The much-awaited character balancing patch for the beloved action role-playing game franchise Diablo IV has finally been released by its developer Blizzard Entertainment last week.
Diablo IV has been in full swing ever since its official release in the first week of June. Hundreds of thousands of players have clocked countless hours in the game giving important feedback to Blizzard Entertainment to make the title even better.
In its first patch last month, Diablo IV nerfed the whirlwind Barbarian build and made the fan-favorite Necromancer even stronger.
This time around, Blizzard Entertainment buffed all classes including the Sorcerer, Rogue and Druid for its first major patch.
“The Diablo IV team has been diligently monitoring your feedback. As we introduce patches to keep your experience in Sanctuary smooth,” Blizzard Entertainment said in its 1.0.3 patch notes.
“We’re continuing our efforts to make all Class builds feel fun and powerful with another round of balance updates. In particular, we have seen community feedback stating that Basic Skills aren’t impactful enough in combat.”
“These changes will not change the fundamental relationship between Basic Skills and Core Skills, but we hope that they help smooth out the leveling experience while we explore additional ways to strengthen them.”
Some of the noteworthy buffs that came with the patch are the overall damage increase of the Barbarian’s melee attacks Lunging Strike, Bash, Flay, Double Swing, Kick and Bounding Slam. Meanwhile, Call of the Ancients’ attack speed was increased to 20 percent.
The Druid, on the other hand, got a much-needed boost. Frequently rated as the weakest among the five playable classes, Blizzard Entertainment boosted its skills damage for Earthspike, Wind Shear, Claw, Maul and Hurricane, among many other buffs.
The game’s most played class and highest damage dealer Sorceror, just got even stronger with enhancements on Spark, Frostbolt, Firebolt, Charged Bolt, Incinerate, Fireball, Frozen Orb and Blizzard.
It is worth noting though that popular builds such as the Ice Shard for the Sorceror were left untouched. According to Blizzard Entertainment, they intentionally ignored popular skills so other builds could catch up.
“We are also increasing the power of some skills that players feel are lagging behind their peers. As we look forward to future updates, we’re monitoring other heavily discussed topics, such as Minion survivability and build parity,” Blizzard Entertainment said.
