I've experienced some ups and downs with this game although for the most part I'm very impressed. I've played diablo for a long time and I can safely say that this feels like an evolved version of diablo 1 and diablo 2 (excluding LoD). Although I did play LoD (and played it for a long time), having played classic prior to playing LoD allowed me to know the feeling of what it was like to play diablo (d1 and d2) and "diablo+" (d2lod). All of the games had issues, although with the new inferno mode I think people are "finding" more than usual. When the game was played properly and a lvl 90 hammerdin wasn't teleporting to diablo or baal there were deaths, especially for those who were undergeared. The deaths occurred in ALL difficulties because act 4 and 5 were the hardest acts, and that's not saying that they didn't occur in act 2 and 3 (occasionally in act 1), although act 4 and 5 were the most played. Travelling through the chaos sanctuary or worldstone keep and coming across iron maiden or souls with conviction cleared games of even the best geared players, and inferno mode is reminiscent of that. With the congruence shown for those who "truthfully believe" that diablo 3 "is not diablo", well, it is. The only reason people progressed so quickly in d2 and moreso d2lod when ladder reset was because items were duped and community websites made items easy to come across. Maybe those people should try playing diablo 1 and diablo 2 (non lod) from scratch without any help. Onto the positives and issues:
General Positives:
1) No one has the best gear - What I liked most about d2 classic was that there was no "set build" or "best gear" to get. Of course in LoD certain items dominated (although there are some nice and useful rares that people have [trophies]) but the basic premise is that common items could get most people through the game. Imbuing items and finding rares (ornates, bhammers) gave d2 that feeling that anyone could be walking around with better gear than the next person, and although most lvl 60 legendaries are great items it is evident that rares will be just as useful, if not moreso due to random mods.
2) The game isn't easy - Although 1-60 may be easier than 1-99, inferno is obviously a stepping stone in terms of difficulty for diablo. I like the fact that blizzard presents customers with a challenge, albeit with some issues surrounding this challenge (see constructive issues), but a challenge nonetheless.
3) The game is fun - I don't regret the purchase, I'd never ask for a refund, and I can't wait to see what blizzard has in store going forward in terms of patching the game.
Constructive Issues:
1) 4 players per game - I really wish I could play with 6 players. I'm not asking for 8 and I can see why blizzard wanted to stay away from that number although at least 5 players would have been reasonable. Playing in a full game with one of each class is a cool idea although one that is not possible at the moment, unfortunately.
2) Unrealistic expectations from players in inferno mode - Like I said above the game is fun and challenging, and I don't mind kiting, although being chain-walled, vortexed, or jailed is unrealistic. Only one enemy in the mob should have the ability to hinder the players ability or movement. This could change for games with more than one player, although running from 3 blue mobs being constantly jailed or vortexed makes things crazy in a bad way, especially since skills like teleport have long cooldowns.
3) Being stuck to the game and the lack of a game browser - With the new game joining scheme blizzard obviously wants players to stay in game. I get this, and it's evident with factors such as stacked nephalem valors and the lack of auction house alerts, although this ISN'T diablo. If you want players to stay in a game create a random event such as dclone that spawns randomly in games where progression is shown (linear movement from act1-act4 all in one game). This would prevent familiar farming areas and encourage full game farming in collaboration with people (because I'm sure people would get tired of clearing acts or full games by themselves.) I use the linear progression idea so that people can't expect to afk and spawn the event. The lack of a game browser is another thing that bothers me. I know that a countless amount of useless games are made although the start quest or resume game format gives players the feeling of being restricted, and diablo was always about openness. The lack of ability to travel between acts is also another issue. You can tell that blizzard definitely took a few pages out of the world of warcraft book with ideas like the stacked nephalem valor, although it is working to their advantage.
4) The lack of collaboration - I thought by now blizzard would have caught on. People will always have the option of playing by them-self, and I understand the always online idea having made the auction house an integral part of the game, although there should be a much greater incentive to play with other players, and the "find players on this quest" option is not that incentive. There are numerous creative ideas I could list that would bring people together, similar to the random event one stated above, although it's probably too late for that.
Please share your general positives and constructive issues.
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General Positives:
1) No one has the best gear - What I liked most about d2 classic was that there was no "set build" or "best gear" to get. Of course in LoD certain items dominated (although there are some nice and useful rares that people have [trophies]) but the basic premise is that common items could get most people through the game. Imbuing items and finding rares (ornates, bhammers) gave d2 that feeling that anyone could be walking around with better gear than the next person, and although most lvl 60 legendaries are great items it is evident that rares will be just as useful, if not moreso due to random mods.
2) The game isn't easy - Although 1-60 may be easier than 1-99, inferno is obviously a stepping stone in terms of difficulty for diablo. I like the fact that blizzard presents customers with a challenge, albeit with some issues surrounding this challenge (see constructive issues), but a challenge nonetheless.
3) The game is fun - I don't regret the purchase, I'd never ask for a refund, and I can't wait to see what blizzard has in store going forward in terms of patching the game.
Constructive Issues:
1) 4 players per game - I really wish I could play with 6 players. I'm not asking for 8 and I can see why blizzard wanted to stay away from that number although at least 5 players would have been reasonable. Playing in a full game with one of each class is a cool idea although one that is not possible at the moment, unfortunately.
2) Unrealistic expectations from players in inferno mode - Like I said above the game is fun and challenging, and I don't mind kiting, although being chain-walled, vortexed, or jailed is unrealistic. Only one enemy in the mob should have the ability to hinder the players ability or movement. This could change for games with more than one player, although running from 3 blue mobs being constantly jailed or vortexed makes things crazy in a bad way, especially since skills like teleport have long cooldowns.
3) Being stuck to the game and the lack of a game browser - With the new game joining scheme blizzard obviously wants players to stay in game. I get this, and it's evident with factors such as stacked nephalem valors and the lack of auction house alerts, although this ISN'T diablo. If you want players to stay in a game create a random event such as dclone that spawns randomly in games where progression is shown (linear movement from act1-act4 all in one game). This would prevent familiar farming areas and encourage full game farming in collaboration with people (because I'm sure people would get tired of clearing acts or full games by themselves.) I use the linear progression idea so that people can't expect to afk and spawn the event. The lack of a game browser is another thing that bothers me. I know that a countless amount of useless games are made although the start quest or resume game format gives players the feeling of being restricted, and diablo was always about openness. The lack of ability to travel between acts is also another issue. You can tell that blizzard definitely took a few pages out of the world of warcraft book with ideas like the stacked nephalem valor, although it is working to their advantage.
4) The lack of collaboration - I thought by now blizzard would have caught on. People will always have the option of playing by them-self, and I understand the always online idea having made the auction house an integral part of the game, although there should be a much greater incentive to play with other players, and the "find players on this quest" option is not that incentive. There are numerous creative ideas I could list that would bring people together, similar to the random event one stated above, although it's probably too late for that.
Please share your general positives and constructive issues.