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

[shihonage]

That's amusing since I vaguely remember playing D2 classic when it came out, then 1.09 LoD, 1.10 and 1.13 not long ago.
Blood Raven was never anything more than hold-lmb-to-kill on normal, then or now.

It is true - you had to utilize the left mouse button to attack Blood Raven, like any other enemy in the game, until they eventually died.

 

[Stabwound]

1) In 2000 I was 23 years old. I finished Fallout a couple of times before Diablo 2 came out.

2) Not "at launch", but through several years after launch. It wasn't exactly an isolated experience, I played the game a lot, and do not seem to suffer from the curious affliction of selective senility as you both do.

3) "Talking about anything else is meaningless" is a cute argument in a thread centered around educated speculation on the data we currently have. You may as well say this thread shouldn't exist until Diablo 3 comes out, because hey, you could be wrong, I could be wrong, everyone could be wrong!

I feel like installing unpatched vanilla D2 tonight and doing a quick run through of the game up to BR for an objective comparison.

I haven't played D2 in 10 years, and haven't even experienced the game with skill synergies and all of that crap. I still don't remember BR ever being overly difficult, or even harder than Diablo 3's SK.

 

[shihonage]

I haven't played D2 in 10 years, and haven't even experienced the game with skill synergies and all of that crap. I still don't remember BR ever being overly difficult, or even harder than Diablo 3's SK.

Not overly difficult. Just at a proper place on the low-end of the proper game difficulty curve. The curve not present in Diablo 3 beta.

As for Diablo2 SP, it could as well be balanced differently. I never played it in SP, only with groups of at least 2 other people.

 

[Jasede]

How do you know you didn't just get better at games? Do not rule that out. Also, more people play games now than before. It makes sense that the default difficulty settings are lower, unless you make a niche game. Decline? Sure. But that's all. It's not worth this many pages.

 

[Sceptic]

I was going to post this about 10 pages ago, but thought it was way too obvious. Looks like I'll have to post it after all:

Are those of you claiming D2 is just as easy as D3 really comparing Diablo 2 difficulty (patched or unpatched, who gives a flying fuck) when playing it NOW, after THIRTEEN YEARS OF PRACTICE, with what the difficulty was like the first time playing it, and what the difficulty of Diablo 3 will be like the first time playing it?

 

[shihonage]

How do you know you didn't just get better at games? Do not rule that out. Also, more people play games now than before. It makes sense that the default difficulty settings are lower, unless you make a niche game. Decline? Sure. But that's all. It's not worth this many pages.

No Internet argument is worth anything. News at 11.

The only reason this argument lasts so long is because

a) There's this inherent vibe of "Diablo 3 is going to be fine by default", despite evidence suggesting the contrary. And no evidence suggesting the optimistic claim is actually true. I find this jarring.

and

b) I'm not in a clear enough state of mind to stop butthurting over so many Codexers lining up to defend the decline. During a better time I would've left it alone, but during worse times my world shrinks and Internet forums take on an unhealthy importance.

Now that I've typed that out, I'm not going to reply in this thread anymore.

 

[General Maxson]

I know it's a silly question, but, for any of you playing the beta, are there any redeeming single player qualities to Diablo 3, or any remnants of the atmosphere and architecture of Diablo 1 (for example decrepit village and spooky church), or Diablo 2 (first act)? I mean is there any gothic style left or is it mainly a grimdark WoW?

 

[aris]

a) There's this inherent vibe of "Diablo 3 is going to be fine by default", despite evidence suggesting the contrary. And no evidence suggesting the optimistic claim is actually true. I find this jarring.

Strange, I have the exact opposite impression. That most people on the codex say Diablo 3 is going to be shitty by default based on vague speculations, occasional misunderstandings and extrapolations about the gameplay (The original post is a fine example), and I too found that quite jarring, hence why I joined in. It's fine to be sceptical, but some members take that to the extreme, and then raise it to the power of 10.

 

[Stabwound]

I see only a couple of people fellating Diablo 3 and Blizzard and claiming the game is perfect and that Blizzard can do no wrong. The game is clearly a decline from D2 but I think it will be fun for what it is. End of rhrine. If it ends up sucking completely then I will gladly eat crow.

 

[Black]

I was going to post this about 10 pages ago, but thought it was way too obvious. Looks like I'll have to post it after all:

Are those of you claiming D2 is just as easy as D3 really comparing Diablo 2 difficulty (patched or unpatched, who gives a flying fuck) when playing it NOW, after THIRTEEN YEARS OF PRACTICE, with what the difficulty was like the first time playing it, and what the difficulty of Diablo 3 will be like the first time playing it?

Playing D2 up til Blood Raven now and then isn't much different since you have no gear, no skill and stat points to distribute. If you didn't know how to left click in 2000 I doubt you know how to left click now.

 

[Average Manatee]

I was going to post this about 10 pages ago, but thought it was way too obvious. Looks like I'll have to post it after all:

Are those of you claiming D2 is just as easy as D3 really comparing Diablo 2 difficulty (patched or unpatched, who gives a flying fuck) when playing it NOW, after THIRTEEN YEARS OF PRACTICE, with what the difficulty was like the first time playing it, and what the difficulty of Diablo 3 will be like the first time playing it?

Playing D2 up til Blood Raven now and then isn't much different since you have no gear, no skill and stat points to distribute. If you didn't know how to left click in 2000 I doubt you know how to left click now.

Play Median XL or something then.

Before the obligatory counterpoint that mods shouldn't count, they sure as fuck do if D3 isn't moddable anymore.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

going through d2 now, the game is a clusterfuck.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

>that awkward moment when you realize you're probably the only codexer who didn't bother with a new action game

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

The game is clearly a decline from D2

That's not clear at all! In fact my time with the open beta gave me the impression it may be better!

 

[abija]

This may actually explain a lot of other claims about Blood Raven's difficulty.

That's not the Diablo2 I am referring to - abandoned corpse of a game, ravaged by ill-conceived patches.

Diablo 2 has been rebalanced numerous times since launch, and indeed, when I tried to play it a couple of years ago, I breezed through Act 1 because it was ridiculous - Diablo 3 level - easy. Killing Andariel was anti-climactic and disappointing.

However that is not Diablo 2 I am referring to, but the game as I remember it in its prime. From launch, for the next few years, before it died. When diabloii.net was still popular. Before they reduced the Diablo patch team to 1 person (it's true - that happened sometime around 2005). Pre - synergies and "reorganization" of internal data structures that happened around that time. When the difficulty curve wasn't broken all to shit.

Blood Raven at that time could very well kill someone in your average, non-twinked player group. Andariel, as well. And killing Andariel felt like an accomplishment - the way it was initially meant.

Actually you're just a delusional fuck. You built some image of D2 when you were clueless and probably refuse to believe you could be that BAD. Funny enough you can't even assume your memory might be "slightly" altered when you play it years later, it had to be those patches implemented by the new and shit Blizzard that made Act 1 ridiculous.

There's no difference in difficulty (up to BR at least) between first and last patch, you still pretty much 1shot most of the enemies without using any skill.
Watch if you still don't believe:
LMB bash in all it's glory without even bothering with the skill tree. I even kill some skeletons from next location and they get 1 shot with that starting 1h axe.
There's no difficulty curve, it's simply set to "easiest" for that portion of the game, you just had to invent a reason to prove they failed in D3.

One thing is true, that's not the Diablo 2 you are referring to because that game didn't exist, it's just your distorted memory.

 

[Black]

I was going to post this about 10 pages ago, but thought it was way too obvious. Looks like I'll have to post it after all:

Are those of you claiming D2 is just as easy as D3 really comparing Diablo 2 difficulty (patched or unpatched, who gives a flying fuck) when playing it NOW, after THIRTEEN YEARS OF PRACTICE, with what the difficulty was like the first time playing it, and what the difficulty of Diablo 3 will be like the first time playing it?

Playing D2 up til Blood Raven now and then isn't much different since you have no gear, no skill and stat points to distribute. If you didn't know how to left click in 2000 I doubt you know how to left click now.

Play Median XL or something then.

Before the obligatory counterpoint that mods shouldn't count, they sure as fuck do if D3 isn't moddable anymore.

Play Median XL or something on closed Battle.net

.

I think this is an ACTUAL case of this thing many dumbfucks use inappropriately- nostalgia goggles.
[블리즈콘 2011] 디아블로 3 - 게임 난이도 & 빌드 - 자막 번역 - YouTube

 

[Kraszu]

Median XL is actually very easy as well, at least at the beginning. I had played up to Act3 with Barb that used SHOWER OF ROCKS, and I had hardly ever needed to use a potion everything was dying ridiculously fast, and did marginal dmg to me.

 

[Padre]

I'm not saying Median is super hard but the normal Acts are just preparation and item hunting for the Challenges and Special Areas that you will see later. When I first tried to complete Lvl Challenge I got rolfstomped by those amazons. Nothing helped because I was too focused on damage with almost no defence or resists because up to this point I had no need for them.

Barb may be the easiest to start with because you will never have mana/life regen problems due to Eagle Stance but there are many monsters who can almost 1 shot you later on.

 

[zerotol]

you should play Hell unleashed MP mod solo, that one is hard.

 

[Dexter]

Memories are extremely deceptive, especially those 12 years old. How can you know that it was harder, and simply did not feel that way at the time or that you have come to feel that way later? I remember diablo 2 at launch as pretty hard, especially andariel, but then again, I was 14 years old at the time, and didn't know what the fuck I was doing. Were I born 12 years earlier, I'm guessing I would not find it extremely challenging. Now, the part leading up to the skeleton king of diablo 3 is sleep inducingly easy, I agree, but it hardly matters if you can breeze through that content in an hour and then find more challenging content later. We don't know yet how difficult it is beyond the skeleton king.

I have a simple metric I could use for that. I played the Diablo 2 Open Beta back then (including collecting Chipped Gems and going hunting for gem upgrade shrines so one could get better weapons for PvP against other players and all that - I think I had 2 swords with Normal ice/fire gems back then on my barb).
Now see, here's the thing... I died a lot back then, especially the elemental enemies were fucking hard. Those lightning kobolds for instance were hell, also later in the game if one didn't have resistances one would constantly have to retreat/use tactics or die.
I also played the Diablo 3 Open Beta and played 4 different chars and I didn't die a single time. I probably couldn't even have died if I tried, one likely need be retarded for that to happen.

Also yeah... it had Open PvP between people, that's what I did a lot of the time back then and Diablo 3 just doesn't and wants to add some lameass Arena Mode or whatever.

 

[Tigranes]

I don't know, nothing in D3 demo compares to lightning / frost element on Dark Raven, kobold subbosses or the ~3 yeti-dudes around the tree, never mind Andariel and the Butcher. You actually couldn't stand toe to toe with enemies like that, whereas in D3 I can just stand still and hold LMB down without even bothering to drink potions most of the time. There's also never so many enemies that you genuinely get swarmed, like you could in those kobold camps with shamans, etc.

Try walking into a D2 camp with a subboss and standing still, and doing the same with D3. Or with any D2 boss - the final D3 beta boss, I can stand there and it takes 5 seconds for the Skeleton King to hit me once.

 

[Elzair]

You know, I still need to beat Diablo II. Don't give me that look, I only started last summer, and I have been rather busy with work, school and other games. I hope I can complete LoD in the next week.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

This may actually explain a lot of other claims about Blood Raven's difficulty.

That's not the Diablo2 I am referring to - abandoned corpse of a game, ravaged by ill-conceived patches.

Diablo 2 has been rebalanced numerous times since launch, and indeed, when I tried to play it a couple of years ago, I breezed through Act 1 because it was ridiculous - Diablo 3 level - easy. Killing Andariel was anti-climactic and disappointing.

However that is not Diablo 2 I am referring to, but the game as I remember it in its prime. From launch, for the next few years, before it died. When diabloii.net was still popular. Before they reduced the Diablo patch team to 1 person (it's true - that happened sometime around 2005). Pre - synergies and "reorganization" of internal data structures that happened around that time. When the difficulty curve wasn't broken all to shit.

Blood Raven at that time could very well kill someone in your average, non-twinked player group. Andariel, as well. And killing Andariel felt like an accomplishment - the way it was initially meant.

Actually you're just a delusional fuck. You built some image of D2 when you were clueless and probably refuse to believe you could be that BAD. Funny enough you can't even assume your memory might be "slightly" altered when you play it years later, it had to be those patches implemented by the new and shit Blizzard that made Act 1 ridiculous.

There's no difference in difficulty (up to BR at least) between first and last patch, you still pretty much 1shot most of the enemies without using any skill.
Watch if you still don't believe:
LMB bash in all it's glory without even bothering with the skill tree. I even kill some skeletons from next location and they get 1 shot with that starting 1h axe.
There's no difficulty curve, it's simply set to "easiest" for that portion of the game, you just had to invent a reason to prove they failed in D3.

One thing is true, that's not the Diablo 2 you are referring to because that game didn't exist, it's just your distorted memory.

it's even better in nightmare mode with a shockadin. A

This may actually explain a lot of other claims about Blood Raven's difficulty.

That's not the Diablo2 I am referring to - abandoned corpse of a game, ravaged by ill-conceived patches.

Diablo 2 has been rebalanced numerous times since launch, and indeed, when I tried to play it a couple of years ago, I breezed through Act 1 because it was ridiculous - Diablo 3 level - easy. Killing Andariel was anti-climactic and disappointing.

However that is not Diablo 2 I am referring to, but the game as I remember it in its prime. From launch, for the next few years, before it died. When diabloii.net was still popular. Before they reduced the Diablo patch team to 1 person (it's true - that happened sometime around 2005). Pre - synergies and "reorganization" of internal data structures that happened around that time. When the difficulty curve wasn't broken all to shit.

Blood Raven at that time could very well kill someone in your average, non-twinked player group. Andariel, as well. And killing Andariel felt like an accomplishment - the way it was initially meant.

Actually you're just a delusional fuck. You built some image of D2 when you were clueless and probably refuse to believe you could be that BAD. Funny enough you can't even assume your memory might be "slightly" altered when you play it years later, it had to be those patches implemented by the new and shit Blizzard that made Act 1 ridiculous.

There's no difference in difficulty (up to BR at least) between first and last patch, you still pretty much 1shot most of the enemies without using any skill.
Watch if you still don't believe:
LMB bash in all it's glory without even bothering with the skill tree. I even kill some skeletons from next location and they get 1 shot with that starting 1h axe.
There's no difficulty curve, it's simply set to "easiest" for that portion of the game, you just had to invent a reason to prove they failed in D3.

One thing is true, that's not the Diablo 2 you are referring to because that game didn't exist, it's just your distorted memory.

Yup, normal mode is a piece of piss, playing a holy shock paladin you can aura everything to death.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

no there's no porn of the chick angel yet

 

[General Maxson]

no there's no porn of the chick angel yet

Why is this anime? Is it a new trailer?

 

[Jasede]

It's not.

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

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