Diablo III - It's official

[Grall]

Ok, got my WD up to 70 today, did some solo rifts etc to gear up a little (no time to stop and check out gear in multiplayer games...), hit Paragon 15 or so, and throughout the entire game, through all the zones and levels I progressed through, I haven't found A SINGLE SET of dagger + mojo that is better than a two-hander that wasn't several levels higher than the twohander.

Whatta...!

Is that how it's going to be all the time? Just equip a big honking two-hander or else be screwed, DPS-wise, in a game that's basically all about DPS?

 

[Malo]

You'll definitely find better as you go, and it's not all about the damage stat either, it's not the complete picture of how much damage you do. You should gradually refine your character over the new few Torment levels as you gain better and different equipment, especially when you get into sets and need to replace other gear to better balance.

Keep in mind that the damage indicator on your character stats doesn't take into account elemental damage. So if you have a dagger and mojo with poison damage and bonus poison, it may not be better on paper but in reality it's going to be a lot more lethal. You learn to test out different setups and skill/passive combinations and find the best balance between survival, utility and damage output.

 

[Grall]

Ok, so the character screen lies to us again. Wow, why am I not surprised?

Why even have a DPS indicator if it's not anywhere near accurate and just tricks you? Blah.

 

[Malo]

It's a guide for basic use, not for Diablo players wanting to get the most out of their characters. Diablo has a very player-friendly aspect to it for learning but if you want to rise up Torment levels, you have to go beyond simple hand-holding.

 

[homerdog]

How hard would it be for them to at least improve the dps preview thingy? It is totally wrong almost 100% of the time, usually not anywhere remotely close to the true dps.

 

[Grall]

if you want to rise up Torment levels, you have to go beyond simple hand-holding.

I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to say.

It's like you're driving a 24-hour race car wishing to have functional windshield wipers and your team mechanic/management replying "if you want to rise up through the ranks, you have to go beyond simple hand-holding".

This is a fundamental piece of information. It's not a test cheat sheet or something like that. If the character screen is not accurate it tricks people into making the wrong decision about how to gear their character. If the game does not provide accurate information about the state of your character, and instead you have to rely on third party sources of information on the internet, then you're Not Doing It Right as game designers.

 

[pcchen]

How hard would it be for them to at least improve the dps preview thingy? It is totally wrong almost 100% of the time, usually not anywhere remotely close to the true dps.

I think currently the attributes not factored in the DPS preview are those which depend on how you play, e.g. + fire damage. Since it's difficult to know exactly how a player would use his/her skills, a simple "DPS" number estimation is impossible. However, a set of DPS numbers (e.g. fire DPS, lightning DPS, against elites DPS, etc.) will be easy to calculate and much more useful.

I wanted to make a DPS estimator for Diablo 3, but back then the API did not give out the exact attributes on your items, so it's hard to make an easy-to-use UI (it'd be very cumbersome to require an user to enter all attributes each time a potential upgrade dropped). I don't know the API's current status though.

 

[AlphaWolf]

About all they could do is put up the damage of every skill taking into account all of the gear you have. That still wouldn't really give you a clue on a lot of abilities because of all the procs. If you really want to find out more about your character damage there are quite a few user made guides available in the bnet forums.

 

[Malo]

You can't allocate an elemental damage to the dps really unless you factor in your entire skill set as well in the algorithm. Elemental damage bonus only occurs on skills used with that element. Is impossible to truly calculate how much damage you can do with your skills aa it's so dependant in the players skill themselves.

 

[Grall]

The game could run a bunch of simulated attacks through the algorithm, using set bonuses and whatnot when applicable and display for each skill. The player only has six skills at most, so it wouldn't require that much screen space. It'd be better than the lies we have now anyway.

 

[Pressure]

Anyone doing seasonal characters?

As you start from scratch, I figured I might as well start one in the Americas region.

 

[Malo]

I have seasonal DH, first time on that class so figured I'd try one out on seasons. I'm only 54 at the moment though. The small amount of time I've had to play Diablo I've primarily played my barb.

 

[Grall]

I would suggest just biting the apple and getting your butt up to 70, for the custom transmog if nothing else, since those pieces will be unattainable once the season ends.

 

[Malo]

I would suggest just biting the apple and getting your butt up to 70, for the custom transmog if nothing else, since those pieces will be unattainable once the season ends.

Yeah when they posted the stuff about Season 2 over the weekend I figured I'd better at least get 70, if not try for the season 1 legendary items as well. They guarantee 30 days notice, which they haven't given yet, so I know I'm good for 5+ weeks at least.

 

[Grall]

You don't need to get the legends during the season though, those will be rolled into the standard pool of equipment drops once the season ends. ...But maybe you knew this already.

 

[Malo]

You don't need to get the legends during the season though, those will be rolled into the standard pool of equipment drops once the season ends. ...But maybe you knew this already.

I remembered something like that but wasn't sure whether it was immediately or not once the season ended. Good to know, thanks!

 

[Grall]

Ugh, how depressing. I looked at Adventure Mode here in europe the other day, and granted that it was before noon on a weekday, there were ZERO people playing anything below torment 2, and only torment level that had more than like 7 people playing it was torment six (it had 53 people playing...) I can barely handle T3 on my best char, and even then I get wasted a lot by elite packs.

 

[PenguinJim]

Oh, hello.

I miss the Templar's heal, but I seem to have a little less downtime now, and it's certainly helpful when Elites get hexed.

(Just a 1080P shot as I was playing on my little laptop in the office)

 

[Lefungus]

rant:
I'm really disappointed about announced changes. I believe Ancient Legendaries is a bad idea, which is only there to add mindless grinding.
I understand they try to make the game live with few resources, but still.
For example, I never got any Starmetal Kukri ever, so let's not talk about the ancient version.
I can't start a new toon, because I shudder at the amount of playing time needed to get required gear, and play with advanced builds which is where the fun is for me.
For example, being able to play Jade WD is quite time-exhausting. If you don't get the legs, you don't get the gameplay. Lots of other builds looks fun, like the Archon wizard or the Holy Shotgun Crusader.
And let's not talk about the console version which looks more and more like a quick money grab. Hacked items are rampant, it's impossible to play without known friends, and lots of stuff is missing, like seasons

 

[Grall]

Seasons and stuff IS coming to consoles, though. They verified this at Blizzcon just the other week.