It’s time for another Diablo IV Campfire Chat, this time, dedicated to the mid-season patch! We’re liveblogging the whole stream. Check back often for updates!
Highlights
Patch notes for the mid-season patch are coming later this week. Next week, we’re getting a Patch 2.1 PTR stream. Patch 2.1 notes will be available before Thanksgiving. Actual 2.1 PTR will begin after Thanksgiving.
Class Balance
Adam Jackson talks about the current state of Season 6 along with a preview of some changes for each class.
- A whole lot of people are enjoying the Spiritborn, which is gratifying for the team.
- 62% of all players have played the Spiritborn.
- For comparison, in Season 5, the Sorceress was the most played class at 32%.
- Spiritborn is performing better than other classes, largely due to unintended interaction and balance issues.
- Other classes are performing fairly well when compared to one another. They are competitive in pit tier clears which is a good sign for the devs.
2 statements that they need to balance:
- They want players to feel strong and powerful and to feel like they can break the game.
- They want class parity in regards to power level.
There are no plans to nerf Spiritborn in the midseason patch! Blizzard will be fixing unintended interactions with Spiritborn and making balance adjustments in Season 7 to bring them in line with other classes.
If something comes up that impacts other players in regards to game performance, they will fix it as soon as possible.
They are buffing all classes in the midseason patch, but not enough to account for the power of unintended interactions with the Spiritborn.
Class Updates
Here is a preview of some of the class updates coming in the mid-season patch.
Barbarian
Baseline core skill buffs are coming for Barbarians.
There are some buffs to underperforming Legendaries.
Druid
Buffs to all key passives and legendary and unique buffs are planned for Druids.
Necromancer
Buffs for all basic skills are planned alongside passive buffs.
Some Uniques like Mortacrux and Howl from Below are getting buffed.
Rogue
The class is getting buffs to core skills and key passives.
Sorceress
Fire Sorceress buffs to Combustion Key passives.
The Avalanche Key passive is also getting better. A scaling multiplier has been added to this passive.
Aspect of Piercing Cold is getting a whole lot better.
New legendary aspects introduced in VoH now scale based on Charged Bolts and Incinerate damage.
Spiritborn
Small buffs to skills that have seen less success, specifically Razor Wings, Withering Fist, and Toxin Skin.
Runewords
Here is a teaser for Runewords coming in the mid-season patch.
Shrine Updates
Shrines have been buffed to scale to your level and paragon level.
Returning Events
Midwinter Blight is returning with the Red-Cloaked Horror.
Mother’s Blessing is returning as well. More details will be outlined in Thursday’s blog post.
Welcome Back Boost
A Welcome Back boost with Level 50 and all Altars of Lilith unlocked is coming for Eternal players. You will receive 1 boost if you own Diablo 4 and two boosts if you also own Vessel of Hatred.
A free trial with the Spirirborn will soon also be available.
Stay tuned for more information about next week’s stream on Patch 2.1 and Season 7!
Q&A
- Any updates to Ancestral items? 5 ranks have been added that were Ancestral only. They’ve seen a lot of players failing to max out their aspects. They’re making some changes that will be outlined next week.
- Can we get boss materials to stack like runes or even higher? They are looking into making a change to that some time in the longer future.
- Any chance you will chain XP gains? No plans for XP changes right now, but they are monitoring it and are open to feedback.
- Can we expect increased drop rates for Rawhide, Forgotten Souls? No specifics, but they are looking at material in/outflows to ensure there are things to work towards without the process being too tedious.
- Any plans to bring in mid-season mechanics? Mid-season is the time for tweak and re-iterate. Larger changes and new features are targeted for season releases.
- Are there any plans to improve Undercity drops? Ancestral drop rate changes are coming next week. Loot across the whole game will get better.
- Are any stability fixes coming given the frequent crashes? Blizzard receives logs for all crashes and the Engineering team is working around the clock to release client patches to fix those issues. Additional changes and reviews are done on their site to ensure the game runs more stable.
- Any chance on Tempering scrolls to be used more than once? They hear a lot of feedback and are taking an incremental approach on this. They are open to feedback.
- More details about the Armory will be revealed soon™.
Stream Link
Below, you can watch the stream when it’s live or replay it when it ends.