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Believe It Or Not, Diablo 3 Is Now An Awesome Game
Posted on Friday, March 8 @ 16:05:20 Eastern by Jonathan_Leack
Diablo III was voted as one of the most disappointing games of 2012, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Most people, including myself, would argue that the game did a lot of things right. Its combat was as fun as you could ever ask for, and that by itself is enough to warrant plowing through the first three difficulties to reach level cap. But it was once you reached Inferno that you began to wonder what Lead Designer Jay Wilson was thinking.
After months of patches, Diablo III is now in a state that I can confidently call ‘proper’. More specifically, it’s where the game should have been on release. Sure, it took 10 months for it to reach this point, but sometimes it isn’t how you start but how you finish that dictates success. It’s now a game that is worth playing beyond the leveling phase, and myself and many others who have come back to see what’s new have consequently been sucked back into the unrelenting addictiveness of Diablo.
Inferno is no longer the hellhole that it was at release. In its current state, you can get through it with about as much struggle as you would in Hell mode. Some might argue that it’s too easy, but it’s balanced to the point where the average person can complete it without tearing out every strand of hair from their head. Given that playing on Inferno no matter what skill level you are grants the opportunity to receive the rarest items in the game, it’s almost more fun to play on Inferno than the other three difficulties. That’s certainly not something anyone would have said when the game first released.
If you’re seeking a challenge, the new Monster Power setting allows you to set the difficulty personally. If your character is weak, or you are just looking to speed through enemies while farming, then Power Levels 0-3 are the best way to go. However, the higher Power Levels are extremely difficult even for the most hardened players. Naturally, increases in the setting also yield higher loot drops. As you improve your gear at maximum level you’ll be constantly tweaking the setting to find the sweet spot where you can farm efficiently and yield the increase your chances of re-experiencing that moment when you see a legendary drop.
As great as Monster Power is, it’s the improvement in the loot that has most surprised me. Items are much more in tune with what you’d expect from the series with a wide-range of legendaries to equip for all five classes. Legendary sets are affordable on the Auction House, so you can pick-up some powerful items without too much capital. However, items scale so high that even if you’re a hardcore player, there will always be an item you can upgrade.
Paragon levels have reinvigorated the grind of Diablo III for those who reach maximum level. It makes farming at level cap more than just a search for items. Each Paragon level obtained increases stats as well as Magic Find further increasing your effectiveness in farming for the most valuable items. You’re even given a special portrait that evolves as you increase in Paragon so those you play with can see how much of an addict you are.
PvP is finally in the game, although I must admit I haven’t spent much time with it. There are no rewards, but it’s similar to the fun destruction that Diablo II’s PvP offered. This, in addition to the new Infernal Machine quest, adds some additional content that’s worth pursuing.
Diablo III could still use some tweaking with its rare items, since they drop too often and 99% of the time are useless, and identifying a bag full of items is annoying, but both are being addressed in the next patch. The only major addition that I feel Blizzard needs to look into is making Diablo III a more social experience. It still feels way too anti-social for a game released in 2012, and something as simple as lobbies would be a huge step in the right direction. Nonetheless, Diablo III’s endgame is in a great state, and with an expansion pack in development this just might turn out to be the game we were waiting for, after all.
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Before Microsoft and Sony do something regarding their future in the video game business, I wanted to write, and I've wanted it for a long time now, but other things kept getting in my way, and fearing that tomorrow might be too late, today will have to do.
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sandineyes
Joined: May 2008
I think they should add an option that disables all that annoying story crap: just making it through the difficulty levels on a character is annoying enough without the Act 3 and 4 bosses calling you up to talk every few minutes.
LawnGnome
Joined: Apr 2007
Jonathan_Leack
Joined: Jan 2012
Lien
Joined: Feb 2008
LawnGnome
Joined: Apr 2007
elmoreoocyte
Joined: Apr 2012
xDUMPWEEDx
Joined: Jan 2012
elmoreoocyte
Joined: Apr 2012
Thanks for the heads up on the AH. Hopefully the RMAH is fvcked so Blizz lost out on one of many game-breaking facets.
Lien
Joined: Feb 2008
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6223XG2r9BA
sliverstorm
Joined: Jun 2007
sliverstorm
Joined: Jun 2007
Ivory_Soul
Joined: Nov 2005
xDUMPWEEDx
Joined: Jan 2012
sg4real
Joined: Apr 2011
Its a nice game to play 1 to 60 don't get me wrong but after that it goes downhill big time. I found that going back to these areas from act 1-3 are boring and act 4 is too short, seems rushed. Monster and Paragon levels are fine but you still have to mindlessly kill anything anywhere in act 2 or 3 and I don't like those two acts, they suck. To me the best act is the 1st one but its useless to "run" that act since the loot is better in higher ones. PVP is cool but its not the "feel" of D2 at all, feels more like WoW.
Social aspects really needs to improve, we should be able to make the games like in D2, I don't know why they changed this, such a dumb move. Instead you join anyone on the current quest you are on and these people don't play in team, they go anywhere, don't wait for you and don't talk.
sliverstorm
Joined: Jun 2007
xDUMPWEEDx
Joined: Jan 2012
Zajix
Joined: Nov 2012
Jonathan_Leack
Joined: Jan 2012
xDUMPWEEDx
Joined: Jan 2012
sandineyes
Joined: May 2008
My guess is that it will deal with Adria (spelling?), since she just disappears after act 3.
Chunibrow
Joined: Mar 2010
sliverstorm
Joined: Jun 2007
Right before 1.04, players were switching MF gear on and off before the final blow to elites and bosses. Everyone was unhappy with the system, and the forums were suggesting fixes like lose NV stacks if you change gear, MF gradually increasing, calculate average MF of fight, blah blah all this stuff.
And Blizzard's response is paragon levels, which elegantly solves the whole thing without major disruptions and adds an endgame grind at the same time. Just incredible.
xDUMPWEEDx
Joined: Jan 2012
Ranim
Joined: Nov 2005
cutt
Joined: Mar 2013
- Inability to Waypoint Between Acts
- Horrible itemization
- Non-existent character customization
- Pathetic crafting. No item enchants
- Small, non-randomized locations. Small and barely randomized dungeons.
-No Custom games support, you can't name your games
- Horrible social features, you can't even create custom chat channels
- No form of meaningful arena PvP system like they ADVERTISED for example here
- Horrible, Hollywood-style Michael Bay movie-like story. Constantly poppin dialogs and cutscenes
- Cartoony, non-diabloesque art style
- Gold and RMAH. Legitimized Pay2Win
It may be an awesome arcade beat em up game. The sad part is it's a pathetic ARPG Diablo game. Sorry.
Lien
Joined: Feb 2008
Ivory_Soul
Joined: Nov 2005
Ivory_Soul
Joined: Nov 2005
Zpyder
Joined: Sep 2010
Ivory_Soul
Joined: Nov 2005
Jonathan_Leack
Joined: Jan 2012