Patch 2.1.1 dropped yesterday night, but I wasn't able to log in due to the timezone difference. Nonetheless, I read the patch notes this morning and was quite happy with some of the changes. Here I will go through each of the changes based on my first impressions.
Pets
- Many monster attacks that are intended to be avoided by players, and weren't already dealing reduced damage to pets, now deal significantly less damage to pets
- Pets are now properly affected by Shield Pylons
Verdict: Good, not too sure what they refer to for the monster attacks though. Hope they refer to the list of stuff that I had mentioned before HERE. Shield Pylons are a nice touch.
Crusader
Shield Bash
- Can now be interrupted during the hit animation
Verdict: Not too sure if this is a really an important change. But oh well
Witch Doctor
Fetish Army
- Fetish Life has been greatly increased
Verdict: Good. More life, more survivability.
- Fetish movement speed has been significantly increased
Verdict: Good. Fetishes move too slow currently for my liking. But this change will mean that they will acquire the targets faster than doggie and block him more often. Perhaps it's time to switch to +FA%? Think this will improve SMK refresh times as well.
- Fetish leash range has been slightly increased
Verdict: Good. This means I can still maintain DPS while running away. This also combos well with Shukrani Triumph. Spirit walk, and hide in spirit form 30 yds away, let the fetishes do the work.
Gargantuan
- Gargantuan is now summoned at the location of your mouse cursor
Verdict: Good. Placement of Gary will less skill intensive now, ala DH style. Wonder why they didn't do this for the Fetish Army.
- Summon animation speed has been increased
Verdict: Good. My gripe with Gary has always been the slow summoning animation. By the time Gary appears, the mob either has died, or they have moved to another location due to my kiting. Hopefully this will make the situation better.
Spirit Walk
- No longer cancels early when the physical body that is left behind takes enough damage
Verdict: Good. Now Jaunt is a legitimate 3 second escape skill. Paired with Shukrani Triumph, you can stay in SW for a long time away from the action while your pets do the work. I believe this is going to be the go to combo for higher Grifts.
Summon Zombie Dogs
- Zombie Dog Life has been greatly increased
Verdict: Good. Free life is always good. Dogs don't die as fast as Fetishes, so this is a less important change. Read from forums that the buff is about double the current hp.
Fetish Sycophants
- Fetish Life has been greatly increased
- Fetish movement speed has been significantly increased
- Fetish leash range has been slightly increased
Verdict: Good. More important change to FS than FA. FS always dies first. This will help maintaining the full 15 so much easier.
User Interface
- Fetish Army and Fetish Sycophants portrait icons should now display more fitting names on mouseover
Verdict: Unnecessary. But it's just me
Firebird's Finery
- The infinite DoT debuff should now have a unique effect when it is applied
Verdict: Unsure what this will imply.
Boon of the Hoarder
- The number of Gold piles that explode from enemies on kill has been reduced
- To compensate, the amount of Gold in each pile has been increased
- The total amount of Gold dropped remains unchanged, but this will noticeably reduce screen clutter
Verdict: Less clutter is good, though this will make maintaining gold related item buffs a little bit trickier if you can't kill fast enough, such as Gold wrap and Avarice Band.
Bug Fixes
- The Moratorium secondary power can now be triggered by assists
Verdict: Good. Makes the gem more useful. Pet users can use this gem now.
- The Bane of the Trapped damage increase will now properly applied to Frozen enemies
Verdict: Good. Though it's still quite shady if the debuff works properly for other effects.
- The Gem of Efficacious Toxin poison DoT can now properly be applied by pet attacks
Verdict: Good. This means it's time to swap out Bane of the Powerful for good.
ADVENTURE MODE
- Rift Guardians and Greater Rift Guardians now drop more crafting materials
Verdict: Good. More mats is always welcomed.
Infernal Machine
- In multiplayer games, the Key of Bones, Key of Gluttony, and Key of War will now be considered group drops
Verdict: Good. This will bring it more line with the organ farming drop scheme. Now if they would buff the drop rate to 100% on T6, then it would be perfect.
Greater Rifts
- The Rift of Trials has received numerous adjustments in an effort to more accurately assess an appropriate level of Greater Rift.
- Large Aqueduct and Sewer maps will no longer show up in Greater Rifts
Verdict: Bad. Forums QQ that now Trials have more ridiculous enemies that prevent you from getting higher keystones. Well this is definitely an unnecessary change, and screws up the leaderboards greatly. Should really let the players choose the GR level they can access. So much flexibility in that idea. Map wise, just don't give me circular maps. It's irritating running circles.
Kadala
Philosophy
- While Kadala is doing a great job of giving players more control over finding specific items, we felt the current experience was a bit cumbersome and inconvenient
- As a result, we're working to reduce the frequency at which players need to run between Kadala and the Blacksmith to salvage unwanted items
- The cost to purchase items from Kadala has been greatly increased
- The chance for Kadala to drop a Legendary item has also been greatly increased
Verdict: Decent. Increase in drop rate is welcomed, the current drop rate feels low for some reason. Higher cost to purchase is immaterial to me, but might be a slight barrier to entry for lowbies. They could have simply enabled the D2 way of buying items, ala shift-right click, and fill the bag with whatever item you are gambling. The salvage all buttons have already removed some inconvenience, so not quite sure why the change now.
Mystic
Enchanting Philosophy
- We want players to be able to more reliably add sockets to their jewelry in order to enjoy Legendary Gems
- We still have long term plans to provide more outlets for excess gems and more ways to farm gems that a player needs; however, since those changes are further down the road, we wanted to improve the quality of life of Seasonal and Non-Seasonal players alike by making it easier to add a socket to your Rings and Amulets
- The cost to enchant jewelry has been reduced from a Flawless Imperial gem to an Imperial gem
Verdict: Good. Less cost is awesome. Less crafting is awesome. 1/3 the price now is welcomed, so I can have more topaz. Feels like I can give all my characters max gems, and still have enough for rerolling jewelry. Should probably take advantage of this tonight. But still, should have fixed crafting speed as I mentioned before.
MONSTERS
- The Electrified monster affix now has a short internal cooldown
Verdict: Good. Anything that kills pets less often is good
- The damage of The Butcher's Fan of Spears attack has been slightly reduced
Verdict: Good. Same as above. Getting 1 shot by this move is stupid too.
- The range of the Charging Beasts' Charge attack has been slightly reduced
Verdict: Good. Less deaths due to offscreen charges.
- Plague Nest Bats have had their health globe drop rate significantly decreased
Verdict: Indifferent. Never noticed them to drop health globes at a high rate anyway.
Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts
- Maggot Broods no longer start out burrowed in Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts
- Sand Dwellers no longer start out burrowed in Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts
- Demonic Hellflyers now run away less frequently and no longer ambush players from the air in Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts
- Ghosts now run away less frequently and no longer fly through walls in Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts
- Rockworms can no longer spawn in Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts
Verdict: Good. Less runaway mobs, less hiding mobs = pets can DPS more.
Overall verdict: Good, especially for pet WDs. Increased survivability and effective DPS means more pet WDs will rise up the leaderboards. Not that it actually means anything to me, just simply bragging rights. But I have no one to brag to anyway.
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