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
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 going into Inferno has been adjusted so you don't feel like you're running into a brick wall. Many other things have been adjusted so the game just *feels* better, and it's hard to put my finger on why.
Paragon levels Unlike Sir Patrick Stewart (http://i.imgur.com/RZk4cX2.jpg) now when you reach max level, you don't stop leveling. On top of the 60 normal levels, there are 100 paragon levels that you can achieve to increase your stats as you work your way through all Inferno has to offer. Each level gives you 3 of your primary stat, 2 vitality, and 1 of each other main stat. In addition, you gain 3% gold find and magic find. You'll gradually get stronger and tougher, and pick up more fun stuff as you farm Inferno.
Monster Power If you want more of a challenge than what the base difficulty gives, you can increase the Monster Power up to 10. Each level of Monster Power makes the enemies a little stronger, but gives you more experience, magic and gold find, and fun. In Inferno, playing at MP1 or above greatly increases the density of enemies in a level, which can lead to some seriously badass fights.
Keywardens, the Infernal Machine and the Hellfire Ring There's a new enemy type called Keywardens, and one appears in each act. The first three have a chance to drop a different key, and the Act 4 Keywarden drops the plan for the infernal machine. Once you get one of each key and teach your blacksmith how to make it, you can have him make you an Infernal Machine.
The Infernal Machine will take you to a different realm where you fight buffed versions of bosses that appear elsewhere in the game, two at a time. Again, there are three sets, and each set has a chance to drop a different item that you'll need to take to your jeweler to have him make the Hellfire Ring. You can choose the main stat, and it gets other random rolls.
This may seem like a lot to do for a single item, but this isn't just another legendary. This ring gives you a significant boost to experience and has a chance to spawn a fireball.
So if you haven't played in a while, and especially if you have a level 60 you abandoned because Inferno just wasn't fun, you should definitely give it another shot. If you liked the mechanics but felt like the game wasn't scaled well or didn't give you enough fun things to do, the team has made some changes that make it far more fun and worth your time.
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!
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.
Hey Paisanos! For retro Tuesday I decided to talk about a television show I watched the hell out of as a kid. It is a show I rarely ever missed and had a blast watching each episode. The Super Mario Brothers Super Show was the first taste I got of a video game theme show and quickly became my favorite of its era. Watching Mario, Luigi, the Princess and Toad foil Bowser over and over again never seemed to get dull. The plots were interesting and they seemed to add in the right amount of Mario-ness to the show. I even liked the live action set pieces between animation.
Each season of the Super Show is available on Netflix and YouTube now, so if you are interested in... Read All
Hey Paisanos! For retro Tuesday I decided to talk about a television show I watched the hell out of as a kid. It is a show I rarely ever missed and had a blast watching each episode. The Super Mario Brothers Super Show was the first taste I got of a video game theme show and quickly became my favorite of its era. Watching Mario, Luigi, the Princess and Toad foil Bowser over and over again never seemed to get dull. The plots were interesting and they seemed to add in the right amount of Mario-ness to the show. I even liked the live action set pieces between animation.
Each season of the Super Show is available on Netflix and YouTube now, so if you are interested in watching this again, its available. Some things I loved as a kid don't age well and The Super Mario Brothers Super show straddles that line. On one hand, the voice acting is done well but on the other hand not every aspect of the show holds up. Its not the aging quality of the visuals either and surprisingly I think the live action set pieces are some of the stronger parts.
If I can take point with the show now, and its not a huge point, is that the plots of the shows are a bit lost on "older jdodson." Each show is a take on a old fairy tale or some kind of folklore. Like Mario in Camelot, Mario and the Beanstalk and Mario in the Old West. None of these set pieces I find interesting and honestly I would prefer if they just had to stop Bowser or Wart in the plain-ol Mushroom Kingdom. Because of this, I point to the first episode as some of the best of the episodes because they simply exist in the Mushroom Kingdom without a fairy tale or folklore backing.
That said, the show is still fun in all its gloriously cheesy Mario-ness. I love the intro music and can still sing it by heart and get excited when the teaser for the Friday Zelda episode plays.
I used to have the "come on do the Mario" song memorized. I loved this show so hard.
I hesitate to even watch a minute of it because I'm afraid of what it might do to those memories :)
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 06/05/2013 at 05:17am
Well founded fear. Still the first episode is fun.
Azurephile Super Member
wrote on 01/25/2014 at 05:27am
What an awesome show! I'm glad it's been released in various forms as I remember watching it back in the day! I know my son has watched some of the episodes on YouTube. This has to be one of my most favorite TV shows of all time. I'd like to see more of it. I remember the Zelda episodes, but not extremely well. Wasn't it Captain N (N for Nintendo) also? Vague memories. It also reminds me of MC Hammer's cartoon. Good stuff...
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Starcraft was a staple of my ol' LAN parties and to get everyone playing the game we occasionally spawned copies of it on people's machines that didn't have the game. Some have lamented this loss but it seems today Blizzard is bringing this back.
Starcraft II has had the starter edition for quite some time, which allows you to play as Terran on a few maps and also allows cross play with your friends that own the full game. Up till now, all the Heart of the Swarm maps and units were unavailable if you wanted to play with your starter edition friends until now.
The video above showcases how it works, simply start a game with starter edition friend and you get all the... Read All
Starcraft was a staple of my ol' LAN parties and to get everyone playing the game we occasionally spawned copies of it on people's machines that didn't have the game. Some have lamented this loss but it seems today Blizzard is bringing this back.
Starcraft II has had the starter edition for quite some time, which allows you to play as Terran on a few maps and also allows cross play with your friends that own the full game. Up till now, all the Heart of the Swarm maps and units were unavailable if you wanted to play with your starter edition friends until now.
The video above showcases how it works, simply start a game with starter edition friend and you get all the Heart of the Swarm multiplayer options and maps available. This is a really cool feature and I plan on using it in an upcoming Starcraft 2 event, so stay tuned for that and if you haven't load up on the starter edition.
This is awesome of Blizzard, and somewhat unexpected. I'm always a little surprised when game companies do something to benefit players these days.
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 06/05/2013 at 09:02pm
Well. Blizzard does seem to support games with signifigant patches and comtent well after most. Plus I bet they plan to do stuff like spawn copies but it gets pushed out because of deadlines.
They have wonky launches and sometimes games like D3 arent tuned tight for long term play right away, but Blizz does seem to do right by players. Most of time.
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MMO Champion has a rundown of the currently available features of a Steam-alike client that Blizzard is currently testing. It does everything you'd expect an app like this to do.
Keep all your Blizzard games in one place, and automatically update them when an update is available. (This also replaces the game-specific launchers)
Chat with your Battle.net friends outside of gameplay
See all the news about your Blizzard games.
A store, of course, to buy new games (though this isn't implemented in the current build).
Other social features like forums and player profiles, also yet to be implemented.
I've been wanting this for a long time, but the screenshots don't answer... Read All
MMO Champion has a rundown of the currently available features of a Steam-alike client that Blizzard is currently testing. It does everything you'd expect an app like this to do.
Keep all your Blizzard games in one place, and automatically update them when an update is available. (This also replaces the game-specific launchers)
Chat with your Battle.net friends outside of gameplay
See all the news about your Blizzard games.
A store, of course, to buy new games (though this isn't implemented in the current build).
Other social features like forums and player profiles, also yet to be implemented.
I've been wanting this for a long time, but the screenshots don't answer two questions that I'm really curious about:
1. Will this also replace the login? If I have already signed into Battle.net through the client, do I then have to sign into it again when I launch Diablo 3 and again when I decide to play Starcraft 2?
2. Will this support the old Battle.net games, the original Starcraft, Warcraft 3, Diablo 2?
So a new service to buy games from? I imagine this will be used to buy other non Blizzard games as well?
Not sure I need another game service.
Travis Admin Post Author
wrote on 06/05/2013 at 12:05am
I don't think it will, from what I've read. It seems to just be distribution for Bnet stuff, which is great since currently they don't exist on any game service and you have to wait for updates to download, etc.
I agree though, if they're using it for other things beyond Blizzard games, I'll probably pass on those, but it will be great to have Blizzard's games all under one roof at least.
The games update themselves already and you can get them all from the website. I am not sure that was a problem for me, but I can see why they would do it.
Travis Admin Post Author
wrote on 06/05/2013 at 12:09am
They update themselves when you launch the launcher. And then you wait.
This way, you leave it up and it downloads when it's ready, and you never have to wait.
Travis Admin Post Author
wrote on 06/05/2013 at 12:12am
Plus, you get to see what your friends are playing before you launch the game, so now you can say "hey Jon is playing SC2" and message him to see if he wants to play, rather than launching the game, signing in, seeing nobody online.
And *if* they make it so you only have to sign into the client and not each individual game, that will make me very happy.
Yeah, that could be good. Unifying sign in would be nice and the friends thing you mention. I wonder how impossible it will be to use the Steam Overlay now that each game might not support login?
Travis Admin Post Author
wrote on 06/05/2013 at 12:17am
Yeah, I hope they have their own overlay. I doubt you'd be able to use Steam's if you're launching anything from the BNet client.
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Revision 3 recently posted a video with Tara Long and Anthony Burch the lead writer for Borderlands 2 going over the new Assault on Dragon Keep DLC. The walkthrough contains some mad spoilers but its fun to see the game unfold with Burch's commentary.
The new D&D influenced DLC will hit June 25th.
Revision 3 recently posted a video with Tara Long and Anthony Burch the lead writer for Borderlands 2 going over the new Assault on Dragon Keep DLC. The walkthrough contains some mad spoilers but its fun to see the game unfold with Burch's commentary.
I never finished BL2, and I feel a little ashamed of that. Spent so much time in the first game, that I got a little burned out when it came to the second. I don't know. This expansion, however, looks mighty awesome. May have to dive back in.
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 06/04/2013 at 11:54pm
Yeah, I chip at it a bit at a time but largely I find the main campaign to be way too long between interesting bits. The writing is good, but I think the smaller bite sized DLC packs might be more my style too.
That said, perhaps another reason is I crushed so hard on the first game and second one was essentially the same kind of thing with better writing.
Anyways, Dragon Keep looks good and I want to give it a spin at some point.
That's exactly it! The first game was amazing, fresh and new. Played through several times, with multiple characters, and sometimes would just grind for weapons. Then the second came, and I was really into it, but lost interest somewhere along the way, and couldn't get back in.
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 06/05/2013 at 08:59pm
Right. I chip away on BL2 a bit at a time because it fun in bursts but, yeah it doesnt have me like BL1 did. Kind if been wanting to go back and play the original lately too.
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After Humble Bundle 8 dropped I picked it up and after thinking it over decided to play Awesomenauts first. I had heard from people on the site that this is a good game, plus I see people playing it on Steam all the time so I figured it was time.
While I was at University I played a fun Warcraft III UMS map called Defense of the Ancients. That made it into our LAN rotations among other Tower Defense maps and regular ol' War III. I really dug DoTA but never was exceptional at it. Fast foward to today to the more modern DoTA 2 and League of Legends and whereas the core idea is fun, the immense difficulty ramp is not.
Intro Awesomenauts. It comes packed with all the Tower... Read All
After Humble Bundle 8 dropped I picked it up and after thinking it over decided to play Awesomenauts first. I had heard from people on the site that this is a good game, plus I see people playing it on Steam all the time so I figured it was time.
While I was at University I played a fun Warcraft III UMS map called Defense of the Ancients. That made it into our LAN rotations among other Tower Defense maps and regular ol' War III. I really dug DoTA but never was exceptional at it. Fast foward to today to the more modern DoTA 2 and League of Legends and whereas the core idea is fun, the immense difficulty ramp is not.
Intro Awesomenauts. It comes packed with all the Tower / Hero destruction fun you could want in an easily accessible game. That doesn't mean the game isn't challenging, but it doesn't throw you straight into the pits of hell to start. The game starts with a simple tutorial that covers how to play as Lonestar, a good overall character. From there you can head to practice matches against bots.
As you play matches you gain EXP that unlocks the other characters in the game as well as other arenas to fight in as well as some special attacks. The first few matches I played as strictly Lonestar and then Gnaw & Derpl Zork. Derpl Zork and Gnaw are really fun.
One thing worth noting is that Awesomenauts is playable on Mac, Linux and Windows such that when you pickup the game later on another OS your progress is saved. I imagine it employs some cool Steam cloud wizardry and it works very well for you all that bounce between multiple OS's like I do.
Head over and nab the recent bundle to get a slew of other great games and... Awesomenauts. Oh and if you are into Awesomenauts, checkout our Cheerful Ghost event on Friday for the game!
A very fun game! I really enjoy playing as Voltar. He's a healer, but when powered up, can do good damage as well. Pair him up with Derpl Zork and become a wave of destruction!
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 06/04/2013 at 11:56pm
Yep, that combo was so much fun. God bless Derpl Zork.
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The above words are used to describe the game Papers, Please by Lucas Pope. This game is currently in beta mode and I cannot wait for the full version release.
In Papers, Please, you have "won" the labor lottery and now have to work as border control for the fictional Communist country of Arstotzka. It is your job to allow people entry into the country for meager wages to support your family of 5.
With ever changing immigration laws and your pay being based on each person seen, you have to try to get through as many people as possible without making any mistakes. Each mistake made (after an inital "learning" period) docks your pay and... Read All
"A Dystopian Document Thriller."
The above words are used to describe the game Papers, Please by Lucas Pope. This game is currently in beta mode and I cannot wait for the full version release.
In Papers, Please, you have "won" the labor lottery and now have to work as border control for the fictional Communist country of Arstotzka. It is your job to allow people entry into the country for meager wages to support your family of 5.
With ever changing immigration laws and your pay being based on each person seen, you have to try to get through as many people as possible without making any mistakes. Each mistake made (after an inital "learning" period) docks your pay and that's not good when your wife is dying from illness and cold (general consensus seems to be to let the mother-in-law die).
While Papers, Please isn't the hardest of games, it certainly does become a challenge to keep processing people quickly while keeping mistakes to a minimum. At the end of the beta, there were over half a dozen different things to check and with each case being different, it can be super easy to let people through that you shouldn't. On at least one occasion, I let through a man when their passport clearly said that they should be a woman.
The full version of the game is said to have 30+ days, taking on a Don't Starve type gameplay where the goal is to see how many days you and your family can survive.
The graphics are bleak and the soundtrack is catchy but repetitive, letting the gameplay be the main focus of Papers, Please.
When this game first popped up on Steam Greenlight, I had my doubts about it. But after completing the beta, I found myself wishing that it wasn't so short!
With a rumored price tag of $10 USD and a release date of Summer 2013, this is a game I can't wait to own.
I enjoyed Helsing's Fire on iOS, which Pope made, and just tried his Ludem Dare 23 entry, 6 Degrees of Sabotage, which is also quite fun. Papers, Please has a weird premise for a game, but could be fun, or at least educational, I suppose. I think it's interesting that we are getting games these days about strange things like immigration management and struggling cart vendors (Cart Life). People say they are really into Cart Life, but it stresses me out a little too much. Less in a Super Meat Boy kind of way, and more in a "Shit, I have no money to pay rent" kind of way. Isn't there another game coming out soon called Riot, which hinges around inciting riots vs mob control? Are these the video game equivalent of film documentaries?
This game looks different. I don't mean that in a bad underhanded way, it really does look different. Sort of mixing up game with a social message that I can get behind.
Plus, it seems to pull elements from the "I just want to get this job done" mentality in that you let people through that didn't match their id, which is interesting.
Cool to see this game be Greenlit too.
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"Nekro is a dark, twisted action game about summoning demonic forces to do your bidding. With a fully-customizable array of powerful monsters to summon, Nekro challenges you to create a specialized army of hell-spawn to counter the forces of a corrupt King.
Playing with the speed and fluidity of an old-school action game, Nekro breaths fresh life into the genre with a deep and robust minion upgrade system. Use different monsters in unison to create a force that's greater than the sum of its parts. Utilize a blood mechanic unique to Nekro by harvesting the flesh of your enemies to power your unholy war machine."
Hot off of a successfully funded Kickstarter, darkForge... Read All
"Nekro is a dark, twisted action game about summoning demonic forces to do your bidding. With a fully-customizable array of powerful monsters to summon, Nekro challenges you to create a specialized army of hell-spawn to counter the forces of a corrupt King.
Playing with the speed and fluidity of an old-school action game, Nekro breaths fresh life into the genre with a deep and robust minion upgrade system. Use different monsters in unison to create a force that's greater than the sum of its parts. Utilize a blood mechanic unique to Nekro by harvesting the flesh of your enemies to power your unholy war machine."
Hot off of a successfully funded Kickstarter, darkForge games just put Nekro on Steam Greenlight. I recommend you head over and give it an upvote if you dig dark action games featuring blood and evil things. Wait, don't we all love that? :D
The game seems to be shaping up well from the video and I can't wait to try it out. The Necromancer is a character I always play in any game where they allow me the choice. Awesome to see a game where that is the draw.
The Stomping Land is a multiplayer survival game about dinosaurs. Create traps, salvage resources, form tribes.
Stumbled on this Kickstarter project when perusing the Massive Chalice, and was surprised I hadn't heard of it yet. One of the fellows that worked on Skyrim (Alex Fundora) is making his own game, that revolves around hunting all forms of dinosaur in a massive 3D world. What he's put together so far looks fantastic, and the first stretch goal has been reached, which is allowing him to bring in other designers to add polish and depth.
I've never played Monster Hunter to any real degree, so I don't know how this would compare, but the realism alone has me hooked.... Read AllThe Stomping Land is a multiplayer survival game about dinosaurs. Create traps, salvage resources, form tribes.
Stumbled on this Kickstarter project when perusing the Massive Chalice, and was surprised I hadn't heard of it yet. One of the fellows that worked on Skyrim (Alex Fundora) is making his own game, that revolves around hunting all forms of dinosaur in a massive 3D world. What he's put together so far looks fantastic, and the first stretch goal has been reached, which is allowing him to bring in other designers to add polish and depth.
I've never played Monster Hunter to any real degree, so I don't know how this would compare, but the realism alone has me hooked. Forming and defending tribes as you go out and hunt dinosaurs, without massive swords or rocket launchers, sounds extremely dangerous. I'm so glad this is happening.
I watched this video last night with my wife and we were both very impressed. I like that it does the "big world" thing with something unique. The only hunting games I have ever experience were "Big Game Hunter" and that’s only fun when your drunk and playing it in a bar.
Recently Travis and I were able to play the all new game Tiny Barbarian DX. After playing it a bit the last few days I decided to do make a video to showcase the Horde Mode as well as to see how far into the Single Player as I could go. From the video you can see that my Horde Mode performance is a bit lacking but I make it WAY further into the Single Player story than I planned. In fact, I decided to quit where I did because I didn't want to make the video too long. That said, I plan on doing a follow up video where I try and take down the first chapter boss.
I won't try and cover too much of what Travis already said in his review again but I will sort of toss out a... Read All
Recently Travis and I were able to play the all new game Tiny Barbarian DX. After playing it a bit the last few days I decided to do make a video to showcase the Horde Mode as well as to see how far into the Single Player as I could go. From the video you can see that my Horde Mode performance is a bit lacking but I make it WAY further into the Single Player story than I planned. In fact, I decided to quit where I did because I didn't want to make the video too long. That said, I plan on doing a follow up video where I try and take down the first chapter boss.
I won't try and cover too much of what Travis already said in his review again but I will sort of toss out a few bits on the game that I didn't cover in my review video. If it wasn't apparent from the video, Tiny Barbarian is a hell of a lot of fun and the play control is great. It really nails the style and tone of a Conan side scroller and you really do feel like a bad-ass at times.
The game is challenging though and keeps changing up the challenge so once you get used to playing a certain way, it immediately tosses you something different. This really keeps the game interesting and allows you to feel like you are progressing. I liken the challenge to Portal 2 in that it keeps each consecutive part fresh and interesting.
If you are on the fence about picking this game up you really need to get it and also stop sitting on fences, I can't imagine that's comfortable. Do yourself a favor and get a USB controller and JoyToKey because this game shines on a D-pad. The game works well with the Keyboard, but it is really awesome with the ol' controller layout.
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?
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!
That makes sense. How much have you collcted so far for the ring?
Just keys. No parts yet. We're working on it though!
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.
I will tell you that it gets horribly frustrating at times. But those beautiful drops are worth it.
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.
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.
Hahahahaha. I bet.
Did you get top tier in the last few games we played?
Not quite. I got it in the first world, but not the second. I stopped at half Adamantite, half ... whatever the green stuff is.
Sure. I think we all stopped about then.