Exclusive Diablo 3 review

[number six]

http://venturebeat.com/2012/05/15/world-exclusive-diablo-iii-review/#s:diablo-iii-2012-05-15-00-49-30-42

[JimB]

That's it? 

[Niloc]

That's exactly why I wasn't concerned about getting it on launch day. I should have my new PC put together by late June, I'll play it then.

Seems like anything that requires servers either shits the bed at launch or is a flop so it doesn't matter. Pretty much every highly anticipated MMO seems to go that way, problems for at least the first 2 weeks, so why bother getting it at launch?

[number six]

I'll probably do this the same way I did StarCraft 2.. wait for the crazy collectors edition to get marked down to the same price as the standard edition and get that. By then all the bug will be worked out as well.

[Inmyrem]

I had too many things to take care of last night, but I was able to play for about two hours before going to bed.  Looks like I snuck my time in and got out right before they fully went down for maintenance.  I don't have much time again tonight either.  I'll focus on it more this weekend when I have more time.    I did decide to start my first character as the Witch Doctor.

[Cedge]

Bleh. I'm holding out for Torchlight II, myself. By pedigree, it's more the true successor to Diablo, anyways. Blizzard just hasn't been the same, since WoW.

[number six]

OK I got a copy of Diablo 3 on sale for $47 a few days ago. Seeing how Starcraft 2 is still $60 most places I figured waiting for it to plummet in price wasn't going to happen. Also a friend schooled me on the value of the collectors edition.. apparently those are worth $150-$200 or some such.. versus the Starcraft 2 one which i got for $59 at Target.

ANYWAY

I've been enjoying the game quite a lot. I only vaguely remember the older Diablos.. I never got into them for whatever reason.. but obviously the concept is familiar. A RPG version of Gauntlet really.. but with random loot drops.

Graphics are nice but nothing mindblowing.. although there is a short cut scene at the start that has THE best CGI characters I have ever seen.. but that only lasted for like 15 seconds.. but it was nice.

I like the mission based setup.. I can play for an hour or so and feel like I've accomplished something when I call it a night. I'm not exactly sure about the crazy loot questing and such. I mean, I've enjoyed finding crap but to me its only useful to play the game. Ie once I've beaten it i'm not sure i'm going to feel the desire to play the game over and over just to get better loot. Yes, you are supposed to play it on harder difficulties and certainly i'll give that a go.. but I hear Inferno is stupid hard but even then once you beat that whats the point? Some of the encounters are random but how much content can there be to play the game endlessly? As much as I loved Borderlands once I finished the last DLC i put the game away and haven't played it since. It just seemed stupid and pointless to farm for weapons when you've already beaten everything.

[Niloc]

I finished my first run-through of Diablo 3 last week. I liked it alright, not as much as Diablo 1 or 2 but the problem isn't that it's a lesser game, it's more that it's just the same game. It's what it says on the package - Diablo 3, more Diablo - but since Diablo 2 came out like 10+ years ago, games have moved on. I think people, including myself, were expecting more.

I got 30+ hours of gameplay out of it though, so that's fine, and I'll definitely revisit it a bit, maybe play online a little. I started going through the 2nd difficulty level but it's just the same damn thing - the enemies are a little harder but the loot is also better so it balances out, it's kind of a wash. It really is exactly the same as playing through on the first difficulty level though, actually there's even a little bit less content since all your followers and merchants are now unlocked from the beginning.

Boss fights aren't particularly fun either IMO. They're of the old school, just figure out the pattern, maybe die a few times but not too hard.

I went with a Witch Doctor because it seemed the most similar to the Necromancer from Diablo 2, which was mainly what I played in that. Overall I didn't like the Witch Doctor too much - all the loot is tailored for the various classes, so the same item will look different on a Barbarian vs. a Witch Doctor, and on the Witch Doctor it mostly looks like crap.

I started one of each of the other classes and played them all up to level 3 or 4 (15-20 minutes) - of those the Wizard seemed the best suited to me, though the Barbarian was cool too (and they get all the good-looking plate armor later in the game).

Overall expectations were too high, this is partially Blizzard's fault for taking so long to put this game out - I'm pretty sure it could have been released 5 years ago and ran just fine on most systems.

I'm sure I'll play it a bit more. If it was an MMO I'd be pissed at the lack of content, but there's no monthly fee, so really it's just disappointing that I liked it but didn't love it.

[Inmyrem]

Figured I'd go ahead and give my impressions on it.  I can easily type up way too much, so I'll just sum it up.  I currently have three characters at level 60 and in Inferno.  I started with a Witch Doctor, then Barbarian, then Demon Hunter.  My wife has two characters at 60 and in Inferno, a Monk and a Wizard.  Out of the three, I'd have to say I prefer playing the Barbarian in Inferno, but the other two do amazing damage if you're alright with the quick hit and run method.  A few of Blizzard's patches broke the Witch Doctor and partially broke the Monk.  I can truly say the game is definitely not what I was fully expecting.  We've had fun, but we're both at a point where we're bored and wanting something more.  Blizzard has mentioned they'll be fixing the Witch Doctor in the next major patch and are also looking at endgame adjustments and add-ons.  What that means is anyone's guess.  As for Inferno being too hard, Act 2-4's difficulty wasn't scaled properly and only the most hardcore of people were able to plow through it.  That was scaled down in a major patch a few weeks back.  The elite packs and their random affix combos are ridiculous in Inferno.  Overall, each character class seems to either be really fun at the start or becomes fun after level 20.  I really didn't like the Demon Hunter until after 20.  So basically, yes, the game is fun for leveling up a few characters to mess around with.  But when you hit 60 and have tooled around at 60 for awhile, it becomes quite boring with the lack of anything else to do other than farm for better gear to progress through Inferno to beat the same bosses you've already beaten on the three previous difficulties.

[Inmyrem]

An additional note to my previous.  Diablo 2 and its expansion was much more fun than Diablo 3's current state.  Whether the next major patch or even an expansion will help fix the boredom, I dunno.  Also, a game called Torchlight 2 is coming out very soon and will be much more fun than D3.  I'm just patiently waiting for Borderlands 2!

[HammysHangout ( Hammy )]

Teen Dies Playing Diablo III

[number six]

OK beat the game on normal. Took about 15 hours.. kinda short. I started on the next level (nightmare?) but its hard to keep interest. I'll probably forge ahead but once again I fail to see the point in grinding for better gear just to play a game you've already beaten (??). Maybe if DLC were forthcoming there'd be more of an incentive. Honestly the DLC would need to be as long as the full game (or close) to really be worth it.

I found the auction house most interesting. I guess it screws up balance somewhat. After I started hitting it for better gear there was virtually no reason to bother picking stuff up other than to sell it. I don't have a single piece of equipment that i 'found'.. everything is from the AH. The gear you get is just too random to likely be usable. I also like selling stuff on there, much better way of getting gold than playing the game. As long as you aren't greedy you can get 1k-3k for a lot of stuff easy.. far better than the 200g in town. Or you can trade magical items into the blacksmith for components to craft stuff but once again its better to just sink that money in buying what you want instead of rolling the dice with a random blacksmith build.

Still fun game and even if i dont get too far into nightmare worth the $50 or so I paid. I might try to do more online stuff now that i'm at a decent level.. maybe that will add some depth.

[Inmyrem]

I found the auction house most interesting. I guess it screws up balance somewhat. After I started hitting it for better gear there was virtually no reason to bother picking stuff up other than to sell it. I don't have a single piece of equipment that i 'found'.. everything is from the AH. The gear you get is just too random to likely be usable.

That right there is one of the major complaints about the game.  The good usable drops are too few and happen way too infrequently.  Blizzard is supposedly going to be fixing that in the major patch coming out whenever.  I'm guessing within a month.  My wife and I pretty much don't play anymore except to just do some random farm runs and sell stuff for either real money or gold.  I've only made about $130 real money off of selling stuff so far, but hey, it's better than nothing!

[number six]

OK think i'm done here. Hit level 60 right before I beat Nightmare.

Went into Inferno but got killed by Zombies in the first dungeon. Mind you I have decent equipment, Demon Hunter w/ 45k DPS / 52k Health.. but a few hits from a blue zombie and i'm done. I've heard Inferno is all about getting 1-hit unless you are a total tank.

Problem is the "fix" here is to upgrade all your gear to mad levels. Once again my gear right now is good.. all high level stuff with high dex and vit boosts. But to get the 'crazy' good gear you gotta spend millions per bit in the auction house.. or I guess you can go farm but the chances of something decent dropping are insanely stacked against you. I even got my first legendary recently and guess what? Stats were lower than my normal rare piece.. sure it had extra buffs on it but once again useless stuff i didn't need so it didn't matter.
 
So you can either grind for gold to buy better gear, grind to get lucky and farm better gear.. or put the disc back in the box say you got your moneys worth and wait for some new content (dlc?) to hit to give you a reason to go play it again.

I think i'll choose the latter.

Once again happy enough with the game, fun while it lasted. Got into multiplayer recently.. that's fun. Kinda like playing Gauntlet at the arcade back in the day. I can still see why people were pissed while its a cool game i don't see an epic 10 year's worth of development here. The content is relatively short, especially when you compare it to something like Skyrim. There's extra replay in the loot / increasing difficulty levels but by Hell mode I was pretty damned bored playing those levels again and only playing with other people did it get somewhat entertaining.. bad side on that is you just blow through stuff in a group which in this case wasn't bad.

How is the RMAH as far as selling stuff? I might just dump all my gear on there and call it a rebate

[Inmyrem]

We stopped playing a few weeks ago.  Most of our characters are about midway into Act 3 on Inferno, but I have no doubt we could get through Act 4 if we wanted to.  Blizzard has what they're calling a huge patch coming out the last week of this month.  There's pages of information on the battle.net site, diablofans.com, etc.  There's just way too much to list here.  The majority of what you say needs to be adjusted will be in that patch.  No frickin clue why all of those adjustments weren't already in the original release.  I won't call the game a disappointment.  I will say it didn't truly meet our expectations of it though.  I'm already out of the mindset of playing it and getting ready for Guild Wars 2 and Darksiders 2.