In a blog post titles Game Design Update, Blizzard confirmed that Diablo 3 will receive a patch that will bump the game’s version up to version 1.0.2. It apparently will not be tweaking many gameplay systems but the dev team behind the game is said to be keeping a close eye on design and balance issues.
“We recently made some decisions to adjust (or outright nerf) a few class skills and today we wanted to explain our overall philosophy on design changes – as well as give some insight into some more changes that are coming up.” The v1.0.2 patch is said to have been in development since the launching of the game and Blizzard detailed it as follows, Lingering Fog, Boon of Protection and Force Armor has been nerfed for being “more powerful than they should be”, but the team won’t be making nerfing skills or runes a habit unless they’re “game breaking”.
Blizzard also states that the first game balance changes, besides hotfixes that need to be executed immediately, will come in patch 1.0.3 and the dev team are reported to be also keeping a close eye on the balance for the Inferno difficulty setting, Legendary items, Blacksmith leveling and crafting costs. With regards to PvP, it said, “We’re going full steam ahead on the PvP patch, which will also include a number of game changes unrelated to PvP. We look forward to sharing more about that as we get closer to opening up a PTR, where you’ll be able to test out our changes – and enjoy mercilessly slaughtering one another in the PvP arena.”
For now, Blizzard has confirmed that the patch 1.0.2 will arrive either this or at latest, next week. And it explained that when a hotfix is necessary in certain circumstances and the changes could impact your ability to play your respective class, the team will inform you via the ‘Upcoming Changes’ posts in the General forum.