Diablo III [ Page 2 ] | Cheerful Ghost

Reaper of Souls: The Mystic

http://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/blog_header/G39B5ZYAJR941382581328708.jpg

Blizzard showed off some early details about the Mystic, a new(ish) NPC coming to Diablo III when Reaper of Souls releases. I say "ish" because she was planned for the initial release but was cut before the beta.

The Mystic re-enchants weapons and armor. The basic idea is this: you have an awesome sword for your Barbarian but it has a useless Intelligence roll on it. You can take it to the mystic, pick that roll, and she'll re-roll it to something else. Now, it wouldn't be Diablo if you could pick that roll, there has to be some chance thrown in. So of course, the re-roll may be worse than what you started with, and in this case you can choose to stick with the... Read All

Diablo III Console & PC Comparison

Diablo III released on console recently and like many people that have it on PC, I didn't buy it. I have been curious to try it as Blizzard made many changes to it that are not in the PC version. I was able to do that because Blizzard added a Diablo III demo to PS3 and XBox 360 which takes you all the way to the Skeleton King. I have been playing the PS3 demo over the last couple of days and wanted to write a bit about the differences between the console and PC version.

the long road to the controller

Originally I figured porting Diablo III to consoles would be strange because of the game controls. Diablo III has a pretty rich interface with hotkeys, character... Read All

Blizzard To Shutdown The Auction House in 2014

"When we initially designed and implemented the auction houses, the driving goal was to provide a convenient and secure system for trades. But as we've mentioned on different occasions, it became increasingly clear that despite the benefits of the AH system and the fact that many players around the world use it, it ultimately undermines Diablo's core game play: kill monsters to get cool loot. With that in mind, we want to let everyone know that we've decided to remove the gold and real-money auction house system from Diablo III.

We feel that this move along with the Loot 2.0 system being developed concurrently with Reaper of Souls will result in a much more rewarding... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 09/17/2013 at 06:23pm

You keep posting things that I was going to post :)

I'm looking forward to Loot 2.0. If it works the way they say it will, I won't have any reason for the Auction House anyway.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/17/2013 at 06:37pm

That said, if Loot 2.0 does let you easily play the game to get upgrades, and you can have fun that way, I don't see the harm in keeping around the AH. Now people are just going to go to third-party trading sites, get scammed, etc. Having it as an option isn't a problem, but it being practically a necessity definitely was/is.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/17/2013 at 06:54pm

Even with Loot 2.0 the best way to gear would still be the Auction House. So, yeah, if they want D3 to be a game where you grind for gear, then they need to cut it loose.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/17/2013 at 07:09pm

The best way, sure, but not practically the only viable way like it is now.

After they cut out the AH, though, the best way to gear will be D2jsp or other third-party trading. Most people won't do that, but more people will be getting scammed. The AH provided a way to do what people already did in D2, only more safely. The problem, in my opinion, was that they made it too much the focus.

Overall, it's a net positive I think. Lots of good but a little bad. If that makes sense.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/17/2013 at 07:27pm

Yeah it does. I am happy they are making some sweeping changes to the game as it got stale and still kind of sits in that spot for me. I know you got tons of play late game, so I am not saying my experience "means much" :D

That said, didn't they promise PVP with the original game? They did that one map but isn't that still coming too?

Travis Admin wrote on 09/17/2013 at 08:45pm

I honestly have no idea what they're doing with PVP. Hopefully brawl won't be the end of it, though brawling is pretty fun.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/18/2013 at 12:18am

It is a bit of fun, but yeah they had an elaborate PVP system they said would be coming after launch and added brawling in the meantime. Kind of cool they launched when they did, but I wonder how much attention it's getting.

hardeyez wrote on 09/18/2013 at 05:28am

I just wish that they made it opt-in... and I could opt-in now :)

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Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Cinematic Drops

How long could peace in Sanctuary last after Diablo III? Apparently not too long as it turns out. Interested in a new D3 expansion but I am somewhat put off by some of the cinematic. To keep this post spoiler free i'll put my thoughts on it in the comments.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/reaper-of-souls/

UPDATE: I am collecting all the news bits of the expansion in the comments section and so far have collected some really interesting information about the new Crusader Class and the new "loot run" game mode. This expansion is starting to shape up to be very interesting.

hardeyez wrote on 08/21/2013 at 07:42pm

So new Act V, new class, "increased level cap" (wonder if that's base levels and how that interacts with the Paragon levels)... Sounds like a $20 add-on, not a ton of new stuff, and they still haven't shipped all the stuff they promised in base D3 :)

Travis Admin wrote on 08/21/2013 at 08:19pm

It's on base levels, new cap is 70. Paragon levels are now unlimited, account-based rather than character-based, and let you pick increases across all your characters. Like badass rank in Diablo 3.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/21/2013 at 11:55pm

Dig an idea for a new class. Its kind of a Barb but not a Barb. Interested to see how that plays out.

I hope Act V is big because if its about as long as act I I am not sure if adding one class and an Act means they deserve the $60 price. Not to say if the charged it I wouldn't buy it, but I am just not sure its a $60 expansion for what we know now which isn't much.

That said I have a beef with the trailer. Ok so there is a new kid on the block, the Reaper of Souls. Awesome, totally down, yay Death. I am so ready to send Death to his grave.

But Diablo's soulstone is still around? Diablo is still around? WTF? WHYYY? Ugh. Seriously. Didn't we kick that fucker into the dirt a zillion times? Then again, if he was really dead they'd have to call the game "Reaper of Souls III: The Reaper of Souls."

Minor gripe but yeah, I wonder if we will still be killing Diablo when we are 60?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/22/2013 at 02:04am

Gameplay trailer for the Crusader. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGp5dkJdi0w

Looks fun.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/22/2013 at 02:08am

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/08/21/diablo-3-reaper-of-souls-announced/

"Crusaders wield shields and flails, and are described as “mid-range melee” warriors, specialising in shield bashing and smiting. Diablo 2′s Fist of the Heavens holy lightning strike returns and Crusaders can follow up with Falling Sword, a teleporting drop attack that turns the Paladin’s heavily armoured body into an artillery strike. Paladins were all about support, Crusaders have replaced their benevolent auras with AOE zones that help co-op partners and injure enemies at the same time."

AND

"Blizzard are rebalancing loot drops in a big way to try and make more drops relevant to your character. There will be fewer common (white) drops, and they can be melted down into a new crafting reagent to stop them being completely useless past level 10. Rare drops will be reduced but there’s a high chance of a “smart drop.” These items will feature stats tuned to your character. More legendary items will drop, and they’ll come with new interesting new effects. Blizzard’s examples included a weapon that spawned an instant treasure goblin when equipped, and a staff that adds a chance to spawn hydras from dead bodies.

They’re also adding a new artisan: The Mystic. She can transmogrify items, letting you transfer desirable stats onto items you like the look of, preserving your warrior’s sense of style. They can also enchant items, which lets you re-roll one affix for an item you own. Enchant your Barbarian’s sword and there’s a chance that pointless +100 intelligence stat will flip into a +100 strength stat, for example. It’s another system designed to give players a way to make powerful but unusable items relevant."

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/22/2013 at 02:09am

AND HOLY SHIT THE COOLEST FEATURE FROM THAT PC GAMER ARTICLE:

"Finally, Reaper of Souls will add a new game mode called Loot Run. This lets you and a few friends run an completely randomised 15-20 minute dungeon. Assets, layout, lighting, weather, monsters, loot and the end boss are all randomised. It’s designed to offer a fresh and profitable dose of Diablo 3 in a manageable chunk of time."

Travis Admin wrote on 08/22/2013 at 03:03pm

I had intended on writing up a post on all this last night, but I worked til 11PM. You've covered it all and yeah, I'm super excited about all of this. I can't freakin' wait.

hardeyez wrote on 08/22/2013 at 08:13pm

Yeah, loot run is killer... I spent a ridiculous amount of time with the Diablo 1 demo and a trainer that some group made which just respawned random dungeons with random monsters or a mix you picked. It was crazy having 50 Butchers yelling "Fresh Meat" at once and swarming you...

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/22/2013 at 08:50pm

Hahaha, yeah that would be awesome. Hopefully they put some rad stuff at the end of each run.

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Diablo III: Reaper of Souls teased

http://us.battle.net/d3/static/images/teaser-page/d3x_teaser-en-us.jpg

Blizzard has set up a teaser site for a Diablo III expansion, apparently named Reaper of Souls. While there hasn't been any actual announcement yet, it appears on the official Blizzard servers, and the image displayed has the filename d3x_teaser-en-us.jpg, so it seems fairly obvious what we're dealing with here.

We all knew an expansion was coming, but hopefully we'll be getting some info to drool over soon!

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/reaper-of-souls/

Diablo III on consoles looks pretty nice, actually

I saw this video last night, and today I read about some ways they're changing the game for consoles. Some of this looks really interesting. A new dodge mechanic will change how you approach battles to some extent, allowing you to dodge out of attacks easily. This adds a little more hack'n'slash skill to the battles. Some camera angle and perspective changes here and there seem to give you a better view of what's going on. And especially the loot changes-- since there's no Auction House on the console versions, they've made it more likely that the gear you find will be for your character.

What do you think? Will you dive back into the game on a new platform? I was... Read All

hardeyez wrote on 06/12/2013 at 06:09pm

Argh... "The developers also tweaked the loot drop system. The console version will not include the PC version's Auction House, real money or otherwise. To compensate, there's a higher probability that you'll find relevant loot for your class."

So, yeah, how many times did they say the PC version was designed around and balanced for play w/o the auction house. And, yet, they tweak the loot drops on console to account for there being no auction house.

Yeah, the console version sounds like the d3 I wanted to play. If it plays w/o rubber-banding all the time even better...

But I just can't justify spending another $60 on that game. Maybe when it drops to $20...

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 06/12/2013 at 09:08pm

Some of these features could come to PC

http://diablo.somepage.com/news/1567-d3-developers-pc-diablo-iii-may-get-console-features

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/13/2013 at 02:31am

Thanks for sharing that Travis. I hope some of them do.

Also found it interesting the new Diablo III lead was the console lead who was allowed some free reign over the project. Seems like dropping auction house and a lot of other things they did might be good for the PC game proper.

Id take an increase in better loot drops for the auction house going away. I wonder if most other people would too.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 06/13/2013 at 02:59am

I played the RMAH early on, when everyone was paying ridiculous amounts of money for crap gear. I sold some crap gear for real money early on and left it there until I came back to the game recently, at which point I was able to use that real money in my Blizzard account to buy gems, which I then sold for gold on the gold auction house. I turned a couple of pieces that were probably worth 100,000 gold into 350 million or so.

Then, a friend of mine gave me some gift cards to the RMAH-- his brother got them and had been banned for exploting, so he didn't want them. I gave one to my wife and kept another. So I had some gold to spend.

This was all to show where I am in terms of getting gear. I don't really have any problems. I have geared my level 60 Monk entirely with millions of gold on the Auction House (with the exception of some awesome-ish crafted bracers), but I would *still* take a game where I could get good drops for my character over one where the AH is practically mandatory for a good build.

Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy the content, and I don't mind getting gear from the AH. It doesn't change the way I play at all, so I can still have tons of fun. But the thrill of getting a good piece of gear is almost entirely lost in the game as it currently stands, and I would love to have it back.

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/13/2013 at 05:57am

Interesting. I didn't know they sold gift cards for the RMAH.

You are so the 1% in Diablo III.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 06/13/2013 at 01:02pm

Haha, you'd be surprised. People don't think twice about dropping 2 billion on an item.

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Diablo III: What you've been missing

Many people played Diablo 3, and then for whatever reason hit a wall where it was no longer enjoyable. For most, it seems, that wall was Inferno. Back in the day the increase in difficulty when moving to Inferno was so high, people just stopped. But there have been many patches over the time Diablo 3 has been out, which have added some interesting and fun features. If you've been wondering if it's time to come back, here's what you may have missed.

General improvements
First off, and probably most importantly, things have been smoothed out. Some skills that were lacking have been buffed, some that were way overpowered have been scaled back. The difficulty curve when... Read All

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/06/2013 at 04:37am

This is a great update, thanks Travis. Getting a Hellfire Ring looks epic. Do you have one yet? Also, do you fight those zones on MP10 to get the keywarden drops and organ drops everytime?

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 06/06/2013 at 01:01pm

Nope, no hellfire ring yet, but we're working on it. We're so far only going as high as MP4, that's about as much as we feel comfortable with, and plus that should average out to a drop almost every other visit so it isn't a huge deal. MP10 would absolutely kill us at this point!

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/06/2013 at 03:19pm

That makes sense. How much have you collcted so far for the ring?

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 06/06/2013 at 05:31pm

Just keys. No parts yet. We're working on it though!

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/06/2013 at 07:13pm

Sounds like fun and I want to get that ring. I just don't know about the time it would take to get it. Sounds like a hell of a fun time though.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 06/06/2013 at 07:57pm

I will tell you that it gets horribly frustrating at times. But those beautiful drops are worth it.

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/06/2013 at 08:01pm

I bet, then again I stopped at the molten armor in Terraria because going higher was much more work.

My goal with our upcoming server is to get a higher tier of armor this time. At least, last time I nabbed the molten armor... Or whatever you mine in hell... Obsidian?

This is horribly off-topic because I am jonesn for the 1.2 patch.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 06/06/2013 at 08:10pm

Yeah it's molten. Obsidian is one or two tiers below Molten.

With the new content to hardmode, the new ores, etc... I bet it's going to be much harder to max out. I CAN DO IT.

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/06/2013 at 08:12pm

Hahahahaha. I bet.

Did you get top tier in the last few games we played?

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 06/06/2013 at 08:58pm

Not quite. I got it in the first world, but not the second. I stopped at half Adamantite, half ... whatever the green stuff is.

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/06/2013 at 10:29pm

Sure. I think we all stopped about then.

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Diablo III’s One-Year Anniversary

https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/content_folder_media/I92NZOGURTC91369092382675.png

Here's a cool infographic showing D3's one year stats. Link to the page: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/9691895/diablo-iii%E2%80%99s-one-year-anniversary-infographic-5-20-2013

So Much Evil For Your Desktop

Blizzard's art team released 4 new desktop backgrounds for Diablo III today. If you are looking to amp up your desktop's hell factor, I seriously recommend checking them out.

The offer some seriously epic resolutions so you can see all the blood in oh so crisp and savory HD.

http://us.battle.net//d3/en/blog/9691897

Back to Diablo III, at least briefly

http://www.diablo3builds.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Diablo-3-Inferno-Farming.jpg

Diablo III recently released version 1.8, so I thought I'd pop in and see what's up.

The auction houses are offline. Apparently yesterday there was a major gold duping glitch that people think will essentially ruin the economy, so that's awesome. This didn't bother me tonight, because it's been so long since I really played the game that I honestly have no clue what good gear is anymore, so I certainly wasn't about to buy any.

This patch smoothed out a lot of the problems a lot of people have with the game. I played through the last couple of quests of act 1 Inferno, which is so far as far as I've gotten. I can certainly see the progress. The trash mobs feel a lot... Read All Diablo III recently released version 1.8, so I thought I'd pop in and see what's up.

The auction houses are offline. Apparently yesterday there was a major gold duping glitch that people think will essentially ruin the economy, so that's awesome. This didn't bother me tonight, because it's been so long since I really played the game that I honestly have no clue what good gear is anymore, so I certainly wasn't about to buy any.

This patch smoothed out a lot of the problems a lot of people have with the game. I played through the last couple of quests of act 1 Inferno, which is so far as far as I've gotten. I can certainly see the progress. The trash mobs feel a lot stronger, and the elite packs have been toned down a bit. You now always have to be on guard to a point, but don't freak right the hell out when you see blue or yellow on the screen.

One of my big pet peeves, identifying rare items one by one by one by one by one has been taken care of. You can now visit Deckard Cain (or a book near where he would be) to identify all your items at once. In other streamlining fixes, you can now queue up things to craft so that you don't have to sit there clicking once every few seconds until you're satisfied with what you've done, and you can pull crafting materials from your stash so you don't have to carry those with you to the artisans.

I was amazed at how easily I fell back into the game, having gone many months without really playing it, and it still holds the same appeal. I went on into act 2 after slamming the butcher, and I was able to get through the stupid bee things much more easily than before. The difficulty curve between acts seems to have smoothed out a bit. I then got to an elite pack of vortex desecrator bee things and got handily demolished, and decided that was a good place to call it quits for the night.

Still, progress has definitely been made, and I think I'll look at revamping my gear and getting on to act 2 soon. For anyone who quit the game because of whatever gripes you may have had, it's definitely worth another look.

Just don't expect to get any good gear on the auction house for less than a few billion gold for a few weeks.

hardeyez wrote on 05/09/2013 at 07:22am

I have to agree with this.

Over the weekend I decided to give D3 a spin again after having been away (since around 1.3 or 1.4, can't remember which). And, I was having the same frustrations -- tons of lag deaths, lots of dying before I even saw the champion pack monsters, etc. So I was annoyed all over, and put it away for the next several revisions.

Today, I tried 1.8 because of this post. And, WOW, what a difference. The game feels *so* much better. I died a couple times against the champion packs, but it was from fighting (and packs that have bind and pull buffs -- I'm a ranged DH and hate getting close). It was fun again. I might actually pick it back up and finally hit level 60... Yeah, I have a fairly low tolerance for annoying gameplay so I never maxed out as I was stuck in act 1 of hell mode. I didn't want to grind for gold to buy AH items (or pay cash). I just want to play, have fun, get loot I want to use (instead of sell). So I really hate the AH and don't use it... which feels like a major disadvantage. But, if I can play again, make progress (reasonably quickly -- no grinding for hours with nothing to show for it and losing gold due to repair costs), and have fun, then that is awesome. In fact, I got about 25% of a level in a quick half to quarter hour of play which is much better than I'm used to (I'm level 53, almost 54).

So, yeah, I'd second the thought that you should try it again after this patch.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/13/2013 at 04:32am

I played this a bit tonight. Very fun as you said Travis but WOW the lag was incredible.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/13/2013 at 04:55pm

Interesting, I haven't had any lag problems in the past few days playing it. Luck of the draw I guess.

I just love the new monster density. Last night in Act 2 inferno at monster power 1 I had to walk through three screens to pick up the loot that I had left behind.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/13/2013 at 04:58pm

Yeah the loot drops do seem better. I mean most of it is trash compared to what I have. In fact most of it is. I get tons of loot, but none of it is better than the stuff I've had for a few levels now.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/13/2013 at 05:12pm

That gets better once you hit level 60, but it is a little annoying when you're leveling a character yeah.

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