So one question that I'm already asked a lot is "Where are the set dungeons?" Mostly just a specific one every time. I decided to put together a video that should make it fairly easy to locate each and every one for every class.
**Video Guide:** https://youtu.be/ck3ASjPn0VU
If you wish to find these on your own then wear the 6-piece bonus and go to Leoric's Library in the new zone in A1 of Leoric's Manor.
Below is a text description for each and every location with pretty straight forward details.
**Barbarian:**
- Immortal King's Call - A3 Ruins of Sescheron: Walk northwest and just inside the ruins take a right turn.
- Might of the Earth - A2 City of Caldeum: Take the WP and fight through the enemies towards Belial. To the right of the entry the dungeon will open.
- Raekor's - A5 Overgrown Ruins: Walk to the right of the Survivor's Enclave and go out. Follow the path and just before a set of arches on the left the dungeon will open.
- Wrath of the Wastes - A5 Pandemonium Fortress Level 1: Go to the waypoint and walk down and back. Make your way up the stairs and at the very top after a few flights will be the dungeon.
**Crusader:**
- Akkhan's - A3 Bastion's Keep Stronghold: At the bottom right you will go down into The Armory. Inside here simply walk to the bottom of the Armory and here you will find it.
- Invoker - A1 Tristram: Walk out of town towards Outlook Road, which is the path when you first start the game. Walk up the path and as you near the very beginning there will be a small nook at the bottom where you will find the dungeon.
- Seeker of the Light - A2 Ancient Waterway: Take the Ancient Waterway WP and then enter the Waterlogged Passage. Walk all the way down and before the next exit it will be on the right.
- Roland's Legacy - A2 Road to Alcarnus: Take the WP and follow the path to the left to where it's a dead end. At the very end of the path it will be at the end here.
**Demon Hunter:**
- Marauder's - A3 Bridge of Korsikk: Take the Korsikk WP and work your way to the middle of the map. This is located where the large trebuchet is during the campaign where the short bridge hangs over the lava.
- Natalya's Vengeance - A1 Wortham Chapel Cellar: Walk outside the cellar and directly outside will be the set dungeon.
- Shadow's Mantle - A5 Pandemonium Fortress Level 3: This is a bit of a hike. Take the Pandemonium Fortress Level 2 WP and make your way all the way to the end of the map where you go to fight Malthael. Right inside of level 3 the dungeon will show up.
- Unhallowed Eessence - A2 Howling Plateau: You can take the WP to the Howling Plateau or walk through the Caldeum Bazaar. If you take the Plateau then walk south through the canyon and before it hooks back to the left you will find it in the bottom right corner of the map.
**Monk:**
- Inna's Mantra - A2 Caldeum Bazaar: Take the portal from the Hidden Camp at the north to the Bazaar. Walk into town and take a left when you get inside where the Flooded Causeway.
- Sunwuko - A4 Pinnacle of Heaven: Fight your way through the Silver Spire Level 2 to access the Pinnacle of Heaven. Before Diablo's entrance go to the left to find the dungeon.
- Raiment of a Thousand Storms - A1 Old Ruins. Simply take the way point and walk northwest. Within just a few steps at the top the dungeon will show up.
- Uliana's Strategem - A5 Zakarum Cathedral. Walk north in the Survivor's Enclave to the large cathedral at the top of the map. Walk inside and at the top left is where you will find it.
**Witch Doctor:**
- Helltooth Harness - A1 The Royal Crypts: Fight your way through the crypts and just before you enter the room to fight Leoric you will find the dungeon just inside the caged area at the north end right beside the door.
- Spirit of Arachyr - A2 Dahlgur Oasis: Probably the most difficult one, this will be at the left of the map. There is a small nook that will be the same every time. The video showcases what it looks like for reference.
- Jade Harvester - A4 Vestibule of Light: Simply take the Gardens of Hope 1st tier WP and walk straight down. This will take you back to the Vestibule. Once you're there walk your way down the stairs and back to the beginning. At the far back right of the map you will find the dungeon.
- Zunimassa's Haunt - A3 Core of Arreat: Take the Core WP and make your way up the map. Where the map turns to the right this will be on the far left in the corner.
**Wizard:**
- Firebird's Finery - A2 Desolate Sands: To make this easy, simply take the Archives of Zultan Kulle WP and go backwards to the entrance. Here you will find the portal to the Desolate Sands. Make your way just across the bridge and at the top you will find the dungeon.
- Delsere's - A3 Skycrown Battlements: Walk right outside of the Bastion's Keep Stronghold and take the portal to Skycrown. Make your way down the far right side of the map and in the back corner the dungeon will be there.
- Vyr's - A3 Rakkis Crossing: This is at the very end of Rakkis Cross before you get to Siegebreaker. If you have an Aether Walker you will save yourself a lot of time to get to the end. Take the top left staircase to find the dungeon at the end.
- Tal Rasha's - A1 Old Tristram Road: Simply take the Old Ruins WP and follow the path to the northeast. Take this path all the way around and when you are near the place on the left where there is a lower entry area and bodies are hanging you will find this in the bottom left of the map after making your way around.
So I've been asked a lot these last few weeks about what are the best legendary items for Kanai's cube going into the next patch. It varies greatly and there are some outliers that will prove to be successful once the final patch notes are done. Since there are a wide-ranging number of builds that will be for top end gaming and there will also be for "fun" builds that are still capable of clearing GR50s, I put together a list of all of the items for each class that have potential. Some of these will be debated, but most are fairly straight forward. Several people will look at these as no-brainers, but I get asked this a lot, especially with people saving up their legendary items without much stash space. This guide covers each class and the Weapons, Armor, and Jewelry that I think should be worth saving heading into patch 2.3.
Feel free to add to the list of items that you think are going to be worthwhile and what you're planning on using them for.
Sure, I've shared my dislikes for certain elements at times, but to bash a game and franchise I've personally played for over 15 years seems a bit ridiculous. Constant updates, changing of skills which causes different gameplay, addressing gamers' requests to change stuff they don't like. How many games of Diablo's stature do that without putting a price tag on it? Yes, they will make their money in some way or another and of course the AH was once around, but Patch 2.3 got me thinking of just how awesome this game is. New content not featured as a DLC, as is normal for every single game now, is pretty awesome.
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I've spent thousands of hours between D1, D2, & D3 and I understand the good and bad. Early D3 was atrocious and how quickly did they turn it around? Time and time again they keep pulling people back and with good reason. Constant updates and attempting to appeal to both casual and hardcore players is tough to do, but Patch 2.2 was a nice trend. Leaving sets in place, such as the Marauder's and Firebird's, as opposed to changing them again finally fit the bill to keep the casuals happy since their time gaming isn't as plentiful as the more dedicated players. They can be happy that their time spent wasn't wasted, even if it did take 2-3 months to obtain everything. But adding new sets or revamping the lower-performing sets to marginally exceed the old sets was a thing of brilliance and it seems like that will be the trend going forward. Every other patch will likely see 3-4 classes benefit greater than the others. I'm a fan of this.
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New content with Kanai's Cube and the Ruins of Sescheron... yeah, you could've sold me on this feature alone. I'm super pumped about all this and I'm really hoping it brings back a lot of people. Patch 2.2 was a big step forward in balancing and the aforementioned addressing of sets, but 2.3 is an even larger monster. Perhaps I'm not out in the gaming world as much as I think I am, but I love that one of my favorite games ever is keeping me interested 3+ years later. Hard to beat IMO.
These room ideas are based around a bonus content area that is explained in this post: . Some of these maps are also featured and explained in the video here: http://youtu.be/kdcsa6knau8 , but explanations are also below. . There are many more possibilities for maps, but this was a handful to show that many can be created using existing content. . Bonus room ideas: . - Royal Rumble: Utilizing the round corner platform on your way to Belial, you could have a large number of monsters that are involved in a battle that you must survive. After every 5 or 10 seconds, a new wave of enemies spawns, thus increasing your need to kill enemies quick enough, or eliminate them. Every 15 or 30 seconds an elite would spawn, so you have to choose how you focus your targets and how you manage your cooldowns or characters. These elites could possibly have the Horde or Illusionist affix, however this may cause frame rate issues and is debatable on how densely you want to pack this area. Kill all enemies before the 2 or 3 minute timer is up and you win an extra chest full of goods similar to the one carried over from the Rift Guardian. . - Twisted Hell: Utilizes the Tower of the Damned maps in Act 3 where you can only get to the second level by going in a spiral pattern. You could place Pylons strategically in out-of-the-way places. These pylons could automatically spawn an elite and so you’d have to weigh whether the tradeoff would be worth it. Make it to the bottom in the allotted time and you will spawn the second chest. Complete it in a quick enough time and you can spawn the Kadala-like vendor or Horadric Cube idea. You could alternatively have 2 levels so you have to get through one and go to another. It would be a super spiral so that you're technically going deeper but with 2 maps combined. If you went with the 2 map idea, by clearing the first map in time you are able to enter level 2. If not, you get to open the chest carried over from the Rift Guardian. if you clear both levels then you get the bonus chest and other possible scenarios. . - Rat Race: This involves the EXTREMELY long sewer map. The idea would be that there is a Speed pylon placed at the beginning of the map. You would utilize this to run down the map and kill all enemies in your path. The timer on these pylons can be reduced back down to 30 seconds or even 15 seconds. Every so often there is another pylon. Not utilizing these pylons will make it impossible to clear the map on time, so you would essentially be using the speed pylon permanently if you are able to clear fast enough. The challenge is to be able to balance these correctly to get from pylon to pylon so that you can reach the end in time. . - Slaughter fields: Have an act 1 map where you fight the little monsters from the beginning of Diablo and they are all boosted health. Small ones may be easy to lose and the idea would be to kill them all before time runs out. They are easy to lose as they tend to run away at times, so this would be the frustrating challenge, but rewarding if you killed them all. . - Slaughterhouse: Bring back a hidden cows map. This would be super rare and have some type of objective, but just the idea of it having a chance to spawn is nice. . - The Grid: This is based on the the jail scheme in Act 1. While there are plenty of options here, the idea for this one would be to have a Shrine in each corner of the map that spawns an elite. It’s similar to the current setup in the campaign in that you have to activate each to fight the Warden. Having this to where each Shrine or Pylon activates an elite that you must work your way around to kill. Strategizing your movement throughout the grid would be important and ultimately lead you back to the middle to fight a strong elite or even a buffed Warden himself. . - Angels vs Demons: Utilizing the already existing map in Act IV, you could utilize the protectors already in place and create an even more epic battle. Since they are already melee then you could use that, but what if as a melee class they would be more effective at range and you could make an option before you start the map to choose what type you want to fight beside you: ranged or melee, much like choosing a follower. You could possibly also use your banner as a rallying point for your Angels that are following you and can only be used once every 15 seconds. This could potentially make or break you as they would help defend when you were in trouble. In a group, only the leader of the group would have control over banner placement, so picking a good leader would be important. . - Royal Rumble Part 2: Diablo’s final room as a battleground and have waves of enemies being spawned. Could do pillars of flame that come out of the ground or different skills that diablo casts like jailing with bones or cracks in the ground. The animations are already in place and just have waves come in while those are going off. Next wave comes in on a timer, so if you haven't cleared out existing enemies, then eventually you will be overwhelmed. If you run out of time then they all disappear so that people can finish the task. This could be a 2 minute blitz, perhaps. . - Jigsaw Puzzle: This utilizes the side areas in Act IV. By moving about on the different platforms, it requires movement and strategy and planning. You could essentially add any type of monster type here. A challenge for melee more than range, but there has to be maps for different classes to excel. Perhaps you go through multiple levels so that when you finish one a portal opens to the second one. These are small and perhaps multiples are needed or you get bonuses based on how many puzzles you can complete. Complete 2 and you get a bonus chest or some other proposed idea. People need challenges and frustrations to try again and again. It’s how it works. . - Desert Storm: Using the sands of Act 2, you could create a sand storm to come through and disrupt view and what you can see. This sand storm could also potentially slow your movement and attack speed considerably, so movement would become a priority. You could reuse the tornadoes from other areas of the game and have them spawn at a greater rate, thus keeping you on your toes to kill all enemies on time or faster for a bonus reward. . - Storming the Fort: This would make use of Rakkis crossing on the way up to the Siegebreaker area. This is already opened up in rifts, so you could put a story behind it. Perhaps you start where the broken caravan area is closer to the end of the bridge. You start here and there would be an epic battle going on in the large, round area at the end where Siegebreaker is. Perhaps the battle is simply fighting many monsters and Siegebreaker simultaneously while there are several NPC guards that have joined the fray. You would have to defeat in a certain amount of time to receive the bonus reward. . - Mind Your Manors: Starting from the gate of Leoric’s Manor, you have to go in and kill everything in site and also “heal” or “cleanse” every dead body on the ground. There are many already in the game and sometimes they are hard to see. By doing both at the same time, you would have to clear the entire area in a certain amount of time. By clearing in a fast enough time you open the door to inside the manor. Once inside, the idea is to clear out everything in site and when you “cleanse” the dead body in the final room, he turns into a purple elite that must be destroyed in a fast enough time frame. You could even have him alive before he dies to show how he died, whether it be to an elite or some type of mini-boss. . - King of the Hill: Requires you to fight your way UP a map and at the end you have to hit the G key to place your banner. Brief explanation, but so many possibilities for maps here. . - Going to the Chapel And…: Fighting your way OUT of the chapel to stop a male and female elite character who just got married and are trying to get on the ferry to go to Tristram to wreak havoc. The idea is you have to fight your way up to the boat in time in order to stop them from leaving. A 2-minute time frame seems reasonable and the elites could have special affixes like “Horde”, which could be perceived as the “wedding party” trying to keep you away. . - Uber maps with different Uber bosses. Can locate them out in the main world or areas that may be difficult to play like a cave area. Old school uber Diablo style. Any type of Uber would be fun. . While there are many more ideas I have, I wanted to put something together to at get the ball rolling. Some ideas are also explained better in the video. . What ideas do you have for bonus levels? Please share below!
(If you want to get to the idea and ignore the intro then scroll down 2 paragraphs or check out the video here: http://youtu.be/vgTAlZvYGKs )
Ok, so we’ve all been there. You don’t feel like grinding another Greater Rift after you’ve just cleared one. Your roll on the legendary gem you want to upgrade is 5%. We’re just not in the mood to hold onto that next GR token and the legendary gem roll is a waste. It’s the reason so many people resort to just farming up Torment 6 rifts, although with several changes that recently took place in 2.1.2 and the inclusion of Ancient items, it now seems far too easy to clear Torment 6 for most full-time and some part-time players. One simple solution would be to add more Torment difficulties, and while that might certainly be required, this idea goes beyond that. . I click on public games for Rifts and it’s at 800 available games. Greater Rifts are at 65. Nobody wants to play GRs unless it’s with people they know or they play solo. The reasons mentioned above are just a brief summary as to why people do not really care to play greater rifts, amongst others. Not everyone is out to climb the leaderboards and would prefer to remain casual. So this idea gives the casual player a reason to play greater rifts while simultaneously appeasing to the more devoted player through rewards. The entire idea is based around the premise that no new created artistic content is technically needed and current content would only need to be manipulated in different ways, although new content would certainly be welcome.
The idea is to make a 3rd option once you’ve cleared a Greater Rift on time. Don’t clear the GR on time, you don’t get access to it. The 3rd option is an optional level that is based around current maps, but with different scenarios that will generally be time-based or time- and objective-based. A player that would consecutively do a Trial run, successfully clear a Greater Rift in potentially 15 minutes, and then be resorted to another 10-15 minutes would not be ideal for most casual players, so this is why these would mostly be shortly-timed, yet difficult events. This option would ONLY be available at the time of completion of the GR and would not award a token of any kind to come back and do it later. The choice would be a selection between 2 maps. They would each be a certain game type and also have a unique set of circumstances to complete them. The optional levels would also be on par with the current greater rift completed or could even be 0-3 levels higher for each map (i.e. If you cleared GR 40, Map 1 would be difficulty 42 and Map 2 would be 43. Or they would potentially be the same difficulty for each map and based on the GR's level). This would give people a reason to debate on which map type fits them best at which difficulty and the skill required. I have developed some map ideas that could get the ball rolling. Having a pool of 50-100 maps with different scenarios would be easy with the depth of the game and existing content, or even just 25-50. This would allow for several random maps to ensure people would need a reason to repeatedly run Greater Rifts to find certain maps or to make sure they have variety. Certain map reasons explained below. .
Some ideas for possible benefits of the bonus level would be the following: . - Slight bump in legendary drop chance, but not much. Or just another option of content with legendaries. - Maybe a slight bump in ancient drop chance, but that would be tied to legendaries anyways. - Rewards top level players for participating in Greater Rifts by potentially rewarding them for their top-level efforts. - Rewards low level players and gives them a reason to participate in something they generally don’t like to do, Greater Rifts. - Builds the Greater Rift public game option to help populate it. - Lower level players don’t have to try and go into such higher greater rifts to upgrade gems when their skill set doesn’t match the difficulty required to level them further. Their progression will come naturally from this option by giving them a reason to test themselves without the only reward being “leveling your gem”. . Ideas that could potentially be added: . - If the level were to be based on a tier completion time (clear a 2-minute level in 1m 30s or less) you would have a Kadala-like vendor appear that would allow you to spend X amount of shards, or a different variation of shards, at a much higher rate on items. This vendor has a higher legendary drop chance and thus a better chance at ancients. (Alternatively you can utilize the existing blood shards, but adding another element to the game would be great.) . - If you finish in X amount of time you get a token to use on a horadric cube-type item that allows you to put in an existing legendary for a chance to roll it to an Ancient item. If you do a bonus objective then you get a second token. (Alternatively you could just re-roll the stats on an existing legendary with this token) Re-rolling an item is permanent, but can be rolled again in a future bonus rift area. The token or chance must be spent at the time of completion. Roll % is based on difficulty level. The higher greater rift you complete, the higher your chances. Perhaps even have each item have a roll % (i.e. a regular SMK would have a lower chance to roll as an Ancient, where an Andariel’s Visage would have a higher chance to roll as an Ancient). This idea can be toned down so that progression would not be so rapid, but not too low as to keep people coming back for more. This could also simply be that you have an option of re-rolling ALL stats on the current item. Say you found a Furnace with extremely low damage and bad rolls, so this great item is not actually useful to you when you hoped it would. This option would allow you to roll the Furnace for better stats. Clear a Greater Rift in time and you get the chance to do a bonus map. Clear the bonus map to receive the extra horadric cube, you get a chance to roll the stats on the Furnace. The difficulty would certainly give people reason to run over and over, but the reward would be worth it. . - The option at this Kadala-like vendor to receive an item full of crafting materials like a horadric cache that goes in your inventory. This could help supplement people to receive crafting materials. Furthermore, this cache item could include a Ramaladni’s Gift as a rare drop from the cache. Perhaps you have to spend shards on the cache, but repeatedly buying the cache for the chance at a Ramaladni’s gift would be great. . - Having certain maps drop a class-specific legendary in the future could be an interesting idea. For example: In Rat Race there is a Monk fist weapon that is not a lootable item in other game content. So that when you have the option to choose between 2 maps, you could knowingly “farm” the Rat Race map. This leads to people repeatedly running Greater Rifts so that they have a chance to “farm” just the chance at even getting the Rat Race map. Thus this completes the cycle of having people do bounties > trials > greater rifts. This drop would only be available from completing perhaps the second-tier to receive the bonus chest or it gives it a chance to drop in the regular chest by achieving a certain objective or time limit. Having requirements would give people a reason to run a higher difficulty for a higher drop chance, and also a reason to try and complete the bonus objective on a higher difficulty. Just helps add to the cycle that could now look like: Bounty > Rift > Greater Rift > Bonus Level (w/bonus objective complete). Adding depth to the content while simultaneously keeping simplicity will add to HOURS of continued gameplay. This creates purpose for playing, but hopefully not too in depth. This can be simplified. . - Back to the previous point, having 2 maps to choose from can give you an option to find a map that fits your playstyle better; one that you feel you have a higher success at completing it. Selecting the option to go to the bonus area could hide the available maps or they could be shown when you select the option before declaring ‘yes’ through a prompt. This can go either way so it’s a surprise which maps you get or you knowingly select the bonus level because you know you have a chance of completing by seeing the maps first. . - For group play, these maps could be potential winners and losers based on diversity of groups and how the maps play at with a full 4-person group or any combination. . - Different legendary combinations that have synergy, but doesn't necessarily have to be set pieces, can be found in different maps or game types. Have items that have group synergy (i.e Item A gains X effect when Item B is within Y yards. Item A being a Wizard item and Item B being a Crusader item) this could allow for positive clan interaction and diversity. Different groups could potentially do more damage than something like a necessary Monk-WD Tank combo. . - Or you can have it so that as long as there are 4 different classes then you receive the 4 person group bonus, so it doesn't have to be specific combos. If you have 2 Demon Hunters, a wizard, and a monk, you only get a 3-person bonus since there are 2 DH, but they each must be wearing the piece of gear or have item in inventory or have certain gem. Legendary gem or something is possible here as well, which gives each person a reason to level it. So long as each person has theirs leveled up, the stronger the gem. Captain Planet effect. By your powers combined… If nothing else, have a default buff that rewards diversity by classes. 5% more damage for each different class perhaps, up to a potential 20% damage buff in bonus areas. . - Possible solutions to not completing the bonus level would be to have tiers of completion. If after X time passes you miss out on shards or vendor. If Y time passes then you miss out on some option. If it takes any bit longer then you just get a resplendent chest or two, so no matter what happens, as long as you clear the level, you get a resplendent chest or some type of new chest that just has a lot of loot in it. If you complete it quicker, then you still get the chest(s) no matter what. Maybe it's a super chest and if you finish quick enough then you get more than 1, much like finishing a shrine challenge quick enough, as well as the other options. Just could be a reward-based tier depending on completion time. Drop rates would inherently be affected by difficulty level. Can’t have Paragon 700 top-tier people farming level 20 Greater Rifts to win and get multiple chests over and over with the same drop rate. . - To tie in the chest idea, when you beat the regular Greater Rift, instead of the GR boss dropping items, he could spawn a chest. This chest could be carried over to the next level so that the same drops from the GR Boss would be contained in that chest. If they don’t complete the bonus level then that’s all they get, just the original chest. Clear it in time and you get more rewards or a second chest where you get the same amount of loot that you would get from a rift guardian, but twice. Perhaps this would just be 1.5 as opposed to 2x. This would mean that players could farm greater rifts to improve their chances at clearing higher greater rifts down the road, thus keeping people active in the Greater Rift game type. Simplified: Your chest from the regular Greater Rift boss would be carried over and if you complete a 120 second time-based objective, then a second chest would be available to you. . - Far-fetched idea would be that a shrine would be placed at the end of the bonus level. This shrine would have a 1h game-time buff that would ONLY be usable in Bounty/Adventure mode and would not be active for Rifts or Greater Rifts. This could be a reason people farm a greater rift before they do bounties or it could just be a supplement that people use for when they finish to go do something different. These could potentially stack if they wanted to do a few G Rifts and then go back to the adventure gameplay. . - Remember that the bonus level is contingent on completing the Greater Rift in time. No GR completion, no bonus level. . Please keep in mind that some ideas are explained further in-depth in the video and some are more drawn out here. All ideas could easily be simplified or made into bigger and better ideas. I am using this idea as a start and simply listing every single detail here would be mostly looked over, so while this is a longer post, the idea is far greater.
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Blizzard will never allow new content without some type of lore behind it. It wouldn’t make sense to just add new content without a story. I’m not a huge history buff when it comes to Diablo lore, but perhaps this could be a “flashback” or an alternate reality so that you can justify using similar content with different scenarios. I hope that people who follow the lore much more closely than I do can help create a story behind this idea. For anyone that does make that effort, thank you very much.
Was testing out some various builds on the PTR since I can salvage all my gear every day to try some new combos. Perhaps this has been tried before, but I didn't see anything on the builds section with this setup. It's a way to WW and a bit of a different take on it. I'm sure there are plenty of other better WW builds, but this is was something I was having fun with while trying out different WW builds. This started out when I was trying a "pet" build with Taskers with FC a while back, to no avail, but decided to go another direction with it.
This involves the use of The Furnace or Maximus, Hexing Pants of Mr. Yan for extra dmg and Fury building, Tasker and Theo for pet attacks, and a Cindercoat to help supplement Fire dmg and resource cost reduction. Let me know what you all think of ways to improve this build, whether it be for more damage or survivability (yes, I need better optimized gear).
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So one question that I'm already asked a lot is "Where are the set dungeons?" Mostly just a specific one every time. I decided to put together a video that should make it fairly easy to locate each and every one for every class.
**Video Guide:** https://youtu.be/ck3ASjPn0VU
If you wish to find these on your own then wear the 6-piece bonus and go to Leoric's Library in the new zone in A1 of Leoric's Manor.
******************************SPOILER ALERT******************************
Below is a text description for each and every location with pretty straight forward details.
**Barbarian:**
- Immortal King's Call - A3 Ruins of Sescheron: Walk northwest and just inside the ruins take a right turn.
- Might of the Earth - A2 City of Caldeum: Take the WP and fight through the enemies towards Belial. To the right of the entry the dungeon will open.
- Raekor's - A5 Overgrown Ruins: Walk to the right of the Survivor's Enclave and go out. Follow the path and just before a set of arches on the left the dungeon will open.
- Wrath of the Wastes - A5 Pandemonium Fortress Level 1: Go to the waypoint and walk down and back. Make your way up the stairs and at the very top after a few flights will be the dungeon.
**Crusader:**
- Akkhan's - A3 Bastion's Keep Stronghold: At the bottom right you will go down into The Armory. Inside here simply walk to the bottom of the Armory and here you will find it.
- Invoker - A1 Tristram: Walk out of town towards Outlook Road, which is the path when you first start the game. Walk up the path and as you near the very beginning there will be a small nook at the bottom where you will find the dungeon.
- Seeker of the Light - A2 Ancient Waterway: Take the Ancient Waterway WP and then enter the Waterlogged Passage. Walk all the way down and before the next exit it will be on the right.
- Roland's Legacy - A2 Road to Alcarnus: Take the WP and follow the path to the left to where it's a dead end. At the very end of the path it will be at the end here.
**Demon Hunter:**
- Marauder's - A3 Bridge of Korsikk: Take the Korsikk WP and work your way to the middle of the map. This is located where the large trebuchet is during the campaign where the short bridge hangs over the lava.
- Natalya's Vengeance - A1 Wortham Chapel Cellar: Walk outside the cellar and directly outside will be the set dungeon.
- Shadow's Mantle - A5 Pandemonium Fortress Level 3: This is a bit of a hike. Take the Pandemonium Fortress Level 2 WP and make your way all the way to the end of the map where you go to fight Malthael. Right inside of level 3 the dungeon will show up.
- Unhallowed Eessence - A2 Howling Plateau: You can take the WP to the Howling Plateau or walk through the Caldeum Bazaar. If you take the Plateau then walk south through the canyon and before it hooks back to the left you will find it in the bottom right corner of the map.
**Monk:**
- Inna's Mantra - A2 Caldeum Bazaar: Take the portal from the Hidden Camp at the north to the Bazaar. Walk into town and take a left when you get inside where the Flooded Causeway.
- Sunwuko - A4 Pinnacle of Heaven: Fight your way through the Silver Spire Level 2 to access the Pinnacle of Heaven. Before Diablo's entrance go to the left to find the dungeon.
- Raiment of a Thousand Storms - A1 Old Ruins. Simply take the way point and walk northwest. Within just a few steps at the top the dungeon will show up.
- Uliana's Strategem - A5 Zakarum Cathedral. Walk north in the Survivor's Enclave to the large cathedral at the top of the map. Walk inside and at the top left is where you will find it.
**Witch Doctor:**
- Helltooth Harness - A1 The Royal Crypts: Fight your way through the crypts and just before you enter the room to fight Leoric you will find the dungeon just inside the caged area at the north end right beside the door.
- Spirit of Arachyr - A2 Dahlgur Oasis: Probably the most difficult one, this will be at the left of the map. There is a small nook that will be the same every time. The video showcases what it looks like for reference.
- Jade Harvester - A4 Vestibule of Light: Simply take the Gardens of Hope 1st tier WP and walk straight down. This will take you back to the Vestibule. Once you're there walk your way down the stairs and back to the beginning. At the far back right of the map you will find the dungeon.
- Zunimassa's Haunt - A3 Core of Arreat: Take the Core WP and make your way up the map. Where the map turns to the right this will be on the far left in the corner.
**Wizard:**
- Firebird's Finery - A2 Desolate Sands: To make this easy, simply take the Archives of Zultan Kulle WP and go backwards to the entrance. Here you will find the portal to the Desolate Sands. Make your way just across the bridge and at the top you will find the dungeon.
- Delsere's - A3 Skycrown Battlements: Walk right outside of the Bastion's Keep Stronghold and take the portal to Skycrown. Make your way down the far right side of the map and in the back corner the dungeon will be there.
- Vyr's - A3 Rakkis Crossing: This is at the very end of Rakkis Cross before you get to Siegebreaker. If you have an Aether Walker you will save yourself a lot of time to get to the end. Take the top left staircase to find the dungeon at the end.
- Tal Rasha's - A1 Old Tristram Road: Simply take the Old Ruins WP and follow the path to the northeast. Take this path all the way around and when you are near the place on the left where there is a lower entry area and bodies are hanging you will find this in the bottom left of the map after making your way around.
Hope this helps!
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zL4UkYcyxyY
So I've been asked a lot these last few weeks about what are the best legendary items for Kanai's cube going into the next patch. It varies greatly and there are some outliers that will prove to be successful once the final patch notes are done. Since there are a wide-ranging number of builds that will be for top end gaming and there will also be for "fun" builds that are still capable of clearing GR50s, I put together a list of all of the items for each class that have potential. Some of these will be debated, but most are fairly straight forward. Several people will look at these as no-brainers, but I get asked this a lot, especially with people saving up their legendary items without much stash space. This guide covers each class and the Weapons, Armor, and Jewelry that I think should be worth saving heading into patch 2.3.
Feel free to add to the list of items that you think are going to be worthwhile and what you're planning on using them for.
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So I've seen a few posts and videos that focus solely on casting a negative light on Diablo. I decided to make my own... except the opposite.
https://youtu.be/dI-YfrsZCXk
Sure, I've shared my dislikes for certain elements at times, but to bash a game and franchise I've personally played for over 15 years seems a bit ridiculous. Constant updates, changing of skills which causes different gameplay, addressing gamers' requests to change stuff they don't like. How many games of Diablo's stature do that without putting a price tag on it? Yes, they will make their money in some way or another and of course the AH was once around, but Patch 2.3 got me thinking of just how awesome this game is. New content not featured as a DLC, as is normal for every single game now, is pretty awesome.
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I've spent thousands of hours between D1, D2, & D3 and I understand the good and bad. Early D3 was atrocious and how quickly did they turn it around? Time and time again they keep pulling people back and with good reason. Constant updates and attempting to appeal to both casual and hardcore players is tough to do, but Patch 2.2 was a nice trend. Leaving sets in place, such as the Marauder's and Firebird's, as opposed to changing them again finally fit the bill to keep the casuals happy since their time gaming isn't as plentiful as the more dedicated players. They can be happy that their time spent wasn't wasted, even if it did take 2-3 months to obtain everything. But adding new sets or revamping the lower-performing sets to marginally exceed the old sets was a thing of brilliance and it seems like that will be the trend going forward. Every other patch will likely see 3-4 classes benefit greater than the others. I'm a fan of this.
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New content with Kanai's Cube and the Ruins of Sescheron... yeah, you could've sold me on this feature alone. I'm super pumped about all this and I'm really hoping it brings back a lot of people. Patch 2.2 was a big step forward in balancing and the aforementioned addressing of sets, but 2.3 is an even larger monster. Perhaps I'm not out in the gaming world as much as I think I am, but I love that one of my favorite games ever is keeping me interested 3+ years later. Hard to beat IMO.
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-JHow signing off
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Been streaming for a bit, but finally posting here:
http://www.twitch.tv/jhow4444
Name: JHow Gaming
Come join the fun!
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These room ideas are based around a bonus content area that is explained in this post:
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Some of these maps are also featured and explained in the video here: http://youtu.be/kdcsa6knau8 , but explanations are also below.
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There are many more possibilities for maps, but this was a handful to show that many can be created using existing content.
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Bonus room ideas:
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- Royal Rumble: Utilizing the round corner platform on your way to Belial, you could have a large number of monsters that are involved in a battle that you must survive. After every 5 or 10 seconds, a new wave of enemies spawns, thus increasing your need to kill enemies quick enough, or eliminate them. Every 15 or 30 seconds an elite would spawn, so you have to choose how you focus your targets and how you manage your cooldowns or characters. These elites could possibly have the Horde or Illusionist affix, however this may cause frame rate issues and is debatable on how densely you want to pack this area. Kill all enemies before the 2 or 3 minute timer is up and you win an extra chest full of goods similar to the one carried over from the Rift Guardian.
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- Twisted Hell: Utilizes the Tower of the Damned maps in Act 3 where you can only get to the second level by going in a spiral pattern. You could place Pylons strategically in out-of-the-way places. These pylons could automatically spawn an elite and so you’d have to weigh whether the tradeoff would be worth it. Make it to the bottom in the allotted time and you will spawn the second chest. Complete it in a quick enough time and you can spawn the Kadala-like vendor or Horadric Cube idea. You could alternatively have 2 levels so you have to get through one and go to another. It would be a super spiral so that you're technically going deeper but with 2 maps combined. If you went with the 2 map idea, by clearing the first map in time you are able to enter level 2. If not, you get to open the chest carried over from the Rift Guardian. if you clear both levels then you get the bonus chest and other possible scenarios.
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- Rat Race: This involves the EXTREMELY long sewer map. The idea would be that there is a Speed pylon placed at the beginning of the map. You would utilize this to run down the map and kill all enemies in your path. The timer on these pylons can be reduced back down to 30 seconds or even 15 seconds. Every so often there is another pylon. Not utilizing these pylons will make it impossible to clear the map on time, so you would essentially be using the speed pylon permanently if you are able to clear fast enough. The challenge is to be able to balance these correctly to get from pylon to pylon so that you can reach the end in time.
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- Slaughter fields: Have an act 1 map where you fight the little monsters from the beginning of Diablo and they are all boosted health. Small ones may be easy to lose and the idea would be to kill them all before time runs out. They are easy to lose as they tend to run away at times, so this would be the frustrating challenge, but rewarding if you killed them all.
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- Slaughterhouse: Bring back a hidden cows map. This would be super rare and have some type of objective, but just the idea of it having a chance to spawn is nice.
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- The Grid: This is based on the the jail scheme in Act 1. While there are plenty of options here, the idea for this one would be to have a Shrine in each corner of the map that spawns an elite. It’s similar to the current setup in the campaign in that you have to activate each to fight the Warden. Having this to where each Shrine or Pylon activates an elite that you must work your way around to kill. Strategizing your movement throughout the grid would be important and ultimately lead you back to the middle to fight a strong elite or even a buffed Warden himself.
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- Angels vs Demons: Utilizing the already existing map in Act IV, you could utilize the protectors already in place and create an even more epic battle. Since they are already melee then you could use that, but what if as a melee class they would be more effective at range and you could make an option before you start the map to choose what type you want to fight beside you: ranged or melee, much like choosing a follower. You could possibly also use your banner as a rallying point for your Angels that are following you and can only be used once every 15 seconds. This could potentially make or break you as they would help defend when you were in trouble. In a group, only the leader of the group would have control over banner placement, so picking a good leader would be important.
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- Royal Rumble Part 2: Diablo’s final room as a battleground and have waves of enemies being spawned. Could do pillars of flame that come out of the ground or different skills that diablo casts like jailing with bones or cracks in the ground. The animations are already in place and just have waves come in while those are going off. Next wave comes in on a timer, so if you haven't cleared out existing enemies, then eventually you will be overwhelmed. If you run out of time then they all disappear so that people can finish the task. This could be a 2 minute blitz, perhaps.
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- Jigsaw Puzzle: This utilizes the side areas in Act IV. By moving about on the different platforms, it requires movement and strategy and planning. You could essentially add any type of monster type here. A challenge for melee more than range, but there has to be maps for different classes to excel. Perhaps you go through multiple levels so that when you finish one a portal opens to the second one. These are small and perhaps multiples are needed or you get bonuses based on how many puzzles you can complete. Complete 2 and you get a bonus chest or some other proposed idea. People need challenges and frustrations to try again and again. It’s how it works.
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- Desert Storm: Using the sands of Act 2, you could create a sand storm to come through and disrupt view and what you can see. This sand storm could also potentially slow your movement and attack speed considerably, so movement would become a priority. You could reuse the tornadoes from other areas of the game and have them spawn at a greater rate, thus keeping you on your toes to kill all enemies on time or faster for a bonus reward.
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- Storming the Fort: This would make use of Rakkis crossing on the way up to the Siegebreaker area. This is already opened up in rifts, so you could put a story behind it. Perhaps you start where the broken caravan area is closer to the end of the bridge. You start here and there would be an epic battle going on in the large, round area at the end where Siegebreaker is. Perhaps the battle is simply fighting many monsters and Siegebreaker simultaneously while there are several NPC guards that have joined the fray. You would have to defeat in a certain amount of time to receive the bonus reward.
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- Mind Your Manors: Starting from the gate of Leoric’s Manor, you have to go in and kill everything in site and also “heal” or “cleanse” every dead body on the ground. There are many already in the game and sometimes they are hard to see. By doing both at the same time, you would have to clear the entire area in a certain amount of time. By clearing in a fast enough time you open the door to inside the manor. Once inside, the idea is to clear out everything in site and when you “cleanse” the dead body in the final room, he turns into a purple elite that must be destroyed in a fast enough time frame. You could even have him alive before he dies to show how he died, whether it be to an elite or some type of mini-boss.
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- King of the Hill: Requires you to fight your way UP a map and at the end you have to hit the G key to place your banner. Brief explanation, but so many possibilities for maps here.
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- Going to the Chapel And…: Fighting your way OUT of the chapel to stop a male and female elite character who just got married and are trying to get on the ferry to go to Tristram to wreak havoc. The idea is you have to fight your way up to the boat in time in order to stop them from leaving. A 2-minute time frame seems reasonable and the elites could have special affixes like “Horde”, which could be perceived as the “wedding party” trying to keep you away.
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- Uber maps with different Uber bosses. Can locate them out in the main world or areas that may be difficult to play like a cave area. Old school uber Diablo style. Any type of Uber would be fun.
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While there are many more ideas I have, I wanted to put something together to at get the ball rolling. Some ideas are also explained better in the video.
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What ideas do you have for bonus levels? Please share below!
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Diablo 3 Greater Rift Bonus Level Idea:
(If you want to get to the idea and ignore the intro then scroll down 2 paragraphs or check out the video here: http://youtu.be/vgTAlZvYGKs )
Ok, so we’ve all been there. You don’t feel like grinding another Greater Rift after you’ve just cleared one. Your roll on the legendary gem you want to upgrade is 5%. We’re just not in the mood to hold onto that next GR token and the legendary gem roll is a waste. It’s the reason so many people resort to just farming up Torment 6 rifts, although with several changes that recently took place in 2.1.2 and the inclusion of Ancient items, it now seems far too easy to clear Torment 6 for most full-time and some part-time players. One simple solution would be to add more Torment difficulties, and while that might certainly be required, this idea goes beyond that.
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I click on public games for Rifts and it’s at 800 available games. Greater Rifts are at 65. Nobody wants to play GRs unless it’s with people they know or they play solo. The reasons mentioned above are just a brief summary as to why people do not really care to play greater rifts, amongst others. Not everyone is out to climb the leaderboards and would prefer to remain casual. So this idea gives the casual player a reason to play greater rifts while simultaneously appeasing to the more devoted player through rewards. The entire idea is based around the premise that no new created artistic content is technically needed and current content would only need to be manipulated in different ways, although new content would certainly be welcome.
The idea is to make a 3rd option once you’ve cleared a Greater Rift on time. Don’t clear the GR on time, you don’t get access to it. The 3rd option is an optional level that is based around current maps, but with different scenarios that will generally be time-based or time- and objective-based. A player that would consecutively do a Trial run, successfully clear a Greater Rift in potentially 15 minutes, and then be resorted to another 10-15 minutes would not be ideal for most casual players, so this is why these would mostly be shortly-timed, yet difficult events. This option would ONLY be available at the time of completion of the GR and would not award a token of any kind to come back and do it later. The choice would be a selection between 2 maps. They would each be a certain game type and also have a unique set of circumstances to complete them. The optional levels would also be on par with the current greater rift completed or could even be 0-3 levels higher for each map (i.e. If you cleared GR 40, Map 1 would be difficulty 42 and Map 2 would be 43. Or they would potentially be the same difficulty for each map and based on the GR's level). This would give people a reason to debate on which map type fits them best at which difficulty and the skill required. I have developed some map ideas that could get the ball rolling. Having a pool of 50-100 maps with different scenarios would be easy with the depth of the game and existing content, or even just 25-50. This would allow for several random maps to ensure people would need a reason to repeatedly run Greater Rifts to find certain maps or to make sure they have variety. Certain map reasons explained below.
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Some ideas for possible benefits of the bonus level would be the following:
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- Slight bump in legendary drop chance, but not much. Or just another option of content with legendaries.
- Maybe a slight bump in ancient drop chance, but that would be tied to legendaries anyways.
- Rewards top level players for participating in Greater Rifts by potentially rewarding them for their top-level efforts.
- Rewards low level players and gives them a reason to participate in something they generally don’t like to do, Greater Rifts.
- Builds the Greater Rift public game option to help populate it.
- Lower level players don’t have to try and go into such higher greater rifts to upgrade gems when their skill set doesn’t match the difficulty required to level them further. Their progression will come naturally from this option by giving them a reason to test themselves without the only reward being “leveling your gem”.
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Ideas that could potentially be added:
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- If the level were to be based on a tier completion time (clear a 2-minute level in 1m 30s or less) you would have a Kadala-like vendor appear that would allow you to spend X amount of shards, or a different variation of shards, at a much higher rate on items. This vendor has a higher legendary drop chance and thus a better chance at ancients. (Alternatively you can utilize the existing blood shards, but adding another element to the game would be great.)
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- If you finish in X amount of time you get a token to use on a horadric cube-type item that allows you to put in an existing legendary for a chance to roll it to an Ancient item. If you do a bonus objective then you get a second token. (Alternatively you could just re-roll the stats on an existing legendary with this token) Re-rolling an item is permanent, but can be rolled again in a future bonus rift area. The token or chance must be spent at the time of completion. Roll % is based on difficulty level. The higher greater rift you complete, the higher your chances. Perhaps even have each item have a roll % (i.e. a regular SMK would have a lower chance to roll as an Ancient, where an Andariel’s Visage would have a higher chance to roll as an Ancient). This idea can be toned down so that progression would not be so rapid, but not too low as to keep people coming back for more. This could also simply be that you have an option of re-rolling ALL stats on the current item. Say you found a Furnace with extremely low damage and bad rolls, so this great item is not actually useful to you when you hoped it would. This option would allow you to roll the Furnace for better stats. Clear a Greater Rift in time and you get the chance to do a bonus map. Clear the bonus map to receive the extra horadric cube, you get a chance to roll the stats on the Furnace. The difficulty would certainly give people reason to run over and over, but the reward would be worth it.
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- The option at this Kadala-like vendor to receive an item full of crafting materials like a horadric cache that goes in your inventory. This could help supplement people to receive crafting materials. Furthermore, this cache item could include a Ramaladni’s Gift as a rare drop from the cache. Perhaps you have to spend shards on the cache, but repeatedly buying the cache for the chance at a Ramaladni’s gift would be great.
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- Having certain maps drop a class-specific legendary in the future could be an interesting idea. For example: In Rat Race there is a Monk fist weapon that is not a lootable item in other game content. So that when you have the option to choose between 2 maps, you could knowingly “farm” the Rat Race map. This leads to people repeatedly running Greater Rifts so that they have a chance to “farm” just the chance at even getting the Rat Race map. Thus this completes the cycle of having people do bounties > trials > greater rifts. This drop would only be available from completing perhaps the second-tier to receive the bonus chest or it gives it a chance to drop in the regular chest by achieving a certain objective or time limit. Having requirements would give people a reason to run a higher difficulty for a higher drop chance, and also a reason to try and complete the bonus objective on a higher difficulty. Just helps add to the cycle that could now look like: Bounty > Rift > Greater Rift > Bonus Level (w/bonus objective complete). Adding depth to the content while simultaneously keeping simplicity will add to HOURS of continued gameplay. This creates purpose for playing, but hopefully not too in depth. This can be simplified.
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- Back to the previous point, having 2 maps to choose from can give you an option to find a map that fits your playstyle better; one that you feel you have a higher success at completing it. Selecting the option to go to the bonus area could hide the available maps or they could be shown when you select the option before declaring ‘yes’ through a prompt. This can go either way so it’s a surprise which maps you get or you knowingly select the bonus level because you know you have a chance of completing by seeing the maps first.
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- For group play, these maps could be potential winners and losers based on diversity of groups and how the maps play at with a full 4-person group or any combination.
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- Different legendary combinations that have synergy, but doesn't necessarily have to be set pieces, can be found in different maps or game types. Have items that have group synergy (i.e Item A gains X effect when Item B is within Y yards. Item A being a Wizard item and Item B being a Crusader item) this could allow for positive clan interaction and diversity. Different groups could potentially do more damage than something like a necessary Monk-WD Tank combo.
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- Or you can have it so that as long as there are 4 different classes then you receive the 4 person group bonus, so it doesn't have to be specific combos. If you have 2 Demon Hunters, a wizard, and a monk, you only get a 3-person bonus since there are 2 DH, but they each must be wearing the piece of gear or have item in inventory or have certain gem. Legendary gem or something is possible here as well, which gives each person a reason to level it. So long as each person has theirs leveled up, the stronger the gem. Captain Planet effect. By your powers combined… If nothing else, have a default buff that rewards diversity by classes. 5% more damage for each different class perhaps, up to a potential 20% damage buff in bonus areas.
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- Possible solutions to not completing the bonus level would be to have tiers of completion. If after X time passes you miss out on shards or vendor. If Y time passes then you miss out on some option. If it takes any bit longer then you just get a resplendent chest or two, so no matter what happens, as long as you clear the level, you get a resplendent chest or some type of new chest that just has a lot of loot in it. If you complete it quicker, then you still get the chest(s) no matter what. Maybe it's a super chest and if you finish quick enough then you get more than 1, much like finishing a shrine challenge quick enough, as well as the other options. Just could be a reward-based tier depending on completion time. Drop rates would inherently be affected by difficulty level. Can’t have Paragon 700 top-tier people farming level 20 Greater Rifts to win and get multiple chests over and over with the same drop rate.
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- To tie in the chest idea, when you beat the regular Greater Rift, instead of the GR boss dropping items, he could spawn a chest. This chest could be carried over to the next level so that the same drops from the GR Boss would be contained in that chest. If they don’t complete the bonus level then that’s all they get, just the original chest. Clear it in time and you get more rewards or a second chest where you get the same amount of loot that you would get from a rift guardian, but twice. Perhaps this would just be 1.5 as opposed to 2x. This would mean that players could farm greater rifts to improve their chances at clearing higher greater rifts down the road, thus keeping people active in the Greater Rift game type. Simplified: Your chest from the regular Greater Rift boss would be carried over and if you complete a 120 second time-based objective, then a second chest would be available to you.
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- Far-fetched idea would be that a shrine would be placed at the end of the bonus level. This shrine would have a 1h game-time buff that would ONLY be usable in Bounty/Adventure mode and would not be active for Rifts or Greater Rifts. This could be a reason people farm a greater rift before they do bounties or it could just be a supplement that people use for when they finish to go do something different. These could potentially stack if they wanted to do a few G Rifts and then go back to the adventure gameplay.
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- Remember that the bonus level is contingent on completing the Greater Rift in time. No GR completion, no bonus level.
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Please keep in mind that some ideas are explained further in-depth in the video and some are more drawn out here. All ideas could easily be simplified or made into bigger and better ideas. I am using this idea as a start and simply listing every single detail here would be mostly looked over, so while this is a longer post, the idea is far greater.
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Blizzard will never allow new content without some type of lore behind it. It wouldn’t make sense to just add new content without a story. I’m not a huge history buff when it comes to Diablo lore, but perhaps this could be a “flashback” or an alternate reality so that you can justify using similar content with different scenarios. I hope that people who follow the lore much more closely than I do can help create a story behind this idea. For anyone that does make that effort, thank you very much.
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This involves the use of The Furnace or Maximus, Hexing Pants of Mr. Yan for extra dmg and Fury building, Tasker and Theo for pet attacks, and a Cindercoat to help supplement Fire dmg and resource cost reduction. Let me know what you all think of ways to improve this build, whether it be for more damage or survivability (yes, I need better optimized gear).
Video guide and gameplay:
http://youtu.be/PJIZUnqPd30
Skill setup and gear:
http://www.diablofans.com/builds/6744-the-ancients-firewhirl-build