Dorjan, our code-savvy, DiabloNut-powering, go-to guy for all your Diablo 3 datamining needs, posted the huge list of Beta Patch 15 datamined info we provide for every patch, and it was full of info on hundreds of skill changes and much more. That was just the cleaned up version for the main page, though. For fans who want to go even deeper, Dorjan threw up a thread of Patch 15 new/changed patch data strings in our Datamined Lists and Info forum, which included hundreds of changes to things like B.net functions, Auction House features, item modifiers and procs, tool tips, and much more.

It takes some work to read through such a raw data dump, but a fan by the name of bjax did so and pointed out an interesting change to the still-mysterious random boss bonus Magic Find system, which Hardrock brought that to everyone’s attention with this forum post.

Before patch 15, this was the tooltip of the buff that we get after killing Elites: Defeating an Elite pack has increased your Magic Find and Gold Find. Here’s how it looks now: Defeating an Elite pack has increased your Magic Find and Gold Find. This effect ends if you change skills. I guess now we know how we’ll get rewarded for making good all-around builds.

This is all in reference to the new game system that’s (probably) going to be called Nephalem Valor, that’s so far only been seen mainly in datamined info, though it’s been described in functional detail and confirmed for a “soon” reveal by Bashiok:

The designers have been working on and testing a system that actually ties the rare/champion pack kills to boss kills quite nicely. It seems like it’s solid enough for us to talk about the intent and goals even though it’s still in testing, we can look into sharing more about it … SOON.

So, let’s talk about it…

Comments in the forum thread are largely positive about this feature, thus far. We’ve seen similar support for all the other anti-boss runs comments from the D3 team during the whole dev cycle, which is interesting. Judging by the fan comments over the years, *everyone* exploited the hell out of Meph, Pindle, Baal, Travincal, etc, runs in D2, but no one actually enjoyed them; we just felt compelled to do them since the item profits were so high. Hence *everyone* supports the D3 devs in their efforts to construct an end game for D3 that doesn’t revolve around quick, exploitative boss runs.

The devs have talked about eliminating that type of gameplay, and changes to things like the quests and waypoint systems shows how they’re going about it.

As we see in the beta content, the Skeleton King only has a big bonus to drop higher quality items for a character’s first quest kill, which almost always earns one rare item and often two. After that first big drop Leoric will usually pop 3 or 4 blue items, but very seldom another rare. Presumably other boss monsters in Diablo 3 will follow a similar pattern.

The waypoint system also contributes to this, as characters can no longer pop directly to whatever waypoint is closest to a boss. Players have to start at the beginning of a quest and work their way down through the dungeon, finding and activating two or three other waypoints on the way. These can then be used for quick returns to town, but by not enabling them right at the start, Diablo 3 requires players to spend more time on a quest, and thus lowers the profit from just popping right to the end, Durance of Hate 2 style.

Incidentally, this is less true in Patch 15 than it was previously, as there’s a whole new Quest interface. Now when you selected “change quest” you get the interface you see below, and each quest has a second stage you can begin at.

If you select this for the Reign of the Black King quest, you start off at the waypoint on Cathedral level 3. This saves you having do explore Cathedral level 2, and the first half of Cathedral 3 where you rescue the Templar. It’s far from a turbo to Leoric though, since you still have to do work through Cathedral 4, and the Skeleton King’s skeleton pillar level below it (where you find another waypoint).

So, Diablo 3 makes quest boss runs slower by not letting you waypoint right to them, and much less profitable by dropping low quality items. Now, on top of that, there’s an upcoming system that rewards you for killing normal/random elites (rather than quest bosses), plus it grants you larger rewards if you stick with the same skills, rather than freespecing around constantly.

And in another still mostly-unrevealed system, there are item mods that grant bonuses to specific skills, which will also have the effect of making you want to stick to the few skills that your equipment is built to support.

Lately it seems like the more we learn about Diablo III, the more we realize we don’t yet know?

What do you guys think about these changes to item harvesting? And especially about the Magic Find bonuses for killing normal bosses, which apparently reset if you respec your skills.

I like the theory, as I’m one of those Diablo 2 semi-purists who likes the idea of characters having some permanence and identity, which I don’t think you get if you can just freespec from cookie cutter to cookie cutter every new area. And I like the idea of the best rewards coming from random elites, who will have unknown mods, will appear unpredictably, and will generally provide more of a player challenge than a quest boss battle, in which most of the variables and parameters are pre-set, and thus easily-accounted for.

Naturally, my approval is tentative, pending more details and the full system reveal. I do like the theory though, and thus disagree with my own the “Scumbag Jay” comic; I just felt compelled to make it since this situation so perfectly fits into that meme format.