According to the Dev on the Steam Forums:

"Sorry if this has caused any negative impressions - there's no "pay to win" of any kind intended here. I'll try to clarify what's what..

The bonus currency is pretty minor as just meant as a little extra thanks - by the time it matters, it won't have affected your campaign progress too much.

Similarly the exclusive items, aside from the nice looks, will be most relevant early on. They may make it easier to find your ideal team setup/loadout as well. The XP armor is specifically for those people that love to grind on purpose, even when they don't need to.

By the mid campaign though, I'd expect everyone to more or less be on equal footing regardless of the version you're playing, where you need to make good strategic choices with a well balanced team in order to progress.

The standard edition of the game has you covered if you just want to the core experience as we designed it. The mobile version of the game doesn't contain any of that exclusive stuff so the game was not in any way designed around those items. They're just there as a bonus for those interested."

i'm considering buying it, as i love TD games... $8 seems fair.

i got my copy for free (preordered 2 copies of the collector's edition, and sold one of them on ebay for $250), and while the game was a let-down per points that you all have already brought up, it still isn't *that bad* of a game. The patches have been slowly making it better, and i have hopes that the new director "gets it" and will continue to make the game better and better. at launch inferno was unplayable, but now with MP options and the new density fixes via 1.08, it is actually fun to progress through. once you get a high enough lvl character, and good MF, you do find decent rares, but not nearly enough or them. and the legendaries still mostly stink, but all of that is supposed to be fixed in 1.09.

it will likely never be the sequel to D2 that i had hoped for, but i do find it to be fun to play, and getting better with each patch. some things can't be "patched out", like the weak cartoony story, lame villans, and lack of mystery. but this game does do a lot of things better than D2. followers and their stories are nicely done, npcs are way better than D2 (covetous shen is an excellent npc), the action is every bit as good as the action in D2 - actually better because the controls/UI are better. the graphics are much better. the music unfortunately suffers due to the loss of Matt Uelmen, but the audio effects are well done. cinematics are exceptional.

all in all, i find it fun to take a character through the game, and level them up into paragon levels. it does need item improvements and end-game work badly, but i believe that these things will come in time. i'm optimistic, and hoping for the best.

D3 is going to require online play, and they're doing it to make money and to try to prevent cheats/dupes/ect. it seems like in here you have to believe one or the other, and believe it vehemently at that. can anyone really blame Blizzard for wanting to make money? the only reason anyone starts a business is to make money. and some of their arguments in regards to requiring BNet play do make sense. of course they're not going to come out and say "we're doing it to make money", because it would be unprofessional.

i'm self-employed, and i tell all of my clients that i started my business because i wanted to help people, which is 100% true. but i obviously also want to make money. i don't need to say it, it's just a fact they we both (my clients and i) understand without saying it.

why do people have to become so angry when a business tries to find new ways to make money? and why do they feel the need to try and convince everyone else to come around to their way of thinking?

as for me, i'm eagerly awaiting the game and will glady pay $100 for the CE. i wish the game didn't require a BNet connection, but it does so i'll just have to live with it. all the complaining in the world isn't going to change anything. i lived with it on StarCraft 2, and yes, it was annoying when the servers were down when I wanted to play, but i managed to survive.

i don't see why all of this is such a big deal.

did you even read the article? it was all about not making preachy agenda-driven games.

thanks for recommending DarkPlaces, Blue. with the Rygel texture pack on top of DarkPlaces, Quake looks fantastic! i'm having a blasting playing through this game for the first time in many years.

"We take the security of your information very seriously"
b.s.
if they did, all the hackers would gain would be encrypted files that would be useless to them

the hackers (lulzsec) have repeatedly stated that they will not release the user data gained from the bethesda/zenimax hack. check out their twitter and pastebin activity if you want to verify it for yourself.

i have mixed feelings about these hacks. in away they are good - pointing out glaring security holes to companies that should be doing a better job of protecting their (and our) data. on the other hand, they create more chaos than necessary by publicizing results in the pursuit of validation and/or celebrity.

no matter how i feel, it is an entertaining spectacle. this sort of global-tech mischief is something that was limited to sci-fi just 10 or 20 years ago.

wow, and i thought i'd be clever and make the first mst3k manos reference. looks like 4 of you beat me to it.

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since it uses multipliers, don't start shooting until the timer reaches about 12-15 seconds left.

i own blu-ray because: i own an HDTV and wanted a player that would upscale my existing DVD collection; i can find blu-ray discs used or on sale in the $15 - $20 range; blu-ray discs come with all the extras that are on the DVD special editions.

that said, i am still hesitant to go "all-in" with it. i only own a few blu-ray discs, and use it primarily to upscale my DVDs. if blu-ray catches on in a big way, i'm ready - if it doesn't, no big deal. i only invested a few hundred dollars in it, and it has already paid off as a DVD upconversion unit.

i do hope it takes off though. the blu-ray movies do look absolutely incredible, the extra features are amazing, and the menus on blu-ray discs are very fast and much more intuitive than DVD menus. to all of you waiting for the 'next big thing', when do you expect it will arrive? i don't see anything coming in the next few years...

a spell-checker isn't enough to fix this website. the grammar and sentence structure is just terrible. the author needs to go take 2 or 3 college-level english classes. how can i trust someone to deliver news when they don't know the difference between "there" and "their"?

Not a lot of American McGee fans here, apparently

i don't think anyone here actually hates the guy. i think what people hate it the way his name is being glorified like Romero's used to be. i mean, he hasn't done anything noteworthy since Alice (which i enjoyed) so why make it sound like he's a visionary who shapes the industry? he made a name with id software and created something cool with Alice but what else has he done? he is over-hyped by the press and that is why people rip on him. he'll have to be the creative force behind a few more titles that are as-good or better-than Alice before i consider him to be a "big name".

explaining it is a way to pay in advance for expansions

and we should do this because...?

Does nobody want to see a traditional sequel?

i do. i won't waste my time/money on an MMORPGFPSRTS whatever it may be. but i'd gladly shell out $50 for a true sequel to SC with a strong single player element. i've said it before and i'll say it again: i play PC games to take a break from reality. that's why i like single player games. real life is all about getting along with other people and putting up with their shit. i don't want to deal with that in my PC gaming.

but, that all said, i loved SC enough that i just might take the 1-week or 1-month free subscription to this game just to see what it is like.

tried it. it's awful. don't waste your time.

There is unlikely to be another WoW

if/when StarCraft 2 and Diablo 3 are released, there will likely be a similar surge in PC game sales.

Second oldest

i think you are confusing "profession" with "business"

i watched 10 minutes of this and it is the most nonsensical mismash of film clips and sounds i have ever witnessed. do the Turks actually watch this kind of stuff?

ugh... my head asplode....

Does anyone use "Airborne"?

i do. and i swear by it. i like that it isn't medicine or a drug, just herbs and vitamins. i am not one to get sick a lot to begin with, but i have not been sick since i discovered Airborne - which was in November '06. a few times i felt something coming on, and once i even felt kind of crappy for a whole day, but i haven't been truly sick. i use it as they suggest - the second i feel a little bit funky, i take one, then take one every four hours or so for the rest of the day.

i tried the zinc stuff, but it never worked for me. i would still get sick, and for just as long.

i tried it too, after an hour i uninstalled it. looks like a diablo clone, acts like a diablo clone, but doesn't play like a diablo clone. you're better off with Titan Quest, Dungeon Siege (1&2), and Sacred - in that order.