Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls Official!

[StarPhoenix]

Cussing? In what may be shaping up to be a kiddie-friendly game? Surely not?

@Anakha: Expect the dungeons to have been subjected to severe interior decorating....

[StarBound]

Dungeon randomization is cut nearly in half. Over world is 90-95% set meaning only some spots are random generated. I feel this is something that should be changed.

Sorry this was a mistake on my behalf.

Dungeons will be randomly generated from a set of tile designs completely. Overworld will be set with some custom patches here and there that will change events every time you play.

Thinking about World of Warcraft one thing I loved was the world events. I wont mind it if diablo 3 had a world event option for Christmas, easter and those others BUT it should be as "participate" and not forced.

[StarBound]

Ok now that I actually watched the vid on the runes and the interview I am no longer bothered by the drop of the stats or skill points.

So basicly it comes down to:
- Attributes are WoW style. They are set.
- Gear is more important now than skill trees with Diablo 2.
- Spells unlock as you level up but you have a max of 6 usable skills at all times.
- Runes changes the way spells work changing say a fireball into a fire storm, immolation shield, inferno, firewall or stuff like that.

To me this isn't dumbing down the game. I actually have to say this is placing more emphisis on customizing your character to what you want. In the interview it was said they are trying to remove the web assist and theory craft. This will not remove it infact it will be more intensified to use the right mix for the best situation. But this isn't WoW so no one is ***** and moan about why your skills are set as they are.

Sigh. So much to look forward to and so many games until we get to that point.

[Anakha56]

So my Wizard class will only have six spells? Wow so Wizards and all other magic users have become dumber great...

Locked attributes? So the game has been simplified. The fun of the first 2 games was building your character now it's a waste. Sorry I am a hardcore gamer not a "simple" console fan boy.

Gear is more important than skill trees? Means the game has been simplified. Why can't we have both like 1&2 or did the Diablo wars making the smithing character dumb like the Wizards? Did the old fighters all peg off and leave the young ones to be lazy like?

Runes change the way spells work? Again so the wizard class has been dumbed down. What happened to the gems and enchantments? Oh right the Wizard group has forgotten how to be powerful.

In the end the only thing to look forward to is a simplified game that will appeal to the masses. This is not a true Diablo game...

/when I get to my pc I will post a quote from the Grim Dawn dev that sums up what I mean.

*edit*

And here is said quote in response to this question:

RPS: The action RPG seems to be becoming more popular of late, which is great news. How will Grim Dawn stand out – what makes it unique?

There has been a growing realization in the industry, propelled in previous years by Wii sales and more recently by the astronomical success of social games like FarmVille and smartphone games like Angry Birds, that the vast scale of the casual market makes it a veritable goldmine. Publishers and developers are increasingly looking to boost their sales by attracting more of the casual market and increase their revenue by getting this larger audience to make a lot of small purchases.

To court the casual audience, developers are simplifying game systems and minimizing the potential for inexperienced players to make bad choices. They’re reducing the amount of time it takes to finish games, adding a constant stream of visible rewards for increasingly simplified achievements, and allowing players to pay for success when the effort of achieving it through the game proves too challenging or time consuming. We’ve come a long way from my childhood, where failure in most games caused you to start completely over from the beginning, to a point where it is impossible to fail in many games and in some you can just pull out your credit card when you decide it is time to win.

That is how I feel about D3 it is being simplified...

//really scratches this off my buy list...

[StarBound]

Well I am still interested.

My sorceress used only 7 spells:
1- Mana shield, 2 - Frozen armor, 3 - Lightning for prebattle buffing then I used 4 - frozen orb, 5 - hydra, 6 static charge, 7 - teleport.

That is all I ever used. Just because you play a mage with 50 different spells doesnt mean you always use them. You have your spell list, you pick the best spells as you get stronger and level up.

Spells I believe scales with your level so you will do more dmg accordingly while the physical classes will rely on getting those higher level weapons to output more dmg. With the removal of stat points I can assume the removal of armor stats needed is also removed. I always invested in str to wear better armor. This time around the focus doesn't lay there. Obviously removing stat play and skill points is a big step but I really want to see how this ends up.

[Anakha56]

Your sorceress might have been with that config but mine went a different route and therein lies the fun of gaming. You could change and customize to your hearts content. Now I only have six skills to choose from? It could be I am misunderstanding the mechanic hence the reason why right now I am trying to find more info but if this is the case then this is a huge step backward from the previous games and a huge step forward to console/simpleton market.

The removal of those key components again show the simple route. Again you went with more STR to get better armour but I preferred going with more skill and damage evasion. So yet again I lose control of how I want the character to be. How can you say that this will lead to a unique/customized character? All warriors will have the same base set and the same applies to all other characters. The only difference is where you slot in these 6 stupid runes. This is not customized at all, you do have set limits and builds. To me what will happen is Blizzard will announce after 3 months "Buy 6 more runes for only $20" and they will carry on with this system and slowly but surely Diablo will evolve into a MMORPG.

I really dont see how Diablo fans are accepting this. This is a simplified Diablo and I cant see myself enjoying it...

[StarBound]

I think your miss understanding.

Let's say at lvl1 you get 1 spell. At level 2 you get 2 more spells but you only have 2 slots to use them in. So if you played GW its like that. You get your action slots and you have your wide array of spells for it. Taking it in a Diablo 2 term you have your lvl1 talents from all the trees at lvl 1 but you can only use 1 of them on your skillbar until you change it. At lvl6 you have 3-6 new spells but can only use up to 3 or 4. So you need to be selective in what you use. And as said the runes change the spells in how they work.

I am keen to see what they come up with. But my complaint at the end of the day is gonna be if you want the best pvp build go to a website and use skill X with rune Y. I'm perhapes a but more forgiving as they mentioned they were inspired with how borderlands handled skills and weapons.

[Off-The-Chart]

you have probably watched this vid Ana, but is this what you are talking about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuKvxab1kBk

[StarBound]

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Diablo ... 13253.html

I didn't know about the lvl60 lvl cap. Sounds even more like WoW than before

I've played my sorceress and managed lvl30 on normal and lvl40 on nightmare in Diablo 2. The difficulty was extreme to me. My brother managed to beat hell with his amazon at lvl46. Lord of destruction I would end up lvl48 by the end of act5 on normal and then lvl64 on nightmare. My highest lvl was 85 but I killed baal at lvl 82 already. The expansion made a world of difference.

I like the idea of changed monsters on the maxxed difficulty level. And with WoW being as it is I can see myself getting to that difficulty and beating it.

[Anakha56]

Ah, as you said it really is getting the WoW work done it. I wont be getting this game and if I finally do it will be when it is heavily discounted. I did not enjoy WoW and I cant see myself enjoying this...

[Off-The-Chart]

hoping that on the lvl 60 cap it would mean that they will be working on something like an expansion pack for more

still looks so funny in the INFERNO vid how they mention the enemies are so strong yet they still show 1 shot kills

my bro started playing a Sorceress and he battled his butt off until he just gave up. this was on normal.

atm the only thing I am not liking is the constant internet connection, mainly because bro doesn't have yet.
if he gets that, then me and him will joll his game pap.

I am getting bit tired of FPS games and games like WoW (RPG) isn't something I enjoy.
most definitely not something I would play online for fun.

[Anakha56]

This game should be called WoWablo...

[StarBound]

Sorceresses blows until they get to lvl30. Your always saving that skill point for the next skill and sadly she is all skill based. I remembered how I battled with durial until I invested into blaze. On my 2nd play though I didn't kept everything for the final skills. Also heavy investment into glacial spike on the first play until I saw first hand the devastation that frozen orb does.

[Jonboy]

Almost there...

It seems that the long, long waiting for Blizzard's highly anticipated Diablo III will come to an end soon. According to the Dark Side of Gaming website, the official beta of Diablo III was revealed at Activision Blizzard's WebCast Analyst Day that took place on September 2nd. Blizzard's CEO Mike Morhaime said that the official beta of Diablo III will begin "later this month" with the slide show which said "Beta in Sept '11".

Source: http://news.mmosite.com/content/2011-09 ... ed_1.shtml

*Drools*

[GreyWolf]

That log-in screen looks familiar... I just can't remember what it reminds me of...it's on the tip of my tongue...

[Jonboy]

Haha, was cursing that same screen last night trying to get my SCII account working in offline mode after various log-in attempts. While it's cool to have noddy badges for the various achievements, my precious Cell C 4G bandwidth is not worth it. Now if only they could give us that option in D3.... What's that..... Blizzard hate us third-world gamers, oh, fail.

[StarBound]

If its any concellation, Torchlight 2 is being released this year, for $20, will feature single player (offline), internet play and LAN play.

No this is not a late april fools. Its been announced with the final class for TL2, the embermage. Funny that Blizzard is trying to appeal to gamers while the ex-diablo team is just doing it. And TL2 looks like its a good and decent improvement over TL1. But the price point is jaw dropping.

So I know what I will be playing when my wifi is not working

[Jonboy]

If its any concellation, Torchlight 2 is being released this year, for $20, will feature single player (offline), internet play and LAN play....

QFT! While I can almost categorically say I will be buying Diablo 3, I've been so impressed with the Runic Team's last installment of the franchise, I will be getting there's too. The only issue I have with them is the digital distribution first and retail second. I love collecting games with all the manuals and cover art etc.,so here's hoping...

Without opening a flame war, the only thing I can slate Runic for is being "1 game late" i.e. Torchlight 1 was like Diablo 1 with a modern coat of paint, and Torchlight II looks to follow suit i.t.o Diablo II. D3 on the other hand, looks like it's evolved one step further.

[Anakha56]

Without opening a flame war, the only thing I can slate Runic for is being "1 game late" i.e. Torchlight 1 was like Diablo 1 with a modern coat of paint, and Torchlight II looks to follow suit i.t.o Diablo II. D3 on the other hand, looks like it's evolved one step further.

ROFL ...

Diablo 3 evolved? Let me guess you enjoyed WoW? Just a wild stab in the dark. You think a game is evolved when you lose the ability to assign stat points the way you want? You think its evolved because of the lighter use of colours? Please tell me how Diabloe 3 is evolved? If anything it has been made simpler to appeal to the masses and console boys, its no secret that Blizzard/Activision are looking to port this console. Evolved... Thanks for the laugh mate...

[Jonboy]

Without opening a flame war, the only thing I can slate Runic for is being "1 game late" i.e. Torchlight 1 was like Diablo 1 with a modern coat of paint, and Torchlight II looks to follow suit i.t.o Diablo II. D3 on the other hand, looks like it's evolved one step further.

Please tell me how Diabloe 3 is evolved?

I don't necessarily mean change for the better now, the gameplay mechanics have changed again and aren't the same as the previous two games. No doubt the dumbed down version will appeal to the masses, but to be fair, any action RPG appeals to the dumbed-down masses anyway when compared to a fully-fledged RPG. Look, for instance, at how Bioware's games "evolved" from the mechanics of Baldur's Gate to Mass Effect. Same thing here.

[rustypup]

Diablo 3 evolved?

you forgot to mention the battle.net umbilical cord, possibility of limited save slots, lack of LAN and all the rest of the nonsense they've been practising in World-of-Silly-Customer-Base-Who-Will-keep-Paying-For-The-Same-Thing-Forever....

i especially loved the bit about their auction house charging a transaction fee... cha-ching!

[Anakha56]

I was building up to that but yeah what rusty said...

*edit*

@ Jonboy you still have failed to mention how it has evolved . All that you said proves that D3 has devolved .

[StarBound]

I have to disagree. I like the idea of how diablo 3s rune system is looking. The stupid argument always falls to "but your always online anyway" . True, telkom has only screwed up 1 day this entire year BUT I counted 6 weeks where it was impossible to game online. Say what you will about "matchmaking" and being fair but constant 500+ms and 10 second spikes is quite frankly match fixing and Hansie got his bottom handed to him for something like that.

Consolized? I doubt it and hope that is not the case. Torchlight was consolized and it got off well. I will hold my verdict of TL2 but it seems less of a gap than what Diablo 2 was to Diablo. Still you cant argue that it isnt improving alot.

Diablo 3 on the other hand is "true" 3D for the first time. The rules of random generated stuff changes a bit. But I still don't see why you can't have a single player only part to the game. If you have to log into battle.net for the game activation after an install thats ok. But consistantly being online is a problem.

We'll see how it turns out. Shouldn't be too long. Diablo 3 betas are starting soon.

[Anakha56]

Not so always being online is a small problem for me. For me its the WoW graphics and the WoW gameplay that destroys it for me oh and before I forget the WoW shop. All that is needed is a yearly subscription fee and voila its WoW. Everything I have seen about this game has a WoW look to it, it does not provoke the old Diablo feeling. Instead I am left with a feeling of ... disappointment.

Torchlight was first PC then Console so the mechanics and game play is PC first. Diablo 3 looks to be going both at the same time with a slight delay for the console launch. So who knows what effect targeting the Console gamers had on the decisions made for Diablo 3...

I reckon Blizzard/Activision's meeting went something like this:

<All developers seated at a table with Bobby at the head>
Bobby: Guys our forecasts show that WoW is going to decline in the next few years. We need more money, what are our options?
Employee: More expensive gear for WoW?
Bobby: How is that going to get more people into the game?
Employee 2: A new story involving necromancy, dragons and a furry?
Bobby: Could work, could work...
Employee 3: Resurrect Diablo?
Bobby: Excellent! Now how can we save money?
Employee 1: Use the WoW developers and mechanics with the WoW engine?
Bobby: Brilliant! Get the man a drop of coffee! We will just apply some spin on the project and everyone will lap it up as a new improved game!
Employee 3: How about a game shop where we can bleed more money from the public?
Bobby: <locked in a day dream swimming in money...

-------

Meh I am over Diablo 3 and have canceled my pre-order. I might buy it when(if) it reaches bargain bin level...

[StarBound]

What if the end boss is Bobby? And you team up with diablo, baal and mephisto then a portal opens from Azeroth and all the horde and alliance leaders comes to help you kill him. ...would you buy the game then?