Diablo III - It's official

[Silent_Buddha]

BTW - if any here use dual wielding. It isn't very intuitive how it works. Unless you are using the normal unskilled attacks, then weapon damage for the off-hand weapon isn't used at all. Dual Wielding has the following effects.

1. Main hand weapon is the base damage for skill attacks.
2. Offhand weapon is only used for stats and modifiers.
3. Increases attack speed.

So on my monk, for example, I use a high DPS sword or axe (due to not finding any monk weapons with high DPS) combined with a crafted monk weapon with max +Attack and heal 5 hp per spirit spent. For max DPS and not worrying about healing, another option is to keep crafting the rope fist (or potentially any other 1 handed weapon) until you get high +Attack combined with +damage or +attack speed.

Also rings with +X-Y damage combined with +attack on gear can lead to some absolutely ludicrous attack damage.

I have a feeling with min/maxing of gear, everything up to Inferno is going to be ridiculously easy as Blizzard still have to balance for non-min/maxers.

Then again I haven't tested extensively with other classes yet. Maybe non-monks will use off hand damage alternating with main hand damage, but it didn't seem like it when I finished the demo with the DH and Barb. As well, the character sheet only ever displays one base DPS value even when looking at the advanced window.

Oh, and Rapid Fire for Demon Hunter is OP as hell. You can melt the skeleton king in 2-3 seconds with it.

Regards,
SB

 

[I.S.T.]

And a new reply for something I find interesting.

D3 is apparently setup with all gameplay being run on a dedicated server, like Guild Wars. Or like an MMO. So all items, all enemy AI routines, all combat, everything is resolved on Blizzards servers and then the results are sent back to your computer.

So, unlike SC2 which just did online ownership verification, D3 is going the MMO route with everything handled by the Blizzard servers with your client just serving as a graphics front end.

That has quite a few implications.

1. Pirating is going to be extremely difficult if not impossible for quite a while. Not only do the pirating groups have to come up with a login emulator, they have to come up with the server emulator, the AI routines, the combat routines, the loot routines (items, stats, drop rate, etc.), basically everything. Presumably since the AI routines aren't exposed to the internet, the pirate groups will have to code their own AI routines. Likewise with anything else the requires computation to resolve (like combat and skill use).

2. It's impossible to play the game without an internet connection unlike SC2 (which validated your ownership then you could play however you want for a certain amount of time until it pinged the server again for validation which also made it easier for piraters to crack) until a dedicated server emu is released.

3. If you have a bad internet connection (WiFi in an area with lots of wireless traffic is one good example) then you'll have a highly variable gaming experience. Anyone that plays MMO's (or Guild Wars) will already be familiar with this phenomena. But people that have limited experience with those types of games may be in for a bit of a surprise.

Going to be interesting to see how this developes.

Regards,
SB

So, it's basically an MMO. Sigh. Blizzard, just charge a monthly fee or add items to buy, and stop insulting our intelligence.

 

[snarfbot]

i am experiencing irrational feelings of loss, and betrayal.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

So, it's basically an MMO. Sigh. Blizzard, just charge a monthly fee or add items to buy, and stop insulting our intelligence.

Sort of, it's running on an MMO type of platform. Or at least the MMO framework of how combat/loot/AI/etc. is resolved. Heck, even level layouts are streamed from the server. I've been playing it almost exclusively on my wireless connection to simulate the worst possible gaming environment for D3. And when my wireless decides to have a lengthy lag spike or drop connection all together and I'm in a dungeon. I can actually run far enough that a corridor, for example, just stops with nothing displaying or being rendered after a certain distance.

Basically the online ownership verification style of anti-piracy wasn't quite good enough at stopping or at least greatly delaying pirated copies from floating around for SC2. Hence, they've taken it a step further for D3.

In theory, having to emulate an entire MMO type server (and releasing an easy to use one at that) in order for pirated copies to come out move it from a few days/weeks to crack to potentially one or more years. And then you faced with the specter of never being able to have an up to date crack if there are changes internally on the server (which don't require client changes) for balance reasons, etc.

And, of course, with an MMO type of server emulation it is unlikely they'll ever get it "exactly" right (AI, etc.), but it would allow for custom AI and whatnot.

The drawback obviously is there's no possible way to have an offline mode unless you go with a Hellgate: London system. Where you have seperate Offline and Online clients. But then not only does that defeat the whole anti-piracy initiative, but if it's anything like Hellgate: London the offline client will lag significantly behind the online client in terms of patches, and especially in terms of any changes internally on the server side.

It's also why there are so many people being invited in the D3 BETA. They need to stress those servers as much as possible in hopes of mitigating the inevitable launch problems that all MMO's have with high initial server load. The last wave of invites caused so much stress that it was constantly crashing the servers for a couple of days. Imagine if that had been launch day.

The big problem I see with the BETA, however, is you need to constantly invite new people to stress it. The amount of content is low enough that many people stop messing around with the BETA after a few days so server load drops drastically until the next wave of invites. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if the pool of BETA applicants was in the millions. So a few 10's of thousands of invites periodically probably won't be a problem.

Regards,
SB

 

[Reznor007]

Diablo3 just works like Diablo2 Battlenet support did. If you played D2 online the Blizzard servers ran all the monster and world generation stuff, and as mentioned for D3, if your connection dropped, you could eventually run to the edge of the world your PC has received so far, and monsters all stand still until you get more state updates.

It worked fine for D2 so this is hardly anything new.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

It is different in that it is the only mode available. No AI, no level data (except perhaps the static overworld), no item data, etc. reside on the client as far as I can tell. It's all graphics related on the client side.

As well, since the levels are streamed in as well, you don't just have monsters standing around. The world just...ends. It's pretty amusing when it happens. What I find odd however, is that unlike MMO's which save all of your progress up to the point you lose connection with the MMO server, in D3, if you lose connection it's quite possible to find your character state is from minutes ago. On the first night I got into the BETA, I lost 2 yellows that way. Got them from killing the skeleton king, warped to town, lost connection, and came back to character state from about 2-3 minutes before I killed him.

What was even stranger was that I was flagged as killing the Skeleton king, so when I went and actually killed him, I got only blues. Hopefully things like this get ironed out before launch. Heck, achievements were crashing the D3 servers, hence they are disabled again.

Regards,
SB

 

[John Reynolds]

I've seen similar weirdness, but I keep reminding myself that it is a beta and the game is still months away from launch.

 

[Grall]

Has anyone run D3 on a Mac yet? Preferably one with sandybridge graphics. I'm really curious how it runs on such a setup.

 

[Reznor007]

It is different in that it is the only mode available. No AI, no level data (except perhaps the static overworld), no item data, etc. reside on the client as far as I can tell. It's all graphics related on the client side.

As well, since the levels are streamed in as well, you don't just have monsters standing around. The world just...ends. It's pretty amusing when it happens. What I find odd however, is that unlike MMO's which save all of your progress up to the point you lose connection with the MMO server, in D3, if you lose connection it's quite possible to find your character state is from minutes ago. On the first night I got into the BETA, I lost 2 yellows that way. Got them from killing the skeleton king, warped to town, lost connection, and came back to character state from about 2-3 minutes before I killed him.

What was even stranger was that I was flagged as killing the Skeleton king, so when I went and actually killed him, I got only blues. Hopefully things like this get ironed out before launch. Heck, achievements were crashing the D3 servers, hence they are disabled again.

Regards,
SB

Yeah, similar stuff would happen in D2. Monsters would only appear as far away as your client received data for, but they would just be walking in place or standing in idle animations. When that would happen you would end up d/c'ing or if you are unlucky enough, the game would resync, and monsters/etc would speed move to catch up to the current server state, generally with you being dead some distance from where you were standing.

And having a sort of rollback like that can happen even in normal MMO's. While playing wow I've seen the server get unstable and crash resulting in a 1minute rollback. That's extremely rare though.

 

[Dresden]

New update made it so signature abilities don't require Arcane Power anymore, with the wizard. Spectral blade spam GO! My favorite ability.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

I've seen similar weirdness, but I keep reminding myself that it is a beta and the game is still months away from launch.

Aye, that's why I'm so glad that Blizzard have enough cash that they can do extended BETA testing without feeling the need to release due to funding getting low. Just imagine if this was a developer who had to rely solely on their publisher for developement funds?

New update made it so signature abilities don't require Arcane Power anymore, with the wizard. Spectral blade spam GO! My favorite ability.

Bleh. 15 levels after receiving a signature spell, it was going to become free to cast anyways. I kind of liked that particular game mechanic. The spell is difficult when you first learn it but as you get practice you eventually get to the point where it requires no thought or effort to cast.

Regards,
SB

 

[Valzic]

After playing through the monk and witch doctor and it was so easy (no deaths), I watched the Blizz Con sessions on difficulty and leveling.

Basically what the beta is testing is equivalent to tutorial mode. After level 10 the game changes a lot so they say. The Skeleton King is equivalent to Blood Raven from D2 and they may be holding back some stuff to not spoil it for us when the game is released..

Up to level 10 Mana and rage etc and other requirements are basically unlimited. Once you hit level 12 the first skills for mana management are aquired and from what they say, its will be requirement to start managing gear/skills etc to survive.

Using the Blacksmith and making gear in beta makes you basically invincible. But we all know that as we wizz through level 10 etc we typically use the equipment we find versus wasting time making gear for a character who will be progressing fast. So its kind of fake right now.

I will try all the characters over the next while. Might as well take advantage of the beta. So far I love the game and see the potential for lots of fun.

 

[KKRT]

After playing through the monk and witch doctor and it was so easy (no deaths), I watched the Blizz Con sessions on difficulty and leveling.

Basically what the beta is testing is equivalent to tutorial mode. After level 10 the game changes a lot so they say. The Skeleton King is equivalent to Blood Raven from D2 and they may be holding back some stuff to not spoil it for us when the game is released..

Up to level 10 Mana and rage etc and other requirements are basically unlimited. Once you hit level 12 the first skills for mana management are aquired and from what they say, its will be requirement to start managing gear/skills etc to survive.

Using the Blacksmith and making gear in beta makes you basically invincible. But we all know that as we wizz through level 10 etc we typically use the equipment we find versus wasting time making gear for a character who will be progressing fast. So its kind of fake right now.

I will try all the characters over the next while. Might as well take advantage of the beta. So far I love the game and see the potential for lots of fun.

I want to believe, really i want, but achieving only 30 dps [which is really first medicore weapon and ring with +attack/damage] make a beta a cake walk, literally You just one/two hit everything in Your way. I think the only challenging section [without boosting Your char with items] is killing columns and fighting with archers before Skeleton King, because they deal quite high dps, and by challenging i mean You have to dodge attacks and use health orbs/potions from time to time.

And what make me dont believe in what You just said? Because with just blacksmith's gear and good weapon/rings You can boost Your dps to around 200 in beta! Its 10x time more that You actually need and in D2 npcs health and dps output havent scaled as fast, You basically started with 5-10 damage and after act 1 You had like 100 at best. In D3 after act 1 [so probably lvl 15-17] You will have like 500-700dps easily with almost unlimited resources.

 

[Grall]

Please don't randomly capitalize words inside sentences... It's extremely distracting while reading.

 

[Richard]

So... I've been rather busy and with so many games to play I kinda forgot about it but I noticed I have a D3 beta invite on my account. I'm 99% sure I won't be playing D3 because of the [strike]always online DRM[/strike] ability to jump into the ladder with my SP character so my question is: is it worth trying the beta?

 

[Malo]

Did you really enjoy playing D2? If so, then yes. The beta content is very short but you get a good grasp of all the new features they've added into D3.

 

[hoho]

ability to jump into the ladder with my SP characte

Unless I missed sarcasm tags there, why is that any bother to you? It's not like you can hexedit save games to give your char whatever you want.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

So... I've been rather busy and with so many games to play I kinda forgot about it but I noticed I have a D3 beta invite on my account. I'm 99% sure I won't be playing D3 because of the [strike]always online DRM[/strike] ability to jump into the ladder with my SP character so my question is: is it worth trying the beta?

The BETA is free, and if you rush through it, then it takes at most 30-60 minutes to finish it. Worth it just to see what's up even if you don't plan on buying the retail version, IMO.

I've already adjusted my expectations of the game being worse in many ways than D2. Even so I don't see many other games coming out that will be as fun, even if it doesn't have as much long term value as D2 did. Then again much of D2's long term value came in the LOD expansion, so we'll see how things go.

Regards,
SB

 

[Grall]

I seriously doubt D3 will be worse in any major way than D2; there were a LOT of shortcomings in D2, from really big ones like terrible skills/skill tree options for basically all classes (and druid especially), awful class balance in many popular builds (multizon, hammerdin and so on), medium flaws like awful modifiers on random bosses (msleb, anyone? ), or anything with teleportation back in the day. Then all the little irritating quirks like the shitty pathfinding that caused you to get stuck/wobble back and forth because your toe got caught on the corner of a chest or a tiny pebble on the ground...on and on like that. Hundreds of more or less irritating flaws and glitches.

...Oh, and let's not forget when you are playing inventory tetris and socket a flawed gem into your super-rare socketed unique piece of gear by mistake... Bummer, eh!

D3 seems to be more polished on the whole, but I guess that remains to be seen. Oh, and according to that supposed leaked roadmap that appeared on the net a year plus ago now, there's going to be three expansions for D3 and not just one. So I'm hoping this is actually true, coz...that'd rock. I love expansions for games I like. I got 4 WoW collector's edition boxes to prove it, and a fifth on pre-order.

 

[I.S.T.]

Honestly I don't think a game like Diablo should have more than one or two expansion packs. You can over do this kind of thing. If the amount really is gonna be three, then it just screams MMO in sheep's clothing even more. Aside from The Sims series, I'm having trouble thinking of a single player game with that many expansions or more... DLC not withstanding simply because those aren't really expansions in the classical sense(They add some, not a fuckton of content 90% of the time)

Unless we're dealing with a Starcraft 2 kind of deal where technically each game is a stand alone expansion. That's a whole other deal.