Diablo 3

[Zaxxon]

I chose Wizard for my first 40 min this am. Mainly because I just like wizards in general. The necro and demon hunter also look interesting.

Impressions from my first 40 min: it's fun, framerate is super-smooth, and the interface is translated very well to console. The text is a little hard to read on my 42" TV, and when I get closer I can see it's because the text is not clear. Not sure why that is.

[coopasonic]

The wizard is a riot. I am also generally a barb/monk type, but on week I decided to branch out and the wizard's deadly beam of death sauce is awesome. The barbarian just doesn't compare. I probably have more play time on the wizard than anything else at this point. Don't ask me my spec because I have no idea. I held down a button sweeping my mouse over the play field and everything died.

[Torfish]

I'm playing a wizard this season. The Tal Rasha's set is one of the game's top legendary sets. It's this season's wizard set. Lots of variations you can do. I'm currently working on an explosion meteor build for end game.

[TheMix]

Depends on what you like.

Wizard is probably the toughest. I struggle with finding a good build for my wizard. The only one that seems really strong requires way too much effort. Also, wizard can be really fragile at times during leveling.

The witch doctor has some fun builds. You can play a spell caster that will feel much like a wizard. Or go full on pets (which is a blast - I think at one point I was running with ~30 pets). Finally, for grinding gold, the chicken build is a blast (pun intended).

The demon hunter is probably the easiest. Just sit back and shoot. That was my first character. Builds vary a lot. And depend on gear. Once you get the sets, there are a lot of choices. The "beginners" set lets you go "melee". It can be finicky, but the amount of damage you put out with one attack will have you giggling. It's just not great for large groups of mobs. I'm currently running a build where I put out 5 turrets that copy my attack; then I spam exploding frost missiles. The screen is oh so colorful.

[TheMix]

Whelp, I guess I'm the lone holdout then. I've tried all 4 wizard sets. At times leveling my wizard definitely dominated, don't get me wrong. But for end game, I just can't get as far as I can with other classes. I think my top one right now is one of my monks. Destroys T13 without breaking a sweat. Though my demon hunter is probably a close second.

And I forgot about the necro. There is one of the necro builds that stomps! Necro (depending on the spec) is kind of between the wizard, full on caster, and the witch doctor, pets! pets! pets!

[Skinypupy]

Thanks all, Wizard sounds fun. I'll likely never get into the grind for top tier loot, so that's not a major concern.

I've never done anything with the "Seasons" content. Not even really sure what that is or how to access it, tbh.

[TheMix]

When you create a new character, just select the option for it to be a Season character.

IMO, doing a Season makes a TON of sense if this is going to be your only/first character. You won't have access to any gear that you've banked from your other characters (if there are any), but you will get a full set of gear. And once you have one set, you can ramp up the difficulty, which will allow you to start collecting the other sets quickly.

[pr0ner]

I'm playing a wizard this season. The Tal Rasha's set is one of the game's top legendary sets. It's this season's wizard set. Lots of variations you can do. I'm currently working on an explosion meteor build for end game.

I had SO MUCH FUN with that Tal Rasha set when I earned it on XBox One a couple of seasons ago. Highly recommended.

[TheMix]

I had to go look it up. Yeah. I ran with it for a while. The problem for me was that, for it to shine, you had to really work at it. To be clear, not at lower difficulties, but if you want to push the bounds of what it can handle, it was a lot of work. It reminded me of some of the WoW builds in the old days. Way too much effort/work. Starts to interfere with the fun (again, for me).

[pr0ner]

I had to go look it up. Yeah. I ran with it for a while. The problem for me was that, for it to shine, you had to really work at it. To be clear, not at lower difficulties, but if you want to push the bounds of what it can handle, it was a lot of work. It reminded me of some of the WoW builds in the old days. Way too much effort/work. Starts to interfere with the fun (again, for me).

Yeah, I think I mostly used it at a max of T7-T8, because anything beyond that she couldn't handle the damage being dealt by mobs, with the rare/legendary ones being extra bad. Especially doing it solo.

But it's been a while since I cranked her up so I can't remember with 100% certainty.

[TheMix]

That sounds about right. That's probably a bit higher than I ran. But I wasn't focused on getting the perfect gear and nailing the rotation. Considering that many other classes and specs can easily jump to T9 and higher without much effort, I moved on.

I actually had a lot more fun playing my wizard with the Archon set. Very... VERY... squishy when not in Archon, but hella fun when you are. The key is trying to minimize that downtime.

[Zaxxon]

This game is farkin' fantastic!

I know; welcome to 2014, Zaxxon. But I woke up this am and gained a few levels on the couch with a 42" screen. Then a few more over lunch at my desk. Finally several more in bed with this cool screen-with-controllers-attached device.

The Switch rocks.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

I had fun with this game on the PS4, but I had to stop playing because the constant button mashing kills my wrist. Getting old sucks.

[Zaxxon]

You can't just hold them down lightly? I'm finding the controls pretty ergonomic, actually.

[Skinypupy]

I actually find that using a controller is less stressful on my hands than m/kb was. YMMV.

Had a blast with it last night, running through bounties with a friend. Amazed at how quick the leveling process is when you're playing with others. Went 1-42 in about 3 hours. Started checking out the Season content for the first time ever, and am almost done with the first chapter (just need to get to lvl 50). I've got a 4 hour flight tomorrow, so that should be pretty easy to do.

Wizard is fun, but so damn squishy. Coming from tankier classes, it's a significant change. Gameplay is a blast so far though.

[TheMix]

Wizard is definitely the epitome of a glass cannon. There are skills you can get to mitigate that some. Or you can go all in! Pure destruction! Just don't let anyone sneeze on you!

[Kurth]

I have never played a Diablo game before, and much of the stuff in the new Switch version is lost on me (seasons and paragons and adventure mode, etc.), but I'm having a blast with this. It feels like it was made for the Switch.

[Zaxxon]

I have never played a Diablo game before, and much of the stuff in the new Switch version is lost on me (seasons and paragons and adventure mode, etc.), but I'm having a blast with this. It feels like it was made for the Switch.

It's been 15ish years for me, and I'm right back at home, though still getting my head around the season/paragon stuff. Agreed that it's a great fit for Switch. I had family in town this weekend and Saturday night a friend of mine came over and we fired up a same-screen multiplayer game. My mid-60s father-in-law joined us.

3.5 hours later--after midnight--we called it a night, and my f-i-l was a level 15 Necromancer commanding hordes of skeleton minions. He's never played an RPG before in his life.

The single joy-con controls are simultaneously a bit frustrating and extremely impressive that they even managed to make a single joy-con work for Diablo. Definitely recommend playing with the dual-joy-con controller setup, or the Pro Controller.

[Isgrimnur]

Kotaku

As it turns out, Kotaku has learned, Blizzard had originally planned to tease Diablo 4, but pulled those plans at the last minute.

The original plan for BlizzCon 2018, according to two people familiar with Blizzard’s plans, was for Blizzard to announce the mobile game Diablo Immortal and then end on a video in which company co-founder Allen Adham told the audience that a proper Diablo 4 was in development but not ready to show just yet.
...
One of those people told me that the Diablo team wasn’t yet ready to commit to an announcement, as Diablo 4 has changed drastically over the past four years and may continue to change further. (We’ve heard it’s gone through at least two different iterations under different directors.)
...
But even after playing down expectations, sources said, Blizzard was still looking to assure fans that Diablo 4 was in development, until those plans changed.

[Zaxxon]

Sweet.

[Kurth]

Noob question: Salvage or sell my excess gear?

I'm a level 17 wizard seasonal character, and I haven't a clue how the crafting system works, but I've seen lots of contradictory information online about selling gear vs. salvaging it. Any words of wisdom?

[TheMix]

I salvage up to a certain price/worth. Then I sell. That amount obviously fluctuates as you level.

As you level you'll definitely need gold to unlock the crafter levels. And maybe to buy gear.... But the best way to boost your gear is to periodically craft items. The level jumps are pretty big, so you have to check that regularly. Every couple levels I usually do an assessment. I look at what I can craft, compare the level of the craftable items to my level and to the level of the gear I'm wearing. Big differences should be corrected ASAP.

So... to answer your question, I'd probably mostly break stuff down at low levels (i.e. below 50... ish... maybe). Unless you are desperate for gold. At higher levels I set some sort of arbitrary value based on the value of the loot that is dropping. Above that amount I sell, below I break down. And that may also be affected by what you need for your crafting. Depending on what materials you are short on.

[TheMix]

Oh, right. You said level 17. I'd probably break down everything unless you really need the gold. You are going to need a lot of crafting materials to help you keep your gear viable.

[Kurth]

Got it. Thanks!

[Torfish]

Played D3 Switch over the weekend. I was surprised how well it looked and played on the mobile screen. No glitches that I could tell. The controls are very easy to learn. The game includes the Seasons, which is mainly the mode I play.

Visuals during the fast pace action are good. It was the main concern for me.

So in summary it is the perfect mobile game for the switch. I will likely be playing it for a long time.