Diablo 3 initial thoughts?

[metacide]

Bronies have infiltrated every aspect of gaming.

[One_Medic_Army]

The secret unicorn level has nothing to do with My Little Pony.
It's making fun of the guys who saw a rainbow in an early screenshot, wigged out, and started photoshopping in unicorns and such.

[ShadyJane]

I am enjoying this game thoroughly. The lag is really the only thing that bugs me. I think the combat is fluid and hectic. The boss fights are formulaic but Diablo has always been about the rare champ packs and my god have they wiped me out a few times. Jailer mortar arcane horde has been the worse so far but I’m also only in Hell (Act 4). I’ve played with 2 IRL buddies so far and we’ve had a blast. Personally I like the absurdly campy writing. Diablo sounds like a WWE wrestler when he threatens you. I’ve been laughing quite a bit.

For non-HC I have a witch doctor at 57 and a barb at 18. I know there are some…”issues”…with inferno right now so I have been leveling the barb instead.

Also, just something awesome that happened to me two nights ago, I was messing around with crafting armor (which is widely considered to be a waste compared to the auction house) but ended up crafting a belt with, basically, perfect stats and sold it for ~600k gold. Blacksmithing is D3’s version of gambling. You have a small chance to make some excellent gear that you can use or sell. Also when I made my alt barb I was able to fashion him instantly with some +STR gear that he is still wearing at the end of Act2. I know the BS is otherwise a waste of gold but I’ve found some uses in him.

[YoullNeverWalkAlone]

Help me out here, why would you have multiple characters in the game? Have you played through once? Is the story open ended enough that having different people doesn't really prevent you from "finishing"? I guess I'm just really used to playing fairly linear story lines where I can't imagine getting part way into the story and then starting over!

[frostdillicus]

You can play through the full story and only make it to about level 30. After that, it's just about getting better gear and killing harder stuff.

I find it amusing that you are rerolling barbarian for inferno given how crippled both melee classes are right now past Act 1 of inferno. I mean, if you enjoy getting one shotted by white mobs, I guess it might be for you.

While the BS might be a waste, I far prefer it to using the AH. The AH feels like cheating to me. Where is the fun in buying all your good gear. Finding it or crafting it is far more rewarding in my opinion.

[ShadyJane]

Hey dude!

The story isn’t really the selling point of the diablo games. It is almost entirely based around epic lootz. The goal (imo) is to acquire a diverse amount of gear with varying stats so you can customize your abilities as you see fit. Once you go through Normal mode you open up nightmare difficulty where you can find even better loot. After Nightmare you get Hell. After Hell you get Inferno…with each iteration giving you better drops.

In Diablo 2 my college roommate found a barbarian helmet that turned the character into a werewolf…which was supposed to be a druid only ability. There were only like 2 dozen people (at the time…circa 2005) that ever even found it. It made his guy so amazing. It doubled his health pool and doubled his attack speed which are insane boosts for barbarians in D2. Point is that more than anything else the loot is the reason to keep playing.

I made a second character because I wanted to play multiple classes. So all of the loot I get with +intelligence goes to my witch doctor and all the gear with +strength goes to my barbarian. Frost – I didn’t reroll a barb for inferno. I haven’t even been to inferno and, tbh, I’m in no rush as I’ve heard plenty of feedback about the current state of trash mobs hitting for 20k. I know what you mean about the AH. Like, “oh I want to update my gloves…oh there are awesome ones that double my stats for 30k gold…purchase”.

I also made another character to play with a more casual friend although he’s lvl30 now. I’m Shadyjane#1803. Let’s romp thru the legions of hell together.

[frostdillicus]

That's good that you didn't reroll for inferno. Witch Doctor is seriously broken right now though, so I don't really blame the change. The entire mana mechanic is garbage and forces the WD to use Vision Quest just to be viable. It's really idiotic design.

[ShadyJane]

Frost, I can't help but feel like it is too early to make determinations like that. If I got a good set of gear that gave me some nice mana-regen and/or+mana on hit then perhaps vision quest won't be "mandatory". I do agree though that I struggle without that passive but I'm also not really farming even Hell yet.

[SilverOne]

Help me out here, why would you have multiple characters in the game? Have you played through once? Is the story open ended enough that having different people doesn't really prevent you from "finishing"? I guess I'm just really used to playing fairly linear story lines where I can't imagine getting part way into the story and then starting over!

Yes the story stays the same. But every time you play it the maps are different, the creatures are in different places, there might be a boss in one area, next time it might not be there, etc. A random dungeon might appear too.

Also when you join a friends game it does the same. That dungeon you were just in while solo will path and be different in their game. Its a blast! Especially when you pop in and out helping friends. You will often say "WOW that wasn't there in my game".

All I can say is explore every inch of each area... Even if the exit or quest is right next to you. If you haven't uncovered a section of that map, go back!

[frostdillicus]

Frost, I can't help but feel like it is too early to make determinations like that. If I got a good set of gear that gave me some nice mana-regen and/or+mana on hit then perhaps vision quest won't be "mandatory". I do agree though that I struggle without that passive but I'm also not really farming even Hell yet.

I don't think it's too early honestly. There are masses of people rerolling away from the class because they don't want to play a class that has to keep 4 things, usually including their escape ability, on cooldown just so they can do damage. On paper the system is just amazingly flawed. Your mana pool increases, spell costs increase, your regen...never goes up. WD is the only class in the game without a way to generate it's primary resource without spending it's primary resource. Yes, you can fling darts at someone for a net mana gain, same with other spells. However, you are still spending mana to make mana.

Anything I can think of to fix mana though makes it act exactly like arcane power though. Perhaps they could change it so that health orbs also generate mana. Or perhaps enemies killed by the WD can drop mana orbs (for him only obviously) like Arcane Torrent can drop arcane stones. Maybe add some sort of mana leech to WD only items.

Honestly, I don't know what the answer is for WD. Right now though, WD is the only one using the old D2 resource model in a game without mana potions.

[Bronze Fox]

You can play through the full story and only make it to about level 30. After that, it's just about getting better gear and killing harder stuff.

I just finished Act II and I'm level 25. I'm confused.

[ShadyJane]

Frost - I don't understand...the WD has lots of runed abilities that restore mana. Vision Quest is just the best one, by far. It def does not feel broken to me at all and I quite enjoy the class. The game has only been out a week. How can you say people are rerolling because of mana problem and not because they just want to play the other classes? I honestly don't understand the depth of your complaint.

[One_Medic_Army]

You can play through the full story and only make it to about level 30. After that, it's just about getting better gear and killing harder stuff.

I just finished Act II and I'm level 25. I'm confused.

Depends how fast you try to rush through, I think my Wizard is 28 and I'm only less than halfway through act3. Some people just rush through all the areas focusing on the bosses, I never understand them.

[frostdillicus]

You can play through the full story and only make it to about level 30. After that, it's just about getting better gear and killing harder stuff.

I just finished Act II and I'm level 25. I'm confused.

You gain levels slower as you get higher. Also, Act 4 is really short.

[Gizanked]

You can play through the full story and only make it to about level 30. After that, it's just about getting better gear and killing harder stuff.

I just finished Act II and I'm level 25. I'm confused.

Depends how fast you try to rush through, I think my Wizard is 28 and I'm only less than halfway through act3. Some people just rush through all the areas focusing on the bosses, I never understand them.

I think i beat normal at level 31 maybe even 32.