Topic: Diablo 3 is here and ITS AWESOME!

[MysterD]

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls (Expansion) - REVIEWS

METACRITIC:
PC.

Scored out of 10:
GameInformer -> 9.25
Strategy Informer -> 9.0
Destructoid -> 9
MMORPG -> 8.5
Machinima - Inside Gaming Daily -> 8

Scored out of 100:
GamingTrend -> 90

Scored out of 5:
GamesRadar -> 4 stars.
Cheat Code Central -> 3.6

[idolminds]

So I got my patched up files today (Thanks Pyro!) and gave it a whirl. Did some solo play up to the Skeleton King, then Que joined me and we played for a while, just past the sunken temple? Drowned temple? Something like that.

Playing Witch Doctor because...well, I don't think I can play much else. The zombie dogs I spawn end up doing a majority of the work for me, along with my other tagalongs. In a fun bit of internets, the chat is decoupled from the game and is not lagged out in the same way as the game itself can be. So Que and I would get into a huge fight, and after a minute or two Que would tell me everything was dead. But on my screen the boss still has 80% of its health and a pile of minions to go. Basically thats when I stop clicking and just watch the rest of the fight play out for another minute and a half, then my connection stabilizes and we move on to the next fight.

I think I should get an achievement for this.

[Quemaqua]

Idol plays the true Diablo hardcore: when you're stuck back in time from the rest of the gameworld.

[idolminds]

I wish I knew exactly what helped me, but tonights play was better. I decided I wanted to try another class, just to see the differences, so I picked a wizard. I was worried that when I get into the heat of battle that I would lag so much and die quickly without something like my server side zombie dogs that the witch doctor gets.

I don't know what thing made the difference, but I went through those same areas as last night and I just tore through it with only slight lag in a few fights. I was playing solo, but I wouldn't think another player would take much additional bandwidth above regular enemies. Do more enemies spawn in co-op instead of just getting stronger? I'm kind of thinking that the wizard powers were just good at wrecking shit so fast that the fodder enemies were getting killed before I could really lag too badly.

Gonna run with this character for a while and see how it goes. See if it lags again when in co-op...which would suck if that was the culprit. At least it was a bit easier going so hopefully I can make it further into the game. Was getting worried I wouldn't get very far if that lag was going to be common.

I had a couple legendaries drop which has been pretty nice. I'm only level 14 so I'll probably outgrow them fairly quickly but the added damage has been nice.

[Cools!]

Witch was my first char as well and compared to the other ones I've played since it did feel weaker at the start. After about level 40 it gets really nice. New char I started is a Barb just because I got tired of ranged characters.

[Quemaqua]

Took me a long time to get my barb where I wanted him, but he's finally in a good spot. Kind of an odd class, there are so many strange ways to build them, and without some good complementary gear it can be a bit of a pain. Wiz is pretty great. My 70 girl melts everything in sight, much more so than I feel like she should, almost. I'm not one of those incredible players who micromanages every last detail, yet this build with the gear I have has just worked out incredibly.

EDIT -

Some video. Nothing too impressive, basically just wanted to convince Sy to get the expansion and show idol what he'd be up against lag-wise in endgame. But that's my main. I'm pretty proud of her for being an average player.

EDIT x2 -

Worth watching! Though it does preview a bunch of the environments from Act V, so watch at your own risk if you're one of those people ridiculous about every kind of "spoiler". But it's just a video of neat flyovers of various places from angles you can't see in-game, nothing story related.

[K-man]

Spent a ton of time with the game over the weekend and believe I can finally agree with the thread title.

[MysterD]

Best Buy this week has PC versions of Diablo III base-game + Diablo III: Reaper of Souls expansion-pack are each $19.99 a piece.

I bought my copy of RoS.
See y'all on Battle.Net.

[idolminds]

It has been tempting me.

[W7RE]

I signed up for a free month of Gamefly and rented D3 for console so I could buy the old pre-order bonuses for the 360 version. I was going to just make a character, buy the DLC thing, then export my save. I ended up playing for 80 hours during the 2 weeks I had it. I've been playing the new version pretty much non stop since it came out. I'm loving the gamepad controls, and the various little tweaks and additions to the console version are awesome.

They announced they're going to support the PS4 and Xbox One versions with the same patches that the PC is getting. No ladders though, since game saves are stored locally and are less secure. It would be nice if there's no delay between PC and console patches, but I'm not holding my breath for that. Some of the stuff in patch 2.1 looks fun.

[Cobra951]

Yeah, the console port became the best version of the game (direct control of your character, no online DRM, good loot drops often keyed to your class, no real-money auction house) back when I got it for the 360.  Then most of the improvements were retrofitted to the PC version.  And now the new gen of consoles is getting it.  Everyone wins.  I was super-addicted to it until other stuff pulled me away.  I've been meaning to get back to it.  So much backlog.  I love it.

[W7RE]

Patch 2.1 releases tomorrow on PC:
http://www.diablofans.com/news/48184-2-1-releases-tomorrow-patch-2-1-roundup

[MysterD]

Yeah, the console port became the best version of the game (direct control of your character, no online DRM, good loot drops often keyed to your class, no real-money auction house) back when I got it for the 360.  Then most of the improvements were retrofitted to the PC version.  And now the new gen of consoles is getting it.  Everyone wins.  I was super-addicted to it until other stuff pulled me away.  I've been meaning to get back to it.  So much backlog.  I love it.

PC version still has the always-online DRM though.

[Cobra951]

PC version still has the always-online DRM though.

Yessir--worse even.  You don't get the entire game; some of it remains on their servers, and even your save files belong to them too, not to you.  I will never buy the PC version because of that.  Fortunately, they gave me an acceptable way to experience the game.  It's awesome in its current console form.

[W7RE]

I almost got to that healing well...

edit: After the fact, I realized that the yellow named enemy that kills me is named Xiar Fleshfeast. I thought it might have copied the name from my character, but apparently that's just his name.

[K-man]

A couple of us on here (Pyro and myself mainly) have gotten back into the game.  I was probably the most vocal critic of D3 upon release, and rightfully so.  Blizz had the better part of a decade and managed to deliver a turd.  The vanilla game was disappointing, underwhelming, and at times frustrating.  The auction house was good in theory but terrible in implementation, legendary weapons weren't worth the time and effort to find, and randomly generated content was nowhere to be seen.  

I have spent a bunch of time with it here in the past few weeks.  And if you totally rip nostalgia out of it, Diablo 3 is finally a better game than Diablo 2.  They have managed to fix the game for the most part.  And the funny part is that they basically fixed it by segregating the improvements/additions from the base game/story line.  You no longer have to involve yourself with that Saturday morning cartoon plot.  Once you play through once you never look back.

[Quemaqua]

Yep. I should get back on and play with you guys, except that Dark Souls is sort of the only thing I want to play right now. Let me know when you guys are gonna play, though, and I'll try to get on one of these days soon. Might even be able to convince Heather to come along.

[Cools!]

Maybe one day I'll buy the expansion, for now I have so many other things I need to play. Have fun guys!

[PyroMenace]

Actually right now D3 and Reaper of Souls are on sale $20 each.

[iPPi]

Actually right now D3 and Reaper of Souls are on sale $20 each.

I saw that.  I can't decide if I want to grab them or not though.

[PyroMenace]

So seasons have been pretty fucking bad right now. As in there's really no point to playing them. Not only did Blizzard take their sweet time ending and starting the next season which equated to nearly no new content, people just find exploits within the first day of the season starting and get to nearly a thousand paragon levels in no time. Making the entire competitive aspect of it pointless and completely broken. If you're thinking about going back in, just be aware of that.

[Quemaqua]

Well that sucks. I hadn't really been all that interested, but I was kinda wondering what was going on with it. At some point I wouldn't mind playing again.

[W7RE]

I'm really liking the setup on console, if only they would update more often (though they really haven't been too bad about it). I think the latest update consoles have is the one that added ancient legendaries. We don't get seasons, but we get the new items and changes that come with them. I never have to start my character over and I get new stuff to go after and play around with when the seasonal stuff comes out. I'm still playing it a couple times a week, even if it's just to run 1 or 2 rifts/greater rifts.

Of course, you can dupe and cheat, but I only play with friends, and they only play with friends, and none of us do that stuff.

[K-man]

Currently Blizzard is celebrating Diablo's 20th anniversary.  Every game gets a little something, but Diablo 3's additions for the celebration went live last night.  It's essentially a condensed recreation of the original game.  The portal to it is in the Old Ruins part of Act I, just south of the waypoint.  It takes you to Tristram, where you can enter the 16 level labyrinth.  A graphical filter is used to simulate the graphics of old, and the old sound effects return.  And there's a few side quests to do as well.  A lot of Diablo's gear makes a return as well.  It's not exactly like the first game, as it uses the D3 tile sets.  But if you were a fan of the original game you won't be able to help but reminisce.

I went through the instance twice last night.  The most unexpected thing was the long conversation I had with other people in general chat about the first game.  It was kind of cool seeing people who obviously hadn't played the first game experience some of that stuff for the first time.  Probably the first legitimate decent conversation I've ever had in general chat in D3.

I'd love to see a similar treatment with Diablo 2 in 2020.

[W7RE]

The music is the biggest source of nostalgia for me. The tilesets taken from D3 don't looks quite like the D1 counterparts, but the music really sells it. I ran through the whole dungeon solo with a fresh character (there's a pet reward for doing it this way), and by the end I was wearing some Godly Plate of the Whale. I also noticed a few other familiar sounding item names.

[MysterD]

If people are looking for D3 + RoS....

On Battle.Net Store - https://us.battle.net/shop/en/product/game/diablo
D3 base-game for PC (download) = $9.99
D3: RoS for PC (download) = $9.99
D3: Battle Chest (with D3 base + RoS) for PC (download) = $19.99

GameStop has - http://www.gamestop.com/browse?nav=16k-3-diablo+3,28zu0
D3: Battle Chest for PC (retail box) = $19.99
D3: Ultimate Evil Edition for X1 or PS4 (retail box) = $19.99

[Pugnate]

So basically I can't play Darkening of Tristram unless I've completed Reaper of Souls? Weak. I can't find the portal. And all my characters on the US server are new.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

edit:

Checked and yes,  I don't have access to Adventure Mode. Super weak.

edit:

Well, I can find it in Season 9 I think. They've made a lot of change to Diablo 3. This Season stuff is new.

[Quemaqua]

You have to beat the story stuff normally, yeah, and it remains as dumb as anything, especially since the story isn't worth shit (though in your case, RoS is actually pretty good, so don't fret it too much). Season characters don't need to do that, thankfully, but I don't know why they haven't fixed the idiotic restrictions. Nobody likes your stupid story, Blizzard, stop forcing us to interact with it. Even worse on console. I had the PS4 version so Heather and I could play on the couch together, and we had to take 2 characters all the way through the whole damned thing just to get to the end so we could play adventure mode. It wasn't fun in the least, in large part because on console, it doesn't let you freely select difficulty past a certain point until you beat it, and the game offered us absolutely no challenge through its entirety. Basically could just stand there and mash X. I focused every single piece of my gear on damage output to make it go faster, at the total expense of personal safety, and still never died.

[Pugnate]

So I just finished it. I had a blast, to be honest. Too bad I can't keep the loot.

Anyway, Diablo 3 is a beautiful looking game, but this little campaign reminded me of everything that's wrong with Diablo 3. The aesthetics are just too toony and colorful. It's just too big a departure from Diablo 1 & 2. Let's hope they have learned their lesson for Diablo 4.

As for DoT, I only wish it was longer.

I look forward to starting D3 from the beginning and working through the campaign. But the moment I restarted (just to have a tiny taste) I was just struck by how unDaiblo like the art direction is.

edit:

The music... oh the music.