Diablo 4 patch 1.1.0 is here ahead of the proper launch of season 1 later this week, and it looks like Blizzard is shaking up the meta with buffs to underutilized skills, nerfs to some of the game's most popular builds, and a major shift for World Tiers.
Existing World Tiers are getting some notable attention. World Tiers 3 and 4 are getting a substantial difficulty adjustment, as the level scaling system will now let you progress up to five levels ahead of monsters in dungeons and most overworld areas. The devs say "we want to give players a better sense of their power progression and mastery over the world while still challenging themselves with structured End Game activities."
You'll start outleveling monsters at 55 in WT3, or 75 in WT4. Here's how the devs explain the system for WT3 in the full patch notes:
- If the the player's Level is below 55, the monster's Level is 55.
- If the player’s Level is 56-60, the monster’s Level is 55.
- If the player’s Level is 61, the monster’s Level is 56.
- If the player’s Level is 62, the monster’s Level is 57, etc. (from this point the monsters will always be -5 until World Tier III's max monster Level of 70).
There's been no difficulty adjustment to WT2, but you'll now get more bonus gold - 20%, up from 15% - and monsters will now drop 15% more items.
All five classes have gotten buffs focused on "numeric increases to Skill Upgrades and Legendary Aspects that players haven't yet found compelling." But Blizzard has also nerfed skills tied to more exploitive builds that "grant extreme amounts of damage, healing, or Unstoppable."
The changes aren't going down well over on Diablo 4 discussion forums, as the nerfs are targeting popular builds that fans have gotten attached to. Naturally, early patch notes responses are typically pretty negative - we'll see how the community reacts to the changes in practice soon enough.
These patch notes have been hotly anticipated ever since season 1 was announced, and Blizzard itself only added to the hype with the revelation that the patch notes had already hit 6,600 words well ahead of release. (The final word count has ended up at 6,823, by my count.)
Diablo 4 season 1 itself launches on July 20. Titled Season of the Malignant, it'll bring a new story that takes place after the main campaign. While it's not a direct continuation of the story, you will have to complete the main campaign before jumping in. You'll also need to start a new character to take part in the new seasonal mechanics and storyline. Once the season's over, that character will be moved back to the normal Eternal realm with all your old characters.
Check out our Diablo 4 tips if you're just getting started with the game.
