[G33K454URU5 R3X]

I played last night for a little; took forever to download enough for it to be 'playable' but that was to be expected. Overall, I thought the gameplay was good - found it frustrating though when targeting undead eating a body; as a wizard, I wound up clicking on the body that was 'lootable' and ended up walking right into 4-5 enemies. It could have also been due to the fact the game was running a bit choppy during some of the fights, due to the download of the remaining game files still being in progress. I'm sure the game will be much more seamless for the actual release. I liked some of the new elements of gameplay, such as auto-regenerating 'arcane power aka mana' so you don't have to pop potions like candy. Sound quality was awesome as well.

[MattNo5ss]

Originally Posted by fcomstoc

I have tried for several days to log in to any parts of the game and I get all sorts of errors, I posted on the Blizzard forums. I hope to get on again at some point. The little bit of the game I did get to play was pretty cool (although after playing WoW for so long the interface is weird). I also wish that it supported Eyeinfinity so that I could use all 3 of my monitors. (3840x1024) or at least get windowed mode to work right.

Hopefully it was just the open beta causing those errors. I know they were slowly increasing player caps throughout the weekend.

Eyefinity isn't as useful for dungeon crawler games with isometric graphics. Eyefinity will be fine out in open areas, but when you are confined to paths like in a dungeon, Eyefinity become useless. This is because the paths are diagonals, so in dungeons you would need more monitor space corner-to-corner rather than left-to-right. So the monitors to the left and right would never be used since your character stays in the middle of the center screen and the paths are diagonal. The wizard's teleport ability is the only way I see Eyefinity being useful in a dungeon.

Originally Posted by G33K454URU5 R3X

I played last night for a little; took forever to download enough for it to be 'playable' but that was to be expected. Overall, I thought the gameplay was good - found it frustrating though when targeting undead eating a body; as a wizard, I wound up clicking on the body that was 'lootable' and ended up walking right into 4-5 enemies. It could have also been due to the fact the game was running a bit choppy during some of the fights, due to the download of the remaining game files still being in progress. I'm sure the game will be much more seamless for the actual release. I liked some of the new elements of gameplay, such as auto-regenerating 'arcane power aka mana' so you don't have to pop potions like candy. Sound quality was awesome as well.

When using long range characters you'll want to hold shift a lot to keep your character stationary while using abilities, just like in D2.

[Pvt.Dancer]

you can also hold shift to attack without having to actually click and enemy.

EDIT: you beat me to it....

[G33K454URU5 R3X]

You bring up a valid point; I forgot about holding shift. However, I'm also not necessarially sold on the fact it is a $60 game.

[Pvt.Dancer]

for the hours I have already put into the beta.... it will be worth it.... for me atleast.

[G33K454URU5 R3X]

I put about an hour or so into the game...of which some parts were real smooth, others were choppy. I guess I didn't get the 'full' D3 experience. Then again, I don't really have a whole heck of a lot of time for game playing like I used to

[MattNo5ss]

Just knowing how much time I'll put into this game makes it worth the $60 to me. IIRC, D2 + LoD was ~$60, and I played for 10+ years, so that's $6 or less per year

[Pvt.Dancer]

I'm with Matt on that one it was the same for me. And just to show how different every play through can be because of the random events I just found Warriv's Journal on dead Warriv's body first time I have found that.

[bigben6]

it will be well worth 60 dollars IMO, i played the Demon Hunter a.k.a. thief from the original, like it alot but i have always liked the glass cannon/hit and run style of play. Played witch doc to lvl 8ish too and had fun but it was MUCH harder, possibly by design possibly because im not used to that play style....

I am VERY torn on the lack of attribute points, str, dex, vit, mag, stamina etc. alot of people are saying "everyone put only enough into str for armor and dex for dodge/block and dumped everything else into vit" and maybe they did but i feel like opening up stuff along the way with lvl is kinda shallowing the play. Now, maybe with the rune stones and crafting etc. ill get the decision making/craft a custom avatar experience i felt like i missed, but in the beta at least i felt like save for luck fo equipment found, every lvl13 DH would be essentially identical to mine... maybe not on the end game..

even a skill tree like say Hell Gate London (if anyone else ever played that one) would be good because you can still have separation between 2 avatars of the same root class...

Thoughts?

[MattNo5ss]

Like you said, D2 was just enough str/dex for equipment and the rest into vitality for every class, except for a couple builds like glass cannon zon or ES sorc. I'm thinking the set attribute points per level in D3 will make the difference between classes larger. There are also huge stat affixes on items (unlike D2), so stat customization will come from items in D3.

I like the skill tree because it's familiar, but it didn't really give us much customization in D2. It was usually max 2 skills and put rest of the points in synergies. So, there was probably 3-4 viable builds per class and everybody who had a specific build used the same skills and synergies.

The barbarian in D2 had a total of 30 skills to unlock and use (every character had 30). In D3, the barbarian has 38 skills plus 5*38 runes, so that comes out 6*38=228 different skills. However, not all runes completely change a skill, but many do make a significant change. I think there's possibility for quite a bit more diversity in D3 than there was in D2.

I think what a lot of people don't like about the new system is that there aren't really any permanent decisions to make about your character. Whether that's a good or bad thing is debatable.

[G33K454URU5 R3X]

I was a bit surprised to see that the attributes were automatically applied to the charachter - but I guess it's a lot like traditional RPG's where as you would level up, some attributes would go up more than others depending upon charachter class. Unfortunately, I missed a week ago where NewEgg was selling D3 for $50. The plus side, however, is I remembered I have $20 in credit there, so if I can pick up the game for $40 it's worth it for me Would be nice to play w/ people who want to follow along the story line and don't go running all over creation, at least during the first round of play.

[Aynjell]

Originally Posted by MattNo5ss

Just knowing how much time I'll put into this game makes it worth the $60 to me. IIRC, D2 + LoD was ~$60, and I played for 10+ years, so that's $6 or less per year

Diablo 3 should challenge my playtime of starcraft for most people.

[bigben6]

Originally Posted by MattNo5ss

I think what a lot of people don't like about the new system is that there aren't really any permanent decisions to make about your character. Whether that's a good or bad thing is debatable.

THIS is also a problem IMO.... at any given time if you find a new build form someone else you can swap it over, there r no long term consequences to your choices.... i dunno, im gonna play it, its very good, but i think it could be better honestly... we will see how runes play out and forging gear plays out once it is live, but it would be nice to have some sort of choice system with some semblance of permanence attached to it...

[Janus67]

Originally Posted by bigben6

THIS is also a problem IMO.... at any given time if you find a new build form someone else you can swap it over, there r no long term consequences to your choices.... i dunno, im gonna play it, its very good, but i think it could be better honestly... we will see how runes play out and forging gear plays out once it is live, but it would be nice to have some sort of choice system with some semblance of permanence attached to it...

I personally would hate to make a newbie mistake and put points into things that I didn't' know any better about and then have to completely re-roll a character in order to make up for that. I'm all for stat allocations, but there needs to be a way to re-do them (ala the talent trees in WoW) that could be a gold sink/etc.

[deathman20]

I personally loved the stat building in D2 and such. And most of the time I dropped more into strength/vit... though I didn't always dump everything into Vit! Gave me a little more edge for damage and just quicker with the potions

I think I'll like my Barbarian again as usual! Though not totally sold on the WH yet, though I would play him but probably take a little interest into the Sorc.

So how many days? All I know its 6 days when I get back from my vacation.

[Pvt.Dancer]

Originally Posted by MattNo5ss

Like you said, D2 was just enough str/dex for equipment and the rest into vitality for every class, except for a couple builds like glass cannon zon or ES sorc. I'm thinking the set attribute points per level in D3 will make the difference between classes larger. There are also huge stat affixes on items (unlike D2), so stat customization will come from items in D3.

I like the skill tree because it's familiar, but it didn't really give us much customization in D2. It was usually max 2 skills and put rest of the points in synergies. So, there was probably 3-4 viable builds per class and everybody who had a specific build used the same skills and synergies.

The barbarian in D2 had a total of 30 skills to unlock and use (every character had 30). In D3, the barbarian has 38 skills plus 5*38 runes, so that comes out 6*38=228 different skills. However, not all runes completely change a skill, but many do make a significant change. I think there's possibility for quite a bit more diversity in D3 than there was in D2.

I think what a lot of people don't like about the new system is that there aren't really any permanent decisions to make about your character. Whether that's a good or bad thing is debatable.

One of my friends worked it out and i dont remember the exact number all i remember that if you were able to try each combo of runes and skills for 10 min each you would be dead before you got to try them all... it was rediculous. if i can talk to him again ill see if he remembers the exact numbers or would do the work to figure it out again.

[Janus67]

So I have now played through the beta with each of the characters. I honestly have no idea which I liked the most () I was hoping that it would be an easy decision, but each one I played with I really enjoyed... wizard probably the least [even though I play mage in almost every MMO as a main]. I think Monk was a blast to play, especially with the teleporting punching, barbarian was good after I could leap. WD is a great time with the pets/etc, and DH is a great hit/run fighting type [although I wish it would be more noticeable if you have dual-CBs equipped, faster shooting or something, I didn't notice anything like that). Basically makes any secondary weapon just a stat-stick.

[Pvt.Dancer]

I never really thought about it but you are right about those dual cross bows... they just dont feel like there both there.

[MattNo5ss]

Yeah, the xbows seem to just add to your DPS while you attack about the same speed. Seems the same for all dual wielding really...maybe I just wasn't paying enough attention.

A single xbow + quiver seemed to give me better DPS than dual xbows, so don't forget to try that out too. Don't just assume dual xbows is better, I did that for a while

[Janus67]

Yeah, that's what I ended up doing for most of it until I got a rare xbow to go with another high-dps xbow. I wish the DPS numbers increased as the stats went up (ie dexterity/int/strength/etc... but they don't)