With all of the talk around, it seems there is a little confusion on what the Balance team is actually suggesting, so let me put it all in one place so that Soulmancer can give it a read:
General adjustments:1. Spawn remains the same and is not increased to 4 spawn
2. Grand Charm skillers are replaced with Soulstone skill charms. the details of which are found here:
http://blue.arimyth.com/charms.html Soulstones are a Carry 1 item and don't drop every time you face a Hell boss.
3. Crushing blow reduced to a 1% chance of occurring on 2h weapons. For a paladin attacking at least at 5 FPA (which is 5 attacks per second), this means they will deliver a crushing blow about once every 20 seconds. For barbs/druids who often attack at 4 FPA (which is 6.25 attacks per second) they will deliver a crushing blow once every 16 seconds.
4. Portals now have quest requirements returned to them to reduce rushing
5. A character that has completed the Normal (Nightmare as well) Baal quest cannot --JOIN-- a game that has the quest open. These characters can still --CREATE-- Normal (and Nightmare) games though.
6. Ability to gain strength from items is greatly diminished. So players can either choose between great end game gear or lots of life.
7. Other item changes here:
http://blue.arimyth.com/helms.html ,
http://blue.arimyth.com/Crafting-patch.html ,
http://blue.arimyth.com/gems.html and
http://blue.arimyth.com/aldurswatchtower.htmlSkill Changes:PureRage_DoD has been working on and implemented the following skill changes:
Necro
1 skeleton at 1 hard point, 2 at 2 hard points, then 1 more for every 2 points, capping at 11 skeles and 11 mages.
Poison Strike no longer spawns a cloud
CE now has double the mana cost and a 1 sec cooldown
Pierce values on lr/amp have been changed to 1% per hard point and 1% per 4 soft points.
Blades no longer block paths
Summons AI Delay has been halved
Mages life gains actually work now
Druid
Spirit wolves are capped at 3
Dire wolves capped at 2
Lycanthropy gains 4%life per level instead of 5%
Ravens damage has been buffed greatly. You gain 1 raven at level 1, 1 more at 10 hard points and a final raven at 20 hard points.
The damage gains get better at higher skill levels so test with some + skills
moultenboulder: synergys changed (10%phys-volvano, armageddon & fissure) (12%fire with firestorm) Gains 1 extra boulder when maxed
Fissure: synergys changed (10% syn with firestorm, Volcano & moulten Boulder)
armageddon: doubled missiles splash radius
Volcano: reduced missile radius from 6 to 4
Summons AI Delay has been halved
Barb
Increased stamina reduced to 4% per level.
Frenzy now gives 1%dr per hard point and is included in the self buff portion of the skill. Duration increased to 20 secs
Masterys now start at 12% critical strike at level 1 and cap at 50% at 20 hard points in the skill.
Grim Ward now summons a single blade with an aura that reduces enemys def by 25% (12 yard radius)
Sin
Claw Mastery now gains 10% AR per hard point in Venom
Fade now yields 1% DR per hard point and is listed on the skill
Shadow Master won't use traps or mind blast.
Shadows AI Delay has been halved
Phoenix Strike now releases all charges at the same time
Zon
Impale now deals magic damage. Def will now be dropped to 0 while using impale for a fraction of a second.
Strafe had its NHD reduced to 2 from 4 (should double single target DPS)
Vlak's AI Delay has been Halved
Sorc
Icebolt missile speed increased to match firebolts
Hydra's duration increased to 24 seconds. Max number of hydra heads increased from 12 to 24
Frozen armor can be cast on friendly units
FireWall: capped at 10 yards
Blizzard: reduced radius from 7 to 4 to increase target effectiveness
Pally
Smite now grants 1%Dr per hard point active for 5 secs after smiting
Blessed hammers no longer bypass demon and undead mag resist
Salvation now provides no absorbs but gains 1% absorb per point into each respective resist aura.
Each respective resist aura (fire, cold, and light) now provides 10 absorb to its element rather than 20.
Conviction now starts at 25% pierce gaining 1% per hard point and 1% per 4 soft points and provides the pally a 1% per 2 hard points passive pierce to each element.
Sanctuarys base magic damage increased by 20%, damage to demons is = to undeads, 20% magic pierce added to the aura
Vengeance now has a splash radius and a new overlay to go with it. Damage has been reduced by 50% but the attacked target is hit twice (splash and swing)