Diablo 3 Beta [Beta withdrawal underway!]
- Thread starter maniac-kun
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I'm still having this issue and it's driving me crazy
Same. Where are you trying to play from? It seems Asia/NZ were fixed, but Europe and Australia are still borked. Blizzard have serious database issues.
Some of it is fun, some of it I have issues is, which is why I bothered to comment to begin with. My annoyance with the implementation of the systems in Diablo 3 is not theoretical. With with beta patch there are things which I feel are improved, and there are things which I feel have either remained bad or have been made worse. Seriously.
And that is alright. Nothing wrong with having different opinions. I think that the healthpool size of the players is the biggest issue, mobs should really do more damage or we should mitigate it waaay less.
I think they should just spawn tougher unique monsters more regularly to keep the pace up. The moments of combat I've encountered in the beta are when the game happens to spawn certain unique monsters which actually have great synergy with the mobs around them. The fact that there can be really exciting moments like that, which feel just right, shows that it is indeed possible for the game to be somewhat challenging even in Normal. The problem is that most of the time it is just not very engaging and too much of a cake walk. The fixed bosses in particular are a bit disappointing in the beta, so hopefully they have better encounters designed later on. The Act bosses better be as memorable as the Diablo 2 ones...
Fucking Duriel...
Europe and it's been this way for what feels like forever, I really hope they fix that up soon :-/
Haha, my memories of Duriel are all basically like this:
"I'm not going in, it might lag and I'll die."
"Someone open a Town Portal ASAP!"
"Okay, let's do this!"
*the main tank player goes in, takes a shitload of damage as the room "loads" along with the boss*
*the rest of us rush in, everyone throws up support shit and tries to stay alive while attacking that piece of shit*
The lag was the WORST part. Same with the throne room in Act 5, where you could get killed by the game simply loading in the enemies. Looool.
Today this would only be called a bugged boss encounter (As it was when the game was released back then).
It's amazing what nostalgia can do to your memory!
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
And you still do not see the contradictions and conflicts in the game design that we are pointing out?
Conflict 1
Assuming all runes are balanced with each other so that no rune effect is significantly better than another one
Unlocking skills as you level implies that the later skills are "stronger/better" than the early ones. For example, Acid Cloud (level 22) is "stronger/better" than Poison Dart (level 1).
Unlocking runes as you level implies that the later runes are "stronger/better" than the early runes.
If it is true that all runes are balanced with each other, then it conflicts with the popular notion that you learn better skills as you level up higher. If all runes are balanced with each other, then you do not actually learn "better" skills, you just learn "different" skills.
Therefore, it is more consistent with this design that the player is able to choose for himself which rune to unlock since they are all of equal "power" anyway. Furthermore, it adds to player choice, player attachment, and early game diversity.
Conflict 2
Assuming all runes are not balanced with each other and that the high level runes are "better" than the low rank ones
This matches up with the design of unlocking bigger and better rune effects as you level up.
However, this does not promote diversity at end game. Diversity is supposed to be one of Blizzard's important design goals.
If all the late level rune skills are that much "better", players will tend to use those and ignore the early runes, and there is less diversity in builds.
My opinion on the new system and maybe you haven´t seen it from this way is like this.
The new "guideline" on the runes is also based on the difficulty your char is in at the moment. Because if it would be possible to choose the rune that becomes unlocked first, almost everyone that want´s to be really effectiv would choose the +Damage rune.
Normal won´t be hard so it would became a no-brainer to just take damage and run through it.
The current system takes (most of the time) a kinda gimmicky rune, like when you kill something with cleave it explodes and so on. But the +Damage on cleave rune would probably one-shot most of the enemys and that would be a better choice.
Most +damage or +movementspeed runes (which would rock the normal mode) become available around lvl 30, which would be the jump into the next mode.
Where you hopefully won´t be able to just run through the whole horde of demons without caring because you 2-shot most of them even with the +dmg runes.
Whereas around lvl 45-50 you unlock more and more runes to help you stay alive with the bad gear. For example: Cleave reduces movementspeed of the enemies or war cry grants a bonus to dodge.
In the lategame however, at max-level all of the runes could be put into some sort of working builds for the area you are currently in.
That was only a barbarian-example because it´s the class i informed myself the most about and it sounds really logic to me atlast :x
Me. Been trying to get a key through CVG's facebook 'contest'. Having a timer count down every half hour, only to tell you to wait longer for more keys is killing me but I can't give up.
Starts up again in four hours. :c
Yes, but throwing every skill category at the player in the first act seems a bit much. Blizzard also needs some form of control in the beginning to guide the player through the mechanics. There is a reason you are just whacking slow zombies in the first part of the game (like in Diablo 2). There is no need to give the player other than simple attack skills at this point, and there would be no reason to pick them.
I would probably prefer the unlocking was done like a full category at level intervals. And have it all unlock after Normal. I just don't see how it would completely change the game experience by going from this forced theme park of horror to a wonderful stroll of freedom.
At what point? The point were you concluded a bunch of stuff before playing it through? All these small changes are turned into a big drama.
Who the hell ever suggested that.
I wouldn't expect that to fix. The only character that actually uses melee weapons with their skills is the barbarian. No matter what weapon you're using the monk only has animations for actually punching. I'd love it if that changed for release but it seems very unlikely they're hiding a few thousand new animations behind the scenes.
Nahkarankaisja
Neo Member
Still looking for a beta key since Blizzard hates EU and no luck from competitions.
Also how have you people got your accounts flagged?
Also how have you people got your accounts flagged?
Fallout-NL
Member
maabus1999
Member
I'm pretty sure they said they will not be doing this due to time issues. What you see animation wise is what you get. Went along with the "monk can equip so many weapons, making unique animations for all of them would take up too much resources."
Mengy
wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. One of my favorite aspects of D2, building many different characters, is going to be non-existent in D3 if things remain the way they are now. I actually liked the gameplay of starting new characters in D2 and playing through the game from a completely different point of view. Using my other high level characters to farm starter gear for new characters. Trying new and different skills and builds, but then having each of those characters available to me to play whenever I wanted to. There was a time when I had over two dozen different D2 characters made.
That won't be worthwhile in D3. If I have 3 wizards on my account, each at level 50, they all have the exact same skill and rune options. There isn't any difference in their builds, no difference in their progression, and nothing I can do will ever change that. There just simply isn't any reason to ever play through the game with a new character of a class you already played through with, not ever again.
Unless you are playing hardcore of course. Which I love playing D2 hardcore. But in D3, with the same options at each level up every single damn time, I fear that hardcore is going to lose a HUGE part of it's luster. One of my favorite ways to play hardcore D2 was to try really off the wall builds and just see how far I could get. Hydra sorceress. Poison daggermancer. Zealot pally. Summoning druid. Shouting barbs. Each of those characters had a different build, different skill choices, gear choices, that molded and directed their gameplay, their skills, and their progressions. That entire mode of playing the game will be mostly moot in D3, because you can simply change your character's skill choices at any time you want, quickly and easily. There is no permanence. There is no build variation between any dozen witch doctors of the same level. None.
If D3 shipped today it would be missing an enormous part of what made D2 such a fantastic game to me.
Like Maharg, I'm going to buy it and play the hell out of it, but I'm also going to lament the loss of one of the most enjoyable parts of D2 for me. I have to wonder how D3, with it's streamlined and generic character design, is going to keep my interest for over a decade like D2 did and still does to this day...
BigBlue1974
Member
I'd love to get my hands on a beta key. Haven't had any luck as of yet.
Killed the king and now I just want to see the final game and how they will tackle the skills and runes. There really wasn't much to think of in the game due to it being so easy. The AoE spell from WD killed pretty much anything on one hit. And not being able to hit with your weapons was bizarre, I'm sure that is not the case in the final game though.
Game looks and sounds great, now just give me some shit to think while I spam those enemies.
Game looks and sounds great, now just give me some shit to think while I spam those enemies.
Get a max lvl character, strip down to no armor or items, equip about a 4dps weapon. Beat the beta. I've been really enjoying myself doing this. It definitely takes the mindlessness out of being geared past the content. And what's cool is everything scales with weapon damage, so you can still use all of your abilities without being overpowered. Loving it!
Don't expect this to change. You will be disappointed. I could see them -possibly- making an option to slot your basic attack back into your right/left click but right now the game is set up so that if you aren't a barbarian you do not hit enemies with your weapon.
I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure the monk will use his stave if doing Dashing Strike. It's a far cry from not using weapons for the basic spirit generators, but it's something right.
*Yup, just checked. After the dash he does an upward thrust with the staff or bo. With two one handers, he does an arcing swing with both from center to outside.
Well the DH tends to, if using a ranged weapon, fire his Primary's from said weapon, most specials in fact. The Wizard I played didn't sheath his sword for Magic Missile either, rather it looked like he was firing it from that.
If they gave you the option to always sheath your weapon while in combat that wouldn't be so bad (so like WoW, where it's a stat stick) but as it is it looks dumb. That solution wouldn't require much I don't think, you have it holstered in town anyway.
Yea I was surprised that the staff at least didn't have animations for the spirit generators. Never tried dashing strike with a staff so that's a nice addition. Obviously the kicks aren't going to have weapon animations and a large number of the monks abilities are actually just spell effects so they really don't need a weapon animation at all. Fortunately all of those barehanded animations are amazing and I like the absurdity of stalking around with dual daggers and then punching things even faster because of it!
Really hope dual daggers is viable; going to be tough to beat some of the monk specific mods on fist weapons.
They did a good job on the ranged characters because it's really only using one animation for the actual character model in those cases. Most people seem to have issues with actually striking enemies with their basic weapon (This isn't something I really care about because the basic attack is completely useless). I do like the idea of having a forced holstering option if you wanted that logical consistency.
Right now once you get your second skill you can't re-equip the basic attack. Ultimately it's irrelevant from a gameplay standpoint because the basic attack isn't useful.
The other issue we're mentioning is that the monk doesn't use the equipped weapon for many of his skills but it makes sense because they're all supposed to be fast striking punches. Some people may not like this because it looks 'strange' to even be using dual swords/daggers/axes and never actually hitting the enemies with them.
Yeah that is pretty bizarre, though I guess it makes sense on some level if they just made a basic attack worthless from a practical standpoint for most characters relative to skills/spells they get and the resources those can generate.
Still, smacking things with some basic weapon around in Diablo is typically a joy. I'll be playing a glorious wizard, tho (monk and witch doctor are quite tempting). Kinda wanted to smack stuff around with my wooden staff in the early goings as a timid low-level mage before I start unleashing some fire and brimstone.
Although you make a good point, permanent skill choice is an old game mechanic and i'm glad Blizzard is moving on. I don't know about you, but i'm not 16 anymore (like i was when diablo 2 came out), i probably spend more then a thousand hours on that game. If you play all 5 classes to 60 (which you probably will, as all 5 seem awesome), averaging a 30 hours to get to lvl 60, that's already a 150 hours of gameplay right there. That's without endgame and metagame (like trading). That alone makes me very glad that if i want to change up my barbarian, i simply swap my skill pallet. And it just allows for much, much greater diversity, like building my skillset to support 3 friends, building it around certain gear, or around a boss' weakness i want to farm, without the hassle of starting over.
Before they gave the demon hunter hatred generating abilities, I liked the idea of using basic attack just to save hatred for when you wanted to unload. When they changed it, they added a passive that made the basic attack generate hatred, which meant you could have a build with no hatred generators, freeing up a slot for something else. This meant you needed all 7 slots for abilities though on your hotbar and with the introduction of the dedicated potion slot, they removed all passives affecting basic attack and the ability to map/use basic attack.
Now with abilities generating hatred and doing more damage than basic attack, I can't really see any reason for a demon hunter to use it intentionally. It still triggers however, when hatred is spent and I continue to attack, but again better to start spamming the hatred generating ability.
I found a dagger Barb to be pretty cool, I even stuck a shield in the OH and the Barb held the dagger reversed, felt like Michael Myers on roids, but never felt underpowered.
So far I found I prefer:
DH (Always liked ranged, looks badass)
Barb (just fucking POWERFUL)
Wizard
Monk
WD
Playing through a second run on the Skelly King and ended up with 2 Templars which was weird / cool.
So far I found I prefer:
DH (Always liked ranged, looks badass)
Barb (just fucking POWERFUL)
Wizard
Monk
WD
Playing through a second run on the Skelly King and ended up with 2 Templars which was weird / cool.
This is pretty much my class selection as well, though the wiz and barb are almost interchangeable. Almost.
Blizzard changed WoW to give you possibly your most important, 'cool' and powerful ability at level 10 simply for choosing your talent tree.
Whats the post? I don't do facebook.
They're giving away a bunch of beta keys.
I don't have a facebook either man and you can click on it. Tons of beta codes from Vox.
UnluckyKate
Member
100 codes gone in 10 minutes... uhg... Just let me in Blizzard...
maniac-kun
Member
Just got into the Beta! But i still have 2 1/2 hours to work arg!
But WHEN? =)
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
1. I disagree somewhat with the difficulty-specific usefulness of certain runes over others that you theorycrafted.
2. Even if the order that runes unlock fit absolutely perfectly with the content that you face, it provides a non-dynamic experience that will be way too similar on repeated playthroughs, and it still isn't a very good reason why I shouldn't be able to choose what I want. It doesn't effect balance negatively, it doesn't effect other players negatively, it doesn't do anything positive except frustrate the individual.
3. What you said does not ameliorate the design conflicts that I outlined previously.
Calvinpewpewpew
Neo Member
Thanks to Vox Gaming I am FINALLY fucking in!! Cannot wait to try this, though its probably going to be in 8 hours or so after work, family time, et al. Impressions to come tonight I hope.
sorijealut
Member
GAF, we will get into beta this week. Fiery eyes.
Wait what there are still unused codes?
Wait what there are still unused codes?
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