Blizzard Quote [source]

CLASSES

• Monk
  • Philosophy
    • We felt that Momentum was not as strong as some other Monk passives. The buffs to Momentum should help bring it more in line with its peers.
    • While there are no additional changes at this time, we intend to buff other abilities in a future patch to open up more build diversity.
  • Active Skills
    • Wave of Light
      • Skill Rune - Pillar of the Ancients
        • Bug Fix: Fixed an issue causing the pillar created by this rune to have collision
  • Passive Skills
    • Momentum
      • Reduced the distance required from 30 to 25 yards
      • Damage bonus increased from 15% to 20%
      • Duration increased from 4 to 6 seconds

ITEMS

• General
  • Increased the drop rate of all class-specific Set items
• Class-Specific Items
  • Monk
    • Philosophy
      • Legendary items are just as important to class power as class skills. We recognize that the Monk class sets went out underpowered, and are substantially increasing their damage to be closer in comparison with the sets of other classes. Additionally, the Raiment of a Thousand Storms 6- piece bonus has been redesigned slightly to allow the damage to be higher, more controlled, and more deliberate.
    • Monkey King's Garb
      • (4) Set Bonus
        • Explosion weapon damage increased from 100% to 1600%
        • Lowered explosion delay from 1 to 0.5 seconds
        • Bug Fix: Fixed an issue that cause the Spirit spent counter to reset when an item was picked up
    • Raiment of a Thousand Storms
      • (6) Set Bonus
        • Will now be triggered only by Dashing Strike
        • Weapon damage increased from 100% to 3000%
        • Damage dealt can now be a Critical Hit
        • Removed the target cap
          • The visual effect will still be capped at six targets
• Bug Fixes:
  • Fixed an issue introduced in Patch 2.0.5 that prevented the +% Haunt Damage, +% Locust Swarm Damage, and +% Rend Damage item affixes from being applied

CRAFTING

• Legendary crafting recipes have received several changes:
  • Philosophy
    • Legendary crafted items are meant to be both a stepping stone into end game items and a good place to spend crafting materials at the end game. While we like the fantasy of having the unique crafting materials, obtaining them was either keeping too many people from being able to complete the recipes in a timely manner or encouraging game flipping and similar less than ideal patterns of play in order to acquire them. As such, we are removing the requirement for unique items when crafting Legendaries.
  • Unique crafting materials are no longer required
    • Legendary crafting materials will no longer drop
    • Existing Legendary crafting materials will now be grey and have had their sell prices increased
  • Level 70 crafted sets and Legendary items with unique properties now require additional Death's Breath
  • Level 70 crafted Legendary items without unique properties have had their Death's Breath costs removed
• Death's Breath is no longer required for most Artisan training costs
  • The Mystic no longer requires any Death's Breath to train
  • The Blacksmith and the Jeweler now only require 1 each to learn the first rank of level 11

USER INTERFACE

• +% Skills damage bonuses will now display on the details page
• +% Elemental damage bonuses will now display on the details page
• Paragon bonuses will now be reflected in Character Profile Damage, Toughness, and Healing values
• Community chat will now be joined by default and the settings for which channels you have joined or left will be saved

Blizzard Quote [source]

"Nerissa finished the cup of wine and fumbled it back to the table. She picked up the velvet box, displaying it proudly, and opened the top. The contents glittered.  'I have my jewelry,' she replied with as much dignity as she could muster, 'and some of these pieces have been in my family for generations. This one, for example'—and she lifted out a filigree comb of spun gold with a single large sapphire—'was given to my grandmother on her wedding day. Or this,' she said as she carefully withdrew a stiletto, the sheath dotted with three rubies, 'was kept by my great-uncle when he was at court. It's really just a showpiece, but he fancied himself quite the soldier.' She laughed self-deprecatingly but found herself in an unsettlingly steely gaze from Carlotta. She returned the knife to the box and waited for the old woman to speak."

"'No,' the crone breathed, her eyes never leaving Nerissa's. 'No, I think we should play for more… significant stakes.' She waved away Nerissa's stammering objection with a tiny movement of one hand. 'I think we should play for the most significant stakes of all. What, my dear, would you want more than anything else in this world?'"

The newest addition to the Diablo lore archives, "Turn of a Card," is now available in the Game Guide! Written by Robert Arjet, this unsettling tale centers on Nerissa, a destitute member of Westmarch's high society who will do anything to reclaim her family's riches… even wager all that she holds dear.

For more heroic tales, be sure to explore the short stories for our iconic classes and characters, available here:

• Wayfarer
• Hatred and Discipline
• Unyielding
• Doubtwalker
• Firefly
• The End of her Journey
• The Orphan and the Jeweler
• Brothers in Arms
• Middlewick

Blizzard Quote [source]

Get ready to snack on one of Sanctuary's most sneaky beasties!

That's right, nephalem. We recently tasked with you with creating a Diablo-inspired dish in our Reaper of Recipes challenge, and now a winner has been chosen. Gaming gastronome @kierpanda from Eat Game Live has cooked up her favorite submission, and the results are diabolically delicious. We think even Tyrael's fickle stomach would be pleased!

Behold, the Sand Shark Caldeum Style (a.k.a. Baked Hake with Quinoa):

To learn more about this challenge, the winning recipe, and heaps of other scrumptious, game-themed treats, head on over to Eat Game Live. Thanks to everyone who submitted recipes, and congratulations to Louis Sarlin for this tasty creation!

Have your own Sanctuary-themed recipes? Then be sure to share them in our Community Creations forum!

Blizzard Quote [source]

Some of you may or may not know about an elusive NPC in the world of Sanctuary by the name of Dane Bright. This young man is a self-made merchant who, from time to time, enjoys selling a Legendary or Set crafting plan or two. If you're looking to gear up your lower level characters with some crafted items (or simply interested in collecting as many Blacksmithing plans as possible) then these featured guides just might be the thing for you.

About the Guides:

In this particular Goatman's Guide of the Week, we're featuring not one, but TWO player-created guides. 

The first guide, created by Arkaidyn, features a quick video walkthrough of "How to Find Dane Bright." In the guide, Arkaidyn covers a variety of information he's collected based on his own experiences farming for Dane, as well as on the experiences of other Diablo III players. Check out the video below, or head over to Arkaidyn's YouTube page. 

The second guide takes the form of a Diablo Wiki page created by Bluedragon (and curated by Elly from Diablo IncGamers). This guide includes all of the basic information you might expect about Dane Bright, including possible spawn locations, what plans Dane can sell, the gold cost for each, and his reset timer. It's been formatted simply, but neatly and features a nice, easy-to-read table. 

You can share your own experiences with and knowledge about Dane Bright with the Diablo IncGamers community here and here. Happy hunting!

Why These Guides Are Awesome:

• They can empower players to complete (or least further flesh out) their crafting plan collections.
• They're driven by player experience, which means your contributions can help.
• It also means these guides are on-going project, some we think is pretty cool.
• They've helped spawn some interesting in-game communities!

Additional Information:

Communities, you say?

That's right! There are several in-game communities both in the Americas and Europe gameplay regions dedicated to tracking down Dane Bright himself. If you're interested in locating and joining these communities, just follow these quick steps: 

• While logged into Diablo III, open on the Communities window (SHIFT + O by default).
• Click on the "Find button" located at the bottom of the window.
• Select the Search field and enter "Dane Bright" to bring up related communities.

Is searching for an elusive NPC interesting to you? Did this guide help answer any of your questions about Dane Bright? Leave us your thoughts in the comment section below, or head over to this thread on the diablo.incgamers forums to share your story while searching for Dane Bright.

Found any helpful guides lately or created your own? Then be sure to send them over to grimiku@blizzard.com!