Diablo 3...

[Shadow Wolf]

She dreads the bees or wasps......

I think the thing I love most about the Monk is the rune that lets them teleport to a target to punch it. It makes those things the bee wasps shoot so much less threatening. And then the 7 side kick, almost makes me wish I could make their skin green so I could name one Picollo after the DB/DBZ character. But the yellow clothes was enough to get named Gong after the Shining Force monk. I'm gonna try to get through Nightmare with him today.
I am curious though about the person from Blizzard who said getting to the 99th Paragon level will take about as long as getting a character to level 99 in D2, and what the slope of required experience increasing looks like because it took quite awhile just to get to the first one, with a heafty increase to get to the second. Or maybe it goes up faster later on, IDK, but it took me about the last quarter of act 5 Hell and almost all of Act 1 Inferno just to get to level 1.

Bottom line. If you find playing Diablo 3 a bit dull, try playing it in hardcore mode. Trust me, it livens things up... just a tiny bit... especially once the characters are getting "up there".

I still get too much lag to mess with hardcore characters. I'd like to, but I know that while occasionally fighting a group of monsters it will happen that they will suddenly stop and then resume in hyper-speed a few seconds later. I guess there is at least one thing that is still very much in common between D2 and D3.

As far as the game itself goes, I think my biggest complaint is just how easy Diablo is in this one, and you even get two large rocks that shield you from some of his attacks and some classes can use to have a tremendous advantage that makes the title Lord of Terror seem out place. I'd prefer how it was in D2 where you was either ready and killed him or he'd overwhelm you and you had zero chance against him.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

And now I'm having problems getting connected again. Guess I'll get back to backing up all my data so I can wipe my hard drive. But once I do that I'm going to install Ubunto. But I'm also looking for a server emulator so I can play it offline and not worry about having to get connected to a game I rarely play with others anyways.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I'm about to just give up. Now I'm getting the patch update loop when I try to log on.

 

[YmirGF]

I'm about to just give up. Now I'm getting the patch update loop when I try to log on.

I'd be reinstalling my OS... Which OS are you currently using, btw?

 

[YmirGF]

Semi-weekly update:

The Hardcore Dynamic Trio is now sitting pretty at Paragon Level 9.

The demon hunter was a breeze... no real problems.
The monky was also fairly routine... no real problems, but not quite as easy as the DH.
The barbarianette... well... was a tough slog. Considering she has to go up and kill each thing becomes a bit tedious.

Also, as an experiment, I dropped back to Hell mode to see what the points were like, at this level, and am happy to report that Acts 3 & 4 both generate loads of points - even at Paragon L8... with the added benefit that it is ALMOST impossible to get killed in Hell mode, at this stage. (The barbarianette barely noticed Diablo's "attacks", but thanked him for the spoils of their exchange.)

At this rate, I will soon eclipse my highest non-Hardcore characters... but it will be awhile before I am happy to report them all hitting Paragon 10.... the Barby might end up getting "shelved" due to the extreme tediousness of getting further experience.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I'd be reinstalling my OS... Which OS are you currently using, btw?

For now Windows 7, but I'm looking to put Ubunto on my computer.

 

[YmirGF]

Semi-weekly update.

Demon Huntress/Barbarianette and Monkette are all now Paragon 10.
Also... the new Wizard is 1/2 way to Paragon 1 and blasting through Hell still (He is one buff little bugger, LOL.)
Last, but not least, the newly minted Witch Doctor, DrWitch, is 24 and heading down to Belial in normal.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I am finally once again able to log back onto D3. I think over the weekend I may give WoW a break and resume having my Monk punch and kick his way through everything and leaving a pile of bodies in his wake.
I am though beginning to see the auction house as a way of significantly cheapening the game, as there may be times when you'll have to resort to it in order to advance (such as how I had to so I could get my Sorcs DPS high enough to beat The Butcher on Inferno) because drops that have good stats are so rare.
I also tend to strongly frown upon games in which strategy alone is not enough, and you have to have gear that can do enough damage to proceed. I could have easily beaten The Butcher on Inferno with the staff that I had at the time, but I still needed another minute or two by the time all the fire traps go off. But because the time is limited, and I rarely find anything actually worth using, defensive based strategies need not apply which greatly annoys me.

 

[YmirGF]

Semi-weekly update.

Demon Huntress/Barbarianette and Monkette are all now Paragon 10.
Also... the new Wizard is 1/2 way to Paragon 1 and blasting through Hell still (He is one buff little bugger, LOL.)
Last, but not least, the newly minted Witch Doctor, DrWitch, is 24 and heading down to Belial in normal.

Semi-monthly update:
I finally got rid of all my softporn, err, softcore characters and now have only hardcore.

Monkette, Barbarian are both at Paragon 10 and finished Act 1 of Inferno.
The Wizzy and Witch Doctor are both Paragon 3 and 1/2 way thru Act 1 of Inferno.
The Witch Doctor had no problemo with the Skelly King... whatsoever...

My "mules", one from each class are now between either 56 or 57 and all are in Act 2 of Hell. I am running them all in tandem, and it gets a bit tedious, lol.

Lastly, the Demon Huntress is now at Paragon 17 and still has yet to stick a toe into Act 2 of Inferno. The points in Act 1, what with the Monster Power thingy, makes it easy to level her with little effort. She had a near death experience in Act 4 of Hell a few weeks ago. Poor thing got cornered by some brutes who were trying to crush her. Killed her helper. She had to run like the wind to stay alive. When she regained her follower and composure, she went back an annihilated anything that moved and a lot more that looked sort of suspicious. It taught her a valuable lesson though and I'm just glad it was at Monster Power Zero... otherwise she probably would have bought the farm.

 

[The Neo Nerd]

Is it just me.

Or is the Diablo fight really simple?

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Is it just me.

Or is the Diablo fight really simple?

I thought it was terribly dissapointing. Easily the easiest Diablo fight of the three. And yet I still see people die off like cattle to the slaughter when I play online. I was first hoping for a good battle like D2, but was sadly disappointing when I realized in D3 he moves slower, he doesn't launch a barrage of attacks and the attacks themselves are slower, and having two constantly recharging health shrines makes it an infernally boring fight.

 

[YmirGF]

Is it just me.

Or is the Diablo fight really simple?

Diablo is unusually simple. Getting to Diablo, after battling Isual can be far more perilous, especially in Hell and Inferno modes.

By far, my greatest problems have been with dual mode monsters - specifically Frozen and Arcane. In softcore, this is merely annoying, whereas in Hardcore mode it can be quite devastating. Just lost my L58 Demon huntress last week in act 2 of hell to the above. She had low resists, but due to her ranged attacks it was rarely, if ever, a problem. That is, until she got caught in a corner with Arcane Turrets blinking to life all around her when the Frozen bomb went off. It adds a new depth to the word helpless - as you just sit and watch them die.

Oh well, her gear was all in the stash, so I didn't lose any treasure, other than what she and her follower were using. The weird bit was this was the 5th time I had been tooling around in that area in two days and had not had a problem with any of the other classes. Not to worry though... with 29+ million gold on hand, her replacement is now at the end of Act 2 Nightmare and just turned 43.

My playing bud, Shelley, has not had it so good. She lost her L56 Witch doctor in the sewers in act 2 of hell, only to lose its replacement standing around too long in a poison cloud at L9. Then she started a Demon Hunter who was doing fine till she went to the bathroom while standing on top of a fire vent, in the dungeons in act 1. My character tried hosing her down, but alas, it wasn't meant to be... apparently... Anywho... her latest Witch Doctor is now L11 or something... *sigh*

 

[I.S.L.A.M617]

Diablo 3 is booboo... I miss my conviction/holy frost aurakill Barb from LoD.

 

[The Neo Nerd]

I thought it was terribly dissapointing. Easily the easiest Diablo fight of the three. And yet I still see people die off like cattle to the slaughter when I play online. I was first hoping for a good battle like D2, but was sadly disappointing when I realized in D3 he moves slower, he doesn't launch a barrage of attacks and the attacks themselves are slower, and having two constantly recharging health shrines makes it an infernally boring fight.

Hell mode is turning out to be a far more interesting game.

You actually have to use strategy even for some of the mini bosses.

 

[The Neo Nerd]

By far, my greatest problems have been with dual mode monsters - specifically Frozen and Arcane. In softcore, this is merely annoying, whereas in Hardcore mode it can be quite devastating. Just lost my L58 Demon huntress last week in act 2 of hell to the above. She had low resists, but due to her ranged attacks it was rarely, if ever, a problem. That is, until she got caught in a corner with Arcane Turrets blinking to life all around her when the Frozen bomb went off. It adds a new depth to the word helpless - as you just sit and watch them die.

My most hated enemies are those ones that come in threes and shoot a chain between them. I almost always get taken down with them.

 

[YmirGF]

Hell mode is turning out to be a far more interesting game.

You actually have to use strategy even for some of the mini bosses.

Blizzard explains that both Normal and Nightmare mode are merely prep to get you used to what is to come in Hell mode. Hell mode is a prep course for what you can expect in Inferno mode. The game is meant to be played in Inferno mode.

In Inferno mode, for example, it is not unusual to get hit with three boss packs simultaneously. :help: That IS hair-raising... especially in hardcore mode where there is zero room for error.

 

[YmirGF]

Diablo 3 is booboo... I miss my conviction/holy frost aurakill Barb from LoD.

I played D2 since the day it was released in Canada, almost daily until the release of Diablo 3. Some things get old...
That said, my array of Hammerdins was pretty impressive, although I always had a soft spot for Holy Freeze pally's.

 

[I.S.L.A.M617]

I played D2 since the day it was released in Canada, almost daily until the release of Diablo 3. Some things get old...
That said, my array of Hammerdins was pretty impressive, although I always had a soft spot for Holy Freeze pally's.

Yeah, if they made a Jamella's for D3 I might change my opinion. I really only play for PvP, and D3 is seriously lacking in that department.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

It turns out all those connection problems I had where problems with my ISP. However, D3 has just gotten so old, so fast, that I just have no interest in playing it right now, and it will probably be months before I feel like playing again. The maps are not nearly as random, the fights much easier, and it was just so too many steps backwards from D2. D2 IMO is video game crack, very addictive, very fun, and will keep you coming back for more. D3 is more like bath salts. Looks kinda like the real thing, feels kinda like the real thing, but is so far from the real thing and so lacking that after a good hit you are left wanting more and disappointed that the first time wasn't even really that good.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I rented D3 on the PS3. I haven't played the PC in awhile to know if drop rates have changed, but it seems damn near every random spawn book, NPC, event, and location have spawned at a rate that far exceeds that of the PC version. That I am aware of, there has only been one item (the item for the staff that drops from Leorics fireplace) that has not spawned. You also start with some alright magic items to help get you started. I'm also not sure if you can roll in the PC version, because if you can I haven't noticed.
The game itself looks better on my computer, although the game itself I have to admit plays like a action RPG that was designed for console. Now that I am playing it with a controller instead of a mouse, the game play parallels to other console-based action RPGs (Champions of Norath, Baulder's Gate Dark Alliance, D&D Heroes, etc.) cannot be denied. It's also sucks how you can spawn at your corpse, which makes it much easier. But although it's still not a great game, I would say because of the gameplay physics it's more fun on console because it plays more like a console than PC game.