Recent Diablo 3 Updates/Changes Planned

  By admin | July 20, 2012 - 9:26 am | Diablo 3 News, Diablo 3 Tips Leave a comment

Mike Morhaime recently posted on the Official Diablo 3 Forums regarding the upcoming changes coming to Diablo 3 in 1.0.4 and 1.1. Simply follow this link for the full post he made.

Link to Mike Morhaime's Post

What’s exciting about it is there will be a whole slew of balancing for all the classes which means much MUCH more viable builds. As of now, you’ll notice there are Skills which are redundant and quite possibly useless. One example will be the Wizard’s Ice Armor and Storm Armor. There’s absolutely no need to use either of them other than Energy Armor due to the 65% Increase in Armor and Skill Runes which are amazingly powerful. Pinpoint provides 5% to Critical Chance, Force Armor reduces any hit to 35% of the Wizard’s total HP and Prismatic Armor provides 40% increased Resistances. How do they compare!?

That being said, with changes comes opportunity. In Mike Morhaime’s post he also mentions there will be a slew of new Legendaries coming into the game which will make gearing up a little different. As Andariel’s Visage was the “Best-in-Slot” when Attack Speed was King, I’m absolutely certain more of these Legendaries which earn their position as “Best-in-Slot” will turn up. Hence, the excitement.

For now, I’m patiently waiting for more specific news. As always, Blizzard is generally tight-lipped on their changes as they do not want repercussions from the public should they withdraw or change direction from their original plans. For now, good hunting!

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Magic Find and YOU!

  By admin | July 19, 2012 - 6:07 am | Diablo 3 Farming, Diablo 3 Items 1 Comment

A lot of players (myself as well) have pretty much gone through Diablo 3 and have reached Inferno difficulty. Now, our biggest concern is whether we get the items we can use or valuable enough to post on the Gold AH or RMAH. Some even restrict themselves to not purchasing anything from the Auction House and limit themselves to only using items which they or their friends pick up (which is fine by me I think that does increase replayability to an extent).

Now, recently, in the 1.0.3 patch, loot has been changed where there’s a % of ilvl 63 drops even in Act I and even more so in Act II to IV. However, the scaling of difficulty between Acts is a fairly large gap. That being said, how does one farm for gear which will be upgrades, and at the same time reduce the risk of dying repeatedly to a brick wall?

This is where Magic Find comes in. Now I know this may seem odd to you, but just getting your MF up to about 100%, which is super easy considering you get 75% from Nephalem Valor, you’ll be able to get an extra chance of that Magic Item to instead drop as a Rare Item. As it is now, having 5 Stacks of Nephalem Valor causes Champions and Unique packs to 100% probability drop a Rare. However, if you take into account the 100% or so Magic Find that you have on, that can be TWO rares. Or even more depending on how high a number you can get your Magic Find up to.

There’s no trick to this but to simply start up Act I (Inferno) at The Imprisoned Angel (Enter the Cursed Hold) and killing off every Champion and Unique pack throughout the whole map. Of course, this does require that your gear is already in top shape and has Act I on farm. The reason I recommend running Act I with Magic Find instead of Act II or III is simply to reduce the amount of deaths as well as the time it takes to clear out Champions and Uniques.

So, don’t discount Magic Find. If anything, I’d at least start searching for an Amulet that has 25%+ of it just to hit that 100% number when I hit 5 Nephalem Valor. Good hunting!

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Dealing with Monster Affixes as a Melee

  By admin | July 19, 2012 - 5:16 am | Diablo 3 Classes, Diablo 3 Farming, Diablo 3 Monsters, Diablo 3 Tips Leave a comment

Killing Champions and Elite packs is the staple of farming in Diablo 3 and it’s always good to know how to deal with the more troublesome ones. However, even then, due to the randomness of Affixes on monsters, it’s very possible to get some which are downright difficult to deal with. Even worse, there’s always the possibility that the mob itself is annoying to deal with such as having Fire Chains on a Soul Ripper (Naturally fast mob which lashes their tongues at you) in the Keep Depths.

Primarily, as melee, you’ll simply need to take the punishment and hope your gear holds out. However, there are a lot of things you won’t be able to handle, and need to avoid. For example, standing in Desecrate or Arcane Enchanted lasers is not recommended. And just like a ranged class using terrain to kite enemies around, there are certain techniques a melee can use as well.

Fire Chains – Fire Chains deal damage whenever you stand in between enemies and the chains pop up, touching your avatar therefore dealing damage. To counter this, look for a location where there’s a corner and back yourself up into said corner so the pack won’t be able to move behind you or flank you. This prevents Fire Chains from dealing too much damage (Sometimes mobs make perfect triangles around you and you receive damage from 3 Fire Chains at once).

Arcane Enchanted – Arcane Enchanted is not threatening to most as you can see it coming and it can definitely be dodged. But at times, as a melee, being surrounded by enemies makes it hard to simply move out of the way. Having a mobility Skill works (Such as Leap or Teleport) but they generally have a cooldown. In general, I recommend taking precautions and not getting surrounded in the first place. Further, when dealing with Arcane Enchanted, it’s best to move AWAY from where the Orb is placed on the ground at the beginning as the Laser may spawn right on top of you.

Desecrator – Another damaging ability which will cause problems when coupled with Jailer or Frozen, there isn’t much that can be done except to be constantly moving. The reason is simple, the longer you’re standing still and Desecrate gets a bead on you, it’s very likely that you can be Jailed while on a single Desecrate while a 2nd Desecrate spawns as well (And it doesn’t stop at 2. I’ve seen 4 desecrates on the same spot).

Molten – Molten is annoying specifically on enemies which like to run away. One example will be the Succubi in Act III which are Ranged. The moment you catch up to them, they tend to scamper off again. What I’ve found to work is to “lead” them to a direction I choose and corner them. For example, if I want them to move to the right, I’ll chase them from the left, leading their direction slightly. Also, if Molten enemy is melee, follow the same rules as Fire Chains and find a corner to stick yourself into so they’re unable to move forwards.

Take all this with a grain of salt, because in Inferno, when enemies have 4 Affixes, things can get fairly deadly. Going up against enemies who have Fast and Firechain with Jailer/Waller/Frozen/Nightmarish is probably the most annoying thing that could happen. And when that happens, and you die several times, I do recommend that you simply skip that pack and continue progressing. Sometimes an enemy pack is just plain difficult to deal with and the time spent on it could better be used elsewhere.

Good hunting!

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Wizard Tank Gearing (Part 2)

  By admin | July 18, 2012 - 9:02 am | Diablo 3 Build, Diablo 3 Classes, Diablo 3 Items, Diablo 3 Tips, Diablo 3 Wizard Guide 1 Comment

I wouldn’t say the Wizard Tanking Build is the end all be all of clearing content when it comes to Inferno. But it sure beats being a Glass Cannon at times where you need to dodge all incoming damage or take a dirt nap. Also, having as many alternatives as possible is a great way to keep gameplay fresh and exciting. Of course, it may cost you. Even worse, making a mistake will cost you Gold (Or RL money in some cases) and still not get successful results.

Wizard Tanking Build StatsThe screenshot was taken fully unbuffed so if you take into account Prismatic Armor I’ll be well on  my way to being really tanky for a Wizard. For a tanking build, being melee, I also failed to mention before that having some Life on Hit does help when it comes to staying power. As I didn’t focus much on Vitality, the 564 Life on each hit or so really went a long way on increasing my Effective HP.

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RMAH Commodities in 1.0.3b

  By admin | July 12, 2012 - 8:06 am | Diablo 3 Auction House, Diablo 3 Items, Diablo 3 News, Diablo 3 Tips Leave a comment

Now that we’re able to sell commodities on the Real Money Auction House, you’ll be glad to know that you can finally offload your Salvaged Materials for Real Money instead of just for Gold. However, if you’re not familiar with how commodities work on the Auction House, I’ll be going through a few things that I’ve uncovered while posting up a few of my own sales.

1. First off, commodities can be stacked up to the maximum amount in a stack. For example, if you’re selling Iridescent Tear, you can actually post up a 100 of them at one go.

2. You’re also able to REMOVE the posting whenever you want unlike the usual Weapons and Armor where you’re required to leave it there for the full duration. This means if you’ve mistakenly posted a commodity up for a price which other players aren’t willing to pay, you can just take it down and post it up again for a lower price.

3. Whenever you’re about to sell anything, whether it’s a commodity or not, it’s always best to check the going rate (Average price over the last 10 days) before doing so. The quicker you wish to move the item, the lower you post the price below that average.

Well those are the most important Tips I can think of while using the RMAH to empty out on your commodities. Personally, I’ve managed to garner quite a bit already from selling those that I’ve been hoarding up since the start of farming in Inferno and am doing alright so far. Like many others, I’d prefer not to have to put any money into my Blizzard Bucks so this is one of the methods added to my repertoire of making USD on the RMAH so I’ll have access to items which require USD to purchase.

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Lowbie/Low Level Farming – Any Class

  By admin | July 10, 2012 - 8:37 am | Diablo 3 Farming, Diablo 3 Items Leave a comment

I failed to notice that most of my builds and farming advice was geared towards those who were already 60 and already at the point where they could be farming anything they’d wanted. However, I have a friend that had a terrible connection at times (Shared Internet and constant downloads) who asked me if there was an efficient method of farming in a situation such as his.

The thought occurred to me that he needed to farm a location where no matter what kind of lag/delay/rubberbanding, he would still be able to survive. And that’s where I started testing Magic Find and Gold Find at lower levels of difficulty.

The first thing I did was to stack up my Gold Find to about 250% or so (Not cap but it was what I had at the time) and headed on to Nightmare Difficulty, Heart of Sin. You’d be surprised that I was able to squeeze out more than 250k Gold per run just charging through the Keep Depths, Korsikk Bridge and Tower of the Cursed.

If you’re ever wondering whether or not your gear or level is high enough to farm, you’re fine. You typically need to gear yourself for what you want to do. Next up, I’m planning to stack up Magic Find on my Witch Doctor and take a walk in a Pet Build. I’m not sure how well this works yet, but it does seem promising. Good hunting!

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Critical Mass Tankizard Inferno Act III

  By admin | July 2, 2012 - 7:19 am | Diablo 3 Auction House, Diablo 3 Build, Diablo 3 Classes, Diablo 3 Farming, Diablo 3 Items Leave a comment

I’ve been testing the Critical Mass Tanking Wizard build for nearly 2 weeks now and I’m here to say that it’s really working out well so far. I did dump some Gold into the the Gear I required for the build but it did work out in the end. The major purchases were primarily a good shield as well as a Helm of Command.

Helm of Command

The Helm of Command is a Level 60 Legendary Helmet and is well known for it’s +8% Chance to Block affix as well as Vitality. I was lucky enough that I was able to pick one up which had a massive amount of Intelligence and some resistances on it as well.

Wizard Helm of Command

Alright not that much resistances but it did have a decent amount of Armor. For those of you wondering, since Helm of Command has 8% Block and some Vitality as it’s confirmed Affix, the 4 other random properties for the Helm of Command I purchased was 161 Intelligence, 28 Resist to all, 193 Armor and a Socket.

Of course, if you’re really going to jump right in, you may want to look for one that has the +3% Critical Hit Chance or whatnot. Personally, I searched and didn’t find any on to bid and the ones which had a Buyout were way beyond what I wanted to pay for a single Helmet. However, I was very curious as to how well the increased Block % would pan out and I went ahead with it anyway.

That’s it for today, good hunting!

 

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Diablo III Item Drop Hotfix!

  By admin | June 29, 2012 - 7:38 am | Diablo 3 Farming, Diablo 3 Items, Diablo 3 News, Diablo 3 Tips Leave a comment

Exactly what the Title says, there’s been a Hotfix which increased the drops for end-game items in Hell and Inferno difficulty. For those in Inferno Act I to IV, item drops for Item Level 63 have doubled. This makes it more likely that players will see useful items. Of course there will still be terrible items and such but at least it’s a tweak on the positive side for us.

One thing to note is with the assumption that players continue putting in the same amount of hours into farming, will prices of Items on the Auction House go up or down? More Items injected into the Market make items lose value but then again there’s Gold continuously appearing from each and every farming run! For now, let’s leave it at that and get back to the grind. . . Good hunting everybody!

Items

  • The drop rates for high-end items (items level 61-63) have been increased for Acts III and IV of Hell difficulty and Acts I – IV of Inferno difficulty:
    • The new approximate drop rates are as follows:
      • Hell – Act III and Act IV
        • iLvl 61: 13.9%, up from 9%
        • iLvl 62:  3.45%, up from 1.9%
        • iLvl 63: 0% (no change)
      • Inferno – Act I
        • iLvl 61: 23.9%, up from 17.7%
        • iLvl 62: 12.6%, up from 7.9%
        • iLvl 63: 4.8%, up from 2.0%
      • Inferno – Act II
        • iLvl 61: 23.3%, up from 18.6%
        • iLvl 62: 18.6%, up from 12.4%
        • iLvl 63: 9.3%, up from 4.1%
      • Inferno – Act III and Act IV
        • iLvl 61: 27.1%, up from 24.1%
        • iLvl 62: 21.7%, up from 16.1%
        • iLvl 63: 16.3%, up from 8.0%

Bosses

  • Bosses are now guaranteed to drop at least 1 Rare item for players with 4 stacks of Nephalem Valor and at least 2 Rare items for players with 5 stacks of Nephalem Valor

 

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Wizard Tank Gearing

  By admin | June 27, 2012 - 5:26 am | Diablo 3 Classes, Diablo 3 Items, Diablo 3 Tips 4 Comments

I’ve been trying out the Wizard Tank Build which I’ve posted just a couple of days ago and I’ve come to discover that the more I play it the more I realize how unique the Wizard class is! I know that if I wanted to have a tanky playstyle that I should probably use my Barbarian but the Wizard’s version of being a frontline fighter is just too much fun!

However, with the drastic change moving from Glass Cannon to being tanky is a little disturbing. The shift of perspective required was difficult. One example was that I was still running around with a Source in my Off-hand instead of a Shield. I realized that by using Energy Armor, I had a free 65% bonus to Armor in total and Armor does indeed reduce all incoming damage from enemies by a set amount. Yes that’s right, ALL DAMAGE. It works much in the same way as All Resistance. So I went about on my way shopping.

Castle Negation ShieldNow, don’t knock it, but I made a huuuge mistake purchasing this shield. I’m going to tell you why, soon enough. And if you know what it is right off the bat, you probably know a lot more about Shields than I do. My thoughts were to purchase a Shield which had stats I needed. And this one, within my price-range, had Intelligence, Resistance to All, and Critical Hit Chance (For the Critical Mass procs). But something’s missing, and it’s the CHANCE TO BLOCK. The Block Amount of the Shield is awesome and well deserved as it’s an Item Level 63.

The problem is the extremely low chance to Block of 14%. You could argue that 14% of all attacks, 3706 to 4706 of the damage is reduced. But in perspective, the highest you can get the Block Chance up to is 29%. This is more than DOUBLE what I have on my Shield.

You know those people who purchase an Item and immediately regret it? I THINK I had that feeling after purchasing this Shield. So here’s to you not making the same damn mistake that I did! Good hunting!

For a screenshot of the Stats that I built for the Wizard, follow this link.

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Wizard Tanking Build Post 1.0.3 Patch

  By admin | June 25, 2012 - 7:09 am | Diablo 3 Build, Diablo 3 Classes, Diablo 3 Tips, Diablo 3 Wizard Build, Diablo 3 Wizard Guide Leave a comment

Hey there and welcome back! As you all probably know by now, the 1.0.3 Patch recently last week has reduced the damage done by enemies in Inferno by a significant amount. And as I’ve currently got Act I and II on farm, I decided to give Wizard Tanking a go. This weekend, it was particularly useful as the groups I was in did not have any Barbarians or Monks along for the ride.

This was the build I was testing primarily:

The engine behind this build is Critical Mass and was a very popular method of clearing through content before it was nerfed. However, even now, with decent gear, it’s very possible to tank as a Wizard due to the changes to how Inferno works.

 

 

 

 

 

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