official Diablo III

[LOC Veteran]

I wouldn't call the skill system in Diablo 3 dumbed down, more like streamlined. If you want a skill tree/web of skills/complex skill system, play Path of Exile lol

First time I opened the skills up in that game my jaw literally fell on the floor :)

[firey]

I wouldn't call the skill system in Diablo 3 dumbed down, more like streamlined. If you want a skill tree/web of skills/complex skill system, play Path of Exile lol

First time I opened the skills up in that game my jaw literally fell on the floor :)

It's very linear (by default). It's not dumbed down, being as from what I played in d3 (the beta) it's a very "dumb" game, in the fact that it doesn't take a tonne of brain power to play. So the skill system fits. However for a true RPG where you are in control of the character beyond armor, the customization is a major part of it. Which is one reason why I don't like WoW's choice to move away from Talent-Trees, and once my contract is up, I will be cancelling my WoW Subscription.

[Razorwing]

So since the beta is finished, we can uninstall it off our machines right?

[Kirkburn]

It's very linear (by default). It's not dumbed down, being as from what I played in d3 (the beta) it's a very "dumb" game, in the fact that it doesn't take a tonne of brain power to play. So the skill system fits. However for a true RPG where you are in control of the character beyond armor, the customization is a major part of it. Which is one reason why I don't like WoW's choice to move away from Talent-Trees, and once my contract is up, I will be cancelling my WoW Subscription.

I don't think D2 required any more or less brainpower to play, up to the point beta ends. Up to level 10 you have a couple of skills, and hit stuff, and get a few items.

Quite obviously, in both games, that's not the full experience. Your choices are limited ... but then open up more later.

A lot of Bahiok's recent posts seem particularly appropriate (second section of the news story, quite long but interesting): http://www.diablofan...ics-blue-posts/

He also touches on the WoW talent trees. Quite honestly, I agree with them. I have never felt much choice in WoW, apart from choosing a spec. And even then, in 6 years I've pretty much had one spec on my hunter and warlock - 'normal' BM and Demo. I'm happy with the general spec type (strong pet class), but I want more variety in how I approach it.

[_neutrino Veteran]

So since the beta is finished, we can uninstall it off our machines right?

Yes the beta client will not be updated for final release you will have to re download/install the final client once it is released (you can currently down load the preinstall from blizzard)

[HawkMan]

It's very linear (by default). It's not dumbed down, being as from what I played in d3 (the beta) it's a very "dumb" game, in the fact that it doesn't take a tonne of brain power to play. So the skill system fits. However for a true RPG where you are in control of the character beyond armor, the customization is a major part of it. Which is one reason why I don't like WoW's choice to move away from Talent-Trees, and once my contract is up, I will be cancelling my WoW Subscription.

Diablo is not an RPG, never was, never will be. It is and was a hack and slash.

[HawkMan]

That's fair, but the thing is people are still going to pirate, people are still going to play private servers, blizz's protection ultimately does nothing. Personal servers will come out letting you play 100% local. I mean I know of a couple already in existance.

Working private servers will take a long time before they arrive with the proper simulation(if ever, there's still no properly working WoW servers). Depending on how much is actually done server side they may never arrive or be severely crippled or at the very least be a long long way off.

[threetonesun]

Diablo is not an RPG, never was, never will be. It is and was a hack and slash.

Diablo is the definition of an ARPG (aka hack and slash). So... yeah, it's an RPG. There's quests, armor, you pick a character and class.... I don't see how you could argue that it isn't.

[HawkMan]

Diablo is the definition of an ARPG (aka hack and slash). So... yeah, it's an RPG. There's quests, armor, you pick a character and class.... I don't see how you could argue that it isn't.

Baldurs Gate was and RPG diablo was a game with a decent story, good cinematics, and a plain simple hack and slash approach, as long as you picked up some new armor and weapons every now and then, it really didn't matter what you picked anywhere, as long as you could point and click. The "rpg" stats where mere dressing on it. Diablo would still have been diablo if they removed selectable skills and armor and weapons completely from the game.

The ony people that considered diablo an rpg back then or now was people who only played diablo and never before played a rpg. Then again, there aren't really any true RPGs left anymore. Bethesda to some degree, but even that is somewhat light and they are so large and complex they can't ever get the code fully stable.

Diablo is a great game, but mostly for the atmosphere. I still don't think there's a game with quite the atmosphere of the guitar music in town and the voice of the old guy(which sounded like Sean Connery)

[_neutrino Veteran]

So the fact that you play the Role of one of 5 heroes and play through their different story lines and the game is full of thousands of peices of lore and random story elements that you might not pick up on each play through still means it is not an RPG to you?

If the battle system was turn based would you consider it to be an RPG?

[Skyfrog]

Played a few characters to level 10 during the open beta, it was kind of fun though a bit repetitive after a while. Certainly can't see myself paying $60 for it but I may pick it up in a few years when it's reasonably priced.

[Kirkburn]

The definition of RPG is very wide. There's not much point arguing over it, when everyone is arguable correct.

Skyfrog, well I imagine it'll be less repetitive once you can go past level 10... :)

[Amarok]

That's what I had read, and heard. I heard their thing is more the "pay to win" idea. Pay real money (to other players) get awesome items, win the game.

However, the post a few above mine was talking about subscriptions, thought maybe I missed the memo.

I recall something about in some regions (Russia I think it was?) StarCraft 2 has the option to pay by month rather than buying the game outright. D3 may do something similar. But it doesn't apply to most of the world.

Except in this case they caused us to not have a local option and your entire game happens online. How annoying is it to have lag in your single player game because blizzard wanted to stop pirates dead.

The lack of LAN somewhat bothers me with StarCraft 2. Not so much as a player, because I have no interest in playing SC2 offline anyway, but as an observer there have been a couple major tournaments that have had hiccups due to Battle.net issues and the lack of LAN. Since D3 isn't a competitive game in that way, I'm not really bothered by it's lack of LAN. If I play the game for 6 months and I experience a handful of disconnects, I can live with that.

So the fact that you play the Role of one of 5 heroes and play through their different story lines and the game is full of thousands of peices of lore and random story elements that you might not pick up on each play through still means it is not an RPG to you?

If the battle system was turn based would you consider it to be an RPG?

I played the role of Master Chief and I played through his storyline for 3 Halo games. I uncovered all sorts of lore and history about the covenant and the halo. Halo, however, is not an RPG.

On another note, don't expect private servers. As someone else said WoW is several years old now and to my knowledge there are only one or two private servers that come even close to working properly, and those only go up to the base game, not the expansions. The amount of scripting that's required to get the monsters and such to act the way they're supposed to is staggering. And since there seems to be no Offline Mode for D3, unlike SC2, don't expect pirates to be very useful there either. Always-On DRM in games like this is sadly very effective and sadly will keep being used. Some people will refuse to buy a game because of the always-on DRM, but they're in the vast vast minority, so the DRM works.

[_neutrino Veteran]

Another thing to keep in mind is that even though parts of the beta were very linear the game itself will not be that way. they simply did not want to put all the random world parts into the generator.

[HawkMan]

So the fact that you play the Role of one of 5 heroes and play through their different story lines and the game is full of thousands of peices of lore and random story elements that you might not pick up on each play through still means it is not an RPG to you?

If the battle system was turn based would you consider it to be an RPG?

So with that defining every computer game is an rpg, as you do play the role of the "hero" character(s), including quake, doom, unreal, crysis...

[HawkMan]

Another thing to keep in mind is that even though parts of the beta were very linear the game itself will not be that way. they simply did not want to put all the random world parts into the generator.

Random worlds don't make it less linear, as random as diablo 1 and 2 where, they where still linear. Being linear is to necessarily a bad thing though. In general linear games have better stories.

[_neutrino Veteran]

i did not mean as far as linear more than it helps with replay ability. the game will still be linear as you have to move from zone to zone however, the full game will be more random as far as content in those zones than the beta is.

[firey]

On another note, don't expect private servers. As someone else said WoW is several years old now and to my knowledge there are only one or two private servers that come even close to working properly, and those only go up to the base game, not the expansions. The amount of scripting that's required to get the monsters and such to act the way they're supposed to is staggering. And since there seems to be no Offline Mode for D3, unlike SC2, don't expect pirates to be very useful there either. Always-On DRM in games like this is sadly very effective and sadly will keep being used. Some people will refuse to buy a game because of the always-on DRM, but they're in the vast vast minority, so the DRM works.

There is an open source one. Not sure the current name but it's: "mooege" it has much of the basics done, it's not perfect, but due to the open-source nature, and it's fully gitted (so people can commit changes). Is it ideal or a replacement? At this point no.. but that said it does work, it does function, and it is possible. I've used it myself and have followed some of the development.

[madd-hatter]

lol @ ppl wasting time arguing what is and isn't an rpg....

As if it means anything at all.

[Dotdot]

lol @ ppl wasting time arguing what is and isn't an rpg....

As if it means anything at all.

+1 and fyi, its a Top down, Dungeon crawler, RPG. Tho if your trying to define its genre via logic your all screwed.

[_neutrino Veteran]

OP could change to show the actual release date now that it is announced (and only 2 weeks away)

So I found out today that I have to have work done on my eyes on May 15th :( so i will be effectively Blind for 2 days after the game comes out. However, I will be there at midnight to pick it up

[08993]

The fire from the sky still falls.

Diablo III has not yet launched.

Two more weeks of this :/

[firey]

Two more weeks of this :/

Unless someone can crack it. Using a packet editor you can skip this and get to the TOS but it doesn't let you any further than that. I've tried to packet-edit and force it to go to a different location for the key, but it just errors. Even if I try and make it show a different message. It tells me to contact Blizzard Customer Support.

[_neutrino Veteran]

Unless someone can crack it. Using a packet editor you can skip this and get to the TOS but it doesn't let you any further than that. I've tried to packet-edit and force it to go to a different location for the key, but it just errors. Even if I try and make it show a different message. It tells me to contact Blizzard Customer Support.

Would not matter much even if you could install it and run a private server locally you still could not play it as they did not include the whole game in the download.

[firey]

Would not matter much even if you could install it and run a private server locally you still could not play it as they did not include the whole game in the download.

Once installed it would patch though, which will get you what you need.