Diablo III Open Beta Weekend

Played it for about 30 minutes and uninstalled it. Game seems pretty crappy, and stupified.
 
robble said:
I hope like someone said it's easy because it is beta. I never even came close to dying and just mowed through everything.
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It's easy because its normal difficulty. However, it does seem to be a tiny bit tougher than D2 was with a full party. I replayed D2 late last year with /players 8 on and literally hack-n-slashed my way through Act 1 (since non-passive skills are almost all useless in the lowest tiers) without any troubles.
 
robble said:
I hope like someone said it's easy because it is beta. I never even came close to dying and just mowed through everything.
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D3 on normal difficulty is designed so everyone who is semi competent at arpgs will be able to finish the game. However, if you want the best loot you'll have to farm the content on the higher difficulty levels. Inferno difficulty is supposed to be brutally hard.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/4254459132?page=33#654

This is may be a good a time as any to REVEAL TEH SEKRITS! that Inferno monster levels aren't linear any longer. They get progressively more difficult. This was really a reaction to Inferno playtesting. Our original intent was to have a flat difficulty level where you could go wherever you want, farm for items, and it'd be no more or less difficult than any other area in Inferno. This caused a few inherent issues for us, though:

It just felt wrong. It didn't feel right to be progressing through the game and have it stay pretty much the same difficulty the whole time. It felt like a letdown to get to the final boss of the game and it be no more difficult than the first.There’s a wide variety of players out there and we wanted to make sure everybody had something to sink their teeth into. We expect that anybody with enough time and dedication will reach level 60. But the jump in difficulty to Inferno needed to be different amounts for different people. For the crazy people they need a HUGE ramp in difficulty, for a more “casual but still hardcore” audience you want an obvious but milder increase in difficulty. So for the crazy people who play non-stop they’ll hit Act I and get a challenge, but 1 month later they’ll still have something to work on (Acts II, III and IV). For the “hardcore-casual” they will reach level 60 later and not get brick walled when they reach Inferno. They can experience some “small victories” working on Act I with the dream of maybe someday reaching the later acts.Longevity. We know people really want goals to work towards and challenges to overcome. We made Act III and Act IV really, really brutally hard, for the most elite players only. It felt wrong to make ALL of Inferno that brutally hard.

Now, you may be saying “I thought you wanted us to be able to farm anywhere we wanted. Now we only have half as much area in the game to farm in? What gives?” Our goal is to make the loot mathematically better in the later acts without making the earlier gear completely obsolete. We feel Diablo II actually did a very good job with this and we expect Diablo III to perform similarly.

Specifically, people in D2 did Diablo runs, Mephisto runs, Pindleskin runs, Pit runs, Baal runs, etc. because the loot in Diablo is extremely random. Even though the theoretical best items might come from the later Acts, well-rolled items from earlier acts will still be better. Internally we find sometimes after an intense session of brutally hard Inferno it can be really fun to cruise through Hell Act III or IV and it’s not too uncommon surprise when an upgrade drops. We expect this to carry through to Inferno difficulty where somebody who can theoretically farm Act IV will likely still enjoy romping through Act I simply because the drop potential is still there. It’s all because of the highly random items having lots of overlap in their power distribution curves.
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Diablo is in your house.

MbRDu.jpg
 
i've tried to log in a few times in the last 18 hours and have not been able to get in so far...
 
So from reading around, the D3 beta is around 1/3 of Act 1,

You'll be around level lv 30 by end of the game on Normal, lv 45-50 through Nightmare, up to lv 60 cap in Hell and at max level for Inferno.
 
robble said:
I hope like someone said it's easy because it is beta. I never even came close to dying and just mowed through everything.
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I completely agree. The reason why is below.

Yoshiyuki Blade said:
It's easy because its normal difficulty.
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This is not an excuse. My friends and I (five of us) are d2 vets and replayed d2 a bit last night, finishing Act 1. There were a few deaths between us, mainly due to getting trapped and not being able to escape through a door, and also from lightning enchanted mobs. There were also multiple pots spammed throughout the Act by all of us. Granted, it didn't start getting harder until at least half way through Act 1. In Diablo 3, I have beaten the beta with every class and some classes multiple times (due to big patch changes, etc.) and have never had to drink one of those potions that end up in your inventory, on a single character. Like I mentioned though, the difficulty didn't really ramp up until half way through Act 1 in Diablo 2. I hope it is still going to be this way in Diablo 3. Nonetheless, I will be playing a single Softcore character and then moving to Hardcore.
 
Definitely feels like Diablo as far as atmosphere and feel goes so far. Skill use and leveling not so much.

I miss the words "Realm Down". Can't connect to servers? It must be busy. Now I remember why I don't want my single player mode to require server connection. Not complaining after all it's a beta, kind of glad as a reminder of what "always on" is like.
 
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Plague_Injected said:
Yep same here. Complete fucking waste of bandwidth so far.
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From what I've heard, you need a "slot" in their online system even for a single player game, and they are limiting it this weekend. Add that to the fact that only US gateway is used, we have the entire world hammering the server for a slot. One have to keep spamming until we get lucky and hit an empty slot.

So far I've only managed to get in once today
 
Haven't been able to get in yet. I can understand the always connected bullshits for this beta (as they are doing load testing) but if once the game comes out, and I can't login, or it's laggy as shit to play single player, I'm going to be pissed. All I want to do is play single player!
 
There is a message on the side that says they are bringing the servers down around 8am PDT to address some issues. Is that a new message or has that always been there?
 
Hornet said:
From what I've heard, you need a "slot" in their online system even for a single player game, and they are limiting it this weekend. Add that to the fact that only US gateway is used, we have the entire world hammering the server for a slot. One have to keep spamming until we get lucky and hit an empty slot.

So far I've only managed to get in once today
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That explains the problem, thanks :cool: I'm hoping the full game will have the ability to play a private and "offline" game, even if the game requires the constant Internet connection. Waiting for a "slot" to play solo is a bit ridiculous.
 
Plague_Injected said:
That explains the problem, thanks :cool: I'm hoping the full game will have the ability to play a private and "offline" game, even if the game requires the constant Internet connection. Waiting for a "slot" to play solo is a bit ridiculous.
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It's a nanny slot, to make sure you're not duping items or something. That way you go to their item store if you really want easy items. I'm not an MMO guy, but I think I'll look at the combat mechanics for Tera while the battle.net servers are having issues.


Man I appreciate my true single player games more.
 
it's like they took diablo 2, updated the graphics and tweaked some non-direct gameplay.

that's not necessarily a knock against it, it's just that well, that was awesome... 10 years ago.

the fact you have to choose between essentially single-target and aoe attacks is interesting, but mildly annoying. I'll likely still get it b/c i want to play with my buds and i've successfully kicked my WoW habit.
 
Can this really be called a beta? It's more of an anemic demo. Playing my favorite class (caster) was a bit of a chore and the skills where kinda boring. Maybe I just need more time but the "beta" doesn't really convince to pay full price.
 
fdiaz78 said:
Can this really be called a beta? It's more of an anemic demo. Playing my favorite class (caster) was a bit of a chore and the skills where kinda boring. Maybe I just need more time but the "beta" doesn't really convince to pay full price.
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Be thankful we have Beta's now days.

Remember when we bought games without even having a demo and the only thing we had to go by was the reviews out of our favorite gaming magazine? I can remember buying many games like that and not having my expectations met.

Not only that but I am surprised that Blizzard even did a open Beta.

Secondly if you find yourself bored with the game, you should find a friend to play with, the game is much more fun with another person.
 
It is short, but it's really just a demo / server stress beta rather than a content beta.

The Diablo 2 demo only had the barbarian class and went up to blood raven (essentially the first 2 quests).

I feel the game is extremely dumbed down though. Heck, even Diablo 2 offered a wider variety of skill selection with the F keys. The 1-4 buttons scream: I hope we can map this to a D pad! I hope there's more depth later on. Good news is, it works in triple wide.
 
Krenum said:
At the beginning of Diablo 2 you didn't have many skills either.

The first 10 levels you only get 6 skills at most.
http://www.diablofans.com/page/tools/skill/d2-barbarian.html
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It's not about the amount of skills out of the gate, it's about how many you can possibly use/switch to period. Right now it seems like you have your left click, right click, and 1-4 keys... if you want to switch you need to literally go into your skills tab and manually switch it out? Seems ridiculous.
 
Intel_Hydralisk said:
It's not about the amount of skills out of the gate, it's about how many you can possibly use/switch to period. Right now it seems like you have your left click, right click, and 1-4 keys... if you want to switch you need to literally go into your skills tab and manually switch it out? Seems ridiculous.
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Well how many of those skills that I posted above are you going to constantly use? 2 maybe 3?.

If you have 1-4 unlocked and 2 skills on right and left click , that is 6 total at your fingertips at all times, and you dont have to switch through them with the F keys like you did in Diablo 2.
 
Krenum said:
Well how many of those skills that I posted above are you going to constantly use? 2 maybe 3?.

If you have 1-4 unlocked and 2 skills on right and left click , that is 6 total at your fingertips at all times, and you dont have to switch through them with the F keys like you did in Diablo 2.
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I don't recall when 6 skills was an acceptable amount in any RPG...

You could map up to 12 (or more? F1-F8, and I remember at least being able to map 5-8 as well, I don't recall if 9 and 0 were mappable) skills in Diablo 2...

It seems we're benchmarking this 2012 game against a game that's 12 years old.
 
Intel_Hydralisk said:
I don't recall when 6 skills was an acceptable amount in any RPG...

You could map up to 12 (or more? F1-F8, and I remember at least being able to map 5-8 as well, I don't recall if 9 and 0 were mappable) skills in Diablo 2...

It seems we're benchmarking this 2012 game against a game that's 12 years old.
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Its compare and contrast.

But you can not compare Diablo to a real RPG like a Final Fantasy 0-8 , its a different game all together.
 
Krenum said:
But you can not compare Diablo to a real RPG like a Final Fantasy 0-8 , its a different game all together.
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I'm not sure where Final Fantasy came into this.

Let's compare it to Titan Quest then. That skill bar was really how RPG's evolved from the days of Diablo 2 and it was fantastic.
 
Intel_Hydralisk said:
I'm not sure where Final Fantasy came into this.

Let's compare it to Titan Quest then. That skill bar was really how RPG's evolved from the days of Diablo 2 and it was fantastic.
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Yeah I saw F1-F8 and my brain switched to Final Fantasy mode :D Sorry.

---------------------------------------------
But really, did you actually use up to 12 skills in Diablo 2? I played it for a decade and always found myself using at the maximum 4 skills , even on the Necromancer. Poison Dagger, Poison Nova, and 2 Curses, or Bone Prison.

I agree Titan Quest had a cool skill tree, but again I always found myself playing 2 or 3 skills still. Titan Quest also had a lot of buff and passive skills. Really in these types of ARPG games you find what works and stick with it.
 
Intel_Hydralisk said:
I don't recall when 6 skills was an acceptable amount in any RPG...

You could map up to 12 (or more? F1-F8, and I remember at least being able to map 5-8 as well, I don't recall if 9 and 0 were mappable) skills in Diablo 2...

It seems we're benchmarking this 2012 game against a game that's 12 years old.
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Think of it like guildwars 1. You had hundreds of skills but only got to use 8 at a time. The customization in d3 is roughly the same thing. Set your skills to how you feel like playing. You can change your skills out anytime and in normal mode the cooldown is quick to allow you to switch around and try new stuff. Later on in inferno you will be punished for changing your skills mid session. Picking a skill build that works good for you and works well with your party is just part of the game. And the best part is you are never locked into any permanent choices.
 
Battle.net is down already? Ridiculous! The first day of the beta and they decide to do maintenance. Awesome. :rolleyes:
 
It'll be interesting to see the reviews when the full game comes out, that's for sure. Maybe there will be some shortcomings with the skills system, but I guess that's something we'll have to find out for release. I myself would be holding out to see some reviews about later on in the game, but 5+ of my gaming friends are getting the game, so I may as well get it too.
 
StryderxX said:
Battle.net is down already? Ridiculous! The first day of the beta and they decide to do maintenance. Awesome. :rolleyes:
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Wow , that is ridiculous! Ah the whoa's of having to be connected to the internets. IT HAS BEGUN! :p
 
mr_zen256 said:
There's no doubt that the skills have been simplified significantly and doesn't offer as much customization as D2.
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And by "as much customization", you mean none.

Pretty sad. Outside of gear, there's going to be no difference between your level 40 barbarian and my level 40 barbarian.
 
xenios said:
Think of it like guildwars 1. You had hundreds of skills but only got to use 8 at a time. The customization in d3 is roughly the same thing. Set your skills to how you feel like playing. You can change your skills out anytime and in normal mode the cooldown is quick to allow you to switch around and try new stuff. Later on in inferno you will be punished for changing your skills mid session. Picking a skill build that works good for you and works well with your party is just part of the game. And the best part is you are never locked into any permanent choices.
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Yes that was my first thought, but even GW had 8 skill slots. Another big difference is that any skill can be mapped to those slots and there were hundreds of skills with different primary/secondary class combos. Somehow I doubt D3 will have the party complexity that GW offered.

And by "as much customization", you mean none.

Pretty sad. Outside of gear, there's going to be no difference between your level 40 barbarian and my level 40 barbarian.
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I think that sums up how I feel. There are no decisions to be made. My character is no different than someone else's... aside from how much money I decide to spend on the auction house.


Also... am I the only one that sees Left Trigger, Right Trigger, D Pad/ABXY when I see this skill set up?
 
Parja said:
And by "as much customization", you mean none.

Pretty sad. Outside of gear, there's going to be no difference between your level 40 barbarian and my level 40 barbarian.
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This video explains the differences between the D2 and D3 skill systems,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id_hK6CSS18&feature=youtu.be

Between 20+ swapable main skills, 10+ swappable passive skills, and 5+ swappable runes per skill you'll have tons of customization.
 
Intel_Hydralisk said:
Yes that was my first thought, but even GW had 8 skill slots. Another big difference is that any skill can be mapped to those slots and there were hundreds of skills with different primary/secondary class combos. Somehow I doubt D3 will have the party complexity that GW offered.


I think that sums up how I feel. There are no decisions to be made. My character is no different than someone else's... aside from how much money I decide to spend on the auction house.


Also... am I the only one that sees Left Trigger, Right Trigger, D Pad/ABXY when I see this skill set up?
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Bingo! You hit the nail on the head.. From what I've seen it looks like Blizzard is tweaking D3 for consoles.
 
Is there a way to quickly switch active skills? I hate being stuck with an AOE skill when I'm fighting a tough baddie 1on1.
 
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