Just got into the Diablo 3 beta!
Wahoo!
So excited. I was about to go to sleep...then got an email, and blam, there it was. Well, sleep plans WERE CANCELLED. Anyways, played a Barbarian and got him to LV10, I've beaten the beta, which is supposed to be 1/3rd of the first Act. It took me about 2 and half to 3 hours. Not bad if the first act is going to be 9 hours, of course, like Diablo 2, I'm sure we'll have speed runs eventually and it'll be over much, much faster. (1-2 hours, the entire game, that is, lol.)
I took a bunch of screenshots; enjoy!
Album for most of them:
<a href="http://s189.photobucket.com/albums/z42/Mkilbride2599/Diablo%203/" target="_blank">http://s189.photobucket.com/albums/z42/Mki...599/Diablo%203/</a>
Two for easy viewing:
<img src="http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z42/Mkilbride2599/Diablo%203/DiabloIII2012-02-0416-15-07-98.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z42/Mkilbride2599/Diablo%203/DiabloIII2012-02-0416-08-42-49.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
Probably try out like Demon Hunter next. God it's so addicting. I can't believe it. It's JUST like Diablo 1 & 2. Atmosphere IS THERE! It's SO addicting that despite trying to play as little as possible to keep it fresh for release; I CAN'T STOP.
Companions look awesome and have dialogue and comment on quests now. Town shops upgrade depending on how you build them up. The Auction House will actually be cool, not stupid, as some predicted.
And as you can see in my screenshots, not to cheerful and colorful as some people worried about.
Overall...Blizzard has done it again. This many years later, they recapture my love. Diablo got me into PC gaming, Diablo 2 kept it going, as did Starcraft & Warcraft. It's nuts...they captured lightning in a bottle again.
Good job Blizzard, I'll be picking up the 100$ CE that I don't really need cause you brought out the crazy fan in me.
So excited. I was about to go to sleep...then got an email, and blam, there it was. Well, sleep plans WERE CANCELLED. Anyways, played a Barbarian and got him to LV10, I've beaten the beta, which is supposed to be 1/3rd of the first Act. It took me about 2 and half to 3 hours. Not bad if the first act is going to be 9 hours, of course, like Diablo 2, I'm sure we'll have speed runs eventually and it'll be over much, much faster. (1-2 hours, the entire game, that is, lol.)
I took a bunch of screenshots; enjoy!
Album for most of them:
<a href="http://s189.photobucket.com/albums/z42/Mkilbride2599/Diablo%203/" target="_blank">http://s189.photobucket.com/albums/z42/Mki...599/Diablo%203/</a>
Two for easy viewing:
<img src="http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z42/Mkilbride2599/Diablo%203/DiabloIII2012-02-0416-15-07-98.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z42/Mkilbride2599/Diablo%203/DiabloIII2012-02-0416-08-42-49.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
Probably try out like Demon Hunter next. God it's so addicting. I can't believe it. It's JUST like Diablo 1 & 2. Atmosphere IS THERE! It's SO addicting that despite trying to play as little as possible to keep it fresh for release; I CAN'T STOP.
Companions look awesome and have dialogue and comment on quests now. Town shops upgrade depending on how you build them up. The Auction House will actually be cool, not stupid, as some predicted.
And as you can see in my screenshots, not to cheerful and colorful as some people worried about.
Overall...Blizzard has done it again. This many years later, they recapture my love. Diablo got me into PC gaming, Diablo 2 kept it going, as did Starcraft & Warcraft. It's nuts...they captured lightning in a bottle again.
Good job Blizzard, I'll be picking up the 100$ CE that I don't really need cause you brought out the crazy fan in me.
Comments
I'll comment on a couple things:
1) I just played through it (the demo is the first chapter, possibly not even all of the first chapter) again, this time with the GF, and it's still fun despite a couple of play through previously.
2) The crafting system is odd. It is not the rune system where you are hunting for weeks looking for the last damn rune to make that rune word you wanted. As it stands you level up your artisans via giving them cash (previously you had to get drops to level them up). However there are drops for rarer crafts. As it stands there is only a smith (who makes all equipment) and jeweler.
3) The skill system is awesome. Runes are not in the beta, and that is where a lot of the customization looks like it will come from.
4) I suspect that a lot of the replay value will be in achievement hunting, not just item/rune hunting.
Problems:
-No skill tree. D2 you could specialize as you liked, grabbing specific subsets. D3, abilities unlock when you hit certain levels... no options, no alternates. The only 'tree' is with your companions, picking which skill THEY get at a given level. The only 'customization' you get is which spells/abilities you currently have active, with a 30s cooldown. And as most of the 'advanced' spells are on a level with the stuff you start off with, there's very little reason to swap them out.
-Missing a LOT of the D1/2 'feel'. Bodies don't stick around, there's next to zero gore... take a look at Diablo(2) after a big fight against zombies. The floor is usually SOAKED with blood and gibs. In this, the closest it comes is the Abominations (well, they are) popping into flat purple paintball-splats on the floor. Might be being done to get a friendlier ESRB rating or to make other nationalities' governments happy (I'm looking at you Germany, Korea, China and Australia!) but it DOES rob a lot of the atmosphere to have a skeleton just vaporize on hitting the floor. The torture chambers and so on might be reserved for later in the game than the Beta reaches, but I kind of expect an epic battle to leave behind SOME marks.
-Difficulty is ZERO. This might just be to make beta testing easier, but the difficulty curve is completely flat. I have *yet* to need to use a health potion at all, or fight strategically in the least. I can understand having the first learning-the-controls dungeon and its necessity, but give me SOME kind of challenge after the first five minutes of play, please.
Positives:
-It's pretty. It's VERY pretty.
-There's tons of stuff to destroy (intentionally or incidentally).
-Companion AI doesn't suck AS bad as it used to.
*Kid rages for a while*
This statement is false.
Seriously. The first hour was along the lines of 'oh, hey... they scripted that table to blow apart if (explosive AOE spell) hits it. Neat!' Then the realization hit that stuff like the railings, gargoyles, trees, bookshelves, candleholders, statues, windows, chairs, tables, piles of books, barrels, sacks of grain, some stonework columns.. pretty much anything 'set decoration' that gets tagged with stray pain will smash.
Then came the 'Awesome! Destroyed 12 Items. +40XP' toast. Which turned into a personal quest to DESTROY ALL THE THINGS EVAR. Now it's back to just appreciating that the row of gargoyles and balustrade toppers behind the group of enemies in the line of a Disintegrate spell (line destruction) went up too, leaving the ones on either side untouched.
<!--quoteo(post=1901131:date=Feb 8 2012, 08:33 PM:name=lolfighter)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (lolfighter @ Feb 8 2012, 08:33 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1901131"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Regarding "skill tree," is the rune system in yet? I understand that runing up your abilities is what has largely replaced skill trees, but that the rune system wasn't in the game yet a while ago. Maybe that's what's missing.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
It's not in yet. I don't really see 'modifiers' on a static spell unlock progression as being *quite* the same as deciding between being a Summoner necromancer (skels, golems) in D2 versus a direct damage necro (mostly relying on Teeth) versus a DoT/AOE necro. For that, you had to FOCUS on one tree, and spreading out (especially early on) was a big risk.
Also, the runes appear to link to your spell hot-slots, not the spells themselves. So you'd have X rune on whatever's equipped in quickslot 1, or LMB, or RMB.
Also, from what I've seen, there is very little reason to swap from your initial 'comfortable' spells (in my case with the Wizard, magic missile and 'grenade') as they level and grow more powerful on a level with your 'new' spells. Electroshock is interesting, but it's a close-range AOE with no aiming control. Spectral Blade is again a close-range cone... not something you want as a squishy. Disintegrate (line ranged) is good for bosses... but it's more effective to use the 'grenade' spell to deal some damage to them, and wipe out their minions too with the splash... and with the 30 second cooldown when swapping spells, means switching to Disintegrate or something more focussed mid-fight is a moot concept. Might come up with more spell slots unlocked, but I doubt it; I'd be more likely to keep those for utility spells (armor/weapon buff, blind, freeze/hold enemy) than keeping a nuke handy.
It's plainly VERY dumbed-down and simplified; from what I'm seeing, I wouldn't be surprised at all if they tried to dump it out as a console release as well, with the DRASTICALLY reduced button-set. Not saying that WoW-level 30+ hotkey setups are needed... but having an at-max-unlock SEVEN buttons (1-4, LMB, RMB, healing potion button) feels a bit Fisher-Price My First Dungeon Crawler, only made worse with the PAINFULLY 'simplified' skill tree.
Progress Quest, HO!
well played
What. That can't be right. You mean I can't cast chainlightning-fireball-chainlightning in rapid succession? Tell me there's something I've misunderstood.
<!--quoteo(post=1901213:date=Feb 9 2012, 12:03 PM:name=Talesin)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Talesin @ Feb 9 2012, 12:03 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1901213"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->It's not in yet. I don't really see 'modifiers' on a static spell unlock progression as being *quite* the same as deciding between being a Summoner necromancer (skels, golems) in D2 versus a direct damage necro (mostly relying on Teeth) versus a DoT/AOE necro. For that, you had to FOCUS on one tree, and spreading out (especially early on) was a big risk.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->This was a big reason they dropped that system; there were only a few viable skill combinations and if you strayed you were screwed at later levels.
<!--quoteo(post=1901115:date=Feb 9 2012, 02:34 AM:name=Talesin)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Talesin @ Feb 9 2012, 02:34 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1901115"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->-Missing a LOT of the D1/2 'feel'. Bodies don't stick around, there's next to zero gore... take a look at Diablo(2) after a big fight against zombies. The floor is usually SOAKED with blood and gibs. In this, the closest it comes is the Abominations (well, they are) popping into flat purple paintball-splats on the floor. Might be being done to get a friendlier ESRB rating or to make other nationalities' governments happy (I'm looking at you Germany, Korea, China and Australia!) but it DOES rob a lot of the atmosphere to have a skeleton just vaporize on hitting the floor. The torture chambers and so on might be reserved for later in the game than the Beta reaches, but I kind of expect an epic battle to leave behind SOME marks.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Yeah, this bothers me too. The ragdolls melting away is one thing, but surely they can use simple decals for cheap blood splatter?
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->-Difficulty is ZERO. This might just be to make beta testing easier, but the difficulty curve is completely flat. I have *yet* to need to use a health potion at all, or fight strategically in the least. I can understand having the first learning-the-controls dungeon and its necessity, but give me SOME kind of challenge after the first five minutes of play, please.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Can't say there was much difficulty in act 1 of D2 either though, and the Skeleton King is around the same time you'd fight Blood Raven in D2 isn't he? Level 9-ish
No, he is talking about the latest iteration of character customization.
To make it clear, character customization in D3 comes purely from your selection of spells, and what runes you slotted into the spells (which grant either major or minor changes to the spells). Respecing which spells you have is free, and in previous iterations required you to head back to town (or to one of a couple strategically placed Nephalem Altars). With the latest major patch they removed the alters, and made it so that you can hot swap spells as you see fit, however, there is a 60 sec CD on the newly swapped in spell.
I'm kinda hoping that they move back to the Nephalem Altars simply for a feel, not because I think there is any real difference between townportaling back, respecing and going back.
So, yes, you can spam chainlightning-fireball-chainlightning. Well, sorta. Chainlightning is in the game it looks like (though it requires a rune to be really chain lightning), fireball, not so much. Though you can turn shock pulse (aka, Charged Bolt), into a (I'm guessing) fan of fire bolts. And as those are both Signature spells, they don't cost mana (err, arcane power), so spam to your hearts content.
You've misunderstood. You only have X spells available at one time (more slots opening as you level up). So if you have Magic Missile, Fireball and Magic Armor equipped, but want to change out Magic Armor for Enhance Weapon, it takes 30 seconds for Enhance Weapon to be usable. You can still spam MM and FB in the meantime (mana/'arcane power' for Fireball withstanding... MM is a free-cast 'signature' spell)
<!--quoteo(post=1901241:date=Feb 9 2012, 08:37 AM:name=Align)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Align @ Feb 9 2012, 08:37 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1901241"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Since there's no skill tree that you spend a finite number of points on you're instead limited by only equipping x abilities at a time, very much like Guild Wars except the number of abilities you can have equipped increases (very slowly) as you level (3 at the beta level 13 cap, max of 6 IIRC), and if you want to equip a different skill it's on cooldown for 30s. But the ones you have equipped have no such limitation, you can cast arcane orb and disintegration beam to your hearts content until you run out of juice.
This was a big reason they dropped that system; there were only a few viable skill combinations and if you strayed you were screwed at later levels.
Yeah, this bothers me too. The ragdolls melting away is one thing, but surely they can use simple decals for cheap blood splatter?
Can't say there was much difficulty in act 1 of D2 either though, and the Skeleton King is around the same time you'd fight Blood Raven in D2 isn't he? Level 9-ish<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The annoying part is that should have been FIXED; it added depth to the characters, making them individual rather than just Necromancer #11923105-B. You were a summon-necro, or a warmage, or a poisoner. If one wasn't viable, BUFF IT. Don't remove the ability to differentiate.
I'd prefer the ragdolls to stay as well, honestly. Then again, I'd like the crawling torsos to look a bit less like original Gauntlet ghost-enemies.. cartoony and pretty stupid-looking. I mean, at least leave a bloody drag-trail behind, if not gibs. I'm not the type that gets off on Splatterhouse-level carnage, but it's been a Diablo *staple* since day one to have strawberry jam floods.
I can. There was difficulty in Act 1 of D2. I had to use health pots, and ran the risk of being killed by wolves or a stray Named, or even just blindly stumbling into a large spread-out group of enemies. It wasn't /extremely/ high, but it wasn't an outright faceroll like D3 is at the moment. Again, I can only HOPE that the difficulty has been cranked down to 'console-only-gamer retarded' for the beta, and will at least have _one_ moment where you MIGHT die.
Seriously. Going toe-to-toe with the Skeleton King solo as a squishy, not bothering to dodge or do anything but stand there in one spot chucking spells at his face and ending the fight with less than a tenth of my health lost? That's not 'easy', that's 'Bieber-fan friendly'.
Besides, there's plenty of research showing that people are often happier with less choice. I never tire of seeing that topic come up in TED talks again and again and again, always with new studies re-affirming further the problem of choice that many don't seem to be aware of :o
Whether Diablo 3 removes too much choice or not, I am not qualified to say.
That said, the whole "limited number of skills available at any time, swap somewhat freely" thing it has going on reminds me of Guild Wars, which is a good thing. However, Guild Wars had a large number of skills from which you made your picks, which gave it something of a "deckbuilding" feel, allowing you to pick for either flexibility or synergy. I don't know whether Diablo 3 has enough variety to get that going - again, I don't have the same inside info that the people who have tried it have.
Screwed at a later level? You could always respec once per difficulty or with the use of tokens.
Yes, diablo 2 has respec, as of patch 1.13, in 2010, ten years after Diablo 2 was released. Most of us haven't played Diablo 2 in the past 2 years :P (I only knew about the respec b/c it was in random gaming news stuff)
Yah, gimping your self in D2 was rather easy, and rather silly. I'm with Gem, I'm happy with the route blizz is taking in terms of skill trees, a few really meaningful choices instead of lots of "take this or you fail".
As it stands, the skill set up is thus (At max level):
About 20ish skills
15 passive skills
6 skill slots
3 passive skill slots
5 rune types (which can be slotted into each skill, giving you about 100 skills per class, some more different than others)
There are options available for customization.
Will they pull it off well? I dono. But I do know that I like the design goal behind it.
(PS, Melee wizard is rather fun)
I really don't know about that last, you can't equip the same skill twice even with different runes, can you?
<!--quoteo(post=1901390:date=Feb 9 2012, 10:10 PM:name=Talesin)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Talesin @ Feb 9 2012, 10:10 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1901390"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I can. There was difficulty in Act 1 of D2. I had to use health pots, and ran the risk of being killed by wolves or a stray Named, or even just blindly stumbling into a large spread-out group of enemies. It wasn't /extremely/ high, but it wasn't an outright faceroll like D3 is at the moment. Again, I can only HOPE that the difficulty has been cranked down to 'console-only-gamer retarded' for the beta, and will at least have _one_ moment where you MIGHT die.
Seriously. Going toe-to-toe with the Skeleton King solo as a squishy, not bothering to dodge or do anything but stand there in one spot chucking spells at his face and ending the fight with less than a tenth of my health lost? That's not 'easy', that's 'Bieber-fan friendly'.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Well, I should say Act 1 up to Blood Raven.
But yeah, what with health globes spilling out of the bosses as you pummel them (which seems really weird now that I think about it; on death is one thing, since that's just cutting out 'attrition from sequential fights' as a way of dying) the most dangerous event in the beta is probably the Soul Jar. Which also happens to be the most fun, by far.
Well, 100 possible skills (and the actual number is much lower as a number of the runes don't really alter the skill that drastically), and no, you can't have 2 of the same skill.
Seconded. The 'oh, what's this..? ...I know what's about to happen. GOGOGO!' moment brought a smile to my face. It also cast into sharp contrast how much of a PAIN it is to move ANYWHERE with a screen (finally) full of enemies, when it translated my 'run over this way' to 'shoot at the enemy in this vague direction'. Too used to having WASD(/ESDF) control for movement override, and mouse-click for target/fire.
Diablo III Retail
Comment your experiences with updating the client. Are you getting this same message? If you want to check, launch the game and tab-alt out. Right-click the icon on your task bar and you should see it.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<img src="http://diablo.incgamers.com/gallery/data/669/retail.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
Confirmed from my beta launcher as well. Previously it said "Diablo III Beta"
...with Patch 13, which is adding the Rune system, and what Blizzard said the final hump, it changed to this.
I'm thinking May.
Sauce:
<a href="http://diablo.incgamers.com/" target="_blank">http://diablo.incgamers.com/</a>
cool, skill customization is in at long last