They also share some stats since launch. 80% are between levels 1 and 30, 1.9% have unlocked Inferno and 54% of hardcore heroes are female. Patch due next week for ”service issues.”
It won’t just be about service issues but that’s its main focus. The studio will continue with hotfixes to address ”critical design and balance issues, bugs” and other threats.
For less serious problems they will take a more ”measured fashion – through client patches.”
In fact they’ve got a client patch due next week: ”We have a patch coming within the next week (patch 1.0.2) that has been in development since the game’s launch and is mainly aimed at addressing service issues. The first real game balance changes, outside of hotfixes, will be coming in patch 1.0.3.”
”We expect that because the game is new, some other issues will arise that will need to be immediately addressed through hotfixes, but in general, most changes will arrive through patches.”
For detailed information about Blizzard’s philosophy to updating Diablo III check out their blog. They discuss some specifics about character classes and why they need altering. They also admit that Inferno difficulty is ”a bit spikier than we’d like” in terms of damage to the player. A lot comes down to ‘insufficient gear’ on trying Inferno.
Here are some stats since launch:
• On average players have created 3 characters each
• 80% of characters are between levels 1 and 30
• 1.9% of characters have unlocked Inferno difficulty
• 54% of Hardcore players chose a female character
• The majority of Hardcore deaths (35%) occur in Act I Normal
• The most common level 60 build in the game is only used by 0.7% of level 60 characters of that class (not including Passive diversity)
• The most used runes for each class at level 60 are Barbarian: Best Served Cold, Demon Hunter: Lingering Fog, Wizard: Mirror Skin, Monk: Peaceful Repose, Witch Doctor: Numbing Dart
Check out our review of Diablo III and why it’ll ”haunt your dreams long-term to get back to it”.