Diablo III Wild Speculation and Rumor Mongering Abounds

[rk47]

Yay. Greatswords increases wizard spell damage now.
Didn't buy the hype. Tried it. Not really enjoying the straightforward progression and itemization.
It's amazing how much details of the skills are kept away from the players. I had to look under option to display how they actually calculate my wizard spell damage.
I guess this is why Gandalf wields a sword in later battles.

[Rasix]

Why are you posting like that?

[Malakili]

Yay. Greatswords increases wizard spell damage now.
Didn't buy the hype. Tried it. Not really enjoying the straightforward progression and itemization.
It's amazing how much details of the skills are kept away from the players. I had to look under option to display how they actually calculate my wizard spell damage.
I guess this is why Gandalf wields a sword in later battles.

I'm pretty sure we all bitched about this exact thing like 50 pages ago.  They've also stated that the class specific weapons are going to have more relevant stats to your characters so as you level up you'll be more likely to be using weapons that "feel" right thematically.  I do think it is a little clownshoes that abiliities draw their DPS from your weapons in most (all?) cases, but at the end of the day it hasn't really effected my enjoyment of the beta. 

As for straightforward itemization - is it really fair to judge the itemization on the first hour of the game? It'd be like declaring Diablo 2 itemization shit at Blood Raven.

[ffc]

Gear makes a difference. I've got my Witch Doctor to 13 (max for this weekend) and have ok gear in every slot. I think I can beat the boss now (but I haven't tried).

Does the WD get any kind of ability that flings an enemy? Barb's throw bodies everywhere, monks get the kick, wizard has that AoE shock spell, but I didn't have a chance to try WD's flaming bat vomit or any ability after that. I'm only asking because I like the way the enemies look when they sail through the air.

Having class weapons makes sense since watching the monk continue to do the punch animation despite wielding two giant clubs is distracting.

[Paelos]

As for straightforward itemization - is it really fair to judge the itemization on the first hour of the game?

No. I'm finding that all other games I'm just sort of goofing around with other games periodically waiting for this to come out.

[Xanthippe]

Does the WD get any kind of ability that flings an enemy? Barb's throw bodies everywhere, monks get the kick, wizard has that AoE shock spell, but I didn't have a chance to try WD's flaming bat vomit or any ability after that. I'm only asking because I like the way the enemies look when they sail through the air.

I don't think so, at least not up to 13.  There's a snare.

[rk47]

Sorry, this is my first post in this thread. I never got into D3 beta of sorts. And jumped on board during the free weekend. Not very impressed.
I really don't see why ppl will use up the whole char slots, if not for pack mules.

[Register]

Yay. Greatswords increases wizard spell damage now.
Didn't buy the hype. Tried it. Not really enjoying the straightforward progression and itemization.
It's amazing how much details of the skills are kept away from the players. I had to look under option to display how they actually calculate my wizard spell damage.
I guess this is why Gandalf wields a sword in later battles.

As mentioned earlier, all the abilities/spells are caculated off the character's weapon damage. Also, you can see details of the spell/abilities by holding the control key when you mouse over it.

[Register]

Does the WD get any kind of ability that flings an enemy? Barb's throw bodies everywhere, monks get the kick, wizard has that AoE shock spell, but I didn't have a chance to try WD's flaming bat vomit or any ability after that. I'm only asking because I like the way the enemies look when they sail through the air.

I don't think so, at least not up to 13.  There's a snare.

There's a AE fear at lvl 8....

[FieryBalrog]

Lack of permanent choices is a valid complaint. We'll see how the game evolves.

Still think it's a superior system to the very flawed D2 system that games like Torchlight replicate entirely.

[Tannhauser]

Ray of Frost is    Fun demo, I just hope the vocal minority doesn't convince Blizzard to tune the normal difficulty up even more.

[Merusk]

Got my wife to try it & she died before rescuing Cain.  As I've said before, Normal was difficult enough for those not in the upper 10% of the gaming population.  It's probably too difficult now for most players to actually bother finishing the game on Normal.

[Ironwood]

I'm really, really unsettled at all this 'I cannot login to my single player game' stuff.

I know no-one is surprised at this.

[Merusk]

Just look at it like GuildWars.  Nobody had a problem with that, right?* 

*Speaking of; I got banned from my GW account because I was hacked. No notice or email just banned. Fuckers even let me apply the key for the Eyes of the North expansion I got on steam sale before I found that out.  So now that key is wasted as they refuse to unlock my account.  But no, why is this a problem, it's ok, right?

[Fabricated]

I was in the D3 beta from like 3-4 months ago and I pretty much stopped playing it after a month due to lack of content. It's fun but it doesn't really feel like D2 to me; it almost feels like more of a console-type action game. Not saying that's bad; it's an improvement. My preferred class in D2 was a zealadin which basically involved wading into mobs and clicking one button so hitting these things you call hotkeys is a new experience.

[Xanthippe]

Does the WD get any kind of ability that flings an enemy? Barb's throw bodies everywhere, monks get the kick, wizard has that AoE shock spell, but I didn't have a chance to try WD's flaming bat vomit or any ability after that. I'm only asking because I like the way the enemies look when they sail through the air.

I don't think so, at least not up to 13.  There's a snare.

There's a AE fear at lvl 8....

Yes, indeed.

I wish I had looked at this before playing. I never properly understood Soul Harvest (I thought it worked on corpses not live enemies; no wonder it didn't seem to work right).

http://www.diablowiki.net/Witch_Doctor_skills

Edited to add: some of the levels on that list are wrong (corrected if you click on the actual skill though).

[schild]

I've found normal difficulty to be easy.

[Xanthippe]

Is it just me or are there a lot of demon hunters?

[Mosesandstick]

It's the heels.

I always thought normal was supposed to be very easy. Anyone who craves more difficulty will just rush through the game and head to higher difficulties.

[Merusk]

DH and Monk were pretty common this weekend.  Saw very few barbs compared to their 24% representation on the "What are you going to play" poll Baishok posted earlier in the Gen Disc forum.

Moses: Exactly.  But the Diablo Hardcore feel disappointed they aren't getting their head-stomped.  Part of the reason they should have made additional difficulties available to the general public.  That would let everyone see exactly how much it ramps-up.

[trias_e]

One thing that surprised me was how disappointing the monk and wizard were for me.  I usually enjoy the fast assassin type/tactical caster type, but the monk didn't feel agile or fluid enough, while the wizard was too straightforward.  Obviously we can't go too far with them, but the starting skills for those two classes really left me feeling meh.

I have to go with Demon Hunter as my first character.  Mobility options are much fun with DH.  Barbarian would be my second pick for similar reasons.  Leap is fucking awesome.  For some reason the Barb in D3 just feels more fun than the barb in D2 which I couldn't really get into.

Between Path of Exile, Torchlight 2, and Grim Dawn all coming soon, I wouldn't be shocked if I end up abandoning D3.   The beta gameplay is meh, but again it's a very small bit of normal difficulty content.  And character building doesn't grab me the way it does in say PoE, or it did in Titan Quest (Grim Dawn). That said, I'll still be playing it 30 hours a week at release.

[Hawkbit]

Just look at it like GuildWars.  Nobody had a problem with that, right?* 

*Speaking of; I got banned from my GW account because I was hacked. No notice or email just banned. Fuckers even let me apply the key for the Eyes of the North expansion I got on steam sale before I found that out.  So now that key is wasted as they refuse to unlock my account.  But no, why is this a problem, it's ok, right?

?  I never had an issue with GW with the online only stuff.  However, my account was hacked at one point and it took at least two phone calls over 30 minutes to get it resolved.  When NCSoft had that big security breach in ~2009 I think a lot of peoples accounts got locked. 

I've found normal difficulty to be easy.

I had a mildly rough time with Skeleton king playing solo, but when I played him again with my brother as a barb we wiped the floor with him.  Adding a player helps immensely, at least in the beta.  I'm very much looking forward to the title.  My only two general complaints are the "skill treadmill" that never deviates, and the online-only that was down more than up this weekend. 

[Malakili]

One thing that surprised me was how disappointing the monk and wizard were for me.  I usually enjoy the fast assassin type/tactical caster type, but the monk didn't feel agile or fluid enough, while the wizard was too straightforward.  Obviously we can't go too far with them, but the starting skills for those two classes really left me feeling meh.

I have to go with Demon Hunter as my first character.  Mobility options are much fun with DH.  Barbarian would be my second pick for similar reasons.  Leap is fucking awesome.  For some reason the Barb in D3 just feels more fun than the barb in D2 which I couldn't really get into.

Monk gets a lot better after he gets Dashing Strike (which is similar in function to the Demon Hunter's Vault skill).  He goes from being a squishier Barbarian to darting around the battlefield at high speeds to punch people in the face.  Definitely enjoyable.

[Draegan]

I gave it a play through on Saturday.  The Witch Doctor was pretty fun I guess, but I see myself getting very bored with it. 

I hate the rune and skill system.  It just seems like I'm playing a Zynga game, but Diablo.  There doesn't appear to be any real character building things outside of gear.  Meh.

[Segoris]

I wish I had looked at this before playing. I never properly understood Soul Harvest (I thought it worked on corpses not live enemies; no wonder it didn't seem to work right).

http://www.diablowiki.net/Witch_Doctor_skills

Edited to add: some of the levels on that list are wrong (corrected if you click on the actual skill though).

Try using the Blizz calculator as it's more up to date than the wiki.

Another thing to know for Soul Harvest, yes it only works on live enemies, but also know that if you have 4 stacks then use it on only 2 enemies while the 4stacks still have time remaining, you'll only have 2 stacks from the latest cast. Using SH on less enemies than you currently have on doesn't simply reset the duration and it doesn't add stacks to what you previously had, so always use it on 3-5 enemies, don't bother with only 1-2 enemies imo.

and the online-only that was down more than up this weekend. 

As much as I hate the lack of offline play, I do have to say that Sunday I had almost no errors or timeouts. It was night and day compared to Fri/Sat.

DH and Monk were pretty common this weekend.  Saw very few barbs compared to their 24% representation on the "What are you going to play" poll Baishok posted earlier in the Gen Disc forum.

I saw a pretty equal distribution of DH/Monk/Barb/Wiz over the weekend, WD was pretty far behind.

[Lakov_Sanite]

I laugh at this like I laugh at it in wow.  Character building always just ends up being "use this template" and voila.  Runes I like because its more of "which skillset will I use for this dungeon/encounter" and then changing them appropriately.

Maybe if they had full talent tree that we re-speccable on a whim it'd be close to the same feel of which toolset to bring but having the ability to make the 'right' or 'wrong' choice when picking talents is not the same as having choices in build.

[murdoc]

I don't think I can play this game multi-player. I am unable to go past a barrel - or a location containing a potential barrel - without smashing it to bits. There might be a gold coin inside!

There's no way I can do random Multiplayer games as I am exactly the same way. Have played both a Wizard and Monk up to defeating the Skeleton King. Monk I did solo, Wizard with a Barbarian buddy. It was ridiculously easy to make a game with friends which I appreciated - but I wish we had seen what happens when the chars are different levels.

I'm really, really unsettled at all this 'I cannot login to my single player game' stuff.

I know no-one is surprised at this.

This bothers me a lot, too. I'm in the minority, I know, but I play a LOT of single player Diablo (or games in general I suppose) - especially now with the twins running around.

Got my wife to try it & she died before rescuing Cain.  As I've said before, Normal was difficult enough for those not in the upper 10% of the gaming population.  It's probably too difficult now for most players to actually bother finishing the game on Normal.

I'm definitely not in the upper 10% and I thought normal was pretty easy. I didn't use a heal pot until the Skeleton King and didn't come anywhere near dying.

[Dren]

I played all weekend with all chars up to and beyond Skel King (beyond = some more lvl'ing and item gathering/crafting.)

Graphics/gameplay/etc.:  It's Blizzard.  I had no issues.

Characters/classes:  Pretty cool.  No big complaints other than some seemed way easier to use/advance than others.  WD was pretty painful after using DH, Barb, and Monk.  WD did start to shine more as I got to lvl 10+ in groups though.   Good support char for roots/snare and area DOT (spiders.)  Solo was tough just because you don't have much for burst damage when overwhelmed (at least at these low levels.)

Character development:  Yes, much shallower than in the past, but after getting over the initial shock.  I really don't care.  I think back on all the times I totally gimp myself for not selecting the exact right attributes to raise for each of the 99 levels and I'm just fine with this new system.  I didn't once have any items tell me I'm not strong enough for it (as a magic using type...)

Dungeons/quests:  Same stuff as  past Diablos, good enough for me to purchase again.  It is a good mix of handcrafted and random this time though.

Items/crafting:   I like it.  More integration of characters within an account which is always good for me as I'm an altaholic.   I also like to build up crafting in games and being able to do it across all characters is refreshing and good.  I saw hints that this system goes a bit deeper than in the beta, so really looking forward to seeing the full thing.  I do like that armor changes based on the character looking at it instead of having JUST warrior armor or JUST mage armor.  Sure the magic stats are better for one class over another, but it give some flexibility to actually use better equipment until you can get the "right" armor later.  This system just seems more polished and thought through than before.  

Connection/multiplayer:  Had issues from time to time connecting, getting a lot of errors, but if I kept trying for a couple minutes, I'd get through.  Just annoying, not show stopper material.  I went the path of solving the quests and killing bosses solo first before going multiplayer.  I knew going multi would just be a run to the bosses and more lewt, so why bother until you need to do exactly that.  Picking your groups to do the actual lolore would probably be fantastic, but that's pretty rare for me these days.  Getting into multiplayer groups was a snap and I didn't have much of a problem.  People would drop and add, but the game adjusts for that.  Everyone gets their own lewt drops.  You can portal to any of the other players, so if they get too far ahead, just gate to town and jump to where they are.  No big thing.

I pre-purchased and do not regret it.  I'm looking forward to the release and possibly more Beta weekends.  Good stuff.

[Dren]

I'm really, really unsettled at all this 'I cannot login to my single player game' stuff.

I know no-one is surprised at this.

This bothers me a lot, too. I'm in the minority, I know, but I play a LOT of single player Diablo (or games in general I suppose) - especially now with the twins running around.

I'm guessing you are just commenting on the error issues they had Friday and Saturday.  By Sunday, that seemed to have gone away.  I was able to use my chars in single or multi with no issues.  I assume this is the way the game is meant to be by release.  I like it because there is no difference between characters.  I can advance solo or with a group depending on what I feel like.

As for time, my multi-player sessions went way way faster.  Everyone is on a race to get through, not experience the lore, etc.  If time is your issue, actual play multi instead.  You'll get pushed to finish right quick.  If it is attention you lack (watching kids,) no problem.  Sit at town and jump to the action when you can.  At least on Normal, groups of 1-2 in a 4 person game could still progress even with he difficulty ramped up.

I'll jump in with others though:  Normal is just too easy even with 4 person groups supposedly increasing the difficulty.  I could still solo while my other 3 teamates were off somewhere else.  It was just slower that way, of course.

[Sky]

Sorry, this is my first post in this thread. I never got into D3 beta of sorts. And jumped on board during the free weekend. Not very impressed.
I really don't see why ppl will use up the whole char slots, if not for pack mules.

Why are you posting like that?

[Furiously]

Not that I don't want you all becoming my Facebook and Linkedin friends. Im sure some of you would love to cyberstalk a few people. But why the heck does it need to show my real name to anyone I friend?

[KallDrexx]

Honestly, the thing that annoys me about multi-only isn't even the fact that I can't play while offline or I can't play when my wireless decides to shit itself (which unfortunately happens more than I'd like).  

It's the fact that I can't press escape and pause the fucking game.  If someone comes at the door, my dog needs to go out, my phone rings, etc... I have to either 1) hope they can wait until I finish the area I am in or 2) die.

I had a couple of deaths like that this weekend.

[Job601]

This game has a really fast paced arcade feel, much more so than even diablo 2.  The multiplayer drop in and out is really streamlined and fast and easy to use.  Despite all that, you can tell that's there's a deep mechanical heart beating underneath.  I am really excited for this game.

[Malakili]

Not that I don't want you all becoming my Facebook and Linkedin friends. Im sure some of you would love to cyberstalk a few people. But why the heck does it need to show my real name to anyone I friend?

It shouldn't be showing your real name unless you share your Real ID (aka e-mail address) if you are just friends via battletag is should not show your real name.

[Ratman_tf]

This game needs an easy mode for noobz, a decent normal mode for experts, and a hard mode for Schilds, selectable out of the gate.
After that, you can unlock inferno, nightmare, etc.