**OFFICIAL** Diablo 3 Thread

[jsedlak]

FYI on the Stuttering Issues

There was a reported issue/bug regarding how the game loads and manages assets which causes some stuttering issues. The bug was fixed internally but hasn't made it (AFAIK) to the beta.

More info:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/p28wq/something_about_the_beta_that_worries_me/
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/3530363699#18

As far as I am concerned, the character selection is uber lame.

Removing the paladin and amazon? Two of my favorite characters from DII, gone.

At the very least bring the Rogue back from the original diablo.

Have you tried out the monk? I'd say he is closest to the paladin.

Though I wish the monk were more of a stereotypical western monk rather than a stereotypical eastern one...

 

[SMOGZINN]

Is there any hope we see this game released before June 30th of this year?!

IMHO, almost none. I no longer think we will even see D3 this year. My reasoning? They canceled Blizzcon this year. If D3 was out, or expected to be out soon, Blizzard would have used Blizzcon to promote it. The only reason you would cancel an event like Blizzcon is because you have nothing to promote. So, if I am right that means that no Legacy of the Void, no Mists of Pandaria, and no Diablo 3 this year.

 

[SMOGZINN]

One complaint that hasn't been brought up here is the lack of socialization. SC2 is pretty terrible about it with only a gimped chat system, and D3 doesn't even have that yet. If anything, an RPG needs much better socialization options than and RTS. It's funny that Blizz forces everyone to play multiplayer and then makes a completely impersonal online experience (no lobby chat, no named games, no in game trading, ect).

I have heard nothing about it, but I just expected that they would add the VIOP service from WOW into D3. In this day and age I see no reason why a fully online multiplayer game should not have voice chat rolled in.

 

[Aikouka]

IMHO, almost none. I no longer think we will even see D3 this year. My reasoning? They canceled Blizzcon this year. If D3 was out, or expected to be out soon, Blizzard would have used Blizzcon to promote it. The only reason you would cancel an event like Blizzcon is because you have nothing to promote. So, if I am right that means that no Legacy of the Void, no Mists of Pandaria, and no Diablo 3 this year.

You can use the exact same thing in reverse and say that Blizzard would cancel Blizzcon because by releasing Mists of Pandaria, Diablo III and StarCraft II Heart of the Swarm, they will have very little to talk about as Legacy of the Void probably won't be shown off until next year.

Well, that is unless Blizzard wants to show off Titan.

 

[Grooveriding]

Is there any hope we see this game released before June 30th of this year?!

None. Something has gone way wrong in development and they are pushing back release timeframes time and again. They keep mentioning future beta patches, future beta invites and balancing/polishing blah blah. The game is obviously not ready and something has gone wrong.

My bet is they are not confident D3 is up to the caliber of D2 in terms of longevity. D2 was easily one of the best PC games ever and kept people playing for years on end and playing obsessively. I think D3 does not have that magic formula and Blizzard is worried.

My prediction is at least one of the 3 releases they were supposed to put out this year is not coming out, and it will most likely be D3 or HOTS. They'll prioritize a wow expansion because of the revenue stream from that borefest of a game.

 

[SMOGZINN]

None. Something has gone way wrong in development and they are pushing back release timeframes time and again. They keep mentioning future beta patches, future beta invites and balancing/polishing blah blah. The game is obviously not ready and something has gone wrong.

This is true. Last August we were hearing that the game was 99% finished and they were just doing some minor polishing right before release, now we are hearing that there are still 'major changes' coming to the game and release is no where in sight.

My bet is they are not confident D3 is up to the caliber of D2 in terms of longevity. D2 was easily one of the best PC games ever and kept people playing for years on end and playing obsessively. I think D3 does not have that magic formula and Blizzard is worried.

My bet is that they banked on the rune system saving their underdeveloped skill system and now thier in house Q&A people are telling them that even in nightmare level the runes don't really matter, they just feel like visual changes, and everyone just spams one or two skills. So, now they are back at the drawning board trying to figure out how to make the rune system into something that makes the game fun again.

My prediction is at least one of the 3 releases they were supposed to put out this year is not coming out, and it will most likely be D3 or HOTS. They'll prioritize a wow expansion because of the revenue stream from that borefest of a game.

I don't think they have to prioritize anything, the developement teams are seperate entities, you might as well consider them seperate developers with Blizzard being the publisher. What D3 team is doing barely effects what the HOTS or Warcraft teams are doing.

 

[Aikouka]

This is true. Last August we were hearing that the game was 99% finished and they were just doing some minor polishing right before release, now we are hearing that there are still 'major changes' coming to the game and release is no where in sight.

It makes me wonder if they're simply trying to make the game too perfect. Just because they go and change a core mechanic doesn't mean they weren't done or the mechanic didn't work, but rather Blizzard didn't like how it fit. How Blizzard recently tweaked the crafting system is a good example of this.

 

[CottonRabbit]

I have heard nothing about it, but I just expected that they would add the VIOP service from WOW into D3. In this day and age I see no reason why a fully online multiplayer game should not have voice chat rolled in.

I'm not too worried about in game communication, the "lobby" and joining games is what needs serious improvement. The current design assumes that everyone on the same quest will have the same goals in game. That is utterly naive. It's going to be a serious pain wading through all the AFK'ers and people playing at different paces in matchmaking.

 

[gorcorps]

Well the patch did nothing to help the stuttering/lag problem, but the D3 forums helped me figure it out. The problem occurs because all games are online all the time, and the p2p loader is running in the background. When you play the game your upload connection is maxed for p2p, which for most people will choke your download connection as well which leads to lag. To fix this you need to disable p2p which can ONLY be done via the launcher. And the launcher can only be used while the game is being patched or updated, so what you have to do is move Diablo3.exe to another folder so the loader comes up instead of the game. Then you can disable p2p in the options and close the loader. Then bring Diablo3.exe back to where you got it and play again.

This could be made less cumbersome in many ways:
-Give you the option to toggle p2p from the game option menu
-Let you set your upload speed to something less than what will choke your connection
-There are 2 exes in the diablo install folder, but both launch the game. Why doesn't one launch straight into the game and the other one launch the launcher every time?
-Let me play my single player game offline so I'm not affected by my connection.

 

[isekii]

After playing Barb and the Demon Hunter.

My takes:

How do you select specific skills to fill a specific slot ? Couldn't get it to work right. Everytime I chose a different skill it goes to whichever box it wishes. *is it me or is a fix coming ?*

Barb seriously sucks balls in D3 atleast in the beginning and it sucked since you can only go so high in beta. It sucked in D2 as well until you got WW but this was unbearable.

Demon Hunter atleast resembles somewhat of a zon so it was somewhat more fun to use.

Individualized loot system~ really ? The whole draw from D2 was that the loot that drops (godlies) were individualized (legits) not dupes. This whole individualized system kinda kills the competition.

Also for the amount of time and development invested in this~ I'm surprised it's this lacking. I think I would be more satisfied if they just released another expansion to the Original D2, except fix the dupes.

Are they going to let you choose different skills i.e Diablo2 where you can hotkey F1 -F12 for skills ? Are they getting rid of this ? What's with the cool down changing skills ?

I am more looking forward to Torchlight 2 than this game.


Bringing back the heirs to the original characters would be sweet.

Zon + Pally + Barb + Sorc + Necro

 

[Anubis]

the skill thing is just you
i agree barb starts slow
individualized loots is a godsend, no more having to be on crack spaz clicking everything

you get 6 active skills at one time and 3 passives at max level skills can be further modified with runes,
the cooldown on changing is annoying

 

[CottonRabbit]

You can drag skills to any slot in your bar after you select them.

 

[Wreckem]

You can use the exact same thing in reverse and say that Blizzard would cancel Blizzcon because by releasing Mists of Pandaria, Diablo III and StarCraft II Heart of the Swarm, they will have very little to talk about as Legacy of the Void probably won't be shown off until next year.

Well, that is unless Blizzard wants to show off Titan.

Mists will be released this year. Its been fast tracked do to the large decline in the WoW playerbase.

Everything else seems like its going to get pushed back though.

 

[drebo]

None. Something has gone way wrong in development and they are pushing back release timeframes time and again. They keep mentioning future beta patches, future beta invites and balancing/polishing blah blah. The game is obviously not ready and something has gone wrong.

I'm not surprised, having played the beta for a while now.

It's so simplified that it's not even recognizable as a Diablo game. Stat points are purely cosmetic. Your weapon is purely cosmetic. There are no choices in the game. Most of the magical attributes are completely useless.

IMO, they need to work on it quite a bit to bring it up to the caliber of Diablo 2. I understand their desire to cater to the "casual" gamers, but don't make the entire game nothing but a point-and-click fustercluck. I mean, at this point, it's no different than a game you might play on your cellphone: CLICK THE BADDIES TIL THEY DIE!

I've yet to have to use a single potion in the game at all. A monk can solo the skeleton king with 5 people in the game. The only thing that's kept me playing the beta is that I want to get all of the achievements...but even that's broken because several of them are stuck and aren't updating.

Overall, I'm extremely disappointed.

 

[jsedlak]

^ Agree. No need for potions, or even health orbs.

And I suspect they got rid of the stat points because essentially everyone just added all to vitality and found ways to bump the others to necessary levels.

 

[Texashiker]

IMO, they need to work on it quite a bit to bring it up to the caliber of Diablo 2.

The developers need to go back to basics, and make a blend of the original diablo and DII.

My opinion, D3 looks like, and plays like crap.

What happened to being able to explore the maps? What happened to random caves? Why do quest run the player around in circles?

 

[slayer202]

the difficulty of the beginning of act 1 on normal is irrelevant. it might be easier than the first portions of D2, but it really doesn't matter because the higher difficulties will be all that matter. Those can be really hard without alienating the casual player.

The lack of options/builds is another story.

 

[Anubis]

The developers need to go back to basics, and make a blend of the original diablo and DII.

My opinion, D3 looks like, and plays like crap.

What happened to being able to explore the maps? What happened to random caves? Why do quest run the player around in circles?

there are random caves
not sure what you mean about exploring maps because you can do that
not sure what you are commenting about in circles, unless you are complaining about the town being a hub because you really don't go around in circles


also to whoever commented on the Witch Doc being weak IDk what you are talking about, played through with him again, hes just as OP as he was before

 

[Dumac]

there are random caves
not sure what you mean about exploring maps because you can do that
not sure what you are commenting about in circles, unless you are complaining about the town being a hub because you really don't go around in circles


also to whoever commented on the Witch Doc being weak IDk what you are talking about, played through with him again, hes just as OP as he was before

He's talking about randomly generated terrain/dungeons

 

[ibex333]

After playing Diablo 3 beta for a couple of days these are my thoughts:

I take my words back when I said the Witch Doctor is weak... He is not. I just didn't know that the power of ALL skills depends directly on the weapon you are using. I think this is incredibly lame... but heh.. maybe I can get used to this someday.

The Barb, contrary to what many people say is NOT weak. What are you guys talking about? He is incredibly strong even when he just starts out. I was absolutely wtfpwning everything in sight in a 4 player game. A lot of enemies would drop instantly when I would "stomp" them.

Demon Hunter is hands down the most *pimp* character to play in the beta. No one comes remotely close. Here's the reasons why:
(please don't take this seriously, I am writing this for kicks)

1)No one else can craft two awesome "rare" weapons and use them, due to level limitations. The DH gets to use em at level 13.

2)No one else gets to have the 1337 demonic "angel wings" behind their back.

3)(Arguable) But no one gets to look as cool. (once you find a nice DH armor and hood off course)

4)No one else has... "TEH MACHINE GUN"

5)No one else can spam nades like a maniac till nothings left standing.

6)No one else has their "source" globe split in two.

7)Hardly anyone else can reach the kind of damage, the DH can output with his two rare weapons and his skills at level 13 unless you get really lucky and find something real good to put on your Sorc or Barb. *as a drop* Since u cant craft it and use it... haha ; )

 

[Anubis]

id wait till the full game is out to start bitching about randomly generated things, the dungeons after you rescue Cain are random as well as the ones on the way to the Skeleton king. However the "event" ones are all the same (skelly king, getting the crown ext)

The first few area where you go to old trist and such are consistent but personally i don't care about those as its the first 2 in the game and its to set the stage. after you rescue Cain that next area does change and does spawn a random dungeon every now and then

 

[Anubis]

the barb starts off slow, yea you smash stuff but you can only kill a few enemies at a time until you get higher up, and even then with cleave it seems much slower then some of the other classes, but yes with 2 of the axes you can craft at lvl 12 hes a beast

 

[stevty2889]

Agree with this 100%. I played through with Demon Hunter, then Barbarian, now on Witch Doc, and first thing that came to mind, is way overpowered.

 

[Texashiker]

not sure what you mean about exploring maps because you can do that

D3 seems linear, as you follow a set path.

Where are is the open world, or semi-open world at?

 

[Doppel]

Why do you insist on misrepresenting what I posted? I compared download managers, not companies. This has nothing to do with EA and Blizzard, it's Origin vs. D3 download manager. The D3 download manager wasn't displaying real time download stats, had to be restarted twice by myself to keep connection going and show the correct download percentage, then finally didn't even download enough data it seems to make the game smooth even though it said 100%. That's what people make it sound like anyway.

I didn't have to do any of that with Origin. The game downloaded fine when I left my computer alone. I don't have to restart the manager to finish it, and when the game said 100% the game was actually playable. I don't care what you think about the games or the companies... in the comparison of Origin vs. the D3 download manager only I'd pick Origin every time given my experience with both. I don't like Origin but it still works better than this shitty beta roll out.

Your original post was quite clear and I am not sure how tidusz misinterpreted it so much.

I am not in on the beta but some complaints here may be off base. Difficulty and certainly change quickly prior to release. Graphics cannot so easily change though. It sounds like the skills system is kind of lame and pointless.

Agree with comments above about something being wrong. We are all familiar with heavily delayed games--more or less uniformly indicative of poor project management or insufficient resources given to the team.

This was announced almost four years ago and has been under development supposedly for now ten years? What is that about? Also strange that according to wiki they are looking at a console version of this. Consoles have been around for eons, I wonder why they could not run that in parallel like every other game developer is doing these days. Reminds me of sloppy seconds..
Remember when console ports always sucked?