Diablo III’s Patch 2.0 has now been live for nearly a week and previous players are all wondering, does it warrant a return to Sanctuary? Being avid Diablo III fans, the staff at Full Cleared dived straight into the mega patch to see if it lives up to all the hype and what it means to you as players and the future of the game. Curious to know if you should be spending that hard-earned money on the expansion Reaper of Souls? Read on to find out what we think about Diablo III Patch 2.0.
Need more resource to fuel your skills? There’s Paragon 2.0 for that.
The latest patch for Diablo III introduces several new features to the game including Paragon 2.0, Loot 2.0, Cursed Chests events, revamping of all five classes and more. With Paragon 2.0, characters’ Paragon Levels are now shared account wide rather than being character specific, allowing players to jump from character to character without having to worry about increasing their individual Paragon Levels. In addition, players can now spec their characters through Paragon Points, allowing them to tweak and fill in voids that complement their current build. But the biggest change in Diablo III Patch 2.0 is the introduction of the new Loot 2.0, which also includes the smart drop system. What does that all mean? Let’s put it into perspective.
Back in the pre-2.0 days, players would farm endlessly with the hope of getting items that would be upgrades for their characters. The problem was, there was the auction house a few clicks away, allowing them to easily look up powerful builds on the Internet and obtain the items straight off the auction house. As a result, upgrades didn’t come very often, if at all, and Diablo III suddenly felt pointless to play despite the fact that your character was nice and strong – it’s just the satisfaction of building it didn’t come with item drops, but rather purchasing them off the auction house.
You’ll get more Legendary items in four days of farming than 40 compared to pre-Patch 2.0.
Loot 2.0 changes all of that. Within a couple of hours of farming, you’ll be seeing Legendaries and items that might not only feature game-changing properties, but might even be upgrades for seasoned veterans. What’s even better however, is the fact that multiple builds are now viable across every character class, while the removal of Nephalem stacks allows players to change their specs at ease without worrying about a penalty. The result? Fun.
Items drops now roll the proper main stat for the class you’re playing (the vast majority of the time) and most of the loot that drops will also cater to your specific class. Playing a Wizard? Expect wands and staves on the ground, though the occasional Mighty Weapon might drop if you have a Barbarian in the group. Loot 2.0 also tightens up the rolls, making them more meaningful, but that’s not to say you won’t still fill up your bags with pointless rares and uncommons. The good thing now is that those will all play a role in the expansion, while the current crafting mats are still a necessity if you’re looking to make some level 60 gear. Even white items now disenchant to Common Debris, which is used for crafting many of the items. More exciting are the Legendary items that have the chance to drop off chests and breakables again, meaning you might get a surprise by clicking on that dead body on the ground.
While not as awesome as it was in Reaper of Souls beta, Legendaries such as this one will entice you to use a skill you never did before.
The pace at which Legendary items drop is currently very well tuned. Those that are powerful enough to test out the stronger Torment levels will find that the drop rate results in an enjoyable experience of Diablo III. And even in Torment I, you’ll find your fair share of Legendaries without losing hope. Another improvement is the rate at which you can now gain Paragon Levels. Starting in the 140s, I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I leveled compared to the Reaper of Souls beta, and not only was it fun, it’s now viable to go through the world of Sanctuary without looking for the most “optimal” path to leveling. Want a change of scenery? Reset the quests and play through the entire game from start to finish, grabbing some achievements you may have missed before while getting plenty of item drops and experience.
Blizzard also changed the pace of combat in Patch 2.0, removing a lot of the “burst” damage and making fights more tactical and strategic, especially in higher Torment difficulties. While before it was frustrating to die to an Elite or Champ Pack over and over, it’s now fun to figure out the most ideal way to take them down with a group of friends. Despite removing some of the mob density in the game, the overall experience benefits with the current pace of combat and is just generally more fun to play.
While Patch 2.0 is a solid foundation in making Diablo III a great game, there are still some gripes that we have, some of which we touched in our Five Things We’d Like to See in Reaper of Souls story. While it’s nice that we can trade Legendary items to those that were currently in the game (within a two hour time frame) when it dropped, it’s still a disappointment that you aren’t able to hand it off to a friend or clan mate that weren’t in the game. Hopefully Blizzard fine tunes that process in the coming months, allowing us to at least trade to a select group of friends regardless of their game presence when the Legendary dropped.
Speaking of playing with friends, it’s a ton of fun to group up in Diablo III Patch 2.0. With all the new items present in the game, players can change their builds to complement one another, making a build viable for group play that would normally not work in solo play. Below, we have a video of four players taking on Torment VI and doing a Cathedral Level 4 run in Act I. With the Monk’s Cyclone Strike, the Demon Hunter can focus on AOE damage while the Barbarians actually support the group with extra health globe drops that also feed the Demon Hunter’s Hatred. Synergizing builds with groupmates is now more important than ever, but it’s the new Loot 2.0 system and skills that help make it possible.
If you’re having trouble leveling up or farming in Diablo III Patch 2.0, join our community under Full Cleared and give us a shout. All of our members will be more than happy to let you join in on our runs and hand off Legendaries that we won’t be using or needing.
Diablo III’s Patch 2.0 lays out the groundwork to what will lead into Reaper of Souls, the game’s first expansion. In addition to increasing the level cap to 70 and introducing the Crusader class, Reaper of Souls will also add Bounties, Nephalem Rifts and even more Legendary and Set pieces to the game. And while many would complain that farming and leveling in Patch 2.0 is pointless with the expansion around the corner, we’re finding Diablo III Patch 2.0 too much fun to stop playing.
Read on how to prepare for Reaper of Souls.
