The patch 1.0.3 for Diablo 3 went live today and gamers enjoyed various perks and changes in hell.

Blizzard finally released the much awaited patch for its latest PC game, Diablo 3. The gaming company has been receiving numerous complaints these past few weeks because of the game's instability and errors while playing.

The patch 1.0.3 contains numerous significant small changes in the game that greatly affect how gamers play Diablo 3. Below are some of the changes in the game.

  • Increased Loot Drop Rates

Currently, there are three tiers of "high level" loot that drop in Inferno Acts 1 to 4. There will be more powerful items in Act 1 of Inferno. These termed level 61, 62 and 63 loot, and players could only acquire them by playing their respective Inferno Acts.

These new drops rates allow all tiers of items to be dropped in all Inferno acts, and some also in the fourth act of Hell. Players interested in farming can now weigh a more challenging act with higher drop rates versus a faster lower act with lower drop rates.

Another significant change in the game concerns the Nephalem buff. The goal was to max your stacks of Nephalem up to 5 and then bash the boss then rinse and repeat the process. However, Blizzard wants its players to continue playing after defeating a boss and enabled the "Play Until You're Done" system. The defeated bosses may drop a rare item equivalent to 5 stacks of Nephalem.

Lastly, players can no longer use magic on environmental object destruction. Thus, there is no use in destroying Inferno.

  • Acts Revamp

Another significant change in hell is the level of difficulty in Act 2, 3 and 4. Blizzard removed the bonus monster damage when in groups. Thus, making it a little difficult in killing monsters. Moreover, Blizzard made changes to some of the very strong monsters and reduced their health.

Players will have to realize that cooperation and teamwork are no longer important in the game. With patch 1.0.3, monster damage will not go up with increased party members. They will still take more damage than usual, but they will not deal more damage.

Blizzard wants the players to work hard in the game; thus, they buffed some of the bosses. For example, The Skeleton King now spawns archers as most players could simply kite the adds; the Jailer now has Fast and Molten affixes and also Desecrator in Inferno; The Butcher incurs much damage with his fires.

  • World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Items

Some rewards for WOW: Mists of Pandaria can be obtained from Diablo 3.

Some of the rewards found in Diablo 3 are:

  • Panda-monium - A new Feat of Strength, which is achieved by registering a copy of the MoP Collector's Edition.
  • A new banner sigil and accent combo featuring a panda face and some pandaren-style linework.
  • A pair of black demon wings, along with the string "SpecialGiftWingsBuff_name - Collectors Edition Buff." Unlike the banner options and the Feat of Strength, there's some speculation that this may not be a MoP CE reward, but the string at least raises that possibility.

Although the patch may affect the players differently, playing a full game of four players in Inferno mode is very difficult for some players and causes many repair runs and resurrections for players. The game is also expected to run more smoothly than before. The release of the patch may get different reactions from players. Some of the players will be delighted with the update while others may not.

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