Diablo III Wild Speculation and Rumor Mongering Abounds

[K9]

Pretty much

[Rendakor]

Cataclysm's launch was pretty smooth too.

[Paelos]

Cataclysm's launch was pretty smooth too.

 

[Ragnoros]

Cataclysm's launch was pretty smooth too.

 

No, bad monkey. Cata trolling thread thataway ->

[waffel]

That's why this went from a day one purchase to a wait and see for me. I'm tired of their "we didnt anticipate the popularity of our game" excuse every new release.

... because a game they released 11 years ago had a rough 2-3 month release?

Really?

[Azazel]

That's why this went from a day one purchase to a wait and see for me. I'm tired of their "we didnt anticipate the popularity of our game" excuse every new release.

... because a game they released 11 years ago had a rough 2-3 month release?

Really?

 

[Malakili]

I don't really anticipate launch being problematic for this game.  I could imagine some problems with the AH I suppose, but then again, I don't really care about the AH.

[apocrypha]

There will be launch issues. Guarantee it. I would guess login server issues, battle.net account page issues and probably actual server issues too.

Thing is that launch load is always going to be far in excess of normal maximum load, so designing a system that copes with the initial massive spike but which isn't grossly over-spec for the rest of eternity seems to be beyond... well... anyone really.

[Malakili]

There will be launch issues. Guarantee it. I would guess login server issues, battle.net account page issues and probably actual server issues too.

Thing is that launch load is always going to be far in excess of normal maximum load, so designing a system that copes with the initial massive spike but which isn't grossly over-spec for the rest of eternity seems to be beyond... well... anyone really.

So Starcraft 2 launch doesn't set any precedent for thinking Blizzard can launch an online game successfully?

[Paelos]

I'm sure it will be fine. Whether or not this whole AH thing works correctly, I'm not as sure.

I expect an immediate duping scam to show up and the whole thing to get shut down for a day while they squash it.

[apocrypha]

So Starcraft 2 launch doesn't set any precedent for thinking Blizzard can launch an online game successfully?

Maybe, but my many, many years of online gaming experience has taught me to expect the worst and then be amazed pleasantly surprised if things work ok! 

[K9]

Useful and cynical, well done. 

[Ironwood]

Put me in the camp of 'game works fine, AH gets pulled down almost instantly'.

Taking Bets.

[Yegolev]

I'm not betting against you.

[Malakili]

Put me in the camp of 'game works fine, AH gets pulled down almost instantly'.

Taking Bets.

This seems pretty reasonable.  Someone somewhere is going to figure out how to break, and with real money on the line, it seems to me that ramifications of leaving it up if there is even a doubt could be problematic.  Part of me wonders if there is going to be some agreement/disclaimer before using the AH, because if someone floods the AH with hacked epix, someone is going to be getting hit where it hurts.

[fuser]

Huzza finally a beta invite 

Anyone up for some co-op?

[K9]

 

[Malakili]

Huzza finally a beta invite 

Anyone up for some co-op?

I will cut you.

[RUiN 427]

In an effort to satiate my obsessive hunger for diablo rumors and news and speculation... is there a diablo equivalent to mmo champ? Or does the blog/community ecosystem of diablo not exist yet because it doesn't have the multimillions of players like wow?

[Paelos]

Huzza finally a beta invite 

Anyone up for some co-op?

I'm apparently in as well.

[RUiN 427]

Huzza finally a beta invite 

Anyone up for some co-op?

I'm apparently in as well.

I just tried to twist my keyboard in half... this is never happening for me is it?

[ezrast]

Huzza finally a beta invite 

Anyone up for some co-op?

I'm apparently in as well.

TELL ME YOUR SECRETS

[K9]

In an effort to satiate my obsessive hunger for diablo rumors and news and speculation... is there a diablo equivalent to mmo champ? Or does the blog/community ecosystem of diablo not exist yet because it doesn't have the multimillions of players like wow?

THis is probably your best bet, it's not as clean as MMO-champ, but follows the same general style.

[Paelos]

Huzza finally a beta invite 

Anyone up for some co-op?

I'm apparently in as well.

TELL ME YOUR SECRETS

I know ppl!

[kildorn]

Huzza finally a beta invite 

Anyone up for some co-op?

I'm apparently in as well.

TELL ME YOUR SECRETS

I know ppl!

Favoritism! Bias! Blizzard is trying to bribe good reviews from the well respected journalists of f13!

[Count Nerfedalot]

well respected journalists of f13

:boggle:
*brain asplodes trying to compute the intersection of those three adjectives and throwing a divide by zero error*

[Yegolev]

Feel free to compare us to the people at Kotaku any day.

[schild]

I might start writing again soon, but I don't think I was ever what one would call respected. I mean, the last things most folks wanted me to do with them was interview them by the time I stopped writing.

* schild shrugs.

[kildorn]

I might start writing again soon, but I don't think I was ever what one would call respected. I mean, the last things most folks wanted me to do with them was interview them by the time I stopped writing.

* schild shrugs.

So you're saying they'd prefer you did something else with them instead?

[schild]

Obviously.

[Malakili]

So, I got in after all - anyone interested in seeing a stream?  There is no NDA of course.

EDIT
Well, a friend wanted me to anyway, so I've got one going www.livestream.com/newslang
EDIT again: Done for now.

[lesion]

That warm-up ad is almost as long as the demo.

[Fabricated]

Yeah, I got in as well. It's basically "Beta Test November" I guess.

Notes:
1. The camera being locked at its rather close strata is irritating as fuck, I don't care if it's likely done for server-side reasons.
2. Predictably, since items/gold need relative rarity to be worth anything on a real money AH, drops are shit and infrequent especially compared to D1/2.
3. The loot however, IS good when you get to the magical stuff. There's no real useless stats on items meant for your character.
4 Thankfully, crafted blacksmith items are very good and so far pretty easy to make if you break down all the junk you get. So far gold only really seems to be for buying shit off the AH, repairing, and buying stash space.
5. Kinda boring unless enemies really swarm you. The funnest fights are the random quests since those usually involve triggering gigantic hordes of enemies.
6. The interface is nice but way too big. The Map sucks and not being able to use the overlay while moving is retarded.
7. Also the "beta" is pretty transparently a limited-access demo. It's like an hour of gameplay. Blizzard is still probably going to make a kajillion dollars because people are literally doing Baal-type runs on the miniboss that's at the end of the demo to twink out their level capped characters that will inevitably be deleted.

[Hawkbit]

I'm not crying for the death knell or anything, but I wonder how much of this Blizzard is overthinking.  Just get the damn game out there and start on D4, damn!

[Malakili]

Yeah, I got in as well. It's basically "Beta Test November" I guess.

Notes:
1. The camera being locked at its rather close strata is irritating as fuck, I don't care if it's likely done for server-side reasons.
2. Predictably, since items/gold need relative rarity to be worth anything on a real money AH, drops are shit and infrequent especially compared to D1/2.
3. The loot however, IS good when you get to the magical stuff. There's no real useless stats on items meant for your character.
4 Thankfully, crafted blacksmith items are very good and so far pretty easy to make if you break down all the junk you get. So far gold only really seems to be for buying shit off the AH, repairing, and buying stash space.
5. Kinda boring unless enemies really swarm you. The funnest fights are the random quests since those usually involve triggering gigantic hordes of enemies.
6. The interface is nice but way too big. The Map sucks and not being able to use the overlay while moving is retarded.
7. Also the "beta" is pretty transparently a limited-access demo. It's like an hour of gameplay. Blizzard is still probably going to make a kajillion dollars because people are literally doing Baal-type runs on the miniboss that's at the end of the demo to twink out their level capped characters that will inevitably be deleted.

To be fair, most of this probably isn't indicative of the entire game.  This is basically the beginning of the game, and I'm betting its designed to be easy enough for completion by total Diablo newbies - so its going to be "boring" for people who know how to play.  Its really hard to judge something like drop frequency based on something like this.   Go start a Diablo 2 game and play for an hour - you won't have much, and what you do have is likely boosted by the fact you've played the first hour of the game 200 times in the last 10 years.

The interface is a little clunky, I agree, not terrible, but could be better.  I agree with the map, i don't like that I have to stop to bring up the overlay. Overall, my reaction is quite positive.