14 DAY TRIAL // Blizzard has released a new statement concerning its Diablo 3 hotfix and patching process, saying that it will thoroughly explain any changes it’s going to make in the future, including possible decreases in power to the abilities of certain classes, like the Monk, Demon Hunter or Wizard.
Diablo 3 has been out for two weeks and, in the meantime, Blizzard has released quite a few hotfixes that decreased the effectiveness (“nerfed”) of certain powers, prompting many complaints from players who relied on these abilities to survive on harder difficulty levels.
Blizzard has now talked about these hotfixes and said that it will only move to decrease the power of abilities or runes that are more powerful than originally intended.
“Regarding the changes to Lingering Fog, Boon of Protection, and Force Armor: we determined these skills were simply more powerful than they should be, and we felt their impact on class balance and how each class was perceived warranted hotfixes as soon as we were able,” Blizzard said.
This doesn’t mean that Diablo III players should live in fear that the studio will nerf their characters, as Blizzard is focused only on changing serious things.
“However, we don't want you to be worried that a hotfix nerf is lurking around the corner every day. If a skill is strong, but isn't really breaking the game, we want you to have your fun. Part of the enjoyment of Diablo is finding those super-strong builds, and we want players to be excited to use something they discovered that feels overpowered.”
In regards to general patches, Blizzard has revealed that next week will see the release of update 1.0.2 for Diablo 3, which will address certain issues regarding the Battle.net service.
After that, patch 1.0.3 will be released in order to solve bugs that don’t require an immediate hotfix.
If anything serious happens, however, rest assured that Blizzard will move swiftly.