Hell is not frozen yet! (Diablo 3)

[Kyuu]

I've got 2 guest passes. Was gonna sell them on D2jsp anyway, but they don't go for much, so if you guys still haven't found any you can have them. Just PM me.

You've been PMed. =]

Just hit 60 a minute or so ago on my DH.

Soloed from Normal all the way through Hell, and hit 60 while killing Diablo.

Huh, that quick? Even if you've been playing pretty much non-stop, that doesn't seem like it bodes well for the game's longevity.

Do the mobs scale up/down when players join/leave the game like D2?

 

[UncannyGarlic]

I thought it was supposed to be "hard" playing it? But when you can solo right from normal to hell ... then I guess its not THAT difficult after all.

No one has beaten Inferno and the people who've gotten the farthest in it have done so by corpse hopping.

Huh, that quick? Even if you've been playing pretty much non-stop, that doesn't seem like it bodes well for the game's longevity.

Not really. Longevity is acchieved via Inferno and, when it's implemented, PvP. They designed the game so that you hit 60 when you beat Hell so that you have every skill and can start using the Nephalem Valor buff to grind out gear for Inferno. I'm disappointed in the small pool of Legendary and Set items, they were always cool to me even if they weren't the best.

Speaking of which, why did they decide to change the terminology? What was wrong with "Unique"?

Do the mobs scale up/down when players join/leave the game like D2?

Yep, pretty much the same as in D2 from what I've read.

 

[Phil the Nuka-Cola Dude]

I thought it was supposed to be "hard" playing it? But when you can solo right from normal to hell ... then I guess its not THAT difficult after all.

Just like D2, the game was designed to be 100% soloable.


Anyway, back to D3:

Normal is easy as it should be. If you're bad, you'll probably die quite a bit. If you're good, you shouldn't have too many problems.

Nightmare is where the game really begins. It will force you to use all of those interesting CC/Defensive abilities that you probably neglected in Normal, along with thoroughly updating your gear with a healthy amount of defensive stats.

Hell is HARD, and if you don't have a very good grasp of your class, you aren't going to beat it. You also need to start finding gear with +All resist, as stacking Vitality alone just doesn't work anymore.

Inferno is, well, Inferno. If you are under-geared, you will die. If you make a single mistake, you will die. If you go back to Act 4 Hell to farm up some gear after dabbling in Inferno, it will feel like early Nightmare by comparison.



Inferno progress: Butcher down. Had to do it without getting hit a single time by any fight mechanic (Got a whole mess of achievements too) as they all hit for 40-50k on my 20k HP DH. Going to stick around in Act 1 for now and gear up.

 

[Crni Vuk]

I thought it was supposed to be "hard" playing it? But when you can solo right from normal to hell ... then I guess its not THAT difficult after all.

Just like D2, the game was designed to be 100% soloable.

well. Depends.

On normal. Yes.

But trying hell all alone? Thats rather hard if not outright impossible with some builds. Particularly sorces had here real trouble because of the many immune enemies. If you have a broken character (like some Pala and Barb builds) or the right items from the start its easier. But still. To level up you have to do runs. And those cant be done alone in Nightmare/Hell because you cant use your equipment yet BEFORE you level up. So yeah ... its not really easy to do it alone.

 

[Phil the Nuka-Cola Dude]

well. Depends.

On normal. Yes.

But trying hell all alone? Thats rather hard if not outright impossible with some builds. Particularly sorces had here real trouble because of the many immune enemies. If you have a broken character (like some Pala and Barb builds) or the right items from the start its easier. But still. To level up you have to do runs. And those cant be done alone in Nightmare/Hell because you cant use your equipment yet BEFORE you level up. So yeah ... its not really easy to do it alone.

The key phrase there is 'some builds'.

'Some builds' can fairly easily beat Hell NAKED (Valk zon/Summon necro) on hardcore. There are many youtube videos of playthroughs like this, check em out.


As for the solo thing, in D2 if you play with bad people who aren't pulling their weight, the game is a lot harder than just playing solo. If everyone is performing equally, it's much easier than soloing as a good group is better than the sum of their parts. D3 is the same way.

 

[Xellos]

Also, Inferno has been beaten now (not fully cleared nor beaten on HC but still): http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-3s-inferno-difficulty-has-been-defeated . There is also even few hours older solo Inferno win reported (with a cheesy wizard build), on Bnet and Diablofans forums is thread about it.

 

[Crni Vuk]

The key phrase there is 'some builds'.

.

That was always one of the problems of Diablo 2. The imbalance in some builds. Its all about Paladins now. 90% of the games are full of them.

meh ... some people are bitching now about Diablo 3. Though I guess they somehow forget that Diablo 2 was not perfect either. I really hope Blizzard will work on that in the future. Making the characters more "even" here. I don't want to see again in 1 or 2 years 80 or 90% of one single character, like the Monk or Wizard running around in Hell/Inferno. That would really suck.

 

[Ilosar]

Just beat Act II, now happily slaying demons on the walls of Bastion keep, and it's glorious. This level really captures the whole ''demonic invasion'' feeling that was lacking in Act V of D2. The battle in the background is a nice touch.

Belial himself was no pushover. The last part of the fight had me running around like a little girl scrambling for the mana to actually damage him. Died three times before I got him (what can I say, I'm no pro gamer), and he had the gall to give shit loot. At least the Butcher handed over a couple nice pieces of armor.

I'm currently using a Witch-Doc, and I really like him. My favored tactic is sumoning zombie dogs and Banishing them; takes care of most enemies in one shot, carves a large part of the health bar of even bosses. Then Poison Darts with Splinters for single-target, a Gargantuan Zombie and Templar to serve as tank and quick healbot, and Firebats with the Dire Bats rune (makes the spell vastly more powerful, like turning a handgun into a rocket launcher). I also tinkered with the Mass Confusion spell, but it requires giving up Banish, and I'm not doing that just yet.

Finally, I must say I really like the random events. They add life to the world. Favourite was the timed Crumbling Vault; I got in with seconds to spare and was at about 10% health from ignoring all the nasties.

 

[Makenshi]

Played around 20 hours so far, and I'm still in Act 2 Normal. Can't understand why people rush the game whe it's so new, it's a really alien concept for me (I did rushes in D2, but that was after 6 years playing it, with all classes and all dificult levels, knowing every line of text).

I visit town at the end of EVERY map/event to search for diaries (Leah has lots of them) and dialogues. The interaction between the hirelings is hilarious, I always approach them to listen their chat.

I'll finish Normal in a month or something, and will still feel it was quick; I want this game to last another 10 years without ever uninstalling it.

 

[TheWesDude]

so i have played it, mostly as a DH.

we arent like the zons in D2, we do lots of damage.


our party was a wizzie, me DH, monk, and a doc


monk can no longer hold aggro off of me so i use weapons several upgrades ago.

doc is pretty effective, but really easy to fluster if he goes crazy.

wizzie stopped playing and is now doing a barb as the wizzie playstyle wasnt their thing.

as a DH...

strafe/multi are extremely weak, rarely if ever go on my bar unless im screwing around.

stun grenades are useful sometimes, but would rather use lightning bola.

cluster nades are very effective, but only when screwing around.

now for the things that are extremely effective.

twin chakras, ball lightning elemental arrow, and the cluster arrows have some extremely effective runes. and i mean VERY effective. my 2 main skills for right click are the ball lightning and chakrams. tons of dps.


because of those 2 skills, i wish there was an option to NOT have the kill streaks popups. they are very annoying. i group up with my group... it shows so often its annoying. group up with a pug, and its worse.

my biggest complaint... the rezzer mobs. cold damage doesnt "shatter" the bodies like in D2 and there isnt a "rest in peace" option that i see on gear. some spots you can basically end up with a situation where it takes forever to kill the rezzers.

 

[clercqer]

Finished normal yesterday with my monk. Kind of disappointed in the story. In fact, I think the story is pretty shit, and so is the voice acting.

However, the game has delivered on every other front: it's as much fun to tear through hordes of enemies as it was in D2; the visuals in the different acts/maps are pretty awesome (the battles in the background of A3 and 4) and I really like the monk who is a very fast, very versatile character (party buffs with mantra, heals, teleport/dash, monster debuffs, ...).

Played NM for a little bit and I did feel the increase in difficulty: mobs hit harder and had more life, unique/champion packs have a second "modifier", which causes combination that can seriously fuck your shit up (just like in D2 I guess).

Not regretted my purchase for a second (not even when the servers were offline for half the day yesterday - I wouldn't have played it alone anyway).

 

[Kyuu]

Well, after giving the starter version a go, I have to say: it's pretty good. Normal lacks any sort of challenge for anyone who has any experience with the genre, but I knew that going in.

Honestly, I feel that D3 does a better job with the atmosphere (so far) than D2 did, although still not as good as D1. I don't get any complaints about the color palette, it looks fine. And the big, glowing blue crater in the cathedral levels looked really cool, I think. Graphics in general are decent and there are some nice effects, although I think the player characters could have used a few extra ploys and better textures, but eh.

So far, I'm greatly enjoying the Wizard and, to my surprise, the Witch Doctor. Contrary to a previous poster, I love Corpse Spiders.

I'm still iffy on the story, though. So far, it's not terribly interesting, and it looks like they're not only retconning [spoiler:7f4fa1fbbf]the D1 Warrior/Dark Wanderer into King Leoric's son, but if I'm not misinterpreting, it seems he had some sort of relationship with Adria, the witch from D1, and Leah is their offspring.[/spoiler:7f4fa1fbbf] I find it unlikely they're going anywhere but over-the-top, eye-roll inducing "epic destineez!" bullshit with that sort of retconning.

 

[Makagulfazel]

Normal lacks any sort of challenge for anyone who has any experience with the genre, but I knew that going in.

I have four characters(too many people that I need to sync levels with), two of them in nightmare. It is fucking tough. You can buy all the gear on the Auction Hall that you want to boost DPS, vitality and resists, but some things are simply death incarnate. I have no idea how someone could even beat Nightmare on hardcore - sometimes you get unlucky and encounter elite monsters that have a murderous combination like jailer/mortar or arcane/freeze that lock you into place while they hound your ass with far-reaching punishment.
This game is not anywhere close to Diablo 2 in difficulty, at least not for now. It is very tough - you can't go soloing on a 3-4 person game without getting overwhelmed.

 

[UncannyGarlic]

Finished normal yesterday with my monk. Kind of disappointed in the story. In fact, I think the story is pretty shit, and so is the voice acting.

The voice acting is a mixed bag but most of it seems too hammed up. It really lacks the impact that the expositions in the previous games had which is a combination of the voice acting and the writing, which is generally mediocre. It really feels like it was made by a different team than those who made the first two games, which is a pity. It's interesting to me that the first game had the most engaging plot and atmosphere despite having the worst gameplay.

I'm partway through the start of Act 3, I don't have a whole lot of time to play. The random special events are probably my favorite part of the game but it's really too bad that, especially in Act 1, some (all up to the Crypt) of the random "dungeons" have nothing of interest in them. I have been steadily increasing my pace and have resumed my plan of exploring all of the side stuff and getting all of the lore and such on farming runs of Hell and Inferno.

 

[Alphadrop]

It really feels like it was made by a different team than those who made the first two games.

It sorta is, most of the old Diablo team now work at Runic Games.
The combat does look mighty fun, if only my internet connection didn't drop out 5 or 6 times a day.

 

[Phil the Nuka-Cola Dude]

About 3/4 of the way through Act 2 Inferno at the moment.

Some things I've learned from Inferno:

-If you're Melee, go back to hell. You can drop a few million on the AH to EXTREMELY good gear; and AT BEST you'll die in three hits instead of 1.

-Defensive stats don't matter. Every single enemy will kill you in 1-2 hits regardless of how much resist all/Vita you stack. Going full glass cannon as a DH/WD/WIZ and killing before being killed appears to be the only way to go.

-CC durations appear to be cut down to less than 50%, so you can safely remove them from your build as well. A <1 second root/snare/stun/blind isn't going to make a difference when all elites can either 1 shot you from range or teleport and 1 shot you or just run several times faster than you and 1 shot you.

-It doesn't feel like Diablo. D3 Norm/NM/Hell are pretty much 1:1 with the difficulty in D2, minus the awful immunities, and are extremely fun. Inferno manages to suck out of all the 'Hack n Slash', and replaces it with the significantly less fun 'Kite n Die'.



Overall, Inferno is a huge disappointment.

 

[UncannyGarlic]

It sorta is, most of the old Diablo team now work at Runic Games.

Yeah I'm pretty sure that everyone important who worked on the previous games is long gone from Blizzard. I was just pointing out that it was sadly obvious from the plot that the designers were not involved with the original game.

Overall, Inferno is a huge disappointment.

I had heard that melee became useless in Inferno but that sounds pretty ridiculous. Why the hell put in skills if you are just going to all but remove their effects? I understand that you want to up the skill required but come on, don't turn the game into a kite fest

 

[Kyuu]

-It doesn't feel like Diablo. D3 Norm/NM/Hell are pretty much 1:1 with the difficulty in D2, minus the awful immunities, and are extremely fun. Inferno manages to suck out of all the 'Hack n Slash', and replaces it with the significantly less fun 'Kite n Die'.

That's what I was afraid of. Challenge by 1-shotting enemies that are practically immune to all the most useful skills. Which isn't challenge at all. Doesn't sound fun at all.

And yes, it's painfully apparent from the dialogue and retconning that the original team isn't involved. It's not quite at the level of Bethesda crappy, but it's not up to snuff even from what little of the game I've experienced so far. However, I maintain that, visually and sonically (minus voice acting), the game actually does a better job with the atmosphere than D2, even if it does still fall short of D1.

The lore books are significantly less engaging than in the previous games, though, due to not being read by that amazing voice actor they had. Plus, they're usually barely a few sentences long and not as well written.

 

[clercqer]

especially in Act 1, some (all up to the Crypt) of the random "dungeons" have nothing of interest in them.

Doesn't the miner random event occur before the crypts? The crypts are pretty much the start of the first act still anyway. But I agree, the random events are very fun.

Some things I've learned from Inferno:

Shit that sucks. I loved my monk so far, and generally have more fun with melee classes than with ranged since I don't like kiting mobs around. Blizzard will no doubt patch and fine-tune like in D2...

However, I maintain that, visually and sonically (minus voice acting), the game actually does a better job with the atmosphere than D2

I can pretty much agree yes. Regarding the voice acting, they've chosen for quantity over quality, as game developers do too often these days.

Music and sounds are simply good apart from Voice acting.

 

[fedaykin]

So is there anyone who still believes that always-online DRM will protect you against hacking?
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/201...devil-blizzard-acknowledges-diablo-iii-hacks/