Diablo 3

[Xefi]

i'm not sure if Diablo 3 thread was started yet or not. if there was, then please locked this thread.

NOTE: As the title says, let's discuss everything that is Diablo 3 here. you can post your tips, builds,
gameplay, what you find, post screenshots of your characters, whine, cry, and etc...but do so in a good manner.
dont flame dont attack people in this thread please. that's all.

Patch 1.0.3.: Blizzard just recently updated to patch 1.0.3. some ups and some downs on that patch.
the patch made the game a little easier in group play, but if you are touch or die, you'll
have to repair at the cost of lots of gold. most of the mobs are weaker now...yay. Demon
Hunter got the nerf bat and nether tentacle SUCK balls now, but they are not that bad
if you try a different build. the melee classes can handle a few more hits now and tank
stuff or just plainly go all DPS. i thought the update was ok, but the repair is killing a lot
of the casual players; 50k to repair is going to hurt a lot on the bill.

my characters: i main a Demon Hunter (level 60), a wizard (level 56), and a barbarian (level 37) for now.
i farm with my DH to get some gears for my other classes, but boy, i havent found anything
useful yet...lol. it's all about auction house to get better gears.

anyways, we discuss Diablo 3 here. Happy hunting and may you find some valuable rares!

Pony Land!
[spoiler-box]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeQzJC-vS40[/spoiler-box]
DH hunting Azmodan
[spoiler-box]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GuHfHrgm1o[/spoiler-box]

[-Crokar-]

i play it. got it for free. umm i am like level 42? demon hunter i have horrible luck with gear so most of my stuff is crafted and i bought a couple things from the ah. and i agree the cost to repair is horrid

[Akaimizu]

The cost to repair is pretty evil. On one hand, I understand it trying to break zerg builds. However, a lot of people do get killed just going through the game, and we're talking about people who aren't some top level rare hunters. They are still up and coming and don't exactly make that kind of money. It gets to the point where a high amount of their income is getting soaked up by repair costs. That will severely slow down the gold acquisition for some folks. For them it would almost be like choosing between two modes. Pseudo hardcore and hardcore. :)

So in a way, I think Blizzard should probably perhaps have something like a proper level range for which the repair costs leap. Considering I think they are trying to avoid the *best* loot for zerg tactics. But the flat out cost increase definitely jumps into casual player territory. They already made one fix in Inferno in order to help players to keep playing and not quitting, but then they go and do something that takes a step backwards from that ideal.

[Ceresa]

The cost to repair is pretty evil. On one hand, I understand it trying to break zerg builds. However, a lot of people do get killed just going through the game, and we're talking about people who aren't some top level rare hunters. They are still up and coming and don't exactly make that kind of money. It gets to the point where a high amount of their income is getting soaked up by repair costs. That will severely slow down the gold acquisition for some folks. For them it would almost be like choosing between two modes. Pseudo hardcore and hardcore. :)

So in a way, I think Blizzard should probably perhaps have something like a proper level range for which the repair costs leap. Considering I think they are trying to avoid the *best* loot for zerg tactics. But the flat out cost increase definitely jumps into casual player territory. They already made one fix in Inferno in order to help players to keep playing and not quitting, but then they go and do something that takes a step backwards from that ideal.

Repair costs are fine.

iLvl 62 gear drops in Hell now, at a shit rate but still, and naturally so does 61, stuff that was previously exclusive to act 2 and 1 inferno respectively, now on the complete trash of hell difficulty. And as I cleared pre-nerf Inferno with nothing but ilvl 61 gear and a shitty 63 weapon...

If one is getting raped to the point that gold from mobs is not covering repairs, then a serious evaluation of build synergy and gear level is in order. And if no build works, farm hell and be grateful that you can get such drops there that people doing endless butcher runs in act 1 inferno for the last month would have killed for.

Also
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l218/aerawnt/intvitammy.jpg

[Xefi]

Repair costs are fine.

iLvl 62 gear drops in Hell now, at a shit rate but still, and naturally so does 61, stuff that was previously exclusive to act 2 and 1 inferno respectively, now on the complete trash of hell difficulty. And as I cleared pre-nerf Inferno with nothing but ilvl 61 gear and a shitty 63 weapon...

If one is getting raped to the point that gold from mobs is not covering repairs, then a serious evaluation of build synergy and gear level is in order. And if no build works, farm hell and be grateful that you can get such drops there that people doing endless butcher runs in act 1 inferno for the last month would have killed for.

Also
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l218/aerawnt/intvitammy.jpg

holy smoke, that vitality and intelligent + critical hit chance. did you found that? because
that's overkill, yo. Can i ask what class you were using when you beat Inferno?

"And as I cleared pre-nerf Inferno with nothing but ilvl 61 gear and a shitty 63 weapon..." -Ceresa-
Xefi: well Ceresa, i guess you just kick so much ass. what more can i say? :cat:

yah, i guess the repair is ok. i'm not making as much gold as before, but at least i'm
not LOSING gold. before i was farming warden up to butcher. after the update, i'm now
farming the place after the spider cave. why i skip spider cave? because i just dont like
spiders! lol. i just run that all the way to butcher.

i got the Immortal King armor set for the barbarian...but that armor have no slot and it SUCK.
i might farm the later ACT 2, 3, 4 once i get good enough gears. right now my repair bills @
11k because i got hit a few times and die about 2 times. anyways, i'm playing with my little
bro. and we are just farming ACT 1 for the time being. if anyone wants to play with me, you're
welcome to join.

[Scrub]

I was really hoping that 1.0.3 would fix a lot of monk problems but the attack speed nerf just made the whole IAS/LoH builds a bit worse and basically just put us in a lot worse position.

I'm not gonna be a crybaby about it but looking at where Barb went and how Monk stayed about the same is a lil disappointing.

[amtalx]

Judging from the massive drop in population, I'm going to say the patch didn't go over so well. I usually see around 7-9k people floating around in public games in my region. I haven't seen anything over 2k since the patch. I think the major problem is Blizzard is trying to make the game perfectly balanced, and balance isn't necessarily the key to a game being fun. Instead of nerfing the ranged classes at every turn, buff the melee classes.

[Akaimizu]

Repair costs are fine.

iLvl 62 gear drops in Hell now, at a shit rate but still, and naturally so does 61, stuff that was previously exclusive to act 2 and 1 inferno respectively, now on the complete trash of hell difficulty. And as I cleared pre-nerf Inferno with nothing but ilvl 61 gear and a shitty 63 weapon...

If one is getting raped to the point that gold from mobs is not covering repairs, then a serious evaluation of build synergy and gear level is in order. And if no build works, farm hell and be grateful that you can get such drops there that people doing endless butcher runs in act 1 inferno for the last month would have killed for.

Also
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l218/aerawnt/intvitammy.jpg

This is true. As long as these increased repair costs only affect high level characters like level 60s. I'd worry about it if these increased costs affect players lower than that. Casual players will definitely be there and Blizzard does not want them worrying about builds to the point they have to switch around and find some limited builds for which they can progress. Blizzard wants experimentation and is trying to avoid the classic "This build or bust" aspect.

[Akaimizu]

Judging from the massive drop in population, I'm going to say the patch didn't go over so well. I usually see around 7-9k people floating around in public games in my region. I haven't seen anything over 2k since the patch. I think the major problem is Blizzard is trying to make the game perfectly balanced, and balance isn't necessarily the key to a game being fun. Instead of nerfing the ranged classes at every turn, buff the melee classes.

Though I'm not sure how bad this is really making it, or whether their changes really only affect certain levels/etc. I had to laugh because a number of folks were going Witch Doctor if only because less people play them and thus would hardly be in the limelight for a nerf.

[Xefi]

i play it. got it for free. umm i am like level 42? demon hunter i have horrible luck with gear so most of my stuff is crafted and i bought a couple things from the ah. and i agree the cost to repair is horrid

hey Crokar! you actually use the blacksmith to craft? i have NEVER once even touch on
the crafting system at all. but yeah, buying stuffs from the gold ah is like the
only way to go for most. i haven't seen any good rare drops lately that i can
actually use.

@Amtalx: the massive drop in population is going to help with the lagging issue
on their server! maybe...


i'm going to reroll a Barbarian. gonna have my little bro. rush me to Inferno. and then
stack the barbarian with high Vitality, All resist, and STR equipment with some critical hit
chance + critical damage. i just want to try out something different because i'm getting
a little tire with my glass cannon DH (the enemies farted, i die). :cat:

[.Rusty.]

This starter edition stuff is a joke right? :lol:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5889089807

[Akaimizu]

No joke. It is, for all intensive purposes, a free demo.

[Xefi]

This starter edition stuff is a joke right? :lol:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5889089807

hey hey, it's Blizzard yo. so yeah, "it's working as intended!"
yeah, this got to be a joke, right?

[.Rusty.]

No joke. It is, for all intensive purposes, a free demo.

A free demo that you have to buy :wacko:

[Cz]

Blizzard: "We sworn that we tested our product! Shhhhhh, don't tell them that we are still in the beta!" :bunny: :bunny: :bunny:

[Akaimizu]

A free demo that you have to buy :wacko:

Edit: I see, it's that whole 72 hours when purchasing the full digital distribution game. Yeah, that's interesting because I think it would be pretty easy to hit that limit within the first 3 days. Let alone the first day itself. Is the amount of new players coming in still arriving at the alarming rate it was when the game first launched? If not, I'm not sure why this was needed.

So for the first 3 days they may be limited to the same content the Free Guest Passers were using. Kind of sucks, though it makes me thinking of reasons.

Are people somehow just creating new accounts on the fly just for the purpose of Auction housing? You know, that wouldn't be too much of a surprise since trading is still good. Various farmers just getting multiple accounts on the basis of getting around the good ol' Auction House item limits. I tell ya. This Auction House thing, and Blizzard's entire restructure of Diablo 3 to work around it is definitely an educational experience for the company. This would make a good story to tell whether they eventually make it work the way they intended or not.

Considering that the RM Auction house did get plenty of successes of folks selling items up to $250, people are acting like the cost to buy the game is nothing compared to how much they'll get back. Sure, we expect the economy to fix itself, but I think this is just a gold rush. And especially after the attack speed nerf, I wonder how many items are being reconsidered already (and how many of those buyers are actually paying attention to the patch notes). All in all, some people just got ripped off again, after already being ripped off by buying an item for too much.

[Xefi]

Source from gamespot: http://www.gamespot.com/news/diablo-iii-downloads-restrict-features-cap-levels-temporarily-6383602
"We apologize for the inconvenience, but it is a necessary step to combat fraud and other malicious activities that can weaken everyone's play experience,"
Blizzard Support Forum Agent Kaltonis

well, that's their responses. if you buy the game digitally now, you'll have to wait another
70 hrs. before you can actually do anything else. Blizzard knows FUN.

i love the game and all, but their services and all these nerf this nerf that dictatorship of
how WE should play as they intended us to play is killing themselve and their fans. also,
have you seen their main forum? my gosh, NOTHING but complains and whine. i wonder
what in the world they are smoking in their office there.

@Akaimizu: they got your money and that's all that matters to them.

[amtalx]

I though the fanbase was a little whiny, but even I'm getting a little irritated with all the changes. I was in a group that tripped an enrage timer on an elite. It basically forces every player to simply abandon the game. There's an AOE that surrounds each elite that drains every players' health within 50 yards in a few seconds (with my 30k HP, I could last about 3-5 seconds). Unfortunately, it's not like a boss enrage timer where everyone just wipes and you start again. When you die and return to the elite pack, the AOE is still in effect and there is no way to cancel it without killing everything...which you can't do because your health is drained before you can get within range. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. You'd better hope that the pack isn't in front of a critical objective. If so, just hoof it back to town, repair, and find another game.

The game may be getting more balanced, but it's less fun.

[Xefi]

i was browsing through pso-world and ran into this ad. ha ha ha...i guess they are
selling gold now and pso-world was advertising it. i didnt click on it though; never trusted
any advertising links ever. but if you happen to run into it and is desperate for some gold
and got real money to burn, be my guess and get some GOLD. :)

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm64/rubysion/goldd.jpg

@Amtalx: i havent ran into an elite that trigger its enrage timer yet. from what you say,
they look rather annoying already. i only play ACT 1 inferno so far...maybe the elites die
before they can trigger the enrage timer for me, so that's why i havent run into any yet.
i heard the enrage timer on the end ACT bosses are going to be VERY annoying if you dont
kill it fast enough; mainly Belial.

but anyways, not looking forward to it. :cat:

EDIT: did a farming run today from the Karza staff quest all the way to Butcher and
back to a few area killing some more elites. i made about 350k from all that and nothing
worth mentioning from rares. oh well, gonna try again later.

[Feischutz]

why i skip spider cave? because i just dont like
spiders! lol. i just run that all the way to butcher.


Just do the spider cavern already, you pantsy! You can kill cockroaches, but you are afraid of spiders? What the fuck, Xe chan? If you want, I can tag along with my Wizard and kill all the shit and bitches for you. :-?

And what the fuck with all these shitty drops. If you find any good stuffs with very high INT+VIT, I will buy them off of you with my gold. I need a better one-handed weapon right now. My current is about 750 DPS+150 VIT, but no INT, piece of shit.

And who the hell would by that stupid gold with real money? Gold are so easy to get in this fucking game! Unless you spent them all repairing your shit.

[Cz]

Next patch from Blizzard is going to be? I'm just copying and guessing btw. Some of these actually make sense now. :bunny: :bunny: :bunny:
[spoiler-box]-- We felt that the game was too focused on stacking valors to progress, but we want to keep excitement of finding better items. Thus, you get 30 mf per valor, however you receive a 10% debuff to dps per valor as per balance
-- We felt that the monk's skills were performing far better than intended, and thus the monk has been removed
-- We noted that some Demon Hunters had the nerve to defy the glass cannon concept. This goes against what our original vision of the character, and thus Demon Hunters are now capped at 5 HP. Please kite properly.
-- We've received input on the "enrage timer" and agree it must be changed. Thus, all monsters regardless of being a regular monster or boss will now have a enrage timer
-- All stats have been reduced in half to curb the player exploit of just stacking stats on their items.
-- We have also received many complaints about server lag. In order to ensure everyone has a fair experience, all players that experience latency of less than 100 ms will have their diablo3 processes randomly escalate to 100% CPU usage. Thus, all players will have the game unplayable randomly, evening the playing field
-- The auction house now takes a 50% fee
-- There is a new affix on elite mobs titled "fuck you, we already have your money". When encountered, it will instantly delete your character and uninstall Diablo 3. We feel that will increase the replay value of the game if such sudden surprises can happen. Please learn to kite properly and buy an authenticator.
-- We have tested this thoroughly on normal mode, and are sure it will improve the player experience past hell difficulty
[/spoiler-box]
@Feisy: Do you want some green tea with that?

[NoiseHERO]

I heard people not playing PSO2 are playing this..

Then whining about patches and rebalances and hard modes!

WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?

[Akaimizu]

^ Normal everyday activity for a Blizzard game, especially if it is still relatively close after the release (up to 2 or so years) See.. Diablo 2.

[-Crokar-]

the people who play blizzrd games.. some of them amuse me to no end. they complain its too hard then when blizzard nerfs it the same people are complaining the game is too easy. well its too hard then its too easy. there is no satisfying a blizzard customer.

[myfoot1]

Personally, i would prefer Torchlight 2 D: but owell i have no say since i haven't got my hands on a copy of diablo3 yet ...

[Zyrusticae]

the people who play blizzrd games.. some of them amuse me to no end. they complain its too hard then when blizzard nerfs it the same people are complaining the game is too easy. well its too hard then its too easy. there is no satisfying a blizzard customer.
I just feel like pointing out that the people arguing for either side are generally not the same people.

You please one set of customers, you anger another. It's a perpetual balancing act. The people who are satisfied are generally not going to put in the effort to give feedback.

[-Crokar-]

just saying from what i have seen personally in blizzard games.

[Somnia]

the people who play blizzrd games.. some of them amuse me to no end. they complain its too hard then when blizzard nerfs it the same people are complaining the game is too easy. well its too hard then its too easy. there is no satisfying a blizzard customer.

This applies to pretty much every MMORPG or MMO-esque game, though. Not just Blizzard.

[Xefi]

i got all three DH, Wizard and barbarian to 60. probably gonna start the monk next
until i get all the gears for the other classes first. they are pretty weak in inferno
currently.

most time played:
Demon Hunter: 130 hrs.
Wizard: 25 hrs.
Barbarian: 24 hrs.
Monk: 10 min.!
[spoiler-box]http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm64/rubysion/dia.jpg[/spoiler-box]

current stats and DPS of the characters. also, the skills i'm using for them.
[spoiler-box]http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm64/rubysion/dia1.jpg[/spoiler-box]

EDIT: oh, and also.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nayhzdLGKo

[Akaimizu]

Love the demon hunter outfit pieces. Totally High Order Valkyrie-like in some places. The leggings and arm armors I especially want for my demon hunter.

[Snitch]

Got a WD level 60 and Wiz level 60. But Wiz is so much more fun then WD. So I'm using my WD as mule ( storage ) :P

But damn hard it gets on Act III inferno....

[Gospar]

I played a very good portion of this game for a month since launch... But as of late, boredom struck me, and so I'm off doing other things.

My first character I got to 60 was the Witch Doctor, which was pretty fun, but then I tried out the Monk and loved tanking the hits.
A few days after that, I got that to 60, and after I kept getting obliterated pre-1.0.3 on Inferno (Act 2 and especially Act 3), I just left the Monk alone for a while.
After that, I decided to work on a Demon Hunter, which loved to obliterate just about anything in its path to become level 60 #3. A shame that Nether Tentacles got nerfed, but oh well. It was fun while it lasted.

Tried getting into the Barbarian, but for some reason, it wasn't all that great for whatever reason, even though I know they are the tank of tanks. I just need to be a little more patient with them.

[*Kadaj*]

i dont intend to play diablo 3 unless they add the paladin

[Jeff86]

I have a 60 Monk that I enjoy. However, lately I've gotten bored of the game. I'm currently in Act 2 but I haven't found any upgrades. Which is making it more and more difficult to progress since I really don't want to rely on the AH for my gear.

So I guess I just have to farm some more. But I'm so tired of that. I kill a champ pack and get 1 ilvl 58 rare, then that repeats and I lose any motivation to keep playing. Maybe if I just take a break I feel more up to playing later.

[Kent]

Inferno is 100% bullshit. It's the culmination of all of the bad ideas that have been had for progression in any type of RPG, all mashed up in the guise of a supposedly-less-math-heavy subgenre (action-RPGs - they even removed a lot of the mathiness in comparison to Diablo II).

Seriously, it has some of the worst core design flaws I've ever seen in a game. Artificial difficulty to the max. Legitimately-challenging games I can handle (you know, like NES games or Dark Souls) just fine... But when you decide that the only way to make a game more challenging is to make all of the enemies move at the speed of light, and apparently, according to some quick math, have base damage values hovering around 300,000...

Yeah. That's just bullshit. It's no longer fun at that point. This is also in the first quest of Act 2 on Inferno.

Which, it's funny, because Normal has the numbers so low on everything enemies do that it's just mind-numbingly boring to play any more. Nightmare and even Hell actually feel good and are fun, because the game feels balanced, still challenges you as a player, but doesn't resort to intentional imbalance and having to exploit very specific builds in order to stand any chance at all.

It sucks, because Diablo II is one of my favorite and most-played games of all time. To see the overall experience in Diablo III bookended with terribly-flawed core design issues, imbalance, and a really weird and dramatic difficulty shift is... Really disappointing.

I really want to like the game more than I do... It's just that the middle part is the best part, and the beginning and end are bland and off-putting.

[Xefi]

Got a WD level 60 and Wiz level 60. But Wiz is so much more fun then WD. So I'm using my WD as mule ( storage ) :P

But damn hard it gets on Act III inferno....

ha ha...my little bro. also plays a WD. he says that class just too weak and the pets
can't even survive more than a hit. he ditch his WD at level 60 as well. saying that WD
was boring. :D

As for me, i'm taking a long break from Diablo 3 as well. this game just gets really suck
quickly. i'm going to move on and play some other games while waiting for blizzard to
fix this broken game. as of now, playing this game solo is the way to go and faster since
playing with other people will either slow you down or they'll just give up because it's
just too hard. and of course, enrage timer doesnt help much.

[Feischutz]

I lmao so hard from this fucking failure of a game. Diablo 3 is on CNN news now. The fuck over? :-?

source: CNN news on Diablo 3 forum (http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/10/tech/gaming-gadgets/diablo-iii-player-reactions/index.html)
Copy and pasted from the source. Enjoy your long read.


(CNN) -- "Diablo III" has the distinction of being a great role-playing game with an intense and passionate fan base while causing much angst and anguish among gamers when problems -- real or perceived -- arise.

The nature of this diametric split changes from moment to moment and reflects the high hopes many gamers had for a release that took nearly 12 years to reach players' hands. It is a love/hate relationship with Blizzard Entertainment that stemmed from the creation of a fantastic franchise but causes so many angry words on chat boards and Twitter when game servers go down.

The game takes us back to Sanctuary and everyone's favorite scholar, Deckard Cain. Cain claims the End Times are coming with the rise of the Evil. The player is tasked with searching out and destroying demon lords bent on taking over the world and literally bringing hell to Sanctuary.

The game has received praise for its realistic physics engine, variety of available combat styles and sense of full immersion in what is basically a "point and click" game. However, for all its grand flourishes and spectacular battles, none of it matters if you can't play.

Blizzard was plagued with server issues from the very start. "Error 37," a server busy error, quickly became the buzzword among players, indicating problems logging in. Indeed, Blizzard acknowledged the problem and warned players it could take several login attempts before they could connect.

For a while, the error became an Internet meme, sparking many funny postings about the frustrating message. While the company worked quickly to resolve the initial issues, the Internet lit up with players proclaiming their hatred of Blizzard and frustration with the always-logged-in requirements.

Maintenance time and patch updates have also revived harsh feelings among some "Diablo III" players. Forum boards reached their limits after players voiced their displeasure. There are more than 4,200 Diablo III forum threads, most discussing some aspect of the game that, in players' opinion, is broken.

Loot-drop troubles, character stat rollbacks, complaints about the game being too easy (or, in some cases, too hard) -- the variety is out there, and yet people keep playing, or at least talking about it.

A forum poster who uses the name KrimsonMask has played 120 hours and gotten more enjoyment out of "Diablo III" than many other games but philosophically thinks the game has failed in its basic approach.

"There's a fallacy that simple, easy to understand games appeal to a broader audience of gamers, an idea that complexity will confuse and frustrate the masses, scaring them away, an underestimation of what the average gamer can handle if you will," KrimsonMask wrote. "They didn't want to confuse people with the complexity of stats. They wanted to make it easy for everyone."

Other players go the other route, thinking the game is "broken" because it is simply too hard. Forum poster "Themaceguy" describes what he called "Icarus hard," a reference to pushing the game's limits and being punished for it, like the Greek mythological figure who fell to his death after flying too close to the sun. It's an acceptable approach for him.

"Diablo III" is not Icarus hard, he said.

"I find myself clearing Act I over and over again just to either make a little money or find items that are maybe marginally better than what I have but not good enough to be able to play Act 2 the way I want to ('Icarus hard')," Themaceguy wrote. "The thing is, you can make a game balanced so that every class is no better than any other but that RUINS the game. It makes every class feel hokey, and nobody feels special."

The irony is that both forum posters use the previous installment, "Diablo II," as an example of what "Diablo III" should strive to be.

They want improved complexity, more challenges and more variety to ways of building characters and playing the game. Many fans of the 12-year-old game still play it, and its expansions, even now that "Diablo III" has rolled out. It is its "end game" scenario -- being able to complete the game yet still find things do to -- that made "Diablo II" such a long-term success, they say.

Blizzard, for its part, has been issuing fixes and patches (it is now up to 1.0.3) since launching the game and recently addressed the end-game content players have been seeking. Players want to be able to do things after they "beat" the game besides just farming for more loot.

In response to a forum post, "Bashiok," a community manager for Blizzard, said the company recognizes that players are probably running out of stuff to do. However, he said, it isn't going to be able to release new content every couple of months.

"Killing enemies and finding items is a lot of fun, and we think we have a lot of the systems surrounding that right, or at least on the right path with a few corrections and tweaks. But honestly 'Diablo III' is not 'World of Warcraft,' " Bashiok wrote. "There needs to be something else that keeps people engaged, and we know it's not there right now."

A new patch (1.0.4) is expected soon, and a version 1.1 will contain player vs. player arenas, a feature that has been on hold since the title launched. Bashiok said both patches will give players more but aren't a real solution to the end-game problem.

"We have some ideas for progression systems, but honestly it's a huge feature if we want to try to do it right, and not something we could envision being possible until well after 1.1 which is itself still a ways out."

Will players still be around for the changes? Some say they have gotten all the enjoyment they can and are moving on. Others say they continue to play, seeking greater rewards in what they can do already.

With so many players and fans of the franchise, Blizzard is trying to hit a moving target. It isn't going to be able to please everyone, and the forum boards will continue to fill with players who aren't happy with X or want more of Y.

What's funny is that some players who have said they are abandoning "Diablo III" are still hanging around its forums to ask those playing why they're still in the game. While some posts are mocking, others really want to know whether there is something they've missed, some aspect of the game they haven't seen. Perhaps fans are willing (hoping?) to believe there is more to be discovered in Sanctuary.

In a humorous and tongue-in-cheek post, forum user "Furiant" may be trying to get everyone to just relax and enjoy the game.

"A friend of mine told me they were playing with some person earlier who -- and I'm just the messenger here -- seemed like they might be having fun while playing the game. I don't know how true this is, but if it's even a possibility, god help us all."

[Akaimizu]

Well Diablo III is high profile. High profile enough to be on CNN, I guess. I admit, some new stuff needs to be added and tweaked; but I think it is still a little unfairly compared to Diablo 2 + LOD and 10 years of patchwork.

I'll at least give this Blizzard the same time to work out the endgame that was given for the previous Diablo game.

[Zyrusticae]

Well Diablo III is high profile. High profile enough to be on CNN, I guess. I admit, some new stuff needs to be added and tweaked; but I think it is still a little unfairly compared to Diablo 2 + LOD and 10 years of patchwork.

I still think this is entirely nonsense. They had the game there, they could easily have used it as a base with which to create a better game, which is what people generally expect from sequels. They didn't. Hence, failure.

What a shame.

[Akaimizu]

They wanted to make a different game, not exactly the same game with a facelift. And they saw certain things they wanted to improve on. No need to make the exact same thing we played for 10+ years. So of course, it'll have growing pains. Like D2 did. I think it's more nonsense to grab the same thing and run with it, especially since people were playing it for more than a decade. If it was the same game, I'd seriously wonder if it were worth investing in D3 when a perfectly good copy of D2 (with the same stuff) is already in my hands.

This isn't your typical sequel. Most of them are delivered rather close to the last game, and thus the gameplay of the previous has not gotten stale. Long term fans (non-casual players) will want some changes, and a good alteration from the old base after so many years of it. Your expectations of what fans want from sequels is not a complete reflection of what the long term Diablo fans want. To us, D2 already had enough sequels. While it had only 1 main expansion, it technically had a huge amount of free updates, along with fixes and balances, expanding the game and the hunt for all. For D3, the end game is the main issue, which is likely to be addressed by Blizzard coming up. The lack of PvP is a big thing. I would say, once it is in, it'll be a nice little holder until they push more endgame content, reflecting D2's additions. D3's combat model already changes everything about the game, and if that's one thing a good majority agree with, is that it's one of the best improvements D3 has made.

You have to totally copy everything from D2 verbatim, if you plan to have as much content at launch, that's the plain truth. If only because so many post-release D2 tweaks were mandatory before they could consider the stretch to Lord of Destruction, and then more tweaks before the rest of those additions arrived. They have no other template of development to work with unless it is progressively done. Even the old Blizzard never did it differently. Starcraft is a bit different since it is a competitive game from the get go, and that by nature has a long endgame.

Were there some issues with this release? Of course. But I'm not going to write it as a complete failure completely ignoring Blizzard's past releases, which had issues and then were patched and expanded to perfection. My main issue with the game is the lack of offline single-player and how it hurts hardcore-mode characters. This will be one issue better handled by Torchlight 2. Then again, they're taking the route of optional in-app purchases instead of the auction-house.

[amtalx]

It's very easy to look back on D2 with rose-tinted glasses, particularly given it's age. I still remember riding my bike to the Toys 'r' Us down the street and getting my copy. What I brought home was a fun game, but just as much, if not more, of a clusterfuck as D3.

Blizzard has made some grievous errors so far, but they are also subject to the single worst community I have ever been a part of. Blizzard fans (the forum-going type, anyway) are some of the whiniest, indignant assholes I've ever had the displeasure of associating with. Maybe this is all part of Blizzard's plan to make them go play other games so the rest of us can play in peace. In which case, kudos.

[xGenokx]

Rapt has me clocked at just under 400 hours played for Diablo 3, and I've begun to get a bit burned out on it. At this time Blizzard really needs to fix the endgame issue, as well as implement PVP to the game.

My characters/progress:


60 Demon Hunter - Just need to kill Diablo on Inferno
60 Barbarian - Stuck at Ghom in A3 on Inferno
60 Wizard - Progressing through A1 on Inferno

[Xefi]

i was doing a run yesterday from the spider queen boss to the butcher.
found this one-handed axe and i thought it was pretty decent. i search and compare
the price of it on the AH; the one that was almost like mine went for 10 mil.
i thought that was pricey as heck, so i went and put up the price 5 mil gold instead.

and today, i logged in. it was bought. SWEET! :cat:
[spoiler-box]http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm64/rubysion/Screenshot011.jpg[/spoiler-box]

axe sold. i'm now 5 mil gold richer...okie dokie, yogurt time! this is actually my first time selling
anything pricey on the AH. so COOL. and also, that axe have a funny name too: "Biting Crack" lol.
suppose to be 5 mil, but blizzard takes 15% gold from you as well.
[spoiler-box]http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm64/rubysion/Screenshot012.jpg[/spoiler-box]