Frankly I've expected more changes, more customization options. At least runes, charms or equivalent stuff, game changing items, permanent choices - skill points to distribute would have been excellent, but I guess that would have been too big of a change. I've expected some "points" to be gained and spent on enhancing some skills at least. Let me guess, still limited to (now with the new class) 6 character slots, as there's no point in having two of the same class? Meh.
Today I've leveled a witch (theoretically, a caster) through normal difficulty in Path of Exile, playing with a bow and with ranger gear and skills. And traps. It was incredibly fun, different, challenging. For me, Diablo was not about difficulty. Was not about how "hard" that boss / pack was. It was about character customization. Obviously, I'll buy the expansion and play it until I get bored. Unfortunately, as it's clear to me that, after some point, there will be only grinding and zero (meaningful) character advancement and customization, There's no point in starting a "new barb" to try "something new". That was a big part of the old Diablo. I won't give this expansion more than 2-3 months. Diablo III changes are good, but not good enough.
Originally posted by SBFord The game takes a lot of skill, Tommymannen. Don't think it doesn't. There's so much more strategy involved in fighting monsters than before. It goes way beyond HP and damage.Honestly, I never said that D3 is the, how did you put it? "The King of the ARPG". I started internet gaming with the original Diablo (which also shoots your "new generation gamers" theory as well) and continued on to D2. I have both a hardcore level 99 D2 Amazon and a hardcore 99 D2 Barbarian, among lesser softcore 99s. I know how to play the game, trust me.D3 was a decent ARPG. It is now a better ARPG with a good future ahead of it.You really should try it, get in on the beta, before immediately trashing it without truly knowing anything about the xpack. Just sayin'.
he was obviously trolling you, yes it is the king of the ARPG genre, if it isn't i would love to hear which game is.
diablo has always been the king of the ARPG. every ARPG i have ever seen people say is better i have tried and disagree with. POE is the closet thing that compares and is a good game but still not as good IMO, especially in the game play and "clunkyness" department, plus its a diablo rip off in spirit anyways.
that doesn't mean D3 does not have its flaws, some they are fixing with this expansion and some they are not (pvp for example)
pvp is a huge reason why i played D2 for as long as i did so i am a little discouraged that they are not addressing it at all but i am still exited to see how the game will turn out after the expansion.
Originally posted by Redemp Wait.... I have to purchase an expansion to fix Diablo 3's obvious mistakes? So discounting all the "corrections" is there enough content in this expansion to even it call it one? One new class and adventure mode, is that it for this expansion? Am I missing a deluge of content, why in seven hells would I give Blizzard money to fix their mistakes, not just mistakes but clear greed in designing the entire game around the RMAH? Really .... why should I purchase an expansion to fix the game?
No all the changes are given for free with a pre-xpack patch. New loot system, new paragon levels system , removal of AHs, new difficulty modes and all the base changes really. You need the expack if you want to progress beyond lvl 60, play in act V and play with crusader. LoD had one more class and that's the only difference from this expansion content-wise.
Originally posted by Siveria Did they fix the boring gameplay? having 0 real choices on how your char advances? Because they were 2 major issues why I disliked the game so much. I found d3 boring, because it felt like an onrails shooter to me, since I had bascally 0 say in what skills i got as I leveled up. Games like torchlight, d2, path of exile all allow you freedom in what you choose. I doubt i'll buy the expansion unless these issues are fixed. d3 never really has impressed me or invoked any "this game is good"-type feelings from me.
New paragon levelling lets you allocate your skill points however you want. If you want talent trees tho, you are still out of luck. Personally i prefer this system over it and yes i was a D2 player too.
Originally posted by Redemp Wait.... I have to purchase an expansion to fix Diablo 3's obvious mistakes? So discounting all the "corrections" is there enough content in this expansion to even it call it one? One new class and adventure mode, is that it for this expansion? Am I missing a deluge of content, why in seven hells would I give Blizzard money to fix their mistakes, not just mistakes but clear greed in designing the entire game around the RMAH? Really .... why should I purchase an expansion to fix the game?
No, all the gameplay changes and even the new gameplay modes will be patched in for free. The xpac is for the new zone, class and crafter.
Can't wait to get my hands on it. There were lots of things I liked about vanilla Diablo 3, but also a few things I hated with a passion. The cool thing is that my 2 major gripes (AH and the tedium of running the same chapter again and again and then 10 times more) are both gone in RoS. Can't wait to try bounties and nephalem rifts.
Thanks for the article! I just wanted to comment on something so as to not give people the wrong perception on difficulty:
I started going through the content with my monk and I didn't have amazing gear, but it was pretty decent. However I tried at Master difficulty (one above your expert) and didn't have much challenge until maybe level 64 or 65 when it started getting really interesting. I totally understand that the gear makes a big difference and all that, but I don't want people to see "multiply it by a thousand" and think they are in for a huge epic challenge from 60-70. Particularly those who are super geared up and used the auction house extensively. For them, they may not find difficulty at all in the expansion.
So my analysis so far is: It is HUGELY fun, and it gets SUPER challenging at times (which feels great)...but I don't think I'd multiply the difficulty by more than 2x of what it was in standard D3 inferno. Hope that makes sense!
Disclaimer: This is not a troll post and is not here to promote any negative energy. Although this may be a criticism, it is not meant to offend anyone. If a moderator feels the post is inappropriate, please remove it immediately before it is subject to consideration for a warning. Thank you.
Originally posted by Siveria Did they fix the boring gameplay? having 0 real choices on how your char advances? Because they were 2 major issues why I disliked the game so much. I found d3 boring, because it felt like an onrails shooter to me, since I had bascally 0 say in what skills i got as I leveled up. Games like torchlight, d2, path of exile all allow you freedom in what you choose. I doubt i'll buy the expansion unless these issues are fixed. d3 never really has impressed me or invoked any "this game is good"-type feelings from me.
While the base skills are the same, it will no longer be a cookie cutter type build for every class. There's a lot of viable different combinations now.
Still, those who hate D3 for whatever reason probably won't like this either because of inherent bias. Oh well. :P
I've NEVER understood the argument that there is zero skill choice / character advancement in Diablo 3.
Yeah, there are cookie cutter builds for classes, but they are not required by any means and you can really experiment with crazy fun combinations and builds that are unique and quite effective.
Skill choice, skill runes, passives... I've NEVER felt Diablo 3 was lacking in character spec-building. You could take the exact same skills and passives and just by swapping runes have an entirely different play style.
My only real beef(s) with Diablo 3 pre-RoS are: getting gear sucks, AH or bust (which is being fixed) and I know the new system works as it was great fun on Xbox 360.
and #2 grinding through the story, which is also getting fixed thanks to Adventure Mode.
maybe #3 no Paladin class - also fixed w/ Crusader.
I agree. People talk about games such as D2, TL2, or PoE as if they have such amazing customization, when the reality of the situation is that, unless you have a ton of time to reroll characters because the build you tried sucks & can't be changed due to the inflexible skill system, you're going to be using a template. Period.
Always liked D3, and I can't wait for all the changes & fixes to come along and make it even better.
I do have one question for Ms. (Mrs?) Ford though: Can you dodge attacks? Not the dodge-roll thing from consoles, but if I run halfway across the screen from a mob before its attack animation finishes, do you still take the hit? As it currently works, if you're within a mob's attack range when it begins its attack (the ones with large 'tells' being the exception), then you get hit even after running away.
That design decision is by far the most idiotic one in the history of ARPGs, period. It's also the only one which truly upset me; and Jay Wilson deserves to be pelted with rotten vegetables because of it.
So has that completely nonsensical & moronic design decision been fixed for the PC as it has been for consoles, or are we still stuck depending on our in-game 'dodge' stat to avoid attacks?
AN' DERE AIN'T NO SUCH FING AS ENUFF DAKKA, YA GROT! Enuff'z more than ya got an' less than too much an' there ain't no such fing as too much dakka. Say dere is, and me Squiggoff'z eatin' tonight!
We are born of the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes are yet to open. FEAR THE OLD BLOOD.
Hearing "It's simply that good" for RoS has no impact on me right now. It's what was said about D3, which turned out to be a mediocre game at best. All I am feeling now is "here the hype machine goes again." I doubt D3 will ever be fixed enough to be the classic I had looked for.
Give us a fresh ladder reset option and I'm probably in. Otherwise, it's not really worth the time as there are better ARPGs out there even after their announced changes.
PoE is free. With D3 you need to buy the original, then buy the expansion to get a fun game. Truly, what's really entertaining about Blizzard's games is the people who buy them.
Originally posted by Alalala PoE is free. With D3 you need to buy the original, then buy the expansion to get a fun game. Truly, what's really entertaining about Blizzard's games is the people who buy them.
I have to agree with this. PoE is a far superior game in every sense of an ARPG, but some people like being the one receiving the whipping, so who knows. To each their own.
Oh, and you should replace 'fun game' with 'average game'.
So, the game is crap, dont buy anything else and learn your lesson people!
The updates stopped this early summer, with a "class balance" patch, which changed nothing important. (usual Blizzard tweaks).
By the end of the year the Eu server was almost deserted and Blizzard just keeps advertising about switching to consoles, thank God the expansion promoting campaign started so they can actually have something less embarrassing to talk about.
Oh and for the sake of fairness, mmorpg.com dont delete my posts because they reveal the truth about D3 and are not in line with your brain-washing the readers.
They're not advertising 'switching to consoles'. They're just advertising the console version of the game.
The truth about D3 is that the game has plenty of players, and neither the US nor EU servers are the ghost towns people such as yourself keep trying to tell us they are. Millions of people are enjoying the game as it is now, and will enjoy it even more once the flaws have been fixed.
Cry all you like, but the fact of the matter is Diablo 3 was, is, and will continue to be a successful game long after you and the people like you have finally gotten bored of bashing the crap out if it and left those of us (the millions) enjoy a quality (but admittedly flawed) ARPG.
Originally posted by Coated
Originally posted by Alalala PoE is free. With D3 you need to buy the original, then buy the expansion to get a fun game. Truly, what's really entertaining about Blizzard's games is the people who buy them.
I have to agree with this. PoE is a far superior game in every sense of an ARPG, but some people like being the one receiving the whipping, so who knows. To each their own.
Oh, and you should replace 'fun game' with 'average game'.
PoE is a solid game, and I'll admit you can't beat it for the price. Don't fool yourself though; the combat is by far clunkier, desync issues still abound (only a real issue in hardcore), the passive skill tree's depth is completely illusory, the active skills are incredibly generic (with a few exceptions), the graphics aren't nearly as good (some areas have a nice ambiance though) & the camera doesn't zoom out enough, and the drops are even worse than D3's can be on a regular basis (went from 10-27 or so without an upgrade).
I guess some people like inferior games though, so have fun I guess. I'll stick with a game worth actually charging money for.
AN' DERE AIN'T NO SUCH FING AS ENUFF DAKKA, YA GROT! Enuff'z more than ya got an' less than too much an' there ain't no such fing as too much dakka. Say dere is, and me Squiggoff'z eatin' tonight!
We are born of the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes are yet to open. FEAR THE OLD BLOOD.
If they release this for free to World of Warcraft subscribers, I'll probably get the expansion.
Otherwise it simply isn't worth it to me. Even for free, Diablo 3 was far from an impressive game, and while Blizzard has been pulling a Microsoft in backpedaling over almost everything they originally said was so "great", they aren't fixing the issue, just patching up the symptoms the issue caused.
That being the ridiculous, useless DRM. The fact that these (compared to Blizzard North) hacks claimed that offline gameplay for Diablo 2 was a terrible, terrible decision proves just how shallow their knowledge is. When they made World of Warcraft, they didn't take the RTS guys to do it, they had people familiar with MMOs to begin with working on the game. Yet they decided to take their RTS guys and have them make an ARPG. And what do you get?
A bunch of entitled individuals who, instead of taking some friendly criticism (if you call him saying he wouldn't of gone the way they did with the game "criticism") by one of the more well known ORIGINAL devs for Diablo 1 and 2 to heart, choose to start blatantly insulting him in public for no reason whatsoever. Links for anyone curious of it below.
I don't see a point in respecting any developer who does that. I don't see them actually acknowledging the crux of Diablo 3's issues. And I don't see a point in spending $30+ on this, when both Torchlight 2 and Path of Exiles have both proven to be much more diverse, and all around friendlier game to fans of the two actual Diablo games. The fact that PoE is free, and Torchlight 2 has mod support and a strong base behind it certainly doesn't help either.
quick edit:
I'd just like to add in though. The only "new and improved" D3 would be the console version. You can play with a keyboard and mouse on, say, the PS3 while also not being punished for having spotty internet at times the way the PC does. There is absolutely no excuse to force a player to be online if they only want to play alone.
Originally posted by Siveria Did they fix the boring gameplay? having 0 real choices on how your char advances? Because they were 2 major issues why I disliked the game so much. I found d3 boring, because it felt like an onrails shooter to me, since I had bascally 0 say in what skills i got as I leveled up. Games like torchlight, d2, path of exile all allow you freedom in what you choose. I doubt i'll buy the expansion unless these issues are fixed. d3 never really has impressed me or invoked any "this game is good"-type feelings from me.
While the base skills are the same, it will no longer be a cookie cutter type build for every class. There's a lot of viable different combinations now.
Still, those who hate D3 for whatever reason probably won't like this either because of inherent bias. Oh well. :P
Inherent bias? they fixed jack shit in the expansion by the looks of your write-up, I guess it's your inherent bias that makes you think this is a good expansion and a good game. They added HP and damage to the bosses, gave new gear some more +hp, +dmg and whatever stats have you. Your old gear doesn't work, as it's out of date, no wonder the game is "hard", you don't have the GEAR to kill them. [mod edit]
You should never say d3 has been the king of the ARPG, it's been a failure [mod edit]
The gameplay was absolute crap, [mod edit]
New generation gamers, gotta love 'em. If there's no-one holding your hand, it's total crap.
Just want to point out that even though there are people of the opinion that Diablo 3 is terrible, you vote with your wallet. Diablo 3 sold more copies then all of the recent ARPGS combined in less then a month. Regardless of you, my, or anyone elses opinion; that makes it the king of ARPGs.
Comments
Frankly I've expected more changes, more customization options. At least runes, charms or equivalent stuff, game changing items, permanent choices - skill points to distribute would have been excellent, but I guess that would have been too big of a change. I've expected some "points" to be gained and spent on enhancing some skills at least. Let me guess, still limited to (now with the new class) 6 character slots, as there's no point in having two of the same class? Meh.
Today I've leveled a witch (theoretically, a caster) through normal difficulty in Path of Exile, playing with a bow and with ranger gear and skills. And traps. It was incredibly fun, different, challenging. For me, Diablo was not about difficulty. Was not about how "hard" that boss / pack was. It was about character customization. Obviously, I'll buy the expansion and play it until I get bored. Unfortunately, as it's clear to me that, after some point, there will be only grinding and zero (meaningful) character advancement and customization, There's no point in starting a "new barb" to try "something new". That was a big part of the old Diablo. I won't give this expansion more than 2-3 months. Diablo III changes are good, but not good enough.
I may give it a shot so long as having some arcane orb spamming twat isn't the only way to get through inferno on a wizard.
I loved energy twister. Please save the tornaders.
are all weapons good or still some are way better?
for example the DH , bow is weapon to avoid because it sucks vs everyother weapon (dual 1h or even Xbow)
he was obviously trolling you, yes it is the king of the ARPG genre, if it isn't i would love to hear which game is.
diablo has always been the king of the ARPG. every ARPG i have ever seen people say is better i have tried and disagree with. POE is the closet thing that compares and is a good game but still not as good IMO, especially in the game play and "clunkyness" department, plus its a diablo rip off in spirit anyways.
that doesn't mean D3 does not have its flaws, some they are fixing with this expansion and some they are not (pvp for example)
pvp is a huge reason why i played D2 for as long as i did so i am a little discouraged that they are not addressing it at all but i am still exited to see how the game will turn out after the expansion.
Smile
No all the changes are given for free with a pre-xpack patch. New loot system, new paragon levels system , removal of AHs, new difficulty modes and all the base changes really. You need the expack if you want to progress beyond lvl 60, play in act V and play with crusader. LoD had one more class and that's the only difference from this expansion content-wise.
New paragon levelling lets you allocate your skill points however you want. If you want talent trees tho, you are still out of luck. Personally i prefer this system over it and yes i was a D2 player too.
No, all the gameplay changes and even the new gameplay modes will be patched in for free. The xpac is for the new zone, class and crafter.
http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/08/22/diablo-3-to-get-new-features-for-free-in-pre-expansion-patch/
Could play on console, feels very good - very fluid.
Why would you want WASD for a point and click game?
Hi Suzie,
Thanks for the article! I just wanted to comment on something so as to not give people the wrong perception on difficulty:
I started going through the content with my monk and I didn't have amazing gear, but it was pretty decent. However I tried at Master difficulty (one above your expert) and didn't have much challenge until maybe level 64 or 65 when it started getting really interesting. I totally understand that the gear makes a big difference and all that, but I don't want people to see "multiply it by a thousand" and think they are in for a huge epic challenge from 60-70. Particularly those who are super geared up and used the auction house extensively. For them, they may not find difficulty at all in the expansion.
So my analysis so far is: It is HUGELY fun, and it gets SUPER challenging at times (which feels great)...but I don't think I'd multiply the difficulty by more than 2x of what it was in standard D3 inferno. Hope that makes sense!
Disclaimer: This is not a troll post and is not here to promote any negative energy. Although this may be a criticism, it is not meant to offend anyone. If a moderator feels the post is inappropriate, please remove it immediately before it is subject to consideration for a warning. Thank you.
Well considering Arcane orb sucks and Energy Twister is a key part of the Wizards most op build you could just boot up current D3 for that.
I agree. People talk about games such as D2, TL2, or PoE as if they have such amazing customization, when the reality of the situation is that, unless you have a ton of time to reroll characters because the build you tried sucks & can't be changed due to the inflexible skill system, you're going to be using a template. Period.
Always liked D3, and I can't wait for all the changes & fixes to come along and make it even better.
I do have one question for Ms. (Mrs?) Ford though: Can you dodge attacks? Not the dodge-roll thing from consoles, but if I run halfway across the screen from a mob before its attack animation finishes, do you still take the hit? As it currently works, if you're within a mob's attack range when it begins its attack (the ones with large 'tells' being the exception), then you get hit even after running away.
That design decision is by far the most idiotic one in the history of ARPGs, period. It's also the only one which truly upset me; and Jay Wilson deserves to be pelted with rotten vegetables because of it.
So has that completely nonsensical & moronic design decision been fixed for the PC as it has been for consoles, or are we still stuck depending on our in-game 'dodge' stat to avoid attacks?
AN' DERE AIN'T NO SUCH FING AS ENUFF DAKKA, YA GROT! Enuff'z more than ya got an' less than too much an' there ain't no such fing as too much dakka. Say dere is, and me Squiggoff'z eatin' tonight!
We are born of the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes are yet to open. FEAR THE OLD BLOOD.
#IStandWithVic
Hearing "It's simply that good" for RoS has no impact on me right now. It's what was said about D3, which turned out to be a mediocre game at best. All I am feeling now is "here the hype machine goes again." I doubt D3 will ever be fixed enough to be the classic I had looked for.
Hope I am wrong - don't think I am.
Yeah Id have to agree.The Game is nowhere near a fail.The expansion looks awesome too.
I have to agree with this. PoE is a far superior game in every sense of an ARPG, but some people like being the one receiving the whipping, so who knows. To each their own.
Oh, and you should replace 'fun game' with 'average game'.
They're not advertising 'switching to consoles'. They're just advertising the console version of the game.
The truth about D3 is that the game has plenty of players, and neither the US nor EU servers are the ghost towns people such as yourself keep trying to tell us they are. Millions of people are enjoying the game as it is now, and will enjoy it even more once the flaws have been fixed.
Cry all you like, but the fact of the matter is Diablo 3 was, is, and will continue to be a successful game long after you and the people like you have finally gotten bored of bashing the crap out if it and left those of us (the millions) enjoy a quality (but admittedly flawed) ARPG.
PoE is a solid game, and I'll admit you can't beat it for the price. Don't fool yourself though; the combat is by far clunkier, desync issues still abound (only a real issue in hardcore), the passive skill tree's depth is completely illusory, the active skills are incredibly generic (with a few exceptions), the graphics aren't nearly as good (some areas have a nice ambiance though) & the camera doesn't zoom out enough, and the drops are even worse than D3's can be on a regular basis (went from 10-27 or so without an upgrade).
I guess some people like inferior games though, so have fun I guess. I'll stick with a game worth actually charging money for.
AN' DERE AIN'T NO SUCH FING AS ENUFF DAKKA, YA GROT! Enuff'z more than ya got an' less than too much an' there ain't no such fing as too much dakka. Say dere is, and me Squiggoff'z eatin' tonight!
We are born of the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes are yet to open. FEAR THE OLD BLOOD.
#IStandWithVic
If they release this for free to World of Warcraft subscribers, I'll probably get the expansion.
Otherwise it simply isn't worth it to me. Even for free, Diablo 3 was far from an impressive game, and while Blizzard has been pulling a Microsoft in backpedaling over almost everything they originally said was so "great", they aren't fixing the issue, just patching up the symptoms the issue caused.
That being the ridiculous, useless DRM. The fact that these (compared to Blizzard North) hacks claimed that offline gameplay for Diablo 2 was a terrible, terrible decision proves just how shallow their knowledge is. When they made World of Warcraft, they didn't take the RTS guys to do it, they had people familiar with MMOs to begin with working on the game. Yet they decided to take their RTS guys and have them make an ARPG. And what do you get?
A bunch of entitled individuals who, instead of taking some friendly criticism (if you call him saying he wouldn't of gone the way they did with the game "criticism") by one of the more well known ORIGINAL devs for Diablo 1 and 2 to heart, choose to start blatantly insulting him in public for no reason whatsoever. Links for anyone curious of it below.
http://www.gamebreaker.tv/pc-games/that-loser/
http://static.strategyinformer.com/r/game_images/thumbs/647x/0134/0026975.jpg
I don't see a point in respecting any developer who does that. I don't see them actually acknowledging the crux of Diablo 3's issues. And I don't see a point in spending $30+ on this, when both Torchlight 2 and Path of Exiles have both proven to be much more diverse, and all around friendlier game to fans of the two actual Diablo games. The fact that PoE is free, and Torchlight 2 has mod support and a strong base behind it certainly doesn't help either.
quick edit:
I'd just like to add in though. The only "new and improved" D3 would be the console version. You can play with a keyboard and mouse on, say, the PS3 while also not being punished for having spotty internet at times the way the PC does. There is absolutely no excuse to force a player to be online if they only want to play alone.
You say this like a Diablo game ever had good pvp. I am glad that it is not part of the game and hope they never waste time putting it in.
Just want to point out that even though there are people of the opinion that Diablo 3 is terrible, you vote with your wallet. Diablo 3 sold more copies then all of the recent ARPGS combined in less then a month. Regardless of you, my, or anyone elses opinion; that makes it the king of ARPGs.