And then compare the profits, and the replayability value, and how long people will keep playing the game. People have been playing D2 up to this day. There's a reason for it.
I tried the beta, and it was absolutely GORGEOUS. The painterly style is leagues ahead of anything I've seen before.
Most of the complaining Ive seen is about the classes and "lack" of customization. But, people havent even touched the surface of the game. The devs have flat out said the real shine comes in inferno mode. It's finally about skill of the player, not cookie cutter specs. THAT is what really has me interested. I`ll play right through to inferno. Yes, there arent a huge amount of skills. But, the fact that you have to choose 6, and use them wisely at any given time. I think that's where blizzards genius will really show through. Too bad no one is there yet.
And then compare the profits, and the replayability value, and how long people will keep playing the game. People have been playing D2 up to this day. There's a reason for it.
I tried the beta, and it was absolutely GORGEOUS. The painterly style is leagues ahead of anything I've seen before.
Probably because the creators of diablo2 are good at what they do, and still are today
Which means that Torchlight 2 will find its place side by side with diablo 3, both can coexist.
So what? My point is, Diablo 3 looks miles better than any other action RPG to date. If that's due to its massive budget, team size and development time, then fine, it still looks fantastic. It might be unoriginal in theme, but it is far from bland in style and execution.
So what? My point is, Diablo 3 looks miles better than any other action RPG to date. If that's due to its massive budget, team size and development time, then fine, it still looks fantastic. It might be unoriginal in theme, but it is far from bland in style and execution.
I think it's almost unfair to compare Diablo with Torchlight, clearly the biggest discrepancy in the visuals is lighting. The quality of the textures, which is a big factor of both games aesthetic, isn't that far apart. The difference could be the skill-level of the artists, or it could be as gir suggests, budgetary; i.e. artists had a lot longer to work on them.
DRM sucks. Having to be connected to a server to play alone sucks. And thousands of people are complaining about that today... yet most of them don't understand why Blizzard doesn't offer online play. They say it's to prevent piracy, when it's not. Blizzard has to run servers for at least 10 years to support this game, as they know from their past franchises, for the (very popular) multiplayer component. It shouldn't be surprising they looked for a way to get some recurring revenue from the game so that the ongoing costs are covered by the people still playing it. Their solution was the real-money auction house. To run a real-money auction house, they have to absolutely eliminate hacking and duping, or rare items won't be rare and there will be no incentive to create a robust market which Blizzard can earn money from. The only sure way to eliminate hacking and duping is to run D3 like an MMO... put everything on a server you don't control. You can hack your client all day long, but since your characters, the world, mob spawns and deaths, experience and loot are all generated and stored on the server, you can't cheat and create items. There is no single player game. They never programmed one. To offer one at this point would be as much design and programming effort as creating Diablo 4. So don't expect there to ever be an offline patch for D3. When you play single player, you're just playing a multiplayer server instance that happens to only have one player in it.
it's kinda like... the cops are stood outside a car showroom, you buy your car, and the cop tells you that you can't go out on the road just yet as it's too busy, while a bunch of chav's who've all stolen their cars are out on the road lolling at you.
anywho... look guys i wasn't trying to say the game looks BAD at all, i'm sure everyone put a lot of work into it, and congratulations to EVERYONE who worked on it! i guess i'm still just a bit naive to the industry, so i'm sorry if i caused anyone offense.
Actually I sort of agree, I find Diablo 3 to be a bit underwhelming, the models seem way to low poly for me, other than the skill effects I don't think the animations look much more polished than most other games I play.
There are a few other details that sort of seem not as polished like how in dungeons pillars and stuff that normally would block the view of your character become invisible really fast, the transition between them being in view to invisible for better view is a bit jostling. Transitions between some areas also seems a bit random, no fade ins or anything, it's just your character disappears, a quick switch to the new area and your character reappears.
I mean it looks like a decent game and all.
But personally I'm just going to wait for Torchlight 2, I don't have to be online at all times, and they are making it mod friendly, so for the most part if I don't like something about the textures I could just make my own or find a texture pack. Also building my own dungeons and inviting friends to play through it sounds pretty fun.
Finally got a chance to play a good amounts worth. Fk'n gorgeous. Played w a few folks from Polycount and good-goddamn... I'm impressed.
As far as not being able to play offline... I'll wait until I'm on a roadtrip or recovering from a hurricane to bitch about that. With my jobs, I need to be online all day every day so no big whoop. What I'm worried about is years down the line, when everyone has beaten it a million times... can I play it again? W/out the server, the game is useless right?
While the game looks orgasmic, whats the point of it? I thought this was an mmorpg? My vague memories of my older brother playing diablo 2 gave me this impression. Is it just a single player rpg with party elements? Similar to GW?
As i expected, ppl exposed their rage about diablo 3 DRM, no offline mode LOL.
I'm agree with almighty_gir, Diablo 3 looks outdated, that's a fact that only a true and idiot fanboy would forget. But keeping aside the graphics, the DRM, and all that, its gameplay is better than with diablo 2, and the best is that i can play it with a very old machine.
We hate comparisons, but just look over youtube some videos for Lineage Eternal. It's a shame, Diablo 3 could have been better, too many years of development for this... but it can't be helped.
Torchlight 2 is only 19 euro, and Daiblo 3 60 euro. I think they are using the brand just for earning cash from fans. I think Diablo 3 is not worthy of 30 euro. If you played the open beta, or a closed beta alone and you didn't it at all, save your cash and don't buy the game. This is a game to be played with friends.
This is the overall impression of the buyers over amazon.co.uk, and i'm agree with them.
This doesn't deserve to be called Diablo 3.
As the server problems will hopefully be sorted by the time anyone reads this, I haven't considered them when choosing my rating. I will however say that if anyone can be expected to handle game servers, I would have hoped it would be Blizzard. I downloaded my copy early, so when the game unlocked at midnight, I was able to start playing straight away, before the servers got slammed by those logging on this evening. What I saw in the game, I can't say I liked. To begin with, the game requires a constant internet connection to play, which has been widely criticised on many other games. D3, however, goes beyond merely requiring online authentication, and has noticeable latency issues in the actual gameplay. DO NOT BUY THIS GAME IF YOU HAVE SLOW INTERNET. You will not be able to play. No, not even in single player mode. Why Blizzard would have single player mode running on a server rather than locally, I have no idea, but they do.
Setting aside technical issues and considering the gameplay, I was less than impressed here too. It's been said that StarCraft 2 was simply StarCraft with updated graphics (And no LAN play, but that's another game...). If only that were true here, I would call it an improvement. One of the great things about Diablo 2 was that it let you create your own hero, with abilities you could choose. Here, abilities are simply granted to you at certain levels, and you get what you are given. You have no control over stat point placement either, and equipment choices are restricted by class. Sorry Blizzard, if I wanted to be shoehorned into a predetermined role, I'd play WoW.
As far as the actual combat goes, it's not bad, if this had been released by another company under another title, I would probably have enjoyed it. But don't buy this expecting another Diablo 2, because it doesn't hold up to it's predecessor. Again, Diablo 2 was better. Ultimately, if you were a fan of previous Diablo titles, don't buy this. Save your money for Torchlight 2, because Torchlight was better at being Diablo than D3 is.
BTW, zavvi have stock again, and i will receive my 2 copies in short. Let's see if i can make money with the AH and a good magic finding gear lol. Fucking gambling game...
Pardon me, I suppose I just don't play enough games. Idiot fanboy or not, I'm enjoying the hell out of this game and I'm pretty sure that's what it's all about.
Well, this sucks. I got off work, my CE was waiting for me at home. I installed it, logged in, created a character, and without even going into the game, I quit because I had lots of work to do for my online course. I finally decide to call it a night and play some, and now Ive spent the last 20 minutes TRYING to log in....
Im sorry, but for a company that is in no way NEW to online games, this shouldn't happen... People who pay for the game should never not be able to play it.
I'm not quite sure why people are in such a pissy mood about the whole online thing, consider it like an MMO. It's not quite an MMO, but still. MMO's always have issues on Day 1, it's nothing new. Sure, it sucks, but it's as if they did it on purpose.
Well, I had no hype for Diablo untill last night, when the internet started shitting their pants about it :P
I downloaded the client, installed it... and oh! It lets me play the first section of the game for free. Cool. I played through with a monk in about 4 hours, getting everything. Then smashed through it again with a demon hunter in 1 hour...
I might have to buy this game. But £45? fuck that!
How did it let you play for free?
I'm waiting on a physical copy that'll take a few more days to get here, would love to play in the meantime
also, Ehnn#2202
edit: oh, I guess it's the guest pass thing
if anyone can throw me an invite so I can wait at the login screen with you guys, raging at it futilely, you'll have my eternal gratitude.
and my guest pass, when I get it
I'm not quite sure why people are in such a pissy mood about the whole online thing, consider it like an MMO. It's not quite an MMO, but still. MMO's always have issues on Day 1, it's nothing new. Sure, it sucks, but it's as if they did it on purpose.
it's frustrating because Diablo I & II did not have these issues on launch day
I'm not quite sure why people are in such a pissy mood about the whole online thing, consider it like an MMO. It's not quite an MMO, but still. MMO's always have issues on Day 1, it's nothing new. Sure, it sucks, but it's as if they did it on purpose.
MMO's are buggy and you get a lot of disconnects at first. Yes. But flat out not being able to log in? not really. Starcraft 2 didnt have these issues when it first launched. Not to this extent at least. I certainly didn't have any issues with it. Plus with starcraft, once you logged in to verify your copy, you could go into offline mode.
MMO's also have a bunch of different servers that have all those differnet load times and all that jazz. Now, I dont know how the inner workings of D3 work for their servers, but its not like they have to show everyone playing on your screen at one time like in MMOs. You just have to sign in, and you talk back and forth with the server for achievements and saving and what not.
I trust they`ll fix it quickly, but still. A pain in the ass.
MMO's are buggy and you get a lot of disconnects at first. Yes. But flat out not being able to log in? not really. Starcraft 2 didnt have these issues when it first launched. Not to this extent at least. I certainly didn't have any issues with it. Plus with starcraft, once you logged in to verify your copy, you could go into offline mode.
MMO's also have a bunch of different servers that have all those differnet load times and all that jazz. Now, I dont know how the inner workings of D3 work for their servers, but its not like they have to show everyone playing on your screen at one time like in MMOs. You just have to sign in, and you talk back and forth with the server for achievements and saving and what not.
I trust they`ll fix it quickly, but still. A pain in the ass.
I understand what you mean. Weren't the servers down for maintenance though? Seems like they're already fixing issues. I'm sure there is a legitimate reason for it all.
im Macattackk#1621 for anyone who wants to add me.
the game is cool and all but i feel like they stripped away some of interesting gameplay elements from D2 to make this game more auto pilot and farm friendly. You can easily zone out and just blast through monsters and farm loot, there is less thought process involved in playing the game.
D2 felt more like an experience. Things like sprinting, choosing your stats, placing skill points, the way items took up inventory space. those things are gone which takes some depth away. its still interesting and beautiful looking but it just feels more linear and script like...
still fun, just wish they kept some of the old stuff. maybe im nostalgic.
I caved and bought it. Then wasted half my day playing Act 1...
And yeah, it's pretty damn fun. I soloed Act 1 in about 5-6 hours, going over every bit of ground, and died three times so I'd say it's actually a bit harder than Diablo 2. It is actually much easier most of the time as a Barb because of the exploding cleave skill which completely rapes mobs, but when ganged by some of the tougher monsters your health can disappear very quickly. From what I see this game will be devastatingly hard in Hell/Inferno.
The effects are ultra satisfying, as are the items. As mentioned the graphics are a bit wimpy, but blizzard has never been cutting edge so whatever. The contrast seems low though, so everything looks like it's been leeched of life. Might just be my monitor settings.
One thing I'm HATING is the lack of hotkeys for skill switching. I want to swap skill in the middle of combat to target mobs or bosses, but I have to press S, click 4 times, all while being raped. No, this is bullshit. I have my skills and I want to use them. The removal of stat points bothers me too, but it was a chore so I'll let that slide.
Well if nobody has a character yet you can go to options in the main menu and change your region to Asia , theirs seems to be perfect.... but note that when Americas servers are up again your character from the Asia servers won't transfer.
Been playing a bit, exploring, killing, having a blast. Wanted to play more now, but will wait til servers come back up
The art is fucking brilliant, hats off to you guys. I chuckle to myself every time i see one of those brilliantly tricksy trees, dungeon rocks, etc. Awesomely clever Creatures and everything so far are gorgeous, love those giant trees, and huge bull things. The shaders are a nice touch on the character armors, though i saw some odd mirrored UV seams w/ env map on one of the monk helmets :P
really looking forward to the dust settling from launch, and being able to play through on the harder difficulties, I think i may be almost through act 1, and want moooore.
Found Wirt's Other Leg too, holding onto it for later... just in case!
It does suck that the servers are being a little unstable, but then again, it's not like the WoW launch where no one on the east coast could play for a week.
it's frustrating because Diablo I & II did not have these issues on launch day
Really? here in Europe we had the same problems with Diablo 2, it was impossible to play it online on its 2 first weeks (i didn't play D2 offline). Servers were down constantly due to the massive amount of players.
Also, I don't consider diablo 3 a mmo, it's not "massive". As much you only can play with 4 people instead of 8 (D2). It's just a MO game.
About the skills points and how the game is... it's incredible that some of you didn't know that. It has been told since ages... and blizzard explained the reasons for all the changes. With D2, i was fed up of recreating characters with its builds due to the patches. You don't need to recreate a character because they killed your build with a patch.
What i hope is to see all the issues solved in a week
Blizzard doesn't want their to be a wrong way to build a character, or have a build get nerfed and not viable anymore. They had those issues in Wow and I'm happy someone is challenging the skill tree. I really enjoy when games break away from that, Paper Mario had a awesome skill system, Witcher 2 had a 4 part tree that required early investment in sword fighting for basic attacks. It is impossible to balance a tree properly.
man, everyone is playing and I'm still messing around with this PoS installer - couldn't they have put the thing on Steam? Maybe I'm lucky and it works when I come home...
If you haven't tried it yet, download just the sharpen filter from http://darkd3.com/
It makes a world of difference for the textures and I can't go without it toggled on now.
I played for about 3 hours today, had to wait 30 minutes for the sever to come up, but I had no issues once the severs got off maintenance. Playing with a party was lag free 99% of the time, and no disconnects.
I really enjoyed the environments and use of color, its awesome how destructible objects are everywhere. I think the textures /might/ be a bit too soft, but there is a ton of small details and so much polish, I really love exploring the areas.
I'm still not sure how I feel about the characters, they look too low rez and not as detailed as I'd expect, zooming in doesn't do the characters and favors.
The combat is awesome, I played solo and with a 4 person party. It gets tough at times, got uncomfortably close to dying more than a few times. The animations and VFX are great. The kill streaks and multi kill bonuses really make you want to get into bigger fights and to keep you from avoiding combat, it works, and you are rewarded for it. The combat feels a lot more skill combo based and I love that, playing as a monk you can warp behind foes and kick them out towards you allies to pick off any big targets quickly. Or you can use your more ranged attack with the warping to poke and prod at baddies in ways you don't get surrounded, or you can use the close range more aoe attack and try to tank it out. Different skills work together in completely different ways and it works. I'd call it diablo 2 with funner skill combo based combat.
my mind is blown that I'm getting lag in a single player game. FPS is smooth as silk but characters are jumping about the place during combat and its all out freezing at points. worst is when i fire projectiles they dont appear for a second or 2 sometimes.. then five appear.
RRRRRRR work seems to be blocking the blizzard downloader.....and my pc is in storage until the end of the month when I move into my new apartment. god damn it :P
I heard Kotaku say something about how this skill tree doesn't allow you to "customize" your characters abilities saying that most high-level characters seem to end up with the same abilities. I was worried about this, but as I've been playing through, I'm having a tough time deciding WHERE I want to expand my tree. Somehow, I've got a feeling that my decisions will NOT be similar to everyone else's.
Dont know playing demon hunter and traps are fun but grenades o.o Just finished act one, though gonna roll some other class till some friends are back up.
For those who are disappointed with Diablo 3, thought I would mention Path of Exile in case you weren't aware. It feels a lot like Diablo 2 with some elements of Torchlight (gem slots in weapons). It's closed Beta at the moment and I'm guessing will be released in a few months.....
I've tried the beta and in terms of gameplay found it more fun that Diablo 3. Much more gritty/realistic graphics if that's your thing as well.
I think I'll be picking it up. Can't get enough of these types of games either way.
If you haven't tried it yet, download just the sharpen filter from http://darkd3.com/
It makes a world of difference for the textures and I can't go without it toggled on now.
holy fuck im getting stones thrown at me on face book for saying I like that Diablo 3 Shader mod!
WHAT WAS I THINKING FOR NOT LIKING THIS GAME AS IT IS IN ALL ITS GIVEN GLORY THAT OUR OVERLORDS AT BLIZZARD HAVE PROVIDED TO ME!
For those who are disappointed with Diablo 3, thought I would mention Path of Exile in case you weren't aware. It feels a lot like Diablo 2 with some elements of Torchlight (gem slots in weapons).
if i recall correctly the gem slot thing was in d2, (well the expansion) allowing you to slot runes and/or gems in weapons.
Well, I ending up playing during my lunch today. Started a witch doctor. I played the beta before the free weekend, and they`ve changed a lot since I played, but for the most part, nothing is new for me, just yet (havent killed the skellie king yet). You can now (or rather, again) change your skills on the fly, which im not too sure about. I personally liked having to do it in town and at the start of dungeons and stuff. It made you commit. Though, I hear the later difficulties, the longer you go without changing, the bigger the bonus you get for MF, which is awesome.
Does anyone know, do they still have those little companions that collect gold for you? I loved those things.
Runes! Awesome!
Anyone that says there is no customization is on crack. This game will SHINE come later difficulties. absolutely SHINE.
Only played for an hour or so. Absolutely hooked already. Got D/c'd 2 times, but I was able to reconnect right away. Still annoying though. And a bit of rubber banding.
To Blizzard, I say congrats and thank you on a brilliant game (and fix your damn servers).
And to Diablo I say, Welcome back, old friend. Welcome back.
Still waiting on a boxed copy in my slow ass mail country. If anyone sends me an invite I'll love you forever. Script-love. And I'll give you both my invites when I get the game (no nigerian princes involved)
It would suck not to be able to play on the weekend, a game you ordered a month ago. PM if you can, I'll make it worth it
You can have one of mine if you want, Ehnn. But I wont be able to give it to you till tomorrow. About 26 hours from now. Wont be home tonight to send it.
Replies
I tried the beta, and it was absolutely GORGEOUS. The painterly style is leagues ahead of anything I've seen before.
Probably because the creators of diablo2 are good at what they do, and still are today
Which means that Torchlight 2 will find its place side by side with diablo 3, both can coexist.
So what? My point is, Diablo 3 looks miles better than any other action RPG to date. If that's due to its massive budget, team size and development time, then fine, it still looks fantastic. It might be unoriginal in theme, but it is far from bland in style and execution.
rube#1378
I think it's almost unfair to compare Diablo with Torchlight, clearly the biggest discrepancy in the visuals is lighting. The quality of the textures, which is a big factor of both games aesthetic, isn't that far apart. The difference could be the skill-level of the artists, or it could be as gir suggests, budgetary; i.e. artists had a lot longer to work on them.
it's kinda like... the cops are stood outside a car showroom, you buy your car, and the cop tells you that you can't go out on the road just yet as it's too busy, while a bunch of chav's who've all stolen their cars are out on the road lolling at you.
anywho... look guys i wasn't trying to say the game looks BAD at all, i'm sure everyone put a lot of work into it, and congratulations to EVERYONE who worked on it! i guess i'm still just a bit naive to the industry, so i'm sorry if i caused anyone offense.
There are a few other details that sort of seem not as polished like how in dungeons pillars and stuff that normally would block the view of your character become invisible really fast, the transition between them being in view to invisible for better view is a bit jostling. Transitions between some areas also seems a bit random, no fade ins or anything, it's just your character disappears, a quick switch to the new area and your character reappears.
I mean it looks like a decent game and all.
But personally I'm just going to wait for Torchlight 2, I don't have to be online at all times, and they are making it mod friendly, so for the most part if I don't like something about the textures I could just make my own or find a texture pack. Also building my own dungeons and inviting friends to play through it sounds pretty fun.
As far as not being able to play offline... I'll wait until I'm on a roadtrip or recovering from a hurricane to bitch about that. With my jobs, I need to be online all day every day so no big whoop. What I'm worried about is years down the line, when everyone has beaten it a million times... can I play it again? W/out the server, the game is useless right?
While the game looks orgasmic, whats the point of it? I thought this was an mmorpg? My vague memories of my older brother playing diablo 2 gave me this impression. Is it just a single player rpg with party elements? Similar to GW?
As i expected, ppl exposed their rage about diablo 3 DRM, no offline mode LOL.
I'm agree with almighty_gir, Diablo 3 looks outdated, that's a fact that only a true and idiot fanboy would forget. But keeping aside the graphics, the DRM, and all that, its gameplay is better than with diablo 2, and the best is that i can play it with a very old machine.
We hate comparisons, but just look over youtube some videos for Lineage Eternal. It's a shame, Diablo 3 could have been better, too many years of development for this... but it can't be helped.
Torchlight 2 is only 19 euro, and Daiblo 3 60 euro. I think they are using the brand just for earning cash from fans. I think Diablo 3 is not worthy of 30 euro. If you played the open beta, or a closed beta alone and you didn't it at all, save your cash and don't buy the game. This is a game to be played with friends.
This is the overall impression of the buyers over amazon.co.uk, and i'm agree with them. [ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Diablo-III-PC-Mac-DVD/product-reviews/B0030DH9R6/ref=sr_1_1_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1"]Amazon.co.uk: Customer Reviews: Diablo III (PC/Mac DVD)[/ame]
BTW, zavvi have stock again, and i will receive my 2 copies in short. Let's see if i can make money with the AH and a good magic finding gear lol. Fucking gambling game...
Im sorry, but for a company that is in no way NEW to online games, this shouldn't happen... People who pay for the game should never not be able to play it.
How did it let you play for free?
I'm waiting on a physical copy that'll take a few more days to get here, would love to play in the meantime
also, Ehnn#2202
edit: oh, I guess it's the guest pass thing
if anyone can throw me an invite so I can wait at the login screen with you guys, raging at it futilely, you'll have my eternal gratitude.
and my guest pass, when I get it
it's frustrating because Diablo I & II did not have these issues on launch day
MMO's are buggy and you get a lot of disconnects at first. Yes. But flat out not being able to log in? not really. Starcraft 2 didnt have these issues when it first launched. Not to this extent at least. I certainly didn't have any issues with it. Plus with starcraft, once you logged in to verify your copy, you could go into offline mode.
MMO's also have a bunch of different servers that have all those differnet load times and all that jazz. Now, I dont know how the inner workings of D3 work for their servers, but its not like they have to show everyone playing on your screen at one time like in MMOs. You just have to sign in, and you talk back and forth with the server for achievements and saving and what not.
I trust they`ll fix it quickly, but still. A pain in the ass.
#firstworldproblems
I understand what you mean. Weren't the servers down for maintenance though? Seems like they're already fixing issues. I'm sure there is a legitimate reason for it all.
the game is cool and all but i feel like they stripped away some of interesting gameplay elements from D2 to make this game more auto pilot and farm friendly. You can easily zone out and just blast through monsters and farm loot, there is less thought process involved in playing the game.
D2 felt more like an experience. Things like sprinting, choosing your stats, placing skill points, the way items took up inventory space. those things are gone which takes some depth away. its still interesting and beautiful looking but it just feels more linear and script like...
still fun, just wish they kept some of the old stuff. maybe im nostalgic.
And yeah, it's pretty damn fun. I soloed Act 1 in about 5-6 hours, going over every bit of ground, and died three times so I'd say it's actually a bit harder than Diablo 2. It is actually much easier most of the time as a Barb because of the exploding cleave skill which completely rapes mobs, but when ganged by some of the tougher monsters your health can disappear very quickly. From what I see this game will be devastatingly hard in Hell/Inferno.
The effects are ultra satisfying, as are the items. As mentioned the graphics are a bit wimpy, but blizzard has never been cutting edge so whatever. The contrast seems low though, so everything looks like it's been leeched of life. Might just be my monitor settings.
One thing I'm HATING is the lack of hotkeys for skill switching. I want to swap skill in the middle of combat to target mobs or bosses, but I have to press S, click 4 times, all while being raped. No, this is bullshit. I have my skills and I want to use them. The removal of stat points bothers me too, but it was a chore so I'll let that slide.
How is this even possible? I've barely managed to log in. The one time I've been able to, the server shut down 10 minutes later.
Please, someone tell me your secret to playing this abysmally unacceptable launch.
The art is fucking brilliant, hats off to you guys. I chuckle to myself every time i see one of those brilliantly tricksy trees, dungeon rocks, etc. Awesomely clever Creatures and everything so far are gorgeous, love those giant trees, and huge bull things. The shaders are a nice touch on the character armors, though i saw some odd mirrored UV seams w/ env map on one of the monk helmets :P
really looking forward to the dust settling from launch, and being able to play through on the harder difficulties, I think i may be almost through act 1, and want moooore.
Found Wirt's Other Leg too, holding onto it for later... just in case!
It does suck that the servers are being a little unstable, but then again, it's not like the WoW launch where no one on the east coast could play for a week.
Really? here in Europe we had the same problems with Diablo 2, it was impossible to play it online on its 2 first weeks (i didn't play D2 offline). Servers were down constantly due to the massive amount of players.
Also, I don't consider diablo 3 a mmo, it's not "massive". As much you only can play with 4 people instead of 8 (D2). It's just a MO game.
About the skills points and how the game is... it's incredible that some of you didn't know that. It has been told since ages... and blizzard explained the reasons for all the changes. With D2, i was fed up of recreating characters with its builds due to the patches. You don't need to recreate a character because they killed your build with a patch.
What i hope is to see all the issues solved in a week
There has been a lot of discussion on this [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVTVMqtmxPU"]Diablo 3 - Why Skill Points Were Removed - Jay Wilson Interview - YouTube[/ame]
Blizzard doesn't want their to be a wrong way to build a character, or have a build get nerfed and not viable anymore. They had those issues in Wow and I'm happy someone is challenging the skill tree. I really enjoy when games break away from that, Paper Mario had a awesome skill system, Witcher 2 had a 4 part tree that required early investment in sword fighting for basic attacks. It is impossible to balance a tree properly.
I've already loaded up on popcorn gifs for that!
It makes a world of difference for the textures and I can't go without it toggled on now.
I really enjoyed the environments and use of color, its awesome how destructible objects are everywhere. I think the textures /might/ be a bit too soft, but there is a ton of small details and so much polish, I really love exploring the areas.
I'm still not sure how I feel about the characters, they look too low rez and not as detailed as I'd expect, zooming in doesn't do the characters and favors.
The combat is awesome, I played solo and with a 4 person party. It gets tough at times, got uncomfortably close to dying more than a few times. The animations and VFX are great. The kill streaks and multi kill bonuses really make you want to get into bigger fights and to keep you from avoiding combat, it works, and you are rewarded for it. The combat feels a lot more skill combo based and I love that, playing as a monk you can warp behind foes and kick them out towards you allies to pick off any big targets quickly. Or you can use your more ranged attack with the warping to poke and prod at baddies in ways you don't get surrounded, or you can use the close range more aoe attack and try to tank it out. Different skills work together in completely different ways and it works. I'd call it diablo 2 with funner skill combo based combat.
And I caved!
Anyone else get that feeling as well?
I've tried the beta and in terms of gameplay found it more fun that Diablo 3. Much more gritty/realistic graphics if that's your thing as well.
I think I'll be picking it up. Can't get enough of these types of games either way.
http://www.pathofexile.com/
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=97022&highlight=path+exile
holy fuck im getting stones thrown at me on face book for saying I like that Diablo 3 Shader mod!
WHAT WAS I THINKING FOR NOT LIKING THIS GAME AS IT IS IN ALL ITS GIVEN GLORY THAT OUR OVERLORDS AT BLIZZARD HAVE PROVIDED TO ME!
meh, I like it too, sort of at the halfway there setting, I'm all sharpensexual.
Too many lovely textures in the game to have them go missed out on with low screen resolutions, blury post effects and failing filtering.
if i recall correctly the gem slot thing was in d2, (well the expansion) allowing you to slot runes and/or gems in weapons.
Daven#1952
Did you start playing at launch or somewhere a day later?, day 1 was the worst, it's definately cooled down now.
Does anyone know, do they still have those little companions that collect gold for you? I loved those things.
Runes! Awesome!
Anyone that says there is no customization is on crack. This game will SHINE come later difficulties. absolutely SHINE.
Only played for an hour or so. Absolutely hooked already. Got D/c'd 2 times, but I was able to reconnect right away. Still annoying though. And a bit of rubber banding.
To Blizzard, I say congrats and thank you on a brilliant game (and fix your damn servers).
And to Diablo I say, Welcome back, old friend. Welcome back.
It would suck not to be able to play on the weekend, a game you ordered a month ago. PM if you can, I'll make it worth it