Diablo III

But, for what exactly? Playing the campaign again?

well, probably playing the campaign or co-op on a real difficulty level

I mean, I died by accident shortly after I hit level 10 because I'm still massively jet-lagged and was trying to make sure I wasn't going to be late for work and that was the only time I've even felt like I've been in danger, including the first boss fight.

I died like crazy in a few boss fights, but I would agree that the FEAR doesn't kick in as much with this game because you don't really lose all that much by dying. On the flip side, the frustration doesn't, either.

Man, Act II is a SLOG as a monk because of all those flying electromosquito things.

Those things are total bullshit no matter who you are.

Once I got the Monk ability to summon a spirit warrior it became easier to deal with the flying poison bugs. The spirit warrior can haul ass and seems to target those things pretty well.

a tutorial for harder level hardcore runs where killing you DOES matter.
blizzard is the only company i know who creates games made for a decade's worth of play. it's their business model and it works.
so i don't think anyone really understands the depth of play that's in diablo iii just yet. but i'm seeing glints and everything i read by the designers suggests this is very much going to be something they plan to support through 2020.

Anyone used the auction house yet? I threw a couple rare items on there for the hell of it, just to see if anyone actually bids. It'll be interesting to see how it works out when they open the cash version.

And by rare I mean "crap that popped out when I beat Diablo in Normal difficulty" so I'm not exactly fishing for huge gold prizes.

I've used the AH. I lowball. I really don't care, since it's not that much effort to get rares and the AH was completely, utterly stupid when I looked in on it the other day.

But have you played the secret level?

No, I can't get you there, but I might spend some time crafting the stuff that will.

I have to say that I LOATHE the new system of "Jump in to help a buddy and your progress gets boned." Came back to Act I NM after helping a friend and lost a half hour or more of progress. Not that it's a HUGE deal, I guess, but my game time is limited so taking steps backwards is unwelcome no matter how you slice it.

As for the normal being a tutorial, I've heard more than one person state "The game starts with Nightmare." Just like with WoW, the game really starts at max level (60, 70, 80, 85 depending on the version you were playing.)

And the Witchdoctor is giving me fits. He's really crippled for having only 4 skill slots at level 12 or whatever. Particularly when to make zombie dogs useful, you need a secondary skill and one of your passive skills set to boost them. It's like a more frustrating version of the Necromancer (my favorite D2 class by a mile.)

In Act I Nightmare now, and the unique packs are pretty much killing me instantly. Suspect my assumption that Normal mode provides no real idea of what the game is like is a correct one.

real diablo souls starts now

Suspect my assumption that Normal mode provides no real idea of what the game is like is a correct one.

i never really played that much of Diablo I or II...what does this mean? the game is harder, duh, and you get better items, but...what else?

Mainly that character builds and strategies that work in Normal will be totally ineffectual in Hell/Inferno difficulty. The assumption that the game is designed to chiefly be played in Normal mode, with the harder difficulties only for fanatics being incorrect; the game is really being designed to be played in groups in Hell/Inferno, and everything is tweaked to make that the most rewarding experience.

You can get through most of the first act as a wizard using whatever skills were mostly recently upgraded (runes granted). The thing is, that gives you a really messed-up set of skills that aren't all that complementary sometimes, and definitely doesn't help with any boss battles.

The stupid thing about D3 (and it was stupid about D2) is that the champion packs (blue titles) of monsters are often far harder/more annoying than the named bosses or minibosses. Spider Queen? No problem. Extra Strong Damage Reflecting Gibberbottom Pantsfiller and his pals? Makes me want to smash my keyboard into my monitor.

But I'm older now and have a lot less patience for it.

In normal, you could probably get by with just about any skills you wanted (assuming a couple defense and rest for blowing stuff up) and finish the game. Less so in Nightmare. Much less so in Hell, to the point where you have to take these skills if you want to get by (solo at least; group play is probably more forgiving.)

Is there a boss where the best wizard defensive skill isn't the one where you have fake copies of yourself? Seems like the best way to dodge getting damaged.

Mirror Image is pretty boss for bosses, specially if they just eat your Templar in two bites. Diamond Skin for OH SHIT moments (and for Prisms, which lets you disintegrate more.) Hydra and/or Blizzard for fire and forget damage.

It's true, the bosses are weirdly anticlimactic, especially *spoiler*.

I am amused that this game has been in the works for so long and the plot and cinematics are so lame.

That is surprising, I generally assume that Blizzard will get them right - the meteor and dream cinematics both seemed A++.

I've been irritating my friend by repeatedly messaging him variations of
COME, PLAY AWHILE AND LISTEN
for the last couple weeks.

I'm happy they killed Cain off, but it's funny that his notes on stuff keep showing up regardless.

well that serves me right for coming onto this thread after playing for 2 hours

;_; sorry Dan

But that doesn't spoil much, he dies like 2.5 hours into the game!

lol so basically I'm like 20 minutes away from that

It strikes me that they got rid of a lot of the things that would glitch the multiplayer experience or otherwise make it difficult. I don't think there are any quest-specific items that you pick up, loot now appears separately for each player so it doesn't have to do any checking between clients to see if it's been picked up yet, and the gem merging is now a town person when it appears. Also, you can remove gems from items! I don't think you ever could in D2, could you?

Yeah, it's like "Come, stay awhile and.. AHH, I'm dyiiiing!"

loot now appears separately for each player

i'm fine with that! the last thing i want to do is race for loot with some 15 year old after every kill

No kidding. It also solves a lot of game lag and synchronization issues! I'd imagine there's still a lot of logic involving what monsters are alive/killed and the player's actions, but keeping track of a lot of the on-screen objects can now be ignored.

(sorry, thinking like a programmer all the time at work)

Also, could the reveal at the end of Act II be *more* telegraphed? Christ. At least have the Rogue acknowledge how totally obvious it is.

plot IS hella dopey here

Diablo II was very well-served by being so spare in terms of dialog. The incidental stuff in D3 just makes me cringe, it's such boilerplate fantasy BS. We're killing undead and Leah starts talking about how she wants to OPEN AN INN after this is all over? FUCK OFF. Also I suppose Blizzard North might have just had better writers.

it's also repetitive. i've heard the same bit of dialogue six times already. can you turn that off?

"bt dubs, why did you leave kingsport, since we're about to descend into hell and slay one of the prime evils?"

COME STAY AWHILE AND LISTEN

This game is so much more fun when you have a good online co-op partner or partners. i must have lucked out when i first started, because everyone was great to play with, but the last two sessions have been an endless parade of people so bad that i feel the need to taunt them (normally something i avoid at all costs) 6th grade style

great job back there

not

not bad in the sense that they're not using their skills properly or something, but bad in the sense that for some reason i'm always fighting alone while they spend an extra 30 seconds aimlessly wandering around the site of a battle that took place 5 minutes earlier, across the map.

i did play with a nice young man from thailand who told me early on that his english wasn't very good, but typed "looooool!!" everytime i said something like "wait just a second, i need to level up my skills"

Yes, or the dude who is like "I just want to get to the end of this quest!" and tries to run all the way across the level and gets killed horribly by demons. Which is just kind of comical for a while, until you forget he does this and use his banner to teleport to wherever he is which is IN THE MIDDLE OF A HUNDRED DUDES

thai dude otm

looooooooooool.

I don't want to join any public games with people I don't already know at least tangentially. XBL and dungeon finder on WoW have long soured me on that.

/misanthropic

I'm right with you Matt. I'd rather solo than play with randoms.

I sent friend requests to everyone on this thread, but no one likes me

http://www.sadtrombone.com/

I have had good luck joining public games for the most part! Dude I just described was kind of ridiculous in that aspect, but was pretty good overall. He was very complimentary, although maybe he was used to playing with morons.

I am your friend Z S!

I have been playing around 8pm central time

I didn't get a friend request Z S (or at least I haven't seen one). Send me another!

Oh! Hmm, it always says "0" next to the friends icon in the lower left, I guess that means number of friends online, duh. I was thinking it was like "you have zero friends". which reminds me, when i first started up the game i took this screenshot because it's a useful reminder:
http://i49.tinypic.com/1zfmy4y.png