Diablo III game designer Wyatt Cheng has posted up a host of updates that Blizzard has planned for the upcoming patch 1.0.3 which is expected to address a number of issues ranging from Inferno difficulty to gem crafting.
The first thing Blizzard noticed was that the difficulty ramp up in Inferno between Acts 1 and 2 was way too difficult for most players to handle. Due to the resulting difficulty spike, most players found themselves purchasing equipment out of the auction house as they were unable to find them effectively within the game itself.
To that end, Blizzard intends to make it possible to find high level gear in Hell Act 3 and 4 so players are properly equipped by the time they reach Inferno difficulty. And those who feel secure enough to murder monsters in Inferno Act 1 can do so knowing they'll receive some decent items for their efforts.
Additionally, the Nephalem Valor bonus you get for killing elite packs of monsters at level 60 is being tweaked a little so that you're guaranteed to receive one rare item each time you dispatch a group of rare or elite monsters. Bosses (that is, act bosses) will only be guaranteed to drop one rare item instead of two, so players don't leave the game after killing one of them.
Blizzard is also removing the bonus damage that monsters receive with each additional player in the game, because it makes the game too difficult and renders certain player skills, like the Wizard's Archon, completely worthless in cooperative games. In other words, monster damage in cooperative games is getting nerfed so players don't die so often.
To make sure players don't perform 'graveyard runs' on their characters by depleting enemy health with each subsequent death, you'll be paying for your mistakes when 1.0.3 comes out with the increase in repair costs by 4x to 6x their current values.
Finally, gems will cost a lot less to combine in 1.0.3 as the values are going to be dramatically tweaked to be incredibly affordable and only require two gems per upgrade, instead of three. The gem combine costs for Perfect Square and upwards will remain as expensive as it is, however.
