by JR Cook - 9 years ago     show comments

Allo Allo everybody! With one of the most exciting patches to date coming up, we would like to start a new collaboration article with our four main Diablo Blizzpro writers: Threedaysjpt, Neinball, Lt. Lunatic, and Hotstreak. Here we shall each give our own take on the biggest and best of all the little goodies we have to look forward to. Now without further ado, let us share our thoughts:

Items:

@Threedaysjpt: I am personally in love with so many of these items. In this patch I feel they have made huge strides in making the items do “fun” things rather than just increasing damage output from certain skills. For instance, the new Uliana’s Destiny set is incredibly fun, as you watch everything around you just explode as you strike out at all enemies in sight.

@Neinball: I have one word for you, Hammerdinsader. Hammerdin was one of my favorite specs back in D2 and such an iconic build for the franchise. When they brought back Blessed Hammer to the Crusader in RoS there was a lot of hype for it, but a little after release the hype died off as the skills viability quickly faded. But the hammers are back, baby! The new Seeker of the Light set has me putting my DH on the back burner while I plan to spend Season 4 hitting demons with hammers.

@Lt. Lunatic: While I’m excited about the new items that are coming out and the new changes that are being implemented with old items, I don’t think that these are going to be our game-changers for 2.3. What I’m most excited about with itemization in this patch is how Kanai’s Cube is going to now make you question every single legendary affix that you come across. In the past, there were certain items that didn’t have great stats, so they weren’t considered. In the new patch, even if an item might not statistically be the best in slot, it still might be a great choice for your extra legendary power slot.

@Hotstreak: The support for new legendaries and sets has gotten better with each content patch post launch for RoS. It’s hard to not be excited for a fan favorite build like the Hammerdin, or the interesting Spirit of Arachyr With Doctor set, but the set I’m most looking forward to is Uliana’s Stratagem. I’m very excited about this set because it’s built around a couple of my favorite Monk skills, Seven Sided Strike and Exploding Palm. Not to mention, it looks really slick cosmetically as well.

Adventure Mode:

@Threedaysjpt: The changes to this are some of the most beautiful things Blizzard has ever done. Leave it to them to come up with an entirely unexpected way to make many things that we had almost forgotten about actually very useful. The changes to bounties are all but revolutionary, expanding the playability of the game dramatically.

@Neinball: I’m excited to see Bounties become their own type of gameplay. I feel a lot of the updates Bounties received in patch 2.2 went unappreciated because they are solely a means to an end. People do bounties for two reasons; 1. Ring of Royal Granduer and 2. Rift Keys. Now that rifts can be done without key fragments and there are actual reasons (crafting materials and mats for Kanai’s Cube) to want to do bounties, it’s amazing! The remaining changes to Greater Rifts, the removal of Trial Realms, and the addition of higher Torment levels are all just icing on the cake.

@Lt. Lunatic: It’s exciting to me that they are giving us a reason to go back into the world to play outside of rifts. In 2.2, rifting was far superior to bounties, so I hope they can keep these game modes well balanced beyond 2.3. The more options that players have in the end game, the longer Blizzard will retain their player base.

@Hotstreak: I don’t even know where to start here, Adventure Mode is getting some amazing changes in Patch 2.3. With the removal of Rift Trials, Rift Keys, and Bounties becoming their own thing entirely, Adventure Mode is just that much more enjoyable. But I think what I am most excited about is the removal of having to craft Infernal Machines. Keywardens are now going to just drop them, which is a much needed change because it removes a layer of RNG from the process of farming your Hellfire Amulet. Also, Hellfire Amulets are going to roll with a guaranteed socket to make the process even more efficient.

Classes:

@Threedaysjpt: Although there were no extreme changes to any of the classes, Blizzard has done a good job of sharing the love to some classes that haven’t gotten any for quite awhile, particularly for the Witch Doctor, who has gotten masses of new toys to play with.

@Neinball: See above. HAMMERS! HAMMERS! HAMMERS!

@Lt. Lunatic: You know things are going right when I still can’t decide what my main class will be for Season 4. I change my mind every day. There are some excellent set changes coming out with 2.3. I’m a little worried about the domination of a few classes currently on the PTR, but it could all change once the patch goes live.

@Hotstreak: While the Crusader and Monk are getting some extra firepower, Witch Doctors are getting some much needed love this patch by reworking the Helltooth set and are also getting a brand new set to go with it. With that said, I am most likely going to roll a Monk for Season 4 since I haven’t given the Monk any love since Vanilla.

Kanai’s Cube:

@Threedaysjpt: Something that I believe most everybody has been waiting for since the disappearance of Horadric Cube, this changes so many aspects of the game. Between builds, content areas, crafting, and so many other small little things, the Cube shall give us so many possibilities for months to come.

@Neinball: This item is like Reaper of Souls 2.0. This is the game changer here. We’ve been given three new item slots and the possibilities are nigh endless. Now you can equip a Unity with a Focus and Restraint. Or benefit from a powerful melee weapon priority of a DH. The the number of build variations based around the Cube are going to be insane in the coming weeks, I can already see it. I can’t wait to see what they have in store for the Cube later on down the road.

@Lt. Lunatic: Oh buddy, am I excited for this addition! I’m also a little scared too. Kanai’s Cube opens so many new doors for this game. Because of that, there are so many possibilities of items that can mesh together as well as new build possibilities. I need to start blocking off time in my schedule each evening to devote purely to studying new build combinations…

@Hotstreak: This cube is like the Horadric Cube on freaking steroids and is the biggest feature to come in a content patch since the systems introduced in patch 2.0 (seriously, this is something you would normally see introduced in a new expansion). I am just super stoked for what this could potentially bring to the table and it’s going to completely shake the meta. Not to mention, I won’t have to farm for a perfect RoRG anymore! That alone gets me super excited for the Cube.

In closing, I think it is pretty obvious that we are all super psyched up for this upcoming season and the future of Diablo. I am sure all of you out there are too and we hope to see you on the fields of Pandemonium with us. And for those of you who need a little reminder, click here for the latest patch notes.