Obviously I know nothing about your situation except what you've said here, but it sounds like your relationship is way too much of a power struggle. If she couldn't give you two days of space to let you enjoy a game you've been waiting on for 10 years, that's troubling to me, assuming you discussed it with her in advance. However, it's also troubling that you apparently spent so much time raiding in WoW that she's worried you'll neglect her going forward.
Eh, I wouldn't scrutinise the relationship too much, it's simply the nature of women.
They're much more forward-thinking than we are, and their fears about stability (by their nature) are amplified, particularly when they are feeling neglected or relegated. So, whilst we may say, 'it's just a couple of days', all they are looking at is the weeks and months potentially of being ignored for hours on end and vying for our attention with a game.
It boils down to basic human nature. I've never seen my girlfriend so eager to join my boxing class as she was 20 minutes before D3's release. She certainly didn't protest when I said I was unavailable for the remainder of the night, but I knew I couldn't switch off completely -- we both went to boxing, sweated it up, then I dropped her off and went on my merry way to install D3.
Your wife's insecurities are more than likely heightened by how desperate you were to secure a copy. When was the last time you went to such lengths for her? (that's a rhetorical question obviously, I know nothing of your situation).
My advice would be to take a step back from that screaming mini-Diablo inside of you urging you to play every hour. Shake off that feeling of annoyance you have currently towards your wife. Look at how Diablo has suddenly shifted your ordinary routine and attention over the past few weeks and potentially how it will do so over the next few weeks...and try to imagine it was you who was the subject of that attention shift (away from you).
Maybe then you'll realise that a little give and take is warranted. Even if it's just a small thing like buying flowers or preparing dinner (or in my case, taking part in gym together instead of on my own), it'll help you immensely the next time you want to stay up late.
Edit: Seeing as how you've said you're not looking for advice, take the above with a grain of salt Clearly though, your experiences will be mirrored by pretty much every couple out there (barring the dual-gamer couples) where Diablo III is concerned.
I have been really open minded so far when it comes to Blizzard's design decisions. Some of them I haven't altogether agreed with, but I've been content to just "see how it plays out". I've yet to make an "outraged" post on anything I've seen announced.
Right, so let me just preface my post with this: I'm more than a little grumpy about this change to Runes.
But with around 120 base skills, that meant there were around 600 rune variants; on top of that, each variant had five quality levels each, meaning ultimately there would be something like 3,000 different runes in the game… and we knew we were heading toward a problem.
I haven't played the beta yet, so my understanding is predicated on what I've read and my interpretations. So apologies in advance if I've wildly misinterpreted how runes were to be implemented. But, how does 3000 different runes compute?
It defies all logic to me. As far as I understood it, the most straightforward implementation of Runes would require the following:
1. Runes be stackable.
2. Runes can only be used once on one skill.
3. Once consumed for a particular skill, that rune can be re-selected at any time for that skill only.
If the above were true, inventory management concerns are totally redundant. If you had all the runes, they would still only take up 5 slots in your inventory. You would still have to engage in the item hunt that we all know and love to flesh out your entire gamut of skill/rune selections. And 10 equal levelled Wizards (even at 60) would all be different at any one time, because they wouldn't have consumed their runes to the same skills, and so they'd have different skill limitations.
That was what sounded to me like an exciting and diverse skill system!
The way it is now, by level 60, every gold rune will be filled out; they are no longer a rare drop and something to really look forward to getting your mitts on. Not only that, but "flavour of the month" mentalities are given completely free reign with this new system. Now, we're going to be seeing cookie cutter builds pop up without any effort on the part of players who all have access to every single skill and rune by merely levelling.
I just don't see how this achieves anything but uniformly dampening player variation...and for no apparent gain, whatsoever?
Surely the best and brightest at Blizzard aren't doing this for the sake of inventory management.
Looking at the various skills the classes have (and more importantly, the wildly different variations on skills that Runes bring to the table), does PvP feel a little random now? All the classes have the entire gamut of attack types and mobility skills, from blizzard like spells, to firewall type spells, to quasi-teleports; it seems you can't ever really plan what you're up against, and that every player is essentially a wildcard where their abilities are concerned.
Basically, does it ever denigrate into a bit of a spam fest? Or is there a definite underlying strategy that PvPers try to employ to success?
Eh, I wouldn't scrutinise the relationship too much, it's simply the nature of women.
They're much more forward-thinking than we are, and their fears about stability (by their nature) are amplified, particularly when they are feeling neglected or relegated. So, whilst we may say, 'it's just a couple of days', all they are looking at is the weeks and months potentially of being ignored for hours on end and vying for our attention with a game.
It boils down to basic human nature. I've never seen my girlfriend so eager to join my boxing class as she was 20 minutes before D3's release. She certainly didn't protest when I said I was unavailable for the remainder of the night, but I knew I couldn't switch off completely -- we both went to boxing, sweated it up, then I dropped her off and went on my merry way to install D3.
Your wife's insecurities are more than likely heightened by how desperate you were to secure a copy. When was the last time you went to such lengths for her? (that's a rhetorical question obviously, I know nothing of your situation).
My advice would be to take a step back from that screaming mini-Diablo inside of you urging you to play every hour. Shake off that feeling of annoyance you have currently towards your wife. Look at how Diablo has suddenly shifted your ordinary routine and attention over the past few weeks and potentially how it will do so over the next few weeks...and try to imagine it was you who was the subject of that attention shift (away from you).
Maybe then you'll realise that a little give and take is warranted. Even if it's just a small thing like buying flowers or preparing dinner (or in my case, taking part in gym together instead of on my own), it'll help you immensely the next time you want to stay up late.
Edit: Seeing as how you've said you're not looking for advice, take the above with a grain of salt
Right, so let me just preface my post with this: I'm more than a little grumpy about this change to Runes.
I haven't played the beta yet, so my understanding is predicated on what I've read and my interpretations. So apologies in advance if I've wildly misinterpreted how runes were to be implemented. But, how does 3000 different runes compute?
It defies all logic to me. As far as I understood it, the most straightforward implementation of Runes would require the following:
1. Runes be stackable.
2. Runes can only be used once on one skill.
3. Once consumed for a particular skill, that rune can be re-selected at any time for that skill only.
If the above were true, inventory management concerns are totally redundant. If you had all the runes, they would still only take up 5 slots in your inventory. You would still have to engage in the item hunt that we all know and love to flesh out your entire gamut of skill/rune selections. And 10 equal levelled Wizards (even at 60) would all be different at any one time, because they wouldn't have consumed their runes to the same skills, and so they'd have different skill limitations.
That was what sounded to me like an exciting and diverse skill system!
The way it is now, by level 60, every gold rune will be filled out; they are no longer a rare drop and something to really look forward to getting your mitts on. Not only that, but "flavour of the month" mentalities are given completely free reign with this new system. Now, we're going to be seeing cookie cutter builds pop up without any effort on the part of players who all have access to every single skill and rune by merely levelling.
I just don't see how this achieves anything but uniformly dampening player variation...and for no apparent gain, whatsoever?
Surely the best and brightest at Blizzard aren't doing this for the sake of inventory management.
Basically, does it ever denigrate into a bit of a spam fest? Or is there a definite underlying strategy that PvPers try to employ to success?
Best of luck to all who enter