We’re getting closer and closer to the release of Patch 1.8.1, so it’s finally time to share what’s actually in store!
[size=150]Legend Quality and Variety[/size]
Patch 1.8.0’s introduction of Eternal Legends was a step in the direction we want to go with Dropped Items, which is to make them a bit more interesting and viable compared to what you can create with Crystal Enchanting.
To take this further, we needed to revisit each existing Legend and update it so that the Eternal version of it would be even better.
In 1.8.1, we have updated all 251 existing Legend items to follow these rules:
[ul][li]All Legends must have at least one Legend Affix[/li]
[li]All Legends will have their Affixes rolled between 75-100% of their max potential[/li]
[li]No more yellow ( normal ) affixes on Legend items, besides Empty Socket[/li]
[li]If there’s no fitting Legend Affixes, we’ll create new ones.[/li]
[li]We try to look at each Legend and ask ourselves if we would actually use this.[/li]
[li]All Legends should follow the Affix Ordering rules for visual conformity.[/li][/ul]
Here’s an example of one of the updated Legends, Obsidian Blade:
Compared to the old version:
You can see we got rid of the yellow affix, added a Legend affix, and put more useful affixes on the item. Here’s the new version of one of the old favorites:
We don’t have enough time to share every single Legend revision we’ve made, but be assured each Legend has been given a similar treatment!
[size=150]New Legends, Affixes and Sets[/size]
So not only have we updated all our old Legends, we’re also introducing 88 new Legends, 21 new Legend Affixes, and 13 new Set Affixes! Many of these Legends will drop at the early floors, so the pool of Legends you can get in 1.8.1 will be increased throughout the game.
Here’s a few examples:
Reactor is a new set for Orb Wizards ( finally some Orb love ) which empowers their Orbs to shoot the Mythic skill “Arc” every half second. The set also features a new Legend Affix “Arc Dodge” which casts Arc whenever you Dodge. This item also increases your Orb proc and slows down all Orbs cast, effectively squeezing out as much damage as possible.
Equality is a new resource centered Set that encourages you to have as close to equal Health and Mana pools, and will reward you Damage Reduction and Resource Cost reduction for your efforts. The goal is to have another alternative to Blood Magic that encourages a different allocation of Health and Mana. The Balance Legend Affix acts like a combination of both Total HP% and Total MP%.
[size=150]Mythics[/size]
We realized that our old way of granting Mythic skills and talents on items was a bit inhibiting to the overall power of the item, forcing you to keep 4 Mythstones that you may not be interested in. So in 1.8.1, the 4 combined Mythstones needed will be transformed to a Mythic Affix on the item instead of replacing a Skill or Talent!
Here you can see that we’ve added Wisdom, Haste, Death, and Master to create the “Brutal” Mythic Affix:
This now leaves a lot of room to empower the chest even further, as all Crystal Enchanting will be allowed on Mythics in 1.8.1 ( may not be the best enchantments chosen, but you get the idea ):
[size=150]But wait, there’s more![/size]
There’s so much more to talk about in 1.8.1, but instead of discussing each new feature we’ll just share an early look at the full patch notes:
- Major Features
[ul][li]Mythics have been redesigned. Now when you complete a Mythic, it replaces the four Mythstones used to create it with a Mythic Affix that either adds a powerful proc spell or effect. Mythics no longer replace Special Skills or Talents.[/li]
[li]All 251 Legends have been revamped and updated with new affixes.[/li]
[li]21 New Legend Affixes
[list][]Mythology - Increases DMG of Mythic Skills by (rank)%[/li]
[li]Slow Projectile - Slows the speed of all projectiles cast[/li]
[li]Pickup Radius - Increases the range that items are picked up[/li]
[li]Specialist - Chance to cast your Special skill for free 1 second after casting[/li]
[li]Control Duration - Increases duration of your control impairing effects by (rank)%[/li]
[li]In Control - Reduces duration of control impairing effects on you by (rank)%[/li]
[li]Dmg to Elites - Increased DMG dealt to Magic rarity and above enemies[/li]
[li]Arc Dodge - Each dodge has a (rank)% chance to cast Arc on a nearby enemy[/li]
[li]Strength - Increases the Heroic Skill Rank of [Skills.17-Name][/li]
[li]Dexterity - Increases the Heroic Skill Rank of [Skills.18-Name][/li]
[li]Intelligence - Increases the Heroic Skill Rank of [Skills.19-Name][/li]
[li]Fortune - Increases the Heroic Skill Rank of [Skills.20-Name][/li]
li DMG - Increases All (element) DMG Dealt[/li]
[li]Weapon DMG% - Increased weapon DMG percent[/li]
[li]Armor - Increased Armor Rating[/li]
[li]Balance - Adds (rank)% Total HP and Total MP[/li]
[li]Regeneration - Adds (rank)% Total HP Regen and Total MP Regen[/li]
[li]Killswitch - Traps now explode for (rank)% OH DMG when destroyed[/li]
[li]Coat Proc - Chance to Cast Coat Weapon on Attack per Second[/li]
[li]BlinkStrike Proc - Chance to Cast Blink Strike on Attack per Second[/li]
[li]Sentry Proc - Chance to Cast Sentry on Attack per Second[/li][/ul][/:m]
[li]88 New Legends[/li]
[li]13 New Sets
[ul][]Ninja - (rank)% to cast Quick Attack on Dodge, (rank2)% to cast Blink Strike on Quick Attack - 12.5 rank value[/li]
[li]Identity - Casting spells from other classes boost their DMG by (rank)% - 12.5 rank value[/li]
[li]Zealotry - Equipping Hammers +Attack and Move Speed by (rank)%. Equipping Shields +DMG by (rank)%. - 5 rank value[/li]
[li]Adventurer - While Gold Collected indicator is showing, +Move Speed and DMG by (rank)% - 7.5 rank value[/li]
[li]Equality - Reduce resource costs and DMG taken by (rank)% of your HP/MP equality % - 7.5 rank value[/li]
[li]Nadroji - Increases the chance to find extremely rare Legends by (rank)% - 12.5 rank value[/li]
[li]Defiant - Increases DMG and DMG Reduction by %(rank) of total HP% missing - 6.25 rank value[/li]
[li]Maelstrom - Increases the DMG of all proc spells by (rank)% - 7.5 rank value[/li]
[li]Mythical - (rank)% increased Mythstone drop rarity - 7.5 rank value[/li]
[li]Crystalline - (rank)% increased Crystal drop rarity - 7.5 rank value[/li]
[li]Eternalized - (rank)% increased Eternal drop rate - 7.5 rank value[/li]
[li]Spirit Master - Increases the total possible Spirit Minions summoned by (rank) - 1 rank value[/li]
[li]Reactor - Orb now casts Arc each half second for (rank)% MH DMG - 12.5 rank value[/li][/ul][/:m]
[li]7 Updated Sets
[ul][]Electrified[/li]
[li]Summoner[/li]
[li]Cosmic Power[/li]
[li]Faun’s Gifts[/li]
[li]Vampiric Touch[/li]
[li]Golden Veins[/li]
[li]Deadly Arts[/li][/ul][/:m][/list:u]
- Minor Features
[ul][li]UI
[list][]All Stat page now shows stat caps[/li]
[li]Now displaying skill resource cost in the stats screen[/li]
[li]Can now press back to get max salvage/convert[/li]
[li]Now announcing which Mythstones or Crystals you’re picking up[/li][/ul][/:m]
[li]Items
[ul][]Mythics now lock upon creation[/li][/ul][/:m]
[li]Systems
[ul][]Gamble vendor now has a chance to produce guaranteed rare and ultra rare Mythstones and Crystals[/li]
[li]Now awarding more Hero Points for Epic+ enemy kills, which the amount now increases by floor[/li][/ul][/:m][/list:u]
- Design
[ul]
[li]Gold from loot drops have been dramatically increased while gold earned from items sold have been dramatically decreased. This change is to encourage the use of Gold Find affix/effects and to encourage picking up gold from the ground. If most of a floor’s gold is picked up, 0% Gold Find you will earn less gold than before, but with full 650% Gold Find you will earn more than before.[/li]
[li]Skills
[list][]Blast’s damage increased by 25%[/li]
[li]Pierce’s damage increased by 25%[/li]
[li]Stealth and Vanish Cooldown increased to 8 seconds[/li]
[li]Earthshatter changed to “Erupts the ground infront of the warrior, stunning enemies and causing a large crater for (rank)% DMG”[/li]
[li]Earthshatter’s damage increased by 60%[/li]
[li]Bash’s damage increased by 200%[/li]
[li]Reduced recovery time for Bash’s animation[/li]
[li]Charge’s Dynamics reworked. Targets nearest enemy and quickly charged towards that target. Should be much faster than previous charge[/li]
[li]Lance’s Charges removed[/li]
[li]Ground Stomp replaced with Shield Wall - Reduces all DMG taken by 40% and increased reflect damage by 400% for 4 seconds.[/li]
[li]Vault’s Dynamics reworked. Vault is now faster.[/li]
[li]Scalp changed to - Summons 3 rotating hatchets dealing (rank)% offhand DMG every .5 sec with 100% bleed chance[/li]
[li]Stats / Affixes[/li]
[li]Fear, Frozen, Stun, Blind all now last 3 seconds[/li]
[li]Weakened changed to reduce enemy resists by a %[/li]
[li]Cooldown Reduction of Time mythstone increased to 15%[/li]
[li]The increase in Bleed Damage by both Golden Veins and Vampiric sets is now additive.[/li][/ul][/:m]
[li]Sets
[ul][]Faun’s Gift changed to “Increases Total HP% and All Resist by (rank)% Luck on Gear”[/li]
[li]Electrified changed to Reflect DMG is applied to area, and + by (rank)%. Attacks have a (rank2)% chance to Paralyze.[/li]
[li]Vampiric Touch changed to “Increases Bleed DMG and Total HP by (rank)%, applying bleed heals 1% HP. Removes HP Regen”[/li]
[li]Golden Veins changed to “Increases HP and Bleed DMG by (rank)% Average Gold Find on gear”[/li]
[li]Deadly Arts changed to “Deadly Strikes have a (rank)% chance to finish all Cooldowns, DMG taken reduced by (rank2)%”[/li]
[li]Cosmic Power changed to “(rank)% MP and MP Regen. Time Warp adds (rank2)% DMG to projectiles”[/li][/ul][/:m]
[li]Talents
[ul][]Lacerate is now additive instead of multiplicative[/li][/ul][/:m]
[li]Enemy
[ul][]Reduced enemy “Extra Health” affix to give 25% Extra Health instead of 100%[/li]
[li]Reduced enemy “Extra Damage” affix to give 25% Extra Damage instead of 50%[/li][/ul][/:m]
[li]Map
[ul][]Reduced Map Affix range of “Enemy Heal” from 1 - 2.5% to 0.25 - .5%[/li]
[li]Reduced Map Affix range of “Enemy Health” from 125 - 250% to 25 - 50%[/li][/ul][/:m][/list:u]
- Bug Fixes
[ul][li]Grass now drops loot[/li]
[li]Fixed Stealth actions taking heroes out of stealth[/li]
[li]Fixed Stealth’s description to “Dodges all attacks for 2 seconds, and removes all DoTs”[/li]
[li]Counter now works properly[/li]
[li]Certain feats are now able to be rewarded during Boss Fights[/li]
[li]Rerolling Crystals now roll Legend’s affixes in their proper 75-100% range[/li]
[li]Gamble Vendors now prefer to generate items fit for your current class[/li]
[li]Fustigate and other Stun boosts now works with Toss[/li]
[li]Harmony now works with offhands, and should have a more accurate modification on skill cost[/li]
[li]Fixed issue with Mainhand Specials using the wrong mana cost[/li][/ul]
[size=150]And much more to come![/size]
We hope that you’ve enjoyed this preview for 1.8.1. We’re extremely excited to see what new builds you guys will create with these new toys. As always we’re very open to feedback and suggestions, so make sure to let us know what you think on our forums!
We already have a good portion of 1.9 developed and will be hard at work making it one of our best patches yet. We will be previewing 1.9 the weeks following the release of 1.8.1, so make sure to continue following us on our twitter, facebook, and subreddit for updates!
and thanks everyone for the feedback and bug reports, it really helps make these patches much better. It’s hard to catch everything with just myself and Todd!
for me anyway. Time is precious, I want all action that is not broken by text or cut scenes, even if there is a “skip” button, its still eating away my precious game time.