Game

[Smooth Groove]

The worst thing about the online DRM is that I can't just use a trainer to give my character items. 

[Cormacaroni]

on the other hand, so many billions of items are being generated for such a trivial in-game value that it's easier than actually cheating

[Human Snorenado]

Has anyone else just gotten to the point where you're selling blue drops to the merchants rather than salvaging them?  Poor blacksmith.   

[CajoleJuice]

I actually did that early on.

[MrAngryFace]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/05/28/diablo-iii-the-unofficial-novelisation/ -- so great

[pilonv1]

Has anyone else just gotten to the point where you're selling blue drops to the merchants rather than salvaging them?  Poor blacksmith.   

Yeah I did that around Act III on normal once I realised blacksmithing was such a money sink

[Phoenix Dark]

Yup, I started out today with 10k gold, finished with around 160k gold due in part to selling shit instead of salvaging. I rarely salvage anything now of days; I've got a good amount of mats, no need to add more. Plus I'm nearly lv8 bs and haven't anything good yo!

[pilonv1]

I only salvage yellows I couldn't be bothered selling on the AH. The only reason I salvage them is that the mats can sell for a decent amount on the AH still.

[Cormacaroni]

They really need to sort that blacksmith curve out. I presume it's the way it is to slow down the farmers somewhat, but as it is, there isn't a real incentive to use it. I mean, I could easily beat the game on Normal without salvaging or selling any items at all - just keeping the good items is enough. You can't really buy anything useful from merchants either.

So, CONTRARY TO ADVICE I WAS GIVEN MANY PAGES BACK, ahem, i'd have to say that for new players, the only thing worth plowing money and time into is the jewellers, not the BS. And you don't even get the jeweller straight away. Really, you should just spend that selling/salvaging/sorting time farming the levels for gold and drops instead. It's easier and more fun to kill a monster and pick up a few hundred gold than spend 5 mins agonizing about whether to salvage or equip or sell. If you have spare cash, go to the AH and buy stuff.

[Momo]

Has anyone else just gotten to the point where you're selling blue drops to the merchants rather than salvaging them?  Poor blacksmith.   

Act II Normal for me

[BobFromPikeCreek]

Blizzard should just scrap the blacksmith entirely and  bring back gambling

[pilonv1]

Gambling would be ace

[Human Snorenado]

60'd.  For anyone looking for something easy to grind to gain xp in hell as you're closing in on 60, I recommend

spoiler (click to show/hide)

zoltun kuule or whatever his name is in act II

[close]

Each time you run through it (and it should only take you about 5 minutes each time) is more than 100k xp.  I immediately went on the auction house and blew some of my gold on some lv 60 items- increased my dps my more than 2k.

Had fun playing with Viz, Himu, Great Rumbler, PD and whoever else today.  Might take a day off tomorrow, got a bunch of yard work bullshit to take care of.

[naff]

Has anyone else just gotten to the point where you're selling blue drops to the merchants rather than salvaging them?  Poor blacksmith.   

artisans. I was all about salvaging my first game, then realised I could sell and buy multiples of those items cheap on the AH. Then I realised putting effort/money into artisans was pointless

[naff]

Gambling would be ace

Smithing is  basically the same tho? (albeit with a little more depth) I think it has potential, they've said they're updating it at some point soon so I'll give it another shot once I start getting some plans

[Eric P]

it is 6 am est.  why are all the diablo servers full forcing me to queue?

[Human Snorenado]

Not sure, I couldn't sleep so hopped back on and started getting "server will be shutting down" messages.  I JUST WANT SOME MORE LOOT N GOLD, MANG! 

[BobFromPikeCreek]

Queuing............................................


 

I WORKED 9 HARD HOURS TODAY. DON'T DENY ME THIS SHIT, BLIZZARD.

[Eric P]

oh, surprise server maintenance for the next 8 hours.

hooray.

[BobFromPikeCreek]

 

[Human Snorenado]

I'm not really sure what purpose "invincible minion" champions serve.  That's some straight up bullshit.

[Himu]

Single player game? Have we been playing the same game?

[Momo]

Yeah I went onto the euro servers now and only had boring people on, so jumped onto US - down.

You guys have more server downtime than uptime

[FlameofCallandorReturns]

When was the last time anyone equipped an item that was received in game? I'm pretty sure after level 10 I never even looked at the stats.

[Joe Molotov]

I'm not really sure what purpose "invincible minion" champions serve.  That's some straight up bullshit.

To plant their massive demon member right into your pathetic mortal poop canal.

[archie4208]

When was the last time anyone equipped an item that was received in game? I'm pretty sure after level 10 I never even looked at the stats.

Found a nice +40 all resistance ring (with a socket) in A4 Hell yesterday.  Otherwise, most of my gear comes from the AH.

[BobFromPikeCreek]

Awesome as this game is, this pretty much sums up what I've been thinking recently (except the part about shared loot. too apathetic to fight 14 year olds for sick drops):
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5151274074

[MrAngryFace]

I still mostly depend on drops- as in 95% of the time. AH takes half the fun out of the experience for me. I feel like im one step away from farmville.

[Brehvolution]

I've only bought one thing on the AH. Everything I'm using I earned.

[MrAngryFace]

That's the spirit!

[Human Snorenado]

You guys clearly aren't on the latter stages of Hell or Inferno then.

[Himu]

thoughts on this video series plz

[Human Snorenado]

I can't really comment to the first one since I haven't reached Inferno.  I will say that I think that so far (late Act III Hell) difficulty has scaled just fine, with my only gripes being some truly wretched elite mob combos (jailer/plagued/mortar or invincible minions) that I either just try to avoid or leave the game and start over if it's that big of a deal.  At no point do I think the game has been UNFAIR other than those few instances, and well, randomness is randomness- random spawns mean that sometimes you just get fucked.  If half of what I hear about Inferno is true, then I'll probably have some stuff to say about this when I start playing on it, but I tend to try to be as OP'd as possible and I'm playing one of the two classes (Wiz, other being DH) that people say you can solo Inferno with.

Items do suck.  That video is spot on.  Later in the game, you want +int/dex/str depending on your character, +resists, +vit, +atk speed for sure.  Everything else is either just a kind of nice bonus (magic find) or utterly worthless to surviving and thriving.  The fact that the BS is such a crapshoot and waste of time means that you pretty much HAVE to use the AH at higher difficulties, and I kind of wish there were one or two more search parameters to set.  People say the jeweler is worthless because you can buy gems on the AH for cheaper than it costs you to craft them, which is shitty.  Blizzard's "solution" of only requiring 2 gems is kind of laughable- you're wasting RON PAUL'S PRECIOUS GOLD to combine gems, and that's the problem, not the number of gems it takes to combine.  Hurp a durp.  Blizz have pretty much copped to legendary items sucking by saying they're gonna buff them in an upcoming patch. 

The last one... are you fucking kidding me?  I long for the day that a game of this caliber can come out and not spend any money on fucking cutscenes or backstory.  Just give me shit to kill and loot.  Good vs. evil is implied in the "heavens vs. hells" nature of the game.  It's named fucking "Diablo" for the love of God.  People that would even rate this as much of a problem as the first two are why videogames suck.  Go read a book or watch a movie for good narrative, you ain't finding it in videogames you pretentious assholes.  There two possibilities for a game that tries to go the "art" or storytelling route- the gameplay suffers due to finite resources and you completely fucking fucked up allocating them for something that doesn't matter; or you have good gameplay sandwiched in between your stupid fucking attempt at a story, aka "metal gear syndrome".  That's it.  There exists no videogame with storytelling that is even on par with Billy Madison.  If you disagree, go die in a fire.  If you wish this wasn't the case, REALLY go die in a fire.

To sum up:

Point 1: Jury is still out for me but everything I hear makes me want to agree
Point 2: Absolutely
Point 3: Die in a fire

[FlameofCallandorReturns]

Agreed with most of the videos. I do like the idea of the AH, but as of now it's a necessity because items are just garbage in game.  Also I like how the video points out how few stats matter. When I'm looking for a weapon I want three things, Dmg, Str and/or vitality as a barbarian. Thats it.

[archie4208]

Agree with all of them, but especially the first one.  Hell Act 3 and 4 had the best difficulty balance.  Shit was challenging, but not impossible.  Now that I'm post Leoric in Inferno, I've lost all my will to play since a random yellow will come up and insta kill me.

[FlameofCallandorReturns]

The last one... are you fucking kidding me?  I long for the day that a game of this caliber can come out and not spend any money on fucking cutscenes or backstory.  Just give me shit to kill and loot.  Good vs. evil is implied in the "heavens vs. hells" nature of the game.  It's named fucking "Diablo" for the love of God.  People that would even rate this as much of a problem as the first two are why videogames suck.  Go read a book or watch a movie for good narrative, you ain't finding it in videogames you pretentious assholes.  There two possibilities for a game that tries to go the "art" or storytelling route- the gameplay suffers due to finite resources and you completely fucking fucked up allocating them for something that doesn't matter; or you have good gameplay sandwiched in between your stupid fucking attempt at a story, aka "metal gear syndrome".  That's it.  There exists no videogame with storytelling that is even on par with Billy Madison.  If you disagree, go die in a fire.  If you wish this wasn't the case, REALLY go die in a fire.

While I'm the last person to care about a game's story, especially a game like Diablo, there is something to be said for having the bad guy NOT give away their plans. How many times did Maghda tell you where the next piece was etc... It was pretty distinguished mentally-challenged.

[Himu]

Aside from invulnerable enemies in Hell, I find the difficulty to be perfect on that mode. Inferno though doesn't seem like a fair case for the argument.

[etiolate]

It's quite possible that the game is designed to push people into the AH and then when the Real Money AH comes out, people will put all the necessary to beat Inferno gear on the RM AH, making Inferno a goldmine for Blizzard. His comment that the second diablo game made people want to spend money due to the item design is missing the point that Blizzard may want a more sure bet of people using the RMAH by making difficulty nothing but a gear check in the third game.

[Himu]

I think a lot of people are nostalgic for D2 and are letting that blind them because it's not the same thing.

Not that a lot of complaints AREN'T valid, but a lot them seem to be,"IT'S NOT LIKE D2"

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Some historical perspective:

• Diablo II was released June 29, 2000.
• Diablo II: Lord of Destruction was released June 29, 2001.
• Diablo II Patch 1.10 was released October 28, 2003. This patch rebalanced the game and added skill synergies. When people talk about how much they love "Diablo II," they are talking about post-1.10.

There were three years and four months between the release of Diablo II and the release of Patch 1.10.

Diablo III was released May 15, 2012. That's two weeks ago. Blizzard will start addressing identified issues in patch 1.0.3. Overall balancing will be ongoing for weeks, months, and years to come.

In conclusion, all y'all motherfuckers need to CHILL DA FUK OUT. 

[etiolate]

The video is about things Blizz has already learned being missing from the game. Of course, D2 is much better three years after its release, but D3 is 12 years after the D2 release, so the question is how did they forget what they had already learned?

[Howard Alan Treesong]

The video is about things Blizz has already learned being missing from the game. Of course, D2 is much better three years after its release, but D3 is 12 years after the D2 release, so the question is how did they forget what they had already learned?

D3 changes a lot of things from D2. Some of those changes are working, and others can definitely be improved. Unfortunately, before the game is in the hands of millions of players, it's all just theorycrafting and there's no way to know which changes are which...

[Human Snorenado]

I'm definitely taking the long view.  I mean, I haven't even unlocked Inferno or fucked around with Hardcore mode yet.  The simple fact is that arpg loot fests are my favorite kind of videogame, and no one does them better (in my experience) than Blizzard.  Like I said in the last episode of the Cruncheons, I played D2 for like 4-5 years, and fully expect to play D3 for as long if not longer depending on what kind of content Blizzard puts out for it.  I still haven't had this much fun with a game in years.  Sure there's issues, but any game like this is gonna have them.

One thing I do like after hitting 60 is Nephalem Valor.  Beat the last two bosses on Act III with 5 stacks of NV and got at least two yellows from each, and even my first legendary from Azmodan.  Wonder of wonders, it doesn't suck either! 

Eternal Union (Ring, Lv 58)

+128 int (woot, perfect for Duuuuurp the Wizard)
+72 vit
+14% atk speed
93 life regen/second
Reduce melee dmg by 4%
Health globes grant an additional +1673

I'm not sure how much that would go for since the AH is down, but my guess is a pretty penny.  However, it raised my dps by around 1600 and I'm now regenerating over 1100/second, so I'm going to keep it until such a time as a better option presents itself.

[Himu]

What triumph said. If you put 50-60 hours into a game in LESS THAN TWO WEEKS and still bitch, you may have issues.

I only put that much time into games i adore and I have not put that much time into a game so fast in years, at least since 2005 or so. Others have come close, namely Skyrim, but Diablo III? I'm here to stay, baby boo.

[Human Snorenado]

Also, Real Talk time for all the "the RMAH is just a Blizzard cash grab!" tinfoil hat crowd:  D3, although it costs $60, is free to play online.  Those servers cost money.  If Blizz can defray server costs by means of the RMAH and even gasp! put some of that money into new expansions, then I say more power to them.

[Bebpo]

I think my only complaints about the game are that the loot is awesome for 30 hours of a character.  You're constantly getting cool stuff you can use that's better than what your current equip is.  This is the fun of a loot game.  Then after about 30 hours, when you start Hell, you stop getting anything you can use and you have to depend entirely on the AH and the fun of loot is lost.  I went about 10 hours in Hell mode without getting a single drop better than what I had and at that point it stopped being a loot game and Diablo without loot is sad Diablo

And of course the IMPOSSIBLE UNSTOPPABLE PLAGUED ON FIRE LASERS SHIELDED THREE SETS OF ELITE CHAMPION MOBS AT THE SAME TIME.  But I guess that's just Diablo for you.  I didn't play D2, but did they do mobs like that?  Because their random elite mob attribute giver sometimes makes some truly fucked up impossible sets.  I'm not down for quitting a dungeon and resetting so I'll try to do something if I'm in co-op like I chase them down one path out of the way while the other player passes by them and makes it to the next floor and I die and then warp out and re-join them.

I don't have complaints about the story.  It's serviceable and I'm actually REALLY impressed by the amount of lines your MC has, so playing through with different character builds really feels different.  When I started my Male Witch Doctor, it felt totally different than playing as my Male Barbarian.

[Human Snorenado]

seems like everybody is stuck on "retrieving hero list" while trying to log in 

[Human Snorenado]

Some crazy fucker soloing the final boss on Inferno... with a barb.  Looks like it can be done if you've got the gear and 15 minutes.

[Phoenix Dark]

I'll watch the videos when I get home. I maintain that the game isn't hard, and rather forgiving even on harder difficulties. I played around with a friend's DH on hell (Act I, some of Act II) and had no problems. I realize playing a 38k health barb makes me a bit oblivious to some difficulty charges, but if I can solo The Butcher with a demon hunter on hell, I can maintain my "ezpz" position

[Bebpo]

The final boss isn't that tough though.  Most of the mobs you run into in Hell/Inferno are tougher than any of the bosses.  I don't think bosses are a good measure of the challenge levels.

On Hell/Inferno I actually think The Butcher is the toughest boss in the game.  The fire floor is deadly, covers a huge area, and can put you in bad places.  Act 2 boss is easy once you learn how to dodge the green explosions, Act 3 boss is easy if you hit and run, and final boss has easy well signaled attacks and you can pretty much just run in circles around its final form while waiting for cooldowns, potions.

[FlameofCallandorReturns]

Battlenet has been shutdown all day. I can understand this nonsense for WoW but they need to get their shit together.

[Bebpo]

Battlenet has been shutdown all day. I can understand this nonsense for WoW but they need to get their shit together.

Isn't that probably why they're shutting it down though?

[Smooth Groove]

What a POS.  That's why solo games should never require a player to be online. 

[Positive Touch]

NO ONE PLAYS THIS GAME SOLO

[Joe Molotov]

Battle.net, y u so tsundere? 

[Cormacaroni]

What a POS.  That's why solo games should never require a player to be online. 

How come Blizzard can require that WE be online but we can't require that THEY be online?

[Howard Alan Treesong]

What a POS.  That's why solo games should never require a player to be online. 

How come Blizzard can require that WE be online but we can't require that THEY be online?

+

[CajoleJuice]

NO ONE PLAYS THIS GAME SOLO

I have, for the most part (out of necessity).

[pilonv1]

NO ONE PLAYS THIS GAME SOLO

I played most of normal on my own

[Smooth Groove]

Normal on multi is pointless unless there are significantly more or tougher enemies.  I don't see myself playing much multi anyways.  Like Drinky, I just think it's too much of a hassle.