Diablo 3 Sign-Up

[greylord]

Oh, all right...since it's a stress beta for free and I still have a bnet account from when I played WoW (not touched for 2 years, heh). At least I can judge those early levels for myself.

 

...it's doing the Updating setup files routine now. And yeah, I heard a lot of ppl were having problems getting on for a while. It's a stress test for a wildly anticipated title. Tho it does make you wonder if release size/number of servers will be up to the task. I remember when D2 was released...couldn't get on half the time for ages felt like.

 

The relief on D2 though was that you could still play SP off line, and I think you could connect via other methods as well if you didn't care about hackers/cheaters on the server.

 

D3 won't have that luxury.

 

I will say though, with persistence I got on. Basically I copied and pasted my password, and everytime got a code 37 hit enter, paste, enter...so a total of like one try every 5 seconds and finally got in that way.

 

Hopefully if they simply didn't buy enough server space, it's a wake up call and they'll be prepared for the Full on release. Hopefully. They have some work arounds for the updating...you have to check their tech and support forums however for it.

[Majek]

beaten the beta with barbarian. It doesn't look like that at the first sight, but there appears to be enough skills (passive and active) to make a unique-ish character.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Servers are busy If I wanted to befriend some Obsidianites, what should I give, my BT?

[Monte Carlo]

OK I've played up 'til level 5 in the Cathedral near the start of the the game as a Demon Hunter. I played a little MP with Gfted1 last night as a Barbarian but it crashed.

 

I like it. The graphics are nothing special but they are solid, workmanlike and the performance on highest settings is great. The dungeons / level design is good, I like the interactive environments (dropping chandeliers on monsters etc) and the creature roster is interesting. The Diablo feel of the game is there, in fact if anything I think they've been *too* slavish to canon / feel of the original.

 

The normal difficulty however, is a joke. The Demon Hunter was quite good fun, he's basically a pistol-wielding rogue with traps and there are some interesting tactical possibilities with him. I had a lot of fun zipping around the cathedral setting traps for lumbering undead hordes and shooting them from afar.

 

All I really wanted was an up-to-date D2. I'm pretty conservative in my expectations so I'm not disappointed: it's a jump-straight-in H&S romp as you would expect, at this stage I'm giving it a solid 8/10 and will be picking up the full version.

[Morgoth]

After some thorough playtime with a Monk and a WitchDoc, I came to the humble conclusion that Diablo 3 is the best Diablo clone since Diablo 2.

 

Never ever trust watching videos and then judge it, always rape the mouse with your own claws. It's the only way to be sure.

 

Manually adjusting stats are gone, but I never felt that was important in the series. Graphics style is nice and moody, the music is nice and moody, the combat has a satisfying punch to it, the whole thing overall just radiates charm and Diablo atmo. What's not to like?

 

Pre-Ordered.

 

But but...

 

Shut up Morgoth!

[Labadal]

I was wondering if anyone is interested in a co-op game? (When I actually manage to not get the 37 error.)

 

I'm in now, will probably try the Witch Doctor.

Edited April 21, 2012 by Labadal

[Labadal]

Played with 3 other players, but they were rushing like mad, and I don't like that, not even after having completed the beta yesterday.

[SadExchange]

Played with 3 other players, but they were rushing like mad, and I don't like that, not even after having completed the beta yesterday.

 

I had this too where every MP game I went into, people were just rushing to the skeleton boss.

[Labadal]

Managed to get in with another 3 players and it was more fun since they did "rush" a little but it was still at a fun pace. Played the Witch Doctor and he was also fun to play. I jumped in a game with players that were 4 levels higher than me, but it seemed that by the end of our run, I was nearer closer to their levels. All in all, I'm happy with my pre-order and knowing that I will sometimes be able to play with my brother makes me happy. I died for the first time since I got a little reckless and tried to melee my way through a group of enemies, but lesson was learned and I was able to sruvive the rest of our run.

[Tigranes]

Downloader/installer keeps screwing up with various issues, even after I've spent hours downloading the 3gb a number of times. Bleh.

[sorophx]

It has some interesting innovations

hmmm, such as?

Manually adjusting stats are gone, but I never felt that was important in the series.

are you crazy? that was one of the pillars on which the whole gameplay stood

[greylord]

It has some interesting innovations

hmmm, such as?

Manually adjusting stats are gone, but I never felt that was important in the series.

are you crazy? that was one of the pillars on which the whole gameplay stood

 

Innovations would be the idea of ONLY having one skill unlocked per level...and yet obviously they have enough skills to be unlocked for a rather long time. So instead of a skill tree, or levelled skills, you only have a flat skill, but a lot of them. Furthermore that you are allowed immediate access at any time for those skills via one of at least 6 buttons that show on your keyboard at anyone time. Similar in many ways to WoW...but without any scaling. Also, the closest to the tech tree is what I call a Rune tree. You automatically get these bonuses that can alter the skill.

 

My catch is this however. It still doesn't make up for the variability and unique characterizations you could have in Diablo 2...or other diablo clones even. EVERY character gets the same skills and the same runes. Even in Diablo 2 you had access to tons of skills which you could switch between if you wanted...it may have taken a bit longer...but you could do it. Further, you could have skills FAR more powerful than other players which would make you character unique rather than the simple cookie cutter that Diablo 3 has. THIS uniqueness was one of the big attractions for me to Diablo 2, and even Diablo 1 (with it's spells and stats).

 

Another innovation is they way you can level your merchants and Stash. It's not just hirelings or yourself, you can actually level merchants with gold. This is an idea that's seen somewhat in JRPGs, especially those which have you mix ingredients to improve weapons, much like how Diablo 3 institutes it, but most of the time you are looking for some book, or have to purchase some book in order to advance the shopkeeper's knowledge. In Diablo 3 it is streamlined, along with the disassembling and assembling components into a much faster and smoother action based primarily on how much gold you have.

 

Taking a cue from MMORPGs...so not as innovative...but innovative in that it's applied to ARPGs...is the idea of using your abilities and skills as the PRIMARY attack form. Your basic attack lasts all of 1 level, and then you almost always use your class skill as the main attacks. It makes each class unique.

 

However, even with the innovations, innovations alone don't make me enjoy the game. I actually find it boring. I was playing the Witch Hunter today, and found it even worse then the Barbarian and Wizard. Witch Hunter is WAAAAAY overpowered, I didn't even have to worry about health most of the time. The game truly became a breeze...and sometimes that can be boring as well.

 

So, yes, I see innovations...maybe not GOOD innovations in ever respect, but innovative and a different appraoch to how they do and did things. I for one, particularly with the cookie cutter characters where EVERYEONE get's the same skills at the same level and the same stats as they advance rather boring and hope that this is ONE innovation that is NOT picked up in the industry.

[greylord]

Thought I'd add another item for innovation, but can't find where to edit the post above.

 

Another area are the apparant random health globe drops. Other games have health globe drops, but they aren't as fluid as in Diablo 3 (Marvel Ultimate alliance games operate on health globe drops).

 

It's been seen before, so not quite innovative, but multiple levels on the same level is a nice addition.

 

The Witch Hunter has a unique way of casting specials in that they have two mana pools (or whatever you want to call it) with two different ways of filling them up, and two different applications.

 

Once again, innovative doesn't equate fun however. FOR ME, currently the game feels more like a chore than fun. First, access is a pain. I'll wait to see if they clear up logging on with the full release...if they don't get more servers and streamline them, then I don't have to put up with repeatedly trying to log into a network for a SP game.

 

Second, everything points that it should be fun, but like Titanquest was for me (desperately tried to like that game, many said it was like a suped up Diablo...but to me it was utterly and completely BORING), it's really boring. I simply get tired of the game rather quickly and want to do something else!

[Tigranes]

woohoo, I'm on!

 

Anyone want to play, friend me or post here, I'll be around for a bit. Uh... what do I need to give you? Tigranes#1519 is my tag.

[greylord]

Look for a Guido, saying I can get on soon and not a code 37

[LadyCrimson]

Played the Wizard, will play the Monk later (seems most interesting). Here's my reaction to playing the short beta in a nutshell: "Ok, but underwhelming."

 

Longer:

 

Negative:

--dungeons/areas feel small and not complicated. Didn't even need the map. I was kinda bored/slogging thru to "see" it, mostly. Maybe that improves in later acts.

--the auto-skills system does mean you can focus more on the "fight fun" but..yeah just don't like it. I wouldn't have minded some "simplifying" changes but don't like how they've done it.

--Normal difficulty (playing solo at least) is a joke even compared to D2 (which wasn't hard either, to be fair).

--Items = zzzz.

--don't like the forced primary/secondary skill mouse button thing...

--still not seeing any reason to replay the game more than once per chr. class. Less, if not interested in all chr. classes. Then it becomes "wait for DLC" or "wait for ladder reset" or whatever.

--Can't play offline when servers are busy.

 

Positive:

--Combat is overall fine/fun...same ol' Diablo feel. Clicky clicky...nothing wrong with that.

--still love all the nods to the previous games. Black mushroom etc.

--technically sound for me

--no lag/desync for me either...but I was playing at 2am PST and alone.

--potential big stash!

--bigger inventory and most gear seems same size. I like that. If you're going to make a game simpler, make inventory fiddling less of an issue. Fine with me.

--character stat info is a lot better, GUI overall is fine.

--rune effects (what I could use) worked fine at increasing effectiveness/coolness factor I guess.

 

So I did more than watch some let's play videos....I still won't be buying. Playing this beta only makes me want to play some Diablo1. heh.

[Tigranes]

Played once through wizard as well. It has potential, but is generally underwhelming. As an SP experience it's not much better than Torchlight 1, and is inferior to DS3 (which has funner combat and similar graphics); as a multiplayer experience, though, it could be fun. That said, I thought D2 was pretty boring SP and phenomenal in MP.

 

It's all dull in the earlier levels until you get past the first few areas, even more than it was in D2, because everything is a lot easier so you never die, the landscape is entirely blanketed in some kind of saturated post-filter that makes it seem like you're walking on badly decoloured styrofoam, and the rate of drops is ridiculously low so you're just mowing past mob after mob of zero challenge and watching 5 gold and a club drop. It gets better later as you get more enemies, enemies with more creative attacks, and you yourself can string together various moves.

 

I think the life of Diablo is in multiplayer and what will decide that is (a) strength of character progression, (b) good balance of loot tables and difficulty. I think (b) could get there depending on how they've designed later areas, but (a), as far as I can tell from the beta, decidedly makes this a lot inferior to D2, and more similar to DS3 (which was very limited). No stats, no choice in skill level up, only choice in what to put in your super-limited selection of hotkeys - rubbish stuff.

 

Hasn't really sold me yet, I'll probably try one or two other classes though.

[greylord]

Well, they shut down the server, don't know when it's coming back up, probably will give it some more stressing tomorrow. Got folks coming over though, luckily got a lot of the playing for the Beta done today if they take up much of my time.

[Rostere]

So, I've played through the beta with every class except the Witch Doctor. They sure have some balancing to do. Demon Hunter and Monk seems to be the most powerful characters, although the Wizard comes close after and looks to have some late- game potential.

 

It's a huge argument against the game that it's entirely pointless to play the same class twice, because of the removed feature of customizing your character. Seriously, I wonder how they could get away with that. It's a step back to the days of the early nineties in terms of design. The "skill tree" model made for lots of replayability.

 

Also, DS3 suddenly seems great when you play this. Kudos Obsidian, you should have made D3 instead of Blizzard! Seriously, if you could give Obsidian the same time and money that Blizzard got for D3 we would probably have gotten a lot more than this.

 

Also, is it just me, or do the special mobs have only a very small set of abilities? I've noticed "Nightmarish", "Kickback" and "Teleporting", but no other.

[Humanoid]

The less you can do with the classes today, the more extra classes they can sell you later.

[LadyCrimson]

the landscape is entirely blanketed in some kind of saturated post-filter that makes it seem like you're walking on badly decoloured styrofoam,

*thinks a moment*

*ROFL's some more*

 

I keep hearing how awesome the game looks graphically, and some of the dungeon stuff that's brightly lit/brick does look very nice considering the low stress it puts on the system, but yeah...those landscapes, imo, are lacking. I kept thinking it was like a muddy watercolor painting or that my contact lenses were cloudy.

 

The MP part is a good thing to note, as well. I personally loved the single-player of D1 and D2 but it definitely becomes a different game during MP. I don't like that it limits you to 4 players (instead of 8 ) now, tho. That feels like potential for less fun. Even tho random MP was always iffy, it was still often nutty fun to just jump into a game and run around with 7 strangers causing chaos. Maybe less is better for playing with only friends tho. (vs. PUG's).

 

The DS3 comparisons are valid too, imo. That game popped into my head a few times while playing this beta.

Edited April 22, 2012 by LadyCrimson

[Morgoth]

Manually adjusting stats are gone, but I never felt that was important in the series.

are you crazy?

 

Maybe.

 

 

that was one of the pillars on which the whole gameplay stood

 

Nah. The stats are still there, the difference though is now you can't screw up your character by putting points into attributes that are too obscure to really gauge how it's gonna effect gameplay. Plus you can't reverse your mistakes.

 

To me, Diablo is about killing things, and getting better at it. Not killing things, then realize you screwed up your build at some point, and then start anew.

[greylord]

Purposefully being able to do hardcore hell with a build that some would call gimped is the difference between someone who is actually GOOD at Diablo 2 and those that simply are hacks.

 

I like to create characters that are different then the norm...and defy the reasonings that some say that you can't do something. Then again, at one point I was ranked for some classes in the top 10 and later the top 25...so maybe that just doesn't work for some. So what if you have a Singing Barb, or a melee Sorceress...many times that was a decision of the player to make on purpose. Even if they are only in Nightmare, if they are having fun, and have made it that far with a build they can call their own...THAT's not a mistake...that's called trying different things and trying to figure out new strategies.

 

Of course such builds would die in PvP...but then...I have a particular dislike of PvP players in Diablo (especially the ones that try to do it when you have no interest in it...).

 

Oh well...I still would buy D3...just not for the full price. I can wait...it's worth MAYBE a $20 game...definately worth a $5 sale via steam or some other d/l service (though doubt it will ever go to Steam).

[Majek]

I'm playing again today and it's nice that finally you have a shared stash, that the artisans are bounded to your account and not characters. o.ob

 

I'll wait to buy it too, but because i'll have a very busy May, June and July, and no time for gaming.

[Monte Carlo]

Finally got into the barbarian properly... pretty good brutal fun and I love the massive dungeon levels.

 

Basically it's FIghTIng In TUNNelZ heaven.