Octopus Overlords

I loved all those old MMOs...long travel included. Didn't bother me. When EQ came out me and my friend started in Qeynos and after getting enough lvl under us to go to the nexy zone we decided to simply run to Freeport. We did it too. About halfway..in the Halfling town...our friend came and gave us a SOW buff so that helped a LITTLE..not much. We did it though. UO...we'd walk from the crossroad to Cove to anywhere.

Back then it was all new and exciting and I didn't notice walking times or corpse runs as bad. Even recently in MMOs Ill still not notice much. But when you get a mount its totally better.

But in both D1 and D4 its too slow. Im playing D3 right now and its much better and seems the right speed.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Thu Mar 30, 2023 4:19 pm I loved all those old MMOs...long travel included. Didn't bother me. When EQ came out me and my friend started in Qeynos and after getting enough lvl under us to go to the nexy zone we decided to simply run to Freeport. We did it too. About halfway..in the Halfling town...our friend came and gave us a SOW buff so that helped a LITTLE..not much. We did it though. UO...we'd walk from the crossroad to Cove to anywhere.

Haha, my first character in EQ was a rogue in Qeynos (didn't even know about backstab so I had a longsword). Somehow at level 10, I ran all the way to Greater Faydark, without sneak/hide. Too newb to know what I didn't know. Good times.

Jaymann wrote: ↑Thu Mar 30, 2023 5:54 pm Haha, my first character in EQ was a rogue in Qeynos (didn't even know about backstab so I had a longsword). Somehow at level 10, I ran all the way to Greater Faydark, without sneak/hide. Too newb to know what I didn't know. Good times.

That's impressive, given the ocean in the way!

rittchard wrote: ↑Thu Mar 30, 2023 4:05 pm I really like the traditional Diablo 2 system where you walk the first time, but finding a waypoint is (usually) earned for when you come back later. D4 uses this as well but I think the spread of waypoints wasn't optimal; during the main quest there were times I had to re-walk a fair distance.

I'm really surprised you recall that aspect of Diablo 2 so fondly. I hated that the placement of waypoints was relatively random. Often I'd want to log off but felt like I'd have to hunt for the next waypoint because I didn't want to have to fight through the zones again later. And in D2 it could be dangerous to run past enemies depending on difficulty/class/etc. I felt like I had to stop and fight. These aspects were the very worst in the jungle act.

In the Diablo 4 beta I rarely felt like I had to travel too far, and the enemy encounters could be safely skipped most of the time. (Though this also made travelling kind of boring.) But just set your waypoint on the map and off you go, barely having to pay attention if you don't want to. As well, since the overworld is static I'd think it would be easy to look up waypoints in the full game so you don't have to search for them? But it seemed like they were usually on the way to the next main quest, or there'd often be a side quest that would lead you there anyway.

Mind you, I may not have played as much as you did or just had a different experience for whatever reason. I didn't find the travelling fun by any means, but I felt like it took less time to traverse the overworld than it looked like it would on the map screen. But I'm also unsure of how I feel about the completely static overworld. Once you've played a few characters it will probably be pretty boring. There's no exploring to be done, and collecting mats is pretty stale.

Sudy wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 1:17 am

rittchard wrote: ↑Thu Mar 30, 2023 4:05 pm I really like the traditional Diablo 2 system where you walk the first time, but finding a waypoint is (usually) earned for when you come back later.

I'm really surprised you recall that aspect of Diablo 2 so fondly. I hated that the placement of waypoints was relatively random.

I had the same reaction. D2 had some annoyingly far apart waypoints at times. Especially the forest Act with the little fuckers that pelted you with darts. I remember there was a long ass distance between some of those waypoints!

I found myself very impressed by the Open Beta of D4. Like everyone else here said, the system is far more like D2 than D3, which is a pro and a con for me. I did love the min-max of picking certain skills and runes in D3, but basically this became its own minigame of matching your overwhelming amount of skill and rune choices to whatever set armor you were using (in Seasons, anyway). Some of the skill-rune combinations were also terribly useless, IMHO, so they just took up space.

The D4 systems seems more limited but may be stronger for it. Granted, I didn't quite hit level 20 and the beta didn't have the "special" class stuff (I played the Druid so it was the nature spirits system, IIRC). You basically decided what skills you wanted to main and pumped points into them. I guess you could double up in one branch of a tree (maybe to have a ranged and melee skill) but I didn't see a clear reason to do so at that level.

What surprised me is that enemies scaled. I went back to an older area to get an Aspect in a dungeon (that was a fun system) and found the enemies were suddenly my level. That meant you didn't waste time with trash low-level mobs that offered no XP. I mean, yes, this was the same in D3, but that was often a factor of the Nightmare level and it felt different here for some reason.

I'm in on this one, playing on the PS5. As much as I love PC play, nothing quite beats the visceral feeling of controlling the character with the gamepad.

Does the game support a PS5 controller if you plug one into your PC?

Jaymann wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 12:54 pm Does the game support a PS5 controller if you plug one into your PC?

Definitely supports Xbox one controller on PC.

stimpy wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 1:28 pm Definitely supports Xbox one controller on PC.

Happy to read this. 10 years ago I was still a mouse/keyboard die hard (especially for first person games) but I greatly prefer the gamepad for pretty much all games I still play these days. It would be beyond silly to not make it available when the game is coming to consoles.

It is idiotic that they never patched controller support in for Diablo 3 after releassing it on consoles. (Correct me if I am wrong about this.)

JCC wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 3:02 pm

stimpy wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 1:28 pm Definitely supports Xbox one controller on PC.

Happy to read this. 10 years ago I was still a mouse/keyboard die hard (especially for first person games) but I greatly prefer the gamepad for pretty much all games I still play these days. It would be beyond silly to not make it available when the game is coming to consoles.

It is idiotic that they never patched controller support in for Diablo 3 after releassing it on consoles. (Correct me if I am wrong about this.)

You are correct about no controller support for D3.
I too used to be strictly k&B, but have pretty much converted.

stimpy wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 9:37 pm I too used to be strictly k&B, but have pretty much converted.

Same, although I still haven't tried a controller for strategy games and such. But I no longer refuse to use a controller when the game was designed specifically for a controller or I warrant I should use one.

I'm actually strongly considering getting the PS5 version, which sounds a bit like heresy even to my own ears as a lifetime PC gamer. However, I thought the console version of D3 was really well done and I had a blast with it even though I played on PC as my primary.

The thing is, I'm sitting here with an aging PC on an aging 24" monitor in a squeaky office chair. I can play on that (hoping it runs well), or I can remove all doubts that it will run well and play on 85" TV while seated in a recliner. The older I get, the more I value comfort over pride.

YellowKing wrote: ↑Mon Apr 03, 2023 1:33 pm I'm actually strongly considering getting the PS5 version, which sounds a bit like heresy even to my own ears as a lifetime PC gamer. However, I thought the console version of D3 was really well done and I had a blast with it even though I played on PC as my primary.

I have fully switched to Diablo on console. I find that I actually prefer it to PC now.

Now I am wishing I tried the open beta on console, just out of curiosity. Is there anything analogous on PS+ whatever level I got to play Stray?

While I am kind of off topic, seeing YK mention an 85" TV I am wondering if my next projector won't be a projector. Them TVs is getting big, my 110" projector screen is getting worried.

coopasonic wrote: ↑Mon Apr 03, 2023 2:34 pm Now I am wishing I tried the open beta on console, just out of curiosity. Is there anything analogous on PS+ whatever level I got to play Stray?

While I am kind of off topic, seeing YK mention an 85" TV I am wondering if my next projector won't be a projector. Them TVs is getting big, my 110" projector screen is getting worried.

There seems to be a “soft” cutoff at 85” (maybe up to 88” I’m not sure). Anything bigger the prices jump astronomically. I don’t know for sure yet but I suspect my next one will be one of those front laser projector types. Samsung has one art 130” yowza!

Just got an email invite to play the Server Slam event in may. Has new rewards if you reach lvl 20 and defeat the world boss. A Cry of Ashava Mount Trophy and more..plus all the original rewards too.

YellowKing wrote: ↑Mon Apr 03, 2023 1:33 pm I'm actually strongly considering getting the PS5 version, which sounds a bit like heresy even to my own ears as a lifetime PC gamer. However, I thought the console version of D3 was really well done and I had a blast with it even though I played on PC as my primary.

The thing is, I'm sitting here with an aging PC on an aging 24" monitor in a squeaky office chair. I can play on that (hoping it runs well), or I can remove all doubts that it will run well and play on 85" TV while seated in a recliner. The older I get, the more I value comfort over pride.

How strange...i'm getting the same way! Maybe its just that consoles are more powerful now?

My Xbox Series S and newer 86" TV play things very nicely from my couch, even though I have a nice office chair and desk and a decent Legion gaming laptop, its just a little more comfy in my theater.

I know not many people play for the story, but I'm starting to get annoyed at all the articles saying, "Endgame has been played, find out here!" One even had a picture of what is obviously a spoiler of some kind, a bad-ass looking new demon that must be an end boss or even Diablo himself in a new form.

I actually enjoyed the story in D3, so potentially getting spoilered on this one kinda pissed me off.

FWIW, I don't think that most people consider creatures / locations to be spoilers. Some do, and that is perfectly valid, but it's the exception and a lot of sites don't take it into account.

Anyone fired this up yet tonight? I'm currently at the hospital waiting for my wife's ankle surgery to be complete and was curious to see what the changes are.

I have it installed, but discovering yesterday that they were baking a premium 'battle pass' into the season system made it a lot less appealing.

Seasons can be played for free.

To me the season battle pass is to fund the devs for keep pumping in new content. Makes sense.

battle pass is supposed to be cosmetic only and I don't care about cosmetics for my teensy little character so win?

Maybe, but I'm not terribly trusting when it comes to microtransactions and good will from developers. Too many similar designs have been 'cosmetic only' and ended up being much, much more. They have to encourage players to want to pay for them, and the most common way to do so is to put frustrations into the game that the paid passes give you a way around, and it isn't unusual for those things to be slowly and quietly added after launch (see Bethesda/Fallout 76.)

And this is the company who tried a real-money auction house in D3, being supervised by the company responsible for CoD's microsactions and that almost sank Destiny 2 with their monetization gimmicks.

Perhaps it will be benign in the long run, but Activision-Blizzard's history doesn't earn them the benefit of the doubt.

I got an email invite to play Act 1 again. I will wait for full release. It won't be that long and this is no BG3.

lame they ended the beta in the middle of the day.

I hadn't heard anything about melting GPUs this time so I gave it a try this weekend and it's looking real good. I may have to preorder and the last game I preordered was Red Dead 2 I think.

Anyway, I played it with a gamepad and it's pretty much exactly what I would have wanted from Diablo 3. It plays almost like a twin-stick shooter with a dodge button and everything, which feels much more involved than just clicking a mouse button, and I really like the automatic weapon switching for different skills. The Lunging strike skill for the barbarian really covers some distance, it's super fun to bounce between enemies and wreck face with a giant hammer.

The only thing I couldn't quite work out is how to raise hitpoints, I got up to about level 15 and still only had 150-something HP. That seems kind of low for a melee class? I did pretty good against normal enemy packs but got totally smoted on the third stage of the Vhenard fight with all the damage flying around.

After running a Necro to level 4 and finding it not to my taste, I ran quite a ways through the Druid path yesterday before they yoinked the plug.

I had a blast with that class playing down the werebear path. Ground pounding fools into exploding skeleton bits or a thick red paste never got old and was reminiscent of the scene in the recent Dungeons & Dragons movie where the druid Owlbear'd that red sorceress into the pavement.

I usually prefer the standoff tactics of the rogue/demon hunter and wizard/sorcerer over melee combat but the druid was just a hoot.

My son and I played a little Saturday night. He took a sorceress, I took a barbarian. We took them up to level 20 and killed the world boss. It's a good game, and I'm probably going to get it for the campaign if nothing else (I'll see how benign the battle pass ends up before I worry about seasons.) Up to level 20 it was a lot more tactical than the the last couple of games. Positioning and movement actually meant more, as did skill use, which I liked.

I ran my necro up to 17 with the pet build, then I switched over to a thorns build and holy crap that is fun. Some of the lower tier demons were one-shotting themselves on my thorns, and my damage reduction from various skills and armor meant I wasn't taking any damage from them. The only "bad" thing about it was I only had two skills I worked with, as I had maxed the passives and the two skills I used the most, but those skills were devastating. Don't get me wrong, I love me the pet class, but the thorn build is no joke, either.

Then I started a barb, but I didn't get too far with him as my wife probably would have left me had I played too much on Mother's Day. I did find it to be MUCH superior to the previous beta version, however, in the limited time I had with him. Those where the only two I tried, mainly because I wanted to see what the nerfed necro pets were like, and to see if how they improved the barbarian's skills. I probably would have tried the Druid next, then the Rogue, then the wizard in order of preference. In the previous beta I started with a wiz, and it was flat-out stupid broken. I know it was meant to be a glass cannon, but I was killing things with chain lightning off screen before they could even get to me. I even would take down most boss fights with very little issue, although when it was tough, it was damn near impossible because one or two hits would take me out.

All in all, I'm very happy and excited for the full release. Preordered it back when it was first available, so I'm even gonna get a couple days' head start on early release day. Would love to get some people on here to team up with if that's an option for anyone.

During the 3 betas I was in I played Barb, Necro, Druid and Sorcerer.

Barb and Necro were my favorite. I heard the necro was nerfed in the last beta. I liked the Sorcerer, but I really didn't care for the druid and his skills. I got bored quick on that. Might have not helped that I decided to try him in the 2nd tier mode.

I found the original necro in DII fun because of it's playstyle. Hordes of damage reflecting undead. Almost 100% safety until they start to drop faster than you can replace them, then...game over.

GreenGoo wrote: ↑Tue May 16, 2023 9:30 am I found the original necro in DII fun because of it's playstyle. Hordes of damage reflecting undead. Almost 100% safety until they start to drop faster than you can replace them, then...game over.

That's what made so many boss fights so hard for my necro in DII. Many of them didn't drop enough mobs to be corpses, so when they one-shot your entire army and it was just down to them, it was hard to win.

Agreed, but the blood golem was remarkably tanky, but you're right, building a minions only character wasn't going to cut it. It was fun though!

GreenGoo wrote: ↑Tue May 16, 2023 12:44 pm Agreed, but the blood golem was remarkably tanky, but you're right, building a minions only character wasn't going to cut it. It was fun though!

Yep, that was my first "pet build" on any game.

One of the things I loved about DII though was they updated that thing for YEARS afterwards. They even went so far as to (with verson 10.1, I think) add in synergies with skills. Like, for every 3 points in fire trap, all other fire trap skills added 10% damage, things like that. It really allowed you to specialize in certain damage types, and it was across the board. With the necro, they added a TON of things like that on the summons which made them much tougher. Playing vanilla vs. the most recent version is almost a different game. DII: Resurrected brought all those changes along, making a pet build much more viable. And prettier, to boot...

After much wailing and gnashing of teeth, I think I've decided to go PC version. Diablo is just one of those games that I often play while listening to music or watching a show, and that's easier to do on the PC. I'm praying it's going to run it satisfactorily, but I meet the mid-range requirements so I'm assuming I'll be OK. I'm probably looking at building a new PC early next year anyway.

Only $850 at WM! (Re: Lilith statue posted above)

Side note: I’ve watched hours and hours of that girl’s how-to YouTube videos on creating with EV foam (masks, accessories, armor, etc). Her ‘everybody can do it’ approach is very basic and almost dismissive, but her results are very much professional.

Don’t remember her cheeks looking like a chipmunks, though! Implants?

Review embargo lifts today. Seems very positive so far.