Diablo III: Return to Sanctuary

[Dominic Appleguard]

I've been watching some Diablo 3 stuff and have yet to buy, so I thought I'd ask this thread a question about it.

I'm hearing that the game locks you into Normal mode until you complete it once, and that normal mode is fairly easy. I'm the kind of player that likes to play on the highest difficulty setting, so that kind of bothers me. Can anyone report in on how challenging the game is, and/or how quickly one can unlock the higher difficulties?

If you want an added challenge, complete Normal as quickly as possible. No extra dungeons, no exploration. Your lack of gear and experience points should make it more...interesting.

Alternatively, play on Hardcore for perma-death.

[JenSev]

Mine is: JenSeven#2152

[GaspodeTheDog]

GaspodeTD#2172

I'm playing both Barbarian and Demon Hunter atm as i get Demon Hunter Stuff with my babarian and vice versa, but that's what i expect from Diablo.

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

Being randomly DC'd from the server whilst more than halfway through exploring a HUGE level and logging back in shouldn't undo all my exploration.
<--- unhappy
Mainly because the enemies are stressful as they tend to instant gib you very easily.

[Dominic Appleguard]

Hey folks!

Just wanted to let everyone know about a feature I didn't know existed until well after I beat the game.

If you go into the options under "gameplay", you can check something called "Elective Mode". This lets you map any of your skills to any slot.

So, instead of choosing between Meteor and Blizzard, or between Chakram and Rapid Fire, you can have both.

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

ZOMG

[BlitzRunner27]

Hey folks!

Just wanted to let everyone know about a feature I didn't know existed until well after I beat the game.

If you go into the options under "gameplay", you can check something called "Elective Mode". This lets you map any of your skills to any slot.

So, instead of choosing between Meteor and Blizzard, or between Chakram and Rapid Fire, you can have both.

Knew about that one from the start, actually, but I wonder how many complainers who whine about the skill system being too limited have no idea about that feature...

Of course, they had no REASON to know about the feature unless they happen to like exploring menus (how I found it). Blizzard should have included a prompt when first starting the game that asks you to choose which mode you want to use.

[Master Gunner]

Considering the only change to the UI is adding in those arrows, really it should be like that anyways.

[Dominic Appleguard]

I think the theory behind the default setting is that it's a handy training mode. This slot has a survivability skill, this one generates Arcane Power, this one spends your Fury, etc. It gives players niches to fill and offers them an instinctive idea of what to expect from new abilities.

That being said, a tutorial bubble to the effect of "hey, so elective mode you guys" would have been a great idea.

[aeric90]

Holy Act I ending angel fight, Batman! Tyrael is so badass. I want an action figure.

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

I thought the cutscene was too reminiscent of the imagination of a 11 year old boy, before they discovered the joy of tits.

It was bad arse, but I couldn't help but notice how MASCULINE the fight was.
RAWR ME ANGEL SMASH.

I like the bit in the scene after the fight however and I liked their wings.

[aeric90]

Well this might explain it:

...before they discovered the joy of tits.

The joy of what now?

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

bewbs

[Kingdragon81]

looking for a party to help me beat Diablo on nightmare I'm Gnrt#1122
I'm a level 51 demon hunter

[Tim]

I'm at level 42 on my Barb and going strong. Switched to one-hand weapons + shield for Nightmare to try it out. If I find a really great two-hander I might go back to that, but I'm finding it much more difficult to stay alive in Nightmare than Normal. Naturally.

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

Level 39 as a Witch Doctor.
It's hard as he's a Damage-Over-Time/Minion/Medium Range centric character.

The gimmick of causing things to die with animals keeps me going

CASTS RAIN OF DEATH FROGS



I can't wait for Zombie Bears.

[Master Gunner]

I'm up to a Level 35 Monk and Level 30 Demon Hunter. Only putting in a couple hours a day now, but I'll see if I can get back to power-leveling on the weekend.

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

I'm 42 and an exploding chicken. I also shoot pew pew fiery laser dogs.

[Tim]

I love two-handed weapons. I'm swinging a big ol' hammer around currently. Level 45.

[EikoandMog]

A friend of mine happened to have a spare copy that got transferred to my bnet account so I've only just started. Currently a level 8 Wizard but I'm having fun with this despite not really getting into Diablo 2.

[tanatoes]

I guess I need to grind some. Can't seem to beat Skeleton King on Nightmare. Bastard.

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

I.Hate. Belial.

[Fenrir]

Now see....I'm kind of curious about Diablo 3 (since I used to play and LOVED Diablo 2) but there are elements of the game that have kind of put me off it to a certain extent. None of which has been helped by the general mixed things I've been hearing about it. Plus I *really* don't want to tarnish the memory of D2.

Guess my question (for the hive mind) is .... is it really just a shinier version of Diablo 2?

[tanatoes]

Guess my question (for the hive mind) is .... is it really just a shinier version of Diablo 2?

Short answer: yes.

It's Diablo 2 with updated graphics and some of the edges smoothed out. For example - inventory management is somewhat streamlined by the fact that there's only two sises of object - one-square and two-square. Or the lack of town scrolls or identification scrolls. (I was fairly frustrated early on because I had unidentified rare items and no vendors were selling identify scrolls until I figured out that you just right click on a rare item to identify it. Weird.)

I have found myself having some very similar experiences to Diablo 2 though - it's just a pleasure to slaughter hordes of foes with mighty explosions and destruction.

[Master Gunner]

The new skill system is an all-around improvement, I think, and fits in well with the Diablo "feel".