Diablo 3 Impressions

[stessier]

Up to Level 30 this morning and unlocked Archon. Is this a bug with this ability? It says I get to be Archon for 15s, but it sure seemed a lot longer than that the one time I used before I logged off.

Edit: Never mind - apparently you get 1s for each baddie killed. The tool tip in game doesn't say that though. Actually, a lot of stuff on in the Game Guide isn't in the ability descriptions. Am I missing something, or are they just lacking? It would really be good to know some of this stuff.

[GreenGoo]

Up to Level 30 this morning and unlocked Archon. Is this a bug with this ability? It says I get to be Archon for 15s, but it sure seemed a lot longer than that the one time I used before I logged off.

Edit: Never mind - apparently you get 1s for each baddie killed. The tool tip in game doesn't say that though. Actually, a lot of stuff on in the Game Guide isn't in the ability descriptions. Am I missing something, or are they just lacking? It would really be good to know some of this stuff.

I love being in the jungle in act 2 with archon. I can sometimes clear the whole area on a single archon cast. So many fallen, so many +1s durations.

[Lorini]

Apparently the fourth week in August is next week, not the fourth full week in August, so the patch should drop on Tuesday.

[Baroquen]

Apparently the fourth week in August is next week, not the fourth full week in August, so the patch should drop on Tuesday.

Nice. I'm looking forward to the changes, and haven't had the urge to play as much until then. Though I have played my alts for some quick gaming bursts when I don't have time for something longer. Hopefully we won't have WoW-esque downtime for this single player game.

[stessier]

Perhaps of interest only to me - my game so far

Character	...Level...	...Date...	...Time...	...Str...	...Dex...	...Int...	...Vit...	...Arm...	...DPS...	...Life...
Demon Hunter	Normal	6/24	34:16	55	470	105	273	617	481.56	2894
Monk	Normal	7/4	25:16	153	488	105	319	1211	485.66	3622
Witch Doctor	Normal	7/17	22:46	86	165	518	251	607	564.02	2888
Barbarian	Normal	8/8	19:53	271	154	147	295	1140	292.29	3114
Wizard	Normal	8/17	19:04	110	148	445	318	663	379.31	3344

[Chesspieceface]

Apparently the fourth week in August is next week, not the fourth full week in August, so the patch should drop on Tuesday.

Of course, that way they compete directly with the Dark Souls PC release... the only thing left I wanted to buy till next month. gah.

[GreenGoo]

So I've had a hankering to get back to some of my characters, but was kinda holding off, knowing the next patch will change things quite a bit. Anyway, I gave in and did an act 1 farming run last night and, of course, a level 57 legendary dropped. Was a headpiece for monks and I was playing my monk which was nice. Unfortunately, it's garbage and a waste of a drop, which is great, because the changes to legendaries coming down the pipe will not be retroactive and now I've wasted one of my lucky drops on junk.

Now it'll be a month or two before I see another legendary.

[KiloOhm]

I haven't played in a few weeks because of this. Last nigth I felt like playing so I started a new witchdoctor. At least if I get a legendary early in the game I won't care as much.

I'm realizing that the blacksmith is really for your alts - man using him to get your alt a leg up on gear is great. I'm mowing stuff down. Was pretty useless for my main since I never seemed to have enough mats to gamble enough to get a good item. Now I have tons of mats and gold to gamble with.

[KiloOhm]

Of course, that way they compete directly with the Dark Souls PC release... the only thing left I wanted to buy till next month. gah.

You won't be able to play Diablo for a while once Dark Souls sinks it teeth in you. That's the best game I've played in years.

[stessier]

Started Nighmare with my Demon Hunter and just took down Maghda this morning. I've already died five times though - which I think was all I died in Normal. At first I was frustrated, but now I'm just starting to expect it. There are Champion and Elite mob affix combos that I haven't seen before and am not prepared for. The Arcane Walling spiders were tough because I had never seen the Arcane before and while I knew it was bad to stand in, I didn't realize how much it hurt to run through. The Waller Desecrating Wasps got me when they boxed me in and had a path of desecration to walk through to get to safety...or not. I have gotten much better at running away now that I know what is coming and think that it is more important than ever to do full clears because there is nothing like making a strategic withdrawal from one pack only to end up running into another one and then having the attention of both.

My companion Templar is quite the stout fellow - 10k hp already while I languish with around 7500-8000 depending on my current equipment. I have managed to upgrade my Jeweler and Blacksmith to the max allowed for this level and am starting to save up cash. I still am not sharing any equipment or gems between characters, but I have started sharing money and blacksmithing materials. I'm up to 330k gold in the bank and just got the 1,000,000 gold collected achievement this morning. I have yet to use the auction house.

Unfortunately, I suspect my play time is about to fall off a cliff. I have to get back to the gym in the mornings as I am outgrowing my pants at a rapid pace. Bummer.

[stessier]

Well, there is a new carrot for all you 60s to persue - Paragon Levels.

How long did it take most people to get from 59-60?
And how long did it take people to hit 99 in D2?

• After you hit level 60, any further experience you earn from killing monsters will begin to count toward Paragon levels
• There are 100 Paragon levels
• Every Paragon level will reward you with:
  
  • Core stats such as Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Vitality in amounts similar to what you’d gain from a normal level
  • 3% Magic Find and 3% Gold Find
  • In addition, a distinctive increasingly-impressive border will surround your character portrait in the in-game party frame to denote your Paragon progression, with a new frame earned after every ten levels. Your Paragon level will also be visible to other players wherever your normal level is shown

[LawBeefaroni]

With the Paragon system in place, we’re capping Magic Find and Gold Find to 300% (before Nephalem Valor). This means that without any Magic Find gear at all, you’ll hit the cap when you reach Paragon level 100.

Seems like a decent compromise.

[ska5fe]

I don't recall it taking very long to get from 59-60. 1-99 in DII, though, that was ridiculous. My highest character ever was only 95, and even that took an amount of dedication I'm not sure I'll be able to repeat. That said, I'll still try to get as high of a Paragon level as I can.

[LawBeefaroni]

I hit 60 over the weekend and was just lamenting my lack of MF as I found NV somewhat underwhelming. Hopefully this means some cheaper MF on the market soon.

[stessier]

From diablofans.com, it doesn't look like I'll be hitting Paragon Level 100 in my life time.



Click to embiggen and here's the explanation.

For scale, to get from Paragon 1-100, they calculated it's ~8,167,500 Inferno Dust Imps.

[Lorini]

And what's nice about having the new Diablo 3 profiles, no idiot can claim they are 100 by this Friday.

[msduncan]

Does this patch drop tomorrow or next Tuesday?

[Lorini]

There's an extended maintenance tomorrow and everyone thinks it's tomorrow but Blizzard has not officially confirmed yet.

[Baroquen]

I think they have...

We will be performing scheduled maintenance for Diablo III starting tomorrow (8/21) at 3:00 a.m. PDT in order to deploy patch 1.0.4. We anticipate that maintenance will conclude and that all services will be available by approximately 1:00 p.m. PDT.

Important: Please note that you will not be prompted to download patch 1.0.4 until the patch is live in your home region. If you are logging in from a European or Asian client, you will need to wait for this patch to release in that region before it can be installed. Additionally, if your home region is the Americas, you will be unable to log into Europe or Asia using Global Play after patch 1.0.4 is live until those regions have also patched.

For reference, here are the scheduled maintenance times for each region:

The Americas: 3:00 a.m. PDT to 1:00 p.m. PDT (8/21)
Europe: 8:00 p.m. PDT (8/21) to 6:00 a.m. PDT (8/22)
Asia: 11:00 a.m. PDT to 11:00 p.m. PDT (8/22)

Please note that these times are estimated and subject to change. For time zone assistance, please visit: http://everytimezone.com

...from Blizz forum post.... Also includes insanely long patch notes too.

[stessier]

Yay!

• Weapon racks have had their weapon drop rate restored to 100%, though weapons are more likely be of Common quality (white or grey items)
  Destructible objects now have a chance to drop items again
• The text color of gems, potions, crafting pages and tomes dropped on the ground has been changed from white to light blue
• The maximum stack size of gems has been increased from 30 to 100
• The gem drop sound effect is now more noticeable

• Monsters across the game have had a pass to make their experience and loot rewards more proportional to the effort required to kill them
  For example, Imps and Tormented Stingers grant less XP and drop less items, but Lacuni Warriors grant increased XP and drop more items
  
• Experience awarded by level 61-63 monsters has been increased by approximately 60%
• Normal monsters should now drop Magic (blue) items and Rare (yellow) items approximately 4 times more than before

Probably yay?

Legendary Sets:

• All item level 61 set pieces have been increased to item level 63 (excluding rings and amulets), and had their base item changed from late Hell/early Inferno to late Inferno
• Class-specific sets are now guaranteed to have the class’s core stat on every item in the set

[Vorret]

Started playing again yesterday should give me a needed fix until gw2 next week.

I kinda want to start a pet witch doctor now though it's the only class that I haven't touch yet and D2 necro was my favorite by a long shot.

[Torfish]

This patch is a game changer.

The game now is just boring and too difficult. Blacksmith plans, way too rare. Set items, way to rare. Legdendaries, way to rare. Then when one of those do drop, it is rare that the stats are any good! All that makes a boring and very difficult game that leans on the Auction House too much. I want the thrill to find my own kickass items, not buy them!

I'm stoked for this patch. On paper, it addresses most of my own complaints. And the end game completely changes with the weird Paragon leveling. Level 60 needed to be upped in my opinion, so this might solve that feeling. It has the potential. Even the color changes will be welcome.

I like the direction here and I hope it continues in future patches. This is a DIABLO game!!! It is suppose to be a game where every chest opened and monster killed has a reasonalbe chance to drop something cool. But not so rare where it takes DAYS of playing to get ONE cool drop.

[LawBeefaroni]

Yay!

• The text color of gems, potions, crafting pages and tomes dropped on the ground has been changed from white to light blue

Finally!

[EliotR]

Yes, a definite game changer (patch). I am firing it back up after several weeks off. Looks promising.

[Lorini]

It's up already! Unbelievable! Be sure to have your scoundrel with you, he says something pretty funny.

[LawBeefaroni]

I guess I jumped back in and dinged 60 at the right time. Only about a day "wasted" on no EXP.

[Lorini]

So far my WD pets are invulnerable in NM. Before they would die so fast the cooldown had just started. Much better!

[Jag]

Back to Inferno after over a month break and still absolutely no desire to play this game anymore at all. Oh well.

[msduncan]

DING 61!

[Exodor]

DING 61!

Shouldn't that be 60.1?

[msduncan]

DING 61!

Shouldn't that be 60.1?

Ding 60.2

[GreenGoo]

Patched. Logged in to see if by some mistake they retroactively improved my legendaries. Nope.

Logged out.

[Exodor]

DING 61!

Shouldn't that be 60.1?

Ding 60.2

I guess even more technically that's 60.01.


I played my DH last night. Sentry doesn't seem much more powerful than before but I still insist on using it because it's cool and at level 45 it doesn't really matter much. Maybe i'll actually push on to 60.

[LawBeefaroni]

I guess even more technically that's 60.01.


I played my DH last night. Sentry doesn't seem much more powerful than before but I still insist on using it because it's cool and at level 45 it doesn't really matter much. Maybe i'll actually push on to 60.

Played my 60 DH. The vault with cinders is amazingly fun. 1500% weapon damage over 3s? Vault into a pack of elites, drop 2 spike traps, vault out. It's also great when kiting, you can just vault away and they run through it. I'm sure it will get nerfed soon.

Don't like that the spikes no longer proc but eh.

[stessier]

Has anyone else noticed the Deceivers seem much harder than pre-patch? The notes say the Snakeman casters now have a melee attack - could that be the whole difference?

[Torfish]

My DH is in act 2 infernal. After playing one hour straight last night, I barely got to 2 experience bars! It is going to be a very very long time to hit lvl 100. Months.

It's nice to see magical items drop from chests now. I had a few drop last night. Had a yellow drop from a normal mob too. My magic find is only 9%. I like the new patch!

[LawBeefaroni]

Had a yellow drop from a normal mob too. My magic find if only 9%. I like the new patch!

I was getting MF up to around 120% with 5xNV and one or two MF items. I did find a new helm right before I quit with 19% MF and one socket so I'll be using that next time I play, hopefully get me around 160%. That is, if I can gem it propertly. AH kept crashing when I tried to get some Tome of Secrets to make a gem for it.

AH commodities are so broken.

[msduncan]

My Act 2 Inferno Magic Find is at 343% with the 5 stack buff and rising. I'm at Paragon level 3.

[KiloOhm]

Really happy with the changes. I've made 2 minor weapon upgrades to get me to 14KDPS on my wizard since the patch (maybe 2 hours of playing). I realize I'm not going to get OMG uber upgrades all the time but even little upgrades here and there make me happy enough.

I'm attempting to work through Act II Inferno, man I hate the dessert.

[LawBeefaroni]

Did Hell Cydaea and Hell Azmodan last night with Vault/ToC. Yeah, this is getting nerfed. I'm overleveled but still...

Also switched to bow and shield for the DH. I still need to go shopping for better fear but it is pretty fun. With this new build, with brooding and gear I'm regenerating around 600 life per second and that's before life steal and nether tentacles.