Today’s cartoon is about the PTR patch 2.5.0 for Diablo 3 and Primal Ancient Legendary Items.

The patch notes were released on Jan 31st and included various good changes as always. New features, such as the Armory and Crafting Mat Storage, will allow for fast and convenient gear swapping and more inventory capacity. Content like this is probably the reason why players continue to enjoy Diablo 3 so much. However, not all of the new features in the patch look fantastic. The one thing that seems controversial are the “Primal Ancient Legendary” items.

About 2 years has passed since Ancient Legendary items, which are rarer than Legendary items, came out. Players had to spend hundreds of hours in Greater Rifts to get their hands on some Ancient Legendary items to replace their Legendary items. Although Kanai’s Cubes opened up a new way for looting better gear, the main content of Diablo 3 had become farming items ever since the storyline ended a long time ago. There were times when the item meta changed with changes in item options, but that did not stop players from getting their dream gear. Farming Ancient Legendary items was slowly coming to an end.

Then, new and even more rare items came out. “Primal Ancient Legendary” gives the feeling that the items are more ancient than Ancient Legendary ones. Players’ opinions on the new item type are divided in two. Some players think it will work as a new motivation when item farming gets boring, while others think it’s just a more addictive item farming that forces longer playtime. Players are saying that since “Primal Ancient” items are better than Ancient items, “Primal Ancient of the beginning” and “Xel’naga Ancient” items will be coming out later and be even better. Ironically, it looks the older the gear is, the better it is.

It’s not like you can’t enjoy Diablo 3 enough with your current items, and this is what players are saying to those who are complaining about Primal Ancient Legendary items and the grind to farm them. But that is usually not the case; since everyone wants the most effective party, players can’t just enter the party with fairly good gear and expect the other members to accept that. In the end, most players will likely start farming Primal Ancient Legendary items, whether they want to or not.

Blizzard was always known for expansion-size updates and providing what old players want, and that was what made the users so loyal to Blizzard. Diablo 3 has more updates to bring out in the future, one of them being the Necromancer. Primal Ancient items are surely a big change to Diablo 3. Will the new items work as a burning motivation for farming items, or remain as a negative feature that forces longer playtime? At this time it’s still too early to say, so we will see how it goes.