[quote]Phyrgian wrote:
I’ll be reinstalling D2: LoD after I finish D3, I have friends that are playing so I want to do the group play aspect of the game.
There were a bunch of people defending the sloppy/ lag ridden release on blizzards forums, ridiculous. They choose to make the game online only, they know it sells several million copies very quickly and they still fumble the release. Since I have a job I could only play after work and I couldn’t play for the first 2-3 days of the release.
Couldn’t get into SC2 and I was a SC and WC junkie since they came out. I’ll check out this Witcher 2 if my upgraded macbook can run it. [/quote]
Not to mention Blizzard constantly drills it into peoples heads that they will only release a game when they truly believe it is ready and they refuse to give release windows until they know for sure it will be as good as they can make it.
How the fuck did they think this game was ready?
And what didnt you like about SC2? In my opinion it was the perfect example of what a sequel coming out a decade after the original SHOULD be; Mainting the feel of the original and keeping all the good aspects while improving upon them and/or adding a bunch of new features that work really well.
Technical issues and whatnot aside(fixable stuff, as uncool as it is that the launch has been sloppy, that’s pretty standard fare for giant online games at this point, I can’t remember the last one with a smooth release), the item system and skill/game balance has me seriously bummed out.
Itemization is completely WoW-ified, and totally end-game centric. In D2 I obviously cared more about end-game items than early ones, but that didn’t stop me from having mules filled with lowbie sets, and I haven’t forgotten the thrill of finding those lowbie uniques/sets when I wasn’t filled out with awesome gear(or had just gotten started on a ladder reset and needed to build up; Isenharts OP for leveling). In D3, you are almost certainly going to hit 60, and grind your way into Inferno without seeing a set or legendary(maybe 1), and then at 60 your legendary will probably be terrible(very few exceptions). Also, the stat system is boring. Why are all of the ‘creative’ stats so horrible? 1-5% chance to chill/freeze/stun/etc, compared to the d2 versions that were 33%+. What happened to Crushing Blow and Deadly Strike(I the latter is basically just crit, but why sacrifice crushing?)? I get that runewords were overpowered and some people think they ruined later patches of d2, but did that merit scrapping the whole system? Only 4 gems, with boring bonuses? I could(and did on the official forums) go on and on about this part.
As for skill/class balancing: Inferno is straight broken. This isn’t about noobs QQing, I know people who have exploited the shit out of ActIV and have damn near perfect gear that still can’t legitimately clear Act3, except for DH’s(Wizards can’t post Force Armor nerf). All of the builds are homogenized because of this too. I don’t believe for 1 second that the most common build used by a class at 60 only makes up .7% of that class, that stat is either straight up a lie or horribly twisted to suit the purpose. If you want to play in inferno, you’re using a very narrow set of skills. Every Barb is using Revenge-Provocate, Wrath-Insanity, War Cry-Impunity, and Frenzy-Sidearm/Smite. That leaves 2 skills of ‘customization’ that are even pretty cookie cutter themselves:Ignore Pain/Threatening Shout/Leap/Charge. That’s just one example, every class seems to work like that(WD’s are either 100% all in on VQ/PtV Bear/Bat spam, or PtV Poison Darts with mass attack speed). There’s no room for ‘fun’ without completely giving up effectiveness. My Throw Barb may not have been able to farm Uber Tristram, but he wasn’t literally useless either.
I don’t think it’s all doom and gloom, a lot of what made d2 amazing came in LoD, so I have some hope that Blizzard will show through all of this clearly Activision influenced bullshit and deliver with their patches and future expansions, I’m just not sure I want to play until that happens. Got another 2 weeks to decide if I want that refund while I wait though.
You know, on the one hand I like that you can’t cripple your own character by mis-assigning attribute and skill points, but on the other hand it takes a lot of challenge out of the game. It might be nice to have a attribute/skill remap available every 10 levels. That way you have more responsibility for the effectiveness of your character, but without crippling your character at higher levels because you mis-allocated a few points at the beginning.
Anyone ever play Sacred 2? I played the PS3 version a lot with my housemate because it was one of the few multiplayer RPGs for PS3. It had a very satisfyingly complex skill and attribute system where you received more attribute/skill points per level as your character increased in level. That would be neat as well.
I do like D3, though. The auction house really appeals to the trader in me. I wish it had more capability (like EVE, which has an awesome, emergent, player driven market) but it is a good start. That said, I’m still on nightmare with my barb and DH.
Torchlight II, by the developers of Diablo and Diablo II. Apparently there was a mass exodus of the Blizzard North team responsible for D and D2 over disagreements between them and Vivendi corporate management.
Source:
More on Torchlight II:
And more importantly, it’s available through Steam and doesn’t cost $60.
Torchlight II, by the developers of Diablo and Diablo II. Apparently there was a mass exodus of the Blizzard North team responsible for D and D2 over disagreements between them and Vivendi corporate management.
And more importantly, it’s available through Steam and doesn’t cost $60.
[/quote]
Yeah, this is what im holding out hopes for this summer since D3 was so disappointing.
Torchlight one was pretty repetitive and boring in my opinion, but a lot of people still liked it and it was only 20 bucks. Besides, it seemed to me like it was more of an experiment preceding TL2 which looks to be a legitimate attempt at a real “Diablo clone.”
Either way TL2 is looking awesome right now and to me looks like more of a true diablo experience, despite the vastly different art style.
[quote]audiogarden1 wrote:
Not that i can think of. If you havent played The Witcher 2 and have a rig that can run it, that is probably the most recent PC game i have played that was fuckin awesome. [/quote]
I have to agree. The Witcher 2 was the most highly underrated(undersold/undermarketed) game I have ever played.[/quote]
Ach, come on, it had non black and white characters, a storyline and was all around adult…
Why would it sell?
[quote]audiogarden1 wrote:
Not that i can think of. If you havent played The Witcher 2 and have a rig that can run it, that is probably the most recent PC game i have played that was fuckin awesome. [/quote]
I have to agree. The Witcher 2 was the most highly underrated(undersold/undermarketed) game I have ever played.[/quote]
Ach, come on, it had non black and white characters, a storyline and was all around adult…
Why would it sell?
The brawls were ridiculously easy to win though.[/quote]
Yeah, for the most part that game had a really nice challenge/difficulty curve though.
And as you said, the maturity of the game is one of the things that makes it so outstanding. It is uncompromising and brutal, and it is very easy for the player to become invested in the story and characters straight from the get go.
[quote]audiogarden1 wrote:
Yeah, i know people that run it OK with inferior rigs to mine, but ive also talked to people who’s PC’s are literally like twice as good as mine and they have trouble even at lower settings as well.
At the end of the day though, the thing that really did it for me was the loot and AH system. They took the best, most addictive, and most satisfying part of diablo II and ruined it, turning the game into an MMO gold grind.
Wtf[/quote]
I don’t think the loot system is much different. (other than unique and set items being trash)
Diablo 2 was just as much of a gold grind except instead of gold you collected HRs or SOJs (which could poof on you). If you used jsp you collected forum gold. The AH is just an in-game platform for what would be happening regardless via less reliable means. It’s impossible (or at least extremely inefficient) to just play by yourself until you find all the best items for yourself, in D2 or D3. I played D2 for many years and found maybe 5 HRs by myself. I wouldn’t have made a single good rune word if not for trading lol.
I’m not thrilled about the real money aspect though, as I am afraid that the best items will only get sold for real money.
[quote]waylanderxx wrote:
Thogue, the problem is they have the drop rates rigged to promote the use of the AH, and later the RMAH so they can make huge profits. [/quote]
[quote]waylanderxx wrote:
Thogue, the problem is they have the drop rates rigged to promote the use of the AH, and later the RMAH so they can make huge profits. [/quote]
Not only are the legendary drop rates retarded rare, but the new stats system is FAR more random(do some math), which obviously will pay off in the form of HUGE items that make a lot on the RMAH, where Blizz takes their 15% cut.
Sure there were random stats on uniques in D2 as well- and there were some rare items that rolled AMAZING stats that outperformed anything except for the absurd runewords and build-specific uniques- but even a ‘bad’ Windforce was far better than 99% of other bows. In D3, you can find a Scorn that has sub-700 dps with dex as the rolled stat(no dex user can/will use a 2H axe), or one with near 1200 and Int/Str(Str would be shitty right now with Shields being pretty much mandatory for barbs, but I expect that to change plus there are some guys dead set on making it work).
My wizard has 40k DPS and I just breezed through Act 2 in inferno while twirling my cane. I tried 30 times with a full party to kill the butcher in Act I and never succeeded. I gave it a try solo and I got an achievement for owning the fucker in less than 2 minutes. I want to play with others but barbarians and monks can’t even get close to mobs without getting one shotted. My buddy is a barbarian and can’t even stand Act 2.
I shouldn’t be saying this but the wizard is way overpowered. Force Armor + Diamond skin can take a beating in Act I & II. I want to play with others, but when it’s easier for me to solo, it ruins the fun of it all.
[quote]Hellfrost wrote:
My wizard has 40k DPS and I just breezed through Act 2 in inferno while twirling my cane. I tried 30 times with a full party to kill the butcher in Act I and never succeeded. I gave it a try solo and I got an achievement for owning the fucker in less than 2 minutes. I want to play with others but barbarians and monks can’t even get close to mobs without getting one shotted. My buddy is a barbarian and can’t even stand Act 2.
I shouldn’t be saying this but the wizard is way overpowered. Force Armor + Diamond skin can take a beating in Act I & II. I want to play with others, but when it’s easier for me to solo, it ruins the fun of it all.[/quote]
Yah…they completely ruined the multiplayer aspect of the game. I still don’t understand how they dropped the ball this hard.
When I ordered witcher/dragon age off Amazon D3 barely had 2.5/5 stars from customer reviews lol, so sad.
[quote]Hellfrost wrote:
My wizard has 40k DPS and I just breezed through Act 2 in inferno while twirling my cane. I tried 30 times with a full party to kill the butcher in Act I and never succeeded. I gave it a try solo and I got an achievement for owning the fucker in less than 2 minutes. I want to play with others but barbarians and monks can’t even get close to mobs without getting one shotted. My buddy is a barbarian and can’t even stand Act 2.
I shouldn’t be saying this but the wizard is way overpowered. Force Armor + Diamond skin can take a beating in Act I & II. I want to play with others, but when it’s easier for me to solo, it ruins the fun of it all.[/quote]
I can’t even get out of act 1 Hell with my level 55 barb. They did not balance this game so well IMO.