DiabloFans

Really nice job man! You know I'm a big lore junkie and might do one of these reference write-ups for Moon of the Spider, which I think might be one of the most interesting of the books considering it takes place after D2 but before D3 and there's a lot of mysterious stuff in it we could see show up in D3.

Yeah definitely something I've seen both SC / HC. Very annoying.

What's wrong with HC pub games? I've actually had issues with normal pub games but HC games have always worked for me

Quote from Omega329

Probably an unrealistic amount of work to do for 2 months. If you have played the beta you will see that there is much to be done, especially in the battle.net area.

Well the beta client isn't a 100% up to date, and we know some issues are directly related to Blizzard doing stress test on the servers. Per usual I'd be cautious against being overly certain about where elements of the game currently stand in what we'll see as the final build, B.net included. I'd be tremendously surprised if a lot of the known bugs in Bnet / etc. aren't already fixed internally.

Last-minute tuning, release logistics (getting DVDs printed and in the stores, getting server hardware finalized for launch), not to mention needing a phase of final hyping and advertising.

If you can afford the CE it's absolutely the choice IMHO, so much awesome stuff in it. You can get the pre-order digital copy and have it ready to go, then all you need to do is get your box home at midnight and attach it to your account, you lost at most an hour or so, so I'd say go for it.

I agree with what everyone above said, though for me HC was always something to be done later into the gaming life of D2, it was something I came to after a couple of years playing softcore. I think I'll jump into D3 HC pretty quickly this time around, though to me I still want to spend some good time doing the softcore thing - maximizing DPS / MF, tweaking out several characters, etc., and then take on the challenge of HC and all that comes with it. I want to experience the game more for the newness / plot / etc. the first time or two around, then HC. Props to those doing HC as their (last lvl 10, obv) first real play-through, very exciting I'm sure.

I would guess Blizzard (PST) time but if memory serves when SC2 launched the servers were available here (EST) right at midnight, it definitely wasn't 3am.

You better believe it! Nice thing is I don't work Tues-Thurs as it is, so I'm putting in for Monday night off (and maybe that Friday just because I don't have much else to burn vac days on) so I should have several full days to blow on D3 at launch. Bring it on! ?

Really? Weird. I've never had the dogs -not- die in the first ax-swing from SK. Interesting.

But yeah, I'm not arguing they become super beefy or DPS-y, they just seem slightly too throwaway. But I also know later in the game runes / equip. will allow us to emphasize summons so I'm not terribly worried.

Yeah I was just thinking about that, you definitely should be able to have it installed, but will still need to go grab the box to attach the actual game key to your account. Saves you that agonizingly long install time though.

The Monk's energy source definitely feels more present / starved out than any other class in my opinion. This does seem at least to some extent intentional, you're supposed to (I think) use the generating ability combos often, and I get that, but still. Maybe it speaks more to the feeling that the sources for the other classes is perhaps slightly too bountiful? I don't know the last time I ran out of mana as WD for instance, when I see +mana / +mana regen gear for WD I don't even blink at it, it feels useless, but + Spirit gear for Monk feels very desirable.

Well I'm 99% sure once you install it you attach it to your account which will then open up the digital download, but I don't think there's any way to get your hands on the digital copy early. It's part of the price of the CE or any other boxed edition...you get the sweet physical copy but you have to wait at least long enough to drive home from the store and install it. At most you're a couple hours or so behind people who digital pre-ordered and stay up to play the instant the servers unlock. I think if you can afford the CE it's more than worth those 2 hours though.

Definitely a more than viable route I'd imagine, but it'll rely on more manual forms of CC for survivability which is obviously fine for someone looking for a non-summon playstyle. Just grasp and firebomb everything Later skills make both directions richly complex I think, i.e. you won't be locked into certain skills either way (in later game anyway).

Definitely agree, but wouldn't want to see too much of an increase; maybe up 9% weapon damage to 15% to make them a little more interesting in damage out put? I'd also like to see their health tied directly into the WD's, so it'd be a bit more customizable and tie in to the player's build. They shouldn't be significant in DPS or health but watching them die in the first 5 seconds of a boss battle is a little underwhelming.

Obviously later-game runes / equipment will give us this power I'd imagine, it's probably just hard to see in the scope of the beta.