D3 Open Beta Weekend - Like Right Now

[Seer]

I think you didn't understand Brixtan, I meant how long does it take to play through all the content available.

[MeVe]

I think you didn't understand Brixtan, I meant how long does it take to play through all the content available.

I did all classes to level cap, exploring and listening everything in 10 hours or less ( if I remember correctly )
Completing the beta is less than 1 hours, I guess use the time you have to decide if it wort a buy or not and than to decide the starting class.

My opinion is that Diablo 3 is not a worth sequel but is an enjoyable game anyway and should worth the £27.91 ( 34€ ) I paid here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Diablo-III-PC-M ... B0030DH9R6
The 60€ from the official site? that is totally overpriced.

[Zidders]

Took me four hours on one character, but I poke my nose into every nook and cranny, collect everything, futzed around with the blacksmith, and broke every single breakable object in the game, so your mileage may vary.

[Brixtan]

I think you didn't understand Brixtan, I meant how long does it take to play through all the content available.

I did all classes to level cap, exploring and listening everything in 10 hours or less ( if I remember correctly )
Completing the beta is less than 1 hours, I guess use the time you have to decide if it wort a buy or not and than to decide the starting class.

If I'm running through the content as fast as possible, it still takes me about 2 hours to hit level 9 and finish the beta one time through. It takes about another 1 1/2 - 2 hrs to hit level 13. You could easily max out all 5 classes within 20 hours or so if you knew what you were doing and didn't stop to smell the roses along the way.

[amb2010]

@Brixtan and Meemo, we get it. You like the game, that's all well and good. It does not mean however that everyone that disagrees with that statement is hopping on the "lets hate blizzard and D3 bandwagon". It's personal preference of whether you like D3 or not, lets not talk about how "biased" other people are when it's quite blatant you're being biased yourself. And yes, being in complete love with the game while giving it a review is still being "biased", it doesn't have to be a negative review to get that term attached to it. Either way do we really have to sit in here bickering about pointless stuff such as this or can we just talk about the game without having to pull the "you're blinded by nostalgia!" or "you're biased!" card?

From my experience so far (very little) I can merely give my first impression but that impression is a big "Meh" and I also thoroughly enjoyed the Sega Genesis(mortal kombat<3) and Super Nintendo(super mario world<3) . I played about half of the Wizard class and half of the Demon Hunter class and I'm just not quite sold on the decisions. Now don't get me wrong, it's enjoyable and that's the major point of a video game but I just found myself going "Why?" quite a few times while playing the game. A lot of the changes just seem like "changes for the sake of change" with no real reason behind it. There's nothing really wrong with that of course, I just don't quite see the point in it.

I will type up a more thorough review of my experiences with it after I play some more of course but for now I see a game that isn't as amazing as the games others are seeing for some reason. I'll honestly say 13 levels isn't really enough to get any concrete opinion on it whether it be "these changes are AWESOME!" or "these changes are HORRIBLE!" so I don't think people wanting a concrete answer will be happy until release and we see the full game.

[adoomgod]

I'm also thinking "meh" but it looks like the game really opens up post lvl 20.

I just think Torchlight 2's gameplay looks far superior.

Also I almost broke my monitor when Deckard Cain said "Eeeeeevil" in an old wobbily voice. Sounded like the retired old superhero in the some episodes of spongebob squarepants. a parody of aquaman. Barnacle man I think. Aqualad. W/e it was corny.

[Brixtan]

@Brixtan and Meemo, we get it. You like the game, that's all well and good. It does not mean however that everyone that disagrees with that statement is hopping on the "lets hate blizzard and D3 bandwagon". It's personal preference of whether you like D3 or not, lets not talk about how "biased" other people are when it's quite blatant you're being biased yourself. And yes, being in complete love with the game while giving it a review is still being "biased", it doesn't have to be a negative review to get that term attached to it. Either way do we really have to sit in here bickering about pointless stuff such as this or can we just talk about the game without having to pull the "you're blinded by nostalgia!" or "you're biased!" card?

From my experience so far (very little) I can merely give my first impression but that impression is a big "Meh" and I also thoroughly enjoyed the Sega Genesis(mortal kombat<3) and Super Nintendo(super mario world<3) . I played about half of the Wizard class and half of the Demon Hunter class and I'm just not quite sold on the decisions. Now don't get me wrong, it's enjoyable and that's the major point of a video game but I just found myself going "Why?" quite a few times while playing the game. A lot of the changes just seem like "changes for the sake of change" with no real reason behind it. There's nothing really wrong with that of course, I just don't quite see the point in it.

I will type up a more thorough review of my experiences with it after I play some more of course but for now I see a game that isn't as amazing as the games others are seeing for some reason. I'll honestly say 13 levels isn't really enough to get any concrete opinion on it whether it be "these changes are AWESOME!" or "these changes are HORRIBLE!" so I don't think people wanting a concrete answer will be happy until release and we see the full game.

I think my point was more of a general "don't be shocked when you read reactions about the D3 beta getting panned on the Torchlight 2 forums...consider the context" - I could give a shit whether people like it or not. It doesn't bother me in the slightest.

[Seer]

I finished it with the Demon Hunter, it took me ~2h, with reasonable exploring but not complete.

Overall the game is enjoyable but not the beast people make it out to be. At first I didn't quite like the loadout skill system, but I can understand that it makes sure each skill has a defined role through it, and thus skills actually get used. The atmosphere of the game is eery and sinister, as one would expect, I think they did a good job with the lightning. The undead I encountered were also hideous (that's a good thing), especially the flesh worms.

However, while the art style is quite fitting for the game and conveys the mood very well, the armor is quite poorly designed. I understand that the Open Beta only had low level stuff (low level usually means simpler and beauty is often found in simplicity), but I've researched a bit around the net for more high level armor, and it just looks bad. The higher the level the more - usually - over the top it is (several seemed lineage-ish or inspired from a korean mmorpg). While I saw some pretty good stuff (such as Barbarian tier 14, I think it was), others were quite lackluster. For a game where loot collecting is a prime aspect, I was very dissapointed. The weapons that I came accross were better though, I quite liked even the low level ones, especially the crossbows, swords and spears. Then again, I'm very selective when it comes to art assets.

The few skill effects that I saw were ok, though just that. They seemed quite simple and not too flashy, which is one good way of doing them. My main complaint here is that there are skill effects which just 'come out of your character', but are basically supposed to be coming out of your weapon. The character points the crossbow and then there's some effect being spewed from your front side. The same thing was evident with TL1's Vanquisher. I guess this is too picky now, and very likely to be engine related so might as well forget it. I'm too into details like this.


Another thing (although quite minor) that I did not like, was the weapon selection limitations. I found a pretty nice sword and targe shield, equipped them and looked pretty cool with that sleek Demon Hunter pose, but I quickly found out that I coudn't even swing the sword for a most basic hit. It's understandable that each class uses specific weapon types, but not being able to even just swing the thing was a bit frustrating.

The music was also great, and the sound effects. I would say I was satisfied in that department.


Crafting is also decent. I wouldn't mind a bit more complexity, but then again with the beta we can only get a basic feel.

I think I will do another run with a Wizard later. The game is definetely enjoyable, but it is not a god-like being.

[D2Hans]

Still downloading the Beta. 2.79 gigs to go. I highly doubt I have the download done by the close.

There was comments that mods did not start showing up for D2 until very late. Mods were showing up back in 2001/2002. Good deal of mods were only 1.09 but the majority of mods did not start showing up until 1.10. 1.10 made it a lot easier to mod.

One of my favorite mods Zy-El that started back in 2002.

The thing Is I have seen a lot of the Beta footage a long time ago and I just really want to see if my Internet can handle the online single player.

It looks like if you click on the download preference you can choose to play before it is done. I did that so at least I can now get to the login screen. It seams the beta servers are in maintenance right now.

[Seer]

Hans, you reminded to comment on the technical side of things

Despite some log in issues that were to be expected, there was little to no lag. I don't recall noticing delays in movement, as in clicking and the character moving half a second later (that would be unnacceptable btw), and there was only a minor hiccup while deep in the royal tombs (the part with the four pillars) that almost killed me. I'd say network wise the game fared smoothly, especially given that the Beta servers are located in America. During live play, people will be connecting to their respective regional servers, America, Europe and Asia, so things should be even more stable. My connection is very modest by internet standards, for the record.

Performance wise, I was getting almost always 60 FPS, meeting the cap easily. I did notice a few surges during eventful combat, where it dropped into the 30s but never below. My settings were High, but not max. In most cases, fps drops were sudden and not maintained, dropping and then climbing back up again. Quite pleased with the performance overall, but I'd like to see more high stress situations, as I'm not sure the last most eventful parts of the beta can represent the action going on later in the game.

[gold163]

I don't expect Blizzard's games to fail much on the technical front. World of Warcraft aside, for the most part Battle.net II is a surprisingly stable and well-designed platform. It's nice when it works, and it only ever doesn't work in exceptional cases.

[D2Hans]

I have set everything for low at the moment since the Beta is still downloading. Still can not log in (maintenance). The ting is my Internet has very unstable speed. Often it is slower than Dialup and when it does have speeds up to 7megabits it is only spiking and quite often it drops to dial up speed for a brief moment. The thing is I can not get better than this since where I am at the moment I can not add a landline and so I have to use an internet stick. The one I have is the only affordable one and it has unlimited bandwidth (they might still slow you done if you reach 5gigs, but no extra fees). The big wireless companies do not offer that and their plans usually only allow 1 or 2 gigs max at three times the rate I pay.

I can say that the login screen does look very good. I know that the game is going to look very good compared to D2 but then again it should since D2 is over a decade old. I just hope that the game play feels good and to me that is the most important part to me. I will see if I can login during the open beta (stress test) if the game play feels good. But again it might be more laggy if I am still downloading the client while playing. I will likely have to wait until the starter edition is online to test before I buy.

[feyith]

I don't even know what to say in to the haters in this thread. Last I checked there hasn't been a decent game similar to D2 in style and gameplay in quite some time. No Torchlight 1 doesn't even come close to how good D3 is going to be.

Also all this talk of modding is starting to make my stomach turn. D2 didn't even have any modding till the final half of it's life, I don't even know why people are qqing so hard that D3 doesn't have modding. I would love modding on it for sure, but the lack of modding isn't going to all of sudden kill the Diablo universe.

I'm starting to wonder if any of these people crying about D3 even played D2. I still play D2, and people run almost completely identical builds from level 1-20 in almost all cases. Sure back in the day there was no reset, back in the day there was also way more cookie cutter builds because most people can't afford to take risks. Unlimited respec is the way to go.

Overall D3 is going to be a huge success right next to Guild Wars 2 (which will be tested next week and will likely blow up just like D3)
I am still wondering about how successful TL2 is going to be, they missed their opportune release window, they have not announced a beta, and marketing haven't even started.

BLASPHEMY! BURN THE WITCH!

Good point about the skills. I loved how in D2 you could play the same class 20 different ways and make the most obscure builds work.

Sounds like you never got to hell solo mode, I can only name a small selection of builds that will actually work in that scenario.

Pot. Kettle. Black.

Why are you on a Torchlight forum if everyone who expresses a dissenting opinion about D3 is a hater? As far as I've seen, no one's even said that they hated D3. We just haven't been wowed by it. If that's QQ'ing so hard, okay...

You're comparing T1 to D3. I think more accurate would be comparing it to D1 (and T2 to D2).

No; the lack of modding isn't going to kill the Diablo universe, but your statement about its delayed/limited available in D2 is completely inaccurate. Offline play by default allows for customization. The fact that it can't be modded would be irrelevant if I could /players 8 and log in and kill stuff without looking for someone's wireless to hack into when waiting around somewhere with my laptop.

Did YOU never get to Hell solo mode? Half the fun in D2 was that feeling of: "Oh, crap! Run away!" I never once felt that while playing through D3.

Of course it's going to be a success but I wouldn't worry about T2 missing their release window. They're going to satisfy different needs.

Edit: PS. I loved my Sega and SNES both. Still do.

[Seer]

@Hans

If you don't mind sitting around for a bit, keep trying every couple of minutes to log in. At first I was getting error 37 and then 3003, but after a few minutes I managed to connect. The servers are being throttled, capped and unleashed constantly.

EDIT: They seem to be down atm.

[jamesL]

I think my point was more of a general "don't be shocked when you read reactions about the D3 beta getting panned on the Torchlight 2 forums...consider the context" -

its not a matter of context

I have watched almost every live stream of the D3 beta, and I thought it looked awesome
I have checked my battle.net account every day looking for a beta key
I have been all for the skill point and stat point changes, I thought they were great

but after actually playing the beta,
its boring

D3 is not going to be the success everyone thinks its going to be
the average person is going to run to the first defiled crypt and find nothing
then they'll go to the 2nd defiled crypt and find nothing
then they'll be told to go to the 3rd defiled crypt and they'll say, "forget this, this is stupid and boring"

but then again, I've always thought WoW was steaming pile of boringness too

but then again, I've only ever played the WoW trial up to lvl 10
and I absolutely hated it
most people's response has always been, "well, yes, the beginning is boring, it doesn't get good till end game"

I imagine that's how D3 will be
the first 10 levels are slow, repetitive and boring
but Hell and Inferno will probably be lots of fun

What's really annoying is when people go on and on about how brilliant Blizzard is, but Mythos had a very similar crafting system years ago
and Torchlight already fixed the problem of abusing town portal scrolls to trivialize boss fights by taking away that ability during boss fights
and Warhammer Online has a very similar banner transport system

so maybe Blizzard's brilliance is taking the good ideas from other games, refining them and putting them all into their own game

and Meemo, TL2 is going to do just fine
I have no doubt about that after playing the D3 beta

Will D3 be successful ?
yes,
will it be the huge success you and everyone else thinks its going to be ?
I don't think so, not anymore
I can see people asking for their money back after one day of play

I am still wondering about how successful TL2 is going to be, they missed their opportune release window, they have not announced a beta, and marketing haven't even started.

TL2 will do just fine
It won't sell 1/2 as many copies as D3 or 1/2 as many as many as GW2
but it will do just fine

they have not announced a beta ?
you realize its still April, right ?
you realize there's still 8 months left in the year ?

marketing hasn't even started ?
what are you talking about ?
They were at PAX, they were at E3, they have given interviews,
as soon as the game is ready, it will be on the front page of Steam
and there will be no boxed copies, so there is no BestBuy, GameStop or Walmart marketing to do

and the game is only $20
marketing is not a problem

even if we allow the average person 3 months to play D3, May 15 - Aug 15, that still leaves 4 months for TL2 to come out
TL2 will do just fine

[Seer]

but then again, I've only ever played the WoW trial up to lvl 10
and I absolutely hated it
most people's response has always been, "well, yes, the beginning is boring, it doesn't get good till end game"

For the record, this is the response that shallow players/gamers give. Most people cannot appreciate the constant feel of growth during levelling, the travelling and adventuring, they can only see the destination, devaluing the journey there, which is why Blizzard has butchered WoW's levelling experience with several ways despite their sincere efforts to improve it. Those people are all about ZOMF5 H4XX0R EP1X.

[feyith]

Not to mention with all these level capped free trials Blizzard is doing, wouldn't they purposefully want to make those earlier levels interesting and fun in order to hook people?

[D2Hans]

To me the game should feel good at the start or I will just go to a different game.

[edit]
I am playing at the moment and it is very laggy best latency I got so far is about 4k. Almost died a few times due to it.

[edit] Died in the tavern due to the lag. I died while I was still talking to leah.

[Seer]

It's up again, but the servers are unstable.

[T6000]

@Brixtan and Meemo, we get it. You like the game, that's all well and good. It does not mean however that everyone that disagrees with that statement is hopping on the "lets hate blizzard and D3 bandwagon". It's personal preference of whether you like D3 or not, lets not talk about how "biased" other people are when it's quite blatant you're being biased yourself. And yes, being in complete love with the game while giving it a review is still being "biased", it doesn't have to be a negative review to get that term attached to it. Either way do we really have to sit in here bickering about pointless stuff such as this or can we just talk about the game without having to pull the "you're blinded by nostalgia!" or "you're biased!" card?

I have similar thoughts myself. I don't get how just because I was disappointed with the game or was let down, I'm a "Hater". As I said in my post, I went in this game with an open mind and to give Diablo 3 a full chance. Sure, I'll admit that some of the gameplay changes put me off at first, but then I later said "Well perhaps these gameplay changes are for the best. It could be a bit of a different style that requires these changes." I'm a fan of the Diablo series, but also the Action RPG series as a whole. I wouldn't have mind playing Diablo 3, Torchlight 2, and Path of Exile side by side. Because for me, the more Action RPGs the better. Some aspects of Diablo 3 I like alot and I felt are quite creative (such as the resource system), but the gameplay still left me feeling disappointed. I tried to like it, but I still came away from the Beta disappointed. It isn't a bad game at all, I can tell effort was put into Diablo 3. But as a sequel to Diablo 2, and as an Action RPG itself, I found myself disappointed.