Diablo 3 Impressions

[Fretmute]

How is it not less fun to get nothing? You are actually insulted to get a white?

I am. I'm insulted to get yellows that end up with str/dex/gold find/+witch doctor skills. I'd rather just never see the ones that suck, and know that when I get one, it will be decent.

[JSHAW]

I got my Barbarian to level 60 last week, played him through Normal, Nightmare, and Hell.

I have a Demon-Hunter that I started weeks ago that's not even level 20 and a Wizard that I started this week that's level 21.

I'm gonna play ever class there is, and try to take them all up to and finish Hell.

For me that's more than enough entertainment that I feel my $60 was well spent, and enjoyed. Love the game. I don't give a rip about what drops out and when it drops out. I use what the game gives me and use the AH to buy what I can afford by buying and selling with Gold. I created an account and have made some cash purchases, they helped me out ALOT with my Barbarian.

I've played several public games and it really helps in moving past points in the game that are rough spots. I like the public games alot. They help me acquire gold, and I sell all the drops back to the vendors.

I'm not even close to being at the point where I want to stop playing the game. I'm just getting started.

[stessier]

How is it not less fun to get nothing? You are actually insulted to get a white?

I am. I'm insulted to get yellows that end up with str/dex/gold find/+witch doctor skills. I'd rather just never see the ones that suck, and know that when I get one, it will be decent.

I don't know why I'm being punished or how you got me to be the guinea pig for your world view, but I cleared out the Drowned Temple this morning with my Witch Doctor on Normal and got zero drops - zip, zilch, nada, zero. I was not pleased.

Something must have been going on though because I made it to Wortham and only got one blue drop after clearing out that village as well. A few minutes later, the server dropped me and I had to relogin. I have to say, I really prefer getting drops.

[coopasonic]

I'd rather get no white drops at all. It's annoying to try to avoid picking up the inventory space wasting whites while making sure I get the crafting comps and gems. The fountain of loot is a nice visual effect, but after 70 hours, I don't need to see it.

Let whites drop in Act I Normal. Maybe let Exceptions drop in Act 2, but after that, I don't want to see that crap!

[Crabbs]

I'd rather get no white drops at all. It's annoying to try to avoid picking up the inventory space wasting whites while making sure I get the crafting comps and gems. The fountain of loot is a nice visual effect, but after 70 hours, I don't need to see it.

Let whites drop in Act I Normal. Maybe let Exceptions drop in Act 2, but after that, I don't want to see that crap!

Weren't they going to change the color on crafting drops to be able to separate them out from crap? Maybe that's in for 1.1

[Jag]

I thought I read that at a certain level or Act, whites would just not drop anymore. That was for a later patch.

[stessier]

Playing this morning, the friendly ticker that is General Chat let me know that gold is down to $1.6/1M or $5.3/3M. I chuckled - someone is bad at math.

[LawBeefaroni]

Playing this morning, the friendly ticker that is General Chat let me know that gold is down to $1.6/1M or $5.3/3M. I chuckled - someone is bad at math.

I saw $5/9M the other day. Not that you can believe any of the spam in General.

[GreenGoo]

Why are you guys in general chat?

[stessier]

Why are you guys in general chat?

I thought we had to be to keep from getting booted.

[GreenGoo]

Why are you guys in general chat?

I thought we had to be to keep from getting booted.

Not sure that's still in effect. Try leaving it and play for a bit. And that was only for some people who were getting booted. Were you one of them?

[Fretmute]

I just soloed my way through the rest of Inferno Act 2, mainly to prove to myself that it could be done.

I've decided that the real reason Act 2 is so much harder isn't really because the mobs do more damage (although they do, clearly). It's because Act 2 ratchets up the prevalence of Don't Stand There Damage. Blizzard's always been a fan of this (see: every raid boss in WoW that had a "dodge or die" mechanic), and while it's not necessarily instant death in Diablo III, it's still far more damaging than normal melee hits. There's a bit of it in Act 1 (molten/desecrator packs), but in Act 2, you start seeing normal mobs that have it as part of their base mechanic (the small demons that explode into poison clouds on death, the Blazing Constructs that attack with puddles of fire). Act 2 just requires a whole lot more motion out of your character to avoid the DSTD, and the elite packs of mobs that feature it to begin with (like the Frozen/Waller/Extra Health/Fast pack of Blazing Constructs that I ran into today) are pure murder. Once they CC you in their DSTD, it's curtains.

I managed to kill every pack that I ran into, but there were a couple that probably killed me a half dozen times a piece. Still, I made money over the course of the run (from Kulle's blood through Belial), and my NV stacks never fell off.

My gear's not exquisite or anything, although I will admit that my weapon (which I purchased in the first week of the RMAH for cheap) would probably be worth significantly more than I payed for it now.

My Character Sheet (Unbuffed Numbers).
My Build.
My Gear.

[edit] - Actually, I see a nearly identical weapon on the AH for only 2.5M. That's not too bad.

[Chesspieceface]

That "stay in chat to not get booted" thing was fixed a couple weeks ago... they just didn't say anything. I've been able to play out of chat for a while and I was one who couldn't even play the first quest without it.

[GreenGoo]

Thanks for sharing the details of your character Fret. And congrats on solo'ing Act 2.

[RLMullen]

I've decided that the real reason Act 2 is so much harder isn't really because the mobs do more damage (although they do, clearly). It's because Act 2 ratchets up the prevalence of Don't Stand There Damage.

This is also noticeable in Hell as well.

In addition to the DSTD, Act II also adds several mechanics that allow mobs to get into melee without being engaged at range - leap, burrow, and invisibility. These are much more problematic for ranged characters than they are for melee. It seems that the DSTD is designed to force mobility for melee characters and the insta-melee mechanics are to force mobility on ranged characters.

On my wizard and demon hunter I usually break out of a melee trap, and run directly into a don't-stand-there pool. I'm surprised my keyboard has survived.

[Fretmute]

Thanks for sharing the details of your character Fret. And congrats on solo'ing Act 2.

I didn't solo the whole thing, just the the end. CPF and I did most of the rest together.

[YellowKing]

I find I do much better in Inferno solo than I do co-op due to the difficulty scaling. I may have to give it another go solo tonight.

[Chesspieceface]

I find I do much better in Inferno solo than I do co-op due to the difficulty scaling. I may have to give it another go solo tonight.

The only thing that should be scaling anymore is mob HP... Should be a little easier coop because you have multiple sources of damage and something (your pals) to distract mobs if you need to kite. Granted there are certain strategies with certain classes that are indeed better solo... if i want to slowly kill everything right on the edge of the screen before it notices me, better no one is around.

[Fretmute]

The first pack I ran into in Act 3 was 4 shielding hounds, with 1.5M HP a piece. Fully buffed, I hit about 28k DPs.

That was a long fight.

[Daehawk]

My chat is broken. It's stuck on General even in a game. When I try to use any command like /p it says I cant use that when not in a game..even though I am in one. Stupid patch bugs.

[msduncan]

My post- 5 stack Nef magic find is now 306%

[GreenGoo]

My post- 5 stack Nef magic find is now 306%

Nice! I assume rares are spawning off trash?

I have a level 50 wiz in act iv nightmare with +98% mf, and rares aren't too rare for her. She dies like a mofo though, as the rest of her stats aren't great. Actually, she has 15k hp which isn't terrible, but no damage mitigation so she pretty much explodes if something touches her.

[msduncan]

My post- 5 stack Nef magic find is now 306%

Nice! I assume rares are spawning off trash?

I have a level 50 wiz in act iv nightmare with +98% mf, and rares aren't too rare for her. She dies like a mofo though, as the rest of her stats aren't great. Actually, she has 15k hp which isn't terrible, but no damage mitigation so she pretty much explodes if something touches her.

Yes, yellows everywhere. Plus I'm finding more ilvl 63 items.

[Daehawk]

So MF is actually working and worth it? At what lvl character does it become handy? And what % is minimum to find anything good?

[Daehawk]

Killed a boss thing and got a gem. My first in D3. guess I should save it and combine it or something?

Umm Im in the desert and I cant see a thing and my eyes are burning. it's WAY TOO BRIGHT. I turned gamma down but the sand is still so bright I cant see items or gold at all and the text in the chat box is almost washed out and hard to see.

[stessier]

Killed a boss thing and got a gem. My first in D3. guess I should save it and combine it or something?

You can put it in any socket now. Eventually you'll get a jeweler who can remove gems as well as combine them and the cost is negligible at first, so there's no reason not to use them if you can.

Umm Im in the desert and I cant see a thing and my eyes are burning. it's WAY TOO BRIGHT. I turned gamma down but the sand is still so bright I cant see items or gold at all and the text in the chat box is almost washed out and hard to see.

That is odd. The desert is certainly brighter than the rest, but it shouldn't be that bright.

[stessier]

My Witch Doctor just took down the Butcher. 7:33. I think I could have done it fast but I still had a lot of talking to do to people to get the achievements. Also, the WD is interesting to listen to - he has quite a different world view compared to the Monk or Demon Hunter.

Spoiler:

16:24 and I just finished lighting the Signal Fires. Monks are incredible for crowd control! It's a ton of fun coming from the DH that can hit a bunch of guys, but really doesn't want to be surrounded and then going to the Monk that actually draws them in close so she can demolish them in one fell swoop.

18:24 and I just cleared out the Larder. Got some really nice weapons too.

21:04 and I just cleared the first level of Arreat Crater. Stupid sever upgrades - I could have gotten through one more level before work if not for that!

23:06 and just got to Ithereal (sp?).

24:59 and about to go after Diablo.

Down goes Diablo! Got 4 rares for my trouble too. Man, that was so much easier than with the DH. I think having double the armor probably helped quite a bit.

25:16 - 9 hours faster than last time. Wonder how much faster the next character will be.

[GreenGoo]

So MF is actually working and worth it? At what lvl character does it become handy? And what % is minimum to find anything good?

I've played with mf with lots of low level characters, and I'd say even a tiny bit (10%) has an effect over the long term, but 50% is very noticeable. You'll start seeing blues and yellows from chests and trash mobs at that point, although not every time of course.

On my 60 monk I had to give up most of my mf just to survive, and if I see a blue it's an event (without 5 NV buffs anyway). After weeks of this I returned to my level 50 wiz in nightmare who has 98% mf and the rares were popping out of the woodwork. I had actually forgotten what it's like to have high mf and actually find stuff.

[Daehawk]

Well I cant play like this. I played the first two in multiplayer only. It's the way to play this series. But I've been gone from it since nearly it came out. I see now Im going to have to pick one of my characters and try to play through it solo. The story is not fun and the people Im playing with simply rush through and skip all the cutscenes and story chats. I have no idea where I am or what Im doing like this. So I think Ill take my caster and try to do it solo with a npc companion.

BTW any opinion on companion to use and gear out? Looks like I have a choice of templar, mage, and thief. I guess if I play my mage I should use the templar guy? I love my barb the most but ill save him for multiplayer.

opinions on my choice or how to play it?

And thank you Green for the mf info. Seems to be something Ill have to work a balance out with. Like you my MF items are much crappier than even the blues Ive been passing up. then again dying aint worth it. Ive been keeping ALL the yellows I've ever found but I think Ill have to melt them all down for room and materials now since they are so far behind my lvl now.

And Stess thank you also for the brightness thing. Maybe it's my card or a driver or setting. No idea. Ill check for a bloom setting and such. I have everything max'd so maybe that's it. Shrug.

[LawBeefaroni]

BTW any opinion on companion to use and gear out? Looks like I have a choice of templar, mage, and thief. I guess if I play my mage I should use the templar guy? I love my barb the most but ill save him for multiplayer.

opinions on my choice or how to play it?

My main is a Demon Hunter (ranged) but I still use the Scoundrel. I used the Templar for my run through normal but switched to Scoundrel sometime in Nightmare and have kept him so far through Hell. Never used the enchantress.

Always check all companions' gear before selling stuff. I kit them out with the best rings/amulets/uniques for their primay stats (Templar = STR, Scoundrel = DEX, Enchantress = INT) and then usually VIT. Weapons, I go for pure DPS. Not sure how/if MF or gold % works on them but I keep that in the equation as well. My scoundrel and enchantress both have rare uniques. Haven't hit the AH yet for more but I imagine there are some decent ones out there.

[Tao]

The Templar is sort of a Tank companion with his key abilities being healing and resource (mana, arcane, spirit etc.) regen. The heal is very very unreliable and the resource regen is fairly minimal but the Templar will charge/dash into the fray and grab some aggro if you let him which is always good and he has an ability which stuns everything in an area when he charges in and another that slows any creature that hits him for a few seconds.

The Scoundrel is a DPS/Debuffer/Buffer hybrid. Personally I think his "Blind" attack is his best active ability but it is on a fairly long cooldown. He has another ability with a chance to stun but his big benefit is the 3% crit chance buff. The scoundrel will hang back and attack from range with bows.

The last companion is the one I use most often, the Enchantress. She is similiar to the Scoundrel in that she is a DPS/Buffer/Debuffer hybrid that fights from range. Her abilities include a short charm, party protection/shields, a nice AOE debuff that increases damage taken by 15% for a few seconds and her best ability IMHO she increases attack speed for the party by 3%.

Companion damage is capped very very low like maybe 10 or 15 % of your max damage so personally I dont worry too much about gearing them for DPS and focus more on getting them tons of HP. Adding Magic Find /Gold Find to a companion increases the players as well but it's not a 1:1 ration seems more like a 4:1 or there abouts but still helps.
You can reset your companions skill loadout anytime by right clicking there portrait.

They are fun and add some flavor to the game but I don't use them until around Act III NM as the game is already pretty easy up to that part but the conversations and comments can be hillarious as GreenGoo has pointed out.

[GreenGoo]

The enchantress is a popular pick for inferno as she has a buff that gives +15% armour, which is a major boost.

[Daehawk]

Why does this game have to lag so badly? Im playing single player and it's pausing and freezing on me ...lag. Im dying trying to kill the butcher...over and over and over because of this lag. It did it in beta too. Nothing else I play online lags. My modem and router are working. So wth?? How can I play if all it does is lag me and kill me?

EDIT: Also is there a way to see the damage a spell will do? How can I compare the spell to an item if only the item shows how much damage it does?

[LawBeefaroni]

EDIT: Also is there a way to see the damage a spell will do? How can I compare the spell to an item if only the item shows how much damage it does?

Aren't all spells just a percent of weapon damage?

[Chesspieceface]

EDIT: Also is there a way to see the damage a spell will do? How can I compare the spell to an item if only the item shows how much damage it does?

Aren't all spells just a percent of weapon damage?

That's correct, or to answer more pointedly... You cannot compare them.

[Daehawk]

Wait. Spells are a % of weapons damage? I was just about to come in and ask why I should have a wep as a caster since I never use it cept when Im out of mana. So I should really update my wep and go for the best damage?

[Chesspieceface]

Wait. Spells are a % of weapons damage? I was just about to come in and ask why I should have a wep as a caster since I never use it cept when Im out of mana. So I should really update my wep and go for the best damage?

Yes, at all times.

[Daehawk]

The lag is killing me still. I thought it was just D3 but my friend says Star Wars is lagging. they even reset the server thinking it was them...didn't help. But I've always had trouble with D3 and some type of lag. It's not on my side. Wish they could figure it out.

Now Im losing connection to the server. The rest of the net is fine. I wish I had not bought this now.

[Daehawk]

15 disconnects in one hour. Im getting nowhere and have had enough for now. I want a refund.

[Sudy Nym]

Finally got the the point where I can clear Act 1 inferno with ease. At least up until Butcher, which is tough. But Act 2, as I had read, just seems impossible. Regular mobs alone frequently kill me. I don't feel like grinding Act 1 for hours. And I can't sell anything on the AH. Might be hanging this one up for now.