Diablo 3 Patch 1.04 Review

Did Blizzard really make a difference in the game play with Patch 1.04? As always they built up this hype of how great this new patch will be and how it will save the game. At the time of this posting it has only been out for roughly 24 hours now. From what I've seen in this patch its all about reviving Blizzards money making machine. Lets face it as a seller on the Real Money Auction House I stopped playing because nothing was selling. I'm sure many people who were buyers also stopped due to numerous factors... banned for buying items, maxed out character decently and needed nothing further at least within a reasonable price, or you just never bought and weren't going to anyway.

Blizzard decided to throw a monkey wrench into the game by basically nerfing all pre patch 1.04 items. As you will see in the patch notes Blizzard states:

• "All level 60- 62 damage affixes have had their Minimum and Maximum top-end damage values increased

• Level 63 items will still roll the highest potential damage values in the game, but the damage difference between level 60-62 items and level 63 items just won't be as dramatic as it was before

• Note: This will only impact items created or dropped after patch 1.0.4"

Therefore in order to force old buyers to buy again and attract new ones all items prior to this patch basically received a nerf.

Blizzard has turned the once difficult to defeat champion packs into a bunch of tamed kittens. Health pools for these monsters have been reduced for all difficulties. As well as eliminating any bonus health these elites would have from playing Co-op. They have been knocked down to a flat 75% bonus no matter how many additional players on top of having a reduction of 11% health from this patch. Then take into account that Blizzard beefed up our skills, the new legendary weapons, added Paragon Levels, eliminated the ability for an elite to heal back to full health if left for to long. Can you say Hello Kitty and yet zerging suicides for those that can't cut it? Just keep slicing away you'll get there eventually. Which puts up the point where is the challenge in that?

I enjoy the idea of being able to further advance my character in Diablo however this wasn't it. Paragon Levels is just another way of saying prestiging. It doesn't eliminate the fact that we still farm the same content. I must say this repetition kills. The fact that each Paragon Level adds MF/GF and a few stats makes a nice bonus and eliminates the need for that kind of gear. However capping the magic find at max Paragon Level does not in anyway make sense. If anything either a nerf needs to be done here down to 1% bonus per Paragon Level or raise the MF/GF cap. The good thing that came of this patch here was each character in a group is now independent of a median MF/GF. You no longer have to worry about going into a group with 300% MF and the other 3 teammates with say 0% bringing you down to 75% MF/GF. Thats a huge penalty for your hard paid for (pun intended) stats.

Perhaps but this isn't the game they should have gotten it wrong in the first place. Diablo has built up a certain prestige that is being badly tarnished by this work in progress title. Every game has it's problems from the start but a company like Blizzard and given the time they've had to work on this title it has become a witch hunt for money. They need to back away and look at what real monsters they've created here.