I think it's fine, I'd rather have the AH than be without it since I only care about hell and inferno difficulties. I like to trade in AH, I buy and I sell, it's part of the gameplay for me, and I'm very used to it since I play (used to play at least) a lot of mmorpgs.
A big reason why I like this system is that I get to build my gear now, instead of getting lucky. I build very specific gear sets for my chars and I really love the AH feature where I can set search parameters for what the gear should have. I hate some of the visual effects on certain damage types and love others, with AH I can use the ones I like and skip the ones I dont. Certain builds also needs certain stuff, others need +crit and others need something else, it would be impossible to support these builds with the right gear if there was no AH.
Though, if it would be very important for me to get awesome drops rather than playing the AH then the game would suck, the drops are so random that I barely even take a good look at them, so if you are a player looking for actually get stuff your self on the battlefield, you might want to skip this game since it happens very rarely.
What happens when the RMAH releases though? Are you going to pour your money into this game to be able to progress through inferno? Is it worth it?
No. I will use the gold AH for my AH needs. Also I like grinding for items at max level a lot more since you dont level anymore, progression on inferno is more an achievement than the stroll through normal to hell.
I have farmed Act I inferno for 7 days without a drop which could represent an upgrade for any class. Farming Act I to go Act II, and then Act II to go Act III is not the answer, AH is (RMAH soon). I've used it, also i've prostituted myself and power-leveled a DH (fotm, not what i like but oh well) and now i am slowly but surely progressing thru Act III inferno.
The game seems "tuned" to "match" around the AH. My bet is that, if too many items of one type and ilvl are on the AH, then the droprates for those items at that level of quality is drastically decreased.
No, rolling DH or Wizard only, stacking primary stat sacrificing all defense and skirmishing thru quests to find a "farming spot" in Act III inferno is not Diablo. The people who are not trying yet to progress from Act I inferno to Act II inferno have yet no clue what they're talking about (no offense).
The game itself was TUNED around buying/selling on the Auction House. Blizzard's words, not mine.
What's your point? That because it's "tuned" you can't play without it? Horsefeathers.
The point of the discussion is not that the AH makes the game unplayable, but the fact that drops are tuned towards getting people to use the AH, but that the AH makes the game less fun to play. When all my drops are either 10 levels below me or have completely useless stats, essentially making drops useful only for selling to make gold to use the AH, the game is less fun to play than if I could have some reasonable expectation that drops within the game might be valuable to me.
All of the drops aren't Most of the drops in diablo will always be trash. It's a game of farming. If you don't like farming it's not going to be enjoyable. You don't need the best gear to beat the game. If they change the drop rates or dumb down the game it's going to make it less fun for the rest of us. The truth is they're not much different than they were in diablo 2. I respect your well stated opinion I just completely disagree with it. If there were no auction house the game should be no different than it is.
Yes, I expect the trash drops to be trash and I expect them to be the majority of the drops. But when the good drops are trash too with worthless stats, or 10 levels below mine and I know that Blizzard has tuned the good drops to be worthless to me in order to goad me into using the AH, that takes fun out of the game. Knowing with a great certainty that I'm likely to not find anything good while adventuring because Blizz wants me to use the AH is less fun than finding great gear as a result of adventuring.
If there were no auction house then the game would be different because part of the focus of the game wouldn't be directing me outside the game. The drops would be tuned towards players getting their gear from drops.
Clearly that's not true. Everything item in the game comes from adventuring. There are level appropriate drops in every stage of the game. In many cases I've come across items I could not use because the level requirement was too high. If there were not no one could progress. If the drops are all ten levels below you then you have outleveled the content.
It is true. First of all everything doesn't come from adventuring, there is also crafting, but that is besides the point because even if it were true and everything comes from adventuring, the drops I'm getting are neither class or level appropriate. Plus once the RMAH goes live I'm sure Blizz will stock it with items that weren't neccessarily found by players adventuring. I'm currently playing act 3 of Nightmare mode and haven't gotten a class and level appropriate drop yet that is even remotely close to items I've gotten on the AH. How can I have outleveled the content? I'm playing the game solo, doing the content as its presented. To say I've outleveled the content is to say I should be level 35 doing act 3 of Nightmare mode and that is unworkable.
Long answer; Yes, due to the fact that Bashiok has stated that the item drop rate is specifically manipulated to force people to go to the auction house. Stuff is far more rarer then in diablo 2 due to accomidate the use of the auction house, and overall things in return become a lot more difficult to actually find on your own. This is something I find unfortunate, and think this idea is what screwed the pooch so to say. Part of what made Diablo 2 so fun was at least having a reasonable possibility of finding items on your own where now they have pretty much said they are forcing people to participate in the AH system (Which is fine as the RMAH is an income for Blizzard). I however think they approached it in the wrong way. Hopefully they fix some of the issues with bosses essentially not mattering and it being all about the unique mobs as well as that is rather frustrating to see little value placed on bosses.
If drops were better and the crafting system less random people wouldnt need the AH. Sadly those two aspects of Diablo 3 are broken just like they were in D2.
The problem is that the items on the AH actually CONTROL the drop rates of all the items. That just isnt cool or fun at all.
Long answer; Yes, due to the fact that Bashiok has stated that the item drop rate is specifically manipulated to force people to go to the auction house. Stuff is far more rarer then in diablo 2 due to accomidate the use of the auction house, and overall things in return become a lot more difficult to actually find on your own. This is something I find unfortunate, and think this idea is what screwed the pooch so to say. Part of what made Diablo 2 so fun was at least having a reasonable possibility of finding items on your own where now they have pretty much said they are forcing people to participate in the AH system (Which is fine as the RMAH is an income for Blizzard). I however think they approached it in the wrong way. Hopefully they fix some of the issues with bosses essentially not mattering and it being all about the unique mobs as well as that is rather frustrating to see little value placed on bosses.
If drops were better and the crafting system less random people wouldnt need the AH. Sadly those two aspects of Diablo 3 are broken just like they were in D2.
The problem is that the items on the AH actually CONTROL the drop rates of all the items. That just isnt cool or fun at all.
No it doesn't. You're twisting what Blizzard said about drops and the AH. The AH doesn't make any item drop more of less often.
the problem that exists with the auction house is that inevitably you will find better loot, and then post your old stuff on the auction house for cheap to get rid of it instead of breaking it down/selling to vendor.
This means eventually the AH becomes super flooded with high quality gear because gear never breaks, it only inevitably gets replaced.
Auction houses move the focus of this type of game from killing stuff to grinding loot.
So yes, it is bad.
The focus of the game has always been grinding loot. Killing stuff is just the predominant mechanism for grinding loot. It's not as if the mobs change the third time through a difficulty. The only real change the auction house has brought is to give people something to do with the huge amount of excess gold they get from grinding loot and allow them a better place to dispose of unawanted loot.
And the point is the dynamic of the AH has made grinding that loot a near fruitless exercise. I'm no long grinding loot because I'm looking forward to what I might get, I'm just grining for gold to spend in the AH. If there was no AH then the loot drops would matter more because Blizz wouldn't have a reason to tune loot drops to be almost useless to the actual finder of the loot.
Auction houses move the focus of this type of game from killing stuff to grinding loot.
So yes, it is bad.
The focus of the game has always been grinding loot. Killing stuff is just the predominant mechanism for grinding loot. It's not as if the mobs change the third time through a difficulty. The only real change the auction house has brought is to give people something to do with the huge amount of excess gold they get from grinding loot and allow them a better place to dispose of unawanted loot.
The AH also breaks the time/effort/reward equation in Normal, Nightmare and possibly Hell. It makes the Blacksmith and Gem Cutter completely irrelevant. Simply by existing, it has made normal grinding less likely to yield that "look what I found" moment. It does make trading easier, but it's not without significant downsides.
Auction houses move the focus of this type of game from killing stuff to grinding loot.
So yes, it is bad.
The focus of the game has always been grinding loot. Killing stuff is just the predominant mechanism for grinding loot. It's not as if the mobs change the third time through a difficulty. The only real change the auction house has brought is to give people something to do with the huge amount of excess gold they get from grinding loot and allow them a better place to dispose of unawanted loot.
And the point is the dynamic of the AH has made grinding that loot a near fruitless exercise. I'm no long grinding loot because I'm looking forward to what I might get, I'm just grining for gold to spend in the AH. If there was no AH then the loot drops would matter more because Blizz wouldn't have a reason to tune loot drops to be almost useless to the actual finder of the loot.
I disagree. I've never felt the need to use the auction house. I've always had gear capable of completing the game just not the best possible gear. There are balance issues with some classes but that's a problem with the class not the gear.
How many times do we need to poitn out that this doesn't come into effect until Hell/Infero? Of course you can get through normal mode in your crap gear, you could probably get through it without wearing any at all.
For me, what was fun was finding loot that I could actually use. You know, you drop something and feel "wow, thats nice!" and you equip it and move on. It felt great.
Now? All drops you find are basically worthless junk that is 10 level below you. You sell it to noobs (sorry) on the AH and eventually you'll have enough money to afford something nice.
Does the system work? Yes, it does. Is it fun? Hell no. I basically stopped playing already because I realized that in order to get the best gear I had to play the AH, not play the damn game.
Does the system work? Yes, it does. Is it fun? Hell no. I basically stopped playing already because I realized that in order to get the best gear I had to play the AH, not play the damn game.
I think that's it's problem in a nutshell. In a well-designed game, the path of least resistance is supposed to be the path of most fun. If camping for a rare spawn isnt fun (ala Everquest), it shouldn't be the best way to get gear. If soloing an MMO isn't fun, it shouldn't be the best way to get gear, etc.
The AH is certainly the best way to get gear. But is it fun?
I have farmed Act I inferno for 7 days without a drop which could represent an upgrade for any class. Farming Act I to go Act II, and then Act II to go Act III is not the answer, AH is (RMAH soon). I've used it, also i've prostituted myself and power-leveled a DH (fotm, not what i like but oh well) and now i am slowly but surely progressing thru Act III inferno.
The game seems "tuned" to "match" around the AH. My bet is that, if too many items of one type and ilvl are on the AH, then the droprates for those items at that level of quality is drastically decreased.
No, rolling DH or Wizard only, stacking primary stat sacrificing all defense and skirmishing thru quests to find a "farming spot" in Act III inferno is not Diablo. The people who are not trying yet to progress from Act I inferno to Act II inferno have yet no clue what they're talking about (no offense).
Ok, I'm well into Act 2 Inferno now and although it definately stepped up the difficulty, I am still able to progress through multiple stages and have taken down multiple elite groups now. I have NEVER used the AH and have been soloing the whole way. I only did a little bit of farming near the end of Act 1 in order to upgrade my bow before I was able to burn down the Butcher, but for the most part have just been playing my way through. I did find my first legendary item finally (near end of Act 1 Inferno) but it actually didn't end up helping (was slightly worse than my rare of that slot).
I did change my tactics slightly from Act I to Act II (a couple skill tweaks) and you do need decent DPS, but I've found it is still manageable and I don't recommend listening to those that say sacrifice ALL defense for DPS. In Act II you should not be one-shotted except by the avoidable hits (e.g., bomb launches, big melee swings, slower mobs). If you are getting one-shotted by unavoidable hitws you need more mitigation in my opinion.
I experimented with my equipment builds and giving up around 25-30% of my potential DPS to make sure I don't get one-shotted is in my opinion the way to go for a Demon Hunter at least. By the way, I have NEVER used Smoke Screen believe it or not LOL (other than to experiment with it a little). I think Vault is a way better get out of the way skill. Only when you are jailed is it an issue but there are some tactics to make that less of an issue.
I'm really enjoying Act II to be honest. You guys had me scared but I think maybe you need to change your tactics a bit maybe?
GW2 "built from the ground up with microtransactions in mind" 1) Cash->Gems->Gold->Influence->WvWvWBoosts = PAY2WIN 2) Mystic Chests = Crass in-game cash shop advertisements
Ok, I'm well into Act 2 Inferno now and although it definately stepped up the difficulty, I am still able to progress through multiple stages and have taken down multiple elite groups now. I have NEVER used the AH and have been soloing the whole way. I only did a little bit of farming near the end of Act 1 in order to upgrade my bow before I was able to burn down the Butcher, but for the most part have just been playing my way through. I did find my first legendary item finally (near end of Act 1 Inferno) but it actually didn't end up helping (was slightly worse than my rare of that slot).
I did change my tactics slightly from Act I to Act II (a couple skill tweaks) and you do need decent DPS, but I've found it is still manageable and I don't recommend listening to those that say sacrifice ALL defense for DPS. In Act II you should not be one-shotted except by the avoidable hits (e.g., bomb launches, big melee swings, slower mobs). If you are getting one-shotted by unavoidable hitws you need more mitigation in my opinion.
I experimented with my equipment builds and giving up around 25-30% of my potential DPS to make sure I don't get one-shotted is in my opinion the way to go for a Demon Hunter at least. By the way, I have NEVER used Smoke Screen believe it or not LOL (other than to experiment with it a little). I think Vault is a way better get out of the way skill. Only when you are jailed is it an issue but there are some tactics to make that less of an issue.
I'm really enjoying Act II to be honest. You guys had me scared but I think maybe you need to change your tactics a bit maybe?
You might want to post some of your stats and how many times you die (or if), it is quite unusual to see someone describing his inferno gameplay in this way.
I usually give up after trashing my gear (red), most often after 3-5 rare packs, the last straw of a mortar hitting me for 3x15k damage on 400 resist, something vortexes me to the center of the pack being oneshot with 30k hp + 20k diamondskin or i simply kill myself on reflect damage
Ok, I'm well into Act 2 Inferno now and although it definately stepped up the difficulty, I am still able to progress through multiple stages and have taken down multiple elite groups now. I have NEVER used the AH and have been soloing the whole way. I only did a little bit of farming near the end of Act 1 in order to upgrade my bow before I was able to burn down the Butcher, but for the most part have just been playing my way through. I did find my first legendary item finally (near end of Act 1 Inferno) but it actually didn't end up helping (was slightly worse than my rare of that slot).
I did change my tactics slightly from Act I to Act II (a couple skill tweaks) and you do need decent DPS, but I've found it is still manageable and I don't recommend listening to those that say sacrifice ALL defense for DPS. In Act II you should not be one-shotted except by the avoidable hits (e.g., bomb launches, big melee swings, slower mobs). If you are getting one-shotted by unavoidable hitws you need more mitigation in my opinion.
I experimented with my equipment builds and giving up around 25-30% of my potential DPS to make sure I don't get one-shotted is in my opinion the way to go for a Demon Hunter at least. By the way, I have NEVER used Smoke Screen believe it or not LOL (other than to experiment with it a little). I think Vault is a way better get out of the way skill. Only when you are jailed is it an issue but there are some tactics to make that less of an issue.
I'm really enjoying Act II to be honest. You guys had me scared but I think maybe you need to change your tactics a bit maybe?
You might want to post some of your stats and how many times you die (or if), it is quite unusual to see someone describing his inferno gameplay in this way.
I usually give up after trashing my gear (red), most often after 3-5 rare packs, the last straw of a mortar hitting me for 3x15k damage on 400 resist, something vortexes me to the center of the pack being oneshot with 30k hp + 20k diamondskin or i simply kill myself on reflect damage
Flame on!
I've definately come across elite packs that I can't handle very well, but to be honest certain combos have been hard at all levels for me. On Inferno if you combine Fast+Mortar+Horde+Jail = Death for me. But I would say 3 out of 4 of the elite packs I come across I can beat pretty regularly, although not always without a death or two but if they aren't fast I can usually kite them down without a death. With Vortex if you insta-vault you can escape pretty quick and with jail as long as you are far enough away at all times they don't get you in time. If they move fast I use Caltrops to keep them slow and leave spike traps behind me as I run. If they are slow I just keep my distance and nuke them down with elemental arrow and evasive fire.
The ones that do seem too tough what I do is lure them into a part of the map I already went through and when I die I just avoid that part of the map. That hasn't spoiled the game for me though, but if you are of the mindset you should be able to whip everything then I can see why you'd have an issue with it. I would bet for every build there is an elite combo that will trash it. I used to have trouble with the invulnerable minion trait until I made sure I had an attack that plowed through the whole crowd. I used to use rapid fire before I realized it couldn't handle the invulnerable minion trait so I switched to Elemental Arrow which is 100X better.
GW2 "built from the ground up with microtransactions in mind" 1) Cash->Gems->Gold->Influence->WvWvWBoosts = PAY2WIN 2) Mystic Chests = Crass in-game cash shop advertisements
Ok, I'm well into Act 2 Inferno now and although it definately stepped up the difficulty, I am still able to progress through multiple stages and have taken down multiple elite groups now. I have NEVER used the AH and have been soloing the whole way. I only did a little bit of farming near the end of Act 1 in order to upgrade my bow before I was able to burn down the Butcher, but for the most part have just been playing my way through. I did find my first legendary item finally (near end of Act 1 Inferno) but it actually didn't end up helping (was slightly worse than my rare of that slot).
I did change my tactics slightly from Act I to Act II (a couple skill tweaks) and you do need decent DPS, but I've found it is still manageable and I don't recommend listening to those that say sacrifice ALL defense for DPS. In Act II you should not be one-shotted except by the avoidable hits (e.g., bomb launches, big melee swings, slower mobs). If you are getting one-shotted by unavoidable hitws you need more mitigation in my opinion.
I experimented with my equipment builds and giving up around 25-30% of my potential DPS to make sure I don't get one-shotted is in my opinion the way to go for a Demon Hunter at least. By the way, I have NEVER used Smoke Screen believe it or not LOL (other than to experiment with it a little). I think Vault is a way better get out of the way skill. Only when you are jailed is it an issue but there are some tactics to make that less of an issue.
I'm really enjoying Act II to be honest. You guys had me scared but I think maybe you need to change your tactics a bit maybe?
You might want to post some of your stats and how many times you die (or if), it is quite unusual to see someone describing his inferno gameplay in this way.
I usually give up after trashing my gear (red), most often after 3-5 rare packs, the last straw of a mortar hitting me for 3x15k damage on 400 resist, something vortexes me to the center of the pack being oneshot with 30k hp + 20k diamondskin or i simply kill myself on reflect damage
Flame on!
I've definately come across elite packs that I can't handle very well, but to be honest certain combos have been hard at all levels for me. On Inferno if you combine Fast+Mortar+Horde+Jail = Death for me. But I would say 3 out of 4 of the elite packs I come across I can beat pretty regularly, although not always without a death or two but if they aren't fast I can usually kite them down without a death. With Vortex if you insta-vault you can escape pretty quick and with jail as long as you are far enough away at all times they don't get you in time. If they move fast I use Caltrops to keep them slow and leave spike traps behind me as I run. If they are slow I just keep my distance and nuke them down with elemental arrow and evasive fire.
The ones that do seem too tough what I do is lure them into a part of the map I already went through and when I die I just avoid that part of the map. That hasn't spoiled the game for me though, but if you are of the mindset you should be able to whip everything then I can see why you'd have an issue with it. I would bet for every build there is an elite combo that will trash it. I used to have trouble with the invulnerable minion trait until I made sure I had an attack that plowed through the whole crowd. I used to use rapid fire before I realized it couldn't handle the invulnerable minion trait so I switched to Elemental Arrow which is 100X better.
The main change when I got to Inferno was I changed the rune on Caltrops from Jagged Spikes to Hooked Spines and I am much more careful on avoiding the hits that are avoidable now (mortars for the most part are avoidable except in certain unfortunate circumstances), while making sure I have enough mitigation to survive some of the more rudimentary damage. I'm also considering changing the passive Vengeance but haven't yet...
GW2 "built from the ground up with microtransactions in mind" 1) Cash->Gems->Gold->Influence->WvWvWBoosts = PAY2WIN 2) Mystic Chests = Crass in-game cash shop advertisements
Diablo is a game about loot! Farming and Trading is the whole point and idea of the game. If you dont like this then Diablo probally isnt for you :P
Trading? What trading?
Where you trade items for gold with people or trade for other items! Ive done about 10 trades today and thats not including Auction house
Cool. I've never traded with someone yet, I always just put my stuff up on the AH so it can be automatically traded at a set amount without me having to do anything.
Little forum boys with their polished cyber toys: whine whine, boo-hoo, talk talk.
Diablo is a game about loot! Farming and Trading is the whole point and idea of the game. If you dont like this then Diablo probally isnt for you :P
Trading? What trading?
Where you trade items for gold with people or trade for other items! Ive done about 10 trades today and thats not including Auction house
Cool. I've never traded with someone yet, I always just put my stuff up on the AH so it can be automatically traded at a set amount without me having to do anything.
Yeah but your capped at 10 xD so I just decided to do some trading in chat
I've definately come across elite packs that I can't handle very well, but to be honest certain combos have been hard at all levels for me. On Inferno if you combine Fast+Mortar+Horde+Jail = Death for me. But I would say 3 out of 4 of the elite packs I come across I can beat pretty regularly, although not always without a death or two but if they aren't fast I can usually kite them down without a death. With Vortex if you insta-vault you can escape pretty quick and with jail as long as you are far enough away at all times they don't get you in time. If they move fast I use Caltrops to keep them slow and leave spike traps behind me as I run. If they are slow I just keep my distance and nuke them down with elemental arrow and evasive fire.
The ones that do seem too tough what I do is lure them into a part of the map I already went through and when I die I just avoid that part of the map. That hasn't spoiled the game for me though, but if you are of the mindset you should be able to whip everything then I can see why you'd have an issue with it. I would bet for every build there is an elite combo that will trash it. I used to have trouble with the invulnerable minion trait until I made sure I had an attack that plowed through the whole crowd. I used to use rapid fire before I realized it couldn't handle the invulnerable minion trait so I switched to Elemental Arrow which is 100X better.
The main change when I got to Inferno was I changed the rune on Caltrops from Jagged Spikes to Hooked Spines and I am much more careful on avoiding the hits that are avoidable now (mortars for the most part are avoidable except in certain unfortunate circumstances), while making sure I have enough mitigation to survive some of the more rudimentary damage. I'm also considering changing the passive Vengeance but haven't yet...
Yes, i can definitely see the advantages of 80% slow 6s vs 30-60% slow 3s i have to work with, but it is still impressive that you actually enjoy fighting stuff at the edge of the screen. I might add comments later.
Comments
No. I will use the gold AH for my AH needs. Also I like grinding for items at max level a lot more since you dont level anymore, progression on inferno is more an achievement than the stroll through normal to hell.
I have farmed Act I inferno for 7 days without a drop which could represent an upgrade for any class. Farming Act I to go Act II, and then Act II to go Act III is not the answer, AH is (RMAH soon). I've used it, also i've prostituted myself and power-leveled a DH (fotm, not what i like but oh well) and now i am slowly but surely progressing thru Act III inferno.
The game seems "tuned" to "match" around the AH. My bet is that, if too many items of one type and ilvl are on the AH, then the droprates for those items at that level of quality is drastically decreased.
No, rolling DH or Wizard only, stacking primary stat sacrificing all defense and skirmishing thru quests to find a "farming spot" in Act III inferno is not Diablo. The people who are not trying yet to progress from Act I inferno to Act II inferno have yet no clue what they're talking about (no offense).
It is true. First of all everything doesn't come from adventuring, there is also crafting, but that is besides the point because even if it were true and everything comes from adventuring, the drops I'm getting are neither class or level appropriate. Plus once the RMAH goes live I'm sure Blizz will stock it with items that weren't neccessarily found by players adventuring. I'm currently playing act 3 of Nightmare mode and haven't gotten a class and level appropriate drop yet that is even remotely close to items I've gotten on the AH. How can I have outleveled the content? I'm playing the game solo, doing the content as its presented. To say I've outleveled the content is to say I should be level 35 doing act 3 of Nightmare mode and that is unworkable.
The problem is that the items on the AH actually CONTROL the drop rates of all the items. That just isnt cool or fun at all.
No it doesn't. You're twisting what Blizzard said about drops and the AH. The AH doesn't make any item drop more of less often.
Auction houses move the focus of this type of game from killing stuff to grinding loot.
So yes, it is bad.
the problem that exists with the auction house is that inevitably you will find better loot, and then post your old stuff on the auction house for cheap to get rid of it instead of breaking it down/selling to vendor.
This means eventually the AH becomes super flooded with high quality gear because gear never breaks, it only inevitably gets replaced.
And the point is the dynamic of the AH has made grinding that loot a near fruitless exercise. I'm no long grinding loot because I'm looking forward to what I might get, I'm just grining for gold to spend in the AH. If there was no AH then the loot drops would matter more because Blizz wouldn't have a reason to tune loot drops to be almost useless to the actual finder of the loot.
The AH also breaks the time/effort/reward equation in Normal, Nightmare and possibly Hell. It makes the Blacksmith and Gem Cutter completely irrelevant. Simply by existing, it has made normal grinding less likely to yield that "look what I found" moment. It does make trading easier, but it's not without significant downsides.
How many times do we need to poitn out that this doesn't come into effect until Hell/Infero? Of course you can get through normal mode in your crap gear, you could probably get through it without wearing any at all.
For me, what was fun was finding loot that I could actually use. You know, you drop something and feel "wow, thats nice!" and you equip it and move on. It felt great.
Now? All drops you find are basically worthless junk that is 10 level below you. You sell it to noobs (sorry) on the AH and eventually you'll have enough money to afford something nice.
Does the system work? Yes, it does. Is it fun? Hell no. I basically stopped playing already because I realized that in order to get the best gear I had to play the AH, not play the damn game.
Ok, I'm well into Act 2 Inferno now and although it definately stepped up the difficulty, I am still able to progress through multiple stages and have taken down multiple elite groups now. I have NEVER used the AH and have been soloing the whole way. I only did a little bit of farming near the end of Act 1 in order to upgrade my bow before I was able to burn down the Butcher, but for the most part have just been playing my way through. I did find my first legendary item finally (near end of Act 1 Inferno) but it actually didn't end up helping (was slightly worse than my rare of that slot).
I did change my tactics slightly from Act I to Act II (a couple skill tweaks) and you do need decent DPS, but I've found it is still manageable and I don't recommend listening to those that say sacrifice ALL defense for DPS. In Act II you should not be one-shotted except by the avoidable hits (e.g., bomb launches, big melee swings, slower mobs). If you are getting one-shotted by unavoidable hitws you need more mitigation in my opinion.
I experimented with my equipment builds and giving up around 25-30% of my potential DPS to make sure I don't get one-shotted is in my opinion the way to go for a Demon Hunter at least. By the way, I have NEVER used Smoke Screen believe it or not LOL (other than to experiment with it a little). I think Vault is a way better get out of the way skill. Only when you are jailed is it an issue but there are some tactics to make that less of an issue.
I'm really enjoying Act II to be honest. You guys had me scared but I think maybe you need to change your tactics a bit maybe?
GW2 "built from the ground up with microtransactions in mind"
1) Cash->Gems->Gold->Influence->WvWvWBoosts = PAY2WIN
2) Mystic Chests = Crass in-game cash shop advertisements
You might want to post some of your stats and how many times you die (or if), it is quite unusual to see someone describing his inferno gameplay in this way.
I usually give up after trashing my gear (red), most often after 3-5 rare packs, the last straw of a mortar hitting me for 3x15k damage on 400 resist, something vortexes me to the center of the pack being oneshot with 30k hp + 20k diamondskin or i simply kill myself on reflect damage
Flame on!
i miss trade games
Little forum boys with their polished cyber toys: whine whine, boo-hoo, talk talk.
I've definately come across elite packs that I can't handle very well, but to be honest certain combos have been hard at all levels for me. On Inferno if you combine Fast+Mortar+Horde+Jail = Death for me. But I would say 3 out of 4 of the elite packs I come across I can beat pretty regularly, although not always without a death or two but if they aren't fast I can usually kite them down without a death. With Vortex if you insta-vault you can escape pretty quick and with jail as long as you are far enough away at all times they don't get you in time. If they move fast I use Caltrops to keep them slow and leave spike traps behind me as I run. If they are slow I just keep my distance and nuke them down with elemental arrow and evasive fire.
The ones that do seem too tough what I do is lure them into a part of the map I already went through and when I die I just avoid that part of the map. That hasn't spoiled the game for me though, but if you are of the mindset you should be able to whip everything then I can see why you'd have an issue with it. I would bet for every build there is an elite combo that will trash it. I used to have trouble with the invulnerable minion trait until I made sure I had an attack that plowed through the whole crowd. I used to use rapid fire before I realized it couldn't handle the invulnerable minion trait so I switched to Elemental Arrow which is 100X better.
GW2 "built from the ground up with microtransactions in mind"
1) Cash->Gems->Gold->Influence->WvWvWBoosts = PAY2WIN
2) Mystic Chests = Crass in-game cash shop advertisements
in honesty, the ah has too much influence on the game, its either farm for months or buy off the ah at inflated prices.
Diablo is a game about loot! Farming and Trading is the whole point and idea of the game. If you dont like this then Diablo probally isnt for you :P
Trading? What trading?
Little forum boys with their polished cyber toys: whine whine, boo-hoo, talk talk.
This is my build by the way:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#fRYdVS!eYb!bcaYbc
The main change when I got to Inferno was I changed the rune on Caltrops from Jagged Spikes to Hooked Spines and I am much more careful on avoiding the hits that are avoidable now (mortars for the most part are avoidable except in certain unfortunate circumstances), while making sure I have enough mitigation to survive some of the more rudimentary damage. I'm also considering changing the passive Vengeance but haven't yet...
GW2 "built from the ground up with microtransactions in mind"
1) Cash->Gems->Gold->Influence->WvWvWBoosts = PAY2WIN
2) Mystic Chests = Crass in-game cash shop advertisements
Where you trade items for gold with people or trade for other items! Ive done about 10 trades today and thats not including Auction house
OP just summed up my main issue with the game. I'm done with it.
Joined 2004 - I can't believe I've been a MMORPG.com member for 20 years! Get off my lawn!
Cool. I've never traded with someone yet, I always just put my stuff up on the AH so it can be automatically traded at a set amount without me having to do anything.
Little forum boys with their polished cyber toys: whine whine, boo-hoo, talk talk.
Yeah but your capped at 10 xD so I just decided to do some trading in chat
Yes, i can definitely see the advantages of 80% slow 6s vs 30-60% slow 3s i have to work with, but it is still impressive that you actually enjoy fighting stuff at the edge of the screen. I might add comments later.
Good luck