Game designer Wyatt Cheng at Blizzard Entertainment has posted a new journal to discuss the plans the studio has for the future 1.0.5 update for Diablo 3. The new journal focuses on the changes they’re making to every character’s defensive bonuses against incoming monster damage in the upcoming patch.
Many core skills for each class, including the Wizard’s Energy Armor, and the Barbarian’s War Cry will be affected by these changes. These skills will be slightly nerfed to compensate for the reduced amount of damage players will take in Inferno difficulty in the next patch.
“High incoming monster damage combined with extremely powerful defensive skills make those skills and runes feel mandatory,” wrote Cheng. “Our goal is that by simultaneously nerfing defensive skills and reducing incoming damage, players who choose to continue using these defensive skills will take less damage overall, and players who choose to forego these ‘mandatory’ skills will find themselves more survivable than what you would currently experience on live.”
To support his claims, the developer posted a pie chart pulling from Diablo 3’s online data to showcase the distribution of the War Cry skill on level 60 Barbarians. It goes to show that the “Impunity” rune sees far more use than any other rune for the skill.
To recap, defensive skills will be getting a slight nerf in 1.0.5, but incoming damage from monsters is also being reduced. Taken together, the changes mean Inferno is going to be easier.
