Icy Veins

Upcoming Progression Changes in Patch 2.0: Everything You Need to Know

We’re liveblogging the latest Diablo 4 Campfire Chat dedicated to upcoming progression updates in Diablo 4!

Highlights

  • Blizzard outlined progression goals in Diablo 4.
    • They want to identify what has not aged well and address the problem source.
    • Their priority is doubling down on what is fun and working.

Here are the progression topics Blizzard will be talking about today.

Level Adjustments Coming in Patch 2.0

  • Level Adjustment
    • Levels 1-100 split out into character levels and Paragon levels.
    • Levels 1-50 represent character levels (gaining skill points)
    • New max level is 60.
  • Reimagined Pace
    • Normal offers a slower leveling pace for new players.
    • Hard, Expert, and Penitent offer significantly increased challenge for significantly increased rewards (and potentially pace).
  • Numbers Adjustments (Squish)
    • Player health, damage, and armor have been adjusted to be more readable.
  • More on paragon updates later.

Monster Scaling Changes

Blizzard made some changes to monster scaling in Patch 2.0. You will find them all below.

Pit Arbitration

  • The difficulty tier will be analogous.
    • Pit tiers will match difficulty tiers.
    • There will be 5 pit tiers per Standard difficulty (Normal, Hard, Expert, Penitent) and 15 pit tiers per torment difficulty (Torment I, II, III, and IV).
  • The Pit unlocks at character level 60.
  • Pit tiers associated with Standard difficulties immediately unlock, including the Torment I Pit tier (1-20).
  • Pit tiers beyond 20 must be unlocked by progressing through the Pit.
  • Conquering a Pit tier that matches a Torment tier unlocks that Torment tier.

Pit Tier Progression Overview

The highest pit tier has been reduced to 100. A “smart key” system has been added. Non-pit activities with tiered difficulty will now follow the Pit. The new 100 Pit is similar to the current 200 on live. They are looking for feedback from the PTR and have no issues updating pit tier levels.

Difficulty Tiers – Challenge Model

All content in the game will exist within an expanded difficulty tier selection in Patch 2.0.

Itemization Changes

The item power shuffle is happening in Patch 2.0, which means items with item power above 540 on live will be adjusted to 540. Affix bands on all items will be adjusted. Items at the new character level 60 max out at item power 750.

You will find much better item power items from levels 51-59. Here’s an example of an Ancestral item at Level 60. Ancestrals can be found in Torment I and above. They are still rare across all Torment levels. All Ancestrals will always have 1 guaranteed Greater Affix in Patch 2.0.

Sacred items will no longer drop. Greater Affixes can only be found on Ancestral items. They will have 2 masterworking slots.

Paragon Updates

Glyphs will be reworked. The ranks have been increased to 100. All glyphs start as rare at rank 1 and can be upgraded to legendary at rank 46. Glyph radius increases at rank 15 and 46. When a glyph becomes legendary, it unlocks a significant, multiplicative stat bonus. Glyphs are moving to the Pit away from Nightmare Dungeons.

Attempt-based rank upgrades are guaranteed success if 10 pit tier difference or more, bonus ranks if 20 Pit tier difference or more.

This appears to be inspired by the upgrade system of legendary gems in Diablo 3 at the end of rifts.

Here’s the new glyph upgrade UI.

There will be a second radius increase for glyphs.

Realm-Based Paragon Points

Paragon points will be shared across an entire Realm (Seasonal/Eternal). They will stay latent on a pre-level 60 character. Once you reach max character level with a character,r that character unlocks all paragon points you’ve accrued on that realm.

The Paragon level is increasing from 200 to 300 (not including points from renown).

Tempering Changes

  • Weapon Tempering Affixes are multiplicative damage increases.
    • New Affixes will be added: Chalce to Deal Double Damage and Chance to Hit Twice.
  • Offensive Tempering Affixes are additive damage increases.
  • Size and Duration affixes moved to Utility category.
  • Tempering Recipes limited to 4 affixes at most.

Ultimate Skill Ranks

  • All Ultimate Skills can now gain Skill Ranks. These will increase damage and reduce cooldown.
  • Effects that grant bonus Skill Ranks (Harlequin CrestHarlequin Crest) only apply to Ultimates if you have already learned the Ultimate in the Skill tree.

New Skills and Passives

Barbarians are getting Mighty Throw and a few new passives.

Barbarians are getting new items and aspects.

Druid Changes in Patch 2.0

Druids are getting a new core skill called Stone Burst. Gather stones beneath your enemies then detonate them dealing damage. Channeling deals damage and increases the size of the affected area, up to a 400% increase after 0.9 seconds.

Check out the new Druid passives coming in the forthcoming patch below.

Here are some of the new Druid items available in 2.0.

Necromancer Changes in Patch 2.0

Necromancers are getting a Soulrift skill. It deals good damage over time as you absorb souls. Bone/Shadow Necroamcners have historically had issues with defensive, which hopefully Soulrift can address.

Necromancers get a new Affliction key passive that lets them spam dots for direct damage. The new Necrotic Fortitude passive will give the Necro additional survivability.

Here are some of the new Necro items planned for the next patch. A new aspect is coming for players who would like to make their golem really powerful.

Rogue Changes in Patch 2.0

Rogues are getting Dance of Knives. As you charge, you’ll gain movement speed and dodge.

Alchemical Admixture is a new key passive planned for Rogues.

Pitfighter’s Gull is an Ancestral Ring that empowers your Smoke Grenade.

Sorcerer Changes in Patch 2.0

Sorcerers are getting a new Familiar spell with 3 charges, summoning a familiar based on the school type of your last used skill.

Enlightment (new key passive) is all about mix-matching elements! Your char will receive various bonuses in the Enlightment state.

Here are some of the new Sorcerer items planned for the next update. Sidhe Bindings is a great unique for new conjuration builds.

New Mythic Uniques

Two new Mythic Uniques are coming in Patch 2.0. Shroud of False Death adds +1 to All Passives. It grants you Stealth and 40% Movement Speed if you don’t attack for 2 seconds. Heir of Perdition grants +200% damage to Angels and Demons.

Patch Notes

Patch notes for Patch 2.0 will be going live right after the stream.

Quality of Life Improvements in Patch 2.0

  • You can teleport to your Favorite Location instead of your town.
  • A dungeon key inventory tab is coming for things like Nightmare Sigils.
  • Normal monster crowd control has been reworked.
  • Monsters with long death animations now die instantly instead.
  • An additional stash tab will be added.
  • A socketable inventory tab will be implemented.
  • Dungeon midpoint holdout removes have been replaced with monster packs.
  • A handful of dungeons have had their procedural logic updated to increase the variety of layouts.
  • Level up / Paragon point notification now shows how many points you have.

Runewords

  • Themed after Diablo II, Runewords are coming to Diablo 4. They are ways for you to make your own spells.
  • Runes of Ritual specify actions from the player to trigger.
  • Runes of Invocation grant powerful effects as a result.
  • You can mix and match them as you see fit.
  • There will be 3 rarity types.

Runewords: Offering

  • Offering is the Rune resource system. Runes of Ritual generate Offering for the linked Runes of Invocation to consume. More demanding Rituals gain more Offering. More powerful Invocations require more Offering.
  • Overflow is when an Invocation receives Offering over what is needed to trigger it. Many invocations receive bonus effects when Overflowed. The bonuses are proportional to the Overflow amount.

Runewords Rules

  • Runes can be socketed into items with 2 sockets and can only be paired with a Rune of the opposite type.
  • You can have a max of 2 Runewords equipped.
  • You cannot equip the same rRunewords twice.
  • Runes are available for users who own Vessel of Hatred.
  • Runes are tradable between other players.
  • Runes unlock during the Vessel of Hatted campaign.
  • Will drop throughout the game world as loot from all enemies, but drop at a higher rate in the Undercity, which is a specific place you can farm them.
  • They stack in the new socketable inventory tab.

Each class is sharing 2 skills and 1 aspect. Some cast improved versions. You always cast the best possible version if you have upgrades.

Enhanced Warcry for example means Necromancers can become Berserk. Runes will scale with gear. You will have a lot of theorycrafting around Runewords.

Rune Crafting

  • Using 3 of the same rune, you can use them to roll a new Rune. The crafted Rune is guaranteed to be different than the Runes used.
  • When magic and rare Runes are used, there is a chance to roll a Rune of the next highest rarity.

Mythic Unique Crafting

  • You can use runes to craft some Mythic Uniques at the Jeweler.
  • Each Mythic Unique that is available to be crafted will require specific Runes and Resplendent Spark.

PTR Testing Details

  • Everything the team talked about today will be available in the 2.0 PTR.
  • Carry Over Content
    • Campaign Completion
    • Mounts and Renown
    • Fog of War
    • Altar of Lilith Stat bonuses
  • There will be 2 testing phases for the PTR. The first will begin next Wednesday and will run through Friday, allowing players to start fresh, because the team needs to gather feedback on the new progression systems.
  • Around mid-day on Friday, they will be turning on the remaining features like Runewords.
  • A boost vendor will be available in Kyovashad.
  • The vendor will provide you with the following boosts:
  • Infernal Hordes will not be available on the PTR but it is a permanent feature in the game.
  • Testing is PC / Battle.net only.
  • The team is looking for feedback on the new skills and passives, and also Rune Words.

Q&A Time!

  • An armory for Diablo 4 is in the works.
  • More difficulties will be added when they feel appropriate. They don’t want to have 20 difficulty types. They don’t want to nerf players in a spot where they cannot use their newfound powers by buffing monster power.
  • Nightmare Dungeons should now be used for masterworking materials.
  • Runes will be reusable. You can take them out and put them into different items. They exist in the same slot as gems.
  • Difficulty tier selectors have been added across more points in the game, there’s one in Kurast, near the Dark Citadel entrance, etc.
  • Rune Words can be equipped in items with 2 sockets, they are adding 2 sockets to Helms in the Vessel of Hatred, so you will have 4 slots for them.
  • You can’t mix Rune Words with Gems.
  • Runes are stackable, they will be in your new socketable tab along with gems.

Campfire Chat Stream

You can watch the latest Campfire Chat below.

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