I’ve spent the last week dabbling in the world of Sanctuary of  the Diablo universe to see what “improvements” might have come with Patch 1.08 which was released earlier this month (May 2013).

The changes that I’ve found most important to the gameplay are:

• Players can now identify all items in their inventory by speaking to Deckard Cain or by using the Book of Cain that can be found near the shared stash in all Acts
• Players now receive a 10% bonus to Magic Find, Gold Find, and Experience per additional player in a multiplayer game, up to a maximum of 30% in a four-player game
• A notification is now sent to all players in a multiplayer game whenever a party member engages an Elite monster or Treasure Goblin in combat, and their location will be shown on the mini-map
• In addition to this, an icon will also appear over player banners in town to indicate if they’re in combat with a monster, Elite monster, or Treasure Goblin
• Players can now queue up multiple items and gems at a time within the same tier to be crafted, so long as they possess the necessary materials
• Players can now craft items using materials located in the shared stash
• Players can now disable the confirmation dialog when salvaging items of Rare quality
• Templar Skill: Loyalty Now regenerates 310 life per second (up from 155)
• In multiplayer games, the increase in monster hit points per additional player has been reduced to 50% (down from 70%)
• Nekarat the Keywarden now has a chance to drop a random Key (of Destruction, Hate, or Terror) in addition to the Infernal Machine plans

I’m still at a loss when I ask myself why I play the game however. The whole gear-chase aspect that reminds me so much of pulling a slot machine bar over and over doesn’t really appeal to me anymore. I think completing the game through Inferno difficulty (which isn’t difficult since progression is only a function of the gear your character wears) is the only thing really left to entice me.

What I had hoped the game would be was a new adventure with a dark, haunting, adventure with group quests, group challenges, and better loot chance curves (emphasizing Quality over Quantity).

There is still hope that the new lead designer, (not Jay Wilson), can bring some changes to the game that gave players some sort of tangible activity/goal to keep players playing the game, but from this standpoint, the game is a year old and the sun has already set on the majority of would-be Sanctuary Heros.

[via Diablo3.com]

Even after my fallout of love with Blizzard over the reeking mass of moldy liquefied excrement  that is Diablo III, I still find myself checking the community website to see if there is any salvation for the game. It is like I am in denial about how far Blizzard has fallen since its wedding with Activision. I just don’t want to believe that Blizzard could have made such a bad game, or maybe secretly I just don’t want to believe that I’ve outgrown shallow games like Diablo. I don’t know which, but since this is my opinion article, I’m laying the blame on Blizzard.

Last night I must have had a relapse moment, because I yet again went to check if anything on Diablo III’s website was new, fresh, and might pull me back into a game world that I once threw a Christmas-fit over as a young teenager. I was surprised to find that news about patch 1.07 had just been published. Hurrah! A New Hope!

The exciting thing about this patch is the PvP implementation for Diablo, and as awesome as that sounds, it is nothing like what was previewed at Blizzcon years before the games release. In Blizzcon videos, you can see team PvP in arenas that imply balanced matchmaking and gameplay. What we have with patch 1.07 is just an opt-in Free-for-all gameplay experience that seems like nothing more than a lazy man’s implementation of World of Warcraft arena matches. They call it “Dueling” to differentiate it, of course, but here is how Blizzard says it will work:

• To duel another player, you’ll need to speak with Nek the Brawler at the inn in New Tristram
• Speaking with Nek will take you and your party to the Scorched Chapel, a new zone designed specifically for player combat
• This zone has custom geometry and features four different areas: the church, the graveyard, the river, and the lake
• Dueling currently supports up to four players in a Free-For-All format, which means you can battle your friends either one-on-one, three-player FFA, or a full four-player FFA

Now, to Blizzard’s credit, they say that they won’t be balancing PvP because it will adversely affect the balancing of the primary game progression. Smart on them. But this certainly isn’t enough of a draw for me to pick up the game as my primary go-to game anytime in the conceivable future, but at least it is a step in the right direction.

There are lots of other changes in this patch, but they all serve the existing player-base and only affect people who are really enjoying the game as it is. Check them out here.

Are you still playing Diablo III? Are you excited about PvP? Let us know in the comments.