backup: THE TRUTH BEHIND 1.0.3 - HIDDEN FOOTPRINTS!

philwinkel#1808
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5890100318

First off, I'll give you the TLDR:

Patch 1.0.3 = damage control in an attempt to fix D3's economy and keep you playing.
Nephalem Valor guaranteed rares = Smoke Bomb, blinding you from the truth. The rate at which high-end (high iLvl) items drop has been nerfed to the point where the game is no longer rewarding or fun to play
Nerf drops from vases, pots, and dead adventurers = stop gold find bots, the easy way, punish everyone, and kill a cool part of diablo.
If you were farming acts 3/4 prior to 1.0.3, you will probably notice and either give up or give in. It doesn't matter, because you're the minority.
If you were stuck in acts 1/2 prior to 1.0.3, you have no idea. This does matter, because you're the majority, and the patch makes things "seem" better on the surface. You're more likely to continue playing.


And onto the conspiracy theories:

Patch 1.0.3 looks great on the surface, but it was really a huge nerf - obviously damage control in an attempt to repair D3’s economy. Many players who have been stuck farming act 1 and 2 inferno have no idea what really happened. I’ll break it down from the beginning for you.

Originally (pre 1.0.3), Inferno was designed to be a huge grind where it was very difficult to progress. The gear that dropped in act 1 was mostly garbage. It was designed to take a while farming act 1 in order to get geared to the point where you could start farming act 2. And so on for act 2, and 3, etc. Each act was significantly harder, and there was a “wall” in difficulty between acts. You had to really, really farm one act, get the best possible loot from that act, before you had any chance (or reason) to play the next act.

However, a number of things happened that caused this to backfire and players were able to progress through acts faster than blizzard had anticipated:

Bots were crushing jars and looting dead adventurers making 500k + gold / hour
Players were skipping into later acts using bugs – no legitimate progression required
Certain class / build combinations (namely, glass cannon DH / wiz) were able to farm high end gear efficiently
Treasure goblin farming
Clever use of checkpoints to farm the same elites over and over very quickly and efficiently
Insert [easy way to farm gear better than you're supposed to be farming] here


Gold and high end items were being brought into the game economy faster than blizzard had anticipated. On top of that, the vast majority of people were stuck in act 1 (as intended), but Blizzard realized many people were getting sick of the gear check / “wall” between acts. Many people don’t want to grind act 1 inferno over and over for a month just to tackle act 2 inferno. They’re seeing a lot of players leaving the game, and they need people farming inferno so they can continue make money from the RMAH.

So, people are sick of inferno and dropping like flies. Blizzard has to keep people interested and playing, so they make a big beautiful promise in the form of patch 1.0.3. On the surface, patch 1.0.3 looks like this:

Nephalem Valor guarantees rare drops! Players are able to loot rare items consistently! High end items will now drop from lower acts! You can farm the best gear in the game in act 1!
Slight fix to attack speed! Don’t worry, it’s cool guys! We’ll figure something out! We are going to listen to your input!


The announcement of 1.0.3 was like Blizzard shining some light of hope down the dark tunnel at us. It made us feel reassured – the game was a little rough around the edges, but it has a lot of potential. We’ll wait it out and keep playing, because 1.0.3 is going to make things way better.

1.0.3 rolls over like a !@#$ storm. What did 1.0.3 REALLY do? What is the TRUTH behind 1.0.3? I’ll tell you:

Instead of going directly after bots and banning botters via anti-cheat measures (Warden), they figured out what botters were doing and put an end to it by nerfing it to the ground. Presto. You can’t loot valuable items from jars, vases, dead adventurers anymore. They got rid of gold find bots, which is great, but at the same time those bots ruined it for everyone and now you can’t loot anything valuable from jars, vases, etc anymore.
They made it possible for higher level gear to drop from lower acts in inferno, BUT they ninja nerfed the drop rate of high end gear in later acts. Prior to 1.0.3 a small minority of players were able to farm acts 3 and 4 very effectively – too effectively. Players were farming the best high end items in the game at a rate that was causing the economy to tank. Nothing you could farm in act 1 or 2 was really worth anything, because blues from acts 3 and 4 were so common and significantly better. Blizzard ninja nerfed drop rates of high iLvl items in acts 3/4 order to make high-end loot more valuable.


The majority of players think 1.0.3 is a good thing, and they have no idea. They were stuck in act 1 looting a bunch of level 50-59 garbage and they weren’t getting anywhere. Now we can kill elites in act 1 and get fill our inventory with rares easy as pie!

A number of players who were farming acts 3 and 4 prior to 1.0.3 have made threads regarding this issue. I understand that random loot is random – sometimes you get lucky, a lot of times you don’t get lucky. I realize the patch has only been out a day. But if you’ve been farming act 3 for the last month, you’re kind of used to it and have a good idea of what kind of loot you’ll typically get.

You don’t have to believe me, I mean you can keep farming and farming and get there and see for yourself, but the rate at which high end (high iLvl) loot drops has been severely nerfed overall. This has been done to make these items more valuable and hold over the end game of diablo 3 (and the RMAH) for a while longer.

People are farming tons and tons of rares now, going back to town every 5 minutes and identifying a bunch of stuff. They’ve been stuck in act 1 and 2 for a month, and they don’t know any better. Unfortunately, they’re blind to what really happened here – blinded by all of the guaranteed rares dropping all over the place. Most of which are complete garbage.

Blizzard hasn’t and won’t release the drop rates prior to 1.0.3 because they actually nerfed them overall. Sure, you might be getting tons of rares, but overall the high iLvl items are much more rare now and are being introduced to the economy at a lower rate - per player. EXCEPT... more players are looting them. So I guess overall, loot is probably coming into the game at the same rate, except as a player on an individual level, it's just much, much less rewarding. Basically everything is garbage.

Thanks to lowered drop rates (not so obvious) and crazy repair bills (obvious), the price of gold has stabilized and is no longer dropping in value. The value of gold actually appears to be slightly increasing since 1.0.3 was released. Working exactly as intended. In order to alleviate the complaints about repair bills, blizzard will probably slightly reduce the rate at which durability is lost, or something along those lines. They’ll do something to make it “seem” better, but it’ll most likely remain rather expensive to repair. The repair bills, in combination with the IAS DPS nerf, and re-tooling of certain boss mechanics (reflect damage on siegebreaker, etc) make farming later acts with glass cannons no longer viable.

I know it sounds like a conspiracy and you don’t have to believe it. There's no way to really PROVE it, because it is random. I understand that. If you were regularly farming acts 3 and 4 prior to the patch, you’ll see what’s been done here - in the form of a "gut feeling". If you were stuck in acts 1 and 2 like most people, you won’t know any better. And more power to you! I wish Diablo 3 was still fun.

EDIT: My main point here I guess, is basically the game is now less rewarding for the individual player. I don't know what the drop rates were previously, but once you got to act 3, you'd get some good items and it was fun. It was rewarding to play. Maybe a bit too rewarding. Now, it's just not even remotely rewarding unless you're incredibly lucky.

I could go on about this forever, and give you my opinion regarding how things are being handled in this game, but there's plenty of that garbage on the forums already. I just wanted to throw out my opinion regarding how this patch was handled, because seriously - there are some hidden footprints taking place.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve always been a huge Blizzard fan. Diablo 3, while kind of disappointing at the moment, is a great game with lots of potential.

Best of luck to everyone playing! I cashed out on the RMAH and I’m done until they iron it out, add some PvP, and so on. It’s kind of funny when you think about it actually – it’s absolutely brilliant that Blizzard made quite a bit of money just because I quit playing! What kind of a game MAKES MONEY when you quit? That’s absolutely brilliant. I truly hope they can take all the money they’re milking out of the RMAH and turn it into a game that’s worth playing.

http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/22281194.jpg

diablo 3 post back up. for the love of god

UriahHeep#1809

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5889900222

We loved you. We still do - that's why we're upset. Please come back. The following is one player's plea.

Love at First Sight

The first Diablo 3 teaser video I saw showcased the barbarian in what appears to be an early rendition of the Cathedral outside New Tristram. Something was said within the first few minutes, "There's no such thing as too much power..." Granted, the rest of the sentence was something akin to "as long as you know how to use it," but that's irrelevant in this post, because only the first part stuck.

"There's no such thing as too much power."

Those words, coupled with the following footage of a near-naked barbarian destroying monsters in unrivaled awesomeness is what hooked me. A lightning enchanted weapon threw chunks of meat all over the screen, tethered by flickering blue arcs. A frost weapon froze and shattered enemies. This wasn't some contrived hack-n-slash medieval game. This was fun incarnate. And I'm glad to see you kept the effects.

In one scene, a single chest dropped a full set of armor. I know... I know... you told us up front that wouldn't happen in game. This was all for show. But I promise you, everyone who saw that scene immediately gasped. That's the reaction you've been wanting from us all along.

And yes, I realize test monsters with 1 HP explode no matter what attack you use. But again, this is what we saw, and this is what we fell in love with. If my barbarian charged across a bridge, blew apart 50 monsters, and all the resulting carnage and gore being rendered crashed my computer, I'd laugh maniacally and reboot just to do it all again. Why? Because it's fun.

The Deluded Fantasy

Fun is a subjective thing. I've never cared about competing. And I know many people who live for it. I'm fine with that. But this was my sanctuary. The sports-lovers played Starcraft. The gear-mongers played WoW. Diablo was never a sport, it wasn't about "progression" in a rigid structured sense. Diablo existed for 1 reason... to beat monsters until they exploded like blood-filled loot pinatas. That's all. And if you should so happen to set foot outside town, and look at someone the wrong way... maybe you'd be the blood-filled pinata. But in the time I played D2, it never happened unprovoked.

There's another forum warcry. And the Mephisto Runners roared, "Loot Pinata!"

The video I saw those few years ago led me to believe this was still the case. That integrity remained. I've always thought of Diablo as the more loveable step-sibling of the three. Starcraft was for sport. It had balance and individual perfection at its forefront. Warcraft was for raiding and posturing, with balance for pvp and arenas, and group perfection for raids at its forefront. Diablo was... for macabre mexican party games.

Diablo didn't care about balance. There was no competition. Who was going to challenge something like that? You paid for the game, you played it. There was no sanctioned pvp, there was no monthly fee, there was no intended way for anyone to benefit in any way from this game beyond the point of sale. As long as the players bought it, and liked it, Blizzard would build a legacy.

Again, it's my dead horse, and when I beat it, the hollow thumps play the rhythm to the world's saddest song... but this preview movie reminded us why we loved that red-headed gothic step-child.

Broken Dreams

The forums bleed hatred every day because the things that the fan base called "fun" were taken.

By all means, make the game challenging. But don't squelch the loopholes players find. Legitimate players enjoy finding "exploits". And you will never stamp out the plague that is gold-farmers. If you burn the fields because of the weeds, you'll lose your crops in the blaze. As it stands, there's little to no reason to bother breaking a pot. Breaking a pot isn't fun. Never at Blizzcon has someone taken a mic to ask, "When will we be allowed to smash empty things?" Breaking 20 pots, and seeing gold fly out is fun. Pinata.

By all means, randomize the loot, make us hunt for it. But don't put in filler stats to hinder and hurt us. Nobody is excited to find a rare item with Wizard only stats and Strengh instead of Intellect. Likewise, Damage to Life scales terribly in later acts, and Chance on Hit effects have such a low chance to proc that they serve only as filler and variety. (I did, however, read some exciting posts on WD's Snake to the Face and stacking Chance to Stun + IAS... but that is no more.)

We were told all builds would be viable. We understand that you can't put 4 mantras in your keybound slots and 2 heals on your mouse and expect to win. But if something is well thought out, and played accordingly, it can work. However, the Wizard Force Armor / Regen build was quickly crushed. Snake to the Face / Stun / IAS has been broken. I even lament the loss of the Boon of Protection Spam build for Monk. I'll admit, I originally stopped playing my Monk in protest until Boon of Prot was "fixed", because the whole idea tasted of cheese. But in retrospect, it was the beginning of the end of innovation and playing the game. Not just playing the game, but truly cunningly... playing... the game.

And don't forget. "There is no such thing as too much power."

With every patch, the little shiny things are broken. The game is "balanced" more and more inspite of the repercussions. Inspite of the fact that Diablo was never meant to be balanced. Inspite of how it ruins players' enjoyment.

I'm finding it hard to keep writing and, at the same time, hold back the bitterness. I'll forego the itemized list of griefs, and instead push forward.

Final Thoughts

Treasure Goblins are, in my eyes, the last glimmering hope. In the middle of all this, there's a nasty little psychological gimmick. How great is my greed? And with child-like glee, and mindless recklessness, I plunge headlong into a group of monsters to chase down a goblin with a bag of goodies, so I can beat him mercilessly to death. The most innocent and innocuous of monsters. He counts his gold, and runs away, because he doesn't want to fight. Yet we slaughter them amid laughter and cheers. This, my friends, is Diablo.

We don't want balance. We don't want to be held by the hand and shown how to play. We don't want safe secure new ways to burn real money. We want to be unleashed on a world full of evil, demonic, hellish-looking sacks of blood, guts, and gold... and we want to be encouraged to play it exactly as we want and find fun for ourselves. We want to feel this intangible, non-existing "too much power." We want the Blizzard and the Diablo we know and love back.

Thank you.

Eridani Empire: not so handicapped as you thought.

Eridani Empire is easily viewed as handicapped or hard race to play as it has two discs taken away. i doubted it as i enjoy winning the game epically while i see people right here on bgg saying eridani is handicapped, i tried it out a few times, managed to win a few games with quite a solid start in my honest opinion - i am just not good at making decisions late game and somehow throw away games easily.

Here are some of my thoughts.

Before-game: do not pick the race early. Dun worry, no one will pick your race early as they are still 'somewhat handicapped' and hard to play with. They situationally do really well. Pick them if
1. the last pick or
2. the second last when hydran is picked (and see below)
3. pick it when you are just between humans/mechanema/orion meaning that you just have to fight.
Pay attention if advanced robotics is available (or 2 are available when there is a hydran as they are somewhat likely to take it early). Eridani would a nice pick as you are likely to get it turn 2. Thanks and due to the draft system, you are likely to make first passes if you go first because you picked last or almost.

In the marco-sense: with 3 techs, eridani is definitely a rush race. Encounter aliens early for bonus. You should always align hexes towards some other SimCity players if available so in case the draws go bad that it isn't really useful, you can still use it as a step stone to claim his hexes.

I would aim for 4 mineral productions in turn 1 although unlikely, it doesn’t really hurt to trade it with 3 money. Explore sector 3 as there are 8 hexes i could use it for minerals. 2 hexes with discovery tiles ONLY but you still won’t dismiss it. If aliens hex is drawn, still accept it as you can always come back next turn. This would leave you 14 out of 18 'useful' hexes.

For actions below -13, you are effectively trading money for minerals with 3:1 or rates below, effectively equally better off/worse off with what  you are allowed in this race.

One science early is also handy where you can exactly get a disc with no trades at turn 2 if it is available.

Alternatively, sector 2 is also considerable with 3 mineral hexes and 2 purely discovery tiles. 3 aliens are also here which when you draw it you could leave it alone. But after all, the goal is to have 8 minerals by turn 2 with least trade. Hence discovering sector 2 really depends on how the deck is drawn by others.

For sector 1, it is quite undesirable as it only has two 2 out of 8 mineral placable planets. While the ancients are also good, they are abundant (1/2 chance) and hence not so urgent.

While attacking with gauss shield equipped interceptor and cruiser turn 1 is do-able, i do not like the idea as it is quite unlikely to sustain mineral production as i am likely to lose the interceptor and burn down money.

Now for turn 2. Discover sector 1 depending on how much alien left in the deck. In my opinion, eridani do not really need science early and advanced mineral is just not in fit with advanced mining due to starting hex, i tend to discard 102 and 107 accepting all others. In case the odds are bad in multiplayer settings, go for sector 2. Do not worry about double ancients. Build a dreadnought with gauss shield and plasma cannon and you have a mighty 80% win rate. If you still feel unsafe, send the interceptor as kamikaze and you have a 90% win rate as long as you think that is just not useful anymore.

That’s all i really want to say as it really varies after turn 2. Keep on discovering sector 2 and 1 and destroy everything in your way. You do not really need friends mid game. If you manage to make an ally early, feel free to become a traitor early so that someone can pick that away from you. Eridani only has 4 spaces for reputations, dun waste it for ambassadors. Be confident with your early dreadnought and harass aggressively. Hey, this is a dead empire, you have nothing to lose! But likely i would aim for GCD whenever possible. Harass your (SimCity) neighbors when you just can’t go for the center.

feel free to add points or challenge, if eclipse manage to make it #5, i dun think that the developers would 'carelessly' put a highly unplayable race in it..

BTW, do not forget about the drive! Yes, it sucks early. But in the late game it might be useful if you decide to do the pinning strategy  You have the little energy bonus to do it.



just sharing a nice photo we playing eclipse, since may 2012

new hideout

自二千年起, 從七樓common room 到飯堂, 最近大伙再移動了. 偶然來一次玩的人可以留意一下新的地方. 基本上就是從飯堂開始再向泳池方向走至教學樓(2),s 到3樓新飯堂而已. 地方低調遠離人煙而且新淨, 請大家保持環境以及大伙的聲譽

以下看圖識字, 不明罷就