DiabloFans

Quote from TheDFO

Quote from Tuskrat

The "always online" DRM that game companies seem to be pushing will hurt the industry if it is not used on the correct type of game. MMO's are a great place to use an "always online" DRM system because the internet is required for gameplay. However, consoles don't really have popular MMO's, but mostly multiplayer or single player. As an example, Diablo III was a poor choice for that same type of "always online" DRM because.... internet connectivity is not required for the single player component of the game. Case in point:

• If my internet connection is poor because I am stationed in Afghanistan, then I am now unable to log in and play the single player version of Diablo III.

The absurd amount of units D3 would beg to differ. Steam sales would beg to differ (yes, I know it technically has an offline mode, but it's crap, AND all the sales it gets from straight downloading.

I'm not sure that box sales for D3 or Steam are fair comparisons here. For example, I know it's been brought up many times before, but initial sales and current player base are two very different numbers for D3. Additionally, the PS3 and Xbox console markets are vastly different than the PC gaming market. What may work for the Steam community may be a jarring experience for PS4 and Xbox 720 market.

Quote from overneathe

Quote from Xenocow

All this dipshit i already got on my PC, so why would i need it ?

Exclusives and cross game friend lists. No other reason.

To me, a friend's list isn't worth more than the convenience of actually playing a game with my friends. Let's take this example:

• My friend lives 3 hours away, and gaming is one of the ways we stay in touch after college.
• My friend has an Xbox, and I have an Xbox.
• I get game A, but my friend doesn't have game A.
• Game A has a vibrant co-op campaign.
• When I visit my friend, I want to play the co-op of game A with him.

Here's how it would currently play out:

• I bring only the disc of game A to my friend's house. We plop it in his Xbox, and jam out in co-op together.

From the sound of the article, here's how it would play out with the new DRM system:

• Option #1 - My friend now has to purchase game A, link to his Xbox account, and then we can play together via Xbox live.
• Option #2 - I bring my disc for game A and my linked Xbox to my friend's house, and we play the cool co-op together.

Now, playing a simple console game with my friend will become more cumbersome or expensive. This is an unnecessary aggravation.

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The "always online" DRM that game companies seem to be pushing will hurt the industry if it is not used on the correct type of game. MMO's are a great place to use an "always online" DRM system because the internet is required for gameplay. However, consoles don't really have popular MMO's, but mostly multiplayer or single player. As an example, Diablo III was a poor choice for that same type of "always online" DRM because.... internet connectivity is not required for the single player component of the game. Case in point:

• If my internet connection is poor because I am stationed in Afghanistan, then I am now unable to log in and play the single player version of Diablo III.

This leads to a discussion of internet infrastructure not being where it needs to be, and yadda yadda yadda. More importantly, it leads to unnecessary game purchases. Not every game is like a movie ticket, you don't buy a personal copy for a joint experience. Back to the example, one person buys the game for a joint experience. This would be much more difficult on the proposed "always online" DRM system for consoles.

DRM systems are great for security and anti piracy, but work best in industries that create or promote other industries (Game development software, Maya, Adobe products, Microsoft Office, etc). There are many types of DRM systems, and many reasons for each type of system. Regardless, most DRM systems work well in these industry-creating-industries because the products are not meant to be enjoyed, but rather just used.

Inversly, in the gaming industry, your business will thrive or dive depending on the level of entertainment a customer experiences while using your product. If I play Dead Space 3 and love the co-op, then huzzah, you've gained a new customer or two! However, if I play Dead Space 3 and I am aggravated by the micro-transactions at every step, then bummer, you've lost a customer! The cost of doing business in the entertainment industry is not necessarily money, but rather the entertainment factor of your product (because it determines the amount of money you make).

It's rather tiresome to see companies constantly trying to balance how many deterrent features they can add to a game before it reduces the amount of customer satisfaction a product has. It is as if they created a semi-polished game like D3, and a creative gent comes up with the idea to have a RMAH. Well, if you have that then you have to have some type of security to prevent duping, so DRM "always online" is introduced. Here's another example: let's suppose that you work at EA and have a great game like Sim City 5. You have a near finished game in company hands, but you decide that you should toss in DRM because you want to prevent the unauthorized use of Sim City 5... That later spirals into a PR nightmare. DRM "always online" is meant to prevent loss. However, I believe that it creates as much loss as it prevents.

Instead, companies need to go back to the roots of video games: entertainment and quality. I'd wager that If companies made stellar games that people grow to love and cherish, they will make more money than a decent game with DRM... I will never understand the need to introduce elements into a game that invariably reduce the overall experience of the final product.

Side note: I don't think advances in social interaction in games should be a selling point for "always online" DRM used on a console. Advances in social interaction should be done anyway. We shouldn't be asked to put up with things that detract from our regular gameplay experience in order to have those advances.



Tl;Dr : Things that are sold as entertainment products should not have DRM systems that require "always online" mode if it removes a layer of convenience, prevents proper enjoyment of the product, or makes the product more expensive.

Battle.net Desktop App

• RegionSelectionTooltip_App - Region selection is disabled when Diablo III is launched from the Battle.net Desktop app.

Am I the only one that noticed this and thought of the Steam app or Origin app? Is this indeed what this is?



Edit: just saw something about this on mmo-champion. Here it is for those that are curious:

Battle.net Desktop App
Something interesting showed up in tonight's Diablo III Patch 1.0.7 PTR datamining. One of the new client strings was "Region selection is disabled when Diablo III is launched from the Battle.net Desktop app." In addition to this, the Battle.net Producer job opening had a new line added to it somewhat recently: "Battle.net App – developing the next-generation Battle.net desktop client."

In this guide, I will show you the basics of how to survive in Hardcore as a Witch Doctor. Additionally, this guide will take things a step further by showing you a build that will make you immortal. In short, I will discuss the dangers of hardcore, the ideological the strategies behind this build, and the specific advantages that a Witch Doctor has in succeeding in hardcore.

1. Know Your Enemy


After playing softcore since release, I’ve found that Netflix and farming go hand in hand. Sometimes, I even get bored with playing because of the lack of danger, variation, and competition. So, I started a hardcore character and quickly learned that it was not the same. I was not prepared for the butt-clenching journey ahead for me and my voodoo mon!

Essentially, hardcore is more difficult than softcore because there are fewer players at max level. This leads to less total gold in circulation and less items in circulation. It feels very much like Inferno when D3 first launched. You are fighting for your very life with each elite pack, and you can’t buy your way to success using the AH because of the limited selection and currency.

In order to survive in hardcore, you must understand the most common ways that HC characters die:

1. Character was rooted in damaging AOE
2. Character was one shot by enemy power attack and unable to dodge (because of terrain, mob clutter, fear, etc)
3. Lag spikes
4. Disconnected from the internet

Understanding these common methods of death for HC characters, we can develop a very cost effective build that will keep your WD alive. First, we need to examine the current methods of reducing damage (mitigation):

• Pro-Active Mitigation: This would consist of stats like Armor and All Resistance on your gear. The premise behind these types of stats is that they provide a pro-active shield that will prevent incoming damage from harming your character. Technically speaking, Armor reduces incoming damage before it reaches your All-Resist stats; so, they work very well together and do almost the same thing in terms of reduction. Armor is generic damage reduction, and resistances can be specific to a school of magic (fire, cold, arcane, etc.).
• Re-Active Mitigation: This would be comprised of stats like Life-On-Hit, Lifesteal, and Life Regeneration. The idea is that for every point of damage that can’t be prevented, re-active mitigation can heal the character back for the remainder of the damage dealt.
• Using both pro-active mitigation and re-active mitigation, a character can drastically increase their overall effective chances for survival.

Therefore, the ideal WD build designed to survive hardcore would involve using reactive mitigation and proactive mitigation in unison in order to overcome the most common causes of Hardcore character death.

2. Know Yourself


The basic tenants of this WD build involve two passives, two active abilities, and one singular goal in your gear choices. Let’s discuss the core passive for this build:

• The passives Blood Ritual will allow a WD to regenerate 1% of their maximum health.

With this passive, a WD could obtain large amounts of HP which would give them large amounts of life regeneration (LR). Instead of buying gear with LR, a WD can skip that stat slot on their gear in order to make room for more DPS stats or pro-active mitigation stats. Or, a WD can acquire massive amounts of LR in order to become truly immortal!



But, why bother taking hits as a WD when you can let your pets do that for you? Division of Labor FTW! Now it’s time to discuss the active skills required for this build:

• Gargantuan: You aren't really a true Doctor until you have your first patient. This big fella will absolutely tank the crap out of any mob that you encounter. He has a ton of health, and with the right glyph, he can even do significant damage to your foes. The only glyph that you should NOT choose for this build is the Wrathful Protector glyph, as it prevents the Gargantuan from being up 100% of the time.
• Zombie Dogs: Sometimes, your Gargantuan needs a little help. I highly suggest using Zombie Dogs in addition to your Gargantuan as they provide some relief for your Gargantuan when dealing with large groups of mobs. I glyph my dogs for Life Link or Final Gift. You may want to choose Leeching Beasts as a glyph, but the damage they do is hardly noticeable, so they don’t heal you for much.
• Spirit Walk: I consider this a must for Hardcore, honestly. You can get out of every tight situation with ease using this ability. It's far superior to what any other class has in terms of escape abilities.

However, when using pets to tank, sometimes the damage on pets is fairly high at the end of Hell and into Inferno, so now we need to add in the next passive:

• Fierce Loyalty will transfer a WD’s life regen to their pets, allowing them to survive even the most vicious of enemy attacks.
• Additionally, I would use the passive Spirit Vessel. Like Spirit Walk, I think that this is a must have for Hardcore. You are the only class who can actually “die” and live from it. No other class gets an ability like this!

With these passives, a WD and their pets can be almost un-killable in Inferno. As far as your other abilities, that is entirely up to your discretion. I personally use Fire Bomb as my main attack, with Zombie Bears as my nuke. I use Haunt for single target fights in my 4^th ability slot. Basically, make sure you have one resource neutral attack (like fire-bombs), and two resource spenders (like zombie bears and haunt).




With this build, your main sources of LR come from your health pool. The higher the HP, the more reactive mitigation you and all of your pets have. You should prioritize your gear with the following list of stats in order of importance:

1. Intellect
2. Vitality
3. %life
4. Mitigation
• All Resistance (don't forget, this works for your pets too!)
• Armor (this works for pets too!)
• Health From Globes
• Pickup Radius
• Life Regeneration

5. Regular DPS stats like CC (Crit Chance), IAS (Increased Attack Speed), and CD (increased Critical hit Damage).

These different stats are listed in order of importance. You obviously want a lot of Intellect for DPS reasons. More importantly, you want a significant amount of HP for this build to work well. Simply put: the more HP you acquire, the easier everything becomes.

Here are some helpful tips with gearing your WD in hardcore:

1. Only use helms with sockets in them, and use a %Life Gem in that socket.
2. Only use a weapon with a socket, and use a Red Gem while leveling. Switch to a Green Gem when your crit chance is over 20%, or use a Purple Gem for Life-On-Hit.
3. Try to get Movement speed on your boots. Very handy when running from enemies.
4. Early on, get average damage on your rings and amulets for huge increases to DPS.
5. Rings, helmets, and amulets are easier places to get %life on them

3. Know Your Limits


Let’s get down to brass tacks here and throw around some specifics. When you step foot into Inferno, you want to have around 50k HP. I was able to do this without EVER using the AH. It’s extremely easy to do, and affordable with crafting and salvaging. You want to have at least 10k DPS before you attempt Inferno Butcher, but 20k DPS will make the fight trivial. Before you get too far into inferno, you should at least have 1200 life regen, some sort of life on hit (or LS), and your resistances should be around 600 or so.

In short, here are your goals before attempting to progress in Hardcore Inferno:

1. 50k HP
2. 20k DPS
3. 1200 LR (+LoH or LS)
4. 600 AR

Your play style should be fairly passive. Let your pets take the hits for you, while you sit back and shoot things from a distance. If you end up almost dying and proccing your spirit vessel, just run away. Run to where there are no mobs, and wait until your Spirit Vessel is off of cooldown.

Again, don’t be afraid to run. If you doubt your abilities, just run. It’s not worth dying over!

Once you reach these goals: spirits be wit’ ya on!

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Edit: Here is a picture of my recent completion of Hardcore Inferno using this build:


(Click picture for a larger view)


Also, here is a link to my WD that I used.

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Edit #1: Further clarified a few points.
Edit #2: Added header image.
Edit #3. Further clarified a few things, added an image, and added a link to my WD as proof of concept.

This thread is discouraging to me. I never get good hellfire rings!

I've never heard of anyone getting banned for using this. Not really my favorite look, but looks really neat either way.

This layout is much smoother than the current. I know this would be a lot of back-end coding... but I hope this happens someday!

This game is fun, if you play hardcore, or play softcore with netflix in the background. Definitely more fun with friends.

This thing is awesome. Where has this been my whole D3 life?

Quote from overneathe

That is.... I need it. It's awesome and amazing and cool.

Is there room for suggestions? If so here are mine:
Monk fists getting a "shine" every few seconds or so.
Witch Doctor staff having "souls" flowing upwards from it.

That's just in case you want to go ver. 2 on it. But otherwise it's incredibly awesome already.

Holy crap that WD idea is sick!! I need to try to make that. Thanks for the suggestions.

Hey, Do you know that really awesome art by Wei Wang with all of the classes in it (for heroes rise darkness fall)? Well, I turned that into an animated, looping wallpaper for my brother. I figured that I would share it here for others to enjoy!

You can find it here: youtube.com/watch?v=Rvq0_0MzSXY&feature=plcp

Note: There is instructions on the youtube page for the video for how to use the video as your own background.