LogInThe team has commented on the most recent update, noting that they "don't plan on doing a patch like this ever again".
In less than a week, Blizzard's Diablo IV managed to go from hero to zero in the eyes of a regular player, all thanks to the release of the 1.1 patch, which slowed down the game's progression, nerfed its characters, reduced XP gains, locked down some of the game's levels, and caused unusually long queue times, just to name a few. All of the issues combined caused the game's User Score on Metacritic to drop to 2.0, with tons of reviewers justifying their 0s and 1s with the patch in question.
To address the issues, Blizzard's Diablo IV team has recently conducted a new "Campfire Chat" live stream, acknowledging the community's feedback and saying that they "don't plan on doing a patch like this ever again".
"We want to acknowledge everyone's feedback in regard to reducing player power," commented AD Community Manager Adam Fletcher. "We know it is bad. We know it is not fun. We also want to talk about what we were trying to achieve specifically with this patch and with the changes that players ended up seeing. And then, separately, we do want to also talk about how we don't plan on doing a patch like this ever again."
Addressing the criticism and negativity surrounding the changes introduced in the patch, the team has pledged to offer ample prior notification for any forthcoming hotfixes and patches in the future. Additionally, they will allow certain builds to be overpowered until effective alternatives can be introduced in future balance updates. Nevertheless, it is important to acknowledge that there has been no explicit commitment made regarding the possibility of reverting patch 1.1 itself.
"Ultimately, what we're trying to do is make the game more fun for players," said Game Director Joe Shely. "The players are at the heart of everything we're doing, and if players can't believe that, as the game evolves, the game will get more fun, we're not accomplishing our goals."
Furthermore, the team has commented on the changes that are coming to Diablo IV with the 1.1.1 update, with the list including buffs to Sorcerer and Barbarian Legendary aspects, the addition of an extra stash tab, an increase in Elixir stack size to 99, and a significant reduction of approximately 40% in respec gold costs. The developers have confirmed that the majority of these changes will be implemented within the next two weeks.
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