The developers of Diablo Immortal announce in the new blog post what is included in the latest mini-update. This includes new events, bug fixes, and feature updates. We show you in the patch notes what is included and at what time the server downtime will occur today, on August 17th.
What’s included? In the new mini-update, the developers discuss various events that will soon start for you. There is also a new cosmetic set “Spawn of Damnation”, bug fixes, and plenty of feature updates. This also includes the ability for essence transfer to reservist gear after switching classes.
Server downtime today: Today, on August 17, 2022, the Europe servers will go down. From 10:00 AM German time to 12:00 PM German time, they will be in maintenance mode. After this server downtime, all changes from the patch will be live unless they are announced to appear later.
First Reactions to the Update
This is what players are saying: On reddit players are actively discussing the new update. The many new contents provide a lot to talk about, as Blizzard refers to it as a “mini” update.
- “That’s a lot for a mini update,” writes Suchti0352
- “Yeah, right? Now I’m confused about when/what a ‘big’ update will be,” replies ethaxton
- “Having dungeons require only two players is the best part. I still wish there was a solo option.
In response to the last comment, lead designer Wyatt Cheng replies on reddit. He writes:
Our goal with dungeons is that ideally they are a four-player experience. We like it when you are with other players and the experience changes from moment to moment. Even little things like “I go left, you go right” make a dungeon a dynamic experience.
I can certainly understand that there are reasons to want to play alone. It can be very tedious to find other players between chat and party finder. Perhaps you want the freedom to finish the game without feeling like you left a team hanging. Others may simply prefer to have control over how much downtime there is between dungeon runs. Aside from all these friction points, some players simply prefer the single-player mode. There are other activities (such as bounties) that suit single players well, but we want to position dungeons as a multiplayer activity.
Therefore, we want to make it easier to join and leave groups, but we are not trying to accommodate players who want to play alone, even if a group is open and available. The minimum of two players helps people overcome initial mental hurdles. We hope that with this patch, even more four-player groups are possible than before. Sometimes when you finish a dungeon, one person drops out and you need a replacement. By allowing the remaining three players to re-join immediately while still being open to a fourth player, the group may even stay together instead of falling apart.
To further encourage four-player groups, we offer a bonus chest at the end of a dungeon for just these situations. Instead of having four players as a prerequisite to even play the dungeon, there is a bonus when the group is complete.
Wyatt Cheng on reddit
Timed Event Fractured Plane
What is it? The developers wanted to create an environment for you where you can try out new skills and legendary items that you don’t usually use. For this, Fractured Plane has been created. The challenge is to play your class as well as possible – no matter how nasty it gets.
In Fractured Plane, there are 15 levels. You start without your armor, gems, and skills. Instead, you will receive a fixed set of skills for your class. As armor, legendary “Unstable Gear” drops here and there. When you complete Fractured Plane, the new armor will also disappear.
With chaos coins found during the event, you can buy new armor or shards of fortune. With the shards, your chance for good gear in the different levels of the event increases.
Echo of the Immortal – New Game Mode from Level 40
When will it be available? From August 17 at 03:00 AM server time until September 14 at 03:00 AM server time.
What is it? Echo of the Immortal is a new game mode that will only be active in Diablo Immortal for a few weeks. It is designed for players who have reached at least level 40 and enjoy PvP.
15 players compete against a randomly selected player who is enhanced by the power of the immortals. If the group succeeds in defeating the immortal, it will turn into a “free-for-all” in which only the best players can win and earn their rewards.
Where to start it? If you want to try this, talk to the Battleground Captain in Westmarch.
Into the Dark Wood Event – Only in August
When is it taking place? From August 17 at 03:00 AM server time until August 31 at 03:00 AM server time.
What is it? During the event time, you will receive various rewards from the daily “Into the Wood” tasks. If you complete enough tasks, you will unlock milestone rewards. For example, Blizzard mentions the “Wreath of Blood” portrait frame.
Hungering Moon – The Moon rewards you
When is it happening? From August 26 at 03:00 AM server time until August 29 at 03:00 AM server time.
What happens there? In this event, you should pay tribute to the moon. From the moon, you will receive tasks to complete. If you do, you will receive Moonslivers, which you can exchange for blessings. If you have seven of the blessings, you can exchange them for a random reward. If you have offered enough blessings to the moon, it will grant you a favor.
Cosmetic Set “Spawn of Damnation”
In the in-game shop, there is now a new set available for purchase. You can take a look at the following screenshot to see if it matches your style:
Bug Fixes and Feature Updates
What bugs have been fixed? With the update on August 16/17, bugs related to class changes, equipment, gameplay, and cycle of conflict have been fixed. Among them:
- Class Change: A bug preventing players from changing classes while they had certain legendary items equipped has been fixed.
- Cycle of Conflict:
- A bug was fixed that allowed the immortal to be permanently stunned during the shadow war and the ritual of banishment.
- A bug was fixed that prevented the shadow war from taking place on certain servers.
- A display bug related to the preliminary results of the shadow war has been fixed.
- Equipment:
- The tooltip for the set bonus (6 pieces) of the Shepherd’s Call to the Wolves has been updated to reflect the increase in damage and attack speed, not just attack speed.
- The tooltip of ‘Death’s Column’ has been updated to now show the intended damage numbers.
- The tooltip of ‘Phantom Beam’ has been updated to now show the intended damage numbers.
- Gameplay:
- A bug in the Tomb of Fahir has been fixed that allowed players to jump off the platform and bypass the elevator sequence.
- A bug was fixed that prevented players from participating in loots of the Hell Reliquary.
- A bug was fixed that allowed demon hunters to use ‘Daring Swing’ to access unreachable areas in the Forgotten Tower.
What feature updates are there? We show you excerpts of the feature updates in German. In the spoiler box, you will see the complete feature updates in English.
- You can now enter a dungeon or hidden lair in Hell Two or higher difficulties with two, three, or four players. The intensity of the dungeon remains tuned for four players.
- Completing a dungeon or hidden lair with four players brings you a bonus chest.
- The time window for “Raid the Vault” has been reduced from two hours to one.
- Treasure goblins now have a chance to drop legendary items. Overall, they provide you with more loot when defeated.
Complete Feature Updates with 36 New Legendary Items
Multiplayer Requirement in High Hell Difficulties Improvement
- You can now enter a Dungeon or Hidden Lair in Hell Two or higher difficulties with two, three, or four players. The Dungeon’s intensity will remain tuned for four players.
- Completing a Dungeon or Hidden Lair with four players will provide you with a bonus chest.
Developer’s Note: We’ve received feedback that players find the current four-player requirement to be too restrictive. While we want Dungeons to be inherently social experiences, we also want them to be accessible and challenging, hence lowering the requirement to a minimum of two players. In Immortal, we want to ensure that adding more players to a particular gameplay activity is always seen as a benefit to those involved. By setting the difficulty of these Dungeons to always be tuned for four players, having a friend join, regardless of their power level, supplements our design philosophy.
Warband Improvements
- The Codex step of needing to start a Warband Camp has been changed to be—join a Warband.
- The Hero’s Journey step to submit 10 Warband Chests has been removed.
Developer’s Note: As we plan for the future of Warbands, we want to ensure players who opt out of the feature don’t see them as a major obstacle to their progression. We want to have light steps that are easy to complete rather than difficult steps that can become roadblocks. In the future, we plan to create Warband content that provides fun and rewarding experiences as incentives for playing with a small group of friends.
Class Change Improvement
- You can now essence transfer onto Reservist Gear after changing your class.
Vault of the Immortal
- The Raid the Vault event window has been shortened from two hours to one.
Treasure Goblin Improvement
- Treasure Goblins now have a chance to drop Legendary items. They will also provide more loot in general when defeated.
Thirty-Six New Legendary Items
A new slate of menacing weapons and fortified armors have been added in today’s content update. Many of the Legendary powers are centered around crowd control effects. Each class has received six items, adding even more Legendary affixes to hunt down and shake up your builds with.
- Barbarian
- Armor Caste (Chest): Furious Charge creates shock waves when colliding with walls, dealing X damage to nearby enemies and Stunning them for Y seconds.
- Grinning Effigy (Head): Taking damage during Undying Rage now triggers a counterattack for X damage to all nearby enemies. Cannot occur more often than once every Y seconds.
- Haughty Behemoth (Pants): Leap now knocks enemies into the air when you land.
- The Hewer (Main Hand): Grab now causes you to charge forward and grab the first enemy you hit. If you successfully grab an enemy, you will carry them for a short distance, damaging enemies you run through, before leaping into the air and slamming them into the ground, damaging and Slowing nearby enemies.
- Steel Lamprey (Off-Hand): Chained Spear now marks enemies for X seconds and heals you for Y% of the damage it causes to marked enemies.
- Wreckfall (Shoulders): Whirlwind also reduces all damage you take by X% while channeling.
- Crusader
- Batterhythm (Off-Hand): Condemn damage increased by X% for every enemy hit, up to a maximum of Y% increased damage.
- Flare-to-Mirror (Pants): Draw and Quarter is now electrified, damaging random nearby enemies and Stunning them if they are shocked three times.
- Hard Censure (Chest): Condemn now calls down a thunderbolt from the heavens to a targeted location, dealing continuous damage.
- Shining Aster (Shoulders): Increases all damage you deal during Conjuration of Light by X%.
- Suspended Rule (Main Hand): Sweep Attack now throws the flail, forming a cyclone that picks up nearby enemies and carries them away.
- Zerratus Husk (Head): Shield Charge now grants you a holy shield while charging that reflects projectiles back at enemies, dealing X damage.
- Demon Hunter
- Clutching Nails (Pants): Knife Trap now confines nearby enemies when triggered and increases all damage you deal to them.
- Decisive Report (Shoulders): Multishot now knocks enemies away. This cannot affect players more often than one time every six seconds.
- Scatter Mask (Head): Activating Vengeance now immediately deals X damage to all nearby enemies and causes them to flee in fear for Y seconds.
- Spreading Shroud (Chest): Spreading Shroud (Chest): Smoke Screen now throws a smoke bomb at a targeted location, dealing continuous damage and greatly reducing vision for enemies that remain in the area.
- The Thud (Off-Hand): Impale damage increased by X% to enemies with an active harmful effect.
- War Generosity (Main Hand): Every X attacks with Explosive Arrow generates an explosion that knocks the enemy away. Players cannot be knocked away more often than 1 time every Y seconds.
- Monk
- Assemble the Wicked Tonfa (Off-Hand): Exploding Palm now gathers nearby enemies into a cluster directly in front of you. Maximum one charge.
- Fleeting Soul Tonfa (Main Hand): Mystic Allies now summons one spirit ally that rushes in a direction, dealing damage to all enemies it passes through and forcing all nearby enemies to attack it.
- Fusing Crown (Head): Mystic Allies now protect you, taking X% of your incoming damage.
- Pacific Pledge (Chest): Taking damage during Shield of Zen has a chance to trigger a counterattack dealing X damage to all nearby enemies.
- Shimmerlinn (Shoulders): Wave of Light now releases a wave of energy that damages all enemies in its path and burns them.
- Tottering Tower (Pants): Flying Kick now stuns enemies and can be charged to unleash a more powerful blow.
- Necromancer
- Abnegation (Shoulders): Bone Spikes now also knock enemies away.
- Drifter’s Fare (Off-Hand): Bone Spirits now unleashes a powerful skull that wanders randomly through nearby enemies, dealing damage as it passes through them. Maximum X charges.
- Empty Pit (Pants): Dark Curse now summons a cursed eye that forces nearby monsters to attack it.
- Ethereal Boundary (Chest): Activating Wraith Form removes all effects which cause loss of control or decrease movement speed.
- Inseverable Two (Head): Your golem from Command Golem now takes X% of your incoming damage.
- Thrash Jaw (Main Hand): Grim Scythe now hurls the scythe in a direction, striking enemies in its path with continuous damage and knocking them away. Grim Scythe can no longer have multiple charges.
- Wizard
- Extraction Harness (Shoulders): Teleport now also removes the last harmful effect applied to you.
- Fragments Upon Fragments (Pants): Meteor now drops several meteorites in a direction, knocking enemies away and stunning them.
- Halestone (Off-Hand): Ice Armor now protects you with X charges of damage immunity that also chills nearby enemies when they attack you.
- Quiet Downpour (Chest): Lightning Nova now launches a giant nova, bursting into smaller novae when activated again or when it arrives at its final destination.
- Shiversent Stare (Head): Ray of Frost now freezes enemies for X seconds after taking damage from the ray six times.
- Staggernick (Main Hand): Arcane Wind now knocks enemies up into the air with an updraft and stuns them, but no longer charges up.
How do you like the changes of the “mini” update of Diablo Immortal? Did Blizzard create a good patch or are these not the changes you were hoping for?
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