Do new elite affixes discourage caves?

[Golbez2]

One of the things I always cherished about the older Diablo games was the fact there was places to adventure into. In D2, there were caves and temples littered all over the place.

In D3 2.01, all these new affixes really just make farming in such places more hassle than its worth. Frozen Pulse, Thunder storm, Orbiter, Poison Enchanted pretty much means you better have room to move around. In open fields, none of this presents an issue.

I can't think of any reason to take my farming into such places. Is this something the dev's just overlooked? I thought waller was bad enough in caves, now I just wonder why anyone would venture in them with all of these new AoE affixes.

 

[Disciple of Erebos]

I've gone into a bunch of caves since launch on T3, and I haven't really had any troubles more than the usual. Frozen Pulse isn't that much harder to avoid in caves, nor is Thunderstorm (though I can't really dodge it well even in open areas), and Orbiter mostly just passes through the walls. Poison Enchanted is quite a bit harder in caves than it is in open areas, but if you only stand in the poison for a second or two you can usually just tank through the damage if you have any kind of LoH or regeneration. Overall, I wouldn't consider the new AoE affixes any worse than the old affixes: waller is still the worst in caves, and Molten can still get you since the explosion is still extremely powerful.

On the other hand, I feel that caves are less worthwhile now, but it doesn't have to do with Elites. Rather, I feel that the reason they were useful before was because you were guaranteed a Golden Chest on the second floor, giving you an incentive to go in. You are still guaranteed the Golden Chest, but Golden Chests now barely give anything better than a regular chest, so they aren't really worthwhile anymore. They're still worth opening, because you can get legendaries/sets out of chests now (I've gotten about 6 from opening regular chests, though none from Golden Chests), but overall they just feel worthless now. I think it would be a lot better if Golden Chests and Radiant Chests (from Cursed Shrine/Chest rewards) were given the same item value as killing a Treasure Goblin, or opening a Horadric Cache. That would make them feel much more worthwhile to open, and would, IMO, make caves and side-areas feel really worthwhile again.

 

[Steven Hazani]

Well, frozen piling up underfoot due to close quarters is what got me killed so yeah, not digging the indoors. At the same time the most productive areas are inside.

 

[HardRock]

Select an act, get listed a bounty in that act, complete the bounty, get another one, repeat until you do this 5 times, get a reward for doing all five in an act.

That's not how bounties work. All Acts have 5 random bounties already when you join a game. I think 2 random Acts are selected each time, where the bounties net you double XP and Gold rewards.

As for the closed vs. open spaces argument, I honestly think that overall it doesn't matter where you fight. Sure, closed spaces give you less leeway in terms of movement, but on the flip side also makes it easier for you to keep the enemies together and prevent them from surrounding you. Basically, some enemies and Elite mods are worse in tight corridors (Savage Beasts, Poison Enchanted, Frozen) and some are worse in open spaces (Stinging Swarms, Vortex, Fire Chains).

I think it would be a lot better if Golden Chests and Radiant Chests (from Cursed Shrine/Chest rewards) were given the same item value as killing a Treasure Goblin, or opening a Horadric Cache. That would make them feel much more worthwhile to open, and would, IMO, make caves and side-areas feel really worthwhile again.

Yes please.

 

[HardRock]

I believe the bounty will be shown alongside the waypoint on the new map, together with your objective, which can be kill X unique Elite, kill X boss or clear the area.