Thoughts on Diablo III?

[Rub'Rum]

I have too noticed the crappy hitbox problem where, when an enemy starts an attack on you, you will get hit no matter where you are when the animation actually hits... Bashiok says::

It's intentional. We don't want a game where the most effective way to play is to dodge in and out of enemy attacks. It's not that difficult to do, and it's just not a very fun way to play. "Most effective" and "not fun" just can't be in the same sentence when describing part of the game. We want combat to be based on use of abilities, putting thought into builds, building up offensive and defensive stats, etc. Skill is absolutely a part of all of the systems you'll use, and kiting can be too, but it'd be ridiculous if you could avoid all of the systems that make the game the game because you can time dodges of enemy attacks and negate every other factor.

Also think about just running past enemies to rush through an area and never being hit. Anyone looking to rush would love it! Which is why it's not a good idea from a design perspective. It's not something we'll be changing.

Ugh... I can see what he means, but still. It's a bit exagerated as is I think. http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/4427663050?page=1

 

[Lord_Iggy]

My Battlenet ID is KaYoS#691. I only play Starcraft 2 on Bnet right now, but I have a ton of friends playing Diablo III, so I might get it at some point.

 

[Disgustipated]

I started a hardcore character. A female witch doctor. I already have a male witch doctor. What can I say, witch doctors kick ass. I also have a low level barbarian and wizard, but I prefer to play with a familiar character in hardcore. I want to run through normal hardcore one time. Although I found out I don't share the gold with my other character, so much for doing it the easy way.

Although in some sick joke, Blizzard thought it would be funny to make hardcore games even laggier than normal games. I can't believe the lag I'm encountering. I'll have to be cautious.

As for the bug I got, I still get it occasionally with my witch doctor main, but more often with my other characters for some reason. But it may be related to having a browser window open? I closed my browser, and haven't had the bug come up since. The bug makes playing a hardcore game a bit more dicier. Although I encounter more often in non-combat situations.

Now back to my hardcore game. I'm drinking too. Maybe drinking and hardcore don't go together...

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Hardcore characters share gold, stashed items and artisan levels with your other hardcore characters. I'd recommend to try another class for hardcore first.
My hardcore witch doctor was my only character to die in Act 1 (when surrounded by a bunch of spiders).
Poor crowd control and no escape skill...

 

[sanabas]

Good crowd control + spirit walk.

If you die to normal act 1 spiderlings/trees, or act 2 wasps, that's because you weren't paying attention/stuffed up/stood in the nasty stuff, rather than due to a class issue.

 

[Disgustipated]

I think witch doctor may be the easiest class to do hardcore normal with. At least hardcore normal (probably not inferno- I hear wizards and demon hunters are best there).

I was playing my HC low level witch doctor with my brothers hardcore barbarian this morning. He almost died due to the poison trees in act 1. Being ranged, I'm in good shape. Plus I already got my dogs. Dogs hold up in normal, unlike my other witch doctor now in hell. I gave up my dogs in nightmare. Even my gargantuan is barely holding up.

I'm a long way from spirit walk. But my high level witch doctor benefits greatly from spirit walk and spirit vessel. My brother died several times this morning with his wizard on Act 1 hell, but I didn't die once due to spirit vessel (and to a lesser extent spirit walk). For now, my pets keep me out of trouble. The trick is to keep proper positioning, and always have an escape route. The dangerous enemies are wallers when on narrow bridges, and possibly vortex.

Of course, in hell everything is dangerous. Had my first foray with invulnerable creatures this morning. But we figured them out. Just tough when combined with fast, and his minions who leap (escaping my grasp of the dead). I think hell will be my final difficulty level. This is about as difficult as I like it to be.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Good crowd control + spirit walk.

If you die to normal act 1 spiderlings/trees, or act 2 wasps, that's because you weren't paying attention/stuffed up/stood in the nasty stuff, rather than due to a class issue.

Spirit Walk comes with level 16, I diet at lvl 13 .
I hadn't played the Witch Doctor for about three days and concentrated on my DH. When I started to play WD again I was too accustomed to escape with Vault and didn't pay enough attention to enemies trying to surround me.
My next hardcore char will be a Barbarian. I haven't yet played Barb in D3, but it seems to be the only class that doesn't lose out on special equipment by using shields.

 

[Rub'Rum]

So yeah, they have a lot of work to do to keep D3 attractive in the long run. There are problems with the game, but not those I expected.

There are some minor problems like how dodging hits is a little iffy, and the story is piss-poor and kind of intrusive. There is also kind of a problem with the "geography" of the game. It seems the locations are all mashed up together and not very flavorful, you don't quite know where you are in relation to what, some parts are way too "inside" in vague "battlements" (act 3?)... But the worst problem is how loot is boring. So boring. Because it seems every person of one class needs the same kind of gear. And how it seems good gear never really drops at the level you're playing, and you kind of have to check the auction house to get more damage or hit points from gear that dropped for people playing a few levels ahead of you. I guess the auction house is the culprit here; almost all loot has to be boring not to overflow the auction house with epic stuff.

It's still kind of fun because there are all kinds of builds you can try, the action flows better than in every game of the genre, stuff blows up super satisfyingly, and the UI and networking with friends is triple A. These guys know how to build an ergonomic game. Sadly, yeah, loot is terribad... And that's no good for a game about finding loot.

 

[Disgustipated]

yeah people on the o-boards are complaining about quality of loot. I'm thinking really good loot is so rare, it will never drop for you. and will be very high priced at the AH. I've only had one legendary drop, and I'm near the end of act 1 hell. The legendary that dropped wasn't that good. It was a level 33 1 handed sword. And then they kept the WOW system of loot dropping that is at least 5 levels below where you are at. It's maybe good for alts or for the AH, but not good for you. I'm not sure I like that system. I'd at least like to see some stuff drop the appropriate level. Or maybe I'm too high level for the area. But I figure you should explore every inch of every map in the game.

 

[GrayingGamer]

People don't realize that:

1. AH
+
2. No BoE (Bind on Equip)

Means every good item that drops in the game stays in the game until someone nukes it. Good drops have to be rare, based on this system. Even with "rare" good items, the game will still suffer from terrible item inflation in a short amount of time. People are already starting to whine that Inferno is too easy, and that will only get much much worse in a month or two.

It's a system designed to maximize the profit from the RMAH (once you get an upgrade, you sell the old one... it's like a big pyramid scheme of sorts, everyone always upgrading from someone else's hand-me-downs). In the end, that means that most players won't see a lot of great drops for their character.

 

[MobBoss]

Inferno is too easy?

Rofl. Whatever.

 

[Wolfbeckett]

Yeah... all the complaints about loot are pretty much confirming for me that this game is not worth the $60 they are charging. I don't play Diablo style games because of the combat systems or the story or whatever, I play them because finding that epic Unique weapon that totally compliments your build is a thrill. If that isn't going to happen in this game then there is really no point at all in me bothering to even play it. I'm in it for the loot lottery, but the thing about the loot lottery is, you have to win sometimes in order to keep being interested in it.

 

[Dell19]

Thats not my experience. I'm on inferno and out of the 13 items, 9 are random drops that I've picked up, 1 is something I've crafted and the last three were picked up on the auction. I've also picked up plenty of items that I've been able to sell on the auction myself.

 

[Akka]

Yeah... all the complaints about loot are pretty much confirming for me that this game is not worth the $60 they are charging. I don't play Diablo style games because of the combat systems or the story or whatever, I play them because finding that epic Unique weapon that totally compliments your build is a thrill. If that isn't going to happen in this game then there is really no point at all in me bothering to even play it. I'm in it for the loot lottery, but the thing about the loot lottery is, you have to win sometimes in order to keep being interested in it.

They built the game around the auction house (probably to be able to progressively include real money in their future games). From there it's logical that they would restrict the drops to not overflow the AH with cheap high-end items.

Now, I'll let people decide on the worth of such a design.

 

[Wolfbeckett]

They built the game around the auction house (probably to be able to progressively include real money in their future games). From there it's logical that they would restrict the drops to not overflow the AH with cheap high-end items.

Now, I'll let people decide on the worth of such a design.

Yes, I understand that, and I've already decided that the worth of that design, for me, is zero. I liked the auction house in WoW well enough, I actually enjoyed playing the AH subgame that more than the game itself, but there it was fine and good because the best items were BOP and couldn't be sold on the AH. The Diablo 3 AH completely ruins the game for me, at least from what other people have said, and I'm not willing to gamble $60 to find out first hand.

 

[Disgustipated]

I'm not sure how it ruins the game. They are probably referring to the real money version. I won't comment on that as I haven't used it. I thank god for the AH, or I'd never be able to survive hell. I get absolutely 0 drops that are useful to my character. My main thing is making money so I can buy something useful in the AH. But I do occasionally find items useful to other characters, and can make some money on the AH. I see nothing really wrong with the system. It's better than D2 imho. I hated D2 because you can never find good equipment to drop for you. I never went past nightmare in that game while in this game I'm still having fun with it in hell difficulty. What does that tell you? It tells me that D3 has more longevity than D2.

My main complaint is it is tough finding good gear even on the AH. It's weird how my level 36 item is better than level 54 items on the AH.

 

[Disgustipated]

Double post

 

[Rub'Rum]

I thank god for the AH, or I'd never be able to survive hell. I get absolutely 0 drops that are useful to my character.

That's actually a problem with the game, as it means it's not very playable while ignoring the online component.

I never went past nightmare in that game while in this game I'm still having fun with it in hell difficulty. What does that tell you? It tells me that D3 has more longevity than D2.

I managed to get items by myself in D2 to get deep into Hell difficulty.

 

[Thrawn]

Because it's RNG, some people will get lucky and get items for themselves, others won't.

 

[Rub'Rum]

I never know what to say to posts like that, that state the super obvious.