PTR/Closed beta patch notes up.
- Thread starter Steven Hazani
- Start date
I'm posting this here because Steven's the only one round here besides myself who ever complains about the damn giant hitboxes - I hadn't bothered with the PTR mostly because I'd wanted RoS to be fresh and new when I get the real thing but this out-of-the-blue change - which I've been wanting badly since the original beta - got me excited and I just had to try it out for myself. The result: I LOVE it. Get this - my DH was actually kiting stuff successfully! I was running away from monsters without taking constant damage for it! What a crazy concept! With my DH it made a big impact on the general feel of combat. It just felt fairer which means less frustration/more fun. Big thumbs up from me on this one.
(This is only slightly countered by the sense that floor spam is apparently worse - in about 60 mins of play, I had 2 different encounters where literally every inch of the floor was covered in poison. Fortunately, it didn't seem to be doing giant damage but it does counter the joy of accurate hitboxes when the entire screen is a projectile.)
(This is only slightly countered by the sense that floor spam is apparently worse - in about 60 mins of play, I had 2 different encounters where literally every inch of the floor was covered in poison. Fortunately, it didn't seem to be doing giant damage but it does counter the joy of accurate hitboxes when the entire screen is a projectile.)
Steven Hazani
Diabloii.Net Member
The biggest floorspam offender is plagued. Would it kill them to make it like Rabies?
Second biggest is frozen, we've been over this one.
Second biggest is frozen, we've been over this one.
Steven Hazani
Diabloii.Net Member
Disciple of Erebos
Diabloii.Net Member
I don't know about any of you, but I'm finding Torment I to be really easy now. I don't know if enemies actually do less damage, or if I just take less because the fights are so much shorter. Either way, though, I did an Act and a half of Torment I without ever having my health bar drop below 50%. I switched up to Torment VI just to see what it was like, and it reminded me of MP10 on live, except that enemies really hurt now. I can't do Torment VI, which I'm not surprised about, but Torment III seemed perfect for me.
I also noticed that Paragon levels are coming way, way faster now. I started at Paragon 90, and in an hour and a half of gaming went up to Paragon 92. Torment VI is definitely the best place to get levels, though it really is hard as f***. I had about 75% bar complete when I started Torment VI, and one area later (about 15 minutes of play) I had gained a level.
The final two things I noticed about XP were that quest reward XP and object destruction/enemy kill-streak bonus XP were massively buffed. On Torment I completing a quest gave me 2.4 million XP; on Torment III completing a quest gave me 6.6 million. Regrettably, I was not strong enough to complete a quest on Torment VI, but I would guess that it would have given me around 15 million XP. In terms of destruction/killing bonuses, I was consistently getting 20k-30k XP per object/kill-streak. The largest kill-streak I ever got went over 100 enemies, and I got more than 100,000 XP as a bonus for it. As a result, doing all that stuff feels rewarding now, at least to me.
Final question of note: does the Monk of DH have any skills that fear? I got a legendary ring that gives me a 60& movement buff for 4 seconds after I fear something, but it's got Dex on it. Unfortunately it was not a smart drop: I was playing Wizard, and if it had rolled with Int, then I would definitely have put it on a Witch Doctor. However, given that mine has Dex, is there anything good I can do with it on a Monk or DH? Thanks for the help.
I also noticed that Paragon levels are coming way, way faster now. I started at Paragon 90, and in an hour and a half of gaming went up to Paragon 92. Torment VI is definitely the best place to get levels, though it really is hard as f***. I had about 75% bar complete when I started Torment VI, and one area later (about 15 minutes of play) I had gained a level.
The final two things I noticed about XP were that quest reward XP and object destruction/enemy kill-streak bonus XP were massively buffed. On Torment I completing a quest gave me 2.4 million XP; on Torment III completing a quest gave me 6.6 million. Regrettably, I was not strong enough to complete a quest on Torment VI, but I would guess that it would have given me around 15 million XP. In terms of destruction/killing bonuses, I was consistently getting 20k-30k XP per object/kill-streak. The largest kill-streak I ever got went over 100 enemies, and I got more than 100,000 XP as a bonus for it. As a result, doing all that stuff feels rewarding now, at least to me.
Final question of note: does the Monk of DH have any skills that fear? I got a legendary ring that gives me a 60& movement buff for 4 seconds after I fear something, but it's got Dex on it. Unfortunately it was not a smart drop: I was playing Wizard, and if it had rolled with Int, then I would definitely have put it on a Witch Doctor. However, given that mine has Dex, is there anything good I can do with it on a Monk or DH? Thanks for the help.
Disciple of Erebos
Diabloii.Net Member
Indeed, as I said, I'm currently running Torment III, and that seems fine. I might try out Torment IV, but I'm not sure if I'm strong enough. In any case, Torment III seems good, and I have currently gotten a decent amount of legendaries from it. Anyone who was definitely strong enough to do Torment I should probably at least check out Torment II or III. Now that monster health is down, it's not even nearly as hard.
HardRock
Diabloii.Net Member
Juggernaut and Ignore Pain / Bravado, learn to love them. The former is buffed to 30% CC reduction, while the latter completely breaks CCs on the PTR. As a Barb these skills are instrumental if your gear isn't good enough to survive CC spams. We need counters against CC just like we need recovery against damage.
Indeed, all XP gains were massively buffed. Enemies grant much more XP than they did before as well.
I don't think so. Your only option is to combine that ring with items that have the fear proc. Maybe there are some Legendaries that have it in useful amounts.
ShadoutMapes
Diabloii.Net Member
Nice that Barb is getting more CC break. Do you know if other classes are too?
I havent noticed any.
But tbh all classes ought to have at least 4-5 CC breakers, to offer some choices.
I havent noticed any.
But tbh all classes ought to have at least 4-5 CC breakers, to offer some choices.
Damnit, Steve, I was hoping to get you to have something positive to say for once. 
That vid reminded me - did they change Mortar from classic? Visually it felt like each time I encountered I was just overwhelmed and disoriented by the tons of visual particle soup going on. I died a couple times to this just cuz I got confused and couldn't see what the hell was going on.
The second has a 30 sec CD which makes it totally useless in these kinds of situations. That video is pretty damn inexcusable. I legit think Blizz should see that one cuz that crap needs to be fixed. Did I mention that in one of those encounters where literally every inch of the dungeon floor was covered in Plagued also had me running from ice balls 90% of the time?
That vid reminded me - did they change Mortar from classic? Visually it felt like each time I encountered I was just overwhelmed and disoriented by the tons of visual particle soup going on. I died a couple times to this just cuz I got confused and couldn't see what the hell was going on.
One of the DH Elemental Arrows runes fears. It's actually a really good CC skill.
HardRock
Diabloii.Net Member
Me neither. However, CC reduction is a secondary stat, spawns in 5 item slots (not counting Legendaries), with up to 20% reduction at level 60 (again, Legendaries not included). It doesn't stack additively, so with Rares you can "only" get ~67%, but I think that's more than enough. If someone feels that CC hinders their character too much and they want to keep using their current skills then they should enchant for CC reduction, not damage or toughness.
More choices would be nice, although I'd like to point out that people ignore even the few options that's in the game, even when it could save them for sure.
Maybe. The main issue in the video was innate Knockback coupled with Horde, but Bravado would have helped against Frozen and Jailer, so he would have lost less health overall. Enemy Knockback should probably have a lower proc chance and/or a slightly longer inner cooldown.
Still, I think the second death was probably preventable. First, he didn't use his potion. Second, he Charged into the middle of multiple Frozen explosions at around 0:38. Overall, using his Charge during the fight in a defensive way (away from enemies, towards health globes) could have saved him.
Last edited:
Steven Hazani
Diabloii.Net Member
I knew you'd blindly say that. However if you actually watch the video, you'll see most of it is coming from knockback spam and not jails or frozen. So even if that stat worked like you think it does it still doesn't stop you from being kicked all around the screen by enemies that barely hurt you, but end up killing you anyways because you can't do anything.
Reminds me of some dinky little amateur RPG maker game I played as a kid. One of the enemies had an attack that did 1 damage.... and a 100% chance of paralysis. Yes, it did take me from hundreds of HP to 0 and there was nothing I could do about it.
Seriously though, would it kill Blizzard to do something positive and not do something negative at the same time?
Reminds me of some dinky little amateur RPG maker game I played as a kid. One of the enemies had an attack that did 1 damage.... and a 100% chance of paralysis. Yes, it did take me from hundreds of HP to 0 and there was nothing I could do about it.
If not for the enchanting thing you might have. As it is the closest you'll get is me being thankful for the RMAH funding my DS 2 and computer upgrade.Damnit, Steve, I was hoping to get you to have something positive to say for once.
Seriously though, would it kill Blizzard to do something positive and not do something negative at the same time?
Yup, now enemies spam it all over the place instead of aiming in your general direction. Just further adds to the stand and spam and hope your numbers are superior mentality.
I hadn't either but since I finally got the PTR to test the excellent hitbox change I went ahead and poked around the new skill changes and overall really like what I'm seeing. There's still plenty of dumb runes no one will ever use (see: almost any rune that adds a little slow to an attack) but there have been a lot of good/interesting redesigns too. I really hope they put a lot of focus on making the remaining garbage-y skills/runes more useful. (EG. I've always loved the idea of Wall of Zombies but from my brief playtime with it that skill still seems awful despite some buffs.)
Steven Hazani
Diabloii.Net Member
Hitting enemies with a slow multiple times roots them. Boom, done.
Not a bad idea though maybe a more intuitive version of that idea would be to let slows be stackable. Meaning:
- the 1st 60% slow reduces speed to 40%
- the 2nd 60% slow reduces speed to 24%
- the 3rd 60% slow reduces speed to 14%
ect
So after 3 hits they can barely move. Of course, for that to work, they'd have to stop it with those ultra-stingy 1- or 2-second slow durations.
That'd make slows better but hell, even if you just change them to straight-up roots, these runes would still be largely useless for melee attacks. Would you ever pick a Root rune for HotA over the +dmg or +AoE runes??
- the 1st 60% slow reduces speed to 40%
- the 2nd 60% slow reduces speed to 24%
- the 3rd 60% slow reduces speed to 14%
ect
So after 3 hits they can barely move. Of course, for that to work, they'd have to stop it with those ultra-stingy 1- or 2-second slow durations.
That'd make slows better but hell, even if you just change them to straight-up roots, these runes would still be largely useless for melee attacks. Would you ever pick a Root rune for HotA over the +dmg or +AoE runes??
Steven Hazani
Diabloii.Net Member
Actually, my way is more intuitive.
30/60/80/root.
Becomes slow 1/2/3/root.
So hitting them with a 60% twice stops them (for as long as both last) because 2 + 2 = 4. Then the 1-2 second duration matters less (assuming you keep hitting them).
As for melee attacks, does HotA even have one of those? I forget, but some option to make melee attacks ranged would make such a stat useful, otherwise.... can't win em all I guess?
30/60/80/root.
Becomes slow 1/2/3/root.
So hitting them with a 60% twice stops them (for as long as both last) because 2 + 2 = 4. Then the 1-2 second duration matters less (assuming you keep hitting them).
As for melee attacks, does HotA even have one of those? I forget, but some option to make melee attacks ranged would make such a stat useful, otherwise.... can't win em all I guess?
I think mine's more intuitive because it does exactly what it says - reduce speed by 60%. The change would just be from 60% of base speed to 60% of current speed.
Anyway, the point is that many of the slows suck. Skills with dumb slow runes I can't see anyone ever picking:
Lashing Tail
Tempest Rush (okay, I can sorta see a slow rune here as TR can be used defensively to run away)
Exploding Palm
Cleave
HotA
Rend
Arguably there are other but these, the slows on melee-range attacks are the most facepalm-worthy. IMO these should all be totally removed or at least make the slows really freaking powerful. How bout 80% for 10 secs instead of 60% for 2 secs? Someone might actually use the former though even then I doubt it.
Anyway, the point is that many of the slows suck. Skills with dumb slow runes I can't see anyone ever picking:
Lashing Tail
Tempest Rush (okay, I can sorta see a slow rune here as TR can be used defensively to run away)
Exploding Palm
Cleave
HotA
Rend
Arguably there are other but these, the slows on melee-range attacks are the most facepalm-worthy. IMO these should all be totally removed or at least make the slows really freaking powerful. How bout 80% for 10 secs instead of 60% for 2 secs? Someone might actually use the former though even then I doubt it.