Shortly after the July Developer Stream, Diablo 4 received a new patch 1.0.4, followed by a couple of hotfixes! Here’s what’s changed.
Patch Highlights
Below is a quick summary of the important changes included in these updates. We’ll only be highlighting things.
Necromancer Changes
This is less class balance this time and rather a temporary solution to fix a bug with Blood Lance.
- Enhanced Blood Lance now pierces up to a maximum of 10 enemies.
- The Aspect of Hungry Blood now fires up to a maximum of 3 Blood Lances per cast.
The devs have cited that the change is to prevent crashes resulting from an interaction between Enhanced Blood Lance and the Hungry Blood Aspect. It’s only expected to stay this way until some time in Season 1.
Bug Fixes
Only a few notable fixes here this time, but a couple of these are huge.
Aspects that deal flat damage imprinted through the Codex of Power now scale with Item Power. Having Codex Aspects scale with Item Power makes more sense than Player Level. This does however come with the unfortunate side effect that if you get a great rare Sacred or Ancestral item, you’ll need to replace it at some point unless it’s already near the Soft Item Power Cap of 820.
Rare items that were guaranteed drops from specific rare enemies have had their sale price increased. They are no longer guaranteed and have 33% chance instead.
The Rare items that drop from the “Unique Elite” mobs are fairly interesting. It’s unfortunate that they often only have three stat lines, which limited their use in endgame builds, but some can be worth grabbing for certain builds as transitional items. They were nice as they were super cheap to re-roll, but now they no longer have that advantage.
Helltides are more rewarding now with unique being able to drop. There was a bug that had to be addressed that cause “Uber Unique” items to drop more frequently, making the Harlequin Crest almost guaranteed for certain classes like Barbarian and Sorcerer. This was addressed with the second hotfix, which re-enabled them to drop after being disabled when this bug was discovered.
While most players aren’t likely to have hit the initial resource cap for crafting materials, the massive expansion of space does help nonetheless. The cap for crafting materials has been increased from 9999 to 99999.
Full Patch Notes
Below are the full patch notes, as sourced from the Patch Notes Page and the Diablo 4 Forums.
Bug Fixes
Gameplay
- Fixed an issue where the damage multiplier for Enhanced Frozen Orb wasn’t applying correctly.
- Fixed an issue where enemies with the Vortex affix would deal damage through Immunity.
- Fixed an issue where the Elixir of Expertise was reducing resource cost by 10% instead of the displayed 20% value.
- Fixed an issue where the damage bonus from the Paragon Subdue Glyph would be applied to any target instead of only Vulnerable targets.
- Fixed an issue where the Barbarian’s Whirlwind ability would briefly stop channeling when a Cooldown skill was cast while using it.
- Fixed an issue where the guaranteed Overpower buff from the Barbarian’s Earthstriker’s Aspect would be consumed upon gaining any other buff.
- Fixed an issue where the player character would freeze when using the Rogue’s Shadow Step skill if used outside the range of your intended target.
- Fixed an issue where the player could not rotate when casting a Channeled Skill if using a one-hand weapon with no off-hand item equipped.
- Fixed an issue where the Cursed Scrolls in Fields of Hatred had a lower cooldown than the displayed 5-minute cooldown.
- Fixed an issue where Aspects that deal flat damage imprinted through the Codex of Power scaled with player level instead of item power.
- Fixed an issue where the Necromancer’s Shadow Mages weren’t applying extra shadow damage through the Shadowblight Key Passive.
- Fixed an issue where Cheat Death effects would not trigger if you died while mounted.
- Rare items that are guaranteed drops from specific rare enemies have had their sale price increased so that their re-roll price will also be closer to other items of similar strength. These items will still generally have a lower sell value (and inherently re-roll cost) than other rare items of similar Item Power.
- These items are also now no longer a guaranteed drop and have been adjusted to a 33% going forward.
- Fixed an issue where the Elixir of Expertise tooltip was incorrectly showcasing a resource reduction of 20% instead of the intended 10% which it has always been.
Quests and Dungeons
- Fixed an issue where a traversal wouldn’t appear during the The Blind Eye quest, blocking progression.
- Fixed an issue where the Mother’s Judgement enemy would spawn before the player entered the encounter during the Whispers from the Past quest.
- Fixed multiple issues where Quest progress would be blocked if the player used a Town Portal during specific sequences.
- Fixed various other issues that prevented progression for multiple Quests.
- Fixed an issue where the Forgotten Depths dungeon had one fewer prisoner to release than intended.
- Fixed an issue where teleporting to Wejinhani during the Witch of the Wastes quest would force the player to drop the Vial of Quicksilver, despite the town being an allowed area for the quest.
- Fixed an issue where the Cultist’s Refuge, Howling Warren and Luban’s Rest dungeons couldn’t be completed if the Butcher appeared and was not killed.
- Fixed an issue where Treasure Goblins slain in a Nightmare Dungeon with the Death Pulse Affix would deal significantly more damage than intended with its post-death explosion.
- Fixed an issue where the Mirage quest couldn’t properly be completed.
UI
- Fixed an issue where the QR code used for account linking on console was improperly sized, which made scanning it difficult.
- Fixed an issue where the Imprint cost for Legendary Aspects would be inaccurately displayed.
- Fixed an issue where players on Console would be unable to navigate the Shop after using the Buy More Platinum button.
- Fixed an issue where the Upgrade Glyph tab wouldn’t close after moving away from the Awakened Glyphstone.
- Fixed an issue where a Skill unlocked by item contribution did not have an Assign Skill button in its tooltip.
- Fixed an issue where trading a partial stack while playing with a controller would display a full stack in the tooltip.
- Fixed an issue where the Weekly Reward Cache for defeating a World Boss would display as available if there was an active Whisper for defeating the boss, even when the Cache had already been claimed previously.
Miscellaneous
- Fixed an issue where the NPC Arlo couldn’t be interacted with.
- Fixed an issue where the Fields of Hatred Killer Cosmetic Set was missing helmets for Druid, Necromancer, and Rogue.
- Fixed an issue where the cost of the Sturdy Saddle Cosmetic from the Stable Vendor would scale with the player character’s Level.
- Fixed an issue where players could lure the Seething Abomination boss in the Alzuuda Fields of Hatred zone to a location where they could damage it, but it couldn’t damage them.
- Fixed an issue where Mount Cosmetics would not properly display if applied while actively mounted.
- Fixed an issue where the camera would pan from the point of death back to the respawn point instead of instantly moving for players in Local Co-Op.
- Fixed an issue where the player and NPC would disappear during a dialogue sequence if the player was actively under the effect of a Conduit shrine. (Demonic trickery strikes again!)
- Various Localization fixes.
- Various other interface and accessibility Improvements.
- Further stability, performance, and visual improvements across all platforms.
- Fixed an issue where transmogs on off-hand Items for Sorcerers would reset upon performing any Inventory action.
Gameplay Adjustments
- Helltide chests can now drop Unique items.
- The bosses Vhenard, Brol, and Cyhrach have had their health pools and damage output reduced.
- The cap for crafting materials has been increased from 9999 to 99999.
Hotfix 1
Class Changes
Necromancer
- Enhanced Blood Lance now pierces up to a maximum of 10 enemies.
- Aspect of Hungry Blood now fires up to a maximum of 3 Blood Lances per cast.
Developer Note: This is indeed a nerf to Blood Lance, but Blood Lance has been so good for Necromancers that it has been crashing the game! This is a temporary solve while the team reworks the way the Legendary Aspect will function, and we expect this change sometime in Season 1 or shortly after.
Gameplay Changes
- The first Whisper Cache you acquire will now always grant a Nightmare Sigil.
Bug Fixes
- Further stability improvements.
Hotfix 2
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue where Uber Unique items had an unintended higher chance to drop from Helltide Chests.
Developer Note: With the above change, we have re-enabled Uber Unique drops in Diablo IV. In total we have discovered that only 142 accounts obtained an Uber Unique between the launch of 1.0.4 and when we disabled Uber Unique items from the game on the evening of July 6th. We do not plan on removing these items from the accounts. In the future, we may need to take action to maintain fairness within the game when a bug or exploit impacts the gameplay of others.
Gameplay Changes
- Helltide Chests will now have the chance to drop any Unique and not be restricted to specific item slot limitations from any chest.
Developer Note: With the above change players will now be able to find Unique items from ALL Helltide Chests. Uber Unique items also have a chance to be found from all chests.
