Diablo 3 - Latest Updates to the Tristram Library
May 18, 2012 - If Diablo was a Girl
This is funny!
May 14, 2012 - Ready...Set...Go!
For those of you who haven't played the beta (and even a few who did), here are some quick and dirty tips for fast leveling:
#1: Get rings, the vendor is in the upper left corner of Tristram. This will give you a definite advantage
#2: Save your gold for semi-decent weapons and don't overspend. Remember you will need to replace them in a few more levels. Let other people worry about the artisans for now. And try not to waste to much gold on extra space. If you really feel that you need more space, just create an extra character to put act as a mule. If you break down your magic items for materials, you can stack quite a bit of them in your storage. If you are playing a HC character, don't forget to store your components in your shared stash. Death Happens.
#3: XP gear can help you level from 10% to 20% faster, but so can boots with a bit of speed or equipment that lets you kill mobs faster.
#4: For normal play, vitality gear isn't all that important, just enough firepower to quickly kill the mobs. Don't start worrying to much about vitality gear until you hit level 30 or so and about to begin nightmare.
#5: Expanding on that idea, when you are about to go to the next level of the game, that is the time to really upgrade your gear. This is the time to start checking out the auction house and getting some decent gear.
#6: If you are playing HC, concentrate on your vendors, stash expansion, and equipment upgrades around levels 30, 50, and of course 60.
#7: If you have extra gold, the best early investment will probably be gemstones.
#8: Have Fun! Don't forget the core reason for playing...it is the journey, not the destination.
May 7, 2012 - Unboxing the Collector's Edition
Nostalgia...unboxing the collector's edition:
April 28, 2012 - Diablo 3 - Commercial
Here is the D3 commercial. Note Tyrael getting up from the floor and the explosion in what appears to be heaven:
March 28, 2012 - Diablo 3 - Item Crafting
Here is an idea of some of the items that can be crafted in the early middle game. Note the rare item that doesn't lose durability, I suspect that those might be worth a lot extra in softcore.:
March 21, 2012 - Diablo 3 - Nephilim Valor
Sticking with a build will add to magic find! Here is what Bashiok has to say:
- We have an enormous number of skill build combinations, and we want a lot of those skill builds to be viable and interesting
- While there are millions of skill builds available to players, we don’t want players swapping skills regularly to beat specific encounters as they come up
- We don’t want repeatedly running specific three-minute chunks of the game to be the most efficient way to acquire gear for your character
- While a three-minute run shouldn’t be the most efficient, we also don’t want you to feel like it’s a two-hour commitment every time you sit down to play
- Bosses should still feel worth killing
Nephalem Valor is one of the major new systems in Diablo III and it kicks in at level 60. Keep in mind that this is still in testing and we’re still working out the details. Here’s how it currently works internally: Rare and Champion packs already have great loot on them. By killing a Rare or Champion pack, not only do you get their loot, but you’ll also receive a buff granting you increased magic find and gold find. However, if you change a skill, skill rune, passive, or leave the game, the buff disappears. As an extra reward, if you kill a boss while this buff is active, you’ll receive extra loot drops from that boss.
The exact amount of magic find and gold find provided by the buff is still being reviewed, as is the amount of extra loot you get from a boss while the buff is active. We’re also playing around with whether or not the buff stacks, what the duration should be, and whether or not it should persist through death. We want to make sure the buff is strong enough to make staying in your current game more rewarding than creating a new game. At the same time, if the buff is too strong, it risks making shorter play sessions feel not worthwhile.
We expect this system will encourage players to stick with a skill build of their choice, select an area of the game they enjoy, and sweep it for rare and champion packs on their way to a boss, finishing off a run with a boss that’ll be worth killing. If you wanted a shorter play session you could be done at that point, but if you have more time, the path of least resistance would ideally be to stay in the same game and make your way towards the next boss.
March 13, 2012 - Diablo 3 - More Secret Area
Here is more of the secret area, the first video is with a Barbarian and the second with the Wizard.
March 8, 2012 - Diablo 3 - Fields of Misery Beta
Fields of misery is not suppose to be available till after the death of the Mad King Leoric. However, someone made it past the gate on a glitch and has been sharing waypoints. Here is some of the footage. The first two video feature Barbarians, the next is a Demon Hunter, and the last is two Witch Doctors. Enjoy!:
March 8, 2012 - Diablo 3 - Beta Patch 14 Now Actice
Noticable changes:
Monsters do more damage
Skills can be changed from skill bar
Many items had their minimum level required raised
Costs on training blacksmith and expanding chest went up, but so did gold found.
Wizards got a big nerf. Arcane Nova was nerfed, changing radius back to base, although raising damage slightly.
March 7, 2012 - Diablo 3 - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Recently, a friend gave me access to the Diablo 3 beta. I have ran all the characters up to level 13 and explored different aspects of the game. After doing this, I re-played Diablo 2 (it has been a while) to get a good feel for the changes.
The graphics and sound are definitely an upgrade and make playing Diablo 3 feel fresh and lively. Going back to Diablo 2 felt like playing some old 20th century video game. I felt the same about Starcraft 2 versus Starcraft 1. The graphics and interaction with the environment is even much better than Titan Quest and other more recent RPG games that I have played. This is a definite plus and bring a new batch of players into the Diablo universe.
Currently, the user interface feels clunky. It was much better before Beta version 13, so I expect it to improve. You need to options to set tooltips to advance to understand what damage the spells do, which brings up my next point.
Character personality and development is dead. There are no more attribute points or skill points or anything that will really differentiate one character from another. I call this the Gauntletization of Diablo. Diablo 3 has lost its RPG nature. The only difference from one character of the same class as another of the same class will be equipment. Anything else can be changed with a quick trip to the skill bar. It is what I would imagine Gauntlet IX to be like.
Blizzard sees this as an evolution in gameplay. It prevents the need for any planning ahead by players, and therefore, stopping them from making any bad choices. Ok, I understand that spending weeks to develop a character and realizing that it doesn't work may be overwhelming to some players, but Blizzard could have found a middle road. The Nephilim altar that they tried to use may have seemed somewhat silly, but how about a short quest that allowed a person to reset all there attributes and skill points? This would have allowed players to try out different ideas for builds without the complete elimination of personality. As it is now, that wizard you are partied with can completely change his techniques in a matter of seconds leaving a feeling that all wizards were cut from the same mold. There is no more flavor of the day, it is flavor of the minute.
The next big thing I dislike about Diablo 3 is the treasure. Strangely enough, this may be due to the fact that it is over balanced. At first, carefully balance may seem like a good thing, but in reality, it means that the next big drop item is unlikely to be more than a couple of percent better than the last one. There also seemed to be a lost in diversity. I never saw cool things like ethereal plate that my low strength wizard could wear in Diablo 2. In fact, the best way to get good stuff seemed to be to just farm some magic loot, break it down for components, and make your own at the blacksmith. After just a couple runs, I seemed to be maxed out on loot.
Now this may not be as much of a problem with the full version. Beta did not include set items or gems. Maybe this will create enough variety to make treasure finding fun. In Diablo 2, this was the final part of the game, the constant hunting for cool new loot. After playing many different RPG games, I have realized that the loot system can make or break a game.
One last thing that is pretty ugly in Diablo 3 and that is the monster damage versus health of the characters. It is almost impossible to die. Even with some mediocre gear, you can just stand there and let the monsters kill themselves. Even the Skeleton King will die attacking a wizard with storm armor while the wizard just stands there. Other characters can do the same with gear that does damage to attacking mobs.
Obviously, this will change as the game progresses, but now I understand why Blizzard may need 4 levels of difficulty. They did put up a video called "YOU WILL DIE, WE PROMISE" and I am including it in this post.
