Maidens of the Kaleidoscope

~Beyond the Border~ => Akyu's Arcade => Genji's Battle Arena => Topic started by: ApharmdB on April 23, 2012, 04:11:37 AM

Title: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: ApharmdB on April 23, 2012, 04:11:37 AM
... who's going to take an occasional break from DotA 2 and buy the game for this?  :D

I'm sure there'll be a horde of monks and possibly several server crashes based on the open beta, but that's not going to stop me from playing one either. Having played the open beta and leveling a monk and a wizard to 13, I have the following observations.

Easy stuff...
1. Difficulty level - about the same as Diablo 2's, i.e. piss easy in the first 1/3 of normal difficulty Act 1, which is where the open beta took place. The Skeleton King is the equivalent of the Countess both in placement within the act, and roughly in terms of difficulty as well. The monk and the barbarian, which my brother played, both have no issues crushing him without so much as quaffing a single potion.  Btw can we just call the Skeleton King Leoric now? This is about as spoilerish as saying that Anakin becomes Darth Vader. But from what I've seen, the game has the potential to get much harder later on with the different mods that mobs can spawn with.

2. Presentation - Yeah it looks like a cross between WoW and SC2. Not a bad thing mind you, but you do need a computer that can handle SC2 decently. For the record, my jurassic 8 year old Core 2 Duo desktop handles fine at max HD res when running fullscreen windowed mode. It runs Windows 7 64-bit with 4gb ram and an nVidia 8600GT for reference. Diablo is the sort of game where better graphics, complete with fog and weather effects and good contrast/lighting, does lend a lot to the game, especially so in conjunction with the well-done orchestral ambient music within which you'll recognize Tristram's theme. Sometimes you can spot where Blizzard got lazy and re-used the same soundbites from D2, but who cares if it suits the game right? Quest presentation feels more organic despite their linearity because NPCs brief you along the way, and transition between areas is a lot smoother than D2X's, probably all pre-loaded during the course of the game.  Monsters climb up from cliff edges, rush out from bushes or dark areas, etc. It all makes the game world feel that much more alive. The ambience is a lot closer to D1 than D2 was.

Right along to the more important parts...
3. Gameplay - Controversial. Personally I feel that skill trees have been oversimplified - there are none now. You no longer need to choose whether to take Lightning Bolt now, or save that skill point for something else, nor need to assign any stat points (they're automatically assigned on level up). There's also no more quick-switching of skills. You get a signature skill on your left-click which is free to cast, an active on the right-click which uses up your class-specific resource, both of which can be augmented by runes which you will also get at pre-determined levels, and 4 special skills (in different categories) to assign to hotkeys. Skills on cooldown cannot be swapped and upon swapping, they automatically go into cooldown, so you'll have to plan ahead which skills you want to bring to a fight, e.g. when having 2 monks in a party, it might be useful to have one that blinds enemies and the other on healing duty since they both use the same hotkey slot. There IS some customization though, in the form of passive skills - learning some will preclude the learning of others. So yeah, gameplay has been simplified and streamlined to the point where you mostly just need to left-click and occasionally, right-click. Well, you can get followers (mercs from D2), of which only the templar is available in the beta, and if you're bored of left-clicking mobs to death (the wizard will want to right-click more), you can talk to them :x

4. ITAMZ PLZ - Too early to tell. With limited mods on a limited number of items available in the beta, I couldn't find many good things while exploring and even running Leoric for a day netted me all of a frickin' rare belt for the monk which he dropped as a quest reward. Crafting however seems to be where it's at. The crafting system is very similar to Hellgate: London's (one of the very few things that game got right). You can salvage magic and rare items, breaking them down into parts which you can then use to craft other items at a cost. You'll have to train your blacksmith/artisan up (costs gold) to gain access to new recipes. For what it's worth, some of the mods that I've seen on the early magic weapons are much more significant than the stupid +1 light radius mods that we used to see in D2. Despite that, expect your fair share of cracked sashes.

5. Systems - Loot is personal now. Your loot remains yours and cannot be picked up by others. Teleporting to party members involves just clicking on their banner in town. Before starting a quest, the game will send a message to everyone asking if they'd like to be a part of it. Responding with a yes teleports you to the quest area and starts it for the party. There's a 1 minute timer on the invitation. If not, you'll be excluded from the quest and cannot get the reward/drop even if you walk into the area and strike the boss. Stash and gold is shared, as is the blacksmith/artisan.

It currently feels like D2X with some of D1's atmosphere and with graphics done right. Well it feels good enough for me to buy if it's not stupidly expensive like SC2 was (and I still bought that, wtf?) and play through at least once, and possibly go online with it again. Whether it will stand the test of time as D2/D2X did though, I don't know.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Amraphenson on April 23, 2012, 04:20:07 AM
Not a fan of the oversimplification I'm hearing, but probably gonna buy it anyway.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Yukarin on April 23, 2012, 05:09:41 AM
sorry can't read.

I'm planning to be either a witch doctor or a demon hunter, and of course I'm going to buy the game.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Helepolis on April 23, 2012, 06:29:47 AM
Pre-ordered my copy month ago. I managed to get into the game yesterday to test out my sorcerer.

Visuals - Well. I expected bit more detail in this game. This all looks bit vague and texture do not look very sharp. Sure, the rest of the areas have been done nicely and I guess there is enough that pleases the eye. Though they took so long to produce this game, they better be having promising things. Else it is just going to be another Duke Nuke em forever thing.

Gameplay - Who ever designed "walk over loot to collect" is an idiot. I hope you can turn this off (haven't looked whether I could). Because nobody wants to pickup every single item that drops from mobs. Movement through areas seems smooth, your original left/right click thing. Though I have to heavily agree on the skill tree thing.  I cannot believe they would do this. Guess it is to please the coolkidzzz these days.

Feels to me that Diablo3 is rushed. We all know how awesome 3rd episode of games/movies are. But I guess the full game will tell.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Dorakyura on April 23, 2012, 09:03:49 AM
What about Battle.Net
Server connections. Can everyone play with everyone or is it like SC2 region shit. Noone wants to play with 80% russians on the servers
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: ApharmdB on April 23, 2012, 11:25:17 AM
It uses Battle.Net 2, which is the same system as SC2, so there is the very real, stinking possibility of region-locking. I hope not though. The beta was somewhat region-locked in the "Korea / Rest of the World" sense, so cross your fingers. Unless you live in South Korea.

I didn't think the auto-collection of loot was that bad. Not sure if it can be turned off, but it only seems to work on gold and those health globes anyway. To be fair, most of the last decade was probably spent milking the WoW cow and since that's going to dry up eventually, they have to look for some other cow. COWS. OGOD. *looks at resident cow*

I read Blizzard's justification for their mutilation of the skill trees and while it might make sense from the money-making perspective, I really don't like how game companies are going down this "catering to the lowest common denominator" route. There had better be some damn compelling end-game content to make up for the potential boredom of a left-click farmfest. At least I'll be playing through it for the story (I'm weird that way) once, possibly with all classes. Beyond that, we'll see. :P
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Dr Rawr on April 23, 2012, 10:42:43 PM
eh i think ill have to pass on diablo3, guildwars2 is more my cup of tea
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Edible on April 23, 2012, 11:28:50 PM
Quote from: ApharmdB on April 23, 2012, 11:25:17 AM
It uses Battle.Net 2, which is the same system as SC2, so there is the very real, stinking possibility of region-locking. I hope not though. The beta was somewhat region-locked in the "Korea / Rest of the World" sense, so cross your fingers. Unless you live in South Korea.

DIII is region-free (it defaults to your base region but you can set it to play in other regions if you choose).  However, the real money auction house is region-locked.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: yuyukos on April 24, 2012, 12:41:32 AM
I ordered a copy after the open beta weekend, expecting a mediocre game.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: CloverNaght on April 24, 2012, 08:18:41 AM
not sure if i should excited or not...
gonna see if you guys enjoyed the game or not first
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Pesco on April 24, 2012, 08:21:27 AM
It's looking too build-restricted for me to like. I'll just keep at it with D2.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: CloverNaght on April 24, 2012, 08:24:47 AM
Quote from: Helepolis on April 23, 2012, 06:29:47 AM

Gameplay - Who ever designed "walk over loot to collect" is an idiot. I hope you can turn this off (haven't looked whether I could). Because nobody wants to pickup every single item that drops from mobs. Movement through areas seems smooth, your original left/right click thing. Though I have to heavily agree on the skill tree thing.  I cannot believe they would do this. Guess it is to please the coolkidzzz these days.

Feels to me that Diablo3 is rushed. We all know how awesome 3rd episode of games/movies are. But I guess the full game will tell.
what the heck....srsly?
if that only applies to golds scattered on the floor then i like it but for items?!?
EDIT : nvm apharmdb alr stated that autoloot only works for golds and health globes
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: CadrinHaverit on April 24, 2012, 09:05:50 AM
About the restrictions of skills: eh it seems to me that there no longer are any useless skills like some of those available in Diablo II, meaning there is no longer a way to mess up your character completely and you don't have to strategize much about allocation of skill points anymore.

Diablo III felt simpler in every way possible than Diablo II, but it got rid of most of the bullspit present in the first game, like useless modifiers (light radius, as mentioned here already, being a prime example), counter-intuitiveness, uselessness of gold, various sizes of items, forcing you to play a game of Tetris every time you wanted to maximize the amount of room available in your inventory, and got plenty of neat features like being able to convert your game to online game at any time, autopick for gold and health globes, no keys, scrolls of identification, talismans, scrolls of town portal that all used to clutter up your inventory.

Me gusta so far. The game is crazy expensive at the moment, but I think I'll pre-order it anyway.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Ghaleon on April 24, 2012, 09:15:58 AM
I too played the beta and I had some mixed feelings... The game is painfully easy, I mean I completed the entire beta without ever using a single potion, and never seeing my healthbar fall below 3/4 full, it's THAT easy.  The oversimplification of the leveling and customization is also bullcrap. Given how easy the game is, and how simple the customization is, wtf is there challenge? It's like, run around, click to win.

Fortunately, the beta was really short, and it's possible that they make the difficulty scale as you get further in the game (before you say duh, I found 2 didn't actually do this much excluding a jump at the start of act 3, and another during the start of act 5, which magically gets easier as soon as you reach indoor areas).
The item crafting was excellent, and the autoloot (only works for gold and pots for me too) was a godsend. It's like the game is more polished by far, but the actual depth of the game is a joke...

I'm honestly rather nervous about what the end result will be, having an online auction house thingie isn't really turning me on either. I'll honestly be absolutely floored if I find it's better than titanquest though, I really don't see why anybody prefers D2 over it.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Dr Rawr on April 24, 2012, 11:25:14 AM
Diablo3 rushed what?
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Edible on April 24, 2012, 05:33:19 PM
Quote from: Pesco on April 24, 2012, 08:21:27 AM
It's looking too build-restricted for me to like. I'll just keep at it with D2.

It's the opposite of build-restricted, though. <_<
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Captain Infinity on April 28, 2012, 10:48:41 AM
Oversimplified gameplay puts me off. I don't get why they did that too well, but oh well. I'd still think it looks quite worthwhile to buy it, but then again in Australia things are overpriced to hell (100$ AUD for SC2 on release orz and it's still something like 70$).

@Helepolis:

>blizzard game
>rushed
lolusrs?
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: ApharmdB on April 29, 2012, 12:06:57 PM
Count me in on the "Diablo 3 rushed. What?" crowd. Sorry Hele. :P

(http://i.imgur.com/AvYQb.gif)

SC2 went for $90 over here. Bought it, played through the decent single player campaign once, tried out SOTIS, then realized I'm probably done with the game. For some reason I never had it in me for any more RTS games after WC3.

I'd withhold judgement on the depth of the game for now, as well as its difficulty level. I mean, Leoric's supposed to be the equivalent of Blood Raven, or that boss in Tamoe Highlands in Act 1, in D2 parlance and let's face it, D2's Act 1 Normal wasn't any more difficult.

I wanna know how mod-friendly D3 would be though. So far it's not looking good at all in that direction... *thinks of Touhou mods for D3* *realizes Blizzards ass-tastic track record in mods* *okay....*
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Ghaleon on April 29, 2012, 03:17:11 PM
Hele didnt say it was rushed, just that it FELT rushed, and to be frank, the way they just went "too hard, bubleted" with all forms of level customization, i can see where he's coming from.

I dunno where you read king leoric is supposed to be the equivilent of blood raven, he certainly drops loot like a final act boss. Not saying he IS a final act boss, but i certainly think hes supposed to be more than blood raven.
Last, im not sure what "asstastic" means, like, it sounds negative, but blizzard games are normally very moddable. Both diablo 1 and 2 had modding communities only trumped bu elder scrolls, and sc 1,2 and warcraft 3 all have great map editors with their own scripting languages for you. Hell, even WoW is relatively mod-friendly as far as mmos go (ui only for obvious reasons).
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: ApharmdB on April 29, 2012, 03:40:09 PM
King Leoric being the equivalent of Blood Raven or that Tamoe Highland boss is in reference to his position within the act. He's definitely not the Act 1 boss and it's stated on the BNet fora that he's only at the 1/3 mark or so within Act 1.

And honestly, modding Blizzard games is about as great an experience as eating glass. I tried my hand at modding D2 a long time ago and am currently editing the DotS map and honestly, with my experience in modding other engines (Source and the UT engines), I'd rather not do this again. The number of bugs in D2 and WC3 that modders have to work around is astounding. People develop entire systems to get around them. To me at least, availability of modding tools != moddable. Hammer has a very steep learning curve, but generally what you make in it works. In WC3, it's pretty much a crapshoot because until now there're still undocumented JASS bugs, and it's been what, over 10 years since that game was released. O_O
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Pesco on April 29, 2012, 05:14:06 PM
D2 mod channel mentioned that D3 might get a MLP reference thrown in. That'll definitely guarantee my out from wanting to play it.

My modding experience of D2 so far is that it's a huge load of effort if you want to make things work exactly as you want them to. A lot of my stuff is severely limited by the D2 engine and because I haven't ventured into the realm of code editing. What I do get to work with is relatively stable because there's been 10 years of mod pioneering by people who've put up with Blizzard's system so the noob modder like me doesn't have to.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Edible on April 29, 2012, 05:51:48 PM
Quote from: Pesco on April 29, 2012, 05:14:06 PM
D2 mod channel mentioned that D3 might get a MLP reference thrown in. That'll definitely guarantee my out from wanting to play it.

Might?

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YdUVSJZciww/TsFkKoJoM_I/AAAAAAAACtM/oEXTnQ-USws/s1600/Picture+2.png)

(not fanart)
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: theshirn on April 29, 2012, 05:54:46 PM
well I hate everything
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Dr Rawr on April 29, 2012, 05:57:12 PM
Quote from: Edible on April 29, 2012, 05:51:48 PM
Might?
(not fanart)

My face just exploded
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Pesco on April 29, 2012, 06:21:24 PM
The relevant video for it (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMV3IDMAKtU)
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Ghaleon on April 29, 2012, 06:51:24 PM
I cant say ive made a full blown d2 mod myself but i have tweaked others many times. Furthermore most of the resources with supposedly 10 years of development have been out for over 10 years. I used to religiously. I used to visit the phrozen keep long ago and i can say that site had a larger variety and number of mods than ive seen any game other than UT or Oblivion/skyrim. Bear in mind too that Diablo is OLD, and had its modding community long before most people even HEARD of modding. So i think a game developed long before anybody even heard about/wanted to mod games should have some slack about how slick it is to mod.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Kiro on April 29, 2012, 07:28:34 PM
Not sure why some people are so down on this game here.

I'm personally going to experience Diablo 3 as a "monster beat-em up with appropriate levels of difficulty". You kill, you get loot, rinse and repeat. Isn't that what made D2 appealing to so many players since its release? And there's a fairly well known thread that argues how Blizzard's design for D3 attempts to fix glaring issues with D2. Here (http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/3811455085?page=1) it is, read it all. It is good and I agree with the OP's analysis.

My concerns for the game include whether the difficulty in Hell and Inferno matches Blizzard's hype. I actually think it will based on their "You Will Die" video and the damage numbers dealt onto Nightmare Act 1 zombies barely denting their hp bar. A little worried about power creep, but if they can make the numbers work, I won't complain when I can 2 shot Normal Leoric with my lvl 60, but get shit on by Inferno Azmodan. With the fact that characters get every single skill and rune available by lvl 60, there is a lower incentive to roll a new character after you have your 5 made. Replayability would suffer from this so it makes sense for Blizzard to make the game harder at release so the content isn't sped through.

Some of the later armor sets are fugly as hell, but as long as the action is good, I will enjoy it. Also, so what if there's a Secret Pony Level based on MLP:FiM? It should not detract from the whole of the game.

I have no comments on the modding of this game and the difficulty of doing so. Groups will attempt it and if something as enjoyable as Median XL comes out for D3, all the better for the community.

I played the beta since the last 3 beta patches, building again after server wipes and it's just a good time to be had even with the about 1/48th of the content currently known. I'm getting my CE at midnight, gonna get a few hours in B.net servers willing, sleep-walk through work and then play loads more that evening. Probably rolling monk first and might solo my first play through of the game. Kiro#1584 is my battletag and you will see me on B.net for a long time after May 15th.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: ApharmdB on April 30, 2012, 01:05:59 AM
Quote from: Ghaleon on April 29, 2012, 06:51:24 PM
I cant say ive made a full blown d2 mod myself but i have tweaked others many times. Furthermore most of the resources with supposedly 10 years of development have been out for over 10 years. I used to religiously. I used to visit the phrozen keep long ago and i can say that site had a larger variety and number of mods than ive seen any game other than UT or Oblivion/skyrim. Bear in mind too that Diablo is OLD, and had its modding community long before most people even HEARD of modding. So i think a game developed long before anybody even heard about/wanted to mod games should have some slack about how slick it is to mod.

Um, the modding community existed before D2 I'm sure. Half-Life had a very prolific one and that game had more than its fair share of awesome mods besides CS. God I feel old now. I actually started map-making back in the days of Doom 1 (shit, now I REALLY feel old) but I think the game nearest to D2 in terms of complexity to mod should be HL1. The moddability of a game is somewhat related to how well coded the base engine is and while I can praise D2/WC3 for many things, this is sadly not one of them.

I will say this though: SC2 is a huge, HUGE leap forward, if only the Galaxy Editor didn't bring my ancient computer to a crawl. In fact, one of the two things keeping many WC3 modders from jumping over to SC2 is precisely the system requirements for that game, the other being BNet 2.0. I don't know if that has to do with the new staff at Blizzard, who might have hired some actually competent programmers to replace the team that left to make Hellgate London (harhar). I don't really keep myself up to date with regards to staff movement at Blizzard, but I really hope that the guys who did SC2 were also involved in some way in the coding of D3. Or at least have programmers of comparable competence on the D3 team, because that might actually make modding D3 not involve spending half the time guessing at bugs. For what it's worth, the D3 beta ran much better than D2 ever did, so that's a reason to get hopes up. I love D3's "hand-painted" art style and it'll be terribly disappointing if the game were to turn out like WC3/D2 in terms of moddability (regarding bugs).


Regarding the difficulty level of D3: I hope Blizzard does something more than just adding hp/defences to monsters. I like the new mods on the elite mobs and it'll be interesting to see what else there are in the full game. I wonder if the AI for mobs on higher difficulty levels will be better - tall order to write AI for all the different mobs I know, but I find going against smarter mobs more interesting than hitting a larger brick wall. This will probably be partially addressed by combinations of mods on them. Heh, remember the good ol' days of MSLE or Cursed Extra Strong mobs....

As for the MLP stuff, here's my reaction again, seriously this time:

(http://i.imgur.com/AvYQb.gif)

Wut.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Amraphenson on April 30, 2012, 04:45:44 PM
I'm still convinced the entirety of the mod community for WC3 and D2 are masochists. Brillioant masochists, but masochists.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: ApharmdB on May 02, 2012, 05:17:00 AM
Lol thinking about modding D3 was useless. Modding D3 is apparently prohibited.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/08/01/diablo-3-mods-expressly-prohibited-by-blizzard/

I hope that's incorrect, but.... :(

There went my dream of creating an RPG in Gensokyo using the D3 engine. :(
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Ghaleon on May 02, 2012, 03:14:16 PM
Ugh, i forgot abou that online only bs, no modding too? Ugh ugh. 
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Vilkni on May 03, 2012, 08:10:34 PM
Yeah, some of the stuff revealed so far disappoints me honestly especially the no offline singleplayer mode thing, but I did have fun building this one:

THAT DAT ATKSPD, plus insane resistances/armor/dodge GOTY!  :getdown: (http://diablonut.incgamers.com/planner/9977)

Actually, I know the text was a joke especially since I'm not sure I trust the way the planner handles the affixes at all, but man, that 3.54-4ish attacks per second before Frenzy plus 23k armor plus insane resistances, what's not to love?
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: orinrin on May 03, 2012, 11:01:03 PM
Quote from: Ghaleon on May 02, 2012, 03:14:16 PM
Ugh, i forgot abou that online only bs, no modding too? Ugh ugh. 
There's always Torchlight 2 (http://store.steampowered.com/app/200710/).
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Amraphenson on May 04, 2012, 01:07:12 AM
Yeah get hyped for that.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Yugian on May 04, 2012, 02:28:07 AM
Yeah. ironically, this is sort of like a XKCD comic where theres a fancy curve.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/xkcd_sobaditsworse_6226.jpg

Like that one! Just replace "Movie Enjoyability"  with uh... screw it. i forgot where i was going with this...

...uh. Just get hype for borderlands and torchlight 2.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Dr Rawr on May 04, 2012, 03:29:04 AM
All my hype is on guildwars 2
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Yugian on May 04, 2012, 04:18:01 AM
Oh! i've seen game play tidbits here and there from totalbiscuit's mailbox videos! that actually looks pretty good!

Wont play it myself, but i hope its as good as it looks for everyone else!
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: ApharmdB on May 04, 2012, 10:20:50 AM
It makes pretty videos, that much we know. Whether or not it makes a pretty good game that'll outlive D2X, the jury's still out on that.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Vilkni on May 05, 2012, 03:09:25 PM
From all the leaks of images from strategy guides that have come out:

Apparently every mob in Inferno has huge spikes in hp AND damage. Don't believe me? This is from a image here. (http://media.diablofans.com/images/news/2012/may/guide/IMG_0104.jpg)

Yes, that's 170k damage in Inferno, up from 14k damage in Hell. :V

This has me worried that they just did Inferno with these inflated numbers for the sake of being overly difficult, instead of being creative with the difficulty. Keep in mind that Blizzard mentioned that none of their employees have beaten Inferno in all these news, and you can see why I am worried. :/
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: ApharmdB on May 05, 2012, 03:39:14 PM
Quote from: rizul98 on May 05, 2012, 03:09:25 PM
This has me worried that they just did Inferno with these inflated numbers for the sake of being overly difficult, instead of being creative with the difficulty.

Exactly what I'm worried about too. You could do the same in D2X by adding some zeros behind monster stats, but the difficulty that adds is artificial - in almost all cases, you'll either have a strategy that simply takes much longer to work but needs no modification, or it becomes impossible. It's such a stark contrast to the design of the Touhou shmups. Of course, they'll probably claim that you can get the gear to beat Inferno later on, just like how in D2X you needed to farm equipment for tackling Hell mode for the melee classes, but that comes with a whole host of game balance problems on its own.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Yugian on May 05, 2012, 04:50:53 PM
You silly people. Numbers = balance in and RPG!  :derp:

Its the universal language!  bigger numbers, more dangerous, bring stronger gear, get stronger gear!  :derp:

...On a not sarcastic note, yeah. this just seems like inflating the artificial difficulty. I feel bad for anyone on permadeath as they try this.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Pesco on May 05, 2012, 08:36:22 PM
Now you guys just went and made me feel bad about my difficulty scaling in LoM :<
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Dormio Ergo Sum on May 06, 2012, 09:56:37 PM
Quote from: rizul98 on May 05, 2012, 03:09:25 PM
Apparently every mob in Inferno has huge spikes in hp AND damage.
But, relatively speaking, the jump in that particular monster's stats from Hell to Inferno are pretty similar to, or even less than, the jump in stats from Normal -> Nightmare/Nightmare -> Hell.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: CloverNaght on May 07, 2012, 11:36:30 AM
Quote from: 電子レンジボガス on May 03, 2012, 11:01:03 PM
There's always Torchlight 2 (http://store.steampowered.com/app/200710/).
this
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Edible on May 08, 2012, 06:40:21 PM
Quote from: Ran Yakumo on May 06, 2012, 09:56:37 PM
But, relatively speaking, the jump in that particular monster's stats from Hell to Inferno are pretty similar to, or even less than, the jump in stats from Normal -> Nightmare/Nightmare -> Hell.

Difference being you're expected to reach max level in Hell.  Inferno is at 60 as well, so it's straight up gear/skill/patience/etc.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Puffy on May 08, 2012, 07:16:27 PM
MotK Diablo 3 night anybody  :V

Though iirc, Diablo 3 only allows 4 people per room so how do people feel about that?
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Vilkni on May 08, 2012, 08:31:40 PM
Yeah, the four person limit is a bit... well, too limiting IMO.

Anyways, the final unlock was posted today on the site:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LEAPxgMCEA8

This is apparently the final unlock: an animated movie for D3.

And since they fixed one typo, it can only live on in this image:

http://i.imgur.com/3bVuA.jpg
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Dormio Ergo Sum on May 08, 2012, 09:26:15 PM
Quote from: Edible on May 08, 2012, 06:40:21 PM
Difference being you're expected to reach max level in Hell.
You are?
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Edible on May 08, 2012, 09:35:22 PM
Quote from: Ran Yakumo on May 08, 2012, 09:26:15 PM
You are?

Yeah.  Note that while HP/damage/etc for monsters scales proportionally, experience does not.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Dormio Ergo Sum on May 08, 2012, 09:39:59 PM
I did, but who actually reaches max level? :derp:

I dunno, I figure that after running through Hell, you'd still have gotten enough EXP to make Inferno somewhat feasible.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Edible on May 08, 2012, 09:47:20 PM
Quote from: Ran Yakumo on May 08, 2012, 09:39:59 PM
I did, but who actually reaches max level? :derp:

I dunno, I figure that after running through Hell, you'd still have gotten enough EXP to make Inferno somewhat feasible.

Keep in mind the level cap's only 60.  This was an intentional design (of course).

I imagine if you're not 60 by the time you've beaten Hell, you'd need to go through Hell some more to even stand a chance of surviving in Inferno anyway <_<
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Dormio Ergo Sum on May 08, 2012, 09:49:55 PM
Quote from: Edible on May 08, 2012, 09:47:20 PM
Keep in mind the level cap's only 60.  This was an intentional design (of course).
Wait, it is?
Shows how much I'm keeping up with this game.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Pesco on May 08, 2012, 09:52:16 PM
From the game code of D2, mobs scale in HP and exp exponentially. Damage is scaled linearly. But the player's exp gain takes huge penalties as you level up that the increased exp is insignificant.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Dorakyura on May 09, 2012, 03:24:16 PM
No, the maximum level is lvl 60 so they have free space for addons that will make your farmed equipment totally useless, because you get twice as better items by quests two levels later  :o
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: ApharmdB on May 13, 2012, 03:59:23 PM
This should uh.. come with hugeass spoiler tags.

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=336509

Stills from the Diablo 3 ending O_O

The actual video itself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nHaeJFHbV6Q
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: lumber_of_the_beast on May 13, 2012, 10:54:14 PM
Game guide's leaked. Cinematics have leaked. EVERYTHING'S GETTING LEAKED
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Vilkni on May 13, 2012, 10:57:30 PM
Yeah, indeed, everything is getting leaked at a crazy rate. Although since the writer is Mezten... Oh well, Diablo was never really about a good plot anyways, it's the gameplay that matters the most.

EDIT: On the other hand, you guys'll have 12 hours of gameplay streaming to look forward to from the other regions since Blizzard is doing a worldwide release on May 15th.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: ApharmdB on May 14, 2012, 01:28:23 AM
Metzen's a friggin' one-trick pony. As one of the strange fellas who actually bothered with the plot in the Diablo games, I can only say that the videos were really disappointing. Without going too in-depth into why, I'll just quote someone from the teamliquid.net thread - "it's technically brilliant but artistically empty". While D3 may be technically more polished than D2 was, the contrast with the storytelling methods in the D2 videos is somewhat like the huge gulf between LotR and something like say, Twilight. The D3 ones look like they were directed by Michael Bay. :/

And Tyrael!!! Wtf did Blizzard do to you?!!!
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: orinrin on May 14, 2012, 01:30:24 AM
Quote from: ApharmdB on May 14, 2012, 01:28:23 AM
Metzen's a friggin' one-trick pony. As one of the strange fellas who actually bothered with the plot in the Diablo games, I can only say that the videos were really disappointing. Without going too in-depth into why, I'll just quote someone from the teamliquid.net thread - "it's technically brilliant but artistically empty". While D3 may be technically more polished than D2 was, the contrast between the storytelling methods in the D2 videos is somewhat like the huge gulf between LotR and something like say, Twilight. The D3 ones look like they were directed by Michael Bay. :/

And Tyrael!!! Wtf did Blizzard do to you?!!!
It's pretty much the same thing that happened to SC2.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Pesco on May 14, 2012, 05:51:55 AM
Metzen is so damn old. I remember seeing his artwork in the Warcraft 2 manuals.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Vilkni on May 14, 2012, 07:27:32 PM
Diablo 3 is now out in Europe, so if you're inclined to wh- err, beg for a EU guest pass to be able to play earlier than you're supposed to, go ahead. And also, obviously we're all jealous of you Europeans and Asians. :V Well, unless you're one of the poor Australians who preordered from GAME only for GAME to go into administration there (And it seems like pretty much all branches are going that way, too).

Only less than 12 hours in NA until Diablo 3 actually lets you play on US servers.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: ApharmdB on May 15, 2012, 04:29:34 AM
Curses for having to be at work at launch time!!!

Oh well, at least my copy's installed >.<
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Vilkni on May 15, 2012, 07:08:35 AM
Sadly I should've gone to sleep but I can't for some reason, since this is the same exact as the first hour of the launches in the other regions. Endless error 37s ftw as well as hanging on char selection.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Merp on May 15, 2012, 07:13:16 AM
time for http://youtu.be/KqRPOEa3P44 (http://youtu.be/KqRPOEa3P44) again
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: axman36 on May 15, 2012, 07:21:47 AM
Obviously beating Error 37 is the first quest.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Vilkni on May 15, 2012, 07:24:45 AM
And even if you pass that, there's the countless error 30005-30008s as well as things like can't create hero due to party state. What a fucking fun quest. :V

EDIT: I think it's time for all these people trying to login to the servers all at the same time to go to bed, most have downgraded to error 37.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Kiro on May 15, 2012, 08:01:50 AM
Happy Launch Day everyone! (posted by Blizzard themselves) (http://s18.postimage.org/ra3uxwyyf/D3servers2.gif)
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Vilkni on May 15, 2012, 08:16:54 AM
Also, I just realized the Australian servers are also in USA so we're also competing with Australians trying to login. This seems like a stupid move mechanically speaking.

You would think Blizzard would have managed the launch day better especially since they actually had this disastrous launch before with WoW. I think it's time for me to head to bed, no point to trying to login at the moment.

EDIT: They finally let me in.  :dealwithit:
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Puffy on May 15, 2012, 09:41:44 AM
Still anxiously waiting for my copy of D3 to come in the post... :V
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: helvetica on May 15, 2012, 11:49:08 AM
http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,12649.0.html

Register your tags dorkwads
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Puffy on May 15, 2012, 05:55:57 PM
Those Error 37's, that's personally a good sign for now, that i need to focus on my exams than getting distracted and play D3.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: CadrinHaverit on May 15, 2012, 06:31:47 PM
Okay, what the hell is wrong with you people... or with this game... (http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/diablo-iii/user-reviews) I only played the beta, but it was mildly entertaining. And now people rate the full game 3,9/10? Can someone explain that to me? I call bullspit on those reviews for now. We'll see about them next week or so.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Vilkni on May 15, 2012, 07:54:03 PM
To be fair, most of these are most likely trolls/idiots, and you have to remember that it's metacritic so you can feel free to ignore a majority of the user reviews there.

Also, remember this is also part of the fanbase where all these idiots cancelled their preorders over... a Feat of Strength (useless achievement) that you got for being in closed beta.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Merp on May 15, 2012, 08:21:10 PM
This is me when im playing my monk :v
http://youtu.be/y9anHFTU2J0?t=3s (http://youtu.be/y9anHFTU2J0?t=3s)

Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: CadrinHaverit on May 15, 2012, 10:34:13 PM
Quote from: rizul98 on May 15, 2012, 07:54:03 PM
Also, remember this is also part of the fanbase where all these idiots cancelled their preorders over... a Feat of Strength (useless achievement) that you got for being in closed beta.
I got an achievement for beating the closed beta? Wait, that was open beta, nevermind.
Yeah, I read some of these reviews and those guys are obviously usually swinging between the two extremes: "best game evar 10 out of 10" and "requires constant internet connection to play and also something about the actual game... 0/10".
Though to be fair, that "have to be online at all times to play this game" thing might or might not be troublesome, and/or heavy on the bandwidth. My flatmate has got his copy of the game already (apparently playing as the demon huntress) and we share the network, but I did not notice any serious download speed slowdown on my end, and he wasn't complaining. Gotta give Activision Blizz credit for that if it can be run without eating up all of your internets.
Diabolo Number Three (http://youtu.be/eQS6kYhlXEs) is out. I really want to save the Sanctuary from whatever ass-pulled villain beset it (seriously, haven't we murdered all three Prime Evils in cold blood and erased their very souls in D2?), but I feel that it could pose a distraction from the upcoming exams. And well, it is really expensive around here, but I liked the open beta so much I think I'll get it sometime later.

I am really curious about that one part... Will I really still have that monk I created back in open beta if I buy the full game? And are the nicknames unique, meaning no two characters can have the same name?
Because I named my monk Bruce. A really lame name, I obviously had Bruce Lee on my mind when thinking up a name. I was actually surprised that the game did not protest against it like it would in World of Warcraft, saying that "this name is already taken". Could it be that through some twisted sort of luck my idea was so lame it wrapped around all the way back to original and this will actually be the only Bruce on the server? Food for thought.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Vilkni on May 15, 2012, 10:50:14 PM
On the nicknames part, I named all of my created characters Thilk. So uh, no, nicknames aren't unique at all.

Also, I'm pretty sure the open beta characters will still be in full retail games, but I might be wrong on that, so don't take my word for it.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: ApharmdB on May 16, 2012, 12:45:38 AM
Nope my open beta character wasn't in the game.

My monk's named BruiseLee. Heh
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: theshirn on May 16, 2012, 12:49:42 AM
My asshat roommate is playing it in the next room with the volume turned up.  (http://i55.tinypic.com/2ntyyd.gif)
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: DeltaSierra4 on May 16, 2012, 05:01:25 AM
That feeling when I can't play while all my buddies in South Korea are on the server, laughing at me :ohdear:
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Vilkni on May 16, 2012, 05:56:23 AM
Good news, Delta.

Look in your game options - click the account button, change region to Europe, be glad global play exists... except for one thing:

What you did in one region server doesn't carry over to another server. Which is stupid as hell, imo.

EDIT: Good news, American/New Zeland/Australian servers are up as of 2:28 AM EST.

EDIT2: For all of you who want to create so much more builds: Options -> Gameplay -> Elective Mode. This is important.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: DeltaSierra4 on May 16, 2012, 08:44:43 PM
@rizul
Lol it worked out well, but yeah the servers were back up. Thx for the info though :3
Time to watch warmly as my grades go down a slippery slope...
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Pesco on May 16, 2012, 08:50:57 PM
The only thing that should go down is its price. I have to pay the equivalent of $80 for it here.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Dormio Ergo Sum on May 16, 2012, 09:32:09 PM
Quote from: Pesco on May 16, 2012, 08:50:57 PM
The only thing that should go down is its price. I have to pay the equivalent of $80 for it here.
(http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt56/haeun0719/Untitled-28.png)
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Edible on May 16, 2012, 09:45:41 PM
'Bout to beat Normal, then on to Nightmare.  Wizards are great fun.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: lumber_of_the_beast on May 17, 2012, 01:26:17 AM
Just about to start Act 4. Plot is predictable as, well, as hell, but at least it doesn't get in the way of enjoying the game. Unlike a certain other Blizzard game that's springing to mind...
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Vilkni on May 17, 2012, 01:37:53 AM
So they finally found the secret "cow" level. Except there's unicorns, teddy bears, and other happy stuff for you to kill and make them bleed. :V

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BgOeK72jSs&feature=related

Not even going to bother using the feature since it contains spoilers. Also:

Black Mushroom spawns in cathedral level 1 ACT1
Shinbone is located randomly in the fireplace in leorics manor ACT1.
Liquid Rainbow is located from the Mysterious Cave in the Mysterious chest in the Oasis in ACT2. You will know its the right place when you save the old man and he opens it up. the spawn point is always the same for the event.
Wirts Bell is sold from one of the merchants in the city on ACT2
Gibbering Gemstone drops randomly from the mobs in either of the caves which generate in the battlefield before the bridge on ACT3(The area where you destroy the ballistae)
The plans drops randomly from Izual on ACT4.

EDIT: Replaced link with a better video that shows how to get into the level.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: theshirn on May 17, 2012, 01:39:55 AM
curse you error 37

I curse you with every fiber of my being
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: [Y]oukai [J]esus on May 17, 2012, 01:50:05 AM
Quote from: theshim on May 17, 2012, 01:39:55 AM
curse you error 37

I curse you with every fiber of my being

And I give you
www.error37.com
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Vilkni on May 17, 2012, 03:14:22 AM
Also, I have to say that it's fucking frustrating how ping essentially ties into fps for some insane reason. Yes, this means when the latency goes into red, the game suddenly gets very choppy for some reason, even if you had a few minutes of 60 fps.

I'm sure it'll get better when the servers finally stabilize, but it's very silly at the moment.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Edible on May 19, 2012, 04:42:08 AM
Nightmare down, on to Hell.

Game keeps movin' along...
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Nem on May 19, 2012, 07:26:56 AM
Halfway through act 2 on Hell as a Wizard.  So far, the only difficult things for me are the elite packs. Those things range from hard to push my shit in impossible.

I cringe when I see a pack with something like Arcane Enchanted+Vortex+Jailer.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: helvetica on May 19, 2012, 07:34:56 AM
Finally got a chance to play after my machine died last night.  Got my wizard up to 13 before I called it a night from lag.  I thought it might have been my internet connection, the beta was entirely unplayable for me due to rubberbanding every 5 seconds but apparently I'm not alone in bitching about the lag.

Ugh I know the technical reasons why they went this way but I'm not sure it was worth having a RMAH with this kind of a showstopping issue.  I really wanted to roll an HC character but not now considering I've already died once and it was completely out of my control.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: yuyukos on May 21, 2012, 03:49:03 AM
Made it through Act 1 of Hell on my Monk in just the weekend. The game has been satisfying to play thus far, though there are some monster traits/combos that keep killing me I could deal without. Arcane Enchant, I'm looking at you.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Barrakketh on May 21, 2012, 04:05:01 AM
Quote from: yuyukos on May 21, 2012, 03:49:03 AM
Made it through Act 1 of Hell on my Monk in just the weekend. The game has been satisfying to play thus far, though there are some monster traits/combos that keep killing me I could deal without. Arcane Enchant, I'm looking at you.
Arcane Enchanted Waller Vortex :V
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Nem on May 21, 2012, 05:53:24 AM
Quote from: Barrakketh on May 21, 2012, 04:05:01 AM
Arcane Enchanted Waller Vortex :V

Arcane Enchanted, Frozen, and Waller while inside a cave.:colonveeplusalpha:
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Vilkni on May 21, 2012, 06:37:58 AM
And if you want an potentially very unkillable champion that will keep living, a Vampiric/Plagued/whatever else if on hell or higher mob on quests where you have a NPC escort that have really dumb AI and will melee IN THE FUCKING PLAGUE POOL despite the fact that the mob gets insane life back from the plague. Keep meleeing in the plague pool, fucking genius NPCs.  :V

Although I hear you haven't met these Illusionist rare mobs/champion mobs that would absolutely do wonderful with other monster mod combinations to make your life hell.  :V

Playing in hardcore is just stupid due to the crazy amounts of mob modifiers that combo well with others to give you a death sentence on later difficulties. Although I'm not sure on who the fuck thought Arcane Enchanted was well balanced and beatable especially with the other traits.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: ApharmdB on May 21, 2012, 10:49:18 AM
Game balance is a wreck on Inferno. I take that back, it's non-existent. Melee classes get shafted wayyyy harder than they were in D2. Actually, it's still somewhat viable if you spec-ed vit and resists up till they're overflowing from every single imaginable orifice on your toon so that you can survive 4 hits and then do the standard separate packs/hit-and-run tactics for 10 minutes per blue mob because your dps just got flushed down the ancient tunnels. But you will still get 1-shotted by molten chained teleporting champions, and that's not even counting the other fun mods they can get. I can't tell if it's a bug. I've seen monks with 80k hp die instantly once Serenity wears off when the mob teleports onto them. It's like playing Touhou, but with lag. As a result, I've gone back to the Asia server temporarily, at least till Blizzard does something about the insane latency and spikes that I've been getting on the US ones :(
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: lumber_of_the_beast on May 21, 2012, 02:50:53 PM
Inferno is unplayable if you're a barb, and only playable by exploiting a glitch if you're a monk. Items need some retuning. D2 wasn't perfect at launch either, though, so... eh.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Vilkni on May 21, 2012, 07:43:03 PM
What's insane is that the barbs and monks did get 30% more DR that is separate from armor/resistance I think, but clearly the buff did nothing since the majority of the monster modifiers hate HATE HATE HATE melee and favor ranged so much it's silly. I mean, fighting bosses as barb/monk is going to likely be easier than the rare mobs/champion mobs, which is just silly. And guess what? A Wizard who is supposed to be ranged and thus squishy has Force Armor on Energy Armor. Suddenly, he's not squishy even with 1k hp and 500 health regen as long as he's very careful, which is WAY MORE DURABILITY THAN MELEE CLASSES except the dumb modifiers on mobs like fast/invul and things that one-shot you anyways through Force Armor. Wat.

Also unrelated to this one, they also need to fix the huge amount of spells that WD gets that is just dead in the water due to silly cooldowns and the fact that the majority of passives are useless on WD.

EDIT: Apparently Diablo 3 was already hacked before RMAH although it hasn't been confirmed yet: here. Note that even people who bought the extra protection services that Blizzard made are reporting the missing things as well if you go through the reports. (http://www.destructoid.com/diablo-iii-allegedly-hacked-as-gold-and-items-get-stolen-227800.phtml) EDIT2: Apparently the exploit involves spoofing SessionID which is why it bypasses the login part. Which makes sense at least if you think about it.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Kiro on May 22, 2012, 01:25:38 AM
Also working on Hell Act 2 with my monk. It's been nonstop fun since the beginning. Tried out all sorts of different styles through nightmare before being forced to full rely on Healing Mantra and Serenity in Act 4 NM. I love the challenge level I'm at right now, but hearing from friends who are farther along in the content, it gets much tougher by Act 3 Hell and beyond. I've heard Inferno Act 2 is untankable, but w/e, one Act at a time.

I personally have fun playing against Arcane Enchanted mobs. Mainly because I feel like I'm trying to graze Counter Clock. One mod that annoys me heavily is Shielding. My current style on champions is to heal through them using the above and "Spirit spent heals" and having stuns in both Lashing Tail Kick and Seven Sided Strike to give me precious seconds to let my health regen a bit. Shielding negates that. The only champion mob I've had to skip so far were Shielding, Jailer, Reflect Damage magewraiths (the ones that whirlwind onto you). Far more terrifying to me than any of the elemental mods. Currently trying out a more offensive minded build with some Crit Hit chance, Fist of Thunder and Sweeping Wind with Crit Hit chance. Might also be somewhat viable in Hell still.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: yuyukos on May 23, 2012, 04:29:08 AM
I had to run past a Vortex Freezing Invulnerable Minion rarespawn spider tonight. :ohdear:
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Edible on May 27, 2012, 05:04:18 AM
Quote from: yuyukos on May 23, 2012, 04:29:08 AM
Invulnerable Minion

the wooooorst
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Ghaleon on May 27, 2012, 08:32:26 AM
The only mods that really bug me are waller and jailer...they aren't so bad most of the time, but they can be pretty cheesy when combined with another such as desecration, arcane, vampire, etc.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Nem on May 28, 2012, 07:54:07 PM
Well, that's a unique name. (http://i.imgur.com/OCRu2.jpg)
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: helvetica on May 29, 2012, 04:24:04 AM
Quote from: Ghaleon on May 27, 2012, 08:32:26 AM
The only mods that really bug me are waller and jailer...they aren't so bad most of the time, but they can be pretty cheesy when combined with another such as desecration, arcane, vampire, etc.
Waller/Jailer is so easy to deal with as Wizard, you have multiple escape methods and teleport + fracture can handle both easily in one skill.  Mortar and arcane are the ones that really mess with me most of the time.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: draganuv15 on May 30, 2012, 08:35:33 PM
Quote from: helvetica on May 29, 2012, 04:24:04 AM
Waller/Jailer is so easy to deal with as Wizard, you have multiple escape methods and teleport + fracture can handle both easily in one skill.  Mortar and arcane are the ones that really mess with me most of the time.

^this, although Diamond Armour helps a crapton in that respect.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Bitmap on June 03, 2012, 05:18:08 PM
Up to inferno with my monk. I got a 1100 dps weapon with 14% attack speed for only 90k. Gosh, I love the Auction House.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Merp on June 05, 2012, 09:00:46 PM
Diablo 3 Inferno Tactic (http://youtu.be/PEyk63UaBI4)
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: ApharmdB on June 06, 2012, 05:47:14 AM
Lol I'm doing exactly that with my monk. Despite using a 1k dmg weapon, the most reliable way of making progress appears to be harassing them while Serenity and Blinding Flash are available, then making like that video for the next 16 seconds. I'm literally harassing enemies to death -.-;;

My bro (who played a barb, also to Inferno) and I have both rerolled wizard alts in the meantime. So much better....
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Phoenix_lostarr on June 07, 2012, 11:44:53 AM
So yeah, I'm a monk, in act 3 hell. Both my weapons have almost 500 DPS, and I have 45k HP. I'm getting facerolled quite badly... any tips?  :ohdear:
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Helepolis on June 07, 2012, 02:56:36 PM
Quote from: Fujiwara_no_Zuko on June 07, 2012, 11:44:53 AM
So yeah, I'm a monk, in act 3 hell. Both my weapons have almost 500 DPS, and I have 45k HP. I'm getting facerolled quite badly... any tips?  :ohdear:
My nephew, Barb with 55k HP gets 2 shotted in Hell as well I heard. I am seriously wondering by reading all these "orz" material whether Blizzard intended us to solo easily Hell like in Diablo 2. I wouldn't know yet.

I am still noobing behind as lvl 36 Wizzard because I started playing 4 days ago.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Vilkni on June 07, 2012, 04:12:53 PM
I thought I should give everyone a heads up: Apparently players discovered how to spoof item links in chat. This ranges from changing the color on one of every letter to making completely made up items with retarded bonuses (Hello, impossibly high damage bonuses, ridiculous attack speed, etc!) to making items with more than 3 sockets. That last part will cause the client to crash every and each time, and will likely kill any hardcore characters.

So uh, watch out for these oddly colored item links, as they'll likely result in bullshit deaths upon clicking the item.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: ApharmdB on June 07, 2012, 06:33:09 PM
Quote from: Fujiwara_no_Zuko on June 07, 2012, 11:44:53 AM
So yeah, I'm a monk, in act 3 hell. Both my weapons have almost 500 DPS, and I have 45k HP. I'm getting facerolled quite badly... any tips?  :ohdear:

Get armour and resists. My monk did fine with 23-26k hp all the way till Act 2 Inferno where I had to seriously shop for gear. His first ever death was in Act 1 Inferno to some BS combination of affixes on an elite mob, so Hell is perfectly doable solo. I only started partying up in Inferno. You'll quickly find that the monk has a few skills that are vital to his survival. Without the absolute best possible gear that will allow you to tank mobs without losing any health (if that even exists), off the top of my head you'll need Serenity, Blinding Flash, Fists of Thunder with the Lightning rune (the one that gives improved dodge chance), and either Mantra of Evasion with Hard Target rune or Mantra of Healing with Boon of Inspiration for the life leech. I primarily use Fists of Thunder because of the attack speed, the stutter/stun on the 3rd hit (it's AoE) and it doesn't lock you in place like Way of the Hundred Fists. You NEED to be mobile as a monk. You don't have the raw hp/armour of barbarians and dodge is a RNG game that I don't particularly care to rely too much on. Note that Blinding Flash interrupts enemy attacks. You can use it to stop Diablo from casting that bone prison skill for example. Something else about dodge - monks are supposed to rely on it (meh) because our heals do not scale with hp. This means that for your heals to be effective, you'll want high dodge and low hp. But as I mentioned, this leaves your survival in the hands of the RNG... Ideally you should have just enough health to not get one-shot killed and a very high dodge rate.

Currently my monk uses Blinding Flash with the rune that confuses enemies,  Breath of Heaven with the rune that scares away mobs, Serenity with the rune that heals (sometimes I swap it with the increased duration rune), and either 1. Lashing Tail Kick with Sweeping Armada for more crowd control, or 2. Sweeping Wind with the increased spirit regen rune for general fights, or 3. that skill that makes an area impassable for monsters with the rune that gives a massive health regen when partied up in certain boss fights, or 4. Seven-Sided Strike with the stun rune again in parties. It's usually on Sweeping Wind, and I don't like to switch them around because I'd lose the Nephalem Valor buff. My left mouse button is bound to Fists of Thunder with the Lightning rune and right mouse button to Mantra of Evasion with the Hard Target rune. Passives are Transcendence for the healing factor when spamming mantras, Seize the Initiative for the increased armour and One with Everything for resists all.

Playstyle matters. You can tank better than barbarians by cycling through your heals and Serenity appropriately, but you need to avoid eating attacks whenever possible. This means dodging ranged attacks, getting into positions that will minimize the amount of such ranged attacks from getting through, circling around mobs such as dark berserkers, demonic tremors, mallet lords, etc anything with a heavy pulverizing frontal attack and attacking them from the rear. Try not to get surrounded - if that happens, either Lashing Tail Kick or Breath of Heaven (with the fear rune) will help. 500 dps weapons are decent enough for Hell Act 4. You'll want something closer to 800+ dps for Inferno though.

Elite mobs - they're still manageable in Hell. Use Serenity only when needed, i.e. don't press it every time you get hit by a crowd control skill. I usually pre-heal with Breath of Heaven before the frost orbs burst, or try to stay alive with mantra spam while jailed, activating Serenity only when I'm absolutely sure I won't survive through being disabled otherwise. Don't tank arcane sentries unless all your healing skills are available. Your "footwork" is very important when facing molten mobs - don't run behind them and try to corner them so that they can't kite you. You can use shift-attack near them and still hit them with Fists of Thunder while staying out of the molten patch under them. Fire chains though, sorry you're out of luck. Try to separate one of them from the rest of the pack and deal with him far far away so that the chains can't activate. With huge resists, you can still tank the chains in Hell, but they'll drop even 60k hp within 2 seconds or less in Inferno.

Oh, stack attack speed if possible. It's crucial for monks - you only gain spirit when you attack. Without spirit, you're good as dead.

Sadly I've already re-rolled a Wizard sometime ago and she's at level 47 currently. Way more effective than the monk, at least until Blizzard does something about the abysmal survivability of melee classes in Inferno. -.-;;
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Helepolis on June 07, 2012, 07:17:22 PM
Can anybody advise a skill combination set for a lvl 39 Wizzard? I am seriously detesting these 4 skills + 2 mouse skills for this game. Currently got:  Blizzard, Energy Shield, Teleport, Hydra (venom) as skills and Lightning (chain lightning up to 6) + Arcane Orb (large Aoe). Blizzard and Hydra are pretty much the most balling skills, but the arcane orb is hard to spam with the annoying.

Edit: I am currently in Act 2 - Nightmare.

Also my initial opinion about this game stands. (http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,12521.msg821714.html#msg821714)

Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Edible on June 07, 2012, 07:20:58 PM
I think at 39 I was just disintegrating everything.

Something like this.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#biXjSm!XYa!bbaaZa
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: theshirn on June 07, 2012, 07:41:39 PM
Disintegrate is too damn good for sweeping.  When it comes to major bosses I'd switch back to a cold-centric build (Ray of Frost is better for single-target damage) but nothing really matches up against Disintegrate for making your way through the game as a whole.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Helepolis on June 07, 2012, 08:41:05 PM
Quote from: Edible on June 07, 2012, 07:20:58 PM
I think at 39 I was just disintegrating everything.

Something like this.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#biXjSm!XYa!bbaaZa
Quote from: theshim on June 07, 2012, 07:41:39 PM
Disintegrate is too damn good for sweeping.  When it comes to major bosses I'd switch back to a cold-centric build (Ray of Frost is better for single-target damage) but nothing really matches up against Disintegrate for making your way through the game as a whole.
 
Link doesn't work Edible =/  Somehow reloading 2x made it work. I see this skill set is fully based on standing still and beaming the stuff out of things. I assume that when ever Archon is up you spam it?

And I was disintegrating everything but the mobs ignore my Templar at all costs and always in my face. I cannot keep up the beam before getting 360 degree dolby surround THX 12.1 a** f*****. I seriously don't get what the use is of mercs if they get ignored 24/7. I know their skills are somewhat "useful" but if it doesn't agro it is useless in my opinion.

Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: theshirn on June 07, 2012, 08:47:24 PM
Diamond Skin is glorious.  If you get surrounded, pop it and lay waste to everything around you.  I'm still in Act 1 of Nightmare but I'm not having any problems (except with unplayable lag in my current place >:( )
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Helepolis on June 07, 2012, 08:51:18 PM
Didn't knew diamond skin scales so hard. Mine blocks perhaps for 5k atm. Guess I'll try this build out tomorrow, because Act II is so boring and goes so slow.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Edible on June 07, 2012, 08:54:33 PM
Quote from: Helepolis on June 07, 2012, 08:41:05 PM
 
Link doesn't work Edible =/  Somehow reloading 2x made it work. I see this skill set is fully based on standing still and beaming the stuff out of things. I assume that when ever Archon is up you spam it?

I saved archon for rare mobs and bosses, or as a secondary oh-shit button.

Edit: save->saved.  I don't use this build in inferno, it doesn't work without silly amounts of gear <_<
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Helepolis on June 07, 2012, 08:57:01 PM
Seeing that I won't be hitting Inferno yet for another 20 years, I guess this should be fine.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Merp on June 08, 2012, 03:56:47 AM
I hear they are gonna nerf act 2 inferno difficulty
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Vilkni on June 08, 2012, 04:39:41 AM
Not just Act 2, it's also Act 3 and 4 in said difficulty that are getting nerfed according to this:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/6262208/Patch_103_Design_Preview-6_6_2012#blog

So there you go, although IAS is going to get reduced in return due to the nerfs to these act in Inferno.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: ApharmdB on June 08, 2012, 09:58:51 AM
Just a quick one about the Wizard, I don't use anything that requires me to stand around. Standing around is generally a bad idea in the later difficulties. The mana cost for Arcane Orb can be lowered till it's spammable, so my main skills are Magic Missile (for mana recovery), Arcane Orb (main damage dealer), Venom Hydra (passive damage dealer), Blizzard (for kiting), Diamond Skin and lastly either Frost Nova or Magic Weapon or Teleport depending on the area I'm playing in.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Helepolis on June 08, 2012, 10:10:57 AM
Well I tried out Edible's suggestion but I am still getting destroyed. Standing still is indeed something I don't like either. I think I will revert back to my massive spells method. Aph, so you're using the recover arcane on the magic missile? ( I need a better weapon that isn't so slow with attacking. My current staff is 1.00 orz )
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: lumber_of_the_beast on June 08, 2012, 10:59:00 AM
Slow attack speed is fine, as long as your build isn't reliant on spamming a signature spell.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: ApharmdB on June 08, 2012, 04:18:05 PM
1.00 is fine if you're relying on cast and forget spells like Blizzard and Hydra. But to make Magic Missile's mana recovery work and boost the Arcane Orb spam, you need much better attack speed. I'm using a 1.62 attacks per second sword (it has some IAS on it) together with some other IAS gear. It really helps feed the arcane orb spam, which in turn helps slow down mobs with that passive, and makes it slightly easier to kite champion packs and kill them.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Helepolis on June 08, 2012, 04:29:03 PM
Which Arcane Orb rune are you using? The obliteration (dmg inc) one or the nova that increases the aoe blast radius?
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: ApharmdB on June 08, 2012, 04:53:41 PM
The one that reduces its mana cost to 20, allowing me to spam it 6 or 7 times in a row :D
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Helepolis on June 08, 2012, 06:45:38 PM
What passives? Arcane presence I found useful due to the life orbs. But the other two I got cold dmg increase and glass cannon.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Nem on June 08, 2012, 08:47:20 PM
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#acQXR!YU!YYYab (http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#acQXR!YU!YYYab)
This build requires you to be level 45.

The fourth skill slot can be filled in with Force Weapon for more damage, Frost Nova or Blizzard with Frozen Solid if you're having difficulties with kiting, or a variant of Energy Armor. The last passive can either Illusionist for when shit hits the fan and there's a champion pack about to rip your face off, Astral Presence for maximum orb spam, or Blur for a flat reduction to melee damage.

Energy Armor with Force Armor and Illusionist is highly recommended at 54 and above. Arcane Orb can be runed with Obliterate, Tap the Source, or Celestial Orb. I prefer Celestial Orb since the orb can damage a whole group of mobs instead of the first thing the orb makes contact with.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#UimXSj!YXa!aZZaZa (http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#UimXSj!YXa!aZZaZa)
This was my build on my Nightmare playthrough. Disintegrate with Chaos Nexus just demolishes everything. Against champion packs, I blow Archon Form and burn them down. If they get close, teleport away and keep blasting them until nothing remains. If things aren't looking so great, cancel Archon Form and run like hell. It's time to change to a new tactic. Against champion packs without Archon Form available, I kite them around until Diamond Skin is up. Once activated, I get a few seconds of free damage on the pack. At 2 seconds remaining, start kiting again until Diamond Skin is back up. Repeat until they're dead or when Archon Form is back up.
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Helepolis on June 08, 2012, 08:59:12 PM
Pretty much the first one you're showing is what I am using, except for the lvl 45 ability, need 2 levels for that.

As we speak, I just found a bow which is better than my staff and has IAS modifier on it. Suddenly from 1,00 to 1,58 feels great :V (logically need to find a good one handed though for now, this is fine).
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: D8ms on June 08, 2012, 09:22:50 PM
Quote from: Merp on June 08, 2012, 03:56:47 AM
I hear they are gonna nerf act 2 inferno difficulty

And spike the repair cost up to 10x

Act 4 inferno is going to be no man's land, and it's probably going to significantly cut into my pony profit since the strategy I follow for packs is "Lure them into a dark corner and pray they stay there"
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Kiro on June 09, 2012, 07:25:33 AM
Inferno Diablo down!!! Solo run with Monk.

Pics included. Only 639 all resists, but I stacked a ton of HP, 61k, to do it. My sword is a blue 979 dps with 1.62 aspd. No Life on Hit was used.

Deadly Reach w/ Keen Eye
Sweeping Wind w/ Blade Storm
Mantra of Evasion w/ Hard Target
Breath of Heaven w/ Blazing Wrath
Blinding Flash w/ Self Reflection
Serenity w/ Peaceful Repose

One With Everything
Transcendence
Seize The Initiative

HOORAY!!!!!
Title: Re: [Diablo 3] In anticipation of May 15...
Post by: Dr Rawr on June 13, 2012, 05:09:44 PM
how did you get 3 defensive skills at the same time?

edit: nvm i saw an option for full customization