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‘Diablo 3’ Patch 2.4.2: Difficulty Being Ramped Up; Apparently Set Dungeons Are Not Hard Enough

By Cal Jeffrey
Published on: 07:54 PST, Jul 29, 2016

Diablo 3 Patch 2.4.2 is coming to the game on an undisclosed date, and it looks to make the game even harder than it already is, according to VG24/7.

What started out as a relatively simple and straightforward action-RPG dungeon crawler has turned into a giant monster that makes you want to drop your loot and run. Although the core game, when it was released was relatively easy, it did have a broad range of difficulty settings. Four difficulty settings were initially accessible; Normal, Hard, Expert, and Master. Additionally, five torment levels made the game significantly harder, but they were not accessible until you cleared the game at least once.

Of course, the hardcore Diablo players devastated the five extra-hard difficulty levels in no time and complained that the game was too easy. So Blizzard added five more Torment levels and a bunch of other features to increase the difficulty and add more life to the title.

In Diablo 3 Patch 2.4.0, developers added new legendary items and powers to make the raised difficulty worth the effort. They also added rift runs and certain tasks that are extremely hard, such as set dungeons, for example.

Set dungeons are arguably the most challenging dungeons in Diablo to beat. These areas can only be accessed if the player is wearing six pieces of a legendary set of armor. These side excursions have their own unalterable difficulties. It is not so much a matter of the toughness of the enemies as much as how you have to defeat them that makes these places hard.

According to the Diablo Wiki, there are three particular objectives required of the player in these ultra-difficult areas.

The first objective is not to die. Although it sounds obvious, it is one of the most difficult parts of the task. If a player dies in a set dungeon, the quest fails and has to be started from the beginning. There is no respawning as there is in the regular areas.

The second objective is to kill a certain number of enemies in specific ways. For example, kill X number of enemies with fire. This goal makes it impossible for players to button mash their way through the dungeon. Players have to know how to control their characters and use their powers in an expert manner to achieve this task.

The third objective is usually something like not taking damage from a particular type of monster. The necessity of knowing how to control individual or groups of enemies is essential. If the monster that must be avoided is closing in on the character, the player has to know how to avoid contact. Knowing how to freeze enemies or knock them back is crucial for buying the player time to either kill the beasts or put some distance between them.

To succeed in completing the dungeon, players must not die (objective one) and complete at least one of the other two tasks. There is a fourth goal called the Mastery objective, which requires that all primary tasks be completed within a set time. Mastery is not necessary to complete the dungeon; however, it will increase the rewards.

Of course, everything becomes much easier when players battle in groups. Even two players teaming up can tackle relatively difficult Torment levels with less than top-tier gear. Enter Diablo 3 Patch 2.4.2.

According to the patch notes, Diablo’s newest update adds three more Torment levels for a total of 13. That should keep players busy for a day or two, but not so fast. New difficulty settings are not the only thing coming with the patch.

Treasure goblins will drop less gold. The big deal with this is that once a player is refining Tier 10 gems to slot into gear, refinement costs in gold run into the tens of millions. Apparently, Blizzard sees part of the problem as being that it is too easy to obtain gold. Reducing gold drops from treasure goblins will hamper players who may be just becoming too powerful too fast.

Knockback, which is an effect of various skills and an important aspect of keeping hoards of enemies at bay, has been reduced. If a monster has 65 percent crowd control resistance, it is now completely immune to knockback. In certain areas, players will have a difficult time with large groups of resistant foes. Hence, set dungeons will be even harder to complete.

Both general and class-specific items in Diablo 3 are being redesigned. Most items are receiving buffs, which is good considering classes will be taking a big hit in the way of their skills. Legendary armor sets will become more powerful, and a few new legendary items will be added.

The patch adds a new legendary potion to the mix called the Bottomless Potion of Chaos. This draft will teleport the player out of danger if used when health is below 40 percent.

The Diablo 3 patch will also increase the difficulty by changing how classes function and how much damage and healing they do. All the character classes will be receiving reductions in their effectiveness. These cuts range from attempts to balance specific skills to severe cutbacks in the power of certain classes. I will cover these changes in a future article.

Patch 2.4.2 will also address several bugs in Diablo 3. The update is still in beta at this time, and Blizzard has not announced a date for implementation. However, when patch notes are released, updates are soon to follow.

[Image via Blizzard Entertainment]

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