Diablo III Wild Speculation and Rumor Mongering Abounds

[Rendakor]

After playing the beta a bit, I'm actually...unimpressed. The removal of skill trees and stat points really kills the customization, which has always been my favorite part of ARPGs. Even the loot is pretty meh because so much of it is class specific (either hard restricted or just containing the wrong stat since every class only gets 1 now).

[Malakili]

After playing the beta a bit, I'm actually...unimpressed. The removal of skill trees and stat points really kills the customization, which has always been my favorite part of ARPGs. Even the loot is pretty meh because so much of it is class specific (either hard restricted or just containing the wrong stat since every class only gets 1 now).

I think part of the proble is such low level.  I think the customization is going to be figuring out different combonations of skills which work well or in interesting ways together.   In the beta this is severely limited.

[Merusk]

I guarantee it.

I agree.  

There's no way *none* that this won't be the case.  You've given a real money incentive for it and provided an easy way to dump the items.  What are they going to do, delete the duped goods off of everyone who bought them? Har!

After playing the beta a bit, I'm actually...unimpressed. The removal of skill trees and stat points really kills the customization, which has always been my favorite part of ARPGs. Even the loot is pretty meh because so much of it is class specific (either hard restricted or just containing the wrong stat since every class only gets 1 now).

I think part of the proble is such low level.  I think the customization is going to be figuring out different combonations of skills which work well or in interesting ways together.   In the beta this is severely limited.

Yeah that's exactly where it comes in.  Which skills you have in the build and which modifications you have applied.  Playing with the builder on the D3 website a bit is more fun than the actual beta... other than the inability to blow shit up.

[Miasma]

There will be cheats and dupes, I'm sure blizzard has accepted that fact and will develop other lines of defense.  Stuff like, you can only list at most ten (or whatever number) items per day.  The money you make from a particular sale can not be withdrawn or spent for 72 hours, giving them a buffer to delete and ban the inevitable dupe bugs that will be found after patches and such.  You can only list a certain % higher than the average price, so that people can't pad a zero on to the price and hope you were too hurried/drunk to notice.  Any sale over a certain (very high) dollar amount has to be reviewed.  There is a cap (a high one) on the amount of cash you can maintain in your account.  I imagine there will also be much more advanced logging and reporting features flagging and auto locking accounts that suddenly get five legendaries within a day.

There will be safeguards around the auction house itself to reduce the effects of exploits.

[Lantyssa]

Your faith in Blizzard is fascinating.

On a completely different note, did they ever increase the security on WoW so people couldn't brute force passwords?  Or add case sensativity?  Or stop forcing you to use your e-mail as your account name?

[Hutch]

They're going to have to have some kind of safeguard or backup plan in place. Hacking and duping is inevitable. That smell you smell? It's the class-action lawyers climbing out of the sewers, as the release date draws ever nearer.

[kildorn]

Your faith in Blizzard is fascinating.

On a completely different note, did they ever increase the security on WoW so people couldn't brute force passwords?  Or add case sensativity?  Or stop forcing you to use your e-mail as your account name?

Should be telling that the D3 beta doesn't use your authenticator yet. Which I'd think would just be a pluggable module into any of their applications by now, and there would be no reason to leave it OFF for the beta, imo.

[Ingmar]

They're still iterating on where exactly on the login screen the authenticator code window should go.

[Hawkbit]

It boggles my mind that this game was announced in 2008, iirc.  I don't doubt that it will be good, maybe great.  But this borders on absurd.

[Ingmar]

They were working on it for at least a couple years before announcement, too.

[Mrbloodworth]

It boggles my mind that this game was announced in 2008, iirc.  I don't doubt that it will be good, maybe great.  But this borders on absurd.

They can't fuck this up.

Imagine the rage. If its not life changing, well. You know!

[Fabricated]

After playing the beta a bit, I'm actually...unimpressed. The removal of skill trees and stat points really kills the customization, which has always been my favorite part of ARPGs. Even the loot is pretty meh because so much of it is class specific (either hard restricted or just containing the wrong stat since every class only gets 1 now).

I think the idea is the GW1 system; you have a limited amount of ability slots, and a shitload of abilities. You have to mix and match creatively to make an effective mix.

Also runes aren't in the beta, and those are supposed to majorly alter how your abilities work.

[Merusk]

Your faith in Blizzard is fascinating.

On a completely different note, did they ever increase the security on WoW so people couldn't brute force passwords?  Or add case sensativity?  Or stop forcing you to use your e-mail as your account name?

No on all counts.

They do, however, require you to use RealID 2.0 "Battle Tags" to login, though.  So now anyone can find you anywhere on Battle.Net once they've played a game with you.   

[waffel]

Also, I was incredibly sad how rigid it felt. Quest goals on screen, minimap that points you the exact place you need to go, very rigid and narrow game path you have to follow which doesn't allow exploring, etc.

it felt like a polished dungeon siege....

[kildorn]

Also, I was incredibly sad how rigid it felt. Quest goals on screen, minimap that points you the exact place you need to go, very rigid and narrow game path you have to follow which doesn't allow exploring, etc.

it felt like a polished dungeon siege....

Wat?

Minimap only shows things in areas you've been (dungeon entrance HERE if you've already found it), or for minor shit like "town is here, dumbass"

The overworld is pretty static, map wise. Randomly mini dungeons will be available or not, and the exact mob placement/little encounters like camps will be slightly random. Inside the dungeons it's the same as Diablo 2: large tiles, but random placement.

D3's first act is just as randomized as D2's first act, from everything I've been able to tell in the short beta.

[Rendakor]

I think the idea is the GW1 system; you have a limited amount of ability slots, and a shitload of abilities. You have to mix and match creatively to make an effective mix.

Also runes aren't in the beta, and those are supposed to majorly alter how your abilities work.

Yea; that system is a big reason why I didn't bother playing GW as the idea of it doesn't appeal to me. It feels like I'm playing a character from a MOBA, and not a fully fleshed out RPG character that I can grow and customize how I like.

I agree with waffel that the game feels a bit more linear than D2; the minimap gives you indicators of which general direction to head which feels very not-Diablo. The over-world areas are pretty narrow, instead of the huge open fields they were in D2.

[Furiously]

Are the voice actresses all eastern European weight lifters?

[Paelos]

Are the voice actresses all eastern European weight lifters?

I loved the lady Barb's voice!

[Merusk]

Fem. Sorc is pretty girly-sounding, too.

I don't get the "too linear" complaints, though.  D2 was as linear as this game. "Do this step.  Now do this one.  Now find this guy.  Now go over here and kill this undead horror."    Maybe because they've broken it up a bit more and given a few sub-achievements as you go through?  I think that's probably because this is act 1 and they have to introduce you to everything.

I can understand the complaints of the lack of open over-world areas.  It also seems to me like they scaled back the number of enemies, despite saying they didn't want to do that. I'll chalk that up to the online-only connection not being able to handle tons at a time.   I got achievement bonus xp for killing 10+  monsters at a time.  From what I remember 12+ was no big thing in D2.

Speaking of the online-only thing - it sucks as predicted.  I couldn't play much, if at all for the last several days because the servers all lagged to hell.   I got up this morning and got through the majority of Act 1 and even then there's been a few connection hiccups that have lagged and killed me.  In this state nobody should even think of trying hardcore mode.

The artisan thing is pretty cool.   It's going to be a bigtime money sink, but given the grind-for-loot nature of the series that makes sense.

Itemization seems kind of fucked at the moment, too.  I've only found one type of orb, despite having 5-6 drop this morning.  "Foreboding Eagle Orb of Wounding"  Every single one has been the same.

[MuffinMan]

It also seems to me like they scaled back the number of enemies, despite saying they didn't want to do that. I'll chalk that up to the online-only connection not being able to handle tons at a time.   I got achievement bonus xp for killing 10+  monsters at a time.  From what I remember 12+ was no big thing in D2.

I think this might just have to do with being early in the game. D2 was pretty light with the enemy count in the beginning of the game, too.

[Brolan]

It boggles my mind that this game was announced in 2008, iirc.  I don't doubt that it will be good, maybe great.  But this borders on absurd.

They can't fuck this up.

Imagine the rage. If its not life changing, well. You know!

Yeah!  It would just like if they finally published Duke Nukem Forvever, after all this time, and it was just a pile of shit.

Oh wait...

[Hawkbit]

Supposedly another 100,000 invites went out last night.  I'm still not invited. 

/sadtrombone

[Paelos]

Supposedly another 100,000 invites went out last night.  I'm still not invited. 

/sadtrombone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ytCEuuW2_A

I love that horn.

[MuffinMan]

Any ballpark guesses on how many people are signed up for beta? I was sure they invited everyone in when I got mine.

[Venkman]

After playing the beta a bit, I'm actually...unimpressed. The removal of skill trees and stat points really kills the customization, which has always been my favorite part of ARPGs. Even the loot is pretty meh because so much of it is class specific (either hard restricted or just containing the wrong stat since every class only gets 1 now).

Kinda in the same boat. It was fun for sure. But the only parts that didn't remind me of D2 reminded me because they didn't feel as fun as D3.

Yes: beta, incomplete, short.

For myself, I haven't really cared much beyond "yea, I remember having a hella good time 10 years ago so maybe the new one will be cool" (and fun fact: that game is where 'Darniaq' originated).

But did it fulfill the goal of marketing D3 to the people most eagerly awaiting it?

[kildorn]

I feel the most limiting thing about the beta content is that there are no rune stones in the game (they have a minlevel of 13, and nothing in the beta drops minlevel 13 gear), so you're sitting with the low level unmodified skills. Which seems really limiting in theory. In reality, Diablo 1 or 2 up until level 13 would be pretty limiting as well. But optics, rose colored glasses, yadda yadda.

[Merusk]

To my surprise I've been enjoying what little I can play.  The achieves go a long way towards helping this.

That said.. they have some issues to fix before release, particularly with RMT in the mix.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2es7YWQP-4

That is bad mojo.

[ezrast]

Running lowbies through high-level areas in exchange for their quest rewards isn't anything that didn't happen in Diablo II, and I'm sure this time around there will be more level gates to cut back on that in later acts. Otherwise it just looks like farming monsters over and over for loot, which is pretty much the point of Diablo. Not really seeing the problem.

[Phred]

I got into the beta this week too and my first impression was, I miss Sacred 2. I think the initial bugginess of S2 caused a lot of people to miss out on a really good game.

[Lantyssa]

(and fun fact: that game is where 'Darniaq' originated)

Lantyssa came from a name I made up for an Amazon in D2.

[Merusk]

Running lowbies through high-level areas in exchange for their quest rewards isn't anything that didn't happen in Diablo II, and I'm sure this time around there will be more level gates to cut back on that in later acts. Otherwise it just looks like farming monsters over and over for loot, which is pretty much the point of Diablo. Not really seeing the problem.

The first kill of a boss drops superior loot to subsequent kills. Game-swapping in the manner he was describing lets you get a rare pretty frequently whereas playing "right" I've only seen one on my first boss kill and none since.  This means I'm playing "wrong" particularly since there's now real cash involved.

They may or may not gate the upper end.  One would hope they do, but we only have what they're showing to go by.

The amulet farming thing is NBD.  There's going to be guaranteed drop areas close to checkpoints that have higher drop rates.  That's just going to happen and it's going to inflate the economy for a short time.  I think Blizzard has already nerfed the drop rates from The Risen there anyway, as I ran it 10 times yesterday on my Wizard and got no drops beyond coin.

[Nija]

This is the worst beta game Blizzard has put out by an order of magnitude. I don't think it's going to turn out good unless they make some serious changes.

This is coming from a guy who has kept D2 installed at all times since release and I've played through to near-max level (doing hell runs for a week or so before quitting again) 5 different times. Usually every other year.

[Ingmar]

This is the worst beta game Blizzard has put out by an order of magnitude. I don't think it's going to turn out good unless they make some serious changes.

This is coming from a guy who has kept D2 installed at all times since release and I've played through to near-max level (doing hell runs for a week or so before quitting again) 5 different times. Usually every other year.

Did you play the level 1-10 barbarians-only D2 beta?

[Lakov_Sanite]

This is the worst beta game Blizzard has put out by an order of magnitude. I don't think it's going to turn out good unless they make some serious changes.

This is coming from a guy who has kept D2 installed at all times since release and I've played through to near-max level (doing hell runs for a week or so before quitting again) 5 different times. Usually every other year.

Someone save this post for posterity.

[Nija]

Did you play the level 1-10 barbarians-only D2 beta?

Yeah, a lot. Towards the end I had a very solid dual wield axe template that was great for duels (which was all you could really do in that beta.) Hell, my first D2 character was a barbarian even after that beta.

I just don't think their gem-socketing-skills bullshit will save it from being overly simple. It desperately needs skill trees and alternate builds and more than 6 hotkeys.