Diablo 3

[Nefaro]

I hear you pretty much need to be grouped to progress in Hell mode.


*No, I wasn't necessarily solely focused on INT with my Witch Doctor, although I definitely liked to get it as an item bonus whenever possible (along with one or two Vitality ones).  The big problem with my WD is running out of mana to power my Dire Bat onslaughts, then running around waiting until I get enough for another one or two - rinse & repeat.  Since the mobs have a big jump in health, my AoE snare just doesn't have much of an effect, in the long run, on them anymore.

[Bison]

I want to start a WD next.  I know that while I look for the DEX, VIT spec'd items; the INT and STR help with a rounded character.  Armor and Resistance bonuses.  I have found a few resistance rings, but I think that they will be situational at best.  I need a few yellows that have resistance bonuses mixed in with the rest of the stat bonuses.

The soloing of nightmare is easy.  Slightly slower, but not over powering.  I'm dying in groups.  Either uncontrolled pulls or split groups and I'm fighting the horde alone, which is fine.  I'm a bad ass.  However there have been several monsters with killer poison attacks that have resulted in most of my deaths.

Gear is huge.  Cannot say that enough Gus.  There was a 38 LVL monk this morning that was not keeping with me DPS wise and I was only 33 LVL at the time.

[Gusington]

I have to say that Diablo does make the player feel like a badass. Badassery abounds and I am digging the destructible environments...really like bringing down chandeliers on the bastards. Love the death physics of the monsters too.

More familiar audio makes me feel at home. I think the audio prompt for gold and loot when a creature is killed is exactly the same one used in the last game.

[Bison]

I wonder a little about the "random" dungeon maps.  The major dungeons seem to be layed out the same.  The smaller encounter instances I am seeing variety of design.  Anyone experience a completely new dungeons for the major questlines?

[Nefaro]

I wonder a little about the "random" dungeon maps.  The major dungeons seem to be layed out the same.  The smaller encounter instances I am seeing variety of design.  Anyone experience a completely new dungeons for the major questlines?

Most of the maps are not randomly mapped out, so they're the same each time.

The thing(s) that are random I've seen:

1) Mini-quests:  The tiny little quests often to be found out in the big open areas that only require you to succeed at a challenge in that location.  There's obviously a list of them for each big zone like that, and you get random pick(s) each time you load in.

2) Entrances to extra dungeons:  The non-quest dungeons that you can just go in & loot, often on the same big maps as mentioned above. You'll notice quite a few entries/doors on those big maps but most are dark and unopenable.  However, the usable entrances to these little dungeons use those spawn points at random.

[Arctic Blast]

I have to say that Diablo does make the player feel like a badass. Badassery abounds and I am digging the destructible environments...really like bringing down chandeliers on the bastards. Love the death physics of the monsters too.

More familiar audio makes me feel at home. I think the audio prompt for gold and loot when a creature is killed is exactly the same one used in the last game.

The music in the game is fantastic.

I'm playing a Demon Hunter as well. Wait until you unlock Bolo shot!

[Nefaro]

The sounds, overall, is wonderful.  I also like how they've used the same sounds, for little things, from Diablo 2.  When you roll a body over, and some loot comes flipping out - you know it's Diablo from the sound.   The voice acting is pretty amazing too; probably one of the best ever.  Did you realize the chinese actor who played Lo Pan in Big Trouble In Little China does the voice acting for Covetous Shen, the gem vendor?   8)  All the voice acting is superb, it's been an unforeseen surprise.

I want to start a WD next.  I know that while I look for the DEX, VIT spec'd items; the INT and STR help with a rounded character.  Armor and Resistance bonuses.  I have found a few resistance rings, but I think that they will be situational at best.  I need a few yellows that have resistance bonuses mixed in with the rest of the stat bonuses.

If you're going to start a brand new Witch Doctor soon, I have a shiny new Legendary piece of head armor (level 10 req) you can have.  Since it's level 10, there's not a huge demand for it, and it should help you burn through some stuff for a bit.  My ID is Nefaro (surprise!) (my#=  1456).  Send a friend request sometime when you start that one up.

[Gusington]

I have a quick first impressions piece I just wrote about the game in general with me playing as the demon hunter. Hope to have it up soon. How are screenshots taken in D3? I've gotten very comfortable with F12 from Steam but alas not available here.

[Nefaro]

I have a quick first impressions piece I just wrote about the game in general with me playing as the demon hunter. Hope to have it up soon. How are screenshots taken in D3? I've gotten very comfortable with F12 from Steam but alas not available here.

Pretty sure it's the PrtScn/SysRq key.

Yep!  Just checked.  I usually go through the keybinding list and note down some of the more obscure key commands on paper, before playing anything.  And that's it.

[LongBlade]

I have a quick first impressions piece I just wrote about the game in general with me playing as the demon hunter. Hope to have it up soon. How are screenshots taken in D3? I've gotten very comfortable with F12 from Steam but alas not available here.

Pretty sure it's the PrtScn/SysRq key.

Yep!  Just checked.  I usually go through the keybinding list and note down some of the more obscure key commands on paper, before playing anything.  And that's it.

Yes. Curiously, the images end up in the .../My Documents/Diablo III/Screenshots folder.

[Gusington]

^Ironic! Thanks Nefaro.

[Nefaro]

I'm getting some good gut chuckles on some of the random placement stuff, on Nightmare difficulty. Like a couple cultist tomes (voiced over of course!) with a correspondence back & forth about the need for "more peasants for sacrifice needed!".  Another one was an outdoor cultist mumbling words over some dead goat guys;  his "I'll be called LORD OF THE GOATS!" speech is pretty funny too.  Some not-so-serious stuff I'm seeing now.  8)

[bayonetbrant]

First impressions article

http://grogheads.com/first-diablo3.html

[Huw the Poo]

Oh dear.  Accounts are being hacked all over the place.  I particularly agree with these lines from the article:

Just because a heavily server-based infrastructure thickens your hulls against pirates and knocks down the barrier between single and multiplayer, that doesn't mean it's anywhere near unassailable. Time will tell what kind of toll these issues take in the long run, but for now, this certainly doesn't look like the cure to all of PC gaming's greatest perceived ills.

[Gusington]

^Oy vey.