If you are a PC gamer, you should already know about Blizzard.  They are the creators of a small game called World of Warcraft, you may have heard of it.  They also have a game called Diablo 3, and unless you’ve been under a rock for the past few years, you would probably say that the game was released to mixed reviews.  Diablo 3 was bashed by gamers for changing too much of the working formula in Diablo games; whether it be complaints of the auction houses, the leveling process, the horrific drop system, or even the change in visual style.  Blizzard, in an attempt to win back the hearts (and maybe more importantly, wallets for the upcoming expansion) of its player-base, has released a content patch that damn near changes everything.

Following in the strong pedigree of Diablo titles, most expected Diablo 3 to be the pinnacle of ARPG gaming.  Even though sales records were made, Diablo 3 became the game everyone loved to hate.  This was mostly due to the fact that in this iteration, Blizzard decided to add an auction house to the game, actually two in fact.  One auction house was for in-game currency, where players could spend their hard-earned gold pieces on mystical pieces of gear that fit their builds perfectly, while the second auction house served the same purpose, but allowed you to use real money.  Fans of the series criticized the lack of innovation in the game as well.  Systems of developing characters into unique slaying machines from previous games were scrapped for a very linear upgrade system that left the player with little to no control over the direction of progress.  These problems coupled with a very unforgiving RNG (Blizzard’s Random Number Generator algorithm that determines what loot drops) and steep difficulty curve left players out-geared for the hordes of hell.  These problems are all addressed in the new content patch.

Patch 2.0.1 completely revamps Diablo 3 as we know it.  Along with laying the groundwork for the new “Reaper of Souls” expansion, this patch introduces drastic changes to pretty much every aspect of the game.

• Loot 2.0 has been released with its “Smart Loot” technology which will force items tailored to your character to drop more frequently.
• Character class skills have been tweaked to bring some of the more OP (Over-Powered) builds back down to normal levels.
• Paragon levels have all been combined into one level account wide, and points are now distributed per class upon gaining a paragon level.  These points can be allocated to a number of new attributes.
• The difficulty system has been revamped, removing monster levels and adding straight difficulty levels and new “Torment” difficulties.
• New affixes have been added to the elite packs and champions
• Cursed chest events and Pools of Reflection have been added
• Clans are finally available as well as communities to support them
• Nephalem Valor has been scrapped, and the Nephalem Glory from the console version has been added

For more detailed information, you can check out the official patch notes here: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/12671560/patch-201-now-live-2-25-2014

After logging about 10 hours so far of play-time in the new patch, I have some concerns, though overall I believe this patch is definitely a step in the right direction towards revitalizing a game that made some mistakes early on.  My main problems are pretty selfish I must admit.  I have a barbarian and a wizard, and their best farming builds were completely broken by this patch.  Even though I am a bit aggravated I can no longer sprint like a madman through levels, or completely freeze stun-lock every mob on the screen indefinitely, I understand the reasoning behind it.  With the addition of so many changes, a vast new array of viable builds will come to the forefront, instead of the cookie-cutter builds we’ve seen dominate for the last year.  Aside from the new challenges awaiting Savage the barbarian and Whorceress the wizard, this patch breathes some much needed life into the game.  The cursed events add a new interesting way to earn loot, as well as different challenges to complete.  All these changes are welcomed, however the star of the show is the new loot system.  Instead of just farming up cash to buy an item on the auction house, you have a pretty good chance of finding an upgrade from actually playing the game!  Who would have thought that it was more satisfying to find gear than to buy it?  All that said, I believe this patch is the first step in bandaging the gaping wound that Diablo 3 has hack and slashed into its fan-base.  The new expansion, Reaper of Souls drops March 14, and will hopefully be able to restore our collective red globes to full.

Mark is MONG’s Lead PC Editor.  Follow his completely average life on Twitter, Facebook, or MONG.