It looks like EU has finally got its first big beta wave for the Diablo 3 beta!
Originally Posted by Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
(Brave heroes, the time has come to arise and answer the summons: the Diablo III beta is upon us here in Europe!
The first wave of invitations to the European Diablo III beta test is now being delivered. The client is available in English, with German and French becoming available at a later date. In addition to selecting players from those who have opted in via their Battle.net accounts, we’ll also be providing keys through beta promotions and giveaways. We welcome those invited to provide feedback on the official forums.
If you have a beta license, you are free to show, share, or talk about any portion of the beta content to which you have access, as this beta test is not confidential.
As always, we’d like to remind those hoping for an invite to be wary of phishing attempts. If you believe you’ve received an invite to the Diablo III beta test, it’s best to refrain from clicking on any links in the email, and instead log in to your Battle.net account to see if a Diablo III beta game account has indeed been granted. Or, if you were sent a key, you should attempt to add it manually by going to the Add or Upgrade a Game section of the Battle.net account management page.
For those who have received an invite to the beta test, we thank you for helping us test out our server stability and hardware. For those of you still hoping for an invite, we wish you the best of luck and hope you’ll keep an eye out for some of the beta-key giveaways and promotions we’ll have right here on the European Diablo III community site.
For more information, please see the beta opt-in announcement and FAQ.
The first wave of invitations to the European Diablo III beta test is now being delivered. The client is available in English, with German and French becoming available at a later date. In addition to selecting players from those who have opted in via their Battle.net accounts, we’ll also be providing keys through beta promotions and giveaways. We welcome those invited to provide feedback on the official forums.
If you have a beta license, you are free to show, share, or talk about any portion of the beta content to which you have access, as this beta test is not confidential.
As always, we’d like to remind those hoping for an invite to be wary of phishing attempts. If you believe you’ve received an invite to the Diablo III beta test, it’s best to refrain from clicking on any links in the email, and instead log in to your Battle.net account to see if a Diablo III beta game account has indeed been granted. Or, if you were sent a key, you should attempt to add it manually by going to the Add or Upgrade a Game section of the Battle.net account management page.
For those who have received an invite to the beta test, we thank you for helping us test out our server stability and hardware. For those of you still hoping for an invite, we wish you the best of luck and hope you’ll keep an eye out for some of the beta-key giveaways and promotions we’ll have right here on the European Diablo III community site.
For more information, please see the beta opt-in announcement and FAQ.
Diablo 3 and Future Weekly Maintenance
Due to Diablo 3 being always online, one issue people face is not being able to play their favorite game while battle.net is down. Blizzard stated they are not fully sure how long Diablo 3 will go down each week. Hopefully only a short time, like Starcraft 2.
Originally Posted by Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
(At this point, we don't know how much Diablo III will be taken offline during the weekly Battle.net maintenance period. The game itself will probably not need much actual maintenance, and like StarCraft II, could possibly only go offline for a short time each week.
Of course, when we patch the game (which will also be a rare thing), we will do so during a Battle.net maintenance window. With Diablo III we're aiming for minimal downtime, and have a goal of taking the game down even less than StarCraft II. A few weeks after launch, we hope to get away from the weekly maintenance window all together, and go to perhaps a once-a-month planned, brief outage.
Of course, when we patch the game (which will also be a rare thing), we will do so during a Battle.net maintenance window. With Diablo III we're aiming for minimal downtime, and have a goal of taking the game down even less than StarCraft II. A few weeks after launch, we hope to get away from the weekly maintenance window all together, and go to perhaps a once-a-month planned, brief outage.
Blue Posts / Twitter
Originally Posted by (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Is there any benefit to NOT choosing a rune for a skill? Seems like its a no-brainer to use a rune!
No, you're intended to choose a rune with each skill. (Source)
Would you ever choose not to rune a skill? #D3 design is predicated on tradeoffs, this could be robust, if not more complex
No, it's always been the intent that a runed skill is superior to a non-runed skill. (Source)
Got it, thanks for the quick reply! Is the team concerned about a mathematically 'best' choice?
Always. But it's not so much about there being a best, as much as "can there be many viable alternatives". (Source)
Rune Unlocks
Personally, I dig the rune unlocks as is. Leveling a new monk since the changes and every unlock so far has felt super awesome.
I'm sure itll be great fun for about a month. Try to think long term instead of instant gratification.
I know... and then once you have everything unlocked you only have billions of possible combination choices (before gear). (Source)
Art Contest
Have you started your art piece yet? I'm expecting great things of you. Don't let Uncle B down. Link
I'm having a hard time understanding what you're looking for. Do you want an actual 3/4 profile portrait or just a basic action img
It's up for interpretation, to make it more fun. But a classic approach might be the class art pieces - Link (Source)
No, you're intended to choose a rune with each skill. (Source)
Would you ever choose not to rune a skill? #D3 design is predicated on tradeoffs, this could be robust, if not more complex
No, it's always been the intent that a runed skill is superior to a non-runed skill. (Source)
Got it, thanks for the quick reply! Is the team concerned about a mathematically 'best' choice?
Always. But it's not so much about there being a best, as much as "can there be many viable alternatives". (Source)
Rune Unlocks
Personally, I dig the rune unlocks as is. Leveling a new monk since the changes and every unlock so far has felt super awesome.
I'm sure itll be great fun for about a month. Try to think long term instead of instant gratification.
I know... and then once you have everything unlocked you only have billions of possible combination choices (before gear). (Source)
Art Contest
Have you started your art piece yet? I'm expecting great things of you. Don't let Uncle B down. Link
I'm having a hard time understanding what you're looking for. Do you want an actual 3/4 profile portrait or just a basic action img
It's up for interpretation, to make it more fun. But a classic approach might be the class art pieces - Link (Source)
Diablo: The Sword of Justice #4(of 5)
The cover for the fourth issue of the Diablo III Comic, The Sword of Justice, has been added to the DC website along with a little information about it. The issue will be hitting the shelves on May 30, 2012. Don't forget the third issue will be released on March 21, 2012.
Continuing the story based on the hit video game! JACOB, armed with the SWORD OF JUSTICE continues his quest to discover the source of the rage plague near STAALBREAK! If left unchecked, this evil may threaten all of SANCTUARY!
Written by Aaron Williams; Art and cover by Joseph Lacroix
On Sale May 30, 2012
Fan Art
new artworks have been added to Blizzard's Fan Art Section, including one by our very own Umpa!
Official Blizzard Quote:
I know... and then once you have everything unlocked you only have billions of possible combination choices (before gear).
Not sure if sarcastic or Chuck Testa...
1. a sense of progression from forcing to re-lvl? you mean a sense of redundancy?
2. you obviously have not spent much time on the skill calc. i have spent hundreds of hours with it and i can say without a doubt there are at least hundreds of possible builds that are a lot different for each class. 100x more then D2 had. considering how much fun and time ive spent just on the skill calc alone, actually using these builds will make it last infinitely longer.
3. his response doesnt side step anything. he gives the exact response he should because its the truth.
4. gear has always been the main point of longevity in diablo, and then ppl complain when its the same thing in the sequal? lol?
5. there is absolutely nothing stopping you from replaying or recreating a character. D2 FORCED you to do this which was bogus and they finally added respecs a little bit ago which made it way better. people are brain washed into thinking the permanancy of D2 was a good thing when it added nothing but an inconvenience. why? because it took a whole 3 hours to get a new char from 1-80 to test out your new build n equip all the gear you farmed from your other guy. so again i say, it added nothing. all thats changed is now people have a choice to re-level a new char to test new builds or use the same one.
people complain hard about how D3 took away choices, took away the choice of skill points and the choice of attributes. then they rage hardcore about given a choice to re-lvl or not? lol....
^ this! Good response!
Ah well, there's always something else to do, right?
It would only be redundant if you level with the exact same build/skills as you had done so previously which is not at all what I was referring to. If they want to make the claim that new skill builds are like new play experiences, then I would say being consistent with that then NO, it would not have a sense of redundancy. And in that there would still be progression inherently from re-leveling. No one says you HAVE to re-level a new build (after having a max level class of one type of build), but it adds depth and replay-ability long term.
While I can see your point here, and it is a good one, its still speculation. You don't know how well any of those builds will really transfer over into the game at release. In relation to a point I was making before, there may be some more diverse and interesting ways to play, but that may give the player an inherent disadvantage or "not full maximization" depending on your point of view. They may also just not really be as much fun in practice as they are on paper. And again this point was in relation to hardcore and avid players, people who will be concerned with something like this. However again, I can see where you are coming from as I have done something similar (albeit to a much lesser extent) it's just still to be foreseen how it will actually translate.
This is again where we disagree. He does sidestep the issue because he does not address the concerns the OP brings up, rather he offers his opinion on the consequences. He does not directly address or give a response to the OP and therefore nothing was really answered. I am still left wondering "how does this new system function long term?" If I am still left wondering anything, than to be fair, the blue post has not answered constructively enough.
The one thing I would appreciate is to not put words in my mouth. I never said that at all, the reason I've played D2 since release is I enjoy the item hunt. However its the variety of ways in which you approach it that makes D2 great. If it was really all about the item hunt can you say you'd have fun with only 1 class and many more items? No of course not, because some diversity will always be better and give you an opportunity to, as I said, do the same thing but differently. I know that they have some ways to do this with the current system, but I feel as though they could have (and almost did) go a much better route in doing it. Even without the locked in skill builds I thought it was ok because of the skill rune hunt, but that is removed too which re-raises some concerns for me.
Finally, I do agree with you somewhat there. Again I'll ask not to put words in my mouth because I was fine with the removal of attributes, granted I still would like to have seen skill points in because even incremental increases give a sense of progression and accomplishment. I've toyed with that notion many times, there is nothing stopping you from making a new character so why not just add self imposed restrictions, stick with a build and if you want another one then make a new character? But obviously I won't do that because I'll just respec. I'm not detracting at all from the convenience or positives it brings, but I think in the long term it harms the replay-ability and integrity of the game. There really isn't a reason to re-level a character of the same class anymore and because of that I doubt I will do so. I know I will be able to but I have no incentive to do so because I can change builds on a whim, and that saddens me. Again as a hardcore player myself most of this is catered to my opinion and needs, but as I've said before; "Inevitably all new players will become experienced players, experienced players will not revert back to being new players." With this mindset blizzard should be catering the majority of the game to experienced players (in my opinion). Experienced players will do some research on a build before committing to it fully, and probably wouldn't level all the way up to 80 if they don't anticipate liking the build. That was also all after many years of the game being out and no longer supported avidly, I suspect it will be a long time before having to deal with issues like that in D3.
I look forward to seeing your responses to the questions I have brought forth.
i had a big ass reply and then hit a button on accident and it got erased. so FML
ill just respond on the first 2 points.
1. it is completly redundant to re-lvl a class you already have just to experiment with a build you dont know will be good or not. do you think it was fun for the first people of D2 to re-level 50 characters of the same class testing builds that kept failing over n over n over just to come out with 1-2 cookie cutters that now everyone uses? of course not, even people who like to level dont want to re-lvl that many times per class to fail 95% of the time. theres nothing deep about that. even with rushes and runs that would make anyone want to slit their wrists.
2. since everything is now based on wpn dmg its not really speculation. it is but it isnt. ive made hundreds of different builds with the same dmg % output as others and some with less dmg but more utility or more dmg and less utility or defense ect ect. in D2 there were solid numbers you saw and knew the skill was useless compared to others and as you said didnt fully maximize their classes potential. but with this system you can make dozens of builds all with equally amazing potential. and then your gear modifies this more since gear will have +%dmg to skill 'X' or 'Y'. even making less practical skills seem on par with the higher ones.
But the game is already gold (in print).
Announce a date, put up a starter edition (demo) on b.net to reboot the awareness and momentum to release and cut the crap Blizzard!
Believe me the beta is a double-edge sword, it's fun the first run of each class, then you max them out and complete the achievements because Blizzard didn't even made the effort to put epic loot in just to keep things interesting. So you realise this ain't a beta of D3 but Battle.net running a demo. In the end you are left with nothing worth doing ingame beside the last 20 minutes for a yellow drop. All the beta does is wanting to play the full game because the damn game is so good. At least it should be release soon, you'll get to enjoy it.
I'm not sure how the downtime with wow and sc2 are so I can't really go on anything here.
Speaking of downtime, the beta is offline.
Official Blizzard Quote:
We will be performing scheduled maintenance beginning on Thursday, March 1st, at 04:30 p.m. PST and we expect the service to be available again at approximately 08:30 p.m. PST. During this time the game will be unavailable for play.
uhm no. they just said they plan to have it like once a month for a few hours. so if your only time your able to play is a 4 hour period once a month on the exact day and time as the maintenance. then holy shit your the worlds most unluckiest guy. like the anti-lottery