# Diablo 3 expansion goes live tonight **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [March 25, 2014, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diablo-3-expansion-goes-live-tonight/684498 "2014-03-25T02:10:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diablo-3-expansion-goes-live-tonight/684498/61 "2014-08-25T23:46:09Z")
> [@Cognoscant](#): > > Well, getting back to Diablo 3…just as I was getting back into it, my computer decided that D3 was too hot for it. Literally. I have an old laptop and D3 is making it overheat, even with my best cooling devices. So, sigh. Maybe run it at a lower resolution and graphics settings? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diablo-3-expansion-goes-live-tonight/684498/62 "2014-08-26T00:11:21Z")
> [@Cognoscant](#): > > Well, getting back to Diablo 3…just as I was getting back into it, my computer decided that D3 was too hot for it. Literally. I have an old laptop and D3 is making it overheat, even with my best cooling devices. So, sigh. One gallon Ziploc filled with ice cubes. Put the laptop on top of it. Get new ice when it melts. That’s how I played WoW for years. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diablo-3-expansion-goes-live-tonight/684498/63 "2014-08-26T00:22:19Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > One gallon Ziploc filled with ice cubes. Put the laptop on top of it. Get new ice when it melts. That’s how I played WoW for years. Arthas would be so proud. ---
**Author:** ![Boogly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Boogly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boogly)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diablo-3-expansion-goes-live-tonight/684498/64 "2014-08-26T08:23:34Z")
Honest Trailers does Diablo. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/W6pDBXFPa_8/maxresdefault.jpg "DIABLO (Honest Game Trailers)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6pDBXFPa_8) ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diablo-3-expansion-goes-live-tonight/684498/65 "2014-08-26T14:14:48Z")
Ok so I started up a new character on PS4 last night. Haven’t played since about 6mo after the release of the basic D3 on PC and it looks like a lot has changed. Can someone tell me what the yellow nephalem orbs do that the mobs drop? It looks like they add lightning to my attacks but is that all? Also there are yellow pools that look like the red health pools. I couldn’t read the text that tried to tell me what they were for when I drank it. Any ideas? Also Crusader vs Barb. Which is better melee class? I had a powerful barb before but never played crusader until now. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diablo-3-expansion-goes-live-tonight/684498/66 "2014-08-26T14:16:54Z")
> [@Cubsfan](#): > > Also there are yellow pools that look like the red health pools. I couldn’t read the text that tried to tell me what they were for when I drank it. Any ideas? 100% bonus exp until it runs out (signified by a diamond on your exp bar). Edit: If you’ve ever played WoW, it basically just gives you rested experience. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diablo-3-expansion-goes-live-tonight/684498/67 "2014-08-26T14:28:52Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > 100% bonus exp until it runs out (signified by a diamond on your exp bar). > > Edit: If you’ve ever played WoW, it basically just gives you rested experience. Do those yellow orbs do the same thing? ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diablo-3-expansion-goes-live-tonight/684498/68 "2014-08-26T14:46:07Z")
> [@Cubsfan](#): > > Do those yellow orbs do the same thing? No, I never quite figured out exactly what Nephalem orbs do. They add that chain holy damage buff, as you noticed, but I don’t know precisely what they do. Here’s the wiki article on them, it looks like just an assortment of buffs. > **[Nephalem Globe - Diablo Wiki](https://www.diablowiki.net/Nephalem_Globe)** > > Nephalem Globes (AKA Nephalem Orbs or Power Globes) are yellow glowing orbs that occasionally drop from slain monsters. They look much like Health Orbs (or the purple Progress Orbs found in Greater Rifts), but instead of granting healing (or Greater... Edit: Also, hilariously enough, the best Crusader build probably involves Justice which would make it a middle-range class rather than melee. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diablo-3-expansion-goes-live-tonight/684498/69 "2014-08-26T16:16:21Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Titan Quest was a good game with an amazing aesthetic. I had two major issues with it: > > The game was perhaps a bit TOO balanced. Everything was more or less viable, which tended to mean nothing was extraordinary. Even though my friend and I had wildly different builds both times we played, we were both pretty much equally effective. One was even a summoner build, summoner builds are almost NEVER effective endgame. Did you only play through the Normal game or did you go into Legendary and Epic? From what I understand, pretty much any build can finish the game on Normal. I played a melee-centric Poison/Bleed Brigand (Rogue/Hunter) through Normal and did fine, although I had to rely on traps to kill the Titan. But the Immortal Throne Hades content started to really hurt. I only finished it by playing the base campaign again on Legendary difficulty for a while to skill up and get better equipment, then playing Immortal Throne on Normal for a while, back and forth. I finished the IT content on Normal by the time I hit Egypt again on Legendary and started to slog again. Finally, I totally re-specced and dropped all my melee skills and went full on archer with maxed out Slow and Confuse poisons. The difference between the two is ridiculous. Now I fire into groups, the arrows shatter and hit the other mobs, everyone gets confused and slowed and I just tear through stuff. Bosses are a pain but I kept my traps skills up and usually rely on them to do damage as I kite the boss around. Anyway, Poison/Bleed melee was a terrible build on harder difficulties because half the mobs are immune to it (undead and constructs), it’s damage over time and you have to trade blows to inflict it. But I still was able to plow Normal with it. I assume you can plow Normal with just about anything but I think that’s fine: Let anyone play what they want to see the story then force those who want to do it harder to refine their builds. ---
**Author:** ![Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrogance_ex_machina/32/192_2.png) [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogance_Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diablo-3-expansion-goes-live-tonight/684498/70 "2014-08-26T20:05:28Z")
2.1 Patch went live today. Tried it a bit with my fire meteor wizard and did two rifts in T2 just to get a feel to how it goes. Didn’t get any Greater Rift keystones yet and the servers are going down for a hotfix now, but I’ll try again later. ---
**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diablo-3-expansion-goes-live-tonight/684498/71 "2014-08-27T00:31:13Z")
I think Greater Rifts are only for Seasonal characters (i.e. Ladder characters), and the first season doesn’t start until Friday. I read the patch notes while it was downloading, and it seems there are a lot of buffs (except to health globes). I have family coming in this weekend, so If I do the Season, it’ll be a few days late. For that reason I’m leaning away from it, but if everybody else is going to start new seasonal characters, then I will to. So, I ask again, who’s starting new seasonal characters? About to start playing now. ---
**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diablo-3-expansion-goes-live-tonight/684498/72 "2014-08-27T01:41:54Z")
Hirka and I got about 2/3 of the way through a rift when we got disconnected. That’s annoying. Other thoughts: For a while you didn’t really have any idea how much gold you were picking up. Now, not only did they put back the numbers, but they added an icon showing the total amount of gold that you’ve picked up in the last few seconds. It’s almost overkill, but I like it. When I check my achievements, it’s clear they’ve got some debugging to do. ---
**Author:** ![Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/db5fbb/32.png) [@Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hirka_T_Bawa)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diablo-3-expansion-goes-live-tonight/684498/73 "2014-08-27T01:46:48Z")
I was playing with some of the skill changes with my lighting wizard. I like how it is easier to specialize now. There are finally some good long range lightning skills. I also do like how gold amounts show up. Ruck, I’ll try to get on again in a few. Have some stuff I need to do first. ---
**Author:** ![Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrogance_ex_machina/32/192_2.png) [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogance_Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diablo-3-expansion-goes-live-tonight/684498/74 "2014-08-27T02:04:51Z")
> [@Rucksinator](#): > > I think Greater Rifts are only for Seasonal characters (i.e. Ladder characters), and the first season doesn’t start until Friday. I read the patch notes while it was downloading, and it seems there are a lot of buffs (except to health globes). Nope, Greater Rifts are definitely for all characters. I’ve been reading patch-related news for a while now despite not actually playing the game. Servers are down now, though. _sigh_ Also the season doesn’t start until Friday but I’m not really interested in that at all. ---
**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diablo-3-expansion-goes-live-tonight/684498/75 "2014-08-27T03:11:57Z")
> [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](#): > > Nope, Greater Rifts are definitely for all characters. I’ve been reading patch-related news for a while now despite not actually playing the game. > > Servers are down now, though. _sigh_ > > Also the season doesn’t start until Friday but I’m not really interested in that at all. OK, I’ll defer to your reading skills. Are you part of the SDMB clan? If not, what is your D3 name? ---
**Author:** ![Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrogance_ex_machina/32/192_2.png) [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogance_Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diablo-3-expansion-goes-live-tonight/684498/76 "2014-08-27T03:16:17Z")
> [@Rucksinator](#): > > OK, I’ll defer to your reading skills. Are you part of the SDMB clan? If not, what is your D3 name? Yeah, I’m in the clan. I think my D3 name is Ainue - that’s what the [Battle.net](http://Battle.net) client is calling me, anyways. [Here is an excellent guide to 2.1 changes and additions.](http://www.diablofans.com/news/48184-2-1-releases-tomorrow-patch-2-1-roundup) It has a guide to Greater Rifts among other things, lists of all the skill and item changes and the new legendary gems etc. ---
**Author:** ![Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrogance_ex_machina/32/192_2.png) [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogance_Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diablo-3-expansion-goes-live-tonight/684498/77 "2014-08-27T14:27:28Z")
Did a T3 rift with Hirka, then we got a trial keystone and did that and three Greater Rifts for a bunch of legendary gems. It was fun but so far it seems the trial keystones are fairly rare in lower torment rifts - I’ve done two T2s and four T3s and seen only one drop. Looks like the best tactic for farming legendary gems is to do badly in the trial so you can start with a lower level Greater Rift and work your way up, potentially getting gems from every one. ---
**Author:** ![CrimeThink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90db22/32.png) [@CrimeThink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrimeThink)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diablo-3-expansion-goes-live-tonight/684498/78 "2014-08-27T17:12:09Z")
Trials stones have dropped every time that I’ve completed a T6 rift. I have also found that it is more beneficial at first to throw the trial a few levels back so that you can do more before it becomes too hard. I like not worrying about looting until the rift is over. All 7 of my hellfire amulets turned out to be rubbish, so I am not feeling the grind/benefit ratio working there. I was on a level 36 greater rift when the DDOS attack took the server down. It is so far looking like demon hunters have a serious advantage in higher rifts. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diablo-3-expansion-goes-live-tonight/684498/79 "2014-08-27T21:16:25Z")
Seven hellfires? How long did it take to farm the materials for that? With as many steps as there are in the process, and with a maximum of 50% drop rate at each step, it seems like that’d take forever. ---
**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diablo-3-expansion-goes-live-tonight/684498/80 "2014-08-27T22:31:09Z")
I just joined Tapioca, but got there just after he killed the rift guardian. I paid a fragment to go down and see if there was any loot, but there wasn’t. However, I DID get the exp. Curious to see if I would have gotten the exp if I hadn’t paid the rift fragment (or if I had but didn’t go down). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diablo-3-expansion-goes-live-tonight/684498.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diablo-3-expansion-goes-live-tonight/684498.md?page=5)