Blizzard is bringing some big changes to Diablo III with the upcoming 1.0.4 patch, and IGN has all the dirty details. Previously revealed were some class changes and Legendary item buffs that should help bring balance to the fighters of Diablo III.

Class Tweaks

The Barbarian class has been relying primarily on the Frenzy technique to generate Fury, which wasn't what the designers originally intended when they were creating the class. To help encourage players to use other techniques in the Barbarian's repretoire, the Barbarian Bash ability is getting buffed to generate more Fury and cause more damage. Similarly, the Cleave ability is now being buffed to generate Fury as well. In this patched version of the game, Cleave "should be the clear winner when there is more than one target to hit." The Barbarian's Fury abilities will also be changing, with Hammer of the Ancients, Seismic Clam, and Rend seeing the most focus.

The Wizard is being tweaked with diversity in mind. The Runes that affect the Wizard's Hydra ability are being tweaked to make them more appealing to players not just concerned with getting the highest DPS. The Energy Twister ability, on the other hand, is getting nerfed heavily.

The Monk class will be seeing new and exciting ways to spend Spirit on wasting dudes. "We're happy with where Spirit Generators are right now, but unfortunately once you have Spirit, there aren't many very appealing ways to use it," Bioware's Cheng said of the class. To this end, Exploding Palm is getting a visual overhaul that will allow you to tell when enemies are being bled and when they are not bleeding. The duration of the bleeding time is also being increased to nine seconds, and the DPS of the move is being increased to ensure that it is capable of killing more enemies. Seven-Sided Strike is also getting buffed to do more damage, while Wave of Light is getting a similar treatment. This move is getting a massive buff, from a measly 215% weapon damage to a whopping 390%, with 45% of that damage spreading out as AoE.

The Demon Hunter class, like the Wizard, is being tweaked to promote loadout diversity. Hungering Arrow is currently the best Hatred Generator for Demon Hunters bar none, so the team is taking a look at other Hatred-generating moves and trying to figure out how best to make them compete.

Witch Doctors will be getting tweaked the hardest in the upcoming patch. A number of small tweaks will be made to the class, but many bigger changes are definitely coming too. For the Witch Doctor, "survivability has been virtually non-existent in Nightmare, Hall and Inferno" even with a small army of pets by your side. Zombie Dogs will now get a version of the wizard's Force Armor skill, which limits the amount of damage they can take from one single hit. The armor durability is based on the Witch Doctor's stats, which should hopefully mean that as your survivability increases, so too does that of the Zombie Dogs. The Vision Quest skill will be getting tweaked to increase Mana regeneration much more than it did before, increasing it "by 30% for 5 seconds after dealing damage with Firebomb, Corpse Spiders, Poison Dart, or Plague of Toads." Finally, Witch Doctors are getting their inherent Mana regeneration skills topped off from 20 to 45.

Legendary Weapon Buffs

The big changes aren't just limited to the characters. The Legendary items are getting changed around, too. Fans have been complaining that the Legendary items, the rarest in the game, just aren't powerful enough to warrant using them when you do get lucky enough to find them. One of the problems here, according o Blizzard, is that the team just didn't make the Legendaries unique enough. Blizzard's senior game designer Andrew Chambers wrote on Blizzard's blog that "a truly legendary item should have history behind it, something that you can imagine a powerful wizard imbuing with special magics from within the depths of his musty library." When 1.0.4 goes live, over 50 of the Legendary items will now have custom effects unique to them. A good example of this is the Skycutter, a sword that has a chance to "summon angelic assistance" with each attack. A sword that summons angels? Sounds alright to us!

Just like the class changes, the team at Blizzard is hoping that the Legendary weapon chnages will encourage players to build more unique characters. Chambers writes that while the weapons may not all result in "the highest DPS stats in the game... they can help you play your class in new and interesting ways."

Not all of the Legendary items are seeing these changes, but there should be enough new loot fodder in the game by the time that the patch drops that we'll be seeing a marked increase in Legendary item usage.

Paragon System

Today's big news is the implementation of the new Paragon System. Blizzard hopes that this system will reduce issues with Magic Find and give level 60 players something to shoot for.

Simply put, the Paragon System is a series of new levels for you to earn. That's right; players will no longer stop leveling at 60. The Paragon levels will not be the same as normal levels, though. Each Paragon level will increase your core stats (Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Vitality) just like a normal level would, but it'll also grant you +3% Magic Find and +3% Gold Find.

There will be 100 Paragon levels in all, and as you reach the top of the ladder, your character portrait's border will change to reflect just how experienced you are with the game.