After 30 minutes with post-patch Diablo 3, Spyro the wizard is a new man. His new shoulder pads let him teleport back to town from the safety of an impenetrable energy bubble. The crotch slot of his new rare pants, called the "Bone Guard", is occupied by a radiant topaz that increases his intelligence. He'll be happiest with his new wand, though. The "Blackhand Key" boosts his arcane power, feeds him extra XP for every monster he melts, and looks like a glowing green animal spine. A coveted legendary spine, no less. Another juicy chunk of treasure, courtesy of the revamped loot system introduced by update 2.0.1.
The patch is great. This major update revamps the core loot systems on which the entire game runs, rejigs skills for every class, redesigns boss fights and adds new stuff, like cursed shrines and nephalem glory globes. The reams of changes are contained in lengthy patch notes on Battle.net, but the takeaway is simple. Diablo 3 is a much faster and more rewarding game than it was a week ago.
In the wake of 2.0.1 I've all but abandoned my level 60 Barbarian to plump up my wizard. Looking back, the pre-patch drip-feed of loot seems even more agonising. If you were lucky enough to see a legendary drop — almost unthinkable for those without plenty of Paragon levels and five stacks of Nephalem valour — it would probably be useless to your character. In a world connected by an auction house you can just sell it and buy what you need, right? But clicking through menus looking at items isn't what Spyro signed up for. He wants to wave his legendary spine at a mob and see it crushed by a volley of meteors. And then he wants to do it again and again until he's dressed from head to toe in glowing magical spines.
