by Hotstreak - 9 years ago     show comments

A recent discovery of an undocumented change got me thinking about Ubers and key farming. This change made key drops global, which makes the act of farming for keys much easier in groups. Something funny, though, is that no one is actually sure about which patch implemented this change, which speaks volumes in and of itself. This could mean that nobody is really doing this content enough to notice any changes. Let’s dig into why this could be by looking at where the content stands with the players currently.

I’ve been noticing some frustration from players who would like key farming to be more efficient for solo play. While I understand that frustration, I don’t actually agree with it. I have seen people throw out some numbers that show the efficiency of solo play vs. group play and while those numbers may be accurate, Diablo III is first and foremost a multiplayer game at its core. That’s how this game was designed to be. No matter what they do to make solo farming more efficient, group play will always be way ahead.

There is something that they could do to make solo key farming better though. They could give the keys a 100% drop chance when farming them on Torment VI difficulty. That change alone would get me back into key farming. It would strip away an unnecessary layer of RNG when working towards your Hellfire Amulet. Really, it’s no surprise that people don’t bother with the Infernal Machine content, since there is so much RNG that you have to endure throughout the process. Taking away the RNG for the keys would make things a lot easier and efficient. They already did it with the materials that drop from the Uber bosses, so it seems like it should be a natural change.

Another problem is the Hellfire Ring – nobody goes for it because the two ring slots are the most competitive slots in the game. Every other viable ring completely outclasses it. Blizzard expressed some interest in revisiting the Hellfire Ring, but it’s taking a backseat to more important things that need development time. I feel like turning it into something similar to a charm would  provide content that everyone goes for. At that point, why not? I would definitely use it since it would give extra stats, a really cool looking area-of-effect damage source, and, best of all, it wouldn’t be competing with anything else in the game.

Reasons Why Key Farming & Ubers Are Unappealing

• Way too many layers of RNG;
• Not time efficient;
• Hellfire Ring is useless; and
• The RNG that is involved in getting a decent Hellfire Amulet makes it not worth it.

Fixes That Would Make Ubers More Time Efficient & Appealing

• Make keys have a 100% drop chance on Torment VI;
• Make Hellfire Rings worth getting or turn them into something that doesn’t compete with ring slots; and
• Remove RNG layers.

If Blizzard removes that extra layer of RNG from the Keywardens and turns the Hellfire Ring into a charm, along with the current usefulness of the Hellfire Amulet, that would make the Infernal Machine content a lot more appealing to people. It would actually be worth putting time and effort into the drawn out process. How do you guys feel? Do you think that these changes would make Ubers more appealing to you? What do you think that Blizzard should do? Sound off in the Comments section below!