I've really been enjoying the beta. I haven't really had any issues running it on high settings and my machine I'd only consider decent for games.
I see the things they've kept and changed. Mostly been trying out the Barbarian as I got him to level 13 and was just item hunting to see how beefy I could make him. His hits feel like they have a bit more weight behind them, which is something I like. The town portals and potions were a nice change. The abilities and way everything unlocks seems ok, with at least enough variations to fit ones playing style.
I'll still be picking this up as it comes out and possibly even taking the day off work. I know lots of people, family and friends, who will be playing which gives me another reason.
And as for Battle.net ID: MetalKhaos#1820 go ahead and add.
The lack of stats and super simple talents really bothered me, but I can't deny that the gameplay was still fun. I'm just afraid that they got so worried about balance that they forgot what made diablo 2 fun: having a totally OP character.
I've been playing for about an hour. It's about what you expect. Diablo. Nothing more/nothing less.
I see myself as getting bored pretty quick.
First the good, everything about log in download, install and launch went perfectly smoothly. I started playing for the first time Saturday afternoon at around 5:30, so maybe some of the eager beaver congestion had died down by then.
Now the bad. I stopped playing at about 5:35. The game looked great on my system, text and sounds and clicks all worked perfectly well. I just didn't care at all about seeing what happened next. I did play through Diablo 1 and 2, but gaming and I have grown up a lot since then and I am left still wondering, nostalgia aside, who is really going to love this game? There is probably absolutely nothing wrong with it and I am sure every pimple on every zombie was discussed ad nauseum in multiple committee meetings by top narcissists at Blizzard. But there are so many more compelling choices now. Its like asking a 16 year old to play with matchbox cars when he has a new Mustang in the driveway and a fresh license in his pocket. Matchbox cars are can be fun, but there are better ways to spend your time.
Well while I did beat Diablo 2 (1 run through), I've played the Beta and "beaten" it a few times now and think this will be a good co-op game for my brothers and I but I do not see it as a title I'd be playing for months and months.
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The lack of stats and super simple talents really bothered me, but I can't deny that the gameplay was still fun. I'm just afraid that they got so worried about balance that they forgot what made diablo 2 fun: having a totally OP character.
Yea I didn't quite like having maybe two or three skills total. The beta caps out at level 11, by that time in D2 you had a solid handful of skills, plus you could get items to grant further skills like wands for Necros or staffs for Sorcs.
Itemization seems a bit, odd too. I really enjoy the Witch Doctor but he can't use wands? He's almost exclusively a caster class, none of the abilities you could get in beta had anything to do with melee combat yet he can only use things like swords, clubs, etc? Why not use a wand to get faster cast speed, or more stats?
At least these are things that can be changed over time, they could always add in more skills, or at least a larger variety to choose from and rework which classes can use which items.
I'm just curious, did anybody who hadn't played any of d3 prior to this weekend come away from this open beta weekend with an incredibly positive and enthusiastic impression of the game?
My impression was basically that they did a very well executed update to the franchise, but that once launched I had realized that I had no interest in playing it after killing those first few zombies outside the starter gate for the Barbarian. I don't even have any negative things to say, I just really felt that this game wasn't for me. The naked, level 1 barbarian does seem pretty powerful, but I guess that might be a class thing or auto knock back.
I played as a Witch Doctor, interesting class. I am a little disappointed that the Amazon didn't come back, but whatever.
I will still pick it up. I just wonder if I will be able to keep playing it from the couch or if it is going to need more precise clicking...
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As someone who has been on the closed beta since October, I was glad to see the stress test did what it was supposed too. Still, it was annoying to try to log this weekend and see the 3006 error messages, but eventually got on with a friend and new characters.
It was the first time I tried the party system and we powered through it. I've always enjoyed the fact that the Diablo franchise changes difficulty based on the number of players, and once all the initial onslaught hit of open beta, the game played well with our little group. Looking forward to the release.
Yea I didn't quite like having maybe two or three skills total. The beta caps out at level 11, by that time in D2 you had a solid handful of skills, plus you could get items to grant further skills like wands for Necros or staffs for Sorcs.
To be fair, if you actually had a "solid handful of skills" by level 11 in D2...you were doing it wrong. You really had to focus those points into a few specific skills early on if you wanted to have a viable character going into Nightmare or Hell modes. Spreading them out all over the place wouldn't accomplish anything. The same goes for stats; no matter what, you typically needed to pump your strength up to at least 120(or 220) in order to wear decent armor types. You never wanted to put anything into the energy stat.
There were plenty of skills, for sure...but most of them went to waste for a variety of reasons. On top of that, a number of the early skills were all but useless once you got into Nightmare and beyond; as such, you'd only have a bare minimum of points spent into these because they were effectively useless.
In D2, each class had a huge pile of potential skills...but you'd typically only use a small fraction of them. Stats were typically spent in a very predictable manner as well.
D3 may have fewer overall skills, but the Rune system can really change how some of these skills work to the point where they're effectively separate skills. Instead of filling out a skill list with abilities you'll never use and others that don't see much use towards the middle of the game, they gave us a smaller list of abilities; all of these are viable, adaptable with Runes and scale as you level. That spell you were slinging at level 1 will be just as useful at 60.
I'd rather have less on the side of artificial choice and more on the side of usefulness.
To be fair, if you actually had a "solid handful of skills" by level 11 in D2...you were doing it wrong. You really had to focus those points into a few specific skills early on if you wanted to have a viable character going into Nightmare or Hell modes. Spreading them out all over the place wouldn't accomplish anything. The same goes for stats; no matter what, you typically needed to pump your strength up to at least 120(or 220) in order to wear decent armor types. You never wanted to put anything into the energy stat.
There were plenty of skills, for sure...but most of them went to waste for a variety of reasons. On top of that, a number of the early skills were all but useless once you got into Nightmare and beyond; as such, you'd only have a bare minimum of points spent into these because they were effectively useless.
In D2, each class had a huge pile of potential skills...but you'd typically only use a small fraction of them. Stats were typically spent in a very predictable manner as well.
Well yes and no. For one thing you can now respec in D2, so if you fuck up your build, you can always go back and change it.
Another thing is some classes and builds do have a handful of skills by then. Look at the Necro. For a good summoner build, by level 12 you had Skeletons, Skeleton Mastery, Clay Golem, Bone Armor, Teeth, Amplify Damage, Golem Mastery, Skeletal Mage, and Bone Wall. Those are very typical skills for a early game summoner that just about every major summoner build would take. And that's not all of the available skills either you still had several others like Poison Dagger or Corpse Explosion.
Not to mention Synergies would help boost most of those skills too. That's 9 skills by level 12, compared to 4 skills by level 11 and there really isn't much choice in the skills of those 4 either in D3.
Builds in D3 are going to be much, much toned down I think. You won't see much variation in them, it's sad to see it become so restrictive.
The level cap in the beta was 13. I found that as the higher level you got, with any character, the more fun it became.
The whole skill tree is a whole different beast from previous games, but I still found it alright. Lots of choices in there on how you want to play your character. Still a Day 1 purchase for me, even if I don't play it six months from now.
So, I've had a couple of days to sit and relax on my experience with the Diablo 3 Open Beta. I came out of it very unimpressed with the game. I think my issue with it is that, at least at the low levels, the PC character feels far to linear.
In Diablo 2, you at least had the illusion of choices that affected your character via the skill trees. These choices began right away. In Diablo 3, your character is on a set path that will eventually give access to everything. Its clear you'll eventually have a wide variety of options in how your character will play with the wide variety of skills + Runes, but with the illusion of choice gone, it makes the early level play feel very...average.
The beta convinced me that its not worth full price (especially with the required internet login) but I'd probably be willing to spend $30 on it.
