I just played a good three hours and got to level 11. This game is FUN. Its a little slow compared to Diablo 2 though.
Really? You think it's slow? I don't think so at all. The fact that you're constantly unlocking cool new stuff makes it go very fast for me. It feels faster than Diablo 2 to me. In any case, I finally got to log on and actually get in a game at around 3:45pm, almost 4 hours after the open beta went live. Overall, I'm very happy with the game. And I like every single class... although obviously some a bit more others. It also helps that all your gold, stash, and artisans are shared between characters... I was playing all five people and transferring equipment back and forth like mad. Witch Doctor was the first character I played, and is hands-down my favorite. I feel like the WD is what the Necromancer in Diablo 2 should have been. He's still got creatures, but he's not so danged helpless by himself like the Necro was. I love all his moves... the multi-firing dart for single long-range enemies, the spiders for groups, grasp of the dead to slow enemies down, the zombie dogs to distract people and absorb damage, flaming bats as a high-cost spell to lay waste to everything in front of you. It all just works together really well. Wonderful crowd control and overall versatility. I was a bit surprised by how much I liked the Assassin. I thought he might be my least favorite class, because I never liked the Amazon, and the 2-resource system seemed like it would be annoying. But his primary attacks just kick ass... the piercing shot and the bola shot both clean house at range, and his secondary attacks ain't exactly bad, either. I've only unlocked one trap so far, which slows enemies and seems a little redundant with bola shot. But overall I had great fun with the Assassin. Barb is as big a tank as he ever was. For whatever reason I find him more viscerally satisfying than is Diablo 2. At first I was using his first primary attack -- the one with knockback -- with a single-hand weapon, which was working fine. But then I switched to a big 2-hander and started using the 2nd primary attack, the big arching slash, at which point he became pretty ridiculous. At times I would swing one time and kill four or five enemies instantly. Not bad at all. If I have one complaint it's that I don't feel like his secondary attacks are quite powerful enough in relation to his primary attacks. He's also not as versatile against tough bosses, since basically his only strategy is to run in swinging. Wizard was good, although he had problems with crowd control in the early going. However, I just made it to level 9, where he gets a rune for his lightning signature spell that makes killed enemies explode and damage enemies around them. That pretty much singlehandedly solved the crowd control problem I'd been having, although there are still other characters who do it better. Haven't gotten teleport yet, not even sure it's available it the beta, but that's a spell he really needs. Simply not enough good damaging AoE spells at this stage. So far the Monk has been the most disappointing, although I've also played her the least, so maybe my thoughts will change when I get her closer to the beta cap. She just seems like another melee character that isn't quite as good as the Barb. Anyway, good times. I'm definitely looking forward to the actual release when I can start playing for keeps.
I played monk a bit last night, and I had fun with the class. My only issue is that most of the primary attacks I had were fist based (which I like), but if weapons are equipped he would still attack with fists only. Apparently you get bonuses off the weapons, and the monk runs around with them...but the second he begins attacking they disappear out of his hands and go straight to his back? How long has this game been in beta again? That's the dumbest thing I've ever seen.
That's what they've done with all the characters. Since your abilities no longer have levels, the damage for abilities is all based on the DPS of your primary weapon. I agree it seems goofy, and seems to remove a lot of the unique feel of weapons, since you're basically never going to do any "normal" non-ability attacks anyway. For a lot of characters any old weapon will do as long as the DPS is high... they're never actually going to use the weapon itself. It is what it is. Goofiness aside, I think the system works well overall.
Yeah, I've been trying today as well. No dice. More maintenance crap. I had hoped that after yesterday they'd have things sorted enough that I could play a bit more. No such luck.
I made it to level 4 before the server disconnected me and I haven't been able to reconnect since. I am going to play through D1 instead.
Me. After about 30 minutes, I had seen enough. What really irks me is that the UI is too small to read at higher resolutions. I predict a lot of older gamers are going to be very frustrated playing unless Blizzard patches some sort of option to enlarge the text. Otherwise, the only solution is to play on a lower res, which reduces your field of view.
The problem with that for me is that at lower res the whole thing gets extremely blurry. I'm not sure if it's because a lower res is not native to my screen or what, but I tried switching to a lower res and it looked my whole screen got covered with vaseline or something.
The screen is blurry because you aren't playing in native. ---- I played a bit more, tried each class except witchdoctor up to level 5 or so. Barbarian feels really powerful, the skills that they get are interesting. Demonhunter seemed promising as well. Monk or Dh were the most fun to me, for those saying Monk isn't powerful or something -- not really sure what you were doing wrong. Wizard isn't really my cup of tea.
Played all the way through the end a couple of times with a Barbarian and a Wizard. Is the single-player game going to be dependent upon the servers being up or you wouldn't even be able to play your game? What about someone who doesn't happen to have internet? I hope they are not going to tie your ability to play to having to have a live internet connection all the time. Well anyway, the game play, as far as the mechanics of the dungeon crawling, loot grabbing and exploring, it was all very nicely streamlined and pretty much straight out of Diablo 2. Loot seems to be a little easier to pick up, which is good. I like the addition of a variety of different types of 'mana' for lack of a better word. I like the health orbs liberally scattered - I assume the 'hardcore' heroes do not get those drops? It took a while to figure out the salvage and forging, but that looks like it will be pretty cool. I also like that you don't have to go back to town to identify a unknown object, and that Town Portal is now a skill instead of a scroll. Really looking forward to this, I signed up for the annual WoW pass, so it's going to be a freebie bonus, which is nice. Client is already downloaded and installed, so on the actual day it is released, it should be ready to go. Woohoo! A note on the graphics - all I can say is, WOW. Diablo 2 is/was a fun game, but the graphics are definitely old-school and that makes it kind of hard for anyone used to games nowdays to get into it, my son says 'it looks ugly'. But D3 looks lush and beautiful, I just wish I could zoom in. Is there a zoom? If there is, I didn't see it.
To prevent piracy you have to have a constant live internet connection for singleplayer and multiplayer. Your son is kind of right. Compared to games coming out these past two years, Diablo 3 graphics are weak. Although its not THAT bad. 'Z' button.
I think he was implying his son didn't like Diablo 2's graphics, not Diablo 3. As for me...I liked D2's artistic (realistic-ish) styling over the cartoony stuff they've done with D3. I still like the game, will still buy it, blah blah blah.
From what I've read around forums, the Wizard seems to be the class people like the least. Not sure if there is something fundamentally flawed about the class or if the class is just generally overdone in video games (previous Diablo games included). I really enjoyed the Wizard and Witch Doctor. Both seemed more tactical than the other classes. Can't wait for release. The beta convinced me to pre-order.
If you want tactical play a demon hunter. Nothing like throwing down a trap and leading monsters to their dooooom.
Wizard is no where near underpowered. I thought the same thing once I first got into the beta a few months ago and have quickly realized that once you're level 9, you're just about hitting everything with one shots.
