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. If you wish to see the video version:
Timestamp is at 1:46:01 in case the link doesn’t work.
The Q&A was hosted by:
Marcus Kretz - Community Manager
Adam Jackson - Lead Class Designer
Adam Fletcher - Community Director
Daniel Tanguay - Lead Seasons Designer
Names will be abbreviated of course. Without further ado here we go.
How do reward choices work in multiplayer parties for infernal hordes, does the leader choose the reward for everyone, or can each player choose?
:
Dan T.
In the infernal hordes when you’re collecting Burning Ether, each individual collects their own Burning Ether. We wanted players to be able to go in and choose the rewards that they want to choose, not necessarily what somebody else gets to first or what the party leader wants. So every individual party member will have their own choice of rewards.
When are we going to hear more about Vessel of Hatred?
Adam F.
Summarized
More news coming out at Gamescon. You’ve only heard a fraction of what’s to come.
We can temper uniques now, did I mishear that?
Adam F.
To be 100% clear, you CAN NOT temper uniques. We want them to be different in that they do not engage with that system, at least for now. What I wanted to clarify is that you can get Tempering Affixes on uniques, they’ll just drop with those affixes, but you can’t go to the blacksmith and manipulate them in that way.
Are there any plans to continue iterating on the infernal hordes in the future, since it’s a permanent edition, are there going to be more boons and banes coming?
Dan T.
Summarized
Boons and banes is something we heard a lot about during the feedback of the PTR, so we absolutely want to make more improvements, so stay tuned. Obviously won’t be changed going into S5, but it will continue to receive updates in the future.
Is the Spiritborn getting 1% damage at 7 points if it’s their main stat just because they have a lower amount of weapons?
Adam J.
TBD. I don’t want to go into Spiritborn yet, but they’ll be getting similar treatment to all the other stuff.
When will we see the overhaul of the paragon system? Would you consider removing the paragon limit?
Adam F.
There are going to be changes to paragon, but we aren’t going to be talking about those changes yet. TBD.
Can the reputation rewards for Season 5 be earned on only one character, or all individual seasonal characters?
Adam F.
I believe it’s all characters, similar to what we have for Season 4. So you can actually go back in and go through the reputation board and get another resplendent spark if you want to. Really that’s truly the question.
Will our existing uniques be updated with these new unique changes?
Adam J.
Summarized
The unique power will be changed on existing uniques, however the stats (affixes) are going to be Legacy on any items that exist. So you’re going to have refarm any unique you want the new stats on.Adam F.
It’s just how things work under the hood.
Are there any plans for clan rework/improvements?
Adam F.
I know there are some changes coming for some social features, we’re just not ready to talk about them now. You guys will hear about them soon.
How future proof is this system of static uniques when adding new/better tempering affects in new content?
Adam J.
I think it is something where if we add new tempers or new affixes or whatever we will probably need to go back and update uniques that we want it to apply to and make it work again. Our hope is that these uniques are going to be pretty feature proof, they’re going to be very needy in the power that they give you, they’re also extremely thematic.We do reserve the right, if we find a new idea for existing passive or existing tempering that is introduced to the game and we want to put it on, we can do that. I will say also, that one thing we want to do more is come up with really crazy new ones that aren’t even really tempering recipes but just like crazy affects, like blood howl grants stealth or you drain more with your blood surge, stuff like that.
I expect we’ll probably be updating as we go forward. Probably not dramatically as this, all at once, but I foresee this probably likely yea.
Tl;Dr - They’ll receive changes as needed, but probably not near the scale in which they had to change them all this season.
What is a mythic unique, there was a purple item during the stream?
Adam J.
Summarized
Uber Uniques have been rebranded to Mythic Uniques, they now have their own special color and beam when they drop.
Can we predownload the update, or will it be available only on the 6th?
Marcus K.
The patch will be available to download roughly an hour before Season 5 launches. That season goes live at 10 AM (PDT), and roughly an hour before you’ll be able to predownload the patch.
Any plans to rework masterworking, higher costs but you can choose upgrades, and tempering to make these systems have less RNG?
Adam J.
Summarized
Nothing to announce at this time. We definitely have heard the feedback. We are making it easier on Greater Affixed items. Another thing we’re thinking about is the Tempering Recipes, making them have 3 on average, instead of 4 or more. Something that we’re talking about moving toward, but nothing like an overhaul of the system or change in the system at this time.
How does the Infernal Horde work in groups, do you need only 1 compass per group?
Dan T.
You only need 1 compass per group to get in.
Any news on reworked Nightmare Dungeons?
Adam J.
Nothing to announce today.
Can we expect cool new transmogs from Season 5 for salvaging items?
Dan T.
There are a couple of new uniques that you can earn that will have all new looks to them that you can salvage and use the cosmetic.
Are there still plans for rare and magic items?
Adam J.
Nothing to announce today.
Can we expect skill trees or support gems to change the way skills work?
Adam J.
We’re not doing any skill tree overhaul right now in Season 5. We have talked a bit on the team about having the desire of the upgrades for skills being more impactful. Nothing to announce today, but it is something that is on our radar and I think is cool.Goes on to talk about Barb Kick being hilarious in the development phase, one-shotting World Bosses for example. Also talks about changing skills in general and a bit of the design philosophy.
END
