Double XP Weekend Comes to Diablo 3

A few hours ago, Blizzard announced that a double XP weekend is coming to Diablo 3. It will start on Friday, July 14th at 5 pm PT and it will wrap up on Monday, July 17th, at 10 am PT.

A few hours ago, Blizzard announced that a double XP weekend is coming to Diablo 3. It will start on Friday, July 14th at 5 pm PT and it will wrap up on Monday, July 17th, at 10 am PT. The double XP weekend event is Blizzard’s way to say thanks for the support and apologize to players for the delays that occurred during the Patch 2.6.0 hotfixes implementation. The event is also a reward for players affected by the Legendary Gem exploit controversy.

On July 7th, Diablo 3 Community Manager Tyvalir informed the communities that the team has encountered further technical issues and hinted at a possible Double XP buff. He also said that Blizzard shies away from providing such buffs, as they did not want to encourage players to play only when a buff was active. However, he defined the troubles related to the hotfixes implementation as “unusual circumstances” that allowed a compromise to be made.

The problematic hotfixes were intended to buff the Bones of Rathma and reduce the number of Skeletal Mages by six. In addition, a serious fault with the hotfix was discovered. It allowed Greater Nephalem Rifts to be cleared by parties with Demon Hunters and Necromancers too quickly. Expectedly, that caused a massive outcry among Diablo 3 fans. Some of them questioned the integrity of the Era 8 Leaderboards.

Later on, Blizzard announced that it would roll back the Legendary Gem levels to the maximum gem level that was achievable before the patch release. Blizzard representatives clarified that any additional actions regarding the exploit will not be discussed with non-staff members.

The above-mentioned exploit was related to the interaction between the Frailty ability of the Necromancer and the Grim Reaper Rune from the Demon Hunter ability Marked for Death. This allowed the Frailty instant execute damage to kill enemies at less than 15% health to spread to all targets. As a result, the Greater Nephalem Rifts farming was sped up to incredible levels.

As a matter of fact, the Double XP weekend did not meet Diablo 3 fans expectations. They did not miss to ask Blizzard what would happen to players who abused the interaction. Diablo 3 community was hoping for a full rollback or at least an announcement that players who have gained Paragon levels were banned. As Blizzard did not address these issues, some players sarcastically pointed that they regret not having taken advantage of the exploit and defined developer’s actions as a “slap on the wrist”.

Nevertheless, legitimate Diablo 3 players embraced the opportunity to participate in a Double XP event the upcoming weekend.

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