Last month, Blizzard released its big 1.0.4 Diablo III patch, bringing with it several large changes such as legendary item improvements and the paragon leveling system.
Additionally, the developers decided to bring out the nerf bats and go to town on the Inferno difficulty. Although Blizzard devs may have stated they were going "full steam ahead" on the highly anticipated PvP patch, it looks like they aren't ready to put those bats away just yet.
In a developer's blog post Friday, Blizzard detailed some of the upcoming changes with the 1.0.5 patch. In short, the plan is to: "Reduce the effectiveness of select defensive skills. Reduce monster damage by more than the mitigation lost by these skills. Putting both changes together, players actually take less damage than before."
"High incoming monster damage combined with extremely powerful defensive skills make those skills and runes feel mandatory," Blizzard explains. "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."
Although defensive skills will be taking major nerfs across the board, all of the damage in the Inferno difficulty will be taking an even bigger hit. The exact numbers are still being worked on, but you should expect a decrease in damage by at least 25%. The change is designed to promote greater build diversity, but players who already steam roll through the Inferno difficulty will find the changes unnecessary.
Luckily for them, 1.0.5 will also bring along a "Monster Power" system. No specifics were given on the system, but Blizzard did state it would be similar to the "players X" option in Diablo II, a chat command function that allowed solo players to adjust difficulty levels as if there were X number of players in the game. Head on over to the blog post for more information on the upcoming changes.
