DiabloFans

I think you've made a number of valid points, but only from the PoV of someone trying to compete at the very end of D3's difficulty curve which, IMO, somewhat invalidates your conclusion. Hyperbole and accusations of entrenched incompetence and indifference doesn't help, either, but too much time on the BNet forums has made me somewhat used to it.

If you're playing the game at the very highest difficultly, you are ipso facto greatly diminishing your build options. A narrative where 'maximum difficulty' is the only way to play necessarily conflates 'optimal' and 'viable', but the fact is that you're in small minority. I'd argue that not only has Blizzard deliberately avoided putting too much effort into preserving at the top difficulty levels, it's not possible to have a game with lots of build options and a meaningfully tough top-end difficulty (and to anyone who wants 'difficulty' to mean more that just 'higher monster HP and damage'... you're in the wrong genre).

I do agree that switching up the elemental damage on particular runes without some kind of player-side remedy is a dick move. It's definitely good that they're adjusting them, but it sucks that they did that without giving us in-game options for targeted re-rolls of elemental damage affixes (or just did away with element-specific damage and resist affixes altogether... they're just noise). I strongly suspect, though, that Blizzard's intention was for us to either switch to a skill+rune combo with the right element (assuming that's even possible), or farm up a new item set... neither of which are ideal options.

I also absolutely agree that the 2h situation combined with the crit-gem clusterfuck is a total headscratcher, but I'm not going to fling accusations of gibbering incompetence at a team that has got so much else absolutely right.

I think that the lack of redress for rune changes, the long time it took to get the 1h/2h situation sorted, and the bewildering persistence of the crit-gem nonsense are all topics which we (and I hate using this word) deserve direct blue-text communication on, as they do seem very difficult to explain for us on the outside.

OP doesn't want discussion. OP wants affirmation. OP needs a blanky and a nap.

Let's be careful about using the phrase "average player". There's really no such thing, and as a concept it's hazardously misleading... remember that the average Englishman has two testicles, but the average American only has one.

A hell of a lot of D3 players bought the game, noodled around for a bit, had some fun, then left the game never to return. The 1-70 journey with quests and cutscenes and unlocking skills and all that stuff we consider to be a brief, annoying preamble is the main game for millions of people. For the rest of us, there's still very much a situation where your longevity is my dull grind. Sure, you could get 'longevity' from D3 by reducing droprates and XP by a factor ten, making it a year-long project to get even a single character geared... but longevity shouldn't be the aim, it should be a side-effect. D3 attempts to induce that side-effect by giving us a pile of options for keeping gameplay fresh... easy respeccing, minimal cost for switching characters and (in theory) multiple things to do while in the game. Yes, that comes at a cost of (respectively) removing skills as a meaningful progression goal, diminishing our attachment to any particular character, and... well...D3 doesn'thave that many options for game types in practice, so the last one is moot.

Firstly, giving players completely new abilities deep into the progression curve is, IMO, a dick move. In fact, I don't even like the way D3 does it. You're either gating the best builds behind huge amounts of time, or giving players the best builds early on, then a trickle of irrelevant crap from then on. D3 is tolerable, as the between rolling a new character and getting to the build you actually want to try isn't too long, but its still a total cock-block.

On the other hand, if leveling up just increases the power of abilities they already have, you may as well attach that power either to their bases stats or their items, and get rid of the fake complexity and/or underwhelming rewards from having a conga-line of "+2% to fire skills", "-2% mana consumption" crapskills that I hate (screw you, Torchlight2... you let me down badly).



However, the fact is that as well as being focused on power acquisition, aRPGs are necessarily grindy. By giving us all of our abilities within a few hours of gameplay, but having cross-account gear and paragon levels, D3 sacrifices some degree of power-through-progression for a many more options that take the edge off the tedium. Whether that works or not is, obviously, subjective... but at least Blizzard didn't just barf up "Diablo 2 HD".

What's mostly missing is the incentive to switch things up in the form of build-baiting legendaries. Blizzard isn't dropping those in as fast as they should, but that's the direction they're headed.

Quote from MeatHeadMikhail

This is, of course, assuming you're not heavily trolling.

OP is definitely trolling. It claims to be unable to parse parody, so it may not be aware that it's trolling.

I think its basic argument is that Blizzard doesn't care about botting and despite statements to the contrary, is doing absolutely nothing about it, and this is bad for rent-a-bot operates like his itself, because everyone else will get fed up with the constant botting and leave, putting it out of business. In this thread, it claims to be remedying this situation by telling us that it runs a lot of bots, will never get caught, and therefore hardcore fans like us should keep playing.

I think there's a teeny tiny hole in that logic. Therefore, the OP either has the reasoning capacity of a tub of boiled potato, is trolling hardcore, or has just come here to gloat under a painfully flimsy pretext.

You're right! Blizzard is a lying pack of lying liars who lie! I shall henceforth stalk every forum I find and post breathless hyperbole so that I can make people who liked a thing hate that very same thing! When I tell them about those lying liars, the lies will make people hate the liars! And that is good, because those people should not like lying liars who lie. Constantly. I shall help those people, and together we shall stem the endless tide of infinite lies from lying Blizzard liars! EVERYONE! JOIN US IN THE EXTERMINATION OF DISHONEST LYING LIARS AND THE ENDLESS TSUNAMI OF FALSEHOOD SPOUTING TRUTH-FLOUTERS!!!

Oh God. I think I just became so full of self-righteousness and crap, my legs are wobbly and my pee-pee feels funny in my pants.

Quote from Twoflower

There will always be a BiS item (mathematical fact guys) and the sooner we stop fighting, the sooner we will have peace.

Yeah, but if that BiS item is the same for every class and every build, you've got problems, and RROG is particularly problematic, because not only is it a tough slot to upgrade, it also makes other slots hard to upgrade.

IMO the damn thing was brain-damaged to start with, mainly because it applies to all sets that you're currently wearing. Ideally, it'd only apply to one set at a time, but there's really no elegant way for the player to choose which set it should apply to. IMO they should just retcon the affix out of existence... at which point their numbers will show that only 6 people and a single incredibly smart parrot are still doing bounties.

It's not really about what's 'optional' or 'mandatory' (although, much like 'viable', 'forced' and 'mandatory' are words that forum idiots refuse to use correctly), it's about facilitating fun by not coupling various gameplay options together. Adding stat-points to achievements would only affect two groups of people: achievement nerds like myself who would simply be getting a free upgrade, and people whowant the upgrade enough to start doing achievements because it's the most efficient path (e.g high paragon players), but don't actually like doing them. The former group wouldn't really care, as we clearly do achievements simply because they're there, and the latter group would feel railroaded into activities they'd prefer not to do. That's a net negative, IMO.

D3 already has too many tightly coupled systems. Bounties -> Rifts -> GRifts or GTFO. That's bad enough, as it disregards anyone who just wants to do bounties (that aren't Act I Normal), just wants to do Rifts, or (God forbid) actually prefers Story Mode (assuming 99% of Story Mode fans haven't already quit playing by now). True player freedom requires decoupled game options with appropriate reward structures.

Quote from Helycon

Quote from Deatherian

If Don Vu alone isn't responsible for the current state of Monks and Wiz, why would he list that as his responsibilities? That would be like telling everyone you're the head coach of the worst team in the league. Last I checked coaches of the worst teams always get fired.

Because it IS part of his job description, even if it is part of the entire dev-team.

Whoa, whoa. Slow down there... you're saying that just because he works on the class dev team, he's not in charge of class design. But... that could mean all sorts of crazy things... that devs aren't designers... that software development is collaborative... that design is an inexact process... my head is swimming...

Look, you know what... we know this guy's name. We have a vague idea of what he does. That's all we need to blame him for everything. It worked for Jay. It worked for Josh. Why change a winning formula? DOWN WITH DON!

GUYS OMG I TRIED IT AN IT WORKS!... REALLY WORKS, I SWEAR ON MYGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREATGREAT GRANDFATHERS LIFE! TRUST ME I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING DUPING IN DIABLO IS THE ONLY WAY TO BE COOL SO DO IT NOW OR YOU'RE A SQUARE! AFTER I VISITED THE SITE MICROSOFT SECURITY ESSENTIALS TOLD ME I HAD OVER 9000 VIRUSES BUT FUCK THAT SHIT THIS REALLY WORKS!

Quote from horadrimm

Looks like the Diablo 3 cleanup street team is out in full force tonight. How much do you guys get paid by Pardo?

Rob, which is what I call him since we are best of friends and hang out at the bars on Friday nights, pays me in rare collectible coins, which is my hobby when I'm busy not playing D3 and masturbating to reruns of the Golden Girls (sometimes simultaneously).

One time Rob, Mike, and I went out and did so much blow that I have very little recollection of the evening but I know it involved at least two dozen dead hookers. That's OK because Mike, which is what I call him since we have each other on speed dial and regularly consult each other on the best choices to make for all Blizzard games, has plenty of acid and plenty of big oil drums and we get rid of the bodies in his basement much the same as they do in mobster movies.

Speaking of disposing of corpses, I just got off the phone with Aaron Paul because I'm the president of the Jesse Pinkman fan club and we regularly correspond about the weather, girls, and the tax rates on rich, important people like ourselves. And that reminded me...



Hopefully someone laughed at this... I figured since this thread is obviously going to get locked that I may as well have some fun and try to make someone smile.

*Than.*Than.*Than.*Than.*Than.*Than.*Than.*Than.*Than.*Than.*Than.*Than.*Than.*Than.*Than.*Than.

Quote from ruksak

Quote from inkcheese

TBH I think RoS is coming out earlier than it should be because of the much needed overhaul of vanilla. :/

I was honestly surprised with the expansions announcement.

Same here, and I'm happy as shit about what I'm hearing. I'll be the first to give them a round of applause for this effort.

The xpac isn't an issue in my eyes. When it comes, it comes and I'll be glad to pay for it. Love what I'm hearing and we've only been teased with cursory info.

I'm a little upset, and I feel rightfully so, that the main focus of the Diablo franchise at Blizz HQ hasn't been getting itemization in a better place. Rather, per the lead devs own words, the main focus for some time has been launching a console version.

I swear, I quit SC mode because if I found 1 more damn Zuni chest with STR, DEX and +XXX thorns damage .....I was about to bash my head to bits. I play SF HC exclusively now because even a contorted Zuni chest would be a great find.

Anyhwho......I'll drop it because this thread should be about the community getting excited and I'm being a bit of a wet blanket. I apologize, it got under my skin when I heard that comment by Josh.

The console and PC have separate teams with minimal crossover. Looking at your other posts it's evident you choose not to believe this and that's fine, but there's no way they developed the console version in the few short months since the last patch. Likewise there's no way this expansion (which looks to be very developed already) has only had a month or so of work put into it since the console went gold.

It's quite obvious they both have separate teams. Josh may have been heading up the console version for the better part of the last year, but that doesn't mean the PC team wasn't hard at work under the guidance of Travis and Wyatt. The expansion and these new "2.0" systems are looking very polished and they have clearly been the PC teams focus for quite a while now.

As for "patch 1.0.9", that was never a real thing. It's just the logical next step in patching so everyone assumes it was coming at some point. It's likely not. I think these 2.0 systems will make the minor re-visionary leap to 1.1.0 or even 2.0.0, so it's unlikely we will ever see a 1.0.9 and that's no surprise as a 1.0.9 was never actually mentioned by devs.

All the system 2.0 changes are way too far reaching to be a simple "patch" denotation of 1.0.X, not to mention the new retroactive content in Nephalem Trials and Loot Runs.

Many of our fine community here on the Diablofans site may recall a recent mini contest, that offered a taste of D3 on console, prior to its release.

I'm pleased to say that I was one of the lucky people selected for the event, which was held last night in Sydney at IGN's new Pyrmont headquarters.

Though not a regular poster on Diablofans, I've been a reader for a very long time, so I'm happy to finally put something back into the community!

A number of Australia's key Blizzard staff attended and happily helped with product queries and IGN's awesome staff likewise provided a fantasticly inviting atmosphere complete with beer and pizza.

Awesome when combined with console gaming, on large comfy couches!

Sadly being night time and only having an iPhone, not many photo's came out clear enough to post.
As a a long time player of the series I thought I'd make a post to share my impressions of the console version.

IGN setup gaming stations around 5 area's of the office with large TV's, either a PS3 or X-Box, very comfy couch / bean bag's and a helper to get each group up and running. Having some expereience in the game I was grouped with three first timers so as to act as a guide through the content.

One of the great things about the console version is it can play ofline so It was nice avoiding game lag as a result. Shame the PC version never could (and likely never will) be playable offline.

I joined a PS3 group for the session playing a Demon Hunter myself along with a Wizard, Monk and Barb fleshing out the rest of the party.

Each player has a life, resource, XP and skill guage located in one of the four corners of the screen.

Each players character has a unique ring possitioned around their feet, noving with them, the colour of which links into other mechanics used in the console version.

Anything like items on the ground, walking up to an NPC, the zone teleporters, entrance / exit way's is all managed by the X on your controller. When approachining any of those a little blue x symbol appears above whatever your character can interact with.

Movement for the character was controlled via the left joystick, which also controlled the facing of your player, via the direction of their movment.

When moving in a confined area like the cemetary crypts you get a little mini map, down the bottom of the screen, showing similar info to the PC versions mini map.

Targeting is a combination of the direction you are facing and a rather funky inverted triangle above the targeted mob you are facing. Its an automatic lock to / auto target type feature that is especially handy for ranged classes and helps you single out a target from any distance. The triangle's colour matches each persons respective player ring.

If the on screen action gets a little intence and you're loosing track of your characters' possition then depresing the right joy stick brings up a vertical bar above your character that matches the colour of your player circle. World of Warcraft players will be familiar with the marker as it's very similar to raid markers only these move with the character.

The console version's camera positioning has been zoomed in a little closer to provide more clear detail for players cutting down on clutter and reducing information overload when things get hectic in game.

The camera focus moves in a neat way through the game as it is controlled by where the majority of the party goes. Straglers or people that have stepped away for a moment have their character insta warped back with the main group. This is pretty cool as the rest of the group can continue playing while one gets up for a break and their character just moves along with the group automatically.

Something also unique (and perhaps the most amazing feature) is the dodge ability controlled via the right joystick. Sounds simple, works simple and really makes the game feel more console like. Moving the right joystic makes your character cart wheel / roll in the selected direction. While rolling in this manor you are invulnerable to all damage while dodging.

The dodge ability really brought the Demon Hunter class to life for me as it's something that naturally ties into that class so well. We played all the way through to the Skelleton King and the dodge ability was amazing when timed right. I'd dodge just as the King warped to me via his charge move and completely avoid any damage from his massive swing.

Movment being out of the way the skills and abilities of your character are bound to the left and right triggers at the top of your controller and the regular four button's on the right of the controller ie Triangle, Square, Cross / X and Circle.

The four buttons on the left of the controller are assigned to the more administrative functions like pushing down opens the map, which any player can do and overrides the on screen action. I don't recal it pausing combat though when brought up.

The up arrow lets you cycle through the gear sitting in your characters inventory ,which brings me neatly to items!

To aid in making gameplay smoother / faster you will notice that when scrolling through inventory items (using the controllers left side up arrow) you are greeted with a quick summary of the item broken down into clusters of green and red up and down arrows. I recall there being three catagories for defence, attack, and other (trying to recall what the other was). Each catagory has a pottential of 3 arrows, which work as a meter to help you quickly determin if an item is an upgrade or not.

To give a few examples three sets of three green up arrows would denote a massive upgrade in each catagory. Mild upgrades mght be depicted by perhaps two green attack, one red defence arrow so you know that you will do more damage with that item, but lose some defence.

All said and done I found myself equiping upgrades and dropping anything that wasn't.

I didn't see any grey items drop just white, blue and yellow. There seemed to be more gold dropping and less white items than the PC version. Gold is also a shared resource within the local console, but XP is shared with the group whether local or online.

Its important to note that loot drops is unique to each console so if you are playing online then you won't see their drops unless the other player decides to drop an item from inventory, however if playing locally on ths same console then any items dropping off mobs would be free for all to grab on in your session by local players. This system relies on friends making the judjment to drop items that are not an upgrade incase any of those might be upgrades for other players.

Any player can hit the start button on their controller, which will freeze game play and open up their characters managment screen. Its also this screen that will allow you to access your inventory for a closer look at any items you picked up.

Sadly with the limited game time I didn't have a chance to more closely inspect each item drop to see how they compare to the PC version of D3. Being the first act of normal mode I don't think this would of been much help even if I did though.

From the managment screen you can select skills, runes for them and assign them to your various controller buttons to customise your game play. Just like the PC version your skill slots unlock and grow in a similar fassion.

Note that if playing with freinds locally then bringing up the skill screen will pause the game, but if playing online I recall hearing that it won't.

During our game session we tried some PVP brawling, which was kinda fun if limited, but helped us realise that each class has inate life regen ability. Interestingly the more fragile ranged classes appear to have more life regen than others.

Game play encounteres, events and boss fights all seemed to work much the same way as the PC version.

Interestingly I found that when attacking with a ranged class you are auto rooted to the spot when attacking. I'm sure there is a key in the PC version that lets you do the same when held down, but I like this small attention to detail.

Now with all that out of the way I can take a moment to ponder and compare the overall feel of the console version to the PC one.

The transition from PC version to console is most certainly not a straight port with a few basic tweaks. The console version honestly feels like a totally different game from the control of your character / interface, loot managemt and game play. I can really see that a great deal of effort and thought went into the process that led us to the console version of D3.

As a result of changes the console version feels more stream lined towards group play than the PC version. I really think its a brilliant game to just toss on with friends and anyone new to the series can just pick up a controller and play.

I totally imagine friends getting together for beer, pizza and Diablo nights.

The PC version still feels the more hardcore of the two formats. This may change over time with more exposure to the console version and this view is (more than likely) tainted with countless hours playing each installment of the series on PC over the years.

I certainly feel the console version is a strong and possitive step forward for D3 as it will expose the game to more casual / console only gamers.

Hope you enjoyed my mini review!

Quote from Tiffy27

The game is horrible and unless you live in a cave and havent played anything else you would see this. Loot system is crap, crafting is crap, class balance is crap, there is absolutely NO end game. While we are tossing around faulty logic I guess cause more people live in China that makes it the best country to live in?

As a US taxpayer I feel obliged to apologize to you for the fact that your public education was substandard. But, do the rest of us a favor, please stop advertising it.

Quote from jeremynative

more empty words and promises and nothing to show

more empty butthurt words from an angry fanboy. get a life bub. they are making this game more then i expected already. i'm more then happy with the way things are going and you should be too. so take your negativity somewhere else. it's not welcome here