Honestly out of all things to be worried about, itemization is the least of my concerns... this is a beta test which is not representative of their vision.... they kept everything out of the beta for good reason, and I'm sure they've spent a lot of time looking at itemization and how it should progress. Way too early to criticize this, wait for release...
The sole reason for having a Beta is to garner input from testers and make changes to the game. What you're saying is diametrically opposed to the very purpose of a beta. Waiting for release to voice opinions and concerns is just an ignorant way to approach game design, especially when it's related to something so vital as an itemization system.
The fact is these items are probably the least interesting aspect of Diablo 3 that I've seen. Maybe we've grown too accustomed to Blizzard "breaking the mold," and that's a valid point, but we still can't help being somewhat bore-struck at basically a step BACK in itemization from Diablo 2 (D2 itemization was more thought-filled than these current listings). It just looks like laziness to me. I was expecting itemization in Diablo 3 to be just as exciting as the incredible skill system, crafting, and auction house, but it's just the same or less than past games have offered.
Not impressed.
2
I found this character planner released recently. I haven't tried it yet but it looks interesting.
http://diablonut.incgamers.com/planner
EDIT: Just tested this out, it works great. You can make up your own crafted items with affixes and see what sort of stats you will end up with.
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Can the barb increase his STR to 220? Can the DH increase her DEXT to 220 in the beta? Nope
Other than pure killing power, I found the WD abilities themselves to be extremely fun to use. The runed firebats just decimated everything and was very satisfying. The Wizard seemed boring in contrast.
TL:DR you shoulda tried the WD! I was pleasantly surprised.
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I wanted to point out something VERY important regarding the follower system: I believe Blizzard is taking a big shortcut in order to release the game sooner. Why? Think about it:
1.) No one sets out to design and develop a complex system (such as this) only for 1/3 of the game (much lower % of game time)
2.) Act4 of Diablo2 was obviously shortened so the game could be released (hence they've done it before!)
3.) Balancing nightmare and hell and end game with mercs is a huge task, think about it: Remember D2 mercs with high level runewords that gave negative magic resist auras etc. that broke magical immunities in hell? Basically what you end up with is REQUIRING twinked mercs just so you can do hell. I personally DO NOT WANT to rely on my merc if I dont want to. If it dies I dont want to be stuck not able to progress until it resurrects.
In effect Blizzard has decided it is just too hard to balance mercs end game such that they are a.) useful and b.) not a necessity. They want to release this year and BETA soon... so they have taken a shortcut and resigned this system to normal only, and invented some nice "reasoning" for the news media and websites to consume.
Cant wait for D3 and hope to see ya'll on bnet!