Blizzard last week made the frank admission that multiplayer Diablo 3 can “often feel not worth the effort”. “Even if you enjoy playing with your friends, it can often feel easier and more efficient to play solo,” said Wyatt Cheng.
Patch 1.0.8 is released on the Public Test Realm today. It sees the dev team take a few small steps in the direction of better playing in company and, in lieu of the more significant redesigns planned, one big leap towards improving the rewards for doing so.
Players will now receive a 10% bonus in Magic Find, Gold Find, and XP for every additional friend they can stand to play alongside in co-op, to a maximum of 30% in a four player game. What’s more, Magic Find and Gold Find bonuses can exceed their previous cap of 300%, and the XP bonus will stack with others found from items and Monster Power.
That’s the quick fix. Elsewhere, there are a handful of design tweaks that should make fighting with friends more palatable. Players can now identify all unknown items in their inventories in an instant by speaking to Deckard Cain, or by using the Book of Cain found near the shared stash in every Act of the game.
In addition, navigation and cooperation will be made easier by new notifications on the minimap, sent to all players in a multiplayer game whenever a party member engages an Elite monster or Treasure Goblin in combat. Icons will appear over player banners in town to reveal at a glance whether they’re in combat with a monster, Elite monster, or Treasure Goblin.
For the rest of 1.0.8’s design and bug fixes, check the full changelog below.
GENERAL
- The cooldown incurred by changing skills outside of town on Inferno difficulty has been reduced to 30 seconds (down from 60 seconds)
- There is now an option in Video Settings to lock the cursor to the window when in fullscreen windowed mode, if Diablo III is the active window
ACHIEVEMENTS
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug that prevented monsters killed by a follower or pet, before being attacked by a player, from counting toward achievement criteria
AUCTION HOUSE
User Interface
- Tooltips in the Auction House will now show an item comparison for a player’s currently selected character
BATTLE.NET
Matchmaking
- Players will now be able to search for games that were started on any quest once they have reached level cap
- Matchmaking “Tags” have been added
- In addition to selecting your Difficulty, Monster Power, and Quest, players will also be able to choose from the following tags when searching for Public Games: No Tag, Questing, Brawling, and Key Warden
Social
- Players can now add a note about a friend by right-clicking the name in their Friends List
- Players can now enter a message that will be broadcast to their friends
- Players can now create multi-user conversations
- There are multiple ways to start a conversation or invite other players to an existing conversation:
- To start a conversation, open Public Chat Options, then select Invite Friends > Start Conversation or use the “Start a Conversation” option in the Social window by right-clicking on a friend’s name
- To invite or add friends to an existing conversation, open Public Chat Options, then select Invite Friends or use the “Invite to a Conversation” option in the Social window by right clicking a friend’s name and selecting the desired conversation
- Similar to public channels, private conversations can support up to 99 players
- A new section has been added to the friends list called “Players Near You”
- Any player who is on your local network will be displayed here (even if they’re not currently your friend)
- If needed, this feature can be disabled from the Social Options of the Game menu
- Players may now be marked as a “Party Guide”
- The Party Guide is assigned to the first person who joins a Public Game
- If multiple characters join a Public Game at the same time, the game will choose the hero with the highest level or Paragon level to be Party Guide
- When a Party Guide leaves the Public Game, a new one will be chosen automatically
- Alternatively, the Party Guide can right click on a party member’s portrait and pass them the Party Guide title
- The Party Guide will have a unique icon that will appear on the mini-map
- Names in your “Recent Players” list will now expire if they become older than a month
- Blocked players will no longer appear in your “Recent Players” list
BOSSES
Bug Fixes
- Skeleton King – A bug causing The Skeleton King and The King of the Dead to not play an animation when performing their Whirlwind attack should now occur less frequently
CLASSES
Wizard
Active Skills
- Archon – The duration of Archon should now be extended by assists from players in multiplayer games, in addition to kills
- Teleport – Players may now Teleport to any location within range, as long as a path is available
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug causing Teleport – Safe Passage to only reduce damage from physical attacks
CRAFTING
General
- Players can now craft multiple items and gems at a time within the same tier, so long as they possess the necessary materials
- Players can now craft items using materials located in the shared stash
Blacksmith
- Salvaged item information will no longer be displayed in the chat log
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug preventing players from salvaging an item by dragging it onto the Blacksmith’s anvil icon
MONSTERS
General
- Players should now encounter more monsters in Acts I, II, and IV in Inferno difficulty when playing at Monster Power 1 or greater
- In multiplayer games, the increase in monster hit points per additional player has been reduced to 50% (down from 70%)
- Tormented Stingers and Stygian Crawlers have had their experience reduced by 75%
QUESTS
General
- Experience earned by completing a quest is now granted to players that have reached the level cap
USER INTERFACE
General
- A maximum of eight buffs and debuffs will now be displayed on the UI
- The maximum number of debuffs that will be displayed is three
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug preventing damage numbers from being displayed if a monster was affected by a spell such as Hex
BUG FIXES
- The sound that plays whenever a Barbarian’s Overpower ability comes off cooldown is no longer similar to a Legendary item dropping
- Male barbarians no longer run faster than the other heroes while feared.