Diablo III Wild Speculation and Rumor Mongering Abounds

[schild]

I had a long post here but deleted it. I decided to stand by what I said. I'm not going to go play some second or third tier game and use that as a basis for deciding whether I like a genre or not, and neither should you. Or anyone really.

Sjofn, RTS' are a terrible comparison. They require a certain level of skill to extract some measure of enjoyment out of them. ARPGs require very little to zero skill.

[ezrast]

I didn't like Fate or Torchlight. This and Path of Exile are about to make me kiss my family goodbye forever. Just sayin'.

[murdoc]

I'll never understand the "I'm going to post in the thread about a game I know I will never even TRY and let everyone know I won't ever try or buy it".

[Lucas]

Servers are under extreme load, of course: if, like me, you're trying to log from Europe, be sure to switch to "The Americas" in the region selection (option menu). Open beta is available *only* on US servers.

[taolurker]

Diablo 3 Radicalthon:

[Sjofn]

I had a long post here but deleted it. I decided to stand by what I said. I'm not going to go play some second or third tier game and use that as a basis for deciding whether I like a genre or not, and neither should you. Or anyone really.

Sjofn, RTS' are a terrible comparison. They require a certain level of skill to extract some measure of enjoyment out of them. ARPGs require very little to zero skill.

It's not that bad a comparison, for me. You can learn enough of the RTS skillset to not be shitty at it and lots of people bother to do so, because they like the genre. I do not, so I do not feel the need to learn said skill (I'm not 100% terrible at games I bother to get good at, see). But you can sub any genre in there if you like, as there are lots of genres I don't like and thus do not pay 60 bucks to remind myself I don't like them.

[schild]

I had a long post here but deleted it. I decided to stand by what I said. I'm not going to go play some second or third tier game and use that as a basis for deciding whether I like a genre or not, and neither should you. Or anyone really.

Sjofn, RTS' are a terrible comparison. They require a certain level of skill to extract some measure of enjoyment out of them. ARPGs require very little to zero skill.

It's not that bad a comparison, for me. You can learn enough of the RTS skillset to not be shitty at it and lots of people bother to do so, because they like the genre. I do not, so I do not feel the need to learn said skill (I'm not 100% terrible at games I bother to get good at, see). But you can sub any genre in there if you like, as there are lots of genres I don't like and thus do not pay 60 bucks to remind myself I don't like them.

Sure, but what RTS' did you play to decide you didn't like them? Age of Empires? Rise of Nations? Starcraft?

[Modern Angel]

How much of the game is available in the open beta?

(Enjoying it, chapter 2. Kind of like Torchlight better but MULTIPLAYER)

[Sjofn]

Age of Empires 1&2, and I think I played about ten minutes of one of the Warcrafts. There was another one I played a bunch of but I can't even remember the name of it. I don't like fighting, though. I just want to gather my resources in peace. That's how I knew I didn't like the genre. :P


EDIT: Also, fun fact: I have never once finished Diablo 2 (I never even played Diablo 1). I also never finished Torchlight or Titan Quest. I still like the genre, though, and am getting this.

[luckton]

Diablo 3 Radicalthon:

Best one yet 

[Draegan]

I guess I'm one of the three that never got in to the Beta, but I wasn't itching for it due to the limitations.  I'll definitely download this tonight to give it a few hours of play this weekend.  But 13 levels of normal doesn't sound super-awesome.

[schild]

Age of Empires 1&2, and I think I played about ten minutes of one of the Warcrafts. There was another one I played a bunch of but I can't even remember the name of it. I don't like fighting, though. I just want to gather my resources in peace. That's how I knew I didn't like the genre. :P

See, that's my point. You played Tier 1 shit to decide. No one should be deciding whether or not they like Diablo based on some other random wanna-be games.

[Sjofn]

Meh, Torchlight is close enough, imo. But whatever, you're in your madness place, so I'll drop it.

[Draegan]

Heh, Torchlight is perfect test for the genre.  It's got the same play mechanics.  Click -> Kill -> Loot.  

Diablo is just much better due to story, setting and theme, but if you don't like the mechanics, you're not going to like Diablo.  A better question would be why is Torchlight not a good standard to test say whether or not Diablo is for you?

[schild]

Heh, Torchlight is perfect test for the genre.  It's got the same play mechanics.  Click -> Kill -> Loot. 

Diablo is just much better due to story, setting and theme, but if you don't like the mechanics, you're not going to like Diablo.  A better question would be why is Torchlight not a good standard to test say whether or not Diablo is for you?

Because the itemization, combat, level structure, and tone isn't nearly as fulfilling. There are tons of games with mechanics that are alike, it doesn't mean the lesser ones should be used to address whether or not one likes the gold standard for a genre.

[Ragnoros]

Torchlight =! Diablo

I Played Torchlight a good 10-15 hours and got bored, I have probably played Diablo 200-300+

It would be like playing Risen or Two Worlds and deciding modern RPGs were not for you and skipping Skrym/Dragon Age/Mass Effect.

Edit: That should hit Sjofn where it hurts 

[Sjofn]

Doesn't hurt my feelings when someone says "Ima wait for a sale" though.  

If that same someone goes off on how I am a crazy freak for NOT waiting for a sale, then I might roll my eyes a bit.  


EDIT: Totally haven't played Skyrim, by the way. Don't like sandboxes! 

[Ragnoros]

Nevermind.

[luckton]

So yeah, the stress test is off to a 'terrific' start.  Error 37 is intentional until they get their issues sorted.

[Tannhauser]

Downloading now.  First time playing D3; didn't bother to try to get in beta.  ARPG's aren't my favorite genre.  I finished D1 (loved it!), got 3/4 through D2 (got bored), 3/4 though Titan Quest and halfway through Torchlight. 

But I'll give D3 a fair shot.  My genre's are RPG's and strategy games.

Also, what's the most 'hands off' class to play in D3?  My pally had a sweet hammer aoe and I liked the turrets in Torchlight.

[Malakili]

But I'll give D3 a fair shot.  My genre's are RPG's and strategy games.

Also, what's the most 'hands off' class to play in D3?  My pally had a sweet hammer aoe and I liked the turrets in Torchlight.

Witch Doctor.

[Lucas]

Have been playing with a Monk for the last hour or so...Good stuff 

[Sjofn]

I even like the wizard in D3. I never like the wizard. 


Witch doctor is another story, I'm too impatient for it or something.

[Draegan]

Heh, Torchlight is perfect test for the genre.  It's got the same play mechanics.  Click -> Kill -> Loot.  

Diablo is just much better due to story, setting and theme, but if you don't like the mechanics, you're not going to like Diablo.  A better question would be why is Torchlight not a good standard to test say whether or not Diablo is for you?

Because the itemization, combat, level structure, and tone isn't nearly as fulfilling. There are tons of games with mechanics that are alike, it doesn't mean the lesser ones should be used to address whether or not one likes the gold standard for a genre.

I agree completely, however what you listed is a bit more than you need to determine if you like the genre or not.

Also, downloading now.  Squee!

[amiable]

I agree completely, however what you listed is a bit more than you need to determine if you like the genre or not.

Also, downloading now.  Squee!

don't get too excited, you won't be able to get in for a while most likely.

[Draegan]

Thats ok, I'll have it ready for later tonight after the wife goes to bed.

[Malakili]

Because the itemization, combat, level structure, and tone isn't nearly as fulfilling. There are tons of games with mechanics that are alike, it doesn't mean the lesser ones should be used to address whether or not one likes the gold standard for a genre.

I agree completely, however what you listed is a bit more than you need to determine if you like the genre or not.

Yes and no.  If you played Torchlight and hated the perspective, the general click on thing to smash, etc, then yeah, the genre is probably not for you.  But since, in my opinion, things like pacing, itemization are really important to the long term enjoyment of ARPGs it seems quite possible to me that you could have quickly grown bored with Torchlight, but enjoy Diablo.

[Paelos]

Torchlight loot bad. Diablo loot gud.

[Malakili]

Torchlight loot bad. Diablo loot gud.

Also, if you played Torchlight at release the enchanting system was totally broken, and even after they "fixed" it really did make it so that you'd often end up using the game weapon for a looooooong time, when one of the joys of ARPGs is a bit more churn than that.  When you know almost nothing that will drop is going to be an upgrade it takes some of the fun away.

[Paelos]

I'd contend it takes all of the fun away really, for me.

[Ghambit]

ingame as "Ghambit#1275"  Finally.  
As much of a beta/alpha whore I am and even I didnt get into this one.

Also, so far... this is FAR better than Path of Exile.  Why people even keep putting D3 and PoE in the same sentence is laughable.  And yah, I'm getting that 'Diablo feeling.'  Havent felt it since D1.

[Hawkbit]

For all my bitching a whining about the delays, holy crap this is Diablo at its core.  And I enjoyed PoE, but it doesn't have the sticky that D3 does.  Goodbye life, for awhile after May 15.

[K9]

I'm just posting to say that I thought Titan Quest was pretty fucking dull; I'm excited for D3 though.

[FieryBalrog]

Rambling thoughts: UI is freaking fantastic, so beautiful to look at and responsive. Sound is also fantastic. Two strongest features of the game so far. Background art is very nice, I can't believe people are whining that this isn't dark enough. It's really damn dark, just in a painterly, watercolor way. Monster death animations are spot on, as are the old loot pinata explosions and classic D2 sounds that have me conditioned Pavlov-style. Game flow is polished as can be expected.

Didn't like the character models, they are especially fugly without FSAA which I turned off for performance reasons. Which brings me to my next point- maybe it's just beta unoptimized code and my not so great laptop, but it's got plenty of framerate issues. I may just have to pony up for a relatively cheap desktop rip to run this.

Not digging the annoyingness of swapping out skills from slots. Am digging the skills themselves.

Having played the PoE beta in the last week, you can tell that a AAA budget and some quality game design does make a difference. PoE's not bad, and definitely has some strengths of it's own (especially graphically), but it's got nowhere near the same "flow" that this does.

[Tannhauser]

Been playing a Barb for 3 hours no problems.  More immersive than D2.  Really good looking game with the polish and gameplay you'd expect.