It's considerably easier. I'm actually surviving with my Monk pretty well. However, repair costs are now MUCH higher. I'm out about 3,500 gold per death with the equipment I've got. Meaning if you die two or three times against an elite or champion pack, you actually stand to lose a decent chunk of change for your trouble. I've pretty much been treading water on money because of this. Here are detailed patch notes. I recommend reading through them all, there are a lot of really significant changes. http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-3-patch-1-03-notes-revealed Note too that the price for jewelcrafting has been reduced by 50x-200x for the first 8 levels (i.e., from 20,000 gold for a flawless square to now 100 gold!). They've also made some significant boss modifications.
Already picked up some nice Ilvl 63 items doing butcher runs. Ran a little act 3/siegebreaker inferno and while it is definitely less volatile, it's still pretty damn difficult. Which is perfect. So far so good.
Yeah, I was playing around with Deadly Reach yesterday, but it looks like I might have to go back to Thunderclap for the attack speed boost. I need that spirit/life on hit. Can't wait to do a few Butcher runs tonight, and perhaps finish off Act 2 (was gathering Kulle's body parts before I lost patience and rolled a Demon Hunter).
Highlights for those too lazy to read the full patch notes: Acts II, III, and IV of Inferno have been toned down. Enemies have less life and do less damage. Best items in the game (iLvl 63) now have a 2% chance to drop in Act I Inferno, 4% in Act II, and 8% in Acts III and IV. Repair costs have been greatly increased for iLvls 53-63. So while the endgame is easier, death will hurt you more. Items above level 50 will now display their iLvl in the tooltip. Attack Speed nerfed 50%. Gem combine costs for the first 8 levels (up to flawless square) have been reduced to almost nothing, and only 2 gems are needed to combine for the next level. With a full 5-count Nephalem Valor, Rare and Champion packs are guaranteed to drop an additional rare. Magic Find no longer works on chests and other environmental objects. When comparing a two-handed weapon with a 1-handed weapon, the game will now take your off-hand item into account. Items socketed with gems will correctly display their stats in the AH. In general, enemies run away less often. Damage of Colossal Golgars, Heralds of Pestilence, Soul Rippers, and Soul Lashers has been reduced. Bloodclan Warriors no longer knockback when buffed. Plagued, Arcane Enchanted, and Electrified monsters no longer have resistance to Poison, Arcane, and Lightning damage (respectively). Leaders of Invulnerable Minions packs have had their health pools reduced. Mortar monsters can now hurl projectiles farther, but their minimum range has also been increased by 100%. Zoltun Kulle now has a 3-minute enrage timer, after which he will perform constant ceiling collapses for even more damage than normal ones. Ceiling collapse can now be performed at any range, and he can now teleport directly to the player. One nerf he got is that his fireball moves more slowly. Belial now has a 3-minute enrage timer for his final form, causing additional green pools. Siegebreaker's damage has been reduced, but he now has a 4-minute enrage timer. Izual has been nerfed considerably. Lots more in the full notes, those are just the highlights from where I'm sitting.
They totally screwed me over on the attack speed. I'm also pissed on the repairs. 18K to do repairs now. Argh!!!!!!
I'm super-pissed that they nerfed attack speed as well. I play all classes, and I definitely think the ranged classes are more effective. But at least with them, attack speed came at the cost of using resources like mana or hatred or arcane power faster. With melee characters it was just a straight-up advantage. This nerf hurts Monk and Barb the most in my book, and as Barb is my primary character, it really grates on me. Barb is probably already the weakest class, so why nerf it further? Not only that, I spent over a million gold on attack speed equipment. Seems wasted now. Though, on a good note for me, I've collected nearly all indestructible equipment for my Barb, so the increased repair costs won't hurt me that much.
Did you beat Ghom, and if so... how? He seems impossible to beat with a melee character (Barbarian here).
The little that I got to play last night, I could tell for sure it's easier. A2 is still hard in comparision to A1, but much more playable.
Hey, if anyone wants to add me so we can game, user name is BigMak... But I guess you need BigMAK#1983 lvl 60 monk in A2 inferno.
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/diablo-iii/1225173p1.html So a digital copy now restricts the account to 13th level for the first 72 hours after the game is registered? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
It was all a mistake. Honest. http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/06/22/d...atch-incoming-other-restrictions-still-apply/
