My time in Diablo 3 beta
(Guest poster, SteveH)
Oh come on, its only been, what, 3 or 4 months since I last wrote an article! Yeah, I know.
But I've got a good one today! Late last week I got a bet invite to Diablo 3! After beating the Skeleton King (the end boss of act 1 and the end boss of the beta) with all but one class I'm ready to type up my experience with it. First we must explore the "getting there" portion, pre-Saturday patch, then we can get to the good stuff.
So lets begin at the beginning (an odd choice). The download and install was as easy as one would imagine, I started it on its path when I came home briefly for lunch and it was done by the time I got home from work for the day. After dinner and some homework I was ready, willing and... not able.
This brings me to problem 1 with the game, always online. When I tried to log in I would get an error message telling me that my request timed out and I should try again later. I tried again and again for a few minutes and then went to the forums. There I saw that there were a lot of people having the same problems as me or, if they were able to get in, had massive amounts of lag, even when playing in a private game.
My excitement kept me trying, and for about 45 minutes I would try, give it a break, and then try again. Finally I managed to get logged in! My excitement was poring out of my head space like so much liquified brain matter!
Usually in betas I avoid the class I want to play the most. This means that, at launch, I wont be tired of the class I've been looking forward to playing. However, after all that waiting, I decided to kick ass with a Demon Hunter, the class I was most excited to play! I was envisioning a Hugh Jackman "Van Helsing" character, keep them at ranged but use some aces up the sleeve for when they get close! So, character made, room created, I'm ready to go!
And I was so disappointed... Keep reading, though, don't take this as my final thoughts on the game. I end up continuing on and having different experiences, but we still have a few problems to get through as this is still pre-Saturday patch. The disappointment was due to some lingering technical difficulties as well as the class itself. So keep on reading!
After about 20 minutes of play or so I'm thinking about a 6/10. I'm having fun, just not nearly as much fun as I'd hoped. The Demon Hunter was very slow, didn't feel all that satisfying, and was just... not what I was hoping for at all. The class is very much the Rogue from Diablo 1, ranged is the name of the game. Now, normally I don't mind this, but with the slow progression of skills and the strict limit of how many active skills you have access to at a time, I just couldn't get into this class. Maybe if the skills unlocked early were more powerful, or if they allowed for more than 1 active skill at level 1, 2 at level 3, and 3 at level 8 or 9, then this class would be better (in my mind) but, as it stood, I just felt slow and weak.
And then the problems started...
I got to a point in the game where I was back in the Cathedral from the first game. I was exploring the dungeons, killing bad guys, and then...well... let me see if I can properly describe this. What would happen is this, my character would make the shooting animation (as I was using dual crossbows), and I'd hear the sound, but I wouldn't see the bolt fly out. I could move around freely but couldn't click on anything. I checked my latency, green, so its not lag, and you'd expect lag to clear up eventually. Add to this mix the fact that the enemies I was fighting could hit me, even though they didn't chase after me. I could be on the other side of the map and they would still be hitting me! I couldn't exit the game using the menu, I was completely stuck.
I figured I'd just let myself die to see what happens. When I ran out of health, my Demon Hunter dropped dead to the ground a message appeared "Click here to respawn at checkpoint." Click... Click... CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK WTF CLICK CLICK CLICK.... nothing. The only fix I found was using task manager to close the Diablo 3 application. After logging back in everything seemed fine, until it happened again, and again... so on and so forth. This happened to me about 4 or 5 times that night at random times.
I was very frustrated at this point. The class I knew I'd love and play the hell out of at launch wasn't all that great, and I could barely play the game!
I was about to give up and write this off as a loss. I stepped away for about 30-40 minutes, cooled off, and decided to try again. The lackluster time I had with the Demon Hunter, technical issues aside, was messing with my brain. At this point, after logging back in, I decided to try a different class. This time I'd choose the class I thought I'd hate, it just looked silly, cartoonish, very "WoW" to me (zombies climbing on each others shoulders just to fall over and crush enemies? /sigh), the Witch Doctor. I knew, for a fact, I'd hate this class.
I was wrong.
This is still pre-Saturday patch, but I had no technical issues this day.
I ended up having a lot of fun with the Witch Doctor, which really surprised me. The silliness was still kind of there to me, being able to summon a zombie that shambles in a straight line, doing a line backer impression the whole way, but it wasn't nearly as bad I was afraid it would be. I had a good old time with my zombie dogs and fire bats!
After a few hours there I logged off for the night and turned in.
The next day I log in and PATCH! Patch notes were something like "Fix a LOT of technical problems". Basically they patched out the problem I had been having with the Demon Hunter as I never had that problem again.
I went on to beat the Skeleton King for the first time with the Witch Doctor that day. Diablo 3 raised to an easy 8/10.
Well, I wasn't done, I wanted to try one of the other classes! I went to the character creation screen and started contemplating. I have to rewind a few days to before I got the beta invite. I was sitting at work thinking about the game, thinking about the classes, and I knew I was forgetting one. There was the "Oh, this class is going to kick major ass!" Demon Hunter, the all too silly Witch Doctor, Barbarian, Wizard and... umm... crap, what was that last class?
Oh, right, the Monk? Really? Ok, I'll give it a try. Since I couldn't even remember it existed there's likely no way I'll enjoy it.
Nope, wrong again, became my favorite class by far and will be the class I play at launch.
The Monk kicked major backside! I was fast and powerful! The punches I delivered made enemies fly off and it sounded like I was breaking faces!
I made it to the Skeleton King in one sitting with that class. Not because I was going through it faster or anything, I just couldn't make myself stand up and walk away.
9.5/10
And then I went through the other classes through the course of the weekend, beating the beta with all but the Demon Hunter. The Wizard started really poorly but then became really fun later on when I got more Area of Effect spells. The Barbarian is another face beater, the sound Blizz put in for the physical blows is spectacular.
My break down of classes goes as follows:
First place: Monk
Second place: Witch Doctor
Third place: Two way tie: Wizard and Barbarian
Fourth place: Demon Hunter.
In the end I think I have to say I'd give the beta a 9 out of 10. It was fun to play but there were problems and oddities (which I'm getting to, promise).
Getting to right now, in fact.
So, here's the thing... Diablo 3 is very much action oriented. Its easy to see with the inclusion of the health pots that enemies drop (they instantly heal you). Potions still exist but I didn't have to use them too often. Also, identifying items is greatly changed. Blues are instantly identified when they are put into your backpack. Yellows aren't but all that needs to be done to identify them is the player needs to right click on the item, wait for a bar to fill (10 seconds or so, maybe 5) and it is identified. All this is clearly to keep you in the fight instead of running back to town for potions and scrolls... right?
Well, but then comes the stuff I didn't get to play with as it was already removed. I hear tell that, in previous beta builds, white items could be disenchanted along with blues and yellows to give essences (I'll get to that in the "stuff I like" section) and all this could be done in the dungeon with some cube players had. They removed that previous to this build but I don't know why. If they're adding all these devices to keep the player in the fight longer, why take that out? Instead of going back to town to do three things (stock up on potions, stock up on scrolls, sell loot), now I'm going back to town for just the loot sell. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
Another think I didn't like was the new level up mechanic. Times past, leveling up meant looking through trees to pick skills and distributing stat points. Not anymore! Stats are built up automagically each level, and you unlock pre-determined skills, skill slots, and passive skills as you go.
This was a problem to me in two ways. First, and foremost, I missed having all those options at level up! I almost felt like leveling up wasn't as important to me this time around as it was in times past. That isn't to say it isn't important, my Wizard wasn't all that fun to play until around level 3 or so, leveling is still important and something you will find yourself striving towards, but it's impact wasn't the same. The second problem I had directly relates to what I said earlier about the Demon Hunter, being stuck with only two active skill slots for a long time really limits some characters. This wasn't a huge problem with the other classes as I found the skills I liked and just rolled with them the entire way, but I really felt like it made the Demon Hunter a slow and boring class to play.
As for things I liked...
The gameplay is largely unchanged. Kill, loot, kill, loot etc. Blizz has done a very good job of making the combat feel brutal. The sounds of bones breaking to my Monk's fists, or the amazing sound of the blows my Barbarian leveled upon whatever stood in his way, really went a long way towards making the game feel good.
The biggest improvement I enjoyed was the artisan. The only one I had in the Beta was the blacksmith. Using him I could disenchant blue and yellow items for "Subtle Essence", umm... some sort of bark... and "Fallen Teeth" (I might have the names wrong). I could then use these to craft weapons through the same blacksmith. I could drop gold into training him, making him able to craft more items, and around it went. I felt like this added some good depth and enjoyed being able to craft items this way.
My very final thought: I kind of understand the rage in the community about Blizz not setting a release date. The huge techincal problem I had was resolved in a day, so they know how to fix it up (maybe I'm oversimplifying it). The game feels done. The graphics are great, sound is better... after playing the beta I feel like everyone else, what's the hold up?
I'm ok with waiting, I just feel like the wait shouldn't be all that much longer.
I do feel like Blizz has made a good game. To steal and completely change a line from the Dark Knight, I'm not sure if this is the game we Diablo fans deserve but I think its the game we will want.
Oh come on, its only been, what, 3 or 4 months since I last wrote an article! Yeah, I know.
But I've got a good one today! Late last week I got a bet invite to Diablo 3! After beating the Skeleton King (the end boss of act 1 and the end boss of the beta) with all but one class I'm ready to type up my experience with it. First we must explore the "getting there" portion, pre-Saturday patch, then we can get to the good stuff.
So lets begin at the beginning (an odd choice). The download and install was as easy as one would imagine, I started it on its path when I came home briefly for lunch and it was done by the time I got home from work for the day. After dinner and some homework I was ready, willing and... not able.This brings me to problem 1 with the game, always online. When I tried to log in I would get an error message telling me that my request timed out and I should try again later. I tried again and again for a few minutes and then went to the forums. There I saw that there were a lot of people having the same problems as me or, if they were able to get in, had massive amounts of lag, even when playing in a private game.
My excitement kept me trying, and for about 45 minutes I would try, give it a break, and then try again. Finally I managed to get logged in! My excitement was poring out of my head space like so much liquified brain matter!
Usually in betas I avoid the class I want to play the most. This means that, at launch, I wont be tired of the class I've been looking forward to playing. However, after all that waiting, I decided to kick ass with a Demon Hunter, the class I was most excited to play! I was envisioning a Hugh Jackman "Van Helsing" character, keep them at ranged but use some aces up the sleeve for when they get close! So, character made, room created, I'm ready to go!
And I was so disappointed... Keep reading, though, don't take this as my final thoughts on the game. I end up continuing on and having different experiences, but we still have a few problems to get through as this is still pre-Saturday patch. The disappointment was due to some lingering technical difficulties as well as the class itself. So keep on reading!
After about 20 minutes of play or so I'm thinking about a 6/10. I'm having fun, just not nearly as much fun as I'd hoped. The Demon Hunter was very slow, didn't feel all that satisfying, and was just... not what I was hoping for at all. The class is very much the Rogue from Diablo 1, ranged is the name of the game. Now, normally I don't mind this, but with the slow progression of skills and the strict limit of how many active skills you have access to at a time, I just couldn't get into this class. Maybe if the skills unlocked early were more powerful, or if they allowed for more than 1 active skill at level 1, 2 at level 3, and 3 at level 8 or 9, then this class would be better (in my mind) but, as it stood, I just felt slow and weak.
And then the problems started...
I got to a point in the game where I was back in the Cathedral from the first game. I was exploring the dungeons, killing bad guys, and then...well... let me see if I can properly describe this. What would happen is this, my character would make the shooting animation (as I was using dual crossbows), and I'd hear the sound, but I wouldn't see the bolt fly out. I could move around freely but couldn't click on anything. I checked my latency, green, so its not lag, and you'd expect lag to clear up eventually. Add to this mix the fact that the enemies I was fighting could hit me, even though they didn't chase after me. I could be on the other side of the map and they would still be hitting me! I couldn't exit the game using the menu, I was completely stuck.
I figured I'd just let myself die to see what happens. When I ran out of health, my Demon Hunter dropped dead to the ground a message appeared "Click here to respawn at checkpoint." Click... Click... CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK WTF CLICK CLICK CLICK.... nothing. The only fix I found was using task manager to close the Diablo 3 application. After logging back in everything seemed fine, until it happened again, and again... so on and so forth. This happened to me about 4 or 5 times that night at random times.
I was very frustrated at this point. The class I knew I'd love and play the hell out of at launch wasn't all that great, and I could barely play the game!
I was about to give up and write this off as a loss. I stepped away for about 30-40 minutes, cooled off, and decided to try again. The lackluster time I had with the Demon Hunter, technical issues aside, was messing with my brain. At this point, after logging back in, I decided to try a different class. This time I'd choose the class I thought I'd hate, it just looked silly, cartoonish, very "WoW" to me (zombies climbing on each others shoulders just to fall over and crush enemies? /sigh), the Witch Doctor. I knew, for a fact, I'd hate this class.
I was wrong.
This is still pre-Saturday patch, but I had no technical issues this day.
I ended up having a lot of fun with the Witch Doctor, which really surprised me. The silliness was still kind of there to me, being able to summon a zombie that shambles in a straight line, doing a line backer impression the whole way, but it wasn't nearly as bad I was afraid it would be. I had a good old time with my zombie dogs and fire bats!
After a few hours there I logged off for the night and turned in.
The next day I log in and PATCH! Patch notes were something like "Fix a LOT of technical problems". Basically they patched out the problem I had been having with the Demon Hunter as I never had that problem again.
I went on to beat the Skeleton King for the first time with the Witch Doctor that day. Diablo 3 raised to an easy 8/10.
Well, I wasn't done, I wanted to try one of the other classes! I went to the character creation screen and started contemplating. I have to rewind a few days to before I got the beta invite. I was sitting at work thinking about the game, thinking about the classes, and I knew I was forgetting one. There was the "Oh, this class is going to kick major ass!" Demon Hunter, the all too silly Witch Doctor, Barbarian, Wizard and... umm... crap, what was that last class?
Oh, right, the Monk? Really? Ok, I'll give it a try. Since I couldn't even remember it existed there's likely no way I'll enjoy it.
Nope, wrong again, became my favorite class by far and will be the class I play at launch.
The Monk kicked major backside! I was fast and powerful! The punches I delivered made enemies fly off and it sounded like I was breaking faces!
I made it to the Skeleton King in one sitting with that class. Not because I was going through it faster or anything, I just couldn't make myself stand up and walk away.
9.5/10
And then I went through the other classes through the course of the weekend, beating the beta with all but the Demon Hunter. The Wizard started really poorly but then became really fun later on when I got more Area of Effect spells. The Barbarian is another face beater, the sound Blizz put in for the physical blows is spectacular.
My break down of classes goes as follows:
First place: Monk
Second place: Witch Doctor
Third place: Two way tie: Wizard and Barbarian
Fourth place: Demon Hunter.
In the end I think I have to say I'd give the beta a 9 out of 10. It was fun to play but there were problems and oddities (which I'm getting to, promise).
Getting to right now, in fact.
So, here's the thing... Diablo 3 is very much action oriented. Its easy to see with the inclusion of the health pots that enemies drop (they instantly heal you). Potions still exist but I didn't have to use them too often. Also, identifying items is greatly changed. Blues are instantly identified when they are put into your backpack. Yellows aren't but all that needs to be done to identify them is the player needs to right click on the item, wait for a bar to fill (10 seconds or so, maybe 5) and it is identified. All this is clearly to keep you in the fight instead of running back to town for potions and scrolls... right?
Well, but then comes the stuff I didn't get to play with as it was already removed. I hear tell that, in previous beta builds, white items could be disenchanted along with blues and yellows to give essences (I'll get to that in the "stuff I like" section) and all this could be done in the dungeon with some cube players had. They removed that previous to this build but I don't know why. If they're adding all these devices to keep the player in the fight longer, why take that out? Instead of going back to town to do three things (stock up on potions, stock up on scrolls, sell loot), now I'm going back to town for just the loot sell. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
Another think I didn't like was the new level up mechanic. Times past, leveling up meant looking through trees to pick skills and distributing stat points. Not anymore! Stats are built up automagically each level, and you unlock pre-determined skills, skill slots, and passive skills as you go.
This was a problem to me in two ways. First, and foremost, I missed having all those options at level up! I almost felt like leveling up wasn't as important to me this time around as it was in times past. That isn't to say it isn't important, my Wizard wasn't all that fun to play until around level 3 or so, leveling is still important and something you will find yourself striving towards, but it's impact wasn't the same. The second problem I had directly relates to what I said earlier about the Demon Hunter, being stuck with only two active skill slots for a long time really limits some characters. This wasn't a huge problem with the other classes as I found the skills I liked and just rolled with them the entire way, but I really felt like it made the Demon Hunter a slow and boring class to play.
As for things I liked...
The gameplay is largely unchanged. Kill, loot, kill, loot etc. Blizz has done a very good job of making the combat feel brutal. The sounds of bones breaking to my Monk's fists, or the amazing sound of the blows my Barbarian leveled upon whatever stood in his way, really went a long way towards making the game feel good.
The biggest improvement I enjoyed was the artisan. The only one I had in the Beta was the blacksmith. Using him I could disenchant blue and yellow items for "Subtle Essence", umm... some sort of bark... and "Fallen Teeth" (I might have the names wrong). I could then use these to craft weapons through the same blacksmith. I could drop gold into training him, making him able to craft more items, and around it went. I felt like this added some good depth and enjoyed being able to craft items this way.
My very final thought: I kind of understand the rage in the community about Blizz not setting a release date. The huge techincal problem I had was resolved in a day, so they know how to fix it up (maybe I'm oversimplifying it). The game feels done. The graphics are great, sound is better... after playing the beta I feel like everyone else, what's the hold up?
I'm ok with waiting, I just feel like the wait shouldn't be all that much longer.
I do feel like Blizz has made a good game. To steal and completely change a line from the Dark Knight, I'm not sure if this is the game we Diablo fans deserve but I think its the game we will want.
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