The Diablo 4 Season 1 Campfire Chat just took place. The panel consisting of Joe Shely (Game Director), Joseph Piepiora (Associate Game Director) and Adam Fletcher (Associate Director of Community) tackled the post Patch 1.1.0 release and feedback from the community. See all of the key takeaways below.
Community Feedback
During the Season 1 Campfire Chat, the Development Team talked about the pushback to Patch 1.1.0. The following topics were discussed.
- Cooldown Reduction (CDR) - CDR is one of the most powerful Affixes in the game. The overall reduction was to prevent players from having nearly instantaneous use of skills that otherwise were not intended. While having access to this is really fun, it can be harsh when taken away. Team is looking into it.
- Nightmare Dungeons - In general, are way overturned for the role they fill in the game. Tier 100 is excruciating difficult to get up to for most players/classes. They are over scaled compared to where they wanted them to be. Tier 70 is where they actually want them to be. A reduction in difficulty will be coming to bring overall difficulty inline with the team's vision of the system. Tier 100 is a good goal, but new pinnacle content will help make for true high-end content.
- Sorcerer Builds - The many changes were in an effort to bring a few builds back in line with the others before, "building back up," from there. Ultimately, doing these changes without taking into consideration how the player feels about them is a pain point the team recognizes. They have heard feedback and have plans to address issues with the class.
- Vulnerable Damage - Vulnerable Damage is far more potent Affix compared to others. They could just reduce the scale factor (being a separated multiplier in the calculations), but that leaves the overall power just lower. The team recognizes they would need to look at other Affixes and adjust them to help compensate and level off the heavy reliance on Vulnerable Damage while not nerfing overall damage so much. In addition, understand some classes/builds rely more so than not on Vulnerable Damage being the core of the build. With that, they will be careful to use a scalpel and not a hammer.
- Overpowered Builds - The team acknowledges there were some nerfs made to builds, but may have failed to provide aid to classes elsewhere. In the future, the team will be more inclined to let those overpowered builds continue until, "...compelling alternatives," are provided. This goal aims to not have such big swings in class power and fun. Builds that rely on bugs to work will be addressed more quickly, especially with Leaderboards being worked on for Season 3.
- Pace of Changes - Meta changes should happen at predictable times. Between seasons is a great target for them to occur. Players can expect a few days to a week notice when changes that can affect builds are coming to avoid sudden build changes from one login to another.
- Nightmare Dungeon Hotfix - Coming out today! More info to come later on the adjustments of monster Health and Damage discussed earlier in the article.
- Patch 1.1.1 - Taking a long look at Sorcerer and Barbarian Legendary Aspects, etc. Another Campfire Chat will happen next Friday (July 28th) with more detailed information.
- Helltide and Nightmare Dungeon Density (Patch 1.1.1) - Helltides (where appropriate) and Nightmare Dungeons across the board will see a big monster density increase. They will take care not to over do it in certain areas for Helltides to not create death traps.
- Stash (Patch 1.1.1) - Adding another stash tab for players. Elixir stack size goes up to 99! Gem changes are still planned for Season 2.
- Respecs (Patch 1.1.1) - Realize the mission statement was in conflict with the reality of the game. In order to make going from one build to another, cost for respecing will be reduced by ~40%!
- Experience Gains (Levels 50-100) (Patch 1.1.1) - They want the leveling progression from 1 to 100 to feel like a journey, but not a job. They see a bunch of players stuck in the 50-70 level range. Their goal with Patch 1.1.0 was not to slow the game down, but realize now the overall effect of changes. They are looking to adjust XP rates at World Tier III and World Tier IV milestones to aid players to 100. Further details will be brought to light on next week's Camp Fire.
- Leaderboards (Season 3)- Want to make content to pair directly with Leaderboards. They look forward to showing it off in the future.
Community Questions
When will Leaderboards be coming?
Want to make content to pair directly with Leaderboards (not tied to Nightmare Dungeons). They look forward to showing it off in the future.
Uber Uniques are so rare, they effectively don't exist. What's going to happen to them?
They want the Uber Uniques to be the ones with the huge damage spikes. They also see that the drop rate is way out there. Can expect to be brought down a little to make them a little more attainable but still very rare. More ways to potentially obtain them can come along in the future too.
Addressing Crowd Control from monsters?
The tools you have to handle CC from enemies, especially with density increases coming, aren't there. They will talk more in the near future to bring CC from monsters more inline.
Loadout feature incoming?
UI team is working on it and very excited. No timeline for it yet.
When to expect Patch 1.1.1?
With the Campfire next Friday, safe to assume a few days after, but no solid date given.
Are there plans to address the journey, specifically post 70 (World Tier IV)?
They admit there are not enough milestones post level 70 in World Tier IV. They do have plans to add more things, especially with Season 2. These milestones would not just be at Level 100, but along the way.
Plans to address loot drops and target farming?
They don't want to reduce the "difficulty" of getting items with a perfect range. There have avenues open to them to help improve the progression through the Ancestral tier of gear. There are plans in Season 2 to more target farm particular gear/Aspects.
Matchmaking to make it easier to group up with other players?
Teams are looking into it, but no other specifics given.
Updates to Armor? Sorcerer on Hardcore is non existent.
There are certain monsters that are out liners when it comes to dealing damage along with the bugged Charges. Sorcerer Armor issue is known about and being looked into.
Has the team considered letting players, through sacrificing Aspects, increase the Codex of Power ranges to eventually make useful enough to avoid needing so many versions in our stash?
The team is looking into how the player can more interact with the Codex of Power and potentially expand its purpose.
Is the team aware of certain Affix changes, for example, Cooldown Reduction on Weapons can effect certain builds more than others?
Yes, the team is aware and is looking at more refinements. Want to do changes where required but make sure alternatives are there as well and not dramatically shift a build to the point of breaking it.
Plan for Resistances? Right now feel like a wasted stat.
Changes are coming around Season 2 that will bring them in line.
Campaign Bosses be brought into the Dungeon pool?
They acknowledge they may be under utilized, and we'll see what comes in the future.
Plan to introduce more ways to craft and augment gear?
Yes, there are plans in the future to do more with their items to make them more their own.
Updating loot tables for Treasure Goblins? Different types?
There is room for different types in the future. In regard to Treasure Goblins loot tables, there is a plan to update the Legendary Item drop rate soon (no TM)!
Another Campfire Chat will happen next Friday ( July 28th) that will talk about Patch 1.1.1, which will include changes to Barbarian, Sorcerer and other things.
Season Updates Rolling In!
Our focus for the start of Season 1 is to get all our current Build Guides updated with the new Malignant Hearts while we navigate new builds that reveal themselves. We're continuing to work on more updates for D4Planner and our World Map! More news coming this week, stay tuned!
If you haven't already, head over to our Discord and select the D4 role in #roles to stay up to date with our content development.
Written by: Dredscythe
Reviewed by: Facefoot, Xtra37