official Diablo III

[theyarecomingforyou]

If it was worth every penny, and the game is free. that sums up my experience playing the game. 

Indeed. It's great for those unwilling to pay for games like Diablo III or Torchlight 2 but it simply isn't of comparable quality. It's staggering that someone could claim that Diablo III is still an unfinished product while in the same breath praise Path of Exile.

[_neutrino Veteran]

Indeed. It's great for those unwilling to pay for games like Diablo III or Torchlight 2 but it simply isn't of comparable quality. It's staggering that someone could claim that Diablo III is still an unfinished product while in the same breath praise Path of Exile.

 

I try not to care much about other peoples opinions because everyone is entitled to their feelings. I personally think that with the 2.0 update the game is far better than it was. the replay in 1.0 was lackluster and the end game was not much fun. since the update and now ROS the game is much better and very fun to play all the time.

 

also nice nod to Torchlight 2 that game held me over for rather some time and torchlight before it waiting for D3 to drop.

[dead.cell]

Indeed. It's great for those unwilling to pay for games like Diablo III or Torchlight 2 but it simply isn't of comparable quality. It's staggering that someone could claim that Diablo III is still an unfinished product while in the same breath praise Path of Exile.

I like Path of Exile, but there's no denying that the 2.0 update of Diablo III blows it away for me. Honestly, I never thought D3 would do a complete 180. This has to be one of the best turn arounds in gaming I've seen, besides maybe FFXIV's rebirth. This is more or less what I've wanted from the get go. The continued work they're doing as well will hopefully keep the community strong.

[theyarecomingforyou]

 I personally think that with the 2.0 update the game is far better than it was. the replay in 1.0 was lackluster and the end game was not much fun. since the update and now ROS the game is much better and very fun to play all the time.

I hadn't played the game for a while and when I came back it had changed substantially. The new Adventure Mode is a nice addition and the loot has improved a lot. The expansion itself is a bit lacklustre but it's new content for a game I really enjoy, so I can't really complain.

 

My biggest criticism, which should tell you how little I can find to fault, is that the cutscenes are low resolution and heavily compressed. I extracted the videos and they're only 720p, which is simply unacceptable for a modern game. It's not like bandwidth is an issue, as the last update I had for Diablo III was over 12GB.

[patseguin Global Moderator]

I'm playing through again as a crusader. The guy hasn't died once. I can see the day coming where they get nerfed. I should go to one of my 60's and play up to 70.

[theyarecomingforyou]

I'm playing through again as a crusader. The guy hasn't died once. I can see the day coming where they get nerfed. I should go to one of my 60's and play up to 70.

What difficulty are you playing at? I find that it's very hard to die at normal or hard difficulty; even expert isn't that challenging.

[patseguin Global Moderator]

Normal. I'm only at lvl 15 now, playing through slowly. I guess it's a tank class that we needed so mage doesn't die every 3 seconds.

[trag3dy]

I'm playing through again as a crusader. The guy hasn't died once. I can see the day coming where they get nerfed. I should go to one of my 60's and play up to 70.

 

You're in for a big surprise. Not to rain on your parade or anything but Crusader is due buffs. Massive and sweeping buffs. I'm not joking. At 70 with good gear they are simply outperformed in every way by every other class in the game.

 

There's a huge list that is wrong with the class but these are the basics:

 

-Needs the free passive 30% damage reduction both barbarian and monk get

-Wrath spenders don't do enough damage for how much use you get out of them

-Wrath generators don't generate enough wrath

-Extremely long cool downs on the majority of skills make it an extremely slow class at 70, some people claim crusaders need to stack CDR to get around that. But if you do you're giving up quite a bit of damage to make it a bad trade off.

-Extremely reliant on specific legendary items to make most builds viable and they are still outperformed by every class in the game even with those specific legendary items. No other class has that issue.

-Quite a few minor tweaks to skills and passives

 

And that's just the short list. That being said I've managed to put an astonishing 65 hours into my crusader since release and it's geared okay so I really like the class, it just has some issues it needs to get fixed.

 

That is probably the one sore spot in RoS for me. I consider it a minor thing though because it's obvious to most people who have played the class a decent amount of time what the issues with it are. So the buffs will definitely come, it's just a matter of when.

[Shadrack]

Normal. I'm only at lvl 15 now, playing through slowly. I guess it's a tank class that we needed so mage doesn't die every 3 seconds.

 

Wizards are like tanks too... probably DH is the hardest in terms of survivability.  I don't think the difficulties in the game balance well for non-hardcore gameplay, but that is just my opinion.  Overall the game is just too easy and full of too many mulligans for me to enjoy playing anything other than hardcore characters.

 

You can go up to Hard or Expert if you want more of a challenge.  I frankly don't like the HP scaling and wish it were more focused on damage scaling than HP scaling for the monsters as you go up in difficulty.  Most people aren't playing to not-die but playing to do things quickly..such leveling quickly or farming in the most efficient way possible.  Hard is supposedly best for leveling because the % bonuses are good compared to the % increase in difficulty.  Best way to judge a difficulty (for leveling) is a normal monster should take no more than 2-3 hits to kill and any 1 set of elites should really take no longer than 30 seconds to kill.  If it takes longer than that you are just wasting your time and the % bonuses are ineffective because you would be leveling faster if you killed things faster.

 

Even though I primarily play hardcore characters, I don't consider myself to be that great of a Diablo 3 player.  I still haven't broke 250k dps on a level 70 character.  I lost my 70 barbarian because I pushed my luck soloing on Master difficulty (blew my cooldowns, had 1 death from above leap left and choose to use it for the stun instead of the get-away).  My wizard is currently pushing about 200k dps and I'm farming Normal mostly.

[patseguin Global Moderator]

When my wizard joins groups, mobs usually come at me and 1 or 2 hits tops and I'm dead.

[Shadrack]

When my wizard joins groups, mobs usually come at me and 1 or 2 hits tops and I'm dead.

 

Diamond Skin, Teleport (with the "fracture"), and Front Nova are all good for active abilities to increase survivability on a Wizard.  Unstable Anomaly passive is like having two lives.  I've only had it proc once on my HC Wizard (almost ###### myself), but I'll always have it on one passive spot lol.

 

I see a lot of Wizards with an Archon build.  I think Archon is good for leveling and good for farming but not good for difficulty progression where death might happen.  Archon has too long of a cooldown to be reliable IMO.

[Polarman]

I looked around some reviews and decided to give it a go.

 

OMG! that was a huge download.

 

I have to say that it really has changed. I even found a bunch of uniques and plans! Something that I never even got before.

 

My sorceress went from bad to badass in a few hours with these new drops.

 

Any groups?

[Emn1ty]

I paid the $40 happily. Already got my moneys worth out of it and I'll be loving it even more when they get around to buffing the crusader.

 

My issue here is that this isn't very objective. I think it's great you feel that it's worth every penny. But realistically it's way overpriced, almost double what it should be priced. And this kind of comment to me just goes to show that companies like Blizzard charge what they do because they can not because it makes any logical sense. I mean, I think the updates to Diablo III are great, I'm actually playing the game now when I couldn't stay hooked before. But guess what, all the stuff that changed that makes me like the game exists without the expansion. The loot focus and revamped drops... the legendary items, etc. It's all there without buying the expansion.

Those of you who are iffy about the purchase, play the game before buying the expansion and experience the changes and then realize that all that is already available to you sans $40 purchase. And once you realize most of the good stuff is there without spending money you may want to rethink blindly throwing twice the money at Blizzard as you should be. I'm disappointed with Blizzard because of this kind of exploitative pricing model they have. They are no doubt a great developer/studio but they are just crooks to squeeze every ounce of profit they can out of their games just because they can.

I am only reiterating this because I think the gaming community should stop supporting Blizzard's prices. Stop paying $15/mo + $40 per expansion for WoW when there's games of equal quality out there which charge you far less to play their games and for additional content. Stop paying $40 for less than $20 of content.

[trag3dy]

My issue here is that this isn't very objective. I think it's great you feel that it's worth every penny. But realistically it's way overpriced, almost double what it should be priced. And this kind of comment to me just goes to show that companies like Blizzard charge what they do because they can not because it makes any logical sense. I mean, I think the updates to Diablo III are great, I'm actually playing the game now when I couldn't stay hooked before. But guess what, all the stuff that changed that makes me like the game exists without the expansion. The loot focus and revamped drops... the legendary items, etc. It's all there without buying the expansion.

Those of you who are iffy about the purchase, play the game before buying the expansion and experience the changes and then realize that all that is already available to you sans $40 purchase. And once you realize most of the good stuff is there without spending money you may want to rethink blindly throwing twice the money at Blizzard as you should be. I'm disappointed with Blizzard because of this kind of exploitative pricing model they have. They are no doubt a great developer/studio but they are just crooks to squeeze every ounce of profit they can out of their games just because they can.

I am only reiterating this because I think the gaming community should stop supporting Blizzard's prices. Stop paying $15/mo + $40 per expansion for WoW when there's games of equal quality out there which charge you far less to play their games and for additional content. Stop paying $40 for less than $20 of content.

 

The only blizzard games I "own" are Starcraft 2 (not the newest expac), and Diablo 3/RoS. I don't play any other blizzard games. I'm not blind to the money grab and I would have loved for it to be less but that doesn't change the fact that I feel like I got my monies worth out of it and I will continue to do so.

 

And you need the expansion to experience adventure mode and mystic, which is the biggest part of the expansion and also the game is now tailored towards level 70 play, not 60. It's a completely different game at 70. I get what you're saying and can use the vanilla game as a demo of sorts, but I still don't think it's representative of the final RoS game.

 

I'm not a blind blizzard fan boy here and I disagree with a lot of stuff they've done with the game recently. So there is that, too. I just enjoy the game and that's all there is to it.

[Shadrack]

My issue here is that this isn't very objective. I think it's great you feel that it's worth every penny. But realistically it's way overpriced, almost double what it should be priced. And this kind of comment to me just goes to show that companies like Blizzard charge what they do because they can not because it makes any logical sense. I mean, I think the updates to Diablo III are great, I'm actually playing the game now when I couldn't stay hooked before. But guess what, all the stuff that changed that makes me like the game exists without the expansion. The loot focus and revamped drops... the legendary items, etc. It's all there without buying the expansion.

Those of you who are iffy about the purchase, play the game before buying the expansion and experience the changes and then realize that all that is already available to you sans $40 purchase. And once you realize most of the good stuff is there without spending money you may want to rethink blindly throwing twice the money at Blizzard as you should be. I'm disappointed with Blizzard because of this kind of exploitative pricing model they have. They are no doubt a great developer/studio but they are just crooks to squeeze every ounce of profit they can out of their games just because they can.

I am only reiterating this because I think the gaming community should stop supporting Blizzard's prices. Stop paying $15/mo + $40 per expansion for WoW when there's games of equal quality out there which charge you far less to play their games and for additional content. Stop paying $40 for less than $20 of content.

 

I'm not going to try and justify the price (especially WoW, where I think you are spot on).  I will say that I think that the vast majority of games and DLC/expansions tend to always be overpriced when they are released.  These prices tend to drop and even Blizzard is doing better at discounting their games sooner than they used to.  I think I remember Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction being priced at $40 (or maybe it was $35) for years with absolutely no drop in price to be heard of.  Fast forward to the SC2 expansion that I was able to pick up for $20 after waiting for 6-7 months.  Same with the Pandaria expansion, I picked it up for about $20 played a month and was bored with WoW again (who knew?).  I'd probably keep playing WoW if they'd drop the sub price down or remove it but w/e.

 

I think the pricing is just following the rest of the industry.  They are going to price it high on release because the people who really want the game don't really care about paying an extra $10 or $20 for it.  I suspect you will see this expansion for as low as $30 during a sell sometime this summer.  That will be the price of it come Christmas and the sells will be for $20.

 

As far as your other point goes with all the content being there w/o the expansion, I have to disagree with you.  Adventure and Rift mode alone has provided more entertainment and replay value that (for me) has made the expansion worth it.  The mystic is also a big part of the expansion that you won't get with 2.0.  And that's besides the new Act V and new Crusader class.  Act V is about the size of Act III and Act IV combined, btw.

[madd-hatter]

My statement stands. Path of Exile isn't even close to the quality of Diablo III or Torchlight 2.

Again, it's clear to me that you don't know what you are saying... I have a legacy Nat's set in Diablo 3 and I beat Inferno 1.0 before they nuked the #### out of it, in order to accommodate the complaining noobs. This effectively made the game much worse than it already was. I know what D3 was in closed beta, open beta, 1.0, 1.4-1.5 (introduction of paragon and MP), and 2.0 now. The game had been under damage control from day 1 and it's arguable that the game has only become easier and more casual friendly over that time. Their design decisions are focused on softcore play, they routinely screw their HC audience over.

So... I beat Inferno 1.0 before the nuke. I'll be honest, it was very satisfying and a fun time with my friends. However, this was the pinnacle of the game. Since then, it has only become easier and easier to play, and at the same time, there is nothing to do... There are no great challenges or accomplishments that compare to what A4 Inferno 1.0 was. Nothing. Thus, I honestly FEEL like I beat the entire game. Logging on now and doing ANYTHING with D3 2.0 seems like an unrewarding waste of time in comparison. I want to be challenged. 

 

In PoE, I have ran 75+ maps (D3 has NO end game), 6 linked my own item, and chance orb'd my own unique. I have hundreds of hours in each title. It appears that you have never played PoE nor D2. PoE has a depth and complexity to it that the D3 team can only admire from a distance. It is widely reviewed to be a far superior title than D3. It has won Game of the Year honors in overall categories, PC gaming categories, and ARPG categories.

It simply does not have the reputation behind it to push it to the masses like Blizzard has done with D3. It is GGG's first ever title. (And has won many more awards than D3.)

Your definition of quality is what? Shiny graphics? I assume Michael Bay is your favorite director? Perhaps your favorite song is whatever is trending at #1 at the current moment? Can you form a valid argument? Can you support it with well written statements? It would appear that you cannot.

 

Diablo 3 is a squeal to D2 in franchise rights only. The creator of the franchise and the Blizz North team moved on long ago. PoE is the true spiritual successor to D2.

 

In direct comparison, D3 is casual, PoE is hardcore. Dumping 100's, if not 1000's, of hours into a casual game seems like a waste to me, but to each their own.

I'm used to being in the minority when it comes to my views against popular trash. e.g. CoD, mainstream music, TV, movies. This is nothing new. It is what it is.

[dead.cell]

Guess I'll be buying it today then haha.

[Vvo]

 

This my tank setup for my wizard. My bnet tag's listed on my sig 

[astropheed Veteran]

[Every post ever pertaining to D3]

 

You sure have a lot of passion for something you don't like.

 

Perhaps Diablo 3 is just not the game for you. If you want Diablo 2, play Diablo 2. If you want a successor to Diablo 2, well, you've already stated it's PoE, so play PoE. What do you gain from pissing all over this game towards people who quite obviously like it?

 

We like Diablo 3; you don't. So, why are you here? Seriously? If it's, "They have to know that can't like that game", it's too late, we already do. Let us enjoy it and just walk away. We get it, you don't like it. You're mad it has not met your standards and you don't think the expansion is worth the cost of entry. I know you're driven by some primitive necessity to win a debate on how a game is bad, but all logical signs point to this never concluding.

 

 

On topic: I've not yet bought the expansion, however I certainly will be. I feel loot 2.0 has vastly improved this already impressive game and am thoroughly enjoying it.

[madd-hatter]

You sure have a lot of passion for something you don't like.

Considering the amount of time I put into D2 and the amount of time I waited for D3, how could I not?

 

This is a forum. As with most members of a forum, my goal is to converse, learn, debate, and share. I'm not trying to win a debate as much as I'm trying to understand the other side of the fence. No one is actually providing valid arguments in D3's favor. People make generic, unfounded statements like "My statement stands" without even attempting to elaborate, perhaps they are unable to do so. A failure in itself really. I'd also like to share the greatness that is PoE but I'm blindly denied with ignorance.

 

So yeah, I guess I'm wasting my time. My bad.

[theyarecomingforyou]

On topic: I've not yet bought the expansion, however I certainly will be. I feel loot 2.0 has vastly improved this already impressive game and am thoroughly enjoying it.

Definitely. The loot in the original release was undermined by the Auction House and while it wasn't bad it was difficult getting rare items and the items seemed far to formula based. Now they have a lot more variety and you can usually get a rare drop if you play for long enough. The new difficulty system is also an improvement, as it rewards you for playing in harder difficulty modes. The game has definitely evolved and I haven't really seen those sort of comprehensive changes in a game since Team Fortress 2.

[Shadrack]

Seems like only my buddy and I play on hardcore mode.  All of our friends that have come back to the game just want to play normal.  Some of them have crap connections, and in that case I totally get it.

 

If anyone is interested in playing HC with my friend and I hit me up.  He has a barb that is well geared for Torment 1.  I'm on the cusp of getting into Torment 1 on my Wizard.  Was playing it a bit too soon on my barb and died so my wizard is a little behind but catching up fast.

 

Neowin community or Nickerbocker#1619.  I'd be happy to start a new char and level it up if you never played HC before and looking for someone to play with. 

[patseguin Global Moderator]

They must have really changed the game because I logged on to my 60 wizard last night and he felt so powerful and only died once in a few hours. I'm not sure what the best combo of abilities is, but my survivability seems great now. My question is should vitality be preferred over spell power or just use the gear with the most spell power?

[Shadrack]

Depends on what you are doing.  If you are playing HC, then toughness and healing are a bit higher priority than damage (but there is a balance).  If you are playing normal, then efficiency is key and most of the time DPS takes priority.

 

Since 2.0, the gear you get more-or-less will guide you in what will be the best build for you.  If you have the expansion, the mystic can re-enchant +% ele or phys or ability damage to something else, but it is still up to chance and costs incremental gold for each re-enchant (and gets expensive fast).  So, if you have bracers with +20% cold damage and you have +15% arcane orb damage, then you rock most frost spells with a focus on Arcane Orb with the Frozen Orb ruin.

[Shadrack]

PSA: 50% XP this weekend.

 

http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/blog/13645407/reaper-of-weekends-50-bonus-ep-von-freitag-bis-montag-04-04-2014