New D2R patch 2.4 info summarised from the official developer update stream today
Just finished watching the official Developer Update Stream on MrLlamaSC's twitch (and here is the link to the VOD in case you guys want to watch the full thing - I'd recommend it). I have summarised the most salient points here in scrappy text form (to be formatted) for those of you that missed it and just want the details. I have excluded stuff that was in the official announcement yesterday, and focused on recording here only the new information we have now on patch 2.4.
Developer Panel
- New runewords will occasionally be added through the lifetime of the game, across several ladder seasons, there'll basically be something new for each ladder season. This will keep the meta fresh and keep the gameplay varied and competitive each season.
Slide from the new ladder-only Runewords section, Plague and Pattern have been revealed as two of the Runewords coming in patch 2.4 - On PTR there may be a NPC that can give you any item + template lvl 99 characters available for testers + resets etc. - basically a full testing suite could be possible for us to trial builds and actually play them on PTR...
This would be very useful for updating database item data here on the site and of course for trying all the new changes out. Emphasis from devs was on PTR > Feedback cycle for testing and iterating on these 2.4 changes. - Development timeline we can expect as is: Bug fixes/stability to prepare for ladder > PTR > 2.4 PTR > First ladder launches with 2.4 changes.
- Balance changes - emphasis has been on scaling into the late game. They recognise the skills that are strong early on, and what needs buffing later on in Hell. Also a lot of emphasis on being able to make things VIABLE as a 'fantasy', not necessarily OPTIMAL, so that people have a wider range of play styles. I'd watch the vid itself if you want the nitty gritty for each class - they covered all of the Key points made in yesterday's blue posts but expanded a lot on each class and even down to individual abilities with figures and all.
- Changes to skill tooltips to make them much more informative - more values are going to be displayed, like Shout duration for barb etc.
- All six Act 2 aura types will be hireable when in Nightmare or Hell difficulty. Buffs to all other act mercs with increased damage and new spells. Act V mercs will get Battle Cry for example.
- Some of the new runewords seem like they're there to compliment the changes to skills balancing and merc changes. Emphasis on using under used Runes.
Plague and Pattern will be among the new Runewords for the upcoming ladder. Used to exist in the game files but never made it into live. Slightly tweaked from what the game files say. - They are increasing the area level of monsters in some areas of the game so that people can farm in other areas and provide more diversity. This will provide some nice change of scenery to Ancient Tunnels and Pit Level 2 etc. Durance of Hate will require you to smash the compelling orb, meaning that you will now have to complete all the Act 3 quests for you to access the Durance of Hate. They don't want people to skip over what they consider a 'big story moment' in Act 3.
List of Class Skill Changes
(C: Thunderclaww#1932)
Amazon:
Increase on Inner Sight radius
Improve Slow Missiles
Improve the "lockout" of Dodge/Avoid/ Evade
Impale slows on every hit and doesn't rely on Attack Rating
Fend is faster within the animation
Valkyrie casting delay is reduced
Adjusting scaling (Damage, Mana cost) of Bow and Arrow skills
Assassin
Martial Arts only consumes one Charge at a time (vs three)
Updating some tooltips and duration consistency for Shadow Disciplines
Lightning and Fire Traps are getting improvements in damage/syngeries
Blade Skills getting a tuning pass
Barbarian
Warcry improved at higher levels
Improving Find Potion to incentivize more skill points
Improving Leap (and Leap Attack) so it could be better
Berserk syngeries are changing
Pierce Chance to Throwing skills
Frenzy synergy with Increase Stamina
Whirlwind isn't getting any changes
Druid
Fire skills getting better physical scaling
Artic Blast has better scaling, synergies, and targetting
Shapeshift can cast Elemental Buffs
Werewolf getting better attack rating scaling
Fire Claws getting synergy updates
Werebear getting damage scaling
Summons don't have hidden randomized health values anymore
Ravens getting changes
Wolves getting more damage (identity: damage dealers)
Spirit summons getting physical resistance
Spirit Wolves getting Cold Damage on their melee
Spirit Barb getting better Thorns
Necromancer
Skeletal Mages getting big damage scaling
Blood Golem and Fire Golem getting damage scaling
Iron Golem Thorns improved
Bone Skills getting scaling improvements
Bone Armor damage absorb scaling improved
Weaken skill getting more damage scaling at higher skill points
No improvements to Summoning at the start of a game
Paladin
Holy Bolt pierces, better synergy
FoH Holy Bolt pierces, less casting delays, improved controls
Better scaling for offensive auras, damage based on range to caster
No planned change to Conversion
Paladin in a pretty good place
Sorceress
Cold armors diversified
Frost Nova improved
Some Fire & Lightning skills improved, better synergies
Inferno improved, Blaze improved,
Hydra improved + Casting delay removed
Nova improved scaling, thunderstorm synergy, Static Field synergy
Thunderstorm changes in the works, not teaseable currently
Mercenaries
New Runewords made with Mercs in mind
A1 - new ranged skills with aoe damage effectiveness
A2 - auras not difficulty-restricted, Thorns improvements/changes
A3 - buffed + new utility skills
A5 - gets Battle Cry + improved hp/def
Amazon:
Increase on Inner Sight radius
Improve Slow Missiles
Improve the "lockout" of Dodge/Avoid/ Evade
Impale slows on every hit and doesn't rely on Attack Rating
Fend is faster within the animation
Valkyrie casting delay is reduced
Adjusting scaling (Damage, Mana cost) of Bow and Arrow skills
Assassin
Martial Arts only consumes one Charge at a time (vs three)
Updating some tooltips and duration consistency for Shadow Disciplines
Lightning and Fire Traps are getting improvements in damage/syngeries
Blade Skills getting a tuning pass
Barbarian
Warcry improved at higher levels
Improving Find Potion to incentivize more skill points
Improving Leap (and Leap Attack) so it could be better
Berserk syngeries are changing
Pierce Chance to Throwing skills
Frenzy synergy with Increase Stamina
Whirlwind isn't getting any changes
Druid
Fire skills getting better physical scaling
Artic Blast has better scaling, synergies, and targetting
Shapeshift can cast Elemental Buffs
Werewolf getting better attack rating scaling
Fire Claws getting synergy updates
Werebear getting damage scaling
Summons don't have hidden randomized health values anymore
Ravens getting changes
Wolves getting more damage (identity: damage dealers)
Spirit summons getting physical resistance
Spirit Wolves getting Cold Damage on their melee
Spirit Barb getting better Thorns
Necromancer
Skeletal Mages getting big damage scaling
Blood Golem and Fire Golem getting damage scaling
Iron Golem Thorns improved
Bone Skills getting scaling improvements
Bone Armor damage absorb scaling improved
Weaken skill getting more damage scaling at higher skill points
No improvements to Summoning at the start of a game
Paladin
Holy Bolt pierces, better synergy
FoH Holy Bolt pierces, less casting delays, improved controls
Better scaling for offensive auras, damage based on range to caster
No planned change to Conversion
Paladin in a pretty good place
Sorceress
Cold armors diversified
Frost Nova improved
Some Fire & Lightning skills improved, better synergies
Inferno improved, Blaze improved,
Hydra improved + Casting delay removed
Nova improved scaling, thunderstorm synergy, Static Field synergy
Thunderstorm changes in the works, not teaseable currently
Mercenaries
New Runewords made with Mercs in mind
A1 - new ranged skills with aoe damage effectiveness
A2 - auras not difficulty-restricted, Thorns improvements/changes
A3 - buffed + new utility skills
A5 - gets Battle Cry + improved hp/def
Question and Answer Panel
Please note that this is my own shorthand and not accurate transcriptions of what they actually said on the stream - so take it all with a pinch of salt please, this is what I was able to type whilst simultaneously watching it. These are not real blue posts!Q1: Diablo Clone?
Blizzard wrote:A: We know it's like a secret society/lots of loops to jump through just to even see Dclone, and recognise its hard to experience as it is right now. They want to make it easier to see Dclone for everyone.I guess they're also aware of the issues around multiple clients to one IP issue etc. but they did not mention it.
Q2: More character slots?
Blizzard wrote:A: Not in current plans. It's difficult to do database-wise. It's 20 now, will be investigated further.Q3: Patch for 2.4 before ladder?
Blizzard wrote:A: No. Game hasn't changed since 1.13c, over a decade ago. They want to get it right in this stage before PTR, then PTR, then 2.4 PTR, then ladder launch. That is the current timeline.Q4: New bosses or engame content?
Blizzard wrote:A: Not at this time but that would be cool.Q5: Heavy armours 2h weapons staves buff?
Blizzard wrote:A: It's going to come down to feedback. We know they don't provide the same benefits as 1h but more can be done in the future. If there's specifics, that would be cool to know. Blizz want specifics.Q6: More stash tabs?
Blizzard wrote:A: Stash tabs are different to inventory space. We'll always have these discussions every patch. But no, not today. You'll get 3 temporary withdrawal-only stash tabs at the end of ladder (lasts until next ladder starts, so you have time to withdraw items you want to keep forever). They like the idea of unlocking a new stash tab every season, or at least have thought about it. They did discuss having a currency stash tab for holding gems, runes, keys etc. but unclear on likelihood of implementation.Q7: Ignore list that can be shareable, so we can share a bot ignore list?
Blizzard wrote:A: That was a thing back in the day with legacy D2 We are putting effort into spam bots and spam in general, not specifically bots. Not a list that can be shared, but know we're working on it greatly.Q8: Will changes affect classic?
Blizzard wrote:A: Some of them, yes. All sorceress in D2R, including Classic (pre-LoD) Resurrected Sorcs.Q9: New unique items or edits to them?
Blizzard wrote:A: No, not happening.Q10: Changes to crafting?
Blizzard wrote:A: Nothing planned right now, but it's a possibility. There will be new Horadric Cube recipes in the game though. We're allowing you to update base items of set items.Q11: Stacking of runes or gems?
Blizzard wrote:A: No, we probably won't ever allow that. They also said they would never allow your personal inventory to stack them but they'd consider adding a separate stash tab with stackable runes/gems whatever and that would be discussed together with adding stash tabs in general. One or the other, probably not both.Q12: Loot filters?
Blizzard wrote:A: Talked about for a long time. Thing is, if we do loot filters, like don't show me anything below this level, seen at high end play theres times you want to see low end stuff. Rarity filters are the best solution they think so far, but it's a big undertaking at the moment though and not coming soon.Q13: PvP balance?
Blizzard wrote:A: There's going to be differences to the PvP scene because of the changes we're making. It's going to come down to PTR testing.
Q14: Bugs you are REALLY looking at fixing atm? Gameplay in particular.
Blizzard wrote:A: We've had frequent patches to tackle some of the big things like traps following you around and stuff. The patch cadence will start to slow down as we start to tackle some of the smaller things that have come up, we can now focus on the bigger changes, so more spaced out patches but more significant features and changes.Q15: Load screens?
Blizzard wrote:A: Loading is being worked on all the time they say. Gold standard if no player ever saw any load screen, but we are accounting for many pieces of hardware, there are lot of variables that come into play. Hope you continue to see less of it in the future they say.Follow up to Q15: Can't move can't die in the load screen issue, how about that?
Blizzard wrote:A: Blizz remember it from Alpha. One of the devs killed Duriel in a loading screenQ16: Players 8 for battlenet?. We want to avoid any gameplay during loading screens, so something we're trying to avoid at all costs. It's a tricky problem to fix though because it's live. We can't pause the game ever to work on things etc.
Blizzard wrote:No, and we're not planning on that. We don't want to add more incentives to not play with other people, its a multiplayer game.Q17: Console updates?
Blizzard wrote:We don't have any updates for you right now, but we hear you and when we having something to share we will.They say more Q+As like this will happen in the future, presentations etc. like this - with other content creators. That was a very cool dev update, hope you guys enjoyed this summary. Thanks Llama for hosting.
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