So, the attribute doesn’t actually help the boss itself, but makes all of the minions completely invulnerable for as long as the boss is alive? That’s an interesting twist. Can you still leech from them?
Okay. I thought about opening a new thread, but that just seems like it would be one D3 thread too many on the front page. Don’t want to annoy the non-gamers :). But now that everyone had had a full weekend to digest the game, I have a question.
Is it the game worth it for the single-player experience alone?
I tend not to do co-op/multi-player in any game. Fine way to catch a social disease if you ask me ;). I was a big fan of D1 and D2 SP and was really looking forward to D3, but this online thing has soured my initial enthusiasm quite a bit. I’ll probably give in and get it eventually anyway, because the allure of the franchise is just too strong to resist. But I’d appreciate opinions from those who have dabbled in single-player. Frustrating? Fun? Re-playable? Heavily gimped relative to co-op?
My thanks in advance to any who reply.
I’ve only played single player so far. About half way through Act I. I’ve even avoided the auction house and everything. I think it’s definitely worth it. It feels balanced correctly, not difficult per se, but the number of enemies feels correct for one character to me.
I’m running two toons right now, a Singleplayer Witch Doctor and a Multiplayer Barbarian (soon to add an MP Wizard when my other friend gets around to playing).
I like them both. I certainly would play D3 just as a singleplayer game if my friends didn’t want to play. After Act I, the difficulty ramps to a point where it’s nicely challenging IMO. I monster through things because I’m a walking group in and of myself (3-4 Zombie Dogs, a gigantic zombie thing, my follower [currently the sorc] and my little old self, with my snare combo power set), but it’s still fun.
Digital C, PM incoming in a moment 
I play it exclusively single player - like JRagon, I haven’t even checked the AH - and I think it’s really fun. It’s a BIT easy, but I’m only halfway through Act II. Great atmosphere, great graphics, lots of things to see and do and blow into gooey bits. It’s Diablo, and it’s a kick. I’m getting my money’s worth and then some.
Single player was big fun (my disappointment with the boss fights notwithstanding - and the final fight is definitely fun).
It’s very, very pretty. Lots of particle effects, framebuffer warping, etc. Well thought-out story, too. Normal mode is easier than D2 normal mode but nightmare seems about as tough as D2 nightmare.
I’m in ACT III now, and it’s definitely my favorite Act so far. Everything just seems to have a great sense of urgency. This game is getting hard, though. I’m not a veteran gamer, so Normal mode is kicking my ass. I haven’t had this much fun or been this addicted to a game since I first discovered RPGs. (Champions of Norrath.) Saturday I played 8:30 am to 10pm. (Admittedly a bad idea.)
I went to the Diablo 3 forums, today, just to see what I could learn. The people posting there are out of their everloving minds. The level of intensity, of anger they were conveying over this game (and at the end of the day, folks, that’s all it is) was just unreal. I don’t understand why you would dedicate so much time and effort to something you hate.
Nope. They’re immune to everything but die when the boss dies.
Personally, I would recommend a hybrid approach: Play single-player for as far as you can, but don’t be afraid to ask for help if you get stuck on a particularly tough boss. In principle, you can just go back and level up more before trying the boss again, but in practice, that can be hard enough to not be much fun.
That’s not fair; you have to remember they’re mostly teenage boys.
…okay, you’re right. They’re out of their everloving minds.
Most of them are pirates, raging over the fact the game hasn’t been cracked, and Blizzard’s policy of a truly online experience for Diablo 3 is getting in the way of their thievery.
That’s pretty much 100% distilled untruth.
The most common complaints I’ve seen on the forums are:
The game is too easy.
The game is too hard.
Class X is underpowered
Class X is overpowered
I got hacked and now everything is gone!
I can’t log on / servers are down
The lag is terrible
There should be an offline mode
Skills are dumbed down
Skills are fine, quit whining
Auto-stats are a tool of the devil
Auto-stats are fine, quit whining
Everyone who says there should be an offline mode is a whiner
Everyone who says they were hacked is a whiner
Everyone who says the lag is bad is a whiner
Everyone who says their class sucks needs to learn to play
In short, there are numerous complaints, and complaints differ greatly from player to player. Truly, the forums for any Blizzard game are a wretched hive of scum and villainy. But I’ve never seen any reason so conclude that desire to pirate the game is a primary concern to the people who dwell there. Most of the people there already own the game - why would they care about pirating it?
Also a popular complaint:
Itemization sucks / Legendaries are worse than Rares
This is also not related to piracy in any fashion.
Agree here. Mostly because the Blizz forums only let you post under your battlenet login, IIRC. Which yes, is free and anyone can sign up for, but if someone’s posting and posting about the game but doesn’t have it attached to the battlenet login that they’re using to bitch about it, Blizz may have a bit of a looksee at that and try to find out what up with that.
I’m almost done with Act I going solo and I’m loving it. No regrets at all. I say get it.
Hmm, I was going by what I’ve been reading on other forums, and it might very well be true that it’s not about piracy on the Blizz forums.
But just about everywhere else, it pretty much is.
It’s all they talk about, how the DRM ruins the game and how Blizz should die for implementing it!
Translation - I’m a cheap bastard and I can’t pirate this game!!! F the world!
I am in act 2 and have great fun going solo. although you really aren’t solo since you have the followers. I am using th rogue and I want him to shut up. :rolleyes:
having followeres in solo is very helpful as he can “see” further and better than I can. If he is still shooting at something while I am waitingf for all of the carnage to settle, I know I have something else to kill. He doesn’t do a lot of damage but he is helpful.
I will say also I am not a supergamer and so I died a coiuple of times in the first act so all of the people who are saying the game is too easy need to power through and let us poor schlubs have the begininng to get up to speed.
They also point out if there’s an elite monster group nearby, which is useful (either to seek out for greater treasure, or to approach cautiously). Though sometimes if it’s busy that warning doesn’t come until you’re halfway through fighting them.
Meanwhile, I’ve noticed something funny about gem scaling. Using the numbers from Diablo Wiki, but organized into a table, we have
Quality Ruby/Topaz/Emerald helm Ameth helm Ruby weapon Topaz weapon Emerald weapon Ameth weapon Stat
1 chip
2 flawed 7% 6% 4-8 3 15% 3 10
3 9% 7% 8-16 6 20% 6 14
4 flawless 11% 8% 10-20 10 25% 10 18
5 perfect 13% 9% 11-22 15 30% 15 22
6 radiant 15% 10% 12-24 30 35% 25 26
7 square 17% 11% 13-26 50 40% 35 30
8 f. square 19% 12% 14-28 100 45% 65 34
9 p. square 21% 13% 15-30 200 50% 105 38
10 r. square 23% 14% 16-32 350 60% 190 42
11 star 25% 15% 17-34 600 70% 300 46
12 f. star 27% 16% 18-36 900 80% 400 50
13 p. star 29% 17% 19-38 1250 90% 500 54
14 r. star 31% 18% 20-40 1800 100% 600 58
Looking at this, some things advance linearly or close to it, while others advance exponentially or close to it. Hence, for instance, a radiant star amethyst in a helm is three times as effective as a flawed amethyst in a helm, but a radiant star amethyst in a weapon is 200 times as effective as a flawed amethyst in a weapon. And really, the discrepancy is even worse than that, since all of the helm mods are a percentage increase to some other number, so upgrading the amethyst in your helm isn’t actually going from a factor of 0.06 to 0.18, but from 1.06 to 1.18 . The “other item” effects (which are all increases to one of the four main stats) are not quite as absurd, but still close: At the flawed level, the leech from a weapon amethyst gives you life equal to 3% from what you get from an “other item” amethyst, but at the radiant star level, the leech from a weapon amethyst gives you life a bit greater than what you get from an “other item” amethyst.
Does anyone else think this looks really screwy?