Diablo 3 beta first impressions

[Pappy13]

Come my friends, stay awhile and listen....

As you may already be aware, I was invited into the Diablo 3 beta yesterday and managed to play for about 3 and half hours last night. So what are my first impressions? You know how sometimes when someone tells you to go see a movie because it's terrific and you'll love it and you're all excited about going to see it and are thinking about it all day and how good it's going to be and how much you are going to enjoy it, but then when you actually watch the movie, it's good and all, but it's not quite what you had built it up to be in your mind? Well Diablo 3 isn't like that. Got ya. No, Diablo 3 is EVERYTHING I have imagined it would be for months now and maybe even a bit more.

Something stuck in my head when I was watching the developer diary the other day and that was that Jay Wilson (design leader for D3) said one of the reasons the game took so long to release was because he wanted to be sure that the developers were taking enough time to just play the game. He said how it's easy as a developer to get caught up in the making of the game and forget to just play it, to just be a gamer and play. So he made sure that people were taking time everyday to just sit down and play. He said that he wanted everyone to be playing this game for a long long time and the only way to make sure that would happen was to make sure the developers played a lot. I think he was right.

A lot of people have tried to describe what makes Blizzard's game different and the word you hear most often is polish, but I don't really think that truly says it all. In my mind what all of Blizzard's game have in common that's different from the crowd is that they are played. From the instant you start playing, the game just seems to evolve so naturally. You don't find yourself wondering what to do next. You don't find yourself fumbling with the keyboard trying to figure out what buttons to press. You don't find yourself wondering what something in the GUI is for. It just all makes sense, right from the beginning. I think that's because Blizzard's games have been thoroughly play tested by gamers (some of them developers), well before they are released. It's clear that Diablo 3 could have been released a long time ago. In the developer diary which was taken in February of 2011, over a year ago, they were talking about how they were almost done with the game. That most everything they wanted in the game was already there for the most part, they were just going through everything again and refining it and improving it. That was a over a year ago. That's Blizzard. No one else would do this. No one else COULD do this.

Yes, I know I'm rambling now, but I'm just giving you my first impressions after playing for a mere 3 and half hours, but those 3 and half hours were the best 3 and half hours I've spent gaming in a long long time. It was after 2 AM when I finally forced myself to go to bed.

TLDR: Everyone should try Diablo 3. If you don't you're going to be missing out. If you're not convinced after playing for just a few hours it's a great game, then you need to turn in your gamer card. I can't wait to play some more.

[Buddhagirl]

I can't wait. I hope it'll run ok on my Mac. We'll see.

[Sunstroke]

Man, oh man, I really miss playing my dueling WW Barbarian, BigSmellyFukker...can't wait for this to hit the shelves!!

[Pappy13]

And here's my full review....

Graphics, Audio, World
The first thing you'll notice about D3 is the environment. Even though I've only seen a small part of the first act, it really does a very nice job of showing off the environment. The environment plays a big part in setting the atmosphere of the game and Blizzard does a great job of setting the stage. You really do feel like you're in a 3 dimensional world and not just playing some 2 dimensional video game. I've walked over bridges, looked over the edge of balconies, walked underneath trees, moved out of the way of falling chandoliers etc. Music enhances a game tremendously and D3 is first rate, taking a lot of the music from the original and creating new variations that feel both familiar and new. Sound effects also play a big role in video games and again in D3 they are top notch. Whether you're walking over a wooden bridge or sloshing through puddles of water or simply hacking and slashing your way through zombies and skeletons, it all sounds perfect. To add another touch of realism to the environment, D3 incorporates physics into the game. Monsters aren't just dispatched, they are sent flying with their arms and legs flailing. Barrels aren't just broken, they explode into pieces. Book shelves aren't just rummaged for gold, they are pulled down from the walls, huts collapse, railings are destroyed, etc, etc etc. This is a real world alive with the motion and sounds of mayhem.

The bad guys
The next thing that I noticed was the huge variety of ways that D3 introduces danger. While there are certainly zombies just walking around for you to dispatch, I've also seen skeletons emerge from graves, jump through open windows and be summoned from nowhere. Packs of animals leap from behind bushes or drop down from trees, zombies climb up from cracks in the ground and bats fly in from other rooms. You'll be constantly looking over your shoulder as you traverse the environment just waiting for something nasty to pop up. Again this gives the world that living, breathing feeling.

The good guys
But what good would a world of zombies, skeletons, bats and demons be if there weren't plenty of terrific ways to kill them? Fortunately D3 has thought of that as well. Each of the 5 character classes bring their own style to the game so playing with each class offers it's own unique set of skills. The demon hunter and wizard are your ranged specialists but what seperates them is the way they do it. The demon hunter relies on bows and crossbows for their firepower and on their agility and traps to maintain a safe distance. The wizard relies on a variety of magic to both attack or stop foes in their tracks. The barbarian simply hacks through anything that gets close enough and even has a few tricks up his sleeve to close the distance and relies on his armor to protect him. The witch doctor has a huge assortment of "pets" to do his bidding while he quietly stays out of danger, but is also quite effective with a blow dart. The monk uses an array of lightning quick punches and kicks that can be launched from a distance which allows the class to be both good from a distance or up close.

Skills
One of the decisions that Blizzard made that I think was a good one was to ditch the talent trees of D2 that locked you into specific builds. In D3 the goal is to offer a wide variety of skill choices that you will be constantly changing throughout the life cycle of the class rather than pigeon holing you into a specific build. This has 2 major advantages. First it allows you to try out everything for each class, you don't have to pick a direction from the beginning and stick with, you can simply try things out as you go and see how you like them. Secondly it allows you to stay flexible. You might have a build that works well in Act I, but changes for Acts II, III and IV. You might have one build that you like for soloing content and another when you are within a group. One build that works well with your magic find gear and another that works well when you don your DPS gear. This allows you to determine your style as you play rather than having to pick a style and stick with it no matter what you are doing or what you are wearing.

Crafting, vendors, auction house
That brings us to your gear and crafting. Crafting is a joint effort which means that whatever effort you put into crafting with one toon, the other toons all benefit. This is because your toons themselves aren't crafters, but rather there are crafting NPC's in town that can be used by any toon. All the crafters require are gold to improve their list of items they can make and the magical components required for those items, you will supply both. Gold is either picked up as you travel or can be made by selling non magical items to vendors or completing quests. The magical components are salvaged from magical items found in the world. It's all pretty straight forward and crafting is a welcome improvement to simply browsing the wares of vendors hoping for a nice item. There are vendors as well, but my guess is that they won't be as useful as the crafters will be if you take the time and make the effort to use them. And if you can't find something that a crafter or vendor supplies there's always the auction house.

Followers
One more thing that I'd like to mention are the followers. Followers are simply NPC's that will help your hero fight. There are 3 types of followers, but only the Templar is available in the beta. The templar works best in a tank role, he'll rush into battle and engage in melee combat with mobs and soak up damage for you and he'll even throw an occasional heal on himself or you if you need one. Followers have several different skills as well so that you can customize your follower to match the role you want him to play. You can also equip your follower with weapons and items best suited for the role you want them to play. Followers can accompany you throughout the game as long as you are playing solo, when you group up the others in your group will provide the benefits you would normally get from a follower, so they aren't needed.

Summary (TLDR)
What has always set Blizzard apart from the competition is their ability to take a known product and improve it. The risk in making a 3rd Diablo game is in either not changing enough so that it really doesn't seem like much of an improvement from the last game or in changing too much and losing that great Diablo 2 fanbase. Blizzard succeeds in both areas. Blizzard has managed to keep the essence of what Diabo 2 was and yet still bring it up to date. The world, monsters, heroes, crafters, auction house and followers all feel like improvements to the game. The boss fights, packs of roaming elites and more loot than you can shake a stick at are all up to Blizzards usual high standards. There's a lot here to enjoy and not much to dislike. I'm sure it will be the game of the year. If you were worried that D3 might not be able to live up to the hype proceeding it, you can quit worrying, there's going to be plenty of praise heaped on the game after the game is launched.

[bsmooth]

I know it will be online, but will there be the ability to join up with other online players and playing together outside of pvp?

[Pappy13]

I know it will be online, but will there be the ability to join up with other online players and playing together outside of pvp?

Yes, but it's a bit different than D2. Keep in mind that I'm only going on what the beta is like, the final product may be different.

You have 2 choices for getting into a game, creating a new one or joining a public game. If you create your own game you are given the option to make the game public. When you try to join a public game, it does a sort of match making process to try to find a public game that's suitable for you. So how does it know what's a suitable game for you? Good question. When you create a game you can also specify which quest that game will start out at. You can specify any quest from the beginning of the game up to the quest that the character you select to create the game is working on. When the match making service looks for suitable games, it tries to find a game where the quest that is in progress in that game matches the quest that your toon is currently working on.

I believe you can also invite people from your friends list to your game rather than making it public, but I have not tried that because I don't have any friends in the beta at the moment, so that's only a guess on my part.

Also, just FYI, the PVP part of the game will not be included in the initial release. Blizzard just recently said the PvP portion of the game is not yet up to Blizzard's standards but they didn't want to delay the release any longer so it will be added into the game via a patch after the intial release. I don't believe there's any timeframe on that at the moment.

[bsmooth]

Cool

[Pappy13]

In case you're not aware, Blizzard has made the Diablo 3 beta open to anyone with a Battle.net account this weekend only to stress test the system. Expect some issues. A word of caution, don't bother trying to "play" until the beta FULLY downloads. The lag is terrible if you haven't fully downloaded the game. That part of the game has not been optimized yet.

D3 Open Beta

[Tenshot13]

I got to play the open beta before they closed it today (bummer).  I have to say, I will be purchasing this game when it is released.  I got to play all the characters except the Demon Hunter (don't like archers that much).  I completed the beta with the Barbarian, and got to dabble a little with the other classes.  I was a huge Diablo 2 gamer, to the point were I could hit level 80 in a matter of hours.  It is defenitely a game that should be played with surround sound.  Every time my Barbarian would hit a monster, my condo would vibrate lol.  Can't wait until the release!

[Pappy13]

The D3 beta is coming to a close. Tonight is the last night that I'll be able to play as it's being shut down in the morning to prepare for the launch on May 15th. I'm not sure how much time I've spent on the beta over the last 2 weeks, but it was pretty significant and I had a blast. I managed to play all the way through the beta with all 5 classes on normal twice and on  hardcore once. I got all 5 classes to lvl 13 (max in beta) on normal twice. I completed  every single achievement in the beta except 1, I never did actually rez anyone in a public game because no one ever died while I was playing. I never died the whole time I played the beta. I did finally kill 20 monsters with 1 blow (one of the hardest achievements in my opinion) and it was fucking awesome as I actually killed 25 skellies with the Wizard's Wave of Force skill. That was good for a fist pump and a "YEAH BABY"!

Things I learned from playing the beta.

- There are a few bugs, but they are minor.
- There is a queuing system both for logging in and for creating games.
- Crafting will be worth it.
- All the classes are fun to play and relatively well balanced.
- Hardcore will be viable.
- Gold is easy to come by and account based, not toon based.
- You can trade with/inspect other players within game.
- I didn't miss the attribute system in the least.
- NPC's have decent starter gear to purchase.
- There is very little reading required, most all the lore/quests are spoken in game.
- Toon inventory is pretty big, but shared stash is small.
- The shared stash can be expanded, but it's pretty expensive.
- You won't need a powerhouse PC to play the game.
- The auction house will take a little while to get used to and hopefully Blizz is still working on it.
- The Physics engine is incredible. I actually watched a skull fly off a skeleton's body, land in water and make a splash. Fucking incredible the first time you see and hear it. There's at least another half dozen examples where I laughed out loud the first time I saw some things happen. The game is a visual/audio delight.

Some things I learned from reading the forums.

- The number of Primary/Secondary skill combinations (right and left mouse buttons) including runes is 300 to 400 depending on the class in guided mode. I'm using guided mode because most of the guided mode builds should be pretty viable. You can actually turn off guided mode and really get crazy, but I would say most of those builds will not actually be useful. Since runes change the skills considerably including how they look and play, that means that there are about 300 to 400 unique builds for each class.
- The number of total skill combinations (6 active skills out of a pool of about 20 with 5 runes each and 3 passives out of pool of about 16) is in the billions per class. Anyone who complains there isn't enough customization is full of shit. Literally no 2 toons ever need be identical skill wise.

[Pappy13]

I know it will be online, but will there be the ability to join up with other online players...

Just wanted to quickly reply here and say that Blizzard really did some cool stuff in this regard. When you first log in, if any of your friends are online, it will show you if they are in game or not with which character and which act and you can message them or join the game they are in from the character selection screen. You'll also get a list of the most recent players that you were in game with even if they aren't your friends and you can add them to your friends list.

Once you are within a game with someone, they will have a banner in town that you can click on to immediately join them no matter where they are within the world, so no more having to ask where they are or trying to find them.

They pretty much made it as painless as possible to add friends and to chat with them or play with them.

[bsmooth]

Just wanted to quickly reply here and say that Blizzard really did some cool stuff in this regard. When you first log in, if any of your friends are online, it will show you if they are in game or not with which character and which act and you can message them or join the game they are in from the character selection screen. You'll also get a list of the most recent players that you were in game with even if they aren't your friends and you can add them to your friends list.

Once you are within a game with someone, they will have a banner in town that you can click on to immediately join them no matter where they are within the world, so no more having to ask where they are or trying to find them.

They pretty much made it as painless as possible to add friends and to chat with them or play with them.

Can we sign up on battlenet or Blizzard now with our friends?

[Buddhagirl]

I've got to upgrade the OS on my mac, or I'm not going to be able to play. Same thing with Mists of Pandaria.

[Pappy13]

Can we sign up on battlenet or Blizzard now with our friends?

I believe you can only add friends through one of Blizzard's games that uses the new battle.net service, WoW, SC2, D3.

[Pappy13]

Here's a quick update after playing the game for a couple days.

Beta and Starter edition
I thought the beta/starter edition would give a good idea of what to expect in the game, but I was wrong. The game STARTS where the beta left off and just keeps getting better and better. I'm not gonna go into details because I don't want to spoil any of the fun for anyone who's going to get the game, but if last night was any indication, I'm going to be enjoying this game for a long time. It's not like a lot of movies you go see where the previews are the best parts of the movie, Blizzard saved the best parts of the game for later.
 
Game Length
I was starting to get a little worried that the game was going to be too short because I had been reading on the forums how people had made it all the way through normal difficulty 6 hours into the game, but after playing more I realize that's not typical in the least. Those people were playing with at least 3 people and they were skipping everything they possibly could to get to the end which means skipping at least 50% of the content and 75% of the mobs if not more. To put it into perspective, my demon hunter is still in act I and has been playing for like 6 hours. I'm playing the way I believe that Blizzard intended in that I'm killing every demon, breaking every barrel, picking up every magic item and exploring every inch of every map. If you do that, there will be a good 30 hours or so of gameplay for just 1 class at just the first difficulty setting.
 
Difficulty
Speaking of difficulty, I've definately seen the game pick up in difficulty too which was another common complain in the beta. I never died in the beta and only came close to death maybe 2 times where I had to drink a health potion. I still haven't died, but health potions have saved my life like 3 or 4 times now and I'm still not out of act I. Normal mobs I slice through like butter, but Blizzard throws enough curve balls into the equation from time to time to keep it interesting. Again, I don't want to really go into it because I don't want to give anything away, but you WILL die in this game, no matter how good you are, I guarantee it.
 
Skill System
And finally to those people that have complained about the skill system, well just STFU because the skill system is fantastic. The more I play the more I realize this skill system is so much better than D2 it's not even funny. I have been switching skills out left and right trying to find the perfect combination and I'm telling you it's really hard to decide. Certain skills have more single target killing power which is great for champions and bosses and things that move fast, but other skills have better AOE which is great for thinning out packs of normal mobs and you'll need both to survive. Runes add a good bit of flexibility to skills adding straight damage, DOTS, AOE, slows, stuns etc which gives you plenty of options. The biggest problem with D2's system was that there really wasn't any room for trial and error, if you screwed up you had to start over with a new character which forced everyone to use tried and true cookie cutter builds. D3's system allows you to screw up, in fact it encourages you to try things out, determine what's broke and change it or perhaps find out it works great and stick with it. It also allows you to change your skills out when situations change. Some of the areas are big and you're out in the open a lot and large AOE skills work really well, but then you'll head down into dungeons or caves where passages are really tight and AOE isn't what you need, you can switch your skills on the fly to adjust to the surroundings. Flexibility is the key to keeping it fun, not building the perfect build that you will inevitably get bored with.

Followers
I love these guys. I thought you wouldn't get a choice of followers till at least act II, but that's not the case as about half way through act I you'll run into the 2nd follower so you have a choice which one you want to continue with and you can switch back and forth at anytime. Not only are they much more useful then the ones from D2, but they are funny as hell too. Again I don't want to give it away but the scoundrel is EXACTLY what you would expect a scoundrel to be.

Story
I'm not usually one to pay much attention to the lore or the story, but D3 is making me pay attention. The lore isn't something that you read about in books, it's woven right into the game. When you encounter a bit of lore, a character from the game just starts talking as you are playing. There's no stopping to read a book. There's no waiting for the person to finish talking before you can move on, it's just built right in to the action. And if you don't really care to hear what they are saying, there's a button you can click to shut them up. There are also the usual cut scenese that play at various times that help tell the story and they are fantastic. This really does feel much more like an RPG than D2 or D1, but still manages to maintain the "action". That's truely a great accomplishment.