Diablo 3: 70% of items appear beyond normal difficulty

A team of Diablo 3 devs hit the main stage at Blizzcon to talk about Diablo 3's difficulty modes. The differences between Normal, Nightmare, Hell and Inferno difficulties are important for anyone looking to get near the level 60 cap, but it's surprising just how different enemies and loot will be on higher difficulties. In fact, Blizzard revealed that 70% of the game's loot won't even appear in Normal mode.

Item drops improve with each difficulty mode, of course, but once you reach Inferno mode, top level items are divided into increasingly devastating tiers. Blizzard say that Inferno difficulty is designed to always provide a challenge, even to those who have hit the level cap. It will be possible to run it solo, though, and in the wake of beta feedback, Blizzard are upscaling the Followers system. Previously, Followers were only useful in Normal mode, now they'll be able to fight alongside you in the hottest corners of Inferno difficulty.

Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.