ggiNote: This is a long one folks.
As per my previous posts with Q&A’s, I’m going to display the question and the answer given, no extra commentary in between, I will clean up answers, provide a Tl;Dr, or a summarization where relevant though.
Keep an eye out for ggiNotes as well, just adding a little more context to things.
Oct 2nd, Dev Update Q&A:
Bonus Progression Update Twitter Questions Video:
Bonus ggi Questions at the very bottom, things I tried to ask, which were answered during the live stream or in the patch notes.
The Dev Update Q&A was hosted by:
Adam Fletcher - Community Director
Colin Finer - Lead Live Game Designer
Brent Gibson - Game Director
Charles Dunn - Game Designer - Class
Timothy Ismay - Lead Game Producer
The Progression Update Twitter Q&A was hosted by:
Adam Fletcher - Community Director
Ruben Marquez - Associate Influencer Relationship Manager, Diablo
Aislyn Hall - Systems Designer, Diablo
Names will be abbreviated of course. Without further ado here we go.
Pre-Launch Developer Update Q&A
How will crossplay work for those playing with and without the expansion?
:
Adam F.
Summarized
You can still play with other people in non-expansion zones who do not own the expansion. Side note, if you own the expansion on PC, and put Runewords in your gear, then go back to Xbox which does not have the expansion for example, you will still be be able to use that gear. You just won’t have access to the new zones or the Spiritborn class.
Speaking of Diablo 2, will we get the D4 campfire screen back?
Brent G.
We hear you, but this won’t be available at launch, we’ll get back to you in the future.
Will there be more renown and statues of Lilith in this expansion?
Brent G.
We’re not going to be doing Statues of Lilith specifically. We have a new statue type Tenant of Akarat. It’s not going to give you any points, but it is working toward renown.Colin F.
We’re just not giving stats for the Tenants of Akarat because we saw how frustraited players were with having to do this sort of activity to get more powerful. It’s a lot more leaning into the collectible aspect.Charles D.
We didn’t want these to feel like a chore that you needed to do in order to progress your player power, it’s all about the discoverability in the new zone.Adam F.
We made changes to renown specifically, we optimized it a little bit better. Such as Paragon points used to be the last reward, now it’s swapped around to have Obols being the last reward, sort of thing.Colin F.
It’s easier to get that potent power from Paragon, we’ve also reduced just how much renown you need for a lot of these things. So if you missed out on renown when the game came out it’s a lot easier to get that power.
TL;DR 
New statue type Tenant of Akarat will not give you boosts individually (stats, obol cap, etc.) instead they will work toward your renown progression. Renown rewards as well as progression have been changed. It should be much easier to get if you just didn’t bother with it when the game came out or you are a new player.
Not a Question but just an FYI on the Gauntlet and Leaderboards
Adam F.
When Season 6 starts, we do plan on sunsetting the gauntlet and the leaderboard functionality. It’s not going away forever, but we’re looking at new ways of finding a home for it.
How does group finder work?
Adam F.
This was available during the PTR, but I know not everyone got to experience it. You can use it across multitudes of activities beyond Dark Citadel. It is a feature that allows you to use filters and different ways of searching for specific groups and people, so we do recommend jumping in and checking out the Party Finder. There will also be improvements coming as we get more feedback.
Seeing these new consumables are they actually stackable in the inventory?
Timothy I.
They stack in the inventory. If you want you have the option to just farm the Realmwalker over and over again, get a whole bunch of the Opals (seasonal elixirs), and then just play for hours and hours with the buff active. Tributes (used for the Undercity) as well are stackable.Brent G.
I did like the fact too that you get 2 Opals (seasonal elixirs) with every drop. So you can use one now and save one for later, to stack them up for a longer play session later on.
How does the progression of mercenaries carry over, is it account wide, does it progress from season to season?
Brent G.
They are partition wide, so if you’re playing in a Season and you unlock the Mercs and you progress a bunch of them and you roll an alt, that progression is still there. They do reset every season because it’s a part of the power journey.
How do the spirit wolves damage scaling work (in regards to the runewords that summon them)?
Charles D.
The spirit wolves are not currently scaling with things like Summoning Damage for Necromancer for example. I’ll have to check on precisely what it does scale with. However we are aware of this and will be making updates to minions and summons as a general matter going forward to make sure they are scaling with the right things as players would expect.
Back to Realmwalkers, is it a world event, how often does it spawn, do we have specifics to help clarify?
Tim I.
It is a world event that’s focused on just that boss. It’s not a World Boss but a World Event. There will likely be other people in the area to help you take it down. The Realmwalker itself does pop up in another location in Sanctuary pretty much right away.There’s a slight break but at any given time we want the experience to be, I log in I’m ready to play, I don’t have any Opals (seasonal elixirs), can I go get some? We want the answer to be yes, there should always be another event to fight a Realmwalker, you’re not waiting more then a few minutes before another one pops up.
From a tuning and balance perspective, is Pit 100 still intended to that unobtainable goal or are we expecting some of the most skilled and dedicated players to kind of clear it?
Colin F.
We will be surprised but not surprised I guess to see people get to Pit Tier 100 just with the amount of things we’re adding to the game. Charles in our previous segment talked about how much volatility has been introduced with this expansion. We actually think that’s really fun, there’s a ton of new things to explore a ton of new things to break, and we think that most people probably won’t get through 100, but you might get a surprise if you get to 100 and go past it, we might have done something there.Brent G.
Yea we talked a lot about where the deep end of the pool is, and it’s around 80. I’m really looking forward to seeing which kind of streamers out there actually push way past that so we can take a look.
ggiNote: Patch Notes state they added 50 more levels to the Pit, so the cap is now 150 instead of 100.
If we complete the campaign in Eternal Realm will we be able to skip it when we create a Seasonal Character?
Brent G.
Yes. As soon as you complete the campaign for the first time you will be able to skip it.
What happens to the group if some one leaves during the Dark Citadel?
Brent G.
The Citadel is balanced for 4, but if that was to drop as long as you still have 2 strong players you should be good to go.
ggiNote: From the sound of it you won’t be kicked out, but it also sounds like if you don’t have at least 2 people there may be mechanics you won’t be able to complete as a solo player either, so there would be no point in staying if you get stuck at a point you can’t progress beyond due to a lack of players.
END Of Pre-Launch Developer Update Q&A
Bonus: Progression Updates Q&A - Twitter Questions
What are your plans for visual clarity during dungeons or anything really?
Aislyn H.
We know we get a lot of feedback on red on red in Helltides, something you might notice in Helltides is that we adjusted the lighting. This is something we want to improve on in all activities in the game, so you’ll see more improvements in the future.
ggNote: Video showed a Helltide that did not turn everything Red, instead it looked as it would have normally just running through a zone with its base color.
What’s the plan for Masterworking materials and stygian stones come S6? Should players use or convert these before then?
Aislyn H.
Players won’t need to worry about converting these before Season 6. In Season 6 we’re going to have systems in place that allow you to convert your Masterworking materials into the new Masterworking material that you’ll need to upgrade your gear. Additionally in Season 6, Stygian Stones won’t be needed to summon Tormented Bosses anymore, but because of that we’re going to be increasing the sell price of them so you can get a hefty amount of moola (money/gold).
How will torment bosses be affected with the new world difficulty update?
Aislyn H.
In Season 6 Tormented Bosses are going to be available on all four Torment tiers. That means they are going to drop really good loot starting at Torment I, and then drop even more of that in Torment IV. It also means that no matter how powerful your build is you’re going to have a hard version of that boss to fight.
Since Torment difficulty tiers drastically change resistance penalties, and with the introduction of Grand gems, will there be any changes or scaling to gem fragment drops as difficulty increases?
Aislyn H.
There absolutely will. In higher torment tiers you are going to be earning more gem fragments, which is going to allow you reach the new grand tier a lot faster. So buff up your builds so you can get to the higher gem tiers as quick as you can.
When the expansion comes out, will I be able to create a Spiritborn and go through the whole main quest line with Lilith, and then progress through Vessel of Hatred?
Aislyn H.
Absolutely.
END Of Bonus: Progression Updates Q&A - Twitter Questions
Bonus ggi Questions
Any plans to allow us to access Penitent difficulty from Level 1?
Aislyn H.
You have to beat the base campaign (not to be confused with the VoH campaign) once on your account to have access to Penitent difficulty. So you can do Penitent at level 1 now, it’s pretty hard guys. If you plan to go in at level 1 be prepared. We know people really wanted to be able to push their builds as far as they could as early as they could, and now you can.
Any plans to make percent based Armor Nodes in the paragon boards or possibly buffing current nodes?
Patch Notes
- Armor nodes Increased by 50%.
Are Ancestral drop rates being buffed?
Patch Notes
- Adjusted the drop rates of Mythic Unique items from Ladder Bosses to compensate for being guaranteed Ancestral quality.
- The chance for Uniques to roll as Ancestral has been significantly increased.
- Infernal Hordes - The Greater Chest now contains a guaranteed Ancestral Legendary.
It was also noted during the stream that Ancestral drop rates were increased in Nightmare Dungeons as well as Whisper Caches, obviously percentage numbers were not given.
ggiNote: From the Patch Notes:
- Starting in Torment Difficulty I, only Legendary and Unique items can drop. Any Normal, Magic, or Rare items that would have randomly dropped will instead be automatically converted into corresponding crafting materials.
END Of Bonus ggi Questions
Shameless Plugs:
Check out my:
IggiNotes Part 1 of 2 Dev Update Oct 2nd
IggiNotes Part 2 of 2 Dev Update Oct 2nd
Twitch: Iggi_101
