DiabloFans

No offense, but I think the argument you're using is slightly flawed.

If we were to compare base game to base game, you might find that Diablo 3 has more going for it than Diablo 2 ever did.

*Regular items - Still exist, obviously

*Gems - Not as many in D3, but some in D2 were kind of pointless

*Crafting - Not sure why you marked this off. Crafting is streamlined in D3, not gone. Instead of putting the items in the cube, you break them down and make new ones. You can still make set and legendary items and it's more understandable and you don't have to go hunting for a crafting guide to find all the recipes that were added in a patch but never told to us.

*Charms - Technically didn't exist untill LoD and even then, they were a waste of inventory space and not really all that interesting to gameplay.

PVP items - never existed in D2 so if they do make them for D3, will be even more to go for.

*Runes - Not really needed as an item drop, and once you had the set you wanted, you never needed to find a new drop unless to increase the power. That functionality has been replaced by new item affixes that will increase skill capabilities.

Also, there's more to play with than just items. Diablo 2 had fewer skills that were useful and didn't even have runes to change how your skills worked. Runes for crafting/sockets weren't introduced untill LoD anyway. Diablo 2 did just fine with fewer options and I don't think the fun of D3 can be boiled down to just finding runes. The hunt for perfect random drops and just killing monsters in Co-Op was plenty enough for me, at least.

I think things will be fine and all this fuss about runes going away will fade when everyone finally gets to play.

Quote from Hjarl

You should do a patch 14 Wizard playthrough. I would love to hear your thoughts on the "nerfs" that hit the Wizard this patch.

I'm actually looking forward to that. I'll be the first to admit that Arcane Orb was super strong and probably got what it deserved. It also looks like Ray of Frost was buffed too, so I'll be happy to do it, I'm just not sure what order I'll be doing them yet. I just knew Monk had to be first.

Sadly I missed out on all the new area stuff, so I won't be able to comment on them. makes me a Sad Panda(rian).

The Barbarian videos are done and the last one is uploading now. I give my final impressions on the Barbarian, patch 14, and the game in general on the last video. I will be doing quick follow ups on the other classes I already completed for patch 13 to see how skill progression has changed, starting with the Monk.

Patch 14 Barbarian Part 5 (with Playlist)
Level 10
SkillS: Rupture (Cleave) [discussed]
*Removal of Base Stats (int, str, dex) from low level crafted gear.
*Passives spread out from levels 10-60
*Barbarian impressions on fighting Skeleton King
*Lots and lots of gold... ha..ha..muwahahahahahahahaha..*cough*


Patch 14 Barbarian Part 6 (with Playlist) [Uploading now - ETA 6 hours]
Levels 11 - 13
Skills: Frenzy, Seismic Slam, Revenge
Runes: Ravage (Rend), Deafening Crash (Ground Stomp), Onslaught (Bash)
Passives: Nerves of Steel
*Overall Barbarian impressions
*Overall Patch 14 impressions

Barbarian part 4 is up, have to record part 5 and possibly 6 tonight.

Patch 14 Barbarian part 4

Reuploaded part 1 of my Barbarian playthrough but I have a feeling it's not going to go into 1080p again, but at least this time it did save in 720. I'm not sure why it's doing this, I'm hoping it's just something with this one video and not a problem that will continue on other uploads. And it now appears to be fine.. Guess I just jumped the gun. enjoy.

Sorry guys, just confirmed that my Patch 14 video did not get processed as 1080 as it should have. Re-uploading to make sure there's not a problem before I move on to part 2 and up.

Can anyone confirm for me if the Barbarian Patch 14 vid indeed went HD? at my work site, I can only pull up a stripped down version of YT and it looks like it didn't fully process the video after uploading. If it's not, I'll reupload it along with the others.

EDIT: OMW back home so I'll be able to check, will upload more when I get a chance.

Alright! I updated my post to reflect the more recent information Here I'll post the old Patch 13 stuff I did. I didn't get though all 5 classes before Patch 14 hit and the Wizard videos are still uploading.

Dodge percentage explanation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6ce-sOuMdY

Patch 13 Demon Hunter

Patch 13 Witch Doctor

Patch 13 Monk

Patch 13 Wizard

Thanks KageKaze I do appreciate. This is me trying to understand everyone's point of view a little, which I always do. Got to think how these games are built to respond to our cognitive process. Most people would be lost if everything in Diablo 2 were in the game right now. Having played the Beta I've had to learn to think about concepts I didn't even consider in Diablo 2.

Like should I disenchant this item or save it for my Witchdoctor? It sounds like a simple process but woah, that is a totally new dilemma, if I were a new player in the proprosed complex item theory and had to then also think about what Charms I want to keep as well... @.@ dizzying. My thought is that they wiped the slate clean to, to get people back into basic management concepts. Like that Megaman X video and how it helped you learn all the mechanics, just way more so.

People will not really be getting the hang of this game till about level 60 when they truly start to balance out gear for benefit sake. When you can still level up, an upgrade is an upgrade. When all gear is random and level 60, dang now you got some thinking to do. Now, lets put people in a group with 3 other people and ask them to deal with Charm itemization and pick up rune words, or just the new rune system.

Yeah, screw it, I will play something a bit more basic thanks. <- I'm saying this as a new player

Maka, I do apologize but my previous post got lost in the series of tubes that exist right now.

My point was more that the game is a decade apart. Here is the thing, you, me, and everyone in this little Diablofans community know about all things Diablo. Diablo 2 is a fresh piece in our minds. This is a very accurate fact that we all know that complex space management. My point was that this game is going to sell to a lot more than just our little community.

For them to jump into a new game, or jump in after having not played for a decade, Diablo 3 can't just go around and give you too much to play around with. They originally were going to have a lot of inventory management the reason they cut this back, I believe, was to keep the game from getting too complex. People who haven't been playing Diablo 2 within the past year aren't going to be ready for complicated space management.

I'm sure this is what they saw in play testing, that people new to the game experience and concept of Diablo found it daunting to manage so many different variables in the game. So they've gone back and said, lets easy people into this game, crafting items, that will be complicated. Managing gear with a shared stash for your toons, that is going to be complicated, not to mention different item sets for different rune configurations. For a new game, well over a decade since the last one, you can't just have a sequel act like the collective consciousness still remembers it freshly. This isn't a Modern War sequel, it is a Diablo sequel and decade can cause a hard reset to the way the mind will process all the complex mechanics that built up over the previous installment in the series.