DiabloFans

Calling anything OP in this context is so monumentally idiotic.

Lamest topic ever.

There isn't a separate EU beta, everyone is connecting to the US servers. Invites have gone out globally -- have seen forum confirmations and bug reports from EU / Canada / Australia.

I love when the armchair game devs come out of the woodwork.

Listen, none of us are happy about this. Also, none of us know what the state of the game really is. Would we be happy with what they've got by the end of the year? Maybe. Or maybe we'd be flooding the forums complaining about the bugs and broken mechanics and bemoaning Blizzard for delivering a poor experience and breaking their usual level of quality. It's easy to say "just give it to us" now, we might not be so happy if we got what we asked for.

We all enjoy the bar Blizzard sets for itself in regards to quality; this is price we pay for the luxury of that.

Blizzard only gets one chance to launch Diablo 3 and have the monstrous initial media / fan impression. Even if they zero-day patched the game into perfection, they'd catch seriously bad press for shipping a broken game. It'd be bad for us, bad for them.

That all said, no one was a more staunch defender / believer of a 2011 launch date than myself, so trust me I'm as upset as anyone. At this point I'm just looking forward (hopefully) to beta, as like many here I've never had the opportunity to play any iteration of D3 at all, as of yet.

No you can't, because it's impossible to prove.

"That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence."

I will trade a thousand people calling me a selfish asshole for my complete lack of caring about no offline in order to have hundreds of thousands of players on Bnet playing D3 with few if any bots / dupes / hacks / spammers.

If you haven't played D2 online in a few years, go run around for an hour and see what it's like when it's as out of control as it is.

I get some people don't want to play with others / socialize / etc., and for that you can play solo in private games online. Obviously that leaves the people without the internet access for the game, and I have sympathy for them but whether you agree it's Blizzard being greedy or you agree that this is simply how more and more games are working these days and that this will give us the best D3 experience as intended, this is the reality of D3. Just like WoW, some games are simply made now to be played online.

This client/server structure is what will give not just the majority of players the best experience but the overwhelming majority of them the best experience; not everyone can be pleased--does anyone really think Blizzard is going to risk having D3 fall into the same hacked/duped/spammed wasteland that D2 has become simply to satisfy a very small (if vocal) sliver of the player base? It wouldn't make any sense. Sure it makes them more money, but just look at it logically--the extra money is just gravy, a very happy byproduct that comes with giving the majority of D3 players what they want -- an online experience with a bedrock of genuine items and spam-less channels / games.

HC PvP is going to be the most 'thrilling' duel mechanic Diablo has seen, not sure how it is seen as 'softer'. The danger actually goes up for both ends of it. Ensuring that people are allowed to decide what kind of game they want to play can only be seen as a bad thing if you're a griefer, the pleasure literally comes from ruining someone else's gaming experience. The constant reiterating of this argument has consistently shown that the community at large and the developers don't want that to be an element to the game; as you said it's a tired argument and doesn't bear any more repeating than this. The griefers were a relative minority, and they're the only ones who have a interest in allowing that mechanic to play out. The message has been explicitly clear: the 'danger' in PvE HC mode is supposed to be precisely that: PvE. I'll never understand the lament that this is being fixed.

Considering we have almost no real idea about just how dangerous HC PvE is going to be in D3, it seems a bit silly to throw it a funereal.

edit: Oh, I definitely agree 100% here with Jay Wilson, HC means HC, period. I would disagree with a softcore option here, it would remove some of the HC-ness of it. Asking someone to level/gear a SC duel character if they want to duel doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

Definitely read the long posts folks! Winged and I disagree pretty loudly sometimes but he's a smart dude with lots of reasonable things to say. That's what makes a lot of this discussion so divisive, both sides (IMO) have pretty reasonable thought supporting them, I don't think anybody is going too far out on any limbs here.

And we can all get behind the Activision sentiments I think. Blizzard has essentially maintained complete autonomy in their involvements with them, which we should all be grateful for.

That's fair enough I think.

What's hard is that it's essentially impossible to find middle ground here; either people are seen as fanboys who think Blizzard can do no wrong and accept anything they're told without any skepticism, or as overly skeptical Blizz-haters that think Blizzard will never do anything right by the players, will always be months/years late, etc. I've obviously been open to being accused of falling into the former camp, and I realize I've been guilty tonight of leveling the latter accusation at you and others. Neither is fair.

All I'm really ever getting at here is that the people who really know what's going on with D3, as best as anyone really does (i.e., anything can happen, something game-breaking appears last minute and they have to postpone, or internal testing goings unbelievably well and we see beta ahead of schedule, etc.) are still saying they think can do this timetable. I think it's unreasonable to think they'd set even a caveat-laden goal this prominently if they didn't think they had a better-than-not chance of hitting it (i.e., 51%+, even slightly better than even odds).

Blizzard has had one sketchy history, we all know that. But I think we're seeing a new era of sorts, and SC2 was pretty pristine as far as living up to their timetable. D3 is a different beast (literally!) but I still believe it bodes well. They've been hyper cautious, as always, at every turn, so now that they've given us even this admittedly preliminary 'date', I'm confident.

/steps off the soapbox

To be fair, they've also gotten much, much more experience under their belt a this point, common sense would dictate their estimations to have gotten a bit more sound by now.

I understand no one wants to get caught with their hopes up, but 2011 is their goal and with internal testing already well underway does Christmas 2011 really seem so crazy?

http://us.battle.net...UdRW!VXZ!aacZZb

Ok so, I have lurked here awhile reading builds and testing them .... and while most do exactly what they describe or claim to. The biggest thing that I have found (and best advice I can give) is that they do not work for everyone. I tried the VQ Bears Builds, I tried the Rainman, I tried the Gruesome feast build posted yesterday, and countless others before it. Again I am not saying these builds do not work .... They just do not work for me. They do exactly what the intend to do and succeed fairly well. They just do not fit my gameplay.

So my build is a standard splinter build but I will explain the choices I made and even the layout of the buttons as I feel this impacts performance as much as the correct type of build for you.

I chose splinters as I do stack a bit of IAS and these things hit like a mack truck ... unbuffed (as I usually am) each individual splinter hits for around 5k .... and with how fast I shoot them ...nothing stands very long.

Secondary (right click) is Grasp of the dead.... There are many ways you can rune this ... but in Inferno you need one hell of a snare so unbreakable is the way to go. I put this on right click as i want mouse activation and accuracy to ensure it is appropraitely placed.

1 and 2 is Spirit Walk (healing journey) and Soul Harvest (siphon) These are both healing for me.... I use them as such ... If i happen to be buffed, then so be it. Buffing for 5 stacks is not my goal or intent as that can likely get you killed. I keep these on 1 and 2 as they are the fastest buttons i hit.. most reliable for me.

3 is Hex (jinx) ... I already have two heals .... and hedge magic heals is very very weak anyways.... I use jinx to up damage on the target. Most times the best way to use this ability is in conjunction with spirit walk to put yourself right on the target you want hexed. For example tons of skeletons and a summoner... grasp of the dead on the pack of skeles... pop spirit walk and run through them ... get right on the summoner and hex em. He wont be summoning, and with your already high, fast damage, plus a 40% damage buff on the hexed target ... they generally dont live through one hex. I also use it if I am kiting ... throw it out there to hex and slow up at least one of the enemies you are figting.

4 is Rain of Toads... This spell is completely insane ... The targeting on it is awesome, it ticks really fast and hits a ton of enemies. Get a big pack drop a grasp let em clump up and hit this once or twice then mow anything left with splinters. The fact it can hit past waller mobs is huge plus and a pinpoint ranged aoe is very nice to have.

Passives should be fairly self explanitory but .... Spirit Vessel for second chance is a must have in my opinion. Blood Ritual is debateable .... Spells dont cost alot in this build aside from toads, and it is only for slight mana conversation, but mainly for the Health regen .... saves me potions Lastly, jungle fortitude... 20% is 20%.

Overall I have done fairly well with this ... I can routinely clear act 1 in inferno with zero deaths and skipping no elites. Act 2 is a bit harder but definately doable... I do die to wasps as i am bad about not moving from the projectiles quick enough, but that is a personal issue lol. With a bit more gear I will be farming act 2 in no time.

My dps is only 14k and my life is right at 28k .... my stats are not great and I am having no issue in farming act 1 and begining of act 2.

My only suggestion is do what works best for you, by all means try the builds out there.... see what works .... then take what you liked from each one and make your own.

Good luck all,

Avitas

Quote from reve

Anybody cares to explain how a year from now the AH won't be flooded with a sea of cheap items nobody will want and the only lack of supply will be noticeable with the very best items for Inferno? And most of the player base probably won't be in Inferno so nobody will buy their drops while they could equip themselves fairly cheaply (and then progress further and sell back for a very low price)...

That's a very good question. Part of the answer is that (I presume) there's no way to configure items to perpetually auto-repost until they sell, so people will stop paying the effort cost to put things on the AH that aren't moving. Meanwhile if the value of items on the GAH goes low enough they'll be gobbled up by salvagers who want to gamble on their own crafting.

People will surely be willing to invest in level 60 items since they will be 60 for lots longer than other levels. However I hear tell that level 60 crafting requires enormous amounts of salvaging of high-value items, so that demand will hoover up items that become too cheap as well.


Sellers are going to feel an incentive to hawk their "perfectly itemized" items in public forums -- personally I hope that they don't end up a way of distracting me unless I'm actually looking for such things.

Quote from lima11

Hmm i saw 3 videos (the first link) should i watch the second?Are those all cinematics ingame?

The second link I posted is the Making of Diablo 3, and it is really well made. It gives me an insight on how much work goes into each thing we will and have seen in the game.

I'm hoping to get a conversation going about what to expect in the Diablo 3 markets based on what we know going in, and what that suggests for early strategies. I'd love to hear from folks with actual training in Economics and new markets. :-)

Here's my initial thoughts.

-The average amount of gold generated per hour of individual playtime community-wide will go up as the average level goes up. How much real money people are willing to pay for gold scales with how much effort it saves them. So, I expect the gold exchange rate will consistently move in one direction: a dollar will buy more and more gold over time.

-I expect a level-floor effect in the RMAH. Given the above point about the exchange rate, the $1 selling fee will represent more and more gold over time, so the cut-off level (below which even the best-itemized items can't generate enough demand to justify the $1 fee) will go up over time. Below that level they will all sell on the GAH instead.

Corollary: Blizzard will eventually realize that and either lower the selling fee or change it to 15% to match the GAH and eliminate the distortion. Otherwise the RMAH will ultimately only be used for level-60 items.

-The best-rolled items for their level will tend to recirculate on the AH as players outgrow and resell them (no soulbinding). New items will continually be generated at that level as players progress through, so the quality of the top-quality items at a given level will continue to go up, approaching a limit. There will of course be variants preferred by gold-farming, magic-finding, DPS, etc strategies.

-Early on, no-one will be experienced at item valuation so all kinds of things will be posted and find buyers. As groupthink emerges eg "crit rules all" or whatever it turns out to be, desirable items will become easier to spot by buyers and sellers alike. Anything else should be salvaged.

-Speaking of salvaging: since vendor prices don't inflate, the value of salvaging compared to vendoring items will go up over time. It may initially be worth it to vendor things in order to get hard-to-acquire gold, but once the threshold is passed there'll be no going back.

(EDIT: the first market development has been that everyone salvaged like crazy and drove Subtle Essence below the vendor price. So vendoring is king for now, just buy any mats you need for crafting. But I stand by my statement above that since vendor prices don't inflate -- and neither do the BS's crafting fees -- eventually we will pass a threshold where salvaging will be the better economic choice.)

-Leveling up artisans is a major gold sink (ie money removed from the economy). It costs ~600,000g to fully level one's Blacksmith and ~140,000g for the Jeweler. That will put a damper on inflation for a while as most players will want to build those assets for themselves. Artisans are shared across all your characters so that's a single 740,000g sink per person. Once the bulk of the player base has the artisans they want, inflation will be more pronounced as people will have higher and higher gold incomes to spend on the same things.

-The ability to take one's profits in real-world currency will create a huge incentive to buy-and-repost items between the GAH and RMAH anytime there is enough of a market difference for that item in the two AHes given the current gold exchange rate. So unless you put a really low value on your time -- or "playing the market" is sufficient fun value in and of itself -- I expect these margins will be quickly narrowed to the point where it's not worth searching for them.

-The above is a GOOD thing for people who just want to sell/buy some things and get a fair price.

What are good market strategies given an expectation of inflation?

1) Don't sit on a pile of gold without doing anything with it. If there's nothing you want to spend it on right now, buy up salvage dust as a store of value and then sell it later at an inflated gold price. (EDIT: I stand by this, too. Tidal waves of gold will come spilling from lvl-60 characters back into outfitting new low-lvls for fast playthroughs. Prices for good low lvl items will go up way higher than new players could afford with their found gold. Crafting low lvl items will become profitable, and the price of salvage dusts will rise. Meanwhile, if your bank account can afford you one fantastic item today, the same amount will get you 1/20th of a fantastic item before you know it. Don't sit on gold.)

2) Put off leveling your artisans. 740,000 looks like a mountain of gold now, but that price will look cheaper and cheaper over time as it won't inflate. Moreover, since the quality-standard for the best-itemized pieces of a given level will go up over time (as the best ones recirculate and new bests get generated), it will get rarer and rarer to randomly roll a crafted item that is worth more than the mats you spent. A far better strategy will be to buy whatever you would try to craft off the GAH for the market rate and then sell it back when you're done with it. You'll comfortably be able to outspend players who sink some of their gold into artisans.

3) Put another way: artisans are content. People will level them because it's a part of the game they want to see. If that describes you too, great! No bad vibes at all playing the way you want to play. My point is that tons of people will pursue a crafting strategy regardless of whether it is an economic win for them. Therefore the actual economic win will be in the contrarian strategy: sell salvage dust to crafters, use the profits to buy what you want of their products. (Or if there's a min Blacksmith level required to salvage per item level, only level him as required for your salvage needs.)

Quote from GladHeHasBeta

Quote from italofoca

Man you must be playing with 500 ping or something. Because hitting poison darts are pretty easy, i don't know what you're talking about. Unless Inferno monsters actually attempt to EVADE your abilities like a player would normally do, your arguments holds no merit. Anyone easilly have 99% accuracy with poison darts.

again. your basing your argument off of NORMAL MODE just like him. your argument has zero merit because like i said what works in normal has nothing to do with what will work in inferno.

I'm basing my arguments on theorycrafting + normal mode experience + information available about higher difficulties including inferno. You were saying spiders beat darts because of it's better hit likelyhood but theres no reason to believe hit likelyhood will change between difficulties.
Unless you prove somehow monsters in inferno will evade your attacks like a player would normaly do, i don't think your arguments hold any truth.

when they are obviously lacking strategic analysis. yes, i highly doubt he will get anywhere close with his way of thinking and inferno will be a nice wake up call for both of you apparently.

You're the one lacking strategic analysis once you're the one not taking damage per second and spiders horrible behavior against multiple enemies in consideration while overvaluing the accuracy discrepance of two skills while one have 100% and the other have 95% or higher.
Apparently you have secret analysis methods you refuse to share and submite to judgment by the community.

Man you must be playing with 500 ping or something. Because hitting poison darts are pretty easy, i don't know what you're talking about. Unless Inferno monsters actually attempt to EVADE your abilities like a player would normally do, your arguments holds no merit. Anyone easilly have 99% accuracy with poison darts.

And being "semi-homing" doesn't remotely compensates the fact that spiders have lower damage, have an delay before the damage fully triggers and the damage spread when theres multiple targets available, which is absolutly fucking horrible. The only situation were spiders are good is against bosses and against bosses Spliters Poison Darts are better in all possible ways.

Maybe for PVP leaping spiders will be good for ticking out HP with high accuracy skill. But in PvE damage and other properties counts more then hittability.

but sure man its cool ill let you think what you do and lulz when your wondering why your having so much trouble beating nightmare let alone getting close to the end-game.

Funny how you assume another player can't beat the game.

Most of those reasons are why im looking forward to the game...

Everytime this guy posts a video it makes me

He is partly twinked, killing mobs below his level, on normal difficulty.

Actually, come to think of it, the tale of Aidan, Leoric and the others of that family is strangely elegant in its tragedy. The sins of the father are passed down from one to the next to the next. I mean, we're dealing with three generations in the lives of a cursed family. That one retcon behind the Dark Wanderer's identity was pretty moving. That sort of ennobles the Dark Wanderer in my view.

Scotch