Diablo III Open Beta Weekend [Apr 20, 2012, 08:19 am ET] – Share – Viewing Comments
Following indications yesterday that more accounts were being granted access to the Diablo III beta test, the Diablo III Website announces the beta will indeed be opened this weekend to anyone with a Battle.net account for stress testing. The open portion of the beta will begin at 3:00 pm EDT today and will run through Monday at 1:00 pm EDT. The accompanying FAQ explains how this will operate, and notes that while Korean players cannot participate, they will be holding a separate invitation-only event in Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. The invitation only closed beta will continue as planned until May 1st. To get a head start, you can download the client now from Battle.net.
RollinThundr wrote on Apr 20, 2012, 22:32:eunichron wrote on Apr 20, 2012, 21:50:loomy wrote on Apr 20, 2012, 20:20:
the game design is obviously simplified for console (and maybe wow?) players. it is simplified pretty well, but still. please nobody degrade yourselves arguing against this galactic truth.
I have to ask this seriously though, have you even played Diablo 1 or 2, or any other ARPG? Complaining about Diablo being simplified is like complaining that rocks are dense. In the history of computer gaming there hasn't ever been a game series more simplified than Diablo.
To be fair, yes Diablo was always on the simple side, With Diablo 2 however they at least expanded the classes, gave very distinct skill trees that allowed for many different builds of the same type of class. Honestly I don't see that is even possible here. I realize it's a beta and stuff is locked but it almost looks like you only have 4 skills a class, with a defensive skill tossed in here or there for good measure, things that were previously attack skills using D2 as the example. Like the Wizard gets a frost nova as a defensive skill and it appears to do no damage just freezes enemies.
I realize they had to further simplify the game for the consoles, I get that, but what's here, at least in this beta is so simplified to the point that I'm amazed it took them this long to get this game out the door.
Considering work on Diablo 3 originally started in 2000, it makes one wonder just how many times this project was rebooted between their shift to WoW development and the closure of Blizzard North in 2005. Hell I wonder if any of those Condor folks who pitched Diablo 1 in the first place are even still at Blizzard at this point.
The Rune systems offers some customization, some of the runes drastically change some abilities. That effectively takes the place of the Diablo 2 skill tree, but it also allows you to not have to re-roll a character every time you want to try a different build. Realistically, how many different skills did you ever use on a character in Diablo 2 anyway? 3? 4? Maybe five for some particularly wacky builds, but it never got more complicated than 2 mouse buttons and a couple F-key keybinds. Well now they've just move the F-key bindings to a hotbar (and the skill binds are completely cutomizable if you enable Elective Mode in the menu). I am disappointed at the removal of stat allocation, but stats didn't really matter in Diablo/2 other than attaining a certain level of strength or intelligence to be able to use a particular piece of unique or set armor. You can't really blame that on consoles either, there plenty of RPG/ARPGs on console that have stat allocation, if they really wanted it in the game they could have put it in.
I just imagine that most of the people bitching (not particularly in this thread either) are bitching because A) they've already decide they hate the game because of the DRM and RMAH, so they'll grasp at any reason possible to hate t more, B) they are the same people that would complain if the game was a carbon copy of Diablo 2 with DX11 graphics.
As for your last point, I imagine hardly any. There are those that split off to make Torchlight, and those that left to make ArenaNet and Flagship Studios. The bottom line for me is Diablo 3 is a fun game, and the changes aren't as drastic as some people make them out to be.
Date
Subject
Author
195.
Apr 23, 2012Apr 23 2012
Copyright © 1996-2021 Stephen Heaslip. All rights reserved.
All trademarks are properties of their respective owners.
Privacy Policy. Manage Cookie Settings.
News CGI copyright © 1999-2021 James "furn" Furness & Blue's News. All rights reserved.
Chatbear v1.5.0/blue++: Page generated 28 February 2021, 11:53.