The main thing I'll miss is the atmosphere. But perhaps it is better to wait and see, we can't properly judge the game from seeing only a few pre-beta gameplay videos.
Yikes.. The voice in D1 is great because it sounds like he is talking to ME, right through the headphones. The D3 voice sounds like its just talking to the character on screen, and that along with the filtered voice really lessens its impact. Meh.
However, I get the feeling D3 will have more of D1's atmosphere than D2 did. D2 never really captured the dark gothic vibe of D1 for me, except for a few fleeting moments.
But, the devil is in the details as they say... I don't think we'll be able to get a feel for where D3 stands until we get to play the whole game. I've read scattered comments by the devs that make it sound like we're in store for some "good" (dark) things. Until I can see it myself I guess I'm just going to give them the benefit of the doubt..
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Making another post with my rambling thoughts on D1's atmosphere, etc.
@shackyAak: do you remember if in D2 open beta all skills were available?
You definitely couldn't test all of the skills in the weird half-demo/half-open-beta thing. It was just a very brief, shallow taste of the game. I don't think you could play all classes either. I can't remember if they had a level cap or what... was a while ago!
Yeah, I agree. That and testing the newer battle.net features. As far as I know, Battle.net is one of the newest systems for d3 (Runestones, Followers, the Arena, and all the rest have been in production for quite longer), so I imagine this is a major one they're going to want to test with more people.
For beta, I want to see more than up to level 20. Oh well. Guess we'll just have to wait 'til Christmas.
... Come to think of it, we'll probably be able to level at least to level 26 so we can test all the skills and stuff. Hmmm. I don't know.
ohh, yes, i agree. Battle.net features too, for sure.
As for skills/level caps in beta... I'm not entirely sure either. I get the feeling (no proof!) they want to keep a tight lid on the story/progression of the game, much more so than say, WoW betas have in the past. I played the Diablo 2 open-beta thing briefly, and it ended dang fast at Blood Raven in Act 1... but that was so many years ago I can't say it's any indication of what they will do for D3.
I guess I hope they keep a majority of the game content secret until launch day, but don't see how they would conveniently do that and have players test all the skills in PvE.
I am really surprised by the limited scope of the beta. I am not even entirely sure why they need a public beta at all if they can test everything internally.
Software testing is invaluable, even more so when it involves thousands of different hardware setups and internet connections. The beta will be less about testing balance and much more about testing their networking system from end to end and finding client-specific issues/bugs/oddities.
Voted 1 min. Diablo is in a much faster pace than WoW, and thus 2minute cool downs are too long. I'd like to be able to use endgame skills more than just once or twice during a boss battle.
You have a point on the boss-battles comment! I initially voted 2 minutes, feeling that is an appropriate timer for encouraging the player to be selective about when they use uber-skills against common monsters. However, assuming that the pacing of boss battles is probably pretty intense (a safe assumption, IMO), 1 minute alone is likely to feel like a long time, and 2 minutes seems absurd.
As an idea for a compromise, maybe they become 1 minute timers on boss-fights? Eh, I guess I dont like that idea, it just seems confusing and avoids the issue.
I guess maybe these uber skills should feel like they "cost something extra" beyond waiting 2 minutes -- it rationalizes using them frequently on a boss, but encourages more selective use in general.
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Yikes.. The voice in D1 is great because it sounds like he is talking to ME, right through the headphones. The D3 voice sounds like its just talking to the character on screen, and that along with the filtered voice really lessens its impact. Meh.
However, I get the feeling D3 will have more of D1's atmosphere than D2 did. D2 never really captured the dark gothic vibe of D1 for me, except for a few fleeting moments.
But, the devil is in the details as they say... I don't think we'll be able to get a feel for where D3 stands until we get to play the whole game. I've read scattered comments by the devs that make it sound like we're in store for some "good" (dark) things. Until I can see it myself I guess I'm just going to give them the benefit of the doubt..
---
Making another post with my rambling thoughts on D1's atmosphere, etc.
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You definitely couldn't test all of the skills in the weird half-demo/half-open-beta thing. It was just a very brief, shallow taste of the game. I don't think you could play all classes either. I can't remember if they had a level cap or what... was a while ago!
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Note: I won't miss the actual monster! Just the sounds, lol.
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ohh, yes, i agree. Battle.net features too, for sure.
As for skills/level caps in beta... I'm not entirely sure either. I get the feeling (no proof!) they want to keep a tight lid on the story/progression of the game, much more so than say, WoW betas have in the past. I played the Diablo 2 open-beta thing briefly, and it ended dang fast at Blood Raven in Act 1... but that was so many years ago I can't say it's any indication of what they will do for D3.
I guess I hope they keep a majority of the game content secret until launch day, but don't see how they would conveniently do that and have players test all the skills in PvE.
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Software testing is invaluable, even more so when it involves thousands of different hardware setups and internet connections. The beta will be less about testing balance and much more about testing their networking system from end to end and finding client-specific issues/bugs/oddities.
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Ooooh nice. Even better: 72 minute cooldown! Yay vanilla EQ throwback!
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You have a point on the boss-battles comment! I initially voted 2 minutes, feeling that is an appropriate timer for encouraging the player to be selective about when they use uber-skills against common monsters. However, assuming that the pacing of boss battles is probably pretty intense (a safe assumption, IMO), 1 minute alone is likely to feel like a long time, and 2 minutes seems absurd.
As an idea for a compromise, maybe they become 1 minute timers on boss-fights? Eh, I guess I dont like that idea, it just seems confusing and avoids the issue.
I guess maybe these uber skills should feel like they "cost something extra" beyond waiting 2 minutes -- it rationalizes using them frequently on a boss, but encourages more selective use in general.
0