I'd like this. Especially with no ability to make games with custom names, I feel like player-player trading is going to be non-existant other than between friends and of course through the AH. A "tavern" type game as you say it would be great, allow 8-12 people or something for trading and maybe even allow duels between mutually consenting players just for fun with no death penalties. This game definitely needs a good gathering place to just chill though, if you join a pub and game try to chat or trade people are gonna flame you for being a leecher and tell you to start killing or gtfo.
I'm gonna say Monk for overall desirability on teams but I think it will be a rock-paper-scissors type deal. Monk will be a pain in the ass for ranged classes like WD/Wiz but run into trouble with Barbarians unless they're heavily specced into dodge. And as many have said I think certain comps like Monk/Barb/Wiz will be especially powerful rather than any one class.
I like the new crafting system, gonna be a lot of fun gathering pages and patterns and just praying when you craft it spawns the right mods. I always love things that add extra farming to the game and keeps me mindlessly slaughtering demons.
I don't like the removal of the public chat channels with avatars displayed, or the removal of customized game names. Frankly I think B.net 2.0 was a step backward overall from B.net 1.0, I feel much more isolated when I log on whereas in D2 there would always be dozens of characters lining the bottom of the screen and almost always some ridiculous conversation or trade spam going on in chat. Now it's like... MSN messenger in the bottom right of your screen.
Got the pass, kind of on the fence whether it was a good choice or not. I've happily been subbed to WoW until now but my guild is almost 8/8 heroic, and once that happens I cant imagine WoW will hold much draw anymore and I'm not sure I'll buy MoP. In the end I'll probably end up wasting as much on monthly payments as D3 would have cost, so its a wash. I guess tyraels charger was nice for a bit though
Make no mistake though, there will always be mathematical optimal models, the community just won't throw as much of a fit for you not playing within them.
I guess that's really the essence of what I was trying to get at. The fact that you literally cannot participate in top tier PvE unless everything is in line with the mathematical optimum. As a Fury Warrior if I show up on raid night and announce I'm trying a new Haste stacking build, then our frost DK is just going to see a lot of extra raid time that night cause my ass will be warming the bench, and rightfully so.
Of course you're right that D3 will have plenty of theorycrafting and mathematically optimum builds, but as far as I can tell there will at least be a variety of different setups that will be viable for the toughest difficulties, be it for solo or in groups.
Played WoW for far too long as well, and I have high hopes for D3 being a refreshingly different experience. I hate the fact that in WoW you know exactly what gear you need in every slot and where to get it within hours of Blizzard releasing patch data. I hate that you have to customize your gear in a very mathematic and rigid way to be optimal or you cannot raid effectively. There is nothing creative about the PvE gameplay of WoW these days. The randomness and unpredictability of gear drops, as well as the freedom of playstyle that is present in the Diablo universe will be such a breath of fresh air.
I've been playing on a friend's key, was good fun the first time through on the Monk but nothing unexpected cause I'd watched a bagillion of Force's videos. I like the feel of the game for sure, and it's lovely to be able to play a new Diablo game again. After the second play through on Witch Doc though, I realized I was trying way too hard to convince myself I was having fun. 1 shotting everything and never being in danger of death gets dull pretty fast. Right now I'm just trying to put together a max MF set to get a feel for droprates and such, once I do that it's pretty much gonna run out of entertainment value though.
Good stuff, looking forward to farming 2 gear sets one for PvM and one for PvP centered around the respective builds...and maybe one for MF/GF! Release date nao pls
I think experiencing the different scenery of the many zones is incentive enough to not just farm the same area over and over and over. If there is an equal chance of great drops from any champion/rare mob all over the world, I don't see any reason to not just re-run entire acts if you're farming for gear, so I think it's fine with no added reward.
Meh, the problem with that is you are throwing out the freedom of the current setup. I can go where ever I want to farm in D3, but if this system was implemented it would dictate the best way to farm loot. Its the same type system as forcing people to farm bosses in D2.
I will keep my freedom of choice.
This is also a very good point, added rewards in a game can quickly turn into "any other way is a waste of time" if they're too powerful.
Witch doctor. I played it in the 3v3 arenas at Blizzcon '10 and wasn't a huge fan, but watching videos of it and looking through the skill tree, it's becoming more and more attractive for solo PvM. Monk is still going to be my first character but Witch Doctor may be a solid #2 for me.
Co-op with friends from WoW who've long since stopped playing. And random loot. I love random loot, enough of this predetermined purple ilvl dependent GARBAGE, give me the luck of the draw!
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I don't like the removal of the public chat channels with avatars displayed, or the removal of customized game names. Frankly I think B.net 2.0 was a step backward overall from B.net 1.0, I feel much more isolated when I log on whereas in D2 there would always be dozens of characters lining the bottom of the screen and almost always some ridiculous conversation or trade spam going on in chat. Now it's like... MSN messenger in the bottom right of your screen.
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I guess that's really the essence of what I was trying to get at. The fact that you literally cannot participate in top tier PvE unless everything is in line with the mathematical optimum. As a Fury Warrior if I show up on raid night and announce I'm trying a new Haste stacking build, then our frost DK is just going to see a lot of extra raid time that night cause my ass will be warming the bench, and rightfully so.
Of course you're right that D3 will have plenty of theorycrafting and mathematically optimum builds, but as far as I can tell there will at least be a variety of different setups that will be viable for the toughest difficulties, be it for solo or in groups.
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This is also a very good point, added rewards in a game can quickly turn into "any other way is a waste of time" if they're too powerful.
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