Version 0.8.3

Version History
← 0.8.2 January 1, 2011	0.8.3 March 20, 2011	0.8.4 → January 1, 2011

Patch notes

These are the official patch notes for version 0.8.3 released by Grinding Gear Games.

Features

• Added "Spark" skill
• Added "Shield Charge" skill
• Added a "Stun threshold reduction" support gem
• Improved the Church Dungeon graphically
• Added spider spawners to the Church Dungeon
• Added a new series of 11 dexterity thrusting swords. Old Foil/Rapier items will not be usable any more.
• Improved pack file and patching performance
• Quest entities such as Rhoa Nests are now shown on the minimap in purple
• Added /seed command that prints debug information about the current level, to include in bug reports
• Improved asset preloading so that certain skills and effects do not cause lag the first time they are played
• Flasks are now filled when a character leaves town
• Various improvements to effects, animations, environments and sounds
• Skeletons have some armour to wear now
• Added rare item prefixes/suffixes for remaining item types
• Increased variety of Act Two area randomness

Bug Fixes

• Fixed issues with water that caused it to appear in squares. Artists now have more control over water in each area.
• Fixed an issue with invisible doodads blocking the player on the server
• Fixed various annoying problems with the chat window
• Fixed graphical problems with certain effects playing in the fog
• Corrected calculation issue with damage reduction
• Fixed large black cubes in the Tidal Passage
• Melee skeletons can now do damage
• Skeleton casters now extinguish their hands when they die
• Some skeleton casters in Cruel difficulty were set at the wrong difficulty
• Jeweller's Orb now rerolls an item to a different socket arrangement each time
• Fixed a display bug with life/mana orb hovers vanishing
• Fixed item hovers not vanishing if the chat is scrolled while an item is hovered
• Icons on the waypoint screen are now clickable
• Fixed a bug where the message-type prefix is removed
• Fixed a bug that caused space bar to not close NPC windows properly
• Fixed idle animation of skeleton casters (and made it not play at the wrong time)
• Fixed spelling mistakes in quests
• Fixed strange highlight on epic chests
• Rhoas should now not overshoot you by so much distance if a charge misses
• Normalised the depth of the Prisoner's Gate topologies so that the fog doesn't get too thick on some

Balance

• Changed how many attributes are granted for each point invested on the passive tree. It's now a lot easier to meet the requirements of off-class items
• Changed the requirements of all weapons, armour and skill gems to take into account the new attribute equation
• Refunded all passive skill points!
• Rebalanced monster difficulty in all four difficulty levels
• Completely rebalanced monster evasion values - they now evade a lot less
• Partially rebalanced monster damage reduction and energy shield values
• Players can now not get stunned if they currently have any remaining energy shield
• Greatly reduced amount of energy shield on items, to compensate for its new behaviour
• Reduced starting player life values
• Added a series of damage+accuracy mods to weapons (can stack with normal damage mods)
• Reduced frequency of moss monsters (and fake moss monsters)
• The highest few increased attack speed mods no longer spawn on ranged weapons
• New players now start with five Scrolls of Wisdom (until we add vendors)
• Increased chance of off-colour sockets spawning on items, slightly
• Players cannot re-enter the Upper Prison from the Prisoner's Gate for now
• Mods on rares are now slightly biased towards the lower half of their ranges. They can still get the same values as magic, just slightly less often.
• Nerfed movement speed on flask mod
• Prevented higher Increased Attack Speed mods spawning on ranged weapons
• Increased chance of having resists spawn on weapons
• Reduced weapon elemental damage
• Cold snap now does 15% more damage
• Goat slams now do 50% more damage
• Oak's sweep now does 24% more damage
• Kraityn's Dual Strike does 30% more damage
• Changed the boss mods that spawn on all unique bosses
• Nerfed item quantity mods
• Nerfed effective player level of level 9/10 skill gems
• Improved accuracy increase support gem
• Reduced drop rate of augmentation orbs
• Nerfed resistance mods
• Made water elementals a little less dangerous
• Moved more mods to the level 1 pool so that early rares aren't so uber
• Increased fireball damage by 8%
• Increased elemental hit damage by 10%
• Reduced damage dealt by Spawn monsters and increased their life
• Rebalanced all boss fights
• Nerfed quantity of energy shield delay mod available
• Skeleton casters cast 30% slower now
• Nerfed moss monsters to be weaker
• Reduced the amount that blood rage hurts you
• Reduced size of accuracy mods