I'm discussing the same issue on battlenet with posters there too, I think (and I knew this before I posted it) the issue is I have to go to the fricken AH for my gear, which I think royally sucks because I haven't found it in the game. So that is really my gripe here, I should be able to find everything I need in game. I'm in the Fields of Misery and I have found only 1 thing, some chest armor which stats are only partly better than my old armor in normal mode.
I have no interest in the AH, I have no plan on visiting Sanctuary's version of Ebay. I should be able to find adequate gear in the game, like both earlier versions of Diablo did, that would solve the problem right there. If Jay is so hell bent on people using the AH he could have at least integrated the feature with the merchants inside the game, that way at least you don't feel like you are being herded into some cheesy tool.
ORIGINAL POST 08/24/12
You should watch the youtube video (showing patch 1.0.4) before reading my comments.
When Diablo 1 launched in 98, I bought it and loved it. The game was entertaining; game-play scaled well keeping it interesting as I descended further down into the dungeon.
When Diablo 2 launched I bought that too, as before the game was entertaining and scaled well between each act and as you progressed from normal to nightmare. Hell mode was more than I cared for and I never bothered playing hardcore mode. I was happy with the normal and nightmare mode for a long time.
Diablo 3 launches, I play normal mode with all 5 characters first pass and I love it! Then I move onto nightmare mode, I quickly realize it’s a little tougher than nightmare mode in Diablo 2 but it’s still fun and think I’ll grow to like it. After taking out Leoric and moving onto the fields of misery it becomes apparent that the mini-bosses have crossed the line from challenging to just fricken ridiculous.
As you can see in the video I defeat them without dying, but instead of charging ahead with some challenge I have to fall back again and again to while firing on them. I don’t find this kind of game-play very fun at all, I’m supposed to be the !@# kicking hero of sanctuary; instead I’m the struggling hero who defeats my enemies by laughably beating them to death with my fly swatter while running for my life. It’s obvious my weapons and attacks do way too little damage.
Before anyone tells me I need to go to the auction house to buy better swag, or to build my character a special way, or play in a group setting understand I didn’t really need to do that in Diablo or Diablo 2. I don’t think I should have to go to the auction house to get good bling; I should be able to find that in the game like I always could before. I don’t think I should have to become character build expert to defeat nightmare mode, which was the original appeal to Diablo over other RPG games. I have a job and a lot of responsibilities, I don’t have time to obsess over my character build.
I love Diablo 3 normal mode. 10 years of anticipation and $320.00 buying a copy for me and each of my family, I kind of feel like I got robbed, it’s very disappointing.
This is why it is impossible for any game developer to tune a difficulty level that makes everyone happy.
The point they've tuned it at now has some players virtually falling asleep playing through normal and nightmare and sometimes even hell, whilst others honestly find those difficulty levels too difficult. Hell, I even remember early after release a thread on the forums that started with one player who quite honestly declared that he was disappointed with D3 because normal-mode Belial was literally impossible for him to beat.
p.s. if you "don’t have time to obsess over [your] character build".. if it's any consolation, when I got to the point where I really felt that I'd hit the wall, it took no more than five minutes of forum browsing and a couple of skill changes to get me moving forward again. I guarantee you that you can make things a lot easier without having to get into Elitist Jerks levels of spreadsheet crunching.
Similarly, I would say that unless you are deliberately aiming for a challenge mode - and it doesn't sound like you are - just go to the AH and buy a few pieces. At your level, even a few thousand gold will buy you massive upgrades. I'm not telling you to bust out the credit card and buy your way to power, just go an buy a weapon with double the DPS of your current one. You'll probably find hundreds of them for sale for not much more than their vendor price.
I understand that some people aren't happy about this game design decision, but as Blizzard said, loot drops are tuned around the idea that the AH is there for trading, if you choose not to use it you are deliberately choosing to play a challenge mode. It's probably on par with playing hardcore rather than regular mode.
The problem is very apparent there in your video. You have decent execution skills (despite missing some casts). You are simply extremely undergeared (and probably even underleveled) for that part of the game.
As an action rpg game it is pretty obvious that if you don't have the minimum necessary stats to overcome a certain challenge, you won't be able to, no matter how hard you try or how good your execution skills are. Some people managed to find builds that would allow them to overcome the Inferno gear check (which is heavy on Armor/Resists and sustainability) in the game's first weeks (Force Armor Wiz, Smokescreen DH, mass Serenity), but as a rule of thumb you should definitely only try to tackle content once you're geared for it.
If Diablo 3 was God of War or Zelda, all of us could simply refine our combat execution skills to the point where reflexes and timing allow us to take no damage (while dealing pretty much the same as in lower difficulties if I remember God of War correctly), that's kind of what happened with Wizards and DHs early on, they would kite enemies for a looong time, while using combat mechanics to simply avoid taking damage (instead of properly "tanking" it).
But it is not. The Diablo franchise has always had a very strong focus on its rpg side, which is why we have character customization, with stats, skills and gear. And if you played Diablo 1 and 2 that's one thing you probably know, as the combat mechanics were never very deep in those 2 games (it was more the rpg mechanics, imho).
Improve your equipment, not to the point you're godlike (although that is easily done in the lesser difficulties and you can 1 shot everything), but to the bare minimum necessary, specially on the DPS-side there; maybe even tweak the skill build to maximize damage; keep that in mind for the future (as you'll definitely need it for Hell/Inferno) and you'll be having fun in higher challenges in no time.
You don't use your hatred nearly enough, and therefore, you're relying on discipline abilities to do most of your work for you while you use Hungering Arrow to kill everything.
Chakram got a nice buff in 1.0.4. Elemental Arrow is a favorite (Ball Lightning or Nether Tentacles). Give them a whirl and try to save Hungering Arrow for generating hatred and not your main attack.
just try things out and experiment. You seem to have enough time to make videos and run for hours
no need to be obsessed, but at least try to make use of your resources.
It was Friday night and I was aggravated, I have a little time on Friday nights and all I want to do is unwind, open D3, and play. The problem is in the lame drops and Blizzard trying to herd everyone to the AH. My point is this, I should be able to find good enough drops in the game like both previous versions of Diablo. I shouldn't have to go to some AH for my swag.
Before anyone tells me I need to go to the auction house to buy better swag, or to build my character a special way, or play in a group setting understand I didn’t really need to do that in Diablo or Diablo 2. I don’t think I should have to go to the auction house to get good bling; I should be able to find that in the game like I always could before. I don’t think I should have to become character build expert to defeat nightmare mode, which was the original appeal to Diablo over other RPG games. I have a job and a lot of responsibilities, I don’t have time to obsess over my character build.
Before considering these options, you could :
1 - Use a follower
2 - Craft some gear ingame (I went 1-60 and killed Diablo in Hell without the AH and without coop)
If you're not going to use your gold for the AH, use it to craft. You're still using lvl 9 gloves ffs. It'll bring back fond memories of Gheed.
I left the follower out for the video on purpose. Craft more, I think so too, I'll party like it's 999.
I assumed you were trolling when you brought this up before. All I can make of a serious reply to this is the following:
1. I have self-geared all my characters but one and I don't play the character I actually spent gold in the AH on (my barb) anymore. The idea one is forced to utilize the AH is baseless in the extreme. It was not true before 1.0.4, and it certainly isn't true now.
2. Finding a skill combination that works for -nightmare- is less than difficult. Basically everything works assuming you are up to the appropriate level for the zone/difficulty you are in.
3. Post-patch there are few major departure from Diablo 2 gameplay at all in Diablo 3. The systemic changes to skills and the AH were quality of life fixes which allow you to spend -less- time trying a new build or trading for some other item you want, if you choose to do so. The small differences in gameplay don't really manifest until inferno mode and, once again, I think the patch has gone a long way to rendering this stair-step less than dramatic.
4. Demon hunters kite. You don't seem to like this approach, so play another class. Witch doctors have pets that can tank for you. Barbarians can simply wade in and take the punishment. Monks have a variety of skills to prevent themselves from taking damage while in melee range. I suggest one of those three.
Besides, why do i remember that in d2 the drops were 99.9% crap just like in d3? I remember that in order to finish hell on single player i had to do a good ammount of mf runs... just like in d3, if you do mf runs you will find something good eventually. The auction house becomes really important when you find a piece of good gear for a different class than yours. In d2 non ladder i had tons of runes and shit that allowed me to "buy" items for every new character that i want to level up, exactly like the auction house in d3 but this time around its actually a stand alone, built in system in the game. I cant complain.
I'm discussing the same issue on battlenet with posters there too, I think (and I knew this before I posted it) the issue is I have to go to the fricken AH for my gear, which I think royally sucks because I haven't found it in the game. So that is really my gripe here, I should be able to find everything I need in game. I'm in the Fields of Misery and I have found only 1 thing, some chest armor which stats are only partly better than my old armor in normal mode.
I have no interest in the AH, I have no plan on visiting Sanctuary's version of Ebay. I should be able to find adequate gear in the game, like both earlier versions of Diablo did, that would solve the problem right there. If Jay is so hell bent on people using the AH he could have at least integrated the feature with the merchants inside the game, that way at least you don't feel like you are being herded into some cheesy tool.
ORIGINAL POST 08/24/12
You should watch the youtube video (showing patch 1.0.4) before reading my comments.
When Diablo 1 launched in 98, I bought it and loved it. The game was entertaining; game-play scaled well keeping it interesting as I descended further down into the dungeon.
When Diablo 2 launched I bought that too, as before the game was entertaining and scaled well between each act and as you progressed from normal to nightmare. Hell mode was more than I cared for and I never bothered playing hardcore mode. I was happy with the normal and nightmare mode for a long time.
Diablo 3 launches, I play normal mode with all 5 characters first pass and I love it! Then I move onto nightmare mode, I quickly realize it’s a little tougher than nightmare mode in Diablo 2 but it’s still fun and think I’ll grow to like it. After taking out Leoric and moving onto the fields of misery it becomes apparent that the mini-bosses have crossed the line from challenging to just fricken ridiculous.
As you can see in the video I defeat them without dying, but instead of charging ahead with some challenge I have to fall back again and again to while firing on them. I don’t find this kind of game-play very fun at all, I’m supposed to be the !@# kicking hero of sanctuary; instead I’m the struggling hero who defeats my enemies by laughably beating them to death with my fly swatter while running for my life. It’s obvious my weapons and attacks do way too little damage.
Before anyone tells me I need to go to the auction house to buy better swag, or to build my character a special way, or play in a group setting understand I didn’t really need to do that in Diablo or Diablo 2. I don’t think I should have to go to the auction house to get good bling; I should be able to find that in the game like I always could before. I don’t think I should have to become character build expert to defeat nightmare mode, which was the original appeal to Diablo over other RPG games. I have a job and a lot of responsibilities, I don’t have time to obsess over my character build.
I love Diablo 3 normal mode. 10 years of anticipation and $320.00 buying a copy for me and each of my family, I kind of feel like I got robbed, it’s very disappointing.
Bud you're.... you're playing your DH all wrong. A few things;
A. Unless they have the fast affix or are a fast type mob, you don't need vault (although the ToC rune is fucking OP right now =P ). I suggest if you want to slow them down / get away from the enemy you pick either only vaulting, only laying down caltrops, or entangling shot. Don't use more than one since it's kind of redundant, unless for a specific build.
B. You need to learn to stutter step. If using your LMB it's shift + LMB in the direction of the enemy (don't waste time trying to mouse over them) moving and then repeating, very rapidly. If it's any other button don't use shift. This is best with a bow or a 2 handed xbow as you are utilizing the time between attacks to move, which is bigger with these weapons. It's still possible and even viable with 1 handed xbows though.
C. While nightmare mode is super easy, some skills just don't make sense to use while leveling up. Such as Rain of Vengeance. It's a fun skill but (while I only watched the first minute or two) I don't see you use it, and without high DPS the cooldown / % weapon damage ratio just doesn't work out.
D. You don't have to use the AH, at all. Me and a buddy at launch made it to inferno on drops alone, and on vendors. Check your local vendors whenever you enter a game. Until you hit inferno all you need to be worried about it + dex gear, and maybe some + vita. Even though NM is easy, if you are still running normal mode gear it's going to take you forever. It's obvious you need some upgrades to progress, and D2 was just the same. I very highly doubt you've gone all the way to nightmare so far without any upgrades dropping since early normal.
E. Spenders. Frost arrow is a good choice especially since you have a fast weapon, since attacks such as cluster arrow just don't hit as hard. Other possibilities I would look at would be twin chakrams, ball lightning, piercing impale ect.
TLDR;
Your skills need work.
Check vendors for upgrades if you can't find any drops (which I doubt since everyone and their mother can find single stat drops for upgrades)
Learn to stutter step.
Some classes aren't for everyone.
I'm probably going to be forced to use the AH which we should not have to use.
Everyone has made great points and D3 will probably stay the way it is. Maybe the problem is I'm 46, I don't give a rats ass about tweaking my character I just want to come home after a long hard day of work and relax to a game that makes me feel good. D1 and D2 always accomplished the mission, I played the f*** out of those games.
In D2 I was able to defeat normal mode and I knew I could always defeat nightmare doing nothing special or different except adding a little extra care and effort. The elites were tougher and sometimes I had to retreat but not so much tougher that I had to shoot or beat them repeatedly to the point of absurdity. The gear I found was always good enough. I got what I wanted out of those games.
In D3 that simple approach clearly has changed, I think I'll just assert it is fact. I feel robbed of a level, I don't want to be a Diablo expert, I just want to relax and play my favorite game LOL! As it stands nightmare only makes me tense, so now I have to go and read more about this game than I care to figure out how to not get chased all over hell as the underdog hero [mini tantrum].
OK, all said, it's just a game... that I waited 10 years for and spent $320 bucks on... so this is my one soapbox whine. Now if someone has an wanga doll of Jay Wilson, I would love to put a few pins in that thing so he gets the point
L O L at the OP, u should easy do nm/hell wihout AH, if u cant, ur just plain bad at what ur doing
And, normal isnt even the "game", its more of an preview of the fun to come in Hell and Inferno, dont judge the game cause ur to stubborn to play with others or spend some gold on AH
I and a friend got thru to Hell till we needed AH
Use AH and play with friends, the game becomes SOOO much more fun, and using AH isnt much different from going:
"O HRs, N barb stuff" in D2 lobby
I think is just how video games are in 2012. You can't expect the single difficulty setting to appease all of the player base. And so the result is those of us (me included) have to go the internet for tips, tricks, and sometimes power trading. And Diablo 3 is full of difficulty brick walls. I ran into lots of then. I couldn't progress in inferno before 10.4. After they raised the repair costs I just couldn't sustain it. Now I can farm Act 1 Inferno. And I never cleared nightmare in D2 (only ever played solo/LAN, never online)
Honestly I think the whole game is really based around the auction house. They want to make money off of the real money side. And rightly so, they should make all the money then can and keep making great games. I'm not going to let the auction house steal all my fun.
Ok, I read the first post, this is ridiculous. Maybe you lost your gaming skills in the last 10 years, but if you can't do NM with self found gear, something is wrong, and it's not wrong with the game.
Remember what you did in D2 when you died to often? You went back one act, farmed a bit, and then go on. Works here too, at least up to and through Hell. With 1.0.4 I would even claim that you can eventually clear Inferno with self found gear, if you include crafting and a lot of time farming.
Also... why would you buy 4 collectors editions? Got carried away a bit here? And since you "love Diablo 3 normal mode", why do you still feel robbed?
OK you got me I'm fricken Deckard Cain and all I want is for you stay a while and listen.
My game play isn't that bad, in the video the issue is my gear, everything I have on her is what I have found. I'm vaulting all over because the damage I inflict is on par with a fly swatter. I can't even slow the elites down. I've played the Monk, WD once through, the DH, Barb, and Wiz twice through (176 hours in all) and that is the best gear I have found for the DH. How many times through must one go before getting some real gear?
OK, all said, it's just a game... that I waited 10 years for and spent $320 bucks on... so this is my one soapbox whine. Now if someone has an wanga doll of Jay Wilson, I would love to put a few pins in that thing so he gets the point
Hmm. I'm concerned that you spent $320 on this game, for starters. How did you manage that? Buy 5 and 1/3 copies? Or are you rolling a high-end graphics card - which the game absolutely does NOT need - into that figure? Dual core processors with a sub-$100 card can play the game on high settings. I know because I have friends who do just that.
Secondly, I'm going to be 30 in a month, have a wife, an eleven year old and a four year old. I have a home, a job, two greyhounds and likely more responsibilities than you do (baseless assumption, but you didn't mention children, so...). That said, it takes five minutes to google a good build for any character and significantly less than 10,000 gold per item to gear yourself well for HELL MODE DIFFICULTY. Shit, you can get 1000+ dps bows ALL DAY for under 10,000 gold. If you have time and effort to be complaining on a message board, you absolutely have time to look up a build and learn the rudiments of the auction house.
The auction house isn't some occult temple meant to destroy the foundation of what you remember Diablo to be all about. If it's scary or, for some reason, ideologically foul to you, you can absolutely drop-find your way through act1 Inferno. I'm not great at this game and I didn't play with my brother or friends until I got stuck in Inferno. I didn't use the auction house very much at all because, like you, something in me was irritated that there was a separate function involved in finding the best loot.
Then I remembered how "awesome" it was having to wait for trade games in D2; having to not get fucked by scammers; having to beat out richer players or faster players in games where people farmed with no care for drops; how many Baal runs you'd have to do between level 8x and 8x+1.
We romanticize D2 because we find certain parts of D3 lacking. That doesn't, however, necessarily reflect on the game at hand.
And, honestly, you're quite terrible at this game, at least with the Demon Hunter. You seem oblivious to fundamental concepts of the class and are geared with things that would barely take a person through Normal Leoric (gloves, bro. Gloves), much less nightmare.
If fun is all your interested in, kick around normal some more, but if you're going to play like THAT, don't you dare suggest that Blizzard has done something wrong with a difficulty curve that, quite honestly, lacked a lot until act3 Hell.
Before anyone tells me I need to go to the auction house to buy better swag, or to build my character a special way, or play in a group setting understand I didn’t really need to do that in Diablo or Diablo 2.
I am pretty sure this isn't Diablo 1 or 2. So how exactly does it makes sense that you should not have to do these things in Diablo 3 when it isn't the same game? People really need to remove their heads from their asses and realize THIS IS NOT A D2 CLONE.
I am pretty sure this isn't Diablo 1 or 2. So how exactly does it makes sense that you should not have to do these things in Diablo 3 when it isn't the same game? People really need to remove their heads from their asses and realize THIS IS NOT A D2 CLONE.
So faithful fans who have bought, played, loved, the Diablo series for 14 years shouldn't expect game-play consistency between games is what you are saying? Really now?
You do realize that it was the faithful fans who made each subsequent game even possible. Lose your base of fans and kiss your game goodbye. Why do you think people eagerly anticipate the next version of the game they came to love?
Do you still remember the difference between D1 and D2 then? In D1, every class can learn all the spells from tomes and in D2 it is no longer possible, you call that consistent game-play? Games evolves over time, it is not a bad thing that every sequel has its new taste. If you want some help, post your profiles and then others can see what is the problem. DH is THE class all about damage and in your video your crit damage is lower than my WD normal damage in same difficulty, same act. There is something seriously wrong there.
One thing was consistent between D1 and D2, what you found dungeon crawling worked well enough to get you through the game. You also didn't need to special mod your character to progress. That's not true in D3, regardless what a few uber-gamers here have said to the contrary trying to elevate themselves by simply saying I just suck and the game is child play. That's just untrue trash talk.
I think maybe some of the younger newer D3 players are too young to recall what made the Diablo series so popular. A lot of people who wanted to dungeon crawl at the time were complaining about RPG's that were bogged down with too many details to be fun, Diablo was the answer to that. I think Jay Wilson lost sight of that or just ignored it.
Funny thing is I have a number of friends who game all the time and hate D3 and thought D2 was better, oddly enough their reason is different than mine. They think the skill tree blows and don't like the overall feel of the game, yet we both agree D2 in many ways was better.
You can find gear good enough to progress through Normal and Nightmare in your play sessions. I've done it with one of my alternates, and even with him (funny enough my DH) the gear check felt extremely easy, and I was definitely able to tackle on more than 1 champion pack at once (would do it to boost exp gain). I can't say the same for Hell, as I started using the AH to speed up my leveling then.
You cannot possibly be so unlucky as to not get upgrade by just playing (specially on those levels, during which the affixes upgrade by considerable amounts from one ilvl to another). You can also use the Blacksmith easily with the resources you've collected so far (gold and materials) and improve your chances of getting better items with him, or do you want to ignore him as well? He's a very powerful feature for those not wanting to use the AH.
I'm almost starting to think you're just trolling everyone, sometimes seeming to ignore every piece of good argument and advice we're giving you (both here and on the official forums).
And what people mean by saying you need to improve is that if you can't possibly, at all, get past Nightmare without difficulty, whereas lots of people have easily (even without the AH), maybe the increased difficulties in D3 are too much for your gaming capabilties and you just need to try something else.
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ORIGINAL POST 08/24/12
The point they've tuned it at now has some players virtually falling asleep playing through normal and nightmare and sometimes even hell, whilst others honestly find those difficulty levels too difficult. Hell, I even remember early after release a thread on the forums that started with one player who quite honestly declared that he was disappointed with D3 because normal-mode Belial was literally impossible for him to beat.
p.s. if you "don’t have time to obsess over [your] character build".. if it's any consolation, when I got to the point where I really felt that I'd hit the wall, it took no more than five minutes of forum browsing and a couple of skill changes to get me moving forward again. I guarantee you that you can make things a lot easier without having to get into Elitist Jerks levels of spreadsheet crunching.
Similarly, I would say that unless you are deliberately aiming for a challenge mode - and it doesn't sound like you are - just go to the AH and buy a few pieces. At your level, even a few thousand gold will buy you massive upgrades. I'm not telling you to bust out the credit card and buy your way to power, just go an buy a weapon with double the DPS of your current one. You'll probably find hundreds of them for sale for not much more than their vendor price.
I understand that some people aren't happy about this game design decision, but as Blizzard said, loot drops are tuned around the idea that the AH is there for trading, if you choose not to use it you are deliberately choosing to play a challenge mode. It's probably on par with playing hardcore rather than regular mode.
As an action rpg game it is pretty obvious that if you don't have the minimum necessary stats to overcome a certain challenge, you won't be able to, no matter how hard you try or how good your execution skills are. Some people managed to find builds that would allow them to overcome the Inferno gear check (which is heavy on Armor/Resists and sustainability) in the game's first weeks (Force Armor Wiz, Smokescreen DH, mass Serenity), but as a rule of thumb you should definitely only try to tackle content once you're geared for it.
If Diablo 3 was God of War or Zelda, all of us could simply refine our combat execution skills to the point where reflexes and timing allow us to take no damage (while dealing pretty much the same as in lower difficulties if I remember God of War correctly), that's kind of what happened with Wizards and DHs early on, they would kite enemies for a looong time, while using combat mechanics to simply avoid taking damage (instead of properly "tanking" it).
But it is not. The Diablo franchise has always had a very strong focus on its rpg side, which is why we have character customization, with stats, skills and gear. And if you played Diablo 1 and 2 that's one thing you probably know, as the combat mechanics were never very deep in those 2 games (it was more the rpg mechanics, imho).
Improve your equipment, not to the point you're godlike (although that is easily done in the lesser difficulties and you can 1 shot everything), but to the bare minimum necessary, specially on the DPS-side there; maybe even tweak the skill build to maximize damage; keep that in mind for the future (as you'll definitely need it for Hell/Inferno) and you'll be having fun in higher challenges in no time.
Chakram got a nice buff in 1.0.4. Elemental Arrow is a favorite (Ball Lightning or Nether Tentacles). Give them a whirl and try to save Hungering Arrow for generating hatred and not your main attack.
I left the follower out for the video on purpose. Craft more, I think so too, I'll party like it's 999.
1. I have self-geared all my characters but one and I don't play the character I actually spent gold in the AH on (my barb) anymore. The idea one is forced to utilize the AH is baseless in the extreme. It was not true before 1.0.4, and it certainly isn't true now.
2. Finding a skill combination that works for -nightmare- is less than difficult. Basically everything works assuming you are up to the appropriate level for the zone/difficulty you are in.
3. Post-patch there are few major departure from Diablo 2 gameplay at all in Diablo 3. The systemic changes to skills and the AH were quality of life fixes which allow you to spend -less- time trying a new build or trading for some other item you want, if you choose to do so. The small differences in gameplay don't really manifest until inferno mode and, once again, I think the patch has gone a long way to rendering this stair-step less than dramatic.
4. Demon hunters kite. You don't seem to like this approach, so play another class. Witch doctors have pets that can tank for you. Barbarians can simply wade in and take the punishment. Monks have a variety of skills to prevent themselves from taking damage while in melee range. I suggest one of those three.
Besides, why do i remember that in d2 the drops were 99.9% crap just like in d3? I remember that in order to finish hell on single player i had to do a good ammount of mf runs... just like in d3, if you do mf runs you will find something good eventually. The auction house becomes really important when you find a piece of good gear for a different class than yours. In d2 non ladder i had tons of runes and shit that allowed me to "buy" items for every new character that i want to level up, exactly like the auction house in d3 but this time around its actually a stand alone, built in system in the game. I cant complain.
Bud you're.... you're playing your DH all wrong. A few things;
A. Unless they have the fast affix or are a fast type mob, you don't need vault (although the ToC rune is fucking OP right now =P ). I suggest if you want to slow them down / get away from the enemy you pick either only vaulting, only laying down caltrops, or entangling shot. Don't use more than one since it's kind of redundant, unless for a specific build.
B. You need to learn to stutter step. If using your LMB it's shift + LMB in the direction of the enemy (don't waste time trying to mouse over them) moving and then repeating, very rapidly. If it's any other button don't use shift. This is best with a bow or a 2 handed xbow as you are utilizing the time between attacks to move, which is bigger with these weapons. It's still possible and even viable with 1 handed xbows though.
C. While nightmare mode is super easy, some skills just don't make sense to use while leveling up. Such as Rain of Vengeance. It's a fun skill but (while I only watched the first minute or two) I don't see you use it, and without high DPS the cooldown / % weapon damage ratio just doesn't work out.
D. You don't have to use the AH, at all. Me and a buddy at launch made it to inferno on drops alone, and on vendors. Check your local vendors whenever you enter a game. Until you hit inferno all you need to be worried about it + dex gear, and maybe some + vita. Even though NM is easy, if you are still running normal mode gear it's going to take you forever. It's obvious you need some upgrades to progress, and D2 was just the same. I very highly doubt you've gone all the way to nightmare so far without any upgrades dropping since early normal.
E. Spenders. Frost arrow is a good choice especially since you have a fast weapon, since attacks such as cluster arrow just don't hit as hard. Other possibilities I would look at would be twin chakrams, ball lightning, piercing impale ect.
TLDR;
Your skills need work.
Check vendors for upgrades if you can't find any drops (which I doubt since everyone and their mother can find single stat drops for upgrades)
Learn to stutter step.
Some classes aren't for everyone.
I think you are right, they were crap but your weapons and armor seemed to only modestly add to your character, as I recall.
Yes I'm sure you are right, but that really goes to my point which I make at the bottom.
I'm probably going to be forced to use the AH which we should not have to use.
Everyone has made great points and D3 will probably stay the way it is. Maybe the problem is I'm 46, I don't give a rats ass about tweaking my character I just want to come home after a long hard day of work and relax to a game that makes me feel good. D1 and D2 always accomplished the mission, I played the f*** out of those games.
In D2 I was able to defeat normal mode and I knew I could always defeat nightmare doing nothing special or different except adding a little extra care and effort. The elites were tougher and sometimes I had to retreat but not so much tougher that I had to shoot or beat them repeatedly to the point of absurdity. The gear I found was always good enough. I got what I wanted out of those games.
In D3 that simple approach clearly has changed, I think I'll just assert it is fact. I feel robbed of a level, I don't want to be a Diablo expert, I just want to relax and play my favorite game LOL! As it stands nightmare only makes me tense, so now I have to go and read more about this game than I care to figure out how to not get chased all over hell as the underdog hero [mini tantrum].
OK, all said, it's just a game... that I waited 10 years for and spent $320 bucks on... so this is my one soapbox whine. Now if someone has an wanga doll of Jay Wilson, I would love to put a few pins in that thing so he gets the point
And, normal isnt even the "game", its more of an preview of the fun to come in Hell and Inferno, dont judge the game cause ur to stubborn to play with others or spend some gold on AH
I and a friend got thru to Hell till we needed AH
Use AH and play with friends, the game becomes SOOO much more fun, and using AH isnt much different from going:
"O HRs, N barb stuff" in D2 lobby
Honestly I think the whole game is really based around the auction house. They want to make money off of the real money side. And rightly so, they should make all the money then can and keep making great games. I'm not going to let the auction house steal all my fun.
Why two DH's?
My game play isn't that bad, in the video the issue is my gear, everything I have on her is what I have found. I'm vaulting all over because the damage I inflict is on par with a fly swatter. I can't even slow the elites down. I've played the Monk, WD once through, the DH, Barb, and Wiz twice through (176 hours in all) and that is the best gear I have found for the DH. How many times through must one go before getting some real gear?
I LUV me some
Hmm. I'm concerned that you spent $320 on this game, for starters. How did you manage that? Buy 5 and 1/3 copies? Or are you rolling a high-end graphics card - which the game absolutely does NOT need - into that figure? Dual core processors with a sub-$100 card can play the game on high settings. I know because I have friends who do just that.
Secondly, I'm going to be 30 in a month, have a wife, an eleven year old and a four year old. I have a home, a job, two greyhounds and likely more responsibilities than you do (baseless assumption, but you didn't mention children, so...). That said, it takes five minutes to google a good build for any character and significantly less than 10,000 gold per item to gear yourself well for HELL MODE DIFFICULTY. Shit, you can get 1000+ dps bows ALL DAY for under 10,000 gold. If you have time and effort to be complaining on a message board, you absolutely have time to look up a build and learn the rudiments of the auction house.
The auction house isn't some occult temple meant to destroy the foundation of what you remember Diablo to be all about. If it's scary or, for some reason, ideologically foul to you, you can absolutely drop-find your way through act1 Inferno. I'm not great at this game and I didn't play with my brother or friends until I got stuck in Inferno. I didn't use the auction house very much at all because, like you, something in me was irritated that there was a separate function involved in finding the best loot.
Then I remembered how "awesome" it was having to wait for trade games in D2; having to not get fucked by scammers; having to beat out richer players or faster players in games where people farmed with no care for drops; how many Baal runs you'd have to do between level 8x and 8x+1.
We romanticize D2 because we find certain parts of D3 lacking. That doesn't, however, necessarily reflect on the game at hand.
And, honestly, you're quite terrible at this game, at least with the Demon Hunter. You seem oblivious to fundamental concepts of the class and are geared with things that would barely take a person through Normal Leoric (gloves, bro. Gloves), much less nightmare.
If fun is all your interested in, kick around normal some more, but if you're going to play like THAT, don't you dare suggest that Blizzard has done something wrong with a difficulty curve that, quite honestly, lacked a lot until act3 Hell.
/soapbox
1. buying a beta key
2. buying gold
I am pretty sure this isn't Diablo 1 or 2. So how exactly does it makes sense that you should not have to do these things in Diablo 3 when it isn't the same game? People really need to remove their heads from their asses and realize THIS IS NOT A D2 CLONE.
1 copy for my wife (she quit after a week)
1 copy for son (sitting on his desk still in the shrink wrap)
1 Collectors Edition copy for me
So faithful fans who have bought, played, loved, the Diablo series for 14 years shouldn't expect game-play consistency between games is what you are saying? Really now?
You do realize that it was the faithful fans who made each subsequent game even possible. Lose your base of fans and kiss your game goodbye. Why do you think people eagerly anticipate the next version of the game they came to love?
One thing was consistent between D1 and D2, what you found dungeon crawling worked well enough to get you through the game. You also didn't need to special mod your character to progress. That's not true in D3, regardless what a few uber-gamers here have said to the contrary trying to elevate themselves by simply saying I just suck and the game is child play. That's just untrue trash talk.
I think maybe some of the younger newer D3 players are too young to recall what made the Diablo series so popular. A lot of people who wanted to dungeon crawl at the time were complaining about RPG's that were bogged down with too many details to be fun, Diablo was the answer to that. I think Jay Wilson lost sight of that or just ignored it.
Funny thing is I have a number of friends who game all the time and hate D3 and thought D2 was better, oddly enough their reason is different than mine. They think the skill tree blows and don't like the overall feel of the game, yet we both agree D2 in many ways was better.
How exactly does that total up to 320 dollars?
You cannot possibly be so unlucky as to not get upgrade by just playing (specially on those levels, during which the affixes upgrade by considerable amounts from one ilvl to another). You can also use the Blacksmith easily with the resources you've collected so far (gold and materials) and improve your chances of getting better items with him, or do you want to ignore him as well? He's a very powerful feature for those not wanting to use the AH.
I'm almost starting to think you're just trolling everyone, sometimes seeming to ignore every piece of good argument and advice we're giving you (both here and on the official forums).
And what people mean by saying you need to improve is that if you can't possibly, at all, get past Nightmare without difficulty, whereas lots of people have easily (even without the AH), maybe the increased difficulties in D3 are too much for your gaming capabilties and you just need to try something else.