Open Beta Weekend *Possible Spoilers*

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Might be a bit late, but in case you didn't already know they are doing an open beta this weekend.

My thoughts so far, starting with things I don't like

• Only one quick slot item? Really? And it's mapped to Q by default? After downing a potion while standing outside of town trying to find my quest list I quickly changed the mappings
• May sound dumb, but I miss having to identify items
• I've made it to level 9 and I don't see all that much customization. I'm probably wrong or at least not understanding properly, but I didn't see any skill choices. I haven't seen anything where I can branch out and specialize in one skill tree or another, but again, this is still pretty early on
• Waaaaay more linear than I would have liked
• I can't keep the full map open while walking around? Ridiculous! I had the map open basically the entire time I played D2

And now for the positives

• First off, it feels damn good to have a new Diablo game to play!
• Big fan of not having to click every time gold drops, even if it just makes me imagine my guy has a gigantic magnet in his pants
• Destroyable environment = Pure joy
• Nice variety of location types so far, from fields and towns to basement caves and the cathedral. I just know there will be some gorgeous environments later on
• I'm playing this on a two year old machine, and one that isn't even a gaming build, and it plays beautifully. I have always appreciated that from Blizzard

Anyone else have any thoughts on the beta so far?

 

played it through with the mage, and did some testing with the other chars beside the Barbarian.
Gameplay is nice but nothing too spectacular.
The gameplay mechanic feels a lot like some JRPGs I played, in that new features are unlocked every level and some. You have to do exactly nothing, no choices, besides to choose which combination of skills and runes (which are also passively unlocked as you procede your levels) you want to put in your growing number of slots (also - you get it - passively unlocked by level progress).

This system has some choice by you left, in letting you choose your combination of Mousebutton skills and another (i think it's) 4 skills, which are customizable by a pool of approx. 5 to 7 runes per skill (haven't the exact number right now).

Also the Beta is way too easy. I played Hardcore mode and I rushed into mobs and bosses without ever the slightest fear of loosing. But the final game has 4 difficulty modes, so that might change.

All in all, despite of all this dumbing down of player choices, I quite like it.
I still won't possibly buy it, but that's because of other non-gameplay related issues like real money auctions build in, and forced internet (I mainly play Bnet, but it's out of principle, I don't like being forced).
I maybe could live with the forced online component, but the auction mode kills it for me.
The only way you can truly customize your chars in endgame is by items. You can make your own conclusions now.

 

I have beaten the beta with a monk and a witch doctor. Monks are just totally easymode. Everything they do does so much damage. Witch doctors a bit more of a challenger, but I can see them getting a bit boring.

Cant decide which class to use when it comes out proper! I'll be getting the collectors ed though.

 

Couldn't agree more about the monk. I maxed one out and I think the entire time, I used one maybe two potions. Partway through with a barbarian now, and somehow he feels like a worse tank.

 

Well to be fair about the ease of which the beta is defeated, keep in mind that you're playing about 1/3 of the first act, on the easiest difficulty. So it's supposed to be easy - the easiest part of the game in fact.

Regarding items/skills/customization - you don't have to pick skills at all. You just get them as you level - one new skill every level until you get them all around level 30. But the thing is, there are six runes (or is it seven - I think it's six but there's the base skill itself, so seven different affects per skill) that you can use that change the effect of different skills. Also you only can have four active skills at any given time. (Along with two passive skills as well.)

So the customization is in what runes in what skills, and of course items. With about 30 skills per class, and 7 different affects with runes of all 30 skills, yield 210 possible skill choices per character, of which 6 can be selected. I'm disinclined to do the math (because some are active, some are passive, so it's not just a simple calculation) but there must be billions of possible skill combinations.

Also with the skills - you can switch back and forth as much as you like between skills, but there is a 15 second cool-down when you switch. So while you CAN switch, it's not something you can do in the middle of combat, unless you think you can survive for 15 seconds without using the newly selected skills.

 

The thing with customization is that it creates problems for pseudobalance-extremist players. Not to mention the blizzard game demographic of players tend to equate almost any kind of utility with tedium (ie, the "as long as I kill a monster and stay alive scr*w anything else" mentality), while the rest (at the other end of the spectrum) are always attempting to create really weird builds. Players who are neither are very rare.

Anyway Blizzard is currently going all-out in attempt to overly simplify their games and make every "class" as uniform (ie, similar) as possible, technical-wise. Even MoP, the soon-to-be latest expansion to WoW, follows this trend (played the Beta). In Cata WoW you had to distribute something like 40+ talent points. In MoP, you made do with around 8. Apparently Blizzard has decided they'd rather have people who keep saying "the game is too easy" (who will probably keep playing anyway) than people who say "this game is too hard/unfair/complicated" (who usually quit).

I hate the current D3's skill system, and I actually expected the game's start to be more... interesting. Seriously, I waited almost 10 years for this game and you welcome me with a start sequence almost exactly like Titan Quest's. I also expected a more dynamic and advanced setting and location/mapping system (so... the interface... they had 10 years to do what exactly?). Again, no words can describe how deeply disappointed I am with the new skill system. Finally, the general ambiance (besides the graphics, anyway) is deeply lacking compared to the previous two Diablo games. Too many things feel... standard. I had too many deja vu moments (bad ones) and the actual gameplay feels slow. To be fair though perhaps they're saving the features that really stand out for the actual release.

Positives: interactive environment (really nice), monster types are interesting, the actual skills are nice, Russian monk (whoa), darker setting (graphics-wise) than the previous game.

 

Thoughts on D3 Beta too

Yes, the Map S*#cks,, because you can't open it while exploring. Maybe there's a way to do it.

For the record, I've played D1-D2 and personally D3(beta) has been the best. And my simple reasons were: it now allows you to customize skills and no more skill trees.

I also love the fact that D3 has been more aesthetically pleasing. I can't wait to play it in a 27-inch monitor screen. Would that create eyesore?

 

You almost give the impression of being a Blizzard employee Diablo3warrior.