False for you maybe. I’m very happy you think the system is more robust and satisfying than the one in D2.
It is certainly dumbed down, particularly in the first 10-20 levels. I don’t see how that is even debatable. You aren’t even given a choice regarding your skills until around level 8 or 9.
I can understand how having your character permanently configured at each level ala D2 could be a turn off to some gamers but to me that was alot of what made the game fun, particularly online and in PVP.
It’s not dumbed down because you need to make the decision about which skill to use constantly, instead of only once. You don’t decide which skill to take at each level; you decide which skill to use at each instant.
Going up against a big bad? Maybe the ice ray is what you want. Against hordes of little things? Try the arcane orb. Do you need your magic missile to do extra damage, or to split into pieces? Is it better to hit lots of folks close to you, or a medium amount of folks at medium range, or one person at a great distance?
It may be that this game is more tactical, whereas D2 is more strategic.
This. I played through the stress-test beta as a demon hunter and a bit as a monk, and didn’t find that the different attacks made much of a difference, but playing as a sorcerer (or whatever it’s called) I find myself swapping frequently between magic missile and lightning sparks as my primary attack, and the playstyle is very different between the two.
The pre-decided attribute point ratios (along with the fact that gear no longer has attribute point requirements) annoys me a lot more than the skill thing. The skills open up pretty well once you get past level 20. The stats always stay boring as hell.
The graphics are kind of underwhelming, not necessarily in quality but in style. The first two Diablo games both absolutely oozed style, relative to when they were released. This one… does not. It’s hard to make a specific argument but I was just playing Diablo II last week to prepare, and it’s still got that same awesome atmosphere and “feel”.
There’s also a lot of stuff I really like, but this is the complaining thread.
Is this the thread where I get advice on my lagging problems? Or should I make another thread? I checked the D3 fora but it’s basically just people saying (to someone with similar problems) that their PC sucks.
I think you can still have “auto attack” as one of your mouse buttons (you default with it before you get a secondary skill) but there’s no real reason since you’ll always want to be attacking with a resource-generating skill, generally.
The skill tree is definitely different. I haven’t decided how I feel about it yet. On one hand, the skill tree in D2 had problems. Almost every skill was either 1 point or 20. (A select few were worth, say, 9 points, but they definitely had a “point of diminishing returns” where there was an optimal amount of points to place in it). So I don’t mind getting away from that. On the other hand, D3’s has problems too. It’s slow and boring since every character will have the same skills starting out. Being able to switch the skill setup when you want takes away the feeling of “building” a character and being an individual. Getting the runes and passives unlocked by the end of the game will probably make it better, but early on it feels lackluster.
Skill damage in D3 is all based off your weapon damage, so … while you won’t find gear with stuff like “+1 to Fire Bolt”, EVERY weapon affects your spells.
And yes, there is class-specific gear. There are several things only one class can equip (fist weapons for Monk, mighty 2-handers for Barbarians, voodoo masks for Witch Doctors, etc).
I got lots of blues throughout Act I, and a few yellows off the big bosses. Comparable to D2. The magic find shrine is only +25%, which isn’t much of an increase when you have no MF gear. (I’m not sure how the MF calculations work yet though).
My only complaint with the graphics is that its hard to tell what’s going on sometimes, especially with Witch Doctors in the party (SPIDERS EVERYWHERE). Something about 3d graphics just not being as crisp and clean as sprites.
Yeah, you can tell in the last few years (probably from the Warcraft 3 expansion onwards) that Blizzard’s lost their good writers. WoW had some stupid ideas, SC2 had lots of bad cliche dialogue (and pretty much everyone acts out of character), and D3’s no different.
Someone tried to make the argument that there was actually MORE stat customization in D3 because it’s easier to get a lot more +stat points on items, especially with gems. I’m not buying it. D2’s stat system was definitely problematic in that half the stats were useless so everyone followed the same one or two stat builds (melee characters were STR for gear, DEX for hit/block, rest in VIT; mages were STR for gear, rest in VIT), but that should’ve been fixed by making all the stats useful instead of taking away our ability to change them.
Agree, and it might also be another side effect of the switch to 3D. Everything seems to lack a certain style…
The statement “the system is dumbed down” is pretty objective. It’s either true or false, simpliciter–not relative to individuals.
I argued that the D3 system does not require less brainpower to use. Do you think it does?
And after that level, the number of choices increases rapidly. You didn’t say that levels 8 and below are dumbed down. You said the system as a whole is. Here you’re backing off of that position?
What this has to do with the question of whether hte system is “dumbed down” I am not at all sure.
I know you said earlier that you used upwards of six skills constantly in D2, but checking around it really appears your experience is not typical. People typically, as far as I can determine, just use two or three skills in D2. It’s one of hte major complaints about the game from those who are wont to complain.
Well, those same folks could just use two or three skills in D3, too. I don’t see any sense in them complaining about the choices they made themselves.
Oh, and near as I can tell, every class has three different body slots with class-specific items, usually a main hand weapon, an off-hand item, and some other slot. Witch doctors, for instance, have ceremonial daggers, mojos (voodoo doll-type things), and masks.
Oh, no worries. The way my luck works, even if they’d only been down for 2 minutes 4 times the whole day, I would have tried to log in at the beginning of each of those 2 minute periods.
I was able to eventually get in and play for a few minutes. I liked it.
no way to turn off the minimap or at least adjust the transparency.
it’s too early to tell since my characters are all low levels, but the skill system looks fine so far. one question - does it mean there would be no reason to start, say, two barbarians?
Apparently my iMac’s video card isn’t supported (and the forum article about system requirements suggests the game won’t even launch on my machine), but with appropriate (very low) video settings the game is perfectly playable. I’ve gotten a Wizard to level 10.
My only complaint isn’t even really a complaint: I’ve been playing MMOs almost exclusively for the last 3+ years, and being completely unable to change my view/zoom took me a while to get used to again. Going back to this isometric view was a bit tricky.
You don’t think that “dumb” is relative to the individual? Are you serious or are you high? Or are you just being argumentative?
Yes. That’s what I meant by “dumbed down”. It’s impossible to make a mistake in building your character. I prefer games that don’t have OOPS buttons. Clearly you disagree so it must be your speed. Peace dude.
No. The system is dumbed down. As I said earlier it’s clearly your speed so live large!
Where did I ask a question? Are you high? I guess that’s a question.
