DiabloFans

Question; Do you think the only point of Diablo 3 is placing on the leaderboards?

Not to sound snarky, but this is Diablo. It's supposed to get out of hand with ridiculous power. One of my pet peeves is hearing people constantly pine for more balance just due to the presence of leaderboards, but Diablo has never been about balance. Rather, it has always been grossly strong items an obscene, vulgar display of power.

Quote from Romonaga»

As to the comment, about build diversity, Yes the cube did make for many more interesting builds outside the developer provided ones. However, in the end it is all about the item hunt. Make the hunt to easy and the game looses my attention

Quote from Romonaga»

So let me be clear, the state of the game is fantastic now that drops are not centered around the AH, I love playing and for the past 2 months have been having a blast. However, I can see this getting very old and stale, for me finding the upgrades was the excitement and the game.

I do wish people would learn to read and not jump to conclusions. Not anywhere did I say I did not like the game, to be honest I love many of the changes that have been made.

Diablo has been in the past an item hunt game, yes I can not use the cube, yes I can not use Kalda. So is Diablo no longer a item hunt?

There's a lot more to this game than simply dropping legendary items. Getting these items is only part of the process. How you build, how you mix and match, how you cube.... that is the business end of itemization in D3 patch 2.3.

Simply getting a 6 piece set together isn't going to get you anywhere special. It's what you do with it that counts.

One can be a cynic and think all of these changes were meant to cater to casual players. Or one could look deeper still and see that Diablo 3 is almost rebellious in it's freedom to build without having to purchase your items with real cash. The irony here is; Many of the people I've seen calling modern D3's itemization feeding frenzy as a call to casuals, are the same people who bought their way to success in earlier versions of D3 (AH's) and all throughout D2.

So we can ask; Is it more "casual" to buy your items with real cash, or to have easier access to them by actually playing the game?

The developers of Diablo 3 seemed to have flipped a unique switch within the ARPG genre by allowing players easier access to the items they need for builds without the insidious presence of 3rd party handlings. If you think simply cubing up a Witching Hour has elevated you to the top of Mount Fuck All, you are sorely mistaken, sir.

Beyond simple acquisition of desired items must come the knowledge in how to properly use it; or; When to use something else to pump massive amounts of NON-SHEET dps and toughness from a build using items some people disregard due to the lack of an orange (legendary) property (String of Ears/Eye of Etlich etc).

For your Diablo 3 enjoyment, might I suggest a beverage change for yourself? Switch from Haterade to refreshing Kool Aid. Much better to quench your thirst.

Quote from Drahque»

This DOES foster a discussion about the current META.

That's the main reason I posted it.

HC comes with it's own built in end game, exclusive to that mode. Death. ...or....avoiding death. Permanent death. Your character isn't rolling over to SC like in PoE, this is real HC.

HC has rewarded me endlessly. It saved D3 for me when the game was at it's lowest points early on. Now that D3 is a legit top-shelf ARPG (IMO), I am bound to HC mode. I simply couldn't enjoy the game without it.

Objectively speaking; HC adds an aspect to the game that it currently doesn't have outside of HC. It makes it possible for you to lose. It's a game, you should be able to lose. There is no PvP, so if you want to risk loss, hardcore is for you.

EDIT: Please keep on topic, and any more flaming/trolling/derailing will result in immediate action.

Please keep the conversation about the dynamics of support characters and NOT about unfounded accusations and personal remarks.

Thank you.

Quote from Slayerviper»

is there less elite/champion groups in grifts now too? The furnace would help with clearing these mobs as well.

Thing is, I'm pushing HC Grifts (currently ranked solo #8) and once you get over tier 50-ish, those white mobs stand you up and waste your time. In 2.2, the elites weren't the problem, it was the RG. There's been paradigm shift now, as less onus has been put on the Grift Guardian's health.

Look at the solo boards. That tells you much. Most of the Monks above me aren't using Furnace as a passive, and there's a reason why. I have no other better option than to cube Furnace, but what's happening to me is I hit a hard wall after clearing a 54 in HC. I simply cannot keep up with the timer at tier 55 because my weapon passive is a Furnace.