Poll: Diablo wants to try Diablo 3

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

So I've been eyeing up the game since I got interested in the series though Heroes of the Storm and I have a mostly free weekend to try it.
Before I download the Starter Edition, I figured I'd make this thread to get some feedback/advice before I commit my bandwidth and time.

Main thing that caught my eye was the fact it's you versus basically everything in hell as you wipe out entire armies of demons, as well as a focus on PvE rather then PvP (Least as far as I know).
Main experience I got with the game was MFPallytime's videos were it showed him playing as a Monk and punching people so hard they explode.

My Specs aren't amazing, but I don't mind cranking the settings down to low in order to play it.
It's an Windows 8 Acer Aspire V Laptop with 8GB Ram, 2.7GHz processor, NVIDA 840m with 2GB VRAM.

Outside of that, yeah, Sell me

 

[DoPo]

Wait, you haven't played any Diablo game so far? Huh, I always assumed you did, based on your nickname.

Anyway, yeah - it's pretty much PvE with your goal being to kick SatanDiablo's butt and that of its minions and other allies. The story so far is, various people have also done that throughout the years but Diablo keeps coming back. 3 times, if you haven't guessed. There isn't that much you would need from the story, though you can delve deeper, if you want to.

Relating to character creation and stuff, there are few classes you can choose from, each with different abilities and somewhat different mechanics. Broadly, each would have a "mana" stat, but each has a different implementation - the wizard's one is limited but replenishes quickly, while the monk's replenishes every few hits, the barbarian replenishes his or her stat by fighting. It's not really much more complicated than that, just giving you an idea of the differences.

Each class also has, as previously mentioned different skills and abilities, as well as different strengths and weaknesses. Since you've played HoS, then I can draw a comparison to the talens you unlock there - when you level up in Diablo 3, you unlock new "runes" relating to each skill which are mostly like the aforementioned talents. Each rune modifies the skill, only while in HoS you can get several talents related to one skill, you can only have one rune active per talent in Diablo 3. But also, each rune changes a skill much more than HoS talents, for example, a rune may change the damage done with that skill to a different element - fire or lightning, while at the same time changing how that skill behaves. Instead of shooting fire arrows as a demon hunter, you can change them to cold ones that chill or to nether ones which do AOE damage. Runes can be changed at any point in time as long as you're not in combat - you're free to experiment with what works for you the best. You can also swap them depending on the situation.

There is no PvP. Well, more or less - there is a PvP arena where you can challenge others, but it's not really that big of a thing, it's certainly PvE centric.

The vast majority of the game is killing monsters and collecting loot. What you do with the loot is to determine is it better than your gear, in which case you equip it, otherwise you sell it. And occasionally, you may want to keep something in your stash for a different character or for later or something. But that's mostly it. There is also another mode you can unlock after beating the game where you do mostly the same, only you have mini-quests called bounties - along the lines of "go to zone X and kill " for which you're rewarded with slightly different rewards in the form of shards...which you then can use to get random equipment. There also the rifts which are the end game - you open a portal to a random dungeon and kill monsters there, once done, you proceed to a higher level dungeon.

I hope that's a brief introduction to Diablo 3. If you enjoy slaying monsters and collecting stuff from them and doing that over and over again, then Diablo 3 should be right up your alley.

 

[asdfen]

shit game. The expansion made it shittier in my opinion
if you want a great online "Diablo" game play Path of Exile. You dont even have to buy it as it is free.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

Wait, you haven't played any Diablo game so far? Huh, I always assumed you did, based on your nickname.

It was actually based off a CSI: Miami Villain who ran a drug gang.
It was the episode "From the Grave" in season 4 that opened with a gang-banger jumping out a casket at a funeral before mowing everyone down with a Uzi.
This was in like '05 so I still was yet to really develop my gamer roots...or even get an internet connection.
...I was young and just liked the name ^^;

As for the rest of your post, thanks for the details.

shit game. The expansion made it shittier in my opinion
if you want a great online "Diablo" game play Path of Exile. You dont even have to buy it as it is free.

It's free? Huh, might actually check it out then, cheers.

 

[Weaver]

I disagree with asdfen; the expansion made the game actually enjoyable. I think it's a really good game now.

You may also want to check out Torchlight 2! It's a great game in the same genre

 

[DoPo]

shit game. The expansion made it shittier in my opinion
if you want a great online "Diablo" game play Path of Exile. You dont even have to buy it as it is free.

It's free? Huh, might actually check it out then, cheers.

It's free but it's not quite the same as Diablo 3. Just something to be aware of. It's much closer to Diablo 2, albeit I know that won't mean much to you. Basically, Diablo 2 and 3 have the same idea, but slightly different implementation. Same goes for for PoE - it has the same idea as Diablo (well, you're not after Satan, but whatever) yet different implementation.

PoE again needs a lot of time devoted to it and it again revolves around killing a lot of enemies. It has some a bit advanced mechanics, to it, so if you enjoy delving into those, then PoE would be really good. If you don't like to involve yourself with the math behind the game, then PoE can still work but Diablo 3 is more...let's call it streamlined where you can just focus on items that give you bigger bonuses. PoE requires some more tinkering but it can lead to some really interesting combinations by exploiting the mechanics. I'll give a brief and hopefully clear example:

There is a passive skill in the game called Point Blank which makes your projectiles do more damage the closer you are to your enemy. Well, at the same time, given that you are using projectiles you probably don't want to be really close, so it's a bit of a mixed bag by itself. There is also a unique bow which has the same trait - projectiles do more damage when you're closer, and it stacks with the Point Blank skill. If you have the bow, then you probably really want Point Blank to go with it, as they compliment each other well. But at the same time, you are much more vulnerable, since you need to be close as opposed to kiting somewhere in the back. Therein, comes another mechanic of the game - mines. Some skills just leave a mine that explodes with an appropriate effect - freeze mine, for example, freezes enemies. But you can transform any other skill into a mine using a support gem[footnote]erm, really briefly these are sort of like runes in Diablo 3, but can modify almost any skill, e.g., Faster Projectiles increases the speed and damage of projectiles but it can be applied to both ranged skills and spells, so you can buff your fireballs, for example[/footnote] so you can now, instead of shooting arrows, leave mines that shoot the arrow for you. And now, here is how it all fits together - you can now run as far away from danger as you want, since the mine is the one that does the shooting, hence if an enemy is next to the mine, they would be hit with the full bonus from both the bow's trait and the Point Blank passive. Furthermore, if you encounter enemies that do return damage to attacker, you are suddenly invulnerable to them as, again, it's the mine that shoots, so all damage return would go to it...only, once triggered, the mine is gone, so whatever. And you're there pretty safe and pretty far away.

That's just one example of different mechanics that can come together to change the entire playstyle. There are many many more. Just as a quick example, there was a build back in the day[footnote]well, it's still around but not as popular[/footnote] that exploited the following:
- a skill which is a shield and where each time you get damage, you do damage around you
- a unique that any time you curse, you also curse yourself
- a curse that slows your enemies (and you)
- a lot of movement speed increasing items
- a unique that deals damage to you based on how much mana you spent
- items that reduce the mana you spend, enough to bring your skill cost down to 1
- a whirlwind type skill that also moves you.

So, what happens now, is you zip around the battlefield like the Tasmanian devil and the entire screen is filled with explosions because you keep spending mana, that keeps damaging you, that keeps triggering your shield skill. By cursing yourself with the slowness curse, you also make all buffs on you expire slower, thus your shield lasts longer, and you offset the reduction of movement speed with getting some more from equipment.

Well, OK, those two are somewhat gimmick-y but still viable combinations. There are more that are less niche but still rely on leveraging mechanics. I should mention that you can also decide not to lump several gamechanging mechanics together and just play the game.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

Snip

So Diablo 3 is more about getting stats up while PoE is more about "Binding of Isaac" style OP combinations is what you are saying?

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Snip

So Diablo 3 is more about getting stats up while PoE is more about "Binding of Isaac" style OP combinations is what you are saying?

Diablo 3 at anything but the absolute hardcore level is mostly about finding a combination of skills you like, coupling it with some decent equipment and then kicking ass. Your attributes are not that important (it breaks down to focusing on the main attribute for your class and maxing it on your equipment) and for the first playthrough or so your equipment is not terribly important as long as you upgrade regularly.

It is a rather easy game to pick up and play, particularly if you've played any other hack'n'slash before, and the game does a decent job at teaching you the basics as you go alone. My advice? Just download it and try the Starter version, if it gets your jollies on you will like the rest of the game, if not... well, then you won't like the rest.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

Snip

Noted, just wanted to get some opinions and feedback from the Escapist crowd.
Cheers

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

You need to watch out for the lag. Diablo 3 is a online game. I was going to suggest some other diablo like games, but it sounds like your attracted to the setting more then gameplay?

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

You need to watch out for the lag. Diablo 3 is a online game. I was going to suggest some other diablo like games, but it sounds like your attracted to the setting more then gameplay?

Partly, yes.
Really love King Leoric, such an awesome design and he's pretty badass in Heroes of the Storm.

I was just getting a lot of mixed messages from the community here so I figured I'd make a thread and see what the general attitude was as well as stuff to look out for.
Like that lag thing.

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

You need to watch out for the lag. Diablo 3 is a online game. I was going to suggest some other diablo like games, but it sounds like your attracted to the setting more then gameplay?

Partly, yes.
Really love King Leoric, such an awesome design and he's pretty badass in Heroes of the Storm.

I was just getting a lot of mixed messages from the community here so I figured I'd make a thread and see what the general attitude was as well as stuff to look out for.
Like that lag thing.

The thing about diablo, is 3 isn't as good as 2, but then at the same time the diablo formula is gets done better in a game like boraderlands (and binding of issic now that someone mentioned it.)

 

[Coruptin]

It's mindless fun. If you have family or friends who can play with you, the console versions have couch co-op you guys could have fun together on.

 

[DoPo]

Snip

So Diablo 3 is more about getting stats up while PoE is more about "Binding of Isaac" style OP combinations is what you are saying?

In a way, you could simplify it down to that but it's missing some of the important aspects. Unfortunately I don't know which, if any, hack and slash loot based games you've played, if any, so I am not sure which relations I can use to explain these two better.

Really love King Leoric, such an awesome design and he's pretty badass in Heroes of the Storm.

Worth noting that King Leoric is an enemy in Diablo - actually comes from the first game but he's also in the third[footnote]And another tidbid, he was also in DotA: Allstars. In Dota 2 he was renamed to avoid infringing on Blizzard's property, and later his entire design was redone - from the Skeleton King, he became the Wraith King with appropriate changes in the way he looked.[/footnote]. At any rate, you don't play him.

I was just getting a lot of mixed messages from the community here so I figured I'd make a thread and see what the general attitude was as well as stuff to look out for.

Well, to put it simply - you would keep getting mixed messages. When Diablo 3 came out, it rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, for a variety of reasons. Over time Blizzard did change the game to address some of the complaints, others not as much. Yet, there is still a large group of people who really don't like the game. Others would swear by it. Others still fall into neither of the extremes.

If you haven't played many, or any, hack and slash ARPGs, then you are in the unique (well, or probably "rare") position to not really care about other's opinions and how it compares to others in the genre - do try the game to see if you like it. There are a lot of alternatives you can also try: Path of Exile was mentioned, as was Torchlight. These both hearken more the Diablo 2[footnote]With Torchlight being created by former developers of D2. Heck, even the story of Torchlight 1 and 2 is quite reminiscent of the first two entries of Diablo.[/footnote] but in a way, they took two different aspects of that game, so they are still distinct and not like each other. There are also the Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing games which are not bad by themselves. A somewhat recently released game that goes a similar-ish thing is Viktor Vran. And an older game you can try is Titan Quest. And since I'm here, I can also mention Hero Siege, which I'm playing right now and actually enjoy quite a lot. It's what you'd get if you cross over Diablo with Bindings of Isaac - it's vastly simpler than either of the other ones because it's stripped down to the basics - kill stuff, get loot.

At any rate, there are plenty of alternatives if you want something from the genre but Diablo 3 doesn't catch your fancy. But do give it a go - I am not sure anybody else's opinions should influence you, hence why I tried to keep to mostly information.

Like that lag thing.

Also worth mentioning, that Path of Exile has the same problem, as it's also online only. How much of a problem it would be for you is a different matter but it's definitely there.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

It's free? Huh, might actually check it out then, cheers.

I tried to get into Path of Exile. Absolutely terrible game. You get what you pay for. Looks ugly, plays ugly.

Diablo 3 had a LOT of problems at launch, many of which centered around the incredibly ill advised RMAH. It's been steadily tidying those up, and is now a pretty good time. Very slick, very nicely animated. Bit of a shallow game, but that was always the curse of the isometric action RPG.

DoPo is correct in that a lot of the people voting "no" will have been opponents of the game from launch, either due to the always online/Error 32 disaster and problems during launch week, or those who simply opposed it based on principle. Very few will have played it post expansion. It's a well made game. Wrist crippler, but a good game.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

Worth noting that King Leoric is an enemy in Diablo - actually comes from the first game but he's also in the third. At any rate, you don't play him.

Oh, I know! I was just really into the character and his play style and kinda wanted to get into the series because of that.
It's what a lot of these "Mascot Fighter" type games do, give a nice window into other games.

I haven't played many ARPGs outside of possibly borderlands so might as well try out the series everyone else is borrowing from, you know?
As for the influencing my opinion thing, just felt like getting the 2 cents of the community I've been apart for the last half a decade

The thing about diablo, is 3 isn't as good as 2, but then at the same time the diablo formula is gets done better in a game like boraderlands (and binding of issic now that someone mentioned it.)

I did play a lot of Borderlands 1 and a fair bit of 2, but once you start doing the New Game+ of 2, everything just takes SO long to die and it's nearly impossible to play solo.
Granted, Diablo might have the same issue, but when you add in the FPS side of things, it gets REALLY annoying to see every missile and headshot do next to no damage.

DoPo is correct in that a lot of the people voting "no" will have been opponents of the game from launch, either due to the always online/Error 32 disaster and problems during launch week, or those who simply opposed it based on principle. Very few will have played it post expansion. It's a well made game. Wrist crippler, but a good game.

Yeah, I heard about that, Diablo 3 was the poster boy for why DRM was bad for quite some time.
I remember there was a bunch of people who bitched about how the art style was "Look Colorful" as well...
For some reason...

 

[DoPo]

I did play a lot of Borderlands 1 and a fair bit of 2, but once you start doing the New Game+ of 2, everything just takes SO long to die and it's nearly impossible to play solo.
Granted, Diablo might have the same issue, but when you add in the FPS side of things, it gets REALLY annoying to see every missile and headshot do next to no damage.

Ah, great, since you've played that, I can use that knowledge to expand upon the differences between Diablo 2 and 3.

So, in D2, your character behaves similar to your Borderlands character, that is to say, when you level up, you get skill points which you can spend in various skills. In any of three skill trees, as well. You could go for a focused approach, as in, you max out a smaller number of skills, or you can go for a bit of a more broad approach, where you get a bit more skills but not necessarily max each, e.g., one point in a passive skill might be enough for you. In Diablo 2, you also get attribute points each level which you can use to improve the base statistics of your character. At any rate, you have your character and it's a long levelling process to get him or her to a point where they have all skills you want. You also need to do some planning into what exactly you need, thus where you spend your points[footnote]well, in Borderlands you can easily respec but D2 didn't have that option until relatively recently[/footnote]. Items then further modify your character, and you want rarer equipment that gives stats that you're after - be it more damage, or maybe more health and so on.

In D3, the entire system is overhauled: you don't get any attribute or skill points on level up. You get access to all skills, albeit not at once, you also get the runes I spoke of before, that modify the skills. The damage of the skills is based on the equipment you have, so when you pick a skill it would always do, say, 600% weapon damage and as such, it scales with the gear you get, as opposed to having to devote skill points to get the most out of your main attack. The gear itself doesn't have any requirements other than levels and for few pieces - class. However, equipment can change your character a bit more, for some sets can modify how some of your skills work, for example. Unique equipment) exists in both D2 and D3 (called "legendary" in D3) but they are a bit more rubbish in the latter than they were in the former. In D2 uniques were definitely quite good and very sought after by a lot of characters. In D3, they are not hugely different from most other gear, aside from having some maybe interesting stat that other equipment doesn't. But overall, you'd probably either pick the gear piece that has the better stats, or a set piece.

By and large, Diablo 2 had a huge impact on the ARPG genre. It wasn't the first that did what it did[footnote]even if that number in the title wasn't there, Diablo 1 itself wasn't the first game of its kind[/footnote] but it pretty much codified it and many a game tried to follow in its footsteps. There was a period where the gaming scene was getting a big surge of the so called "diablo clones". While that period passed, D2's legacy certainly lives on in a lot of games that did follow its footsteps. Some of them I've mentioned in my previous post. At any rate, point being D2 was massively popular. And then comes D3 which did change the formula a lot, even if the premise is still the same. In some ways, that was rather smart from Blizzard, because if they had just released a "diablo clone", which is to say - a game that is a lot like Diablo 2 with a sinier coat of paint...well, we have a lot of those now. Such a game would not have been really notable and while they would have had a lot of players to come in on brand name alone, I am not sure how many would have just gone "Eh, I can just play ".

On the other hand, D3 also alienated a lot of people, because of how different it was to the franchise thus far. It didn't help that there were other problems with it at and after launch, but the difference is definitely the bigger factor, as evidenced by the game changing and largely removing the other problems yet still being slandered by some for being different.

And therein lies the great divide between Diablo 2 and 3. But it's bigger than that because a lot of the ARPG games take a lot of aspects of D2, thus it's more of a divide between Diablo 3 and everything else. OK, that sounds more dramatic than it is, as D3 is still an ARPG and it still does the same but the inertia from D2 has not yet dissipated. We do have some ARPGs that do more than add in few different mechanics - and in fact, Path of Exile is one, where while it takes after D2, it's not exactly the mechanics it uses, but more the atmosphere.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

Snip

Ahhh, right, that will do nicely.
Thanks for your time mate

 

[RJ 17]

If there is indeed a Starter Edition for it then the best thing to do would simply be to download that and give it a whirl to see if you like it. Seems like DoPo has already given you a good feel for things, so I'll just offer a couple simplified thoughts:

D3 really shines if you've got friends to play with. If you don't, then much like Borderlands: it can get pretty old pretty fast. This is due to it being, at it's core, another loot-grind game. And loot-grind games are only really that fun - if you ask me - if you can show off all the loot that you did the grind for to you friends.

The neat thing is that there are NPC companions that you pick up through the campaign. As such, even if you're playing solo you can still have some support. There's a tank if you're playing a more squishy class and need a front-liner, there's a rogue that offers good dps, and there's a caster with some great supportive/crowd-control spells.

 

[Cycloptomese]

Get a character to level 10, switch over to hardcore mode and never look back. It's much more intense. I have hundreds of hours in dead hardcore characters. Oh, the times we shared.