Diablo IV’s first big post-launch patch is here, and it’s nothing if not a conversation centerpiece for the passionate fanbase. While not a content drop, the patch primarily focuses on fixes, dungeon buffs, and a class balance pass.
With Update 1.0.3, Nightmare dungeons got a “significant” increase to experience payouts, players are now able to teleport to these instances, and all classes received a bump to basic skill damage and effectiveness. “These changes will not change the fundamental relationship between basic skills and core skills, but we hope that they help smooth out the leveling experience while we explore additional ways to strengthen them,” the devs said. “We are also increasing the power of some skills that players feel are lagging behind their peers.”
Blizzard also hinted at future changes, including “increasing the monster and elite density of end-game content” and looking at minion survivability and build parity.
Despite the patch being pretty much a buff bonanza, some vocal players claim that this didn’t do much to address more critical issues with certain classes. “You are forcing us to play the game the way YOU want us to play. This was a patch with 13 pages full of meaningless bug fixes and trash tier class balances,” one player said.
The tone of many other players was less vitriolic but still puzzled: “1% buff on some astonishingly bad skills will do absolutely nothing to move the needle,” posted another. In a different post, someone said, “I’m disappointed by the small adjustment to basic skills. They still feel really bad to use.”
