Diablo 3 Impressions

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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by Vorret »

Not sure why they're still dropping, still worth decent gold though.

If anyone needs a power lvl on hardcore feel free to ask, my crusader is fairly decently geared and can run T6 up to lvl 50-55ish takes about 2-3 hours to get there.
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by Vorret »

here's my baby :

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Vorr ... o/48200035

one more Akkan piece and I'll be set (ha ha)
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by Vorret »

stessier wrote:Cool!

This is my Crusader.
Just some constructive critism :

You're using Blunt as a passive but you're not using any of the skills it boosts... so you're just wasting a slot there, Either use Towering Shield or Holy Cause.

I don't really like Vigilant either, especially while leveling, I prefer to do moar DPS, I'd take Holy Cause, it's just too good to pass up (a flat 10% damage increase and LOH).

Also since you're playing softcore I'd try and boost my DPS a bit, you're using so many defensive skills and runes, I'm not sure why :

Blessed Shield, I'm not the biggest fan but I'd use Combust or Shattered Trow for more AOE damage
Phalanx I'd go with the Bowmen, lower CD and they do a boatload of damage
Akkarat I'd go with firestarter or embodiment for added DPS, if you kill stuff faster they won't kill you and the crusader is already quite hard to kill.
Laws I prefer valor or justice, resist all is just... better (imo).

Personally I use valor and a bit of a trick but you need alot of Reduce cooldown for it to work (like 35% minimum)

Take Valor with the Answered Prayer rune and passive Long Arm Of The Law
Everytime you refresh the rune, the time is added so when you reach 2-3 minutes you can swap out Long Arm of the Law for a DPS passive and boom, unlimited active Law for your party (basically you give everyone 8% attack speed which is a HUGE dps increase.

But yeah, imo, you're building your crusader way too tanky for softcore, heck, I'm playing HC and even then I didn't use that many defensive skills (oh and provoke is awesome to regen wrath).
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by stessier »

I'll always take help if people are willing to give it!

As I mentioned, I was having some trouble with Urzael. Those skills aren't what I normally use - they were what I thought would get me through that battle. First time I just let my Bodyguards plink away at him. Second time I tried jumping in with Iron Skin and Akarat once in a while. Then I dropped down to Master.

What I had been using before (while clearing out the level) was

Consecration - Fearful
Phalanx - Bowman
Laws of Hope - Faiths Reward
and switching between Falling Sword - Flurry and Heaven's Fury - Ascendency as the mood struck me

As for the passives, I'd been using Blessed Hammer but changed it for Urzael and forgot to change the Passive, my bad. Didn't think the hammers would help much in a one person battle.

And I took Vigilant because I felt squishy. I don't like to see my health globe at half. I am, perhaps, a bit of a Turtler...okay, I'm a total Turtle. :) I'll give Holy Cause some play, though. I think I've had it in the past. Not sure exactly why I switched.
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by Vorret »

Also since it's your first char, drop it to expert , maybe even hard.
I'm going to be blunt here but if you had that much trouble with Urzael , Malthael will... well... let's say he'll be impossible, as master that is.

He's one though SOB and I mean it, lower the difficulty, you're slowing down your progress for no reason, once you hit 70 and start getting some better gear then you can bump the difficulty.

Heck, I'm para 148 I think and even I don't level at master (let alone T1) after 50 and I have access to good reduced level gear, as soon as I stop 1-shotting everything, I drop the level, if a boss battle takes you 5-6-7 minutes, you're playing at a too high difficulty. Except Malthael, he's gonna give you trouble no matter what :P
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by Lorini »

Yep Maltheal is a total pain in the butt. If I'm doing a bounty and see him in it, I leave game and restart til I get a bounty without him in it. I hope one day they tone him down.
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by Vorret »

Lorini wrote:Yep Maltheal is a total pain in the butt. If I'm doing a bounty and see him in it, I leave game and restart til I get a bounty without him in it. I hope one day they tone him down.
I disagree, he's the big boss he needs to be hard.
I haven't died on him once you just need to be aware of your surroundings.
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by Lorini »

I don't like bosses in the game anyway. Once you start doing bounties, they are worse than just the guy you have to kill at the end because if you die with a boss, you have to start all the way over instead of just reviving right there. And bosses don't give anything specials in bounties. I see no reason at all to do any of them, particularly not a gazillion HP one.
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

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Lorini wrote:I don't like bosses in the game anyway. Once you start doing bounties, they are worse than just the guy you have to kill at the end because if you die with a boss, you have to start all the way over instead of just reviving right there. And bosses don't give anything specials in bounties. I see no reason at all to do any of them, particularly not a gazillion HP one.
I have to admit I don't run bounties... when I do I run Act 1 normal split bounties to amass rift keys asap then I join T1 rift games...
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

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Up to the Angel of Death quest. I'm Paragon 14 - surprising how fast I got there. I'm still playing on Master but everything seems much easier than Westmarch. My Crusader does much better against mobs of things than it does against things that shoot arrows. The Blood Marsh was indeed quite large, but it was fun going through it. Pandemonium actually seemed easy. I'm looking forward to the final battle.
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by stessier »

Malthael has fallen!

I started the Crusader fresh. I only used items he found during his quest (although I did use money found during others to upgrade the Artisans). It took me 44:54 to complete using the full clear method. I had to do a few areas twice, so let's say I did them really slowly so maybe only 40 hours of areas I was exploring for the first time. I got to Level 18 Paragon. All but a bit of Act I (Normal) and the Westmarch Heights (Torment I) were done at Master level. Quite the value all things considered.
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by Vorret »

stessier wrote:Malthael has fallen!

I started the Crusader fresh. I only used items he found during his quest (although I did use money found during others to upgrade the Artisans). It took me 44:54 to complete using the full clear method. I had to do a few areas twice, so let's say I did them really slowly so maybe only 40 hours of areas I was exploring for the first time. I got to Level 18 Paragon. All but a bit of Act I (Normal) and the Westmarch Heights (Torment I) were done at Master level. Quite the value all things considered.
The real game now starts... grinding gear :)
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

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Vorret wrote:
stessier wrote:Malthael has fallen!

I started the Crusader fresh. I only used items he found during his quest (although I did use money found during others to upgrade the Artisans). It took me 44:54 to complete using the full clear method. I had to do a few areas twice, so let's say I did them really slowly so maybe only 40 hours of areas I was exploring for the first time. I got to Level 18 Paragon. All but a bit of Act I (Normal) and the Westmarch Heights (Torment I) were done at Master level. Quite the value all things considered.
The real game now starts... grinding gear :)
Funny story - I don't care so much about gear. :) I'll do some rifts and things, but probably not many. I already did enough to get one rift key and defeated the boss. It was fun, but it'll just be something I do when looking for a distraction.

I think I'll take my remaining characters through 70 (all around 51 right now) and finish Act V with them all. Then, if I'm not ready for a break, I'll start some Hardcore. Always wanted to try that.

Oh, and Shen was great! I loved how his story played out. Very well done.
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by stessier »

My Demon Hunter is up to Level 65 and working her way through Pandemonium. Man is she squishy! I'm only on Expert and still die quite quickly if I get cornered. In the last 3 hours of play, though, I've doubled my DPS and raised my Toughness by 50%. Maybe I'll think about bumping up a bit now - although with the end so close that's probably suicide. :lol:
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by TheMix »

The tactic that I like is to take the ability that gives you 4.5% healing if you stand still. That with a lot of life on hit and regen lets me handle most things.

Of course, if you've gone with a kite build, that won't work.

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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

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TheMix wrote:The tactic that I like is to take the ability that gives you 4.5% healing if you stand still. That with a lot of life on hit and regen lets me handle most things.

Of course, if you've gone with a kite build, that won't work.

Stand still for 3 seconds and I'm almost always dead. :D You can see her here. I used to use brooding but changed it out so my Sentries are more numerous and cause decreases in things they hit. It might come back when I hit 70 and get another slot. Right now I'd give my kingdom for some socketed items - only my bow has one at the moment.

What do you use in the first slot? I have Smoke Screen but I almost never use it. I've just recently started using Marked For Death and really am enjoying it...nothing like clicking on someone and saying "You die NOW!" :lol:
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by TheMix »

It's been a while since I played her, but battlenet says I'm using Brooding, Ballistics, Perfectionist, and Awareness.

The other thing that you have to remember to keep an eye on are your resistances and armor. I try hard to maintain the 10:1 ratio for armor to resistances. That cuts down a lot of the damage. Which allows my healing to compensate for damage. I also generally run with the Templar for the bonus healing/second.

Edit:
8000 armor
resistances ranging from 625 to 1100
38k life/second (with Templar) (with the Brooding bonus - 18k/sec without)
5k life/hit
450k health

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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by Vorret »

DH are squishy by nature, I've lost so many of them in HC , I lost 2 70 in one weekend it was quite depressing.
Until you get some decent gear you just have to play more carefully, kite alot and you'll be fine and since it's not HC dying isn't that big of a deal :)

They're getting a subsential survival boost next patch, should help alot.
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

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Thanks guys.

I beat Malthael this morning. She did die once pulling it off though. Playing with her was like "doing fine, doing fine, doing fine, NOT FINE - DEAD!" The amount of time to recognize the problem and do anything about it was too small. I'll do some Rifts with her to get her to 70 and then move on to the next one.

Also, anyone know where to read the History of Pandemonium? I've played through 2x now and have yet to fine even 1 of the books. I do full clears, so I'm not sure what I'm missing.
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by TheMix »

Some of those books and notes are random. So you may not find them in a specific play through. Same with some of the vendors or named rares. If you search the web, you should be able to find out what Act it spawns in. After that it's just a matter of replaying it over and over until you find it.

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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

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stessier wrote: What do you use in the first slot? I have Smoke Screen but I almost never use it. I've just recently started using Marked For Death and really am enjoying it...nothing like clicking on someone and saying "You die NOW!" :lol:
It's been a while but I love Marked for Death with Contagion. I even had a bow (or glove, don't remember) that had a % chance to cause MfD on hit. That was freaking great.

MfD the weakest mob on the screen, kill it, and everything gets MfD.


Also have a quiver that gives me 2 extra sentries, so with Custom Engineering, I have 5 Spitfire turrets up with Ballistics. A lot of killzone kiting but it is pretty effective.

FWIW:

Strength 77
Dexterity 6677
Intelligence 77
Vitality 4977

Damage 296795
Toughness 4715180
Healing 4103
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by stessier »

LawBeefaroni wrote:
stessier wrote: What do you use in the first slot? I have Smoke Screen but I almost never use it. I've just recently started using Marked For Death and really am enjoying it...nothing like clicking on someone and saying "You die NOW!" :lol:
It's been a while but I love Marked for Death with Contagion. I even had a bow (or glove, don't remember) that had a % chance to cause MfD on hit. That was freaking great.

MfD the weakest mob on the screen, kill it, and everything gets MfD.
Ohhhhh, I'm jealous of the gear! I've been running MfD with Death Toll to get back life since my life on hit is pretty low. I'll have to try Contagion though - that sounds like fun! I also dropped Smoke Screen for Caltrops with Jagged Spikes. I ran out of Discipline for the first time in forever after making that change.

Also have a quiver that gives me 2 extra sentries, so with Custom Engineering, I have 5 Spitfire turrets up with Ballistics. A lot of killzone kiting but it is pretty effective.
Me want! :lol:

Upon killing Malthael, I got Fire Walkers which seem pretty nice. That plus Chakram - Shuriken Cloud makes those close to me really suffer.

FWIW:

Strength 77
Dexterity 6677
Intelligence 77
Vitality 4977

Damage 296,795
Toughness 4,715,180
Healing 4,103
I'm only Level 67, so not quite so strong

Strength 73
Dexterity 5099
Intelligence 73
Vitality 3237

Damage 130,239
Toughness 2,116,180
Healing 4,292
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by LawBeefaroni »

Here's the profile. I'm probably undegeared, actually.

I have a ring that has a 17% chance to stun on lightning damage. But it's actually holding me back a bit I think because it's a level 60 ring but I've become so dependent on that stun proc that I haven't upgraded it.

The amulet is just hilarious for poison bosses.
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by TheMix »

Sweet. I have an arcane version. I love to stand in the arcane beams and get healed. 8-)

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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by Vorret »

If you want to try something different with your DH do a Sever build.
It's a "melee" DH as sever is a sword, you use impale and mark for death with the rune that sperad the damage to enemies within 15 yards.

Sever works in a way that when it kills something it makes it "rest in peace" which in diablo term means critting it for insane numbers. So what you end up with (with impale and the pierce rune) is that once you kill the first target it crits targets around it for 300 millions, no it's not a typo, it will 1 shot most bosses you only need to get the first kill to get the ball rolling it's quite the sight really!
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

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Stupid question for the day - how do I open Horadric Caches? I've got three now and can't figure out how to get inside!
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by MonkeyFinger »

Apparently (just did a quick search) you right-click on them and... it rains. :wink:
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by stessier »

I swear I tried that like 5 times and nothing happened...until it did. :)

Thanks.
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by stessier »

Got my DH to Level 70, made a few Bounty Runs and then moved on to leveling my Monk. That first part of Act V - getting to the refuge area without a side kick - is really tough for a character that hasn't played in over a year. None of her equipment is the right level and her level 51 is not really representative of what a Level 51 would be if started fresh. Heck, my Crusader was over Level 60 when he started Act V!

Anyway, I got to Urzael and again died pretty quickly on Expert. But I was only Level 56, so I decided to level up a bit before trying again. I'm now Level 61, have access to a bunch more skills and have much better weapons. I played through all 3 areas (Heights, Westmarch, and Cemetary) only 3 times and it was pretty fun! Got to check off a couple more special events along the way as well. Looking forward to trying Urzael again on closer to an even footing. Here's her profile for the interested.
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by stessier »

And so likely endeth this years Diablo playing. I got my Monk up to 70. "I" killed Maltheal - scare quotes because I'm not sure how he actually died. I was running around in circles at the time trying to avoid the clouds. It could have been Eirenna (although she seemed to spend more time sleeping that fighting during that battle), it could have been my Air companion, or it could have been bleeding from my Burning Palm attack (which I think was still active). Pretty funny, actually, to be running for your life and out of the corner of your eye see the baddie start to scream and explode.

Now I have to get back to the gym as the last 3 weeks have seen my waist expand considerably. Hopefully I'll get another break around Thanksgiving/Christmas to get the other 3 characters up to 70.
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by GreenGoo »

So I got the expansion for my birthday a few months ago and haven't played it. I'm going to start a crusader from scratch.

Can anyone give me a short synopsis of the changes from early vanilla D3 to the current version? Point form would be fine. I don't want to do a pile of reading just to get started, but I can use your guide to point me in the right direction as I get more involved in the game again.

Oh, I have what feels like a billion alts, all of which have finished the game on normal, 1 of which has finished the game on Hell (or whatever the toughest setting was pre-version 2) with our multiplayer group from here on OO. So I know the old game fairly well. Of course the real money AH was still live when I was playing, so its been awhile. :D
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by Tokek »

Can anyone give me a short synopsis of the changes from early vanilla D3 to the current version? Point form would be fine. I don't want to do a pile of reading just to get started, but I can use your guide to point me in the right direction as I get more involved in the game again.
The changes that I've noticed and remember are:
* Adventure Mode
* Nephalem Rifts
* Royal and Flawless Royal gems
* Bounties and horadric caches (not sure if that's in vanilla D3 or not though)
* Crusader class
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by stessier »

Tokek wrote:
Can anyone give me a short synopsis of the changes from early vanilla D3 to the current version? Point form would be fine. I don't want to do a pile of reading just to get started, but I can use your guide to point me in the right direction as I get more involved in the game again.
The changes that I've noticed and remember are:
* Adventure Mode
* Nephalem Rifts
* Royal and Flawless Royal gems
* Bounties and horadric caches (not sure if that's in vanilla D3 or not though)
* Crusader class
Except for the gems, (and the crusader class of course) none of that kicks in until you beat all 5 Acts.

A few other things
  • Level cap raised from 60 (61?) to 70.
  • Paragon levels added after level 70. These levels let you put points toward character bonuses in different categories. So, for instance, with your first paragon point you could add it to strength and get a set strength boost. There is no limit to the paragon levels.
  • You can choose the difficulty you play at: Normal, Expert, Master, Torment. Torment is unlocked at level 60 and it has 6 different levels. The rate at which goodies drop change with each level. The rate at which legendaries drop go up significantly in the Torment levels (look back a page or three for a table indicating the exact drop rate per level). Once you start a game, you can drop down in level at any time, but you can only increase the level by exiting out and starting a new instance (not new character, just re-entering the game).
  • Crafting has changed quite a bit as have crafting requirements. From vanilla, gem combining has also changed a bunch and become much cheaper at the lower levels.
  • All legendaries are bind to account.
Finally, you no longer have to play through multiple times. I started a Crusader fresh and was at Level 13 Paragon (so 70 + 13 levels) when I beat Act V. I play doing full level clears. I also increased the challenge and played most of the game at Master level (which gives you more XP). Crusader was a lot of fun but it took a while to find it's stride. I think by mid-20s the skills started to open up quite a bit (note: I think I hit mid-20's by the end of Act 1 - compare this to vanilla where I was Level 32 when I beat Diablo on normal).
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GreenGoo
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by GreenGoo »

Thanks guys. I started my crusader last night. Fun class. I wish I could remember my key bindings from when I played before. Having trouble finding something intuitive. My needs are somewhat non-standard. I just need to remember how I did it before.
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GreenGoo
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by GreenGoo »

Is it me or is the crusader stupidly powerful? Playing on hard. Would have to restart a game to go higher I think (I'm not really sure how it all works). He can be a caster, melee, hybrid. He can go insane aoe, insane defense (not sure about insane single target). Even the largest swarms disappear in a puff of smoke if I start dropping all my skills at once. Hell, his single wrath generating skill is an average to good aoe. I'm confident I could play up to this point (lvl 33, just through the aqueducts after picking up shen) with only his wrath generating skill.

I realize the game is super easy the first run though, but I don't understand how things have changed from the "normal, nightmare, hell, inferno difficulty settings from before).

I didn't even mention his health regen, which is something crazy like +200 hp per second or something. Ok that might be an exaggeration. I'm not exactly sure. All I know is his health is so rarely before 100% that I almost never see his ticks per second (every 1/2 second I think it is) over his head.
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TheMix
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by TheMix »

Not sure. We are running a pair of Crusaders. I'm not sure if we ever ran below Master. Now we are running at least T1, maybe T2. And could easily run higher, I think.

Doesn't hurt that I had a couple of level 70 weapons with huge level reduction requirements. I think I went from 100-200 dps to over 2000 dps - on the weapon. So my over all is pretty insane.

Of course, a weapon like that makes any class pretty amazing. :wub:

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TiLT
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by TiLT »

I think the game has been redesigned to be overall easier now, with the idea that you're supposed to increase the difficulty if you feel it's too easy. You might be surprised at how far up you can go. Trust me, once you find the right difficulty level for you, you'll have to really pay attention to avoid dying, especially against Elites. In short: Your Crusader isn't as badass as you think he is. ;)

Also, Hard difficulty isn't really hard. Go higher.
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IceBear
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by IceBear »

And I don't believe that you have to start over to do so, just slide it up before loading the game
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Re: Diablo 3 Impressions

Post by RLMullen »

GreenGoo wrote: I realize the game is super easy the first run though, but I don't understand how things have changed from the "normal, nightmare, hell, inferno difficulty settings from before).
The biggest change is that there is no "first run through" anymore. You have most difficulties available at anytime (I think "torment" difficulty has to be unlocked by getting a single character to level 60). You can adjust the difficulty before you start your play session. Keep in mind that you can reduce the difficulty without terminating your session.

The other big change is the way the environment scales with your level. When you gain a level you obviously get a few points in your stats, but all of the mobs also get increases to their hit points and damage output. The mobs scale more than you do, which makes sense in that your primary source of "power" is your gear. Keep this in mind if you play at the higher difficulty levels because it is quite easy to outlevel your gear.
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