This week a spent several days maxing out every class and obtaining every achievement. Here are my tips and observations.
5 Tips for Launch Day:
Select “Elective Mode” in Options. I overlooked this at first because I didn’t know it was there. This will allow you to fully customize all of you skills and toolbars.
Invest ALL your gold and resources into your blacksmith. Crafting will be the best source for gear. Craft selectively based on your biggest slot need.
Select purely DPS skills, attributes, gear. Normal difficulty is going to be so easy that you want to maximize your killing efficiency. I maxed out all 5 classes to level 13 without dying once. For the boss fights, if needed, you can always temporarily swap out for some defensive and buffing skills before the fight.
Play in a group for the best drops.
Witch Doctor’s Soul Harvest is not OP. I admit this is the most powerful skill in beta, however do not assume it will be the best skill for the full game (or that WD is the best class). We don’t know how this + intelligence will scale up with leveling. The DPS boost for a level 50 character could likely be much less than a level 10 character.
5 Opinions from Beta:
D3 feels exactly like D2. Except with a predictable facelift to the graphics and UI.
GameSpot Review predication: 8.5 – 9.0. The game has been in development for so long and expectations have been so high, I just do not see it scoring any better than a 9.0. There is nothing groundbreaking (e.g. no PVP) about this game. Torchlight has already incorporated many of the innovative ARPG concepts that made the Diablo 3 announcement so exciting back in 2008. Yup it has been 4 years already.
D3 will be perfect for a console. You literally can play the whole game with just a mouse. It is mindless hack & slash. Expect D3 to be on PS3 and XBOX within 12 months.
Too many barrels, urns, bookshelves etc. The amount of interactive junk in the dungeons almost seems silly. The only yield tiny amounts of gold so what is the point? I think they should reduce the amount of interactive junk and increase the potential for a drop so players don’t ignore it.
Barb was the most fun. The barb felt like an invincible cannonball--leaping into the fray and destroying everything in the way. For me at least, this seems like what a fast paced ARPG should feel like.
Your own drops are exactly the same in a group or solo. The differences are that in groups you *may* have higher killing speed, but with bad group members you will actually kill slower and acquire less gear. If your group knows what they're doing, however, with 4 players of different classes you can trade gear to each other for your specific classes and funnel each other gear that would otherwise be useless.
I would actually prefer not to play in groups, at least for the first time through the game. I believe being in a group, not including with your friends, will lead to missing 90% of the story.
1. Elective mode is not needed for at least the first 20 lvls. The game is setup with particular skill types. Ie you don't need plague of toads and poison dart since you can only spam one.
2. The BS only makes the best gear in the beta because you can progress him farther than you can your own character. On e past 13, you will find better gear than he can craft.
3. I will agree the dmg gear is the best but you know everyone will stack MF particularly in normal since massive dmg is not really needed. Better to go for the items while you can sacrifice the DPS
4. Groups will be better. It more for killing speed than drops. Especially if playing in a PUG, most players won't be sharing loot. So the drops remain the same as SP. just more if you can kill quicker.
5. Not sure if you're telling people not pick up the skill. I don't see why not, it's an awesome skill to add to your spam and power move. Add with dogs and that leaves you open to cast your two most powerful skills
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This week a spent several days maxing out every class and obtaining every achievement. Here are my tips and observations.
5 Tips for Launch Day:
Select “Elective Mode” in Options. I overlooked this at first because I didn’t know it was there. This will allow you to fully customize all of you skills and toolbars.
Invest ALL your gold and resources into your blacksmith. Crafting will be the best source for gear. Craft selectively based on your biggest slot need.
Select purely DPS skills, attributes, gear. Normal difficulty is going to be so easy that you want to maximize your killing efficiency. I maxed out all 5 classes to level 13 without dying once. For the boss fights, if needed, you can always temporarily swap out for some defensive and buffing skills before the fight.
Play in a group for the best drops.
Witch Doctor’s Soul Harvest is not OP. I admit this is the most powerful skill in beta, however do not assume it will be the best skill for the full game (or that WD is the best class). We don’t know how this + intelligence will scale up with leveling. The DPS boost for a level 50 character could likely be much less than a level 10 character.
5 Opinions from Beta:
D3 feels exactly like D2. Except with a predictable facelift to the graphics and UI.
GameSpot Review predication: 8.5 – 9.0. The game has been in development for so long and expectations have been so high, I just do not see it scoring any better than a 9.0. There is nothing groundbreaking (e.g. no PVP) about this game. Torchlight has already incorporated many of the innovative ARPG concepts that made the Diablo 3 announcement so exciting back in 2008. Yup it has been 4 years already.
D3 will be perfect for a console. You literally can play the whole game with just a mouse. It is mindless hack & slash. Expect D3 to be on PS3 and XBOX within 12 months.
Too many barrels, urns, bookshelves etc. The amount of interactive junk in the dungeons almost seems silly. The only yield tiny amounts of gold so what is the point? I think they should reduce the amount of interactive junk and increase the potential for a drop so players don’t ignore it.
Barb was the most fun. The barb felt like an invincible cannonball--leaping into the fray and destroying everything in the way. For me at least, this seems like what a fast paced ARPG should feel like.
Tip 3 is absolutely wrong, you don't need to stack damage for the early game, you are much better served by stacking metastats, particularly +XP per kill. It's only possible to guess at the relative difficulty through normal, but it's likely that you would be better served by having an extra level or two of XP at the end then a bunch of damage items you will inevitably sell. Magicfind and goldfind are good too. Combat stats just aren't required, at least not in the beta, and what you need you will get from levels/non XP secondary stats.
As for your opinions, well, they are YOUR opinions, but I disagree with every single one of them.
Yeah I agree. Too much to destroy for too little reward.
Besides the initial kill of SK, all the rares I've seen drop from the game for me have come from barrels. I'm almost obsessed to smash every single one for that chance. The bookshelves will have more importance later on with the addition of blacksmithing pages needed for leveling up.
1. Elective mode is not needed for at least the first 20 lvls. The game is setup with particular skill types. Ie you don't need plague of toads and poison dart since you can only spam one.
disagree there, some classes actually have it where doubling some types can be helpful.
I can think the wizard and demon hunter right off the top of my head.
DH with the impale runed and rapid fire is one quick example, but there are a lot of cases of this where being able to do that is very helpful, even in first 20 levels
Too many barrels, urns, bookshelves etc. The amount of interactive junk in the dungeons almost seems silly. The only yield tiny amounts of gold so what is the point? I think they should reduce the amount of interactive junk and increase the potential for a drop so players don’t ignore it.
To me thats part of diablo and I love that there is so much stuff. Keep in mind when your MF goes up, the better chane there is for things to drop (or gold find) best items can come from them, so the more the better
Play in a group for the best drops.
not true as of d3, in fact depending on how the group has their mf, could be less drops. (but kills go faster) so its a mix/mix but i would not come out and just say that
O HAI GUSY I PLAYD TEH FIRST 45 MINUTS OF THE GAME LAL AND NOW I M AN EXPRT!!!!1111
seriously?
He's just giving advice for the people that haven't got to play yet. Some people do agree some don't. I said i agree with most but i would add get +xp gear i dont think mf will be needed for normal.
O HAI GUSY I PLAYD TEH FIRST 45 MINUTS OF THE GAME LAL AND NOW I M AN EXPRT!!!!1111
seriously?
Two things: first, he didn't say he was an expert. Second, he did level up all the characters to max and get all the achievements in the latest beta patch; to me, those're some good qualifications for posting tips/opinions for people who haven't played the beta, which is all he did. I would guess that a lot of people who post tips/opinions haven't done this is the latest patch, and that's okay too, but it certainly gives the OP an edge, in my opinion.
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i would choose my own religion and worship my own spirit, but if he ever preached to me i wouldn't want to hear it. i'd drop him, a forgotten god, languishing in shame; and then if i hit stormy seas, i'd have myself to blame.
Hate to break it to you OP, but probably half of this forum has the beta and has played it extensively. I agree with a lot of the things you're saying, but I have to wholeheartedly disagree with your quip about the breakable objects. I think a blue said it best when he explained how your view of the game will change the first time you see a legendary come flying out of a bookshelf.
not true as of d3, in fact depending on how the group has their mf, could be less drops. (but kills go faster) so its a mix/mix but i would not come out and just say that
So the MF% is averaged between party members(say my MF was at 30% but my party members were all at 20, then it makes my MF go to 22.5)? I was under the impression that it was additive.
not true as of d3, in fact depending on how the group has their mf, could be less drops. (but kills go faster) so its a mix/mix but i would not come out and just say that
So the MF% is averaged between party members(say my MF was at 30% but my party members were all at 20, then it makes my MF go to 22.5)? I was under the impression that it was additive.
I think he was more refering to that in a group on your first kill you'll get 8 rare drops compared to 2. Now that is only if your group is gearing each other out but thats definately better odds in my book.
I think he was more refering to that in a group on your first kill you'll get 8 rare drops compared to 2. Now that is only if your group is gearing each other out but thats definately better odds in my book.
yeah but if you have friends you're already going to be playing with them.
Just the general "Go with a group" (aka use the match making system for example) does not equal more loot just like that. it takes people working together.. ect
thats all I was pointing out, its "Playing with people on a team that will work as a team" will be faster, but just a "group" not always true
I think he was more refering to that in a group on your first kill you'll get 8 rare drops compared to 2. Now that is only if your group is gearing each other out but thats definately better odds in my book.
yeah but if you have friends you're already going to be playing with them.
Just the general "Go with a group" (aka use the match making system for example) does not equal more loot just like that. it takes people working together.. ect
thats all I was pointing out, its "Playing with people on a team that will work as a team" will be faster, but just a "group" not always true
Invest ALL your gold and resources into your blacksmith. Crafting will be the best source for gear. Craft selectively based on your biggest slot need.
This is one is simply not true, you really gotta be careful with how you spend your gold, I proved to myself last night that trying to get your BS to level 4 right away is a BAADDDD mistake.
I just spent 10k gold or so ont he BS went to the vendor to see if his stock changed and saw this....
Thats not all, I didn't take a screenshot, but that same vendor had +5 dex/6%MF rings...so overneathe and myself hatched a plan, I would stay in game afk, while he went and got the 15k gold we both needed for 4 of the crossbows and 4 of the rings
5 Tips for Launch Day:
Your own drops are exactly the same in a group or solo. The differences are that in groups you *may* have higher killing speed, but with bad group members you will actually kill slower and acquire less gear. If your group knows what they're doing, however, with 4 players of different classes you can trade gear to each other for your specific classes and funnel each other gear that would otherwise be useless.
2. The BS only makes the best gear in the beta because you can progress him farther than you can your own character. On e past 13, you will find better gear than he can craft.
3. I will agree the dmg gear is the best but you know everyone will stack MF particularly in normal since massive dmg is not really needed. Better to go for the items while you can sacrifice the DPS
4. Groups will be better. It more for killing speed than drops. Especially if playing in a PUG, most players won't be sharing loot. So the drops remain the same as SP. just more if you can kill quicker.
5. Not sure if you're telling people not pick up the skill. I don't see why not, it's an awesome skill to add to your spam and power move. Add with dogs and that leaves you open to cast your two most powerful skills
Find any Diablo news? Contact me or anyone else on the News team
Tip 3 is absolutely wrong, you don't need to stack damage for the early game, you are much better served by stacking metastats, particularly +XP per kill. It's only possible to guess at the relative difficulty through normal, but it's likely that you would be better served by having an extra level or two of XP at the end then a bunch of damage items you will inevitably sell. Magicfind and goldfind are good too. Combat stats just aren't required, at least not in the beta, and what you need you will get from levels/non XP secondary stats.
As for your opinions, well, they are YOUR opinions, but I disagree with every single one of them.
Besides the initial kill of SK, all the rares I've seen drop from the game for me have come from barrels. I'm almost obsessed to smash every single one for that chance. The bookshelves will have more importance later on with the addition of blacksmithing pages needed for leveling up.
Battle.net Profile / Diablo Progress Profile
disagree there, some classes actually have it where doubling some types can be helpful.
I can think the wizard and demon hunter right off the top of my head.
DH with the impale runed and rapid fire is one quick example, but there are a lot of cases of this where being able to do that is very helpful, even in first 20 levels
To me thats part of diablo and I love that there is so much stuff. Keep in mind when your MF goes up, the better chane there is for things to drop (or gold find) best items can come from them, so the more the better
not true as of d3, in fact depending on how the group has their mf, could be less drops. (but kills go faster) so its a mix/mix but i would not come out and just say that
Now now now, the solution is to explain why he's wrong, not point it out.
Of course, literally none of this matters, since virtually any strategy will be enough to beat normal.
He's just giving advice for the people that haven't got to play yet. Some people do agree some don't. I said i agree with most but i would add get +xp gear i dont think mf will be needed for normal.
Two things: first, he didn't say he was an expert. Second, he did level up all the characters to max and get all the achievements in the latest beta patch; to me, those're some good qualifications for posting tips/opinions for people who haven't played the beta, which is all he did. I would guess that a lot of people who post tips/opinions haven't done this is the latest patch, and that's okay too, but it certainly gives the OP an edge, in my opinion.
I wouldn't skip that stuff.
So the MF% is averaged between party members(say my MF was at 30% but my party members were all at 20, then it makes my MF go to 22.5)? I was under the impression that it was additive.
if one person has 100% and player 2 has 0
both players have 50%
http://www.diablofans.com/news/1105-possible-big-announcement-soon-magic-find-change-the-right-choice-blue-posts-wallpaper/
blue post explaining it
yeah but if you have friends you're already going to be playing with them.
Just the general "Go with a group" (aka use the match making system for example) does not equal more loot just like that. it takes people working together.. ect
thats all I was pointing out, its "Playing with people on a team that will work as a team" will be faster, but just a "group" not always true
Valid point didn't think of it that way.
when in a dungeon in normal mode SPLIT UP to find the next stairway down.
I know it goes against all wisdom and is a cliche of horror films but it definitely helps you find the exit faster.
This is one is simply not true, you really gotta be careful with how you spend your gold, I proved to myself last night that trying to get your BS to level 4 right away is a BAADDDD mistake.
I just spent 10k gold or so ont he BS went to the vendor to see if his stock changed and saw this....
Thats not all, I didn't take a screenshot, but that same vendor had +5 dex/6%MF rings...so overneathe and myself hatched a plan, I would stay in game afk, while he went and got the 15k gold we both needed for 4 of the crossbows and 4 of the rings
https://www.deviantart.com/aerisot