I'll start saying that i've been playing PoE for 1k hours since i quit D3. I came back recently to realize how good some things are here compared to other games.
The game surprisingly still gave me hours of fun when i logged onto my non-seasonal characters and played some rifts. I wasn't aiming for the leaderboards or anything like that just roleplaying, listening to music and slaying monsters non stop and getting rewards in every rift. I had all cosmetics unlocked and didn't had to pay for any lootboxes or microtransactions to customize my characters. The animated wings were so beatiful and made my crusader look like a true god.
I just cannot explain how wrong i were on some of the things i said before i left. This game was worth every euro i spent on it. Glad i still can enjoy this and even if there isn't anything new the game on it's own is great. It doesn't feel buggy at all and it's the smoothest action i've ever experienced.
Just wanted to shoutout all D3 fans out there before we get D4 MMO version with lootboxes and such. I'm just glad i got to play D3 again.
I think if you're just looking for a casual game in which you can randomly slay some demons and get some loot, without having to delve too much into theorycrafting, numbercrunching, or "making the right choice", Diablo 3 is an amazing game - especially the first 10-100 hours (depending on how fast/slow you are, and basically the slower you are because you take your time the better your experience will be).
Once you've experienced it all and you hit the ceiling and all there is is farming higher numbers (increasing paragon and gem levels for higher GR numbers) the game becomes stale. It reminds me of Torchlight 1 (just when it came out) - the first 15 hours were some of the most amazing experience I've ever had in any game ever. So. Much. Fun. But then there was nothing new, the itemization and game design just "stopped" after a certain level (I think it was 60), and the game become boring almost instantly.
Yeah, this game is definitely underappreciated. I mean, if this game was shit I wouldn't have 4k hours played.
The old saying "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" does not seem to apply to games (or movies for that matter).
Much of the critic of Diablo 3 was not what it is, but what it is not. People expected a new Diablo 2 and that was not what they got. Some of the critic was well founded (the whole AH thing nearly ruined the game) and some was just because people dont like new things (and they dont like things getting stale either, so devs can never win :).
ROS fixed alot of things, to such a degree that is kinda hard thinking back on all the things that was wrong on release. And while I personally HATE the paragon system, since the endgame is just Plvls/GRlvls and nothing more, I do very much recognize the amazing job they did with an otherwise sinking ship (myself and alot of people had stopped playing Diablo 3 pre ROS).
I still come back each season, do the journey and tap out again. I dont think that there is anything more that can be done (with in reason) with Diablo 3's gameplay loop (especially since the 2nd expansion got canned). But it still hurts deep inside my loothoarding soul, that the moment you ding 70, yellows and blues might as well just drop as materials and all builds are essentially the same (with minor variations). And since the sets was such a massive power difference, they gave a free set in each season as a quick fix, futher pushing much of the random loot to be completly irrelevant. I very much appreciate the balancing of the different builds, letting people play as they choose, but it doesnt change that it is only certain items you want and nothing else, which is a huge detriment as I see it, to what the franchise was about.
But hey, an old fart like me, still thinks that the best Diablo game was the first one. I clearly remember arguing whos turn it was to open a door with goatmen bleating on the otherside and how scary the butcher was in a new game... and that any item drop might, just might be something worthwhile.
As someone who plays both D3 and PoE, my only gripe with D3 is that there is no 'finish line' (like e.g. level 100 or 40/40 Challenges in PoE). Every time a D3 season starts, I just have to ask myself "if I'm not going to play for the whole ~3 months, why even bother?"
I wish that at least your "highest rank on the leaderboard achieved" in Diablo 3 saved somewhere on the profile. I mean, sure, the people who farmed the whole season deserve their credit and high ranking finishers and a place in the hall of fame, that's fine, but I think that my rank 1 achieved mid season should have some weight too. It being visible to people who specifically inspect my profile would be ok.
It just feels pointless to do that again, and I don't want to farm the whole season either, which just means I do the season journey and quit immediately. And the season journey is just remarkably short, and the only way D3 endgame is actually fun is if you push. It just feels like a terrible design loophole.
As someone who plays both D3 and PoE, my only gripe with D3 is that there is no 'finish line' (like e.g. level 100 or 40/40 Challenges in PoE). Every time a D3 season starts, I just have to ask myself "if I'm not going to play for the whole ~3 months, why even bother?"
I wish that at least your "highest rank on the leaderboard achieved" in Diablo 3 saved somewhere on the profile. I mean, sure, the people who farmed the whole season deserve their credit and high ranking finishers and a place in the hall of fame, that's fine, but I think that my rank 1 achieved mid season should have some weight too. It being visible to people who specifically inspect my profile would be ok.
It just feels pointless to do that again, and I don't want to farm the whole season either, which just means I do the season journey and quit immediately. And the season journey is just remarkably short, and the only way D3 endgame is actually fun is if you push. It just feels like a terrible design loophole.
Level 100 and 40/40 feel more of an endless grind and giant time sink than anything skill based. In D3 pushing as high as you can still fun. Same as PoE, to compete on the leaderboars/ladders you need to play 16/h per day. I just don't know why people are so obsessed with ladders in d3 even if they have no time to compete there. All the mechanics on PoE are deeper for sure but once you understand them it doesn't make that much of a difference. The finish line and Paragon/GR cap would've been healthy for sure.
Aiming for p1k-1.5k and GR100 with multiple builds seems like a good objective for seasons. A SSF mode on D3 would have been a blast for sure. Few of the only things that felt shit was the 100000000000000 damage numbers, but the combat was just sooooooooooo smooth compared to PoE. Not to say it was much more rewarding. I personally missed killing goblins and watch loot explosions. And all the good lookin cosmetics included, probably in D4 you will have to pay 400$+ to unlock all.
Once you've experienced it all and you hit the ceiling and all there is is farming higher numbers (increasing paragon and gem levels for higher GR numbers) the game becomes stale.
Yeah, this game is definitely underappreciated. I mean, if this game was shit I wouldn't have 4k hours played.
Ceiling in PoE is higher but the road is no different. Some of the 40/40 challenges and Lvl100 are pretty much like a paragon grind. I agree that a paragon cap and difficulty cap would've been a good idea but still unless you have time for those endless grinds it doesn't make that much of a difference.
At most PoE has more gambling in it and you are more often stuck on those RNG walls than in D3 and unless you are addicted to dopamine bursts it doesn't make that much of difference either.
I'll start saying that i've been playing PoE for 1k hours since i quit D3. I came back recently to realize how good some things are here compared to other games.
The game surprisingly still gave me hours of fun when i logged onto my non-seasonal characters and played some rifts. I wasn't aiming for the leaderboards or anything like that just roleplaying, listening to music and slaying monsters non stop and getting rewards in every rift. I had all cosmetics unlocked and didn't had to pay for any lootboxes or microtransactions to customize my characters. The animated wings were so beatiful and made my crusader look like a true god.
I just cannot explain how wrong i were on some of the things i said before i left. This game was worth every euro i spent on it. Glad i still can enjoy this and even if there isn't anything new the game on it's own is great. It doesn't feel buggy at all and it's the smoothest action i've ever experienced.
Just wanted to shoutout all D3 fans out there before we get D4 MMO version with lootboxes and such. I'm just glad i got to play D3 again.
I think if you're just looking for a casual game in which you can randomly slay some demons and get some loot, without having to delve too much into theorycrafting, numbercrunching, or "making the right choice", Diablo 3 is an amazing game - especially the first 10-100 hours (depending on how fast/slow you are, and basically the slower you are because you take your time the better your experience will be).
Once you've experienced it all and you hit the ceiling and all there is is farming higher numbers (increasing paragon and gem levels for higher GR numbers) the game becomes stale. It reminds me of Torchlight 1 (just when it came out) - the first 15 hours were some of the most amazing experience I've ever had in any game ever. So. Much. Fun. But then there was nothing new, the itemization and game design just "stopped" after a certain level (I think it was 60), and the game become boring almost instantly.
Yeah, this game is definitely underappreciated. I mean, if this game was shit I wouldn't have 4k hours played.
The old saying "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" does not seem to apply to games (or movies for that matter).
Much of the critic of Diablo 3 was not what it is, but what it is not. People expected a new Diablo 2 and that was not what they got. Some of the critic was well founded (the whole AH thing nearly ruined the game) and some was just because people dont like new things (and they dont like things getting stale either, so devs can never win :).
ROS fixed alot of things, to such a degree that is kinda hard thinking back on all the things that was wrong on release. And while I personally HATE the paragon system, since the endgame is just Plvls/GRlvls and nothing more, I do very much recognize the amazing job they did with an otherwise sinking ship (myself and alot of people had stopped playing Diablo 3 pre ROS).
I still come back each season, do the journey and tap out again. I dont think that there is anything more that can be done (with in reason) with Diablo 3's gameplay loop (especially since the 2nd expansion got canned). But it still hurts deep inside my loothoarding soul, that the moment you ding 70, yellows and blues might as well just drop as materials and all builds are essentially the same (with minor variations). And since the sets was such a massive power difference, they gave a free set in each season as a quick fix, futher pushing much of the random loot to be completly irrelevant. I very much appreciate the balancing of the different builds, letting people play as they choose, but it doesnt change that it is only certain items you want and nothing else, which is a huge detriment as I see it, to what the franchise was about.
But hey, an old fart like me, still thinks that the best Diablo game was the first one. I clearly remember arguing whos turn it was to open a door with goatmen bleating on the otherside and how scary the butcher was in a new game... and that any item drop might, just might be something worthwhile.
As someone who plays both D3 and PoE, my only gripe with D3 is that there is no 'finish line' (like e.g. level 100 or 40/40 Challenges in PoE). Every time a D3 season starts, I just have to ask myself "if I'm not going to play for the whole ~3 months, why even bother?"
I wish that at least your "highest rank on the leaderboard achieved" in Diablo 3 saved somewhere on the profile. I mean, sure, the people who farmed the whole season deserve their credit and high ranking finishers and a place in the hall of fame, that's fine, but I think that my rank 1 achieved mid season should have some weight too. It being visible to people who specifically inspect my profile would be ok.
It just feels pointless to do that again, and I don't want to farm the whole season either, which just means I do the season journey and quit immediately. And the season journey is just remarkably short, and the only way D3 endgame is actually fun is if you push. It just feels like a terrible design loophole.
Level 100 and 40/40 feel more of an endless grind and giant time sink than anything skill based. In D3 pushing as high as you can still fun. Same as PoE, to compete on the leaderboars/ladders you need to play 16/h per day. I just don't know why people are so obsessed with ladders in d3 even if they have no time to compete there. All the mechanics on PoE are deeper for sure but once you understand them it doesn't make that much of a difference. The finish line and Paragon/GR cap would've been healthy for sure.
Aiming for p1k-1.5k and GR100 with multiple builds seems like a good objective for seasons. A SSF mode on D3 would have been a blast for sure. Few of the only things that felt shit was the 100000000000000 damage numbers, but the combat was just sooooooooooo smooth compared to PoE. Not to say it was much more rewarding. I personally missed killing goblins and watch loot explosions. And all the good lookin cosmetics included, probably in D4 you will have to pay 400$+ to unlock all.
Ceiling in PoE is higher but the road is no different. Some of the 40/40 challenges and Lvl100 are pretty much like a paragon grind. I agree that a paragon cap and difficulty cap would've been a good idea but still unless you have time for those endless grinds it doesn't make that much of a difference.
At most PoE has more gambling in it and you are more often stuck on those RNG walls than in D3 and unless you are addicted to dopamine bursts it doesn't make that much of difference either.