Celebrate the Birthday of Reaper of Souls

This event is over

Start: Mon - March 23, 2015 @ 8:45pm PDT

End: Mon - March 30, 2015 @ 8:45pm PDT

anyone can join

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls on Battlenet

It's the birthday of Reaper of Souls and Blizzard is celebrating with an in-game event! For this week, players are granted a +100% bonus for gold and EXP. Feel free to join me (GregoPeck#1971)! I've created a new character, a Demon Hunter, for this event.

*Note: Please note that the times included in this Cheerful Ghost event's schedule are from the link below and are in PDT.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/18388260?utm_content=external-sso&utm_medium=other&utm_source=App#comments

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Users signed up:

Azurephile

jdodson

Timogorgon

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 03/24/2015 at 02:06am

Thanks for joining my first event, Jon! It made me feel so good to create it! =)

That said, I just found out about some scheduled maintenance. The news from Blizzard is as follows:

"We will be performing maintenance beginning on Tuesday, March 24, at 3:00 AM PDT and we expect it to be complete at approximately 11:00 AM PDT. During this time the game and many web services will be unavailable. Thank you for your patience."

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/16716772081

Travis Admin wrote on 03/24/2015 at 12:52pm

Diablo III goes into maintenance mode every Tuesday morning. It's their weekly downtime. It's annoying but necessary, I suppose!

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 03/25/2015 at 04:03am

I'm so glad Blizzard created the in-game birthday event for Reaper of Souls, it gave me a reason to play the game again. I was waiting for the new patch to be released, but I decided not to sit out until then. I'm glad for that because I had gotten in to a phase I hated where I didn't know what I wanted to play. I did briefly play Terraria on the PS3 with my son since I bought it so that he and his friend could play together. I also played a bit more of the mobile version on my Kindle Fire.

I'm not sure when the patch will be released. I'm also not sure how far I'll get with this week's in-game birthday event. I think my Demon Hunter is now about level 40 and I'm still in Act II. It is my guess that I will finish the game before the in-game event is over and will, therefore, create another new character and play through it again. My only problem is that I don't know what to name the other characters I know I'm going to create, although I have some ideas.

One thing I'd like us to do here is discuss the game (I guess that's a given). I thought about some things I'm interested in knowing about how you play the game. Do you have a favorite class? Also, if you have a Demon Hunter, do you dual-wield bows? I haven't played all the classes yet, so I think it's too early for me to pick a favorite. I did spend a lot of time with my Barbarian, so that's probably my favorite so far, however I think they're all pretty good. I am not dual-wielding with my Demon Hunter. I have a really awesome bow (or crossbow) equipped with a good quiver.

Another thing I'm interested in knowing is how you decide which skills to equip. While I am leveling, I tend to switch to whatever is new. So, if I unlock a new rune for one skill, that's what I switch to. It gives me some variety and helps me learn and experience all of them. At first, with my Barbarian, I did not use any of the special skills (that are set 1-4). I did, finally, start using them and found them to be helpful. However, as I'm playing with my Demon Hunter I've gone back to not using them. Although I mentioned that I switch to new skills (or runes) unlocked by leveling, I have decided to keep the Companion skill with my Demon Hunter. I like it because it's more like a passive skill that I don't have to activate.

Also, I've noticed that from time to time, I like to increase the difficulty level. I always start out on "Normal," but after a while of not really taking any damage, I decide to increase it. This is good because that helps me get more gold and EXP. Do you do the same or stick with a level?

Anyway, feel free to fill me in on your thoughts and game play. Do you play similarly or differently?

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/26/2015 at 02:41am

So it's hard to say what my favorite class is because I typically play a class until I burn out on it. It's not a good strategy and I might consider stopping before I get sick on it. But if I had to say, to date, my favorite class is the Crusader. I also quite enjoy the Barbarian but haven't made it too far with one.

I equip skills based on what I want to accomplish and for my Crusader it's dealing damage. Some people have some really unique builds and I consider mine pretty average. I don't have much epic gear and don't hit very hard so I tend to pick stills which help me take things down. After that I pick skills that can get me out of a tough spot or run away, like steed charge.

I usually play at Torment 1. It's pretty hard but the loot is good and it's not boringly easy.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 03/26/2015 at 03:17am

Thanks for the input, Jon! So, you purposefully choose certain skills instead of randomly choosing what you just got by leveling up as I seem to do? Or do you try to learn the skills, play with them all for a bit and then choose? Also, do you use your 1-4 skills often? I still haven't used those skills with my Demon Hunter yet and I'm still choosing whatever is new when I level up. Recently, I selected one of those secondary skills (right-click) I got from leveling up and noticed how great it was at clearing out groups of enemies. I don't know what the name of it is though. I think how I've been playing (when it comes to new characters) is just me learning, even if I don't experiment with everything at first.

Also, I wonder how you and others manage gems. I tend to pretty much stick a really good ruby wherever I can, which almost always increases my strength. I'm also curious as to what followers you and others choose. I pretty much tend to stick with the Templar, although during a time of running through the game with my Barbarian, I decided to switch followers to add a little "spice" to the game.

I was also thinking of seeing the differences between character genders. I think that might be an interesting part of the game to explore. As of now, I've been choosing male characters, but I think it might be interesting to try some females.

Do you start a character on Torment 1 or do you gradually increase the difficulty and get there? I do the gradual increase because, I agree with you, it can get boringly easy and the loot (along with gold and EXP) is good.

Travis Admin wrote on 03/27/2015 at 03:56am

Strength is only really relevant on Strength-based characters. With Monks and Demon Hunters for example, dexterity increases your damage, not strength. So it all depends on what character you're playing.

With difficulty level, once you hit level 80 Torment 1 is pretty taxing. I play on the one below that, I can't remember which. But on the grind to 80 I frequently switch between that and Torment 1.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 03/27/2015 at 04:14am

Thanks for the tip, Travis. I haven't been paying attention to my Demon Hunter's dexterity and I now see that I should have. I have been applying Marquise Rubies to whatever items have gem slots. Most often this gives me +62 strength since that applies when put on something other than a helm or weapon. So, I'll have to get back in the game with my Demon Hunter and change those out to emeralds, which give + dexterity when applied to something other than a helm or weapon.

Master is the level below Torment 1, which is what I'm currently playing on. My Demon Hunter is now above level 60 and I just beat Diablo. During that battle, I finally tried out my 1-4 skills. Although I don't recall what the first two do, the latter two seemed pretty helpful. One of the latter two seems to freeze enemies, while the other of the latter two did some kind of attack, which was awesome.

Travis Admin wrote on 03/27/2015 at 10:09pm

"During that battle, I finally tried out my 1-4 skills."

I'm not entirely sure what this means. You were only using autoattack on your way up to level 60? If so, WOW. I didn't know you could get that far only using the basic attack.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 03/27/2015 at 11:04pm

Yeah, I only used my primary and secondary attacks until then. I started out on Normal difficulty and gradually increased it to Master, where it is now. I still use those two skills mostly, but when I fight the harder monsters (blue, yellows, and bosses), I use my other (3 and 4) skills. 1 makes me invisible or something and I never use it. 2 is my companion, which is passive and automatic, so it doesn't need to be activated.

I am getting poor again. I had over 11 million gold, but I finally decided to upgrade my emeralds and rubies. I put the highest emerald in a slot on something for my Demon Hunter. Oh and my DH is now level 70 and my Paragon level is almost to 70 as well. It was only maybe 63 before.

Travis Admin wrote on 03/28/2015 at 02:47am

Damn, that's impressive with only using a very small subset of skills.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 03/28/2015 at 04:21am

Thanks! I finished RoS. My Demon Hunter was level 70, Paragon level 71. I some how managed not to get killed by Malthael. I didn't increase the difficulty above Master because I knew he'd be difficult. So, I created a new character, a Monk, and I named him "Adama." =) My Monk is so awesome he found a Black Mushroom in the Cathedral. When I tried to get that item months ago, it took a few attempts at the Cathedral to find it. Oh and I changed the difficulty to Hard sooner than usual. Normal difficulty should really be called Easy and Hard should be called Normal. Haha.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 03/28/2015 at 07:24pm

Travis, you once told me about your favorite class. I think you mentioned the Monk or Wizard, am I correct?

The Monk is pretty cool, I was sure I wouldn't be disappointed. Some of his skills are really good like the one where he heals himself and allies. I also like the "bell" one, it seems pretty powerful.

One of the things I didn't like about my play through with the Demon Hunter was that a few Treasure Goblins got away. I really enjoyed his Companion skill. I also equipped two rings, which were pieces of a green set. Since I had two of the set, a skeleton archer summoned when I attacked. That and my Companion skill were very helpful as they created extra allies for me, which would often become enemy targets, saving me from taking damage. I enjoyed that freezing skill of his, as I also enjoy the Monk's skill that freezes enemies when he attacks. I also enjoyed the Demon Hunter's Vengeance skill.

I am now playing my Monk a bit differently than when I had started other new characters. While I am still selecting new skills as they unlock by leveling, I'm using my 1-4 skills more often, which is quite helpful. His 1 skill is a healing one, so I've been keeping that one.

Travis Admin wrote on 03/28/2015 at 08:56pm

It's probably Monk, yeah. I like all the classes though, they're all really well done.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 03/29/2015 at 12:10am

I like that the Monk also has a "companion" skill. It's a spirit, but it's pretty much the same thing.

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