Bashiok from the official Diablo3 forums posted late last night on the topic of loot drops on Inferno difficulty. For those that missed the -brief- post we did on Inferno, Inferno difficulty is the most difficult setting (not including Hardcore). Act I of Inferno has mobs level 61 and by ACT IV the mobs are level 65. This is what they consider “progressive” in difficulty.
For those that aren’t familiar with how loot drops, the higher the level mob, the greater the chance of a particular item dropping. As he states below, you could theoretically break an urn (or some other object) and get some of the best loot in the game. I’ll add that you could also farm level 65 mobs and get the same item. I think players are ok with that, hell that’s what makes Diablo so addictive is the massive “chance” game. You don’t skip anything! The concern is that there still needs to be areas that have a greater chance of high level items dropping so players can efficiently use their time. I hate grinding, I hate repetitive tasks, so if I am searching for a particular item or item level I want to know where my best chance of getting that item is. Blizzard is trying to “mix it up” and not have one way to get that item but provide variety. It’s quite the discussion…
- Read my previous post. It seems like some people glossed over it.
- I’m happy most of you are happy about the change, and I know you’re going to love the game.
- Those few of you who don’t like it, you’ll love the game too because you’re wrong.
- Item pools are not limited by Act, or Boss, or anything like that. While you’ll have a better chance to get better items in Act IV Inferno, you could get those same items in Act I, or even Hell.
- Our item pool philosophy is that you can break an urn and get the best item in the game – it’s all a matter of chance. Running more difficult areas and taking on more difficult enemies will not always be the most efficient way to find upgrades.
- Previously, Inferno difficulty was mlvl 61 across all of Inferno, and now it starts at mlvl 61 and ramps up quickly in Act I and ends somewhere around 65 (?) in Act IV. We’ve only increased the difficulty.
- I’m aware of internal bets on how many months it will take someone to beat Inferno.
- A flat Inferno of mlvl 61 had a small curb of difficulty, and once that was over you had nowhere else to progress and no reason to. That’s boredom.
- Boredom doesn’t generally come from content repetition, it comes from lack of ability to progress, or ease of progression.
- By having a sharp increase in difficulty in Inferno we can encourage progression without having a brick wall of difficulty.