Diablo 3

[frunk]

For me the allure of the Diablo series was always running those randomly generated areas to keep getting better gear and (in D2) to try to get as close to max level as possible without getting killed - I played on Hardcore.  If playing on softcore then I think a lot of the excitement leaves the game.

The major bosses in D3 can't be completed if you die during the attempt.  Also there are Greater Rifts, which are timed areas that increase the rewards the quicker you do them.  There's a cutoff where you can still finish but lose out on one of the big benefits.  You can still complete them if you die (if you aren't hardcore), but each death has an increasing time penalty attached.

Personally I don't like hardcore for two reasons.  One, the safest way to do hardcore is to mindlessly grind at easier difficulty levels rather than pushing the envelope.  I like there to be a challenge to what I'm doing and hardcore just seems like an invitation to never take risks.  Second, I've got a small kid so there's no way I can guarantee the uninterrupted play time that hardcore requires.

[Grey Fox]

But what is CC's motivation in this scenario? In D3 reaching max level is a 6 hour journey no one can fail.

[crazy canuck]

But what is CC's motivation in this scenario? In D3 reaching max level is a 6 hour journey no one can fail.

My reference to reaching max level was in relation to D2 - something that was almost impossible in hardcore mode.  Because getting to max level is so easy in D3, the equivalent to that experience in D3 is getting through the progressive levels of difficult. 

Frunk, thanks for that explanation.  When I get a new computer I think I will take another look at this.

[Syt]

I have to say that my favorite Diablo remains the first one, though I understand that I'll be in the minority and that D2 is far more popular.

D1's beauty for me was its simplicity - you fight your way from top to bottom, kill the bad guys and do it again. Slain monsters stayed dead, levels during one run didn't reset.

I was enthused when D2 came out, but its surface world with resetting levels turned me off - in D1, cleaning out a level gave me a sense of completion; in D2 (and3), if I come back later there's a new level with resurrected enemies. I'll never be "done."

I'm normally not an OCD person, but this greatly annoyed me.

[crazy canuck]

Iirc playing areas (levels in D1) could be reset in D1 just as they can be reset in D2 and D3. 

[Syt]

I'm pretty sure they didn't unless you started a new game. If there were console commands or options to do so I don't know, but in regular play I'm very sure that monsters didn't respawn and levels didn't reset/weren't newly generated.

[crazy canuck]

I'm pretty sure they didn't unless you started a new game. If there were console commands or options to do so I don't know, but in regular play I'm very sure that monsters didn't respawn and levels didn't reset/weren't newly generated.

Its the same with both D2 and D3.  You have to reset or regenerate a level to get respawns.  In D1 it was pretty much essential to do this in order to level up/gear up.  You didn't just go from level 1 of the dungeon to kill diablo in one go.  In D1 you got to choose which level of the dungeon you entered after the respawn so you didn't have to go through all the mobs again.  In later versions you did the same thing through the use of way points.

I suppose you could go through the whole thing without regenerating a level if you wished but I am not sure you would have gotten very far in D1 or D2.

[Grey Fox]

You could finish D1 normal version without ever backtracking. That's how I did it.

[crazy canuck]

You could finish D1 normal version without ever backtracking. That's how I did it.

I was thinking about finishing the game on Hell mode or whatever the most difficult setting was.

[Grey Fox]

It existed back then too?

To me that is the less appealing thing of the Diablo series, do the same thing, again, with just higher monsters.

[crazy canuck]

It existed back then too?

To me that is the less appealing thing of the Diablo series, do the same thing, again, with just higher monsters.

Yeah, that was actually the best part of the game.  Sure you can defeat normal without breaking a sweat but after that the game really changes.  On harder difficulties you have to pay a lot more attention to how you gear, what skills you use etc.  If you didn't play the next two difficulty settings you really only played 1/3 of the game.

[Syt]

Thought I'd give this a try now that season 5 has started.

Well, fuck that. 8+ minute queue time for a SOLO game? You gotta be kidding me (it started at 3+ minutes and then ticked UP to over 8 minutes at the moment). Looking at the forums I at least know I'm not alone with this.

[Syt]

Thanks for the tips, but I think I'll just stop and move on. When the game came out I played a barbarian (I tend to prefer melee classes), and I've toyed with the other classes before. Main reason I went wizard this time was because I normally never play casting characters in RPGs. Just by doing the campaign I hit all Season goals for Part I-III, and some for Part IV. I might make another run with a monk or demon hunter at some point.

I spent half my Sunday doing bounties and rifts and at the end I felt like I had overfed on sugar - lots of stuff happening that's satisfying to see (enemies blowing up by the dozens! and dropping loot!) but I felt pretty unfulfilled in the end, and almost hungover.

But yeah, I mostly play games (with a few exceptions like Euro Truck Sim or Bejeweled 3) for the stories - either a scripted one (RPGs, adventures, campaigns in other genres) or one that emerges during play (many strategy games, rogue likes, open world games, sports managers). There are only few games that hook me on mechanics alone - mastering a game for its own sake or chasing achievements is just not my thing.

I still like watching people playing stuff like super hard "I wanna be the ..." fangames, but I wouldn't want to make it through myself.

Funny, how perception can change. Last week I dug this out, because it was a good thing to play while listening to podcasts (Euro/American Truck Sim are also good with that). Since then it's all I've been playing, and I'm enjoying it a lot.

I rolled a seasonal Monk, leveled her up during the week, and the last few days have been going through the Season 8 goals. I originally didn't plan to, but when I saw that the season ends soon, I got interested again. I want to get the class set - and all that's left to do is to get to a level 20 Greater Rift. (Though killing the T4 bosses required going from blindly charging into enemies to slowly progressing through enemy groups )

I suppose it helps that the first part of the season gear are rather overpowered. The first pieces give you a bonus that applies Exploding Fist to enemies every third resource builder. Exploding Fist makes enemies explode for massive AOE if they die while the effect is active. Which gets rid of trash mob hordes fast.

The second reward bits doubles your Seven Sided Strike. That's enough to kill e.g. The Butcher and most other bosses with one attack on T1.

The final bits will add a bonus that Seven Sided Strike detonates Exploding Fist even if the enemy hasn't died yet.

I'm rather annoyed, though, that in 10 attempts to enchant a socket into a legendary ring so I can slot a legendary gem, none has been successful.

[Syt]

I'm more pleased than I should be that the second pet I picked up is a little mimic that now runs after me and picks up all my gold drops. Which is doubly fun when I equip the hoarder gem that increases gold drops to ridiculous amounts.

[Syt]

Still playing this. (Though mostly to watch Netflix/listen to audio books on the side.)

Currently geared to easily breeze through T8 rifts, and I easily got to greater rift level 40 yesterday. I was stuck on T4 for a while, but then some set bonuses aligned that I have good survivability with some crazy damage output (being able to spam a 1000% right click attack with that damage increased by another 3000% up to 10 times helps a lot).