DunDunDunpachi
Banned
Since everyone despises fastest-selling PC game of all time Diablo 3 and prefers Diablo 2, I will conduct this RTTP as an early 00s fan-shrine so you won't notice I am talking about one of the most-hated action RPGs ever created.
STAY AWHILE AND LISTEN
The original Diablo III release in 2012 was a wonderful experience. I ignored the fanboy drama about Real Auction Money House and the pre-Loot 2.0 complaints, preferring instead to slaughter demons with my Whirlwind/Rend barbarian. After a few months of playing, I shelved it to wait for the inevitable expansion pack. Loot 2.0 came and went. The console versions came and went. Reaper of Souls came and went. The updated Eternal Collection came and went. It wasn't until a friend of mine picked up the Switch version that I decided to finally jump back in. That was on October 6th. Less than a month later, I'm completely hooked on this game and I have some thoughts to share.
My history with the Diablo franchise stretches back to the original release on PC, a wildly unbalanced action-roguelike with exceptional music and atmosphere. Unlike contemporary RPGs of its day (Fallout, Ultima) the focus in Diablo was pushing your hero through randomized mazes/items in real time combat. Dialogue and quests were sparse. Map variety came from the randomization, not from the variety of textures and enemies and quests. Diablo 2 took that action-roguelike formula and polished it into a Flawless Royal Diamond
.
I enjoy this series as a solid Gauntlet clone first, a randomized roguelike second, and an RPG as a distant third. For this reason, I never understood the whining about Diablo 3's stumbles. As a Gauntlet successor, even the vanilla D3 package was a great time. There were numerous fun builds at launch and a significantly better / more flexible ability system compared to previous games. After returning from my long hiatus, it seems they've expanded this flexibility in patches and in the expansion.
Gone are the days of...
dumping points into the skill tree only to make a critical mistake in your min-maxing
losing good runes/gems due to a bad socket choice
constantly re-speccing your character
having to dupe just for a reasonable chance to try out certain builds
re-fighting the same boss over and over for the best loot % rates
searching for gem shrines to upgrade your gem. One. At. A. Time.
extremely glitchy/broken pvp builds
Alas, everyone has their preferences and a lot of fans soured on the original release. I can understand the frustration even if it didn't really bother me personally.
In previous titles, I played melee fighters, so when I jumped back into Diablo III a few weeks ago, I wanted to try something new to me: a ranged class. I went with the obvious Demon Hunter pick. I beat the campaign + expansion (which was new to me) in a few days and this got her up to level cap + Paragon 40 in the process. Switching between difficulties and spending all of my playtime in that oh-so-sweet spot of high risk / high reward was extremely easy to tweak. Dropping turrets, flipping around the screen, dropping caltrops, flinging grenades, slowing down hordes of enemies, and shredding everything within the radius of my rapid-fire is immensely satisfying. I feel like there are still numerous builds to explore with this lady.
After getting the Hunter to a good spot, I figured it was time to try out a seasonal character. Seasons were a major addition... awhile ago.
My season 18 Witch Doctor is the first time I've played a pet class with any dedication or seriousness. Necromancer and Druid in D2 never captured my imagination. This season's reward allowed me to quickly transition into what turned out to be a really strong setup using Zunimassa's armor plus Carnevil's special dart-shooting Fetish secondary. This results in an army of cute little voodoo Fetishes and a shitstorm of green darts.
As long as I've tagged my target with a Pirahnado or a Haunt, every enemy dies in a touch. Even Elites and Rift Guardians die within a a second or two. However, at higher Torments / GR ranks I die in a few touches, too, so I have to play tactically, checking my corners when entering a new room, dodging projectiles, and properly herding enemies into my killzone.
Several basic enemy types can still one-shot me (like the wraith and khazra spearchucker), and the nature of my build forces me to proceed carefully on maps with twisty-turny corridors. The min-maxers who whine about "GR efficiency" would suggest that I wipe and start a new rift whenever I encounter bad mobs or a bad map, but screw that. The harder the better. Tough enemies force me to actually play the game and explore the flaws of my build.
Waiting in the wings are some other interesting armor sets (Jade Harvester, Helltooth) plus I have both the Legacy of Dreams gem and the Legacy of Nightmare two-piece set already. I'm excited to delve into more builds and I'll probably start up a third character in season 19. It's so dang fun.
LORD OF CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM
Diablo III's gameplay loop can be taken in one of two ways. Cynics complain that the loot grind is essentially meaningless, noting how the endgame content only serves to push into more difficult endgame content with no payoff. I don't see it that way.
The RPG stats and the loot mechanics aren't the goal. These merely facilitate the player's goals. The gear encourages various play-styles and enables you to use combinations that seem unconventional, but I have always chosen builds that are fun instead of builds that are the most efficient. When the fanbase starts arguing about efficiency, I can safely ignore because those people obviously aren't having fun.
When a cool piece of equipment drops, I'm not really looking for stats but for the possibility of new play-styles.
The meat of the game is to push your build into harder and harder content, tweaking as you go. Usually, the stats of your character will not save you. If you aren't dying in a few hits, then you aren't playing on a high enough difficulty. I think D3 is most fun when I am wrecking huge armies while standing only a hit or two away from death. It isn't about playing on the highest difficulty but on the highest difficulty my preferred build can handle (there's a big difference). Pushing to GR 100 isn't any more "fun" than GR 50. It is the actual playing of my build that makes the game fun.
Speaking of grind, this is the least grindy Diablo in the franchise. It spoils you with vendors, tools, randomized rift dungeons and unlimited bounties to accelerate your character's growth (if that's your bag). Don't have a good gem? Just make one. Need to unsocket? Go for it. Trying different builds is less stressful and time-consuming, therefore more enjoyable. Players are gifted with a Wardrobe to save their builds and quickly select (reminds me of a feature they eventually added to Monster Hunter). Conveniences upon conveniences.
The game lays out the red carpet for players hoping to avoid the grind. In fairness, I come to the game with some previous experience, but if I can solo to Paragon 375 / Torment 15 in two weeks of casual play, then the grind can't be that bad. Previous Diablo titles demanded hundreds of hours for a solo player to reach end-game content. Seasons
are the ultimate hand-holding format for new players and for those hoping to quickly acquire a "viable build".
Kanai's Cube and Kadala provide yet another avenue for acquiring loot. Gone are the days of farming Diablo over and over for the best drops, and now there are Ancient/Primal Legendaries plus augmentations to push your builds even higher. Diablo III is a game about providing tons of options to the endgame chaser while allowing a causal player to ignore pretty much all of the extras.
Heaped upon this excellent foundation of solo play is the multiplayer. I expect sticking everyone on the same screen wouldn't work for the very highest GR ranks (where players must fit various roles of pulling, grouping, tanking, etc), but otherwise it performs the job of Gauntlet's jump-in-and-kill gameplay nicely.
Is it a perfect game? I don't know, but it is my favorite Diablo game by a huge margin. Yeah, I said it. All hail ActiBlizzard Communist Western Media Branch. Previous games were great but if the complaints against D3 are valid (too much grind, endgame doesn't matter, not enough viable builds) then they are even more valid when aimed at the previous two entries. Jetting around a map and filling the screen with projectiles is mighty fun. The multiplayer adds another dimension, ensuring this game stays in rotation for many more months/years. I don't think I'll go back to a melee character any time soon.
Clicking this gem has an 84% chance of spawning 3 threads about Diablo II.
Each thread deals 2500% nostalgia damage over 5 seconds.
EDIT: In regards to the angry devotion to Diablo 2, it all boils down to my opinion that Diablo 3's combat system is fun even when played without stats and gear. That's something that I can't really say for the previous titles. Yes, in D1 and in D2 (moreso in 2) you were pushing the combat system to its limits in really crazy ways while waves of enemies flooded the screen but you were often doing so by just clicking your mouse. A lot of the best D1/D2 builds were one-skill clickers. In Diablo 3, I'm actually using my full compliment of skills and picking them carefully and I do so for every build I've played so far. Skill points were a mistake, even though they provided an interesting (but ultimately time-wasting) early game meta. Deciding when to spend or when to horde your points got old. It also resulted in builds that had to max out stupid non-useful skills just for the synergy bonuses.
I daresay the console controls are another major factor in my enjoyment. Rapid click-click-click is just not for me anymore (I save that arthritis-inducing action for my shmups). Moving with the thumbstick makes so much more sense for a game like this, even though you lose a bit of aiming accuracy. The roll on the right stick is okay, but I would really kill for the right stick controlling your pivot/aiming, essentially turning the game into a twin-stick shooter akin to Alienation and Enter the Gungeon. It would bring things full circle.
Thanks for reading my OP.
The original Diablo III release in 2012 was a wonderful experience. I ignored the fanboy drama about Real Auction Money House and the pre-Loot 2.0 complaints, preferring instead to slaughter demons with my Whirlwind/Rend barbarian. After a few months of playing, I shelved it to wait for the inevitable expansion pack. Loot 2.0 came and went. The console versions came and went. Reaper of Souls came and went. The updated Eternal Collection came and went. It wasn't until a friend of mine picked up the Switch version that I decided to finally jump back in. That was on October 6th. Less than a month later, I'm completely hooked on this game and I have some thoughts to share.
My history with the Diablo franchise stretches back to the original release on PC, a wildly unbalanced action-roguelike with exceptional music and atmosphere. Unlike contemporary RPGs of its day (Fallout, Ultima) the focus in Diablo was pushing your hero through randomized mazes/items in real time combat. Dialogue and quests were sparse. Map variety came from the randomization, not from the variety of textures and enemies and quests. Diablo 2 took that action-roguelike formula and polished it into a Flawless Royal Diamond
I enjoy this series as a solid Gauntlet clone first, a randomized roguelike second, and an RPG as a distant third. For this reason, I never understood the whining about Diablo 3's stumbles. As a Gauntlet successor, even the vanilla D3 package was a great time. There were numerous fun builds at launch and a significantly better / more flexible ability system compared to previous games. After returning from my long hiatus, it seems they've expanded this flexibility in patches and in the expansion.
Gone are the days of...
Alas, everyone has their preferences and a lot of fans soured on the original release. I can understand the frustration even if it didn't really bother me personally.
In previous titles, I played melee fighters, so when I jumped back into Diablo III a few weeks ago, I wanted to try something new to me: a ranged class. I went with the obvious Demon Hunter pick. I beat the campaign + expansion (which was new to me) in a few days and this got her up to level cap + Paragon 40 in the process. Switching between difficulties and spending all of my playtime in that oh-so-sweet spot of high risk / high reward was extremely easy to tweak. Dropping turrets, flipping around the screen, dropping caltrops, flinging grenades, slowing down hordes of enemies, and shredding everything within the radius of my rapid-fire is immensely satisfying. I feel like there are still numerous builds to explore with this lady.
After getting the Hunter to a good spot, I figured it was time to try out a seasonal character. Seasons were a major addition... awhile ago.
My season 18 Witch Doctor is the first time I've played a pet class with any dedication or seriousness. Necromancer and Druid in D2 never captured my imagination. This season's reward allowed me to quickly transition into what turned out to be a really strong setup using Zunimassa's armor plus Carnevil's special dart-shooting Fetish secondary. This results in an army of cute little voodoo Fetishes and a shitstorm of green darts.
As long as I've tagged my target with a Pirahnado or a Haunt, every enemy dies in a touch. Even Elites and Rift Guardians die within a a second or two. However, at higher Torments / GR ranks I die in a few touches, too, so I have to play tactically, checking my corners when entering a new room, dodging projectiles, and properly herding enemies into my killzone.
Several basic enemy types can still one-shot me (like the wraith and khazra spearchucker), and the nature of my build forces me to proceed carefully on maps with twisty-turny corridors. The min-maxers who whine about "GR efficiency" would suggest that I wipe and start a new rift whenever I encounter bad mobs or a bad map, but screw that. The harder the better. Tough enemies force me to actually play the game and explore the flaws of my build.
Waiting in the wings are some other interesting armor sets (Jade Harvester, Helltooth) plus I have both the Legacy of Dreams gem and the Legacy of Nightmare two-piece set already. I'm excited to delve into more builds and I'll probably start up a third character in season 19. It's so dang fun.
Diablo III's gameplay loop can be taken in one of two ways. Cynics complain that the loot grind is essentially meaningless, noting how the endgame content only serves to push into more difficult endgame content with no payoff. I don't see it that way.
The RPG stats and the loot mechanics aren't the goal. These merely facilitate the player's goals. The gear encourages various play-styles and enables you to use combinations that seem unconventional, but I have always chosen builds that are fun instead of builds that are the most efficient. When the fanbase starts arguing about efficiency, I can safely ignore because those people obviously aren't having fun.
When a cool piece of equipment drops, I'm not really looking for stats but for the possibility of new play-styles.
The meat of the game is to push your build into harder and harder content, tweaking as you go. Usually, the stats of your character will not save you. If you aren't dying in a few hits, then you aren't playing on a high enough difficulty. I think D3 is most fun when I am wrecking huge armies while standing only a hit or two away from death. It isn't about playing on the highest difficulty but on the highest difficulty my preferred build can handle (there's a big difference). Pushing to GR 100 isn't any more "fun" than GR 50. It is the actual playing of my build that makes the game fun.
Speaking of grind, this is the least grindy Diablo in the franchise. It spoils you with vendors, tools, randomized rift dungeons and unlimited bounties to accelerate your character's growth (if that's your bag). Don't have a good gem? Just make one. Need to unsocket? Go for it. Trying different builds is less stressful and time-consuming, therefore more enjoyable. Players are gifted with a Wardrobe to save their builds and quickly select (reminds me of a feature they eventually added to Monster Hunter). Conveniences upon conveniences.
The game lays out the red carpet for players hoping to avoid the grind. In fairness, I come to the game with some previous experience, but if I can solo to Paragon 375 / Torment 15 in two weeks of casual play, then the grind can't be that bad. Previous Diablo titles demanded hundreds of hours for a solo player to reach end-game content. Seasons
Kanai's Cube and Kadala provide yet another avenue for acquiring loot. Gone are the days of farming Diablo over and over for the best drops, and now there are Ancient/Primal Legendaries plus augmentations to push your builds even higher. Diablo III is a game about providing tons of options to the endgame chaser while allowing a causal player to ignore pretty much all of the extras.
Heaped upon this excellent foundation of solo play is the multiplayer. I expect sticking everyone on the same screen wouldn't work for the very highest GR ranks (where players must fit various roles of pulling, grouping, tanking, etc), but otherwise it performs the job of Gauntlet's jump-in-and-kill gameplay nicely.
Is it a perfect game? I don't know, but it is my favorite Diablo game by a huge margin. Yeah, I said it. All hail ActiBlizzard Communist Western Media Branch. Previous games were great but if the complaints against D3 are valid (too much grind, endgame doesn't matter, not enough viable builds) then they are even more valid when aimed at the previous two entries. Jetting around a map and filling the screen with projectiles is mighty fun. The multiplayer adds another dimension, ensuring this game stays in rotation for many more months/years. I don't think I'll go back to a melee character any time soon.
Each thread deals 2500% nostalgia damage over 5 seconds.
EDIT: In regards to the angry devotion to Diablo 2, it all boils down to my opinion that Diablo 3's combat system is fun even when played without stats and gear. That's something that I can't really say for the previous titles. Yes, in D1 and in D2 (moreso in 2) you were pushing the combat system to its limits in really crazy ways while waves of enemies flooded the screen but you were often doing so by just clicking your mouse. A lot of the best D1/D2 builds were one-skill clickers. In Diablo 3, I'm actually using my full compliment of skills and picking them carefully and I do so for every build I've played so far. Skill points were a mistake, even though they provided an interesting (but ultimately time-wasting) early game meta. Deciding when to spend or when to horde your points got old. It also resulted in builds that had to max out stupid non-useful skills just for the synergy bonuses.
I daresay the console controls are another major factor in my enjoyment. Rapid click-click-click is just not for me anymore (I save that arthritis-inducing action for my shmups). Moving with the thumbstick makes so much more sense for a game like this, even though you lose a bit of aiming accuracy. The roll on the right stick is okay, but I would really kill for the right stick controlling your pivot/aiming, essentially turning the game into a twin-stick shooter akin to Alienation and Enter the Gungeon. It would bring things full circle.
Thanks for reading my OP.
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