PATCH 1.0.4 preview

[KingOfPain]

Personally of course, I don't see the point in leveling just for the sake of leveling.

In D1 I have one toon took to maxed level, just to say I've done it.

In D2 most toons are retired after beating hell (generally around lvl 65).
Some get to see more co-op action when we met and put together mix and match teams.
None of them over lvl ~85


Did a lot of MF runs. I like MF runs because it keeps my twitch skill honed, while I am usually thinking about some other game stuff at the same time (you know, like how people tab their fingers on the table while they think?). D2 MF runs is unlike D3. You play like an assassin in D2, go in quick, hit them hard and fast, and get out fast. And the MF sorcy almost never walks

[Dr.Disaster]

i see ..
so any lvl 60 gains 100% + 60% + 0..5* 15% = 160..235% exp per kill

reading thru all these buffs in 1.0.4 makes really really dizzy ..

[Injera]

I played around a bit on my retired Witch Doctor, using the Gargant and the Circle of Life (killed enemies can spawn zombie dogs) and it was a lot of fun. I only was in Act I Inferno but the pets held up great. The gargant died once when he was face-tanking a pack of disemtombed champs. I had the rune where gets tougher when facing elites/champs, and his damage was very satisfying. The dogs died more, but I made more so fast I pretty much always had 2-3 running around. They did a great job of keeping things off of me- I would still have to run away a bit if something slipped by but mostly I was just mowing stuff down. I didn't have to kite anything for an extended period of time, or run into any packs that were particularly troublesome. I'll have to try Act 2 and 3 tonight.

With the mana reduction to Rain of Toads and the bug fixes to Corpse Spiders (I tested out Leaping Spiders) both are pretty great signature spells. Mana regeneration also feels a lot better.

I got my first Paragon level. Running the start of Act 1 through Skeleton King was 60%, and then I did a "20 pack" farming run that gained me another 50%.

So yeah, everything I've tested so far has felt great. I think I'm going to make a brand new WD and run him up to 60 using every skill like I'm working on with my monk.

[KingOfPain]

I was also having some fun with my HC Witch Doctor using these skills.

Chained Explosion

Circle Of Life - Whenever an enemy dies within 12 yards (+Pickup Radius), there is a 30% chance that a Zombie Dog will automatically emerge...

Grasp of the Dead - Death is Life - Enemies who die while in the area of Grasp of the Dead have a 10% chance to produce a health globe or a Zombie Dog

Sacrifice - Banish your Zombie Dogs and cause them to explode, each dealing 275% of your weapon damage as Physical to all enemies within 12 yards.
(Next Of Kin) - Each Zombie Dog you sacrifice has a 35% chance to resurrect as a new Zombie Dog.

Sacrifice has the potential of doing a total 1100% weapon dmg to some targets, it's can do even more impressive spike damage when you can chain them. Too bad max# of dogs is capped at 4, because you can actually gain more dogs than you started with (as you do sometimes when you have less than 4 dogs). And when the RNG stop working in your favor you can always create a second batch of dogs to keep the explosions going.

PS: Get more Pickup Radius!

[Injera]

I ended up starting a new WD to try out all the skills, but I decided to make him HC. Let's see if I can make it to 60.

I also found a new legendary on my main WD. Yes, they're worth writing home about:

The dps is low for a 2-hander, but 200+ int, 200%+ crit damage, 5% life steal, and a charm proc that works pretty frequently? Yeah, that's a upgrade.

About dogs, I found that I had trouble with Circle of Life in Act 2/3- too much ranged stuff in 2, and too much stuff it's scary to be near in 3. But like you say, with enough pick-up radius...

[pindicator]

Logged in with my monk for the first time in forever, to see what got changed. The monk finishing skills got a much-needed boost (like seven-sided strike going from 777% to 1777% weapon damage). And in my first run through i had two weapon upgrades. This after hours of suffering through act 1 with a 500dps weapon, i found two 900+ dps weapons in little over an hour. I wonder how much of that is luck and how much is attributed to the changes.

Played to the skele king and was able to kill every elite/champ mob i came across. Definitely a lot easier than 1.03 but i'm not sure how good that is

[Injera]

This after hours of suffering through act 1 with a 500dps weapon, i found two 900+ dps weapons in little over an hour. I wonder how much of that is luck and how much is attributed to the changes.

If we're talking about 1-handers, a bit of both. Before only ilvl 63 items could roll 900+ dps. Now ilvl 60-62 weapons can roll competitive damage rolls as well, so you're more likely to find one, especially in Act I. Still, I spent a few hours in Inferno yesterday and didn't find a single 900 dps 1h, even a blue, so you probably had some luck, too.

[pindicator]

Ooops, I thought I mentioned what I found were 2h. But that was the frustrating thing for me before: i couldn't even find a 2h over 500dps before. Probably part of why I stopped playing - I just would not get a good weapon to drop that the monk could use. Oh, I found plenty of bows and 2h mauls - in fact, i remember several trips to town where I would have 7 or 8 rares and they would all be stuff that my monk could not wear due to class restrictions. So happy they got rid of the 2h weapon restrictions on the monk.

Still, even with the 2h vs. 1h w/ shield debate, what I picked up ended up being more than a 50% dps increase so I think it's worth losing the survivability for, at least for now. I'll keep a hold of my old spear/shield combo just in case.

[KingOfPain]

Congrats on the drop. Certainly 3 times better than anything I have. I too got a 1.04 legendary drop within the hours, the Pig Stickers. It is pretty well a useless weapon because it didn't roll a socket (as with most low lvl weapons).

[Tyrmith]

Another thing they did is that they upped the chance that non-elite monsters could drop blue gear by something like 30%.

Since the patch dropped I've been having so much fun in public 4 man groups. Before the patch it was just insane trying to do them in inferno, because we wiped so often, but with the patch stuff doesn't hit for harder then single player, and their health doesn't reset anymore if you wipe (and no enrage anymore either). 4 man has been really fun. My barb just hit 60, and I was able to go straight into inferno mode no problem pretty much entirely in gear I found and plowed straight through act 1 with very little problems. I've been very happy with this patch, even if I haven't gotten a legendary to drop.