With the massive 1.0.4 patch just around the corner, Diablo III developers finally spill the beans regarding the highly anticipated Legendary item changes. Since its launch Diablo III has been heavily criticized for its lackluster "Legendary" items and after three months of listening, it seems like the developers are finally ready to make some big changes. But is it already too late?
With PvP far from sight and a lack of additional content to keep players coming back, it's no surprise the amount of Diablo III players are dwindling. But perhaps the upcoming changes will be enough to pull players back into the game. Now it looks like the developers are finally taking some notes from the success of Diablo II:
Many of you commented, rightly, that the Legendary items in the game didn’t feel unique enough. Something that Diablo II did really well was to create some very memorable items, and they were called “Uniques.” While we call them Legendaries now, the word “unique” was something we tried to keep in mind when making these changes. The rarity of Legendary items combined with their color means that when they drop you should feel like you’re getting something special, something that isn’t just another sword. A truly legendary item should have history behind it, something that you can imagine a powerful wizard imbuing with special magics from within the depths of his musty library.
In addition to making legendary items much more powerful (see screenshots), Blizzard will be adding unique abilities to a number of them such as the Lidless Wall, now with "You have a chance to be shielded when hit by enemies", or Firewalkers now with "Burns the ground you walk on". Another change that is sure to make many happy is a promotion of build diversity through a number of legendary items.
Since the first Diablo game, a number of brave souls have dedicated their entire gaming experience to experimenting with unconventional builds such as the melee wizard or the range barb. Unfortunately, Diablo III didn't leave much room for too many of these builds, but now a handful of legendaries will encourage them. For example, melee wizards can have a weapon that gives a bonus to Spectral Blade damage while barbarians can have a weapon that gives bonuses to Weapon Throw and Ancient Spear.
For all of the juicy details, head on over to the official developer's blog. Are the upcoming changes enough to bring you back to the game?
