    • Talents
      • Nerve Strike now causes a successful Kidney Shot or Cheap Shot to also reduce the damage dealt by player targets by 25% (down from 50% for player targets). No changes to the talent when used against non-player targets.
  • Warlock
    • Demonology
      • Felguard's Legion Strike and Wrathguard's Mortal Cleave now reduces the effectiveness of any healing received for 6 seconds (up from 5 seconds) so the pet can maintain the effect without Haste.
  • Warrior
    • General
      • Disrupting Shout and Pummel now both share a 15-second cooldown when either ability is used. Disrupting Shout's 40-second cooldown remains unchanged but the ability will be unavailable for 15 seconds after using Pummel.

Creatures

  • Celestials now drop Season 15 Prideful Gladiator gear in place of Season 14 Grievous Gladiator gear.
  • Rare spawns in Krasarang Wilds now award Honor Points only when they are defeated for the first time each day.
  • NPC guards around PvP vendors on the Serpent's Spine have been upgraded to have more health and deal more damage.

Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios

  • Siege of Orgrimmar
    • Garrosh Hellscream
      • Garrosh Hellscream and Minions of Y'Shaarj now have less health on 10-player Heroic difficulty.
      • Unstable Iron Stars now triggered when 4 or more players are together (up from 3 players) on 10-player Heroic difficulty.

PvP

  • Season 15 has begun! With the start of the new season, Prideful Gladiator gear, and weapons are now available for purchase.
  • Season 14 Grievous Gladiator gear and weapons can now be purchased using Honor Points instead of Conquest Points.
  • Base Resilience for level-90 players is now 77% (up from 72%). Base Resilience for players below level 90 remain at 40%.
  • Resilience Diminishing Returns curve for Resilience has been adjusted for the new base resilience value to maintain the same value per point of Resilience as previously.
  • Battle Fatigue now reduces healing received while in PvP combat by 60% (up from 55%).
  • Gladiator's Distinction, the set bonus for wearing two PvP trinkets, now grants 5280 Resilience (up from 2600).

Battlegrounds and Arenas

  • Arenas
    • For the 2v2 Arena bracket, Dampening is now applied to the match starting at the 5 minute mark (down from 10 minutes).
    • For 3v3 and 5v5 Arena brackets, there is no change. Dampening will continue to be applied at the 10 minute mark.
  • Alterac Valley
  • The following NPCs now have more health and deal more damage.
    • Alliance: Vanndar Stormpike, Balinda Stonehearth, Stormpike Defenders, Stormpike Bowman, and all Marshals.
    • Horde: Captain Galvangar, Drek'thar, Frostwolf Guardian, Frostwolf Bowman, and all Warmasters.
  • The following NPCs are now immune to disarm, daze, and Death Grip.
    • Alliance: Vanndar Stormpike, Balinda Stonehearth
    • Horde: Captain Galvangar, Drek'thar
  • Terrain outside of Frostwolf Keep has been modified to prevent players from jumping over the walls.

Items

  • The following items sold by Mistweaver Ai on the Timeless Isle have been raised to item level 489 (up from item level 476). This change is retroactive to all items that had been purchased previously.
    • Cloudscorcher Greatstaff
    • Contemplation of Shaohao
    • Daylight Protectorate
    • Featherdraw Longbow
    • Hozen Can Opener
    • Ordon Sacrificial Dagger
    • Pandaren Peace Offering
    • Scavenged Pandaren Dagger
    • Shield of the Eternal Noon
    • Yak-Herder's Longstaff

UI

  • BattleTag™ or Real ID friends are now only able to send 10 chat messages every 10 seconds over Battle.net® chat. User Interface Add-Ons should use the new send function and receive events to send communications information.

Isle of Thunder

  • Resolved a bug where walls on the Isle of Thunder may incorrectly revert to an earlier progression stage.