Diablo 3

    Quote from Minos

    OK I got a few more invites to send, if you want to get added to the beta just post your bnet account here and your region!

    I completed it

    Now I don't know what to do

    How much of the game is randomly generated? I don't think the surface level areas are randomly generated, from what I played. Also, they got rid of customizing character stats/skills. Seems a strange move to get rid of a lot of randomly generated content and character customization; they're what made Diablo so much fun to play

    Quote from PogoP

    I completed it

    Now I don't know what to do

    How much of the game is randomly generated? I don't think the surface level areas are randomly generated, from what I played. Also, they got rid of customizing character stats/skills. Seems a strange move to get rid of a lot of randomly generated content and character customization; they're what made Diablo so much fun to play

    WoW.

    Just level up another character or run public Skeleton King runs until you're maxed.

    The outside layouts are not randomly generated but they do have random elements. The small well, cellar, and mass grave placements all vary (I assume it just picks X amount to be available each time). The major dungeons are randomly generated like the Graveyard Crypts and Cathedral, except places where there are events like the Burial Crypt mini-boss and crown, Cathedral Level 3 with the Templar (though the latter half of this is randomly generated from one of two potential branch points near the fallen star) and the whole of the Cathedral Crypts (I forgot the name, I think they’re the Dead Crypts? That seems rather redundant).

    I lamented the loss of assigning skills permanently but, to be honest, now I'm not at college and can't play this 24/7 like Diablo 2 I'm probably thankful. Swappable skills also lets Blizzard rebalance without worrying about invalidating everyone’s builds or forcing the FotM players to start over, so hopefully everything will stay viable. In the full game you can assign Runestones to each ability to change the way it works, so you effectively have six times the amount you can see in beta (which you can check out here). I think the experimentation route is stronger than being locked to your tree.

    I'm happy to say this beta is growing on me. I'm not ready to say it's a proper Diablo game for me BUT! I find my self liking it more and more with each play through. I'll be picking it up day1... when ever that may be.

    Quote from Minos

    We got Book of Cain a few days ago, its pretty awesome and filled with cool art

    Yeah it's a really nice book and sets the stage for enjoying the game and story even more when it comes out.

    I think it's one of blizzards best books they have released.

    So yeah, this has been live for a while now. The old statistics were great because they were useful for all classes, and thus most equipment could be useful for all classes too. This meant sometimes you would see people running around in weird gear (e.g. Witch Doctors with two-handed hammers) but you were getting a lot of little upgrades.

    But the old system had a scaling problem – you would finish the beta content at around 25dps, but after a bit of maximising with magic items you could break 150dps quite easily. This wasn’t a twink in second-hand equipment or someone who has ran a hundred boss runs; it’s just experimentation with the blacksmith. This seems to create a dilemma for balancing content because you either assume natural progression and anyone who plays with crafting destroys it, or you create a difficulty spike and force unlucky people to grind.

    The new system solves this problem by heavily reducing the likelihood that you will find an item that’s actually worth equipping. You need to maximise a certain primary statistic, they’ve lowered magic item drop rates, and they’ve removed double affix Magic items (from beta). So rather than going “yay, upgrade” a few times per dungeon you end up just salvaging everything and then rolling ten copies of an item at the blacksmith hoping for your primary. :neutral:

    Also, the obligatory Rage mechanic on the melee classes has starvation problems in my experience. Basically as party damage goes up the amount of hits a Monk is going to get off before monsters die becomes fewer, which means less Spirit and less special abilities. This is not helped by them having to spend a flat amount of Spirit each fight just to reach monsters before they are killed by arrows, lasers and miniature galaxies.

    If everything is dying so fast you can’t use a varied amount of Spirit Spenders then you’re probably in no danger, but you end up just focusing on being self-efficient with Dashing Strikes. This is nowhere near as fun as it is when you’re splashing around in Spirit. I can see Crippling Wave -> Rising Tide and Dashing Strike -> Quicksilver being staple in the future.

    Quote from PogoP

    I tell ya what the beta is really fun.

    I really didn't find it that fun

    Did you leave your feedback on the beta forums as to why you didn't think it was fun, or you one of those new it's fun to hate types?

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