Diablo III - Opinions, pros and cons, reviews etc.

[CrocMagnum]

...How could this game possibly have been rushed. CrocMagnum? It was what, 3-4 years behind original release date? And how many years before that did they decide to make it?...

4 Years??? I wouldn’t go that far!

In my opinion a few 8 months more (release date: December 2012) would have made DIII a more balanced game. Again that's just a hunch shared by others too: it sounds like the game was released somewhat prematurely:

Right now some aspects feel a bit rough around the edges (the pricing / quality of items and how some classes have it - relatively - easy on higher difficulties).

Anyway Blizzard said it still considers DIII a work in progress, and serious patching is on its way.

To be honest I really think Blizzard should have taken its time and release the thing when done, they shouldn't have listened to those impatients b*****. Right know people have paid 60 bucks for a fine game that will be well-balanced around next year (rough guess).

[Veji]

As far as the hackings go, weak passwords fail. I manage servers for clients that i see dictionary attacks on constantly and not one server has been hacked yet, because we use strong passwords.

As far as a comparison of D3 to TQ - Once again, you can't really compare the two since TQ is pretty much done and a polished game (imo).

Yeah, the online thing sucks and everyone can name off why, but it is what it is. If its a fun game (which it is), you'll tend to ignore that fact.

One thing that i would like to point out, that i absolutely hate, about Diablo 3 is the community. Its absolutely terrible. I am ashamed to be a gamer or even call myself a gamer when I read the crap they allow on to the official forums.

[jowshie]

Veji -- Could not agree more with all 4 of your points.

CrocMagnum -- the issue with waiting to release a "complete" game that blizzard has alluded to in the past is that no matter what they do they will not have 3+million full game testers, and if they do it will be considered a release.

At the scale that a game like Diablo III operates there is just no feasible way to finish balancing, and as i talked about earlier it is actually in some ways better to keep the game "incomplete" until balance has been refined so that the game and economy do not get broken by the imba skills and strategies that show up shortly after release.

[ASYLUM101]

Veji - I'm surprised the Diablo community strikes you as so awful, you have a LoL avatar. IMO LoL and HoN are the two most TOXIC communities on the face of the planet. I haven't played SC2 online since the beta, never touched D3 beta online, so I can't say how those are but I can't imagine an ARPG having a bad community o.O

Maybe I'm too accustomed to the TQIT, TL, Path of Exile and GD communities.

[jaelrin]

I haven't played SC2 online since the beta, never touched D3 beta online, so I can't say how those are but I can't imagine an ARPG having a bad community o.O

Maybe I'm too accustomed to the TQIT, TL, Path of Exile and GD communities.

Rabid blizzard fanboys. Any criticism is met with "If you don't like it - leave, nobody will miss you".

About Diablo - maybe I'll buy it, when it'll be ALWAYS ONLINE on their side, without constant "error 37", disconnects and lags. And it's not my internet, 50 ms latency in Rift and 300-1500 in D3.

[Veji]

Veji - I'm surprised the Diablo community strikes you as so awful, you have a LoL avatar. IMO LoL and HoN are the two most TOXIC communities on the face of the planet. I haven't played SC2 online since the beta, never touched D3 beta online, so I can't say how those are but I can't imagine an ARPG having a bad community o.O

Maybe I'm too accustomed to the TQIT, TL, Path of Exile and GD communities.

When i did play LoL, i was in a clan, so i never paid any attention to the Riot forums. In general games, oh yeah, definitely terrible. No, i'm more of a Mordekaiser fan than a LoL fan.

[jowshie]

Rabid blizzard fanboys. Any criticism is met with "If you don't like it - leave, nobody will miss you".

even worse, the two factions seem to be "love everything how dare you say anything bad about the game or blizzard" or"worst game ever, anyone who likes anythign about it sucks and is stupid"

Seems like everyone else who is enjoying the game but not concerned about protecting poor blizzard just plays and stays away from the forums.

[Vince]

I have reached level 11 (where I got killed for the first time) and once you get used to it, D3 is a pretty good game. So far, I consider it inferior to both predecessors, as well as to TQIT, but those games are fantastic.

On their forums, the actin is fast and furious, with the emphasis on furious. I remember when TQ was new, and there were a lot of complaints about rubber-banding and slowdowns, but most posters liked the game. Most posters on the D3 forum dislike the game. I made a post and within fifteen minutes two replies stated that I was lying (I wasn't).

[ArrowofThyme]

OK, so here is my review:

I've been enjoying Diablo3 quite a bit, although sadly I don't have as much free time as I used to. I have two characters in Act2 Nightmare and one in act2 Normal. Blizzard fucked up on a few things, some of which should have been obvious, but otherwise this is my favorite ARPG to date.

What Blizzard completely nailed with D3 is gameplay. The combat is spectacular. My favorite class so far is the Monk; with various situational skills and crowd control skills to choose from I'm frequently casting all the skills I have available, most of which are flashy and have a good OOMPH to them. The rune system is a sweet way to customize skills, many of the runes can really change how you use the skill (for example, one rune may let you cast the skill more frequently, but another may offer better crowd control). Unlocking new runes each level is actually more exciting than skill points because it guarantees that you can try out something new, sometimes a completely different build, which is better than the frequent slight damage increase of the old system.

Blizzard didn't do a good job with the story. That's not unusual for them, but I think this is their worst yet. They need to hire a decent writer desperately. Some of the villains are really annoying too: "You defeated my blahblah, but you'll never defeat my blah!" and repeat again and again and again. The demons of hell need to shut their mouths! Also, item properties are rather boring. I know the game just came out but they should have learned from Diablo2. Nobody cares about an item that offers a miserly 3% chance to do anything on hit. The main damage stat and vitality stat are so much better than any other modifiers that you spend your time looking for item pieces that are largely the same. Boring! Legendary and set items are a total joke right now. They suck! For a game that is centered on loot it's amazing they messed this up. Oh, and Legendary items are so rare I sometimes forget they exist. With all my play time I've only found a single Legendary item. Thankfully Blizzard is likely to fix the item modifier issues, if not the drop rate.

The visuals in the game are awesome; beautiful scenery and dungeon designs. They style makes some areas look almost painted, which should keep things from looking dated in the future. My main complaint with the areas to explore is that many or most of the dungeons have a color filter on them, which is a cheap way to give a dungeon a different theme/feeling. Also, there are waaaaay too many repeated areas (and bosses!) from Diablo2 - come on Blizzard, show us more new places! Be bold! I also enjoy that each skill rune offers a different animation change for the skill.

The game also has a lot of little side additions that are really nice! The followers are fun, offering their own skills, back story, and banter. Lyndon is especially great since he is so snarky and can actually deal OK damage. There is a lot of monster lore in the game, and back story on all major characters that you can find. There is a large number of uniquely designed mini-bosses in addition to the empowered mob mini-bosses (which also have some cool new unique abilities!). The randomness of the dungeons is a huge plus, and the chance to find different events when traveling through a familiar area no doubt lend greatly to replayability. There is also a surprising number of monster types in the game. I found the crafting system to be rather useful and fun, until I realized that the auction house offered better deals for the same gold. There are craft recipes that you can find to make set items, so maybe that will make the artisans more useful (if the drop rates aren't as bad as Legendary items!). The multiplayer system is streamlined nicely, and hopping into a game with friends couldn't be easier, although it would really be nice to have an invisibility feature. In general, the Battle.net interface could use some improvement, but it does what it needs to. Voice chat does not seem to be integrated yet, nor is PVP, which is a bummer.

In a nutshell, if you're a fan of ARPGs I think you're doing yourself a disservice by not playing the game. It's basically everything Diablo2 was and more, and I really can't emphasize enough how good combat feels. And you know the game is only going to get better in time!

[Tyr]

The game is actually balanced around multiplayer, through recently Blizzard has drastically improved solo play. This means that lone wolf-type players should best choose their classes very carefully or suffer through being relentlessly friend requested, among other things.