Auction House Online: The Game (Diablo 3) is a MASSIVE decline

[aris]

Beh, so diablo 3 har less character permanence than what it had before, so what? I have zero patience anymore for grinding through the same content just to try out a slightly different build, that *might* work. I don't need to replay a game 20 times, hell, if I can squeese out 5 replays, one for each class, that's something I consider to be great replay value. Much better to try out different builds on the fly, if you ask me. Also, if I daresay, they have improved upon combat in that diablo 3 is not all about spamming a single ability anymore, which was truly all you did in diablo 2: Choose a skill, dump all points into that skill and the rest into skills that you never use but gives synergy to that skill (after 1.10 patch I believe).

 

[Revenant]

Y u no leave us?

 

[Cowboy Moment]

I might consider playing it, dumbed down character system and all, if it had reasonably good atmosphere and writing/VA. But all of that is fucking awful too. I mean, the intro even uses the same retarded narrative trope as ME3, with the star falling from the sky out of nowhere. Why would I play what is essentially WoW in a poorly conceived Diablo-skin?

 

[aris]

If you are looking for good writing/VA (diablo 3 has a pretty decent athmosphere, from what I've seen, though agian, I've seen nothing and neither have you), you are really barking up the wrong tree. Blizzard has always had extremely cheesy stories and noone goes to a blizzard game expecting a great story, because not one of them have been good, and I suspect they often make them cheesy quite intentionally as a kind of fuck you to story telling over gameplay. Why would you play diablo? If you like to indulge in what seems to me to be well crafter monster slaying for the sake of monster slaying, no other reason really.

 

[Pika-Cthulhu]

Theres still Hardcore mode right? They arent selling shit on the AH to revive dead hardcore toons/allow loot of their bodies right? Am I giving Kotick ideas?

 

[Cowboy Moment]

If you are looking for good writing/VA (diablo 3 has a pretty decent athmosphere, from what I've seen, though agian, I've seen nothing and neither have you), you are really barking up the wrong tree. Blizzard has always had extremely cheesy stories and noone goes to a blizzard game expecting a great story, because not one of them have been good, and I suspect they often make them cheesy quite intentionally as a kind of fuck you to story telling over gameplay. Why would you play diablo? If you like to indulge in what seems to me to be well crafter monster slaying for the sake of monster slaying, no other reason really.

If you really think Diablo 3 even has "atmosphere", then sorry to say, but you're an uncurable Blizzard fanboy. Go fucking play WoW if you like it so much, basically the same shit, and they actually let you make decisions while levelling!

And no, the writing in Blizzard's pre-WoW games wasn't this bad. It was simple, but functional, and fit in with a game's tone, be it Diablo 1's Christian gothic, or Starcraft's rednecks in space. Diablo 3 is just cringeworthy. Can you really listen to the dialogue in the quest to kill the blacksmith's wife, and not cringe at how awful it is? Would totally fit in Oblivion or any other bland fantasy.

 

[Jasede]

Of course there is hardcore mode.
And I will definitely believe the writing must be terrible, without looking at it.

Why? The Starcraft 2 lines and story. Bioware-level, I am sorry to say. (I do think the game had excellent campaign mission designs. But the writing, the story, the characters - those all fell flat on their faces to me.)

 

[LeStryfe79]

This thread is shit. Diablo was never a deep RPG. The integrity of its mechanics are unrelated to various forms of incline/ decline. I restarted the same Barbarian 7 times in Diablo 2 since I didn't look at FAQs and had to guess at what skills and builds would be useful at higher difficulties. Often times the effectiveness of those builds were permanently fucked by patches as well. Diablo is only about loot. Anyone getting off on their build mastery in a hack and slash is full of shit and they know it. I look at Diablo 3 as being more like Magic: the Gathering. You can change your deck anytime you want, but you gotta have the right swag for the job. Any shit level RPG enthusiast can create cool builds in an arpg. When the inconveniences are removed, the better players will start to surface. Maybe I'm being optimistic, but Blizzard is unfairly judged in my mind. I never got into Starcraft or Warcraft, but I sense a level of honesty in their products that seem missing from other triple A titles. They don't necessarily make my ideal games, but I always know where they're coming from, unlike fuckers named Laidlaw, Howard, Molyneux, ect... These liars are the true harbingers of decline in my mind, since they pretend to be something totally different than who they are. I still think Diablo 3 has to prove itself, but I'm at least willing to give it the chance to do so.

 

[attackfighter]

I sense a level of honesty in their products that seem missing from other triple A titles.

You've bought into their marketing. Once upon a time they were a good developer, perhaps one of the best. But then it all changed once they struck gold with WoW. They started getting so much jew gold from that one product that they lost sight of all others. They started hiring legions of WoWfags who saw their ads on WoW. And over time they fermented with their shitty WoW game, releasing nothing except expansions and patches for it. Once the fermentation of the shit was complete however, they decided it was once again time to return to their old titles. And so they began releasing horrible, deformed and above all shitty mutations bearing the banners of StarCraft and Diablo, using their riches to hype the new shit up and blind even the most cynical of onlookers. Today they have even breached the hallowed walls of RPGCodex, and many of our members are crypto WoWfags, sowing decline from within. Someday even the mighty RPGCodex may be converted to their brand of new shit...

 

[Revenant]

There is a difference between "not a deep RPG" and "not an RPG whatsoever", since a game without stats or skill customization is not an RPG. Diablo 3 will be an isometric action game without any RPG elements.

Besides, long-term build strategy encouraged seeking out items that were useful to a certain build, and now players will just hoard everything they can just in case.

 

[LeStryfe79]

Really? How have their games declined recently? I liked blackthorn on snes. Haven't played a lot of Blizzard games lately. Pandas and Pokemon seem like good additions to Wow form a nonwow player's point of view. In fact the new gameplay features almost made me want to get into the game. Blizzard seems to have a good handle on what their fans want. Bobby Kotick is a douche, But I think Blizzard has been left alone due to their recent successes. Is this not so?

 

[LeStryfe79]

There is a difference between "not a deep RPG" and "not an RPG whatsoever", since a game without stats or skill customization is not an RPG. Diablo 3 will be an isometric action game without any RPG elements.

Besides, long-term build strategy encouraged seeking out items that were useful to a certain build, and now players will just hoard everything they can just in case.

Lol, D&D started RPGs, and had zero stat and skill customization. D&D isn't an RPG? Good job, you are a moron and a newfag. Why don't you customize a dildo in your ass? I'm a big fan of customization and makin' my way the way I want to. You seem rather shitish to me, however. What kinds of RPGs do you like? Tell me about the magnificent characters you've created in CRPGs Perhaps your insights can forge a better future for all of us/

 

[Revenant]

Lol, most of the official methods of stat generation in AD&D 2nd Edition rulebook allow the player to assign the stats according to his preference.

 

[aris]

If you are looking for good writing/VA (diablo 3 has a pretty decent athmosphere, from what I've seen, though agian, I've seen nothing and neither have you), you are really barking up the wrong tree. Blizzard has always had extremely cheesy stories and noone goes to a blizzard game expecting a great story, because not one of them have been good, and I suspect they often make them cheesy quite intentionally as a kind of fuck you to story telling over gameplay. Why would you play diablo? If you like to indulge in what seems to me to be well crafter monster slaying for the sake of monster slaying, no other reason really.

If you really think Diablo 3 even has "atmosphere", then sorry to say, but you're an uncurable Blizzard fanboy. Go fucking play WoW if you like it so much, basically the same shit, and they actually let you make decisions while levelling!

And no, the writing in Blizzard's pre-WoW games wasn't this bad. It was simple, but functional, and fit in with a game's tone, be it Diablo 1's Christian gothic, or Starcraft's rednecks in space. Diablo 3 is just cringeworthy. Can you really listen to the dialogue in the quest to kill the blacksmith's wife, and not cringe at how awful it is? Would totally fit in Oblivion or any other bland fantasy.

Yeah, I'm a fanboy for saying that Diablo 3 might have a decent atmosphere, while you, who have not played the game, still say that you KNOW the atmosphere sucks as if you had a fucking clue, are the measure of objectivity? Give me a fucking break. And why the fuck would I play wow? It is boring as hell. Also, if you can get off your nostalgia juice for one second, and actually go back anf fucking play diablo 1 again, then you will notice that the dialog is not a tad better in that game than the little we saw in diablo 3.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

I have replayed Diablo 1 earlier this year. And yes, the writing is much better than in D3. Still, nice to see you bringing up the "nostalgia" argument, last line of defence for dumbfucks everywhere. And yes, I'm basing my opinion of the game on the public Beta, which is equivalent to a demo for all intents and purposes. Do I need to buy the full game and play through it seven times before I can judge the atmosphere?

Face it, my brother, you're a fanboy, because you use the same arguments fanboys use, nearly verbatim. Although, in all fairness, you're more likely to be an alt troll.

 

[LeStryfe79]

Lol, most of the official methods of stat generation in AD&D 2nd Edition rulebook allow the player to assign the stats according to his preference.

D3 allows you to choose your class ahead of time, and afterwards allocates stats. This is more freedom than 2ed dnd allowed. But who cares? I'm not roleplaying my D3 character. 2nd ed Dnd is actually my favorite edition. Loved the kits and campaigns, but Diablo is a different animal. Diablo is levels and loot and trading and shit. I see no evidence thus far to support that D3 is inferior to previous Diablos in this regard I think the watercolor art direction is great, and looks quite different from WoW. It all comes down to the RMAH, and if you believe this is a positive mechanic. I think it is and I believe Duablo 3 will create real c&c and make gaming more realistic and authentic than we have ever known.

 

[pocahaunted]

I love it how people are complaining about the difficulty, as if D2 was ever hard when playing in normal. You'd only die if your character was shit and you were blind. Alternatively, I can see Duriel killing people as the game loaded his chamber, due to having 64MB of RAM.

Rose-tinted glasses are p good.

That said, the writing, VA and loss of stat allocation among other things are huge detractors to the game.

 

[shihonage]

I love it how people are complaining about the difficulty, as if D2 was ever hard when playing in normal. You'd only die if your character was shit and you were blind.

As someone pointed out before, your average player would get killed by Blood Raven if they dick around. Same goes for Andariel.

 

[attackfighter]

When I played D2 I died to the undead sewer boss in the first city. I was playing as a necromancer and focusing on my summoning skills,which turned out to be a mistake because my minions couldn't do much damage and so the sewer boss was able to resurrect his own minions faster than I could kill them. So yeah I'd say D2 had some difficulty to it - maybe not if you use a guide beforehand, but if you use a guide any 'strategy' game will be easy (strategy as in success is due to strategic and tactical decisions rather than mechanical skill).

 

[pocahaunted]

I love it how people are complaining about the difficulty, as if D2 was ever hard when playing in normal. You'd only die if your character was shit and you were blind.

As someone pointed out before, your average player would get killed by Blood Raven if they dick around. Same goes for Andariel.

Andariel is supposed to analogously beyond the D3's skeleton king. As for Blood Raven... you can beat her by bashing her with a wand if need be. Literally just pressing the attack button does it.

Even if normal is somehow easier than Diablo 2's normal, it's a fairly pointless comparison as it has been explained previously that the developers have intended normal mode to be some sort of tutorial of sorts (I actually dislike this kind of implementation) and Diablo 3 has an extra difficulty when compared to Diablo 2. Bottom line, I doubt that Inferno will be easier than D2's Hell, specially when cheesy tactics like mass TP'ing and potion spaming are no longer available.

I just think that bashing the difficulty of the starting portion of the game is fairly short-sighted and dishonest, as it doesn't translate into much.

BONUS comment: My first time clearing D2 had me playing a melee necro with the occasional Teeth spam. Even today I can't understand what was going through my head.

 

[Captain Shrek]

I played D2 with a barbarian build and regularly encountered monsters later with immunity to physical. Had to make do with damage of 5 per hit (if I remember correctly) to a huge-hp bloat fire-bird.

 

[shihonage]

I love it how people are complaining about the difficulty, as if D2 was ever hard when playing in normal. You'd only die if your character was shit and you were blind.

As someone pointed out before, your average player would get killed by Blood Raven if they dick around. Same goes for Andariel.

Andariel is supposed to analogously beyond the D3's skeleton king. As for Blood Raven... you can beat her by bashing her with a wand if need be. Literally just pressing the attack button does it.

Even if normal is somehow easier than Diablo 2's normal, it's a fairly pointless comparison as it has been explained previously that the developers have intended normal mode to be some sort of tutorial of sorts (I actually dislike this kind of implementation) and Diablo 3 has an extra difficulty when compared to Diablo 2. Bottom line, I doubt that Inferno will be easier than D2's Hell, specially when cheesy tactics like mass TP'ing and potion spaming are no longer available.

I just think that bashing the difficulty of the starting portion of the game is fairly short-sighted and dishonest, as it doesn't translate into much.

BONUS comment: My first time clearing D2 had me playing a melee necro with the occasional Teeth spam. Even today I can't understand what was going through my head.

Blood Raven is pretty much Skeleton King-level, and the comparison is perfect. Your "wand attack" comment must apply to an alternate-world version of Diablo2, possibly using twinked characters, that I'm not privy to.

And if Diablo3 normal mode is now "retard mode", it is possibly the worst single game design decision of all time. Nobody should be forced to play through the game twice just to experience it properly once (after everything has already been spoiled, no less).

 

[sgc_meltdown]

immunity to physical

iirc pretty much all the hell difficulty ghosts are immune to physical

so that's fun for a barbarian

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I died to Blood Raven once or twice. Good to know that I'm an average player and not really shitty, like I was thinking.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Really? How have their games declined recently? I liked blackthorn on snes. Haven't played a lot of Blizzard games lately. Pandas and Pokemon seem like good additions to Wow form a nonwow player's point of view. In fact the new gameplay features almost made me want to get into the game. Blizzard seems to have a good handle on what their fans want. Bobby Kotick is a douche, But I think Blizzard has been left alone due to their recent successes. Is this not so?

The pet battles will make them a metric fuckton of money, pokemon in a persistent mmo...

 

[pocahaunted]

I love it how people are complaining about the difficulty, as if D2 was ever hard when playing in normal. You'd only die if your character was shit and you were blind.

As someone pointed out before, your average player would get killed by Blood Raven if they dick around. Same goes for Andariel.

Andariel is supposed to analogously beyond the D3's skeleton king. As for Blood Raven... you can beat her by bashing her with a wand if need be. Literally just pressing the attack button does it.

Even if normal is somehow easier than Diablo 2's normal, it's a fairly pointless comparison as it has been explained previously that the developers have intended normal mode to be some sort of tutorial of sorts (I actually dislike this kind of implementation) and Diablo 3 has an extra difficulty when compared to Diablo 2. Bottom line, I doubt that Inferno will be easier than D2's Hell, specially when cheesy tactics like mass TP'ing and potion spaming are no longer available.

I just think that bashing the difficulty of the starting portion of the game is fairly short-sighted and dishonest, as it doesn't translate into much.

BONUS comment: My first time clearing D2 had me playing a melee necro with the occasional Teeth spam. Even today I can't understand what was going through my head.

Blood Raven is pretty much Skeleton King-level, and the comparison is perfect. Your "wand attack" comment must apply to an alternate-world version of Diablo2, possibly using twinked characters, that I'm not privy to.

And if Diablo3 normal mode is now "retard mode", it is possibly the worst single game design decision of all time. Nobody should be forced to play through the game twice just to experience it properly once (after everything has already been spoiled, no less).

You missed the point. Andariel, which you previously mentioned, is the the boss that doesn't fit against the SK. The rest of the comparison is also fairly irrelevant, if only because you're comparing a game with 3 different difficulty levels to a game with 4 (which you are yet to experience) under a 1:1 comparison.

Heck, even if D3's normal is easier than D2's it doesn't imply that the game, as a whole, is easier. If inferno is easier than hell, then you've got a point. I do agree about the retard mode comment, as I had previously said.

Oh and you didn't need to be a twink at all, the use of potions is enough. I really can't understand how you find Blood Raven to require twinking to beat, it's not like at level 4 you have a decent amount of skills/stats to employ. The fight can be summarized as a spank and chug potions affair. Like most of Diablo 2, unfortunately. You don't even need to bother dodging shit before nightmare.