How Item Affixes Work: Base Stats

I was inspired to make this post (or what will likely become a series of posts) after reading a Reddit post titled "The best barb armor you will ever see" featuring the armor on the right.

This is a very nice chestpiece, but is it the best we will ever see?  I will explain why it is not (in fact, not by a long shot), but first we we need to delve into affixes, the item modifiers that form the backbone of the D3 item system.  Data miners have found over 2500 affixes and for the sake of brevity we'll focus on the ones dealing with base stats in this post.

What is an affix in the context of Diablo 3?

 

1) Every affix has an in game name that you can see on magic (blue) items.
2) Every affix is either a prefix or a suffix.
3) Every affix modifies at least 1 character stat.
4) Every affix has a range.
5) Every affix has a level requirement.

Affixes are only observable on magic items (as opposed to rares).  The syntax for magic item names is pretty straightforward:

<prefix> <item name> of <suffix>

With that baseline out of the way, let's dive into the affixes that modify your base character stats: Int, Dex, Vit and Str.

There are 10 base affixes that give bonuses to the primary stats: 4 for the stat alone and 6 combination prefixes (+Dex/Str, +Vit/Int, etc).  Additionally, every affix that modifies a base stat has a primary and secondary range (we'll go into depth on that later).

For now check out the following chart demonstrating all of the affix varieties that boost Dex:

Name:	Level Requirement:	Primary Range:	Secondary Range:
of the Hawk	None	+1-8 Dexterity	+1-5 Dexterity
of the Hawk	8	+9-17 Dexterity	+6-11 Dexterity
of the Hawk	11	+18-26 Dexterity	+12-17 Dexterity
of the Hawk	14	+27-35 Dexterity	+18-23 Dexterity
of the Hawk	17	+36-44 Dexterity	+24-29 Dexterity
of the Hawk	20	+45-53 Dexterity	+30-35 Dexterity
of Cruelty	23	+54-62 Dexterity	+36-41 Dexterity
of Cruelty	26	+63-71 Dexterity	+42-47 Dexterity
of Cruelty	33	+72-81 Dexterity	+48-53 Dexterity
of Cruelty	39	+82-91 Dexterity	+54-59 Dexterity
of Cruelty	45	+92-101 Dexterity	+60-65 Dexterity
of Pain	52	+102-111 Dexterity	+66-71 Dexterity
of Pain	58	+112-129 Dexterity	+72-77 Dexterity
of Pain	60	+130-149 Dexterity	+78-83 Dexterity
of Pain	60	+150-169 Dexterity	+84-89 Dexterity
of Pain	60	+170-200 Dexterity	+90-100 Dexterity

Checking a data mined affix list will show the each stat has a similar affix scheme.  For example, the affix names "Of Far Sight", "of Glory" and "of Assault" offer the highest bonus for Int, Vit, and Str respectively.  All of the stats have an identical primary and secondary range breakdown as well.  Now let's check out one of the dual base stat affixes, in this case, the Dex + Vit prefix:

Name:	Level Requirement:	Primary Range:	Secondary Range:
Feral	21	+12-55 Dex, +12-55 Vit	+8-37 Dex, +8-37 Vit
Feral	26	+15-70 Dex, +15-70 Vit	+10-47 Dex, +10-47 Vit
Feral	32	+18-78 Dex, +18-78 Vit	+12-52 Dex, +12-52 Vit
Feral	37	+21-82 Dex, +21-82 Vit	+14-55 Dex, +14-55 Vit
Wild	42	+24-93 Dex, +24-93 Vit	+16-62 Dex, +16-62 Vit
Wild	47	+27-100 Dex, +27-100 Vit	+18-67 Dex, +18-67 Vit
Wild	53	+30-108 Dex, +30-108 Vit	+20-72 Dex, +20-72 Vit
Wild	57	+33-112 Dex, +33-112 Vit	+22-75 Dex, +22-75 Vit
Potent	59	+36-120 Dex, +36-120 Vit	+24-80 Dex, +24-80 Vit
Potent	60	+39-124 Dex, +39-124 Vit	+26-83 Dex, +26-83 Vit
Potent	60	+42-133 Dex, +42-133 Vit	+28-89 Dex, +28-89 Vit
Valiant	60	+45-150 Dex, +45-150 Vit	+30-100 Dex, +30-100 Vit

The dual base stat prefixes for each of the other 5 combinations have identical level requirements and stat bonuses across the board, differing on naming and stat modified.

Before we come full circle and explain why the aforementioned barb armor is not the best we'll ever see, I need to address how Diablo 3 handles Primary and Secondary stat ranges.

What are Primary and Secondary Ranges? 

 

The primary stat ranges are the most desirable; they have higher roll possibilities and are clearly what you want showing up on your blues and yellows.  However, Blizzard decided to restrict which item slots are allowed primary range affixes.  Weapons and Amulets are capable of rolling primary ranges on all of the base stats.  Every other slot is forced to roll a secondary range affix with a few exceptions:

Primary Dexterity Armor: Boots, Gloves

Primary Intelligence Armor: Helm, Gloves

Primary Strength Armor: Belt, Shoulders

Primary Vitality Armor: Chest, Pants

Now that we've learned everything there is to know about base stat affixes, how can we know that we will eventually see better barbarian armor?  Well, let's look at the primary stats on that chest:  +179 Str, +149 Vit.

We can tell by process of elimination that these two bonuses required three affixes to appear:  a Str suffix, a Vit suffix, and a Str + Vit prefix.  A chest piece cannot roll a Str affix over 100 and would require an additional affix to reach 179 (a combo prefix and the Str affix).  Because a combo prefix cannot roll a stat higher than 100, reaching 149 Vit would also require an additional Vit-only suffix (for 3 total).

Using what we know, we can theorize what an actual perfect roll would be:

Str suffix (secondary range on chest armor): +100

Vit suffix (primary range on chest armor): +200

Str/Vit prefix (secondary range on chest armor): +100 each

This sums up to +200 Str, +300 Vit.  So this incredible barbarian chest armor falls short of a perfect Vit roll by half and falls 10% of a perfect Str roll.  Furthermore, once Radiant Star gems (+58 stat) become prevalent, dropping the Strength affix for the Socketed affix could make for an even better armor (3 possible slots for +174 stat).

So while it is indeed an incredible item, I fully expect that we will be seeing far better in the future.

Changes to the Gem Sheet

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ap184FzzQCX2dDg2UVhUdllmQzMyeko5djFrT3NLT1E

In the spirit of making the gem sheet a lot easier to read, I've made changes to the presentation.  The calculations are basically the same, but instead of using an obtuse -N grade formulation as previously, the chart now calculates based on a specific grade of gem.

This way, you can see crafting costs pegged to, say, Flawless Squares.  The sheet can help you find price efficiencies (which are not always at Flawless Squares) and gets regularly updated.  Unfortunately, although the sheet calculates an accurate cost, it does not tell you what materials you need.

This is a problem without an easy solution.  I considered adding two columns next to each cost calculation for number of gems required and Tome of Secrets required, but that would significantly expand the sheet.  The intent remains to give users a very quick overview on the cheapest path to the gems they desire.  It remains up to them to figure out that you need 729 Flawless Squares and 1631 Tomes of Secrets to make a Radiant Star out of Flawless Squares (hah, really? Lame.).

When the 1.03 patch rolls out, we'll be making changes to include more grades to help find new, and hopefully better, price points.

Commodities Return to the AH and a Handy Gem Spreadsheet

And in celebration, I'm including this (hopefully useful) Google doc:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ap184FzzQCX2dDg2UVhUdllmQzMyeko5djFrT3NLT1E

Its features may not be self evident.  This sheet uses the current AH prices for gems of grades 7 and up (Square to Radiant Star) to estimate crafting costs.  For instance, the sheet can estimate the cost of a Star Ruby using Radiant Square, Perfect Square, or Flawless Square Rubies (up to 3 grades below) based on their AH prices.

My original intent was to find efficiencies that I could exploit to profit.  In this vein, there are some columns that list the cost to craft (assuming you purchase all constituent parts at the AH), the AH list price, and your profit after the 15% reduction.

Since there's nothing really limiting the scarcity of gems, it's rather hard to find a profit.  For those of you eyeballing the profit margins of Radiant Star gems, remember that a lot of sunken costs go into crafting these (that include leveling up your gem crafter and purchasing a recipe, I didn't know how to amortize these costs per gem).  And most importantly, I imagine it's hard to find a buyer for Radiant Stars as these cost over 20 million gold.

Still, this sheet should be useful in helping you craft.  You may find that it's cheaper to craft using a lower quality gem than you originally anticipated.

I will attempt to keep this gem sheet updated (I have to enter the values by hand).  Any suggestions on streamlining this process are happily welcome.

Auction House and Twinking: Level Requirement Reduced mods are the new Gems

I'm an optimizer.  When playing through to level 60 on my second character, I would stop every five or so levels to hit up the Auction House (AH) and rebuild so that I could easily stomp my way to Hell difficulty.  I thought I had a pretty good handle on the system, using the max buyout tool to make sure I didn't get ripped off on some pretty amazing gear.  I knew "Level Requirement Reduced" (LRR) existed, but I assumed that those items would show up naturally with my default level restriction.

Boy was I wrong.  The AH has a strange quirk with LRR in that the actual level reduced is not accounted for in the search results.  In other words, a level 60 sword with 10 levels reduced does not appear in the search results for a level 50 character!  This might be an oversight, but it's a huge one for optimizers.

Take this chart into consideration:


Notice the huge spike at level 60?

There is roughly a 2.5x gain in damage for the top weapons between levels 59 to 60.  A level 60 weapon with LRR can be devastatingly more effective than any weapon of the same naturally occurring level.

Consider this item, -10 LRR, that sold for 100k in gold:

Pretty nice right?  Compare it with the 1 handed weapons available at level 50 at the same time:

There's no comparison!  It's a blowout item that will likely last until level 60 and at a huge price reduction.  Also consider that LRR can get as low as -18 for fantastic twinking opportunities as early as level 42.

TL;DR:  You have to search for Level Requirement Reduced (LRR) manually in the Auction House (AH); Starting at level 42, search for LRR gear (-18) as level 60 gear is a massive improvement over equivalent level gear.

Another "Cursed Hold" Inferno Run and Results

I tabulated another "Cursed Hold" Inferno Run and felt it was more representative of what a player might find.

With 14% Gold Find, 0% Magic Find (not including Nephalem Valor), I encountered 5 Blue/Champion Packs and 3 Event Bosses.

I picked up around 35k in gold, but made 56k after selling worthless magic items.

I found 38 magic items, ranging from levels 54 to 60 (average level 58).  I also found 8 rares ranging from levels 51 to 60 (average 57).  One of these rares was even worth keeping.

In all, it took 26 minutes and 40 seconds.

Oh and one last tip, if you're looking for the Butcher end zone in "Halls of Agony Level 3," avoid the following:

If you see this area, you're headed toward the utterly useless waypoint.  No champions or uniques generate in this set piece so just turn around.

Value of an Act 1 Inferno Run - "The Cursed Hold"

As mentioned in an earlier post today, we recommend that Inferno Act 1 farmers begin their runs in "The Cursed Hold."  To illustrate the payoffs, I just did a solo run with a level 60 Monk with the following stats:

18 Minutes, 40 Seconds:

That's with a Mantra turned on that boosted Dodge and Armor...and never you mind my sad little Vitality score!  I managed to not-die and only used two health potions to boot!

My route was mostly direct.  In fact, I may have taken the shortest routes possible.  In "Halls of Agony Level 2," I recommend making a straight line directly away from the waypoint to get to the exit.  Even though I took a very short route I managed to acquire 5 Nephalem Valor stacks.

I should note that you may trigger an event in the area directly outside the "Halls of Agony Level 2."  I did not encounter the event on this run but you may fight an additional Unique boss.

In terms of loot, I have found set pieces and legendaries although I did not find anything spectacular this time.  The chart below summarizes the magic items I scored with 14% Gold Find and 30% Magic Find (in addition to Nephalem Valor):

I also picked up 21,569 gold and 6 Tomes of Secret.  That became 34,067 gold when I sold all the items I picked up (except for one which I am going to sell on the AH).

For those of you particularly curious, I've put these two maps of my route in the "Halls of Agony."

Inferno Run - Act 1

Based on my observation, the key to a good inferno run requires two things: a high concentration of baddies to whomp on and enough champion/unique monster packs to reach 5 Nephalem Valor.

Most of Act 1 is rather spread out and has the player chasing down leads to discover the identity of the mysterious stranger.  At the end of the act, however, the player crawls through Mad King Leoric's crazy dungeon (how many peasants died in its construction no one knows) which features narrow avenues packed with cultists and offers plenty of champion/unique packs to fight.

A good place to start is here, "The Cursed Hold":

And continue until you kill the Butcher.

Now those of you afraid to take on the Butcher can always skip that last Boss fight.  If you are going to venture an attempt, I have a small tip that may come in handy.  If the Butcher fight drags on too long, the floor will begin to flood with annoyingly constant flame.  You can avoid these by standing at the very southern end. Now surviving the fire won't help kill the Butcher, but it can clutch the victory if you're just within grasp of killing him.

In the image below you can see our party of hapless heroes dead except for one surviving monk exploiting this bug.  I imagine it'll be hotfixed soon so try it while it's hot!

Max Stats on Armor @ Level 60

I made a small update to the Google doc posted up earlier today to include more categories including: maximum attack speed % bonuses, critical chance %, resistances, and an armor estimate.

Again, these are based on observations of the AH and I will continually update these lists (and add additional levels).

Maximum Stats on Armor @ Level 60

Level 60 and Max Stat Boost on Items

To help better keep an eye on the Auction House from day one, my friends and I have gathered some interesting spreadsheets.  When we hit level 60, we realized that the game takes on a very different tone than the journey of 1-59.  Anyone who has attempted inferno, except this guy, knows that it can be terrifying challenge requiring excellent gear and intense skill.

In that vein, I attempted to catalogue the highest primary stat boost available on the 11 armor slots (strength/dexterity/intelligence).  My findings were as follows (not including exceptional legendary items):

Google Doc

As I played the game I noticed that certain items tended to have higher stats than others.  The spreadsheet makes clear that for each stat there appear to be two items which generate higher stat bonuses than others.  This may be intentional, or could be a flaw on my part (since my data is coming from the AH and is an incomplete snapshot of D3 items).  In any case, these items have higher stat boost of the following types:

Dexterity:  Boots, Gloves
Intelligence:  Gloves, Helm
Strength:  Shoulder, Belt
Vitality:  Chest

Amulets can feature high stat boosts of any type.

The items line up with our expectations of body position and character stat (head for intelligence, feet for dexterity).  Apparently, no one at Blizzard does squats where TRUE strength is formed but there you have it.  For those of you trying to optimize two stats (get your resists up!), hope you find this helpful.

Real Money Auction House Delayed Indefinitely and Why It's a Good Thing

Welcome Diablo fans!  We're nearly two weeks into Blizzard's latest and greatest incarnation of the Diablo series and so congratulations to those of you who have weathered the twin-storms of Hell's vile armies and Blizzard's constant battle with server stability.

In that vein, it should come as no surprise that Blizzard recently decided to delay the Real Money Auction House (RMAH) indefinitely.  For those of you just tuning in, the RMAH was going to be a place where players could meet and exchange in-game gold/items for real hard cash (with Blizzard pocketing a hefty 15% transaction fee).  So for the time being, we will have to settle on using the in-gold Auction House (AH).  Well, unless you want to go through disreputable 3rd party sites that change about $3 for 100k in gold.

I was initially skeptical when I heard about the RMAH.  I'm tired of companies attempting to monetize every single transaction in a video game.  But after the release of D3, I quickly became a huge fan of the AH and have used it extensively.  While I do not plan on letting Blizzard bleed more of my cash, I am now content that others may feel differently.  I am also very curious to see how the RMAH will function and where the trade of gold-to-cash will eventually settle.  That said, I am glad Blizzard chose to delay the RMAH.

E-commerce has existed stably for well over a decade now, but still, I tend to feel the slight tinge of skepticism every time I make a purchase online.  As a result, I tend to restrict my online activity to only the most reputable of sites.  When my credit card info goes across the net, I want 99.9999999% assurance that nothing will go wrong.  And on this vitally important area, Blizzard fails.
 
The AH constantly goes offline.  Prices fluctuate on goods radically.  Some of my auctions disappear, only to reappear with hilarious results:

My point is, the AH does not function to the level that I would require to use actual money.  I believe Blizzard is the victim of it's own success, players are flocking to their servers and placing demanding loads on the game and the AH.  I am not angry or upset at this naturally occurring problem (remember Diablo 2's Duriel memory leak issue, oh gods, I WAS ONLY 17).

We should all feel glad that Blizzard has acknowledged the problems facing the RMAH, and rather than jumping on the money train, have decided to hold back until the system is ready.  Now I must go and try to place a pair of pants on the AH for the 15th time...

-Z