My critique of Diablo III.

[lonewolfkai]

I thought Dragon's Dogma was console only....

 

For D3, that's too bad. I've been tempted several times to buy the game since I really liked D1 and D2. In fact, I still have my account as active for D2.

[Beriallord]

I thought Dragon's Dogma was console only....

 

For D3, that's too bad. I've been tempted several times to buy the game since I really liked D1 and D2. In fact, I still have my account as active for D2.

 

Diablo II is a far superior game. Despite its downsides. But at least you aren't forced into being subject to Blizzards crappy server stability, which is by far the worst I've ever seen for any online game. They worked on this game for 8 years, they got no excuses, if they weren't adequately prepared, then someone, or a whole bunch of people at Blizzard aren't doing their jobs and need to be fired.

[lonewolfkai]

Well, I'm actually okay with the server instability because that won't last forever. I pre-ordered D2 and when it went live server instability was seen with that game as well. It eventually got worked out. No, my biggest concern is the gameplay itself, and you've pretty much got that covered. And honestly, I don't see a class that really appeals to me all that much. Oh well.

[Beriallord]

Well, I'm actually okay with the server instability because that won't last forever. I pre-ordered D2 and when it went live server instability was seen with that game as well. It eventually got worked out. No, my biggest concern is the gameplay itself, and you've pretty much got that covered. And honestly, I don't see a class that really appeals to me all that much. Oh well.

 

I like the classes better in D2, as well as the game play. I liked Necromancer, Druid and Paladin in D2, and they don't have anything that plays similar to either. Monk and Witch Doctor appear to be similar in style to Paladin and Necromancer, but they don't play similar. Honestly I thought Necromancer had a far superior skill/ability set to Witchdoctor. And they got nothing similar in any way to Druid. But they will likely add something with a future expansion. I liked my elemental Druid in Diablo II, wasn't the best class in any thing in particular, but he was fun to play. Fun is very important, its something I didn't have too often in Diablo III. Some have asked me why I played the game if it wasn't any fun? Because it was addicting. Its possible some people confuse fun with addicting. I'm a pack a day smoker, and I don't do it because I enjoy it. Gaming addiction can work in a similar way.

 

Diablo III is more like World of Warcraft than Diablo II. It seems after being that successful with WoW, that any MMO game they make in the future is going to be similar. Not everyone likes WoW. I wanted a Diablo III not a "World of Diablocraft".

Edited June 5, 2012 by Beriallord

[lonewolfkai]

That was my favorite classes too. Necromancer (summoner in my case) was the one I ended up playing the most. Paladin and Werewolf Druid were the next.

[hoofhearted4]

lol im playing a summon necro and a javazon in D2 atm, necro is solo and javazon is with a friend.

[Vagrant0]

Torchlight 2 is looking to be the spiritual successor of the genre. From what I've seen of it, the combat is once again more engaging and fun, the story is fairly solid, the town stuff is somewhat interactive, and each class has its own distinct personality. The skill system and customization looks to be about the same as the first torchlight game, which can be good or bad depending on your experiences.

 

 

 

Another one to try might be Path of Exile.

http://www.pathofexile.com/

 

It's currently in Beta, but seems to have both a darker vibe and an exceedingly complex character customization thing going for it. The combat is about on the level of D2 though from what I've seen of videos... Somewhat clunky, but still meaty and visceral at times.

[Halororor]

I love Diablo 3 so far, but I have one major criticism.

 

The auction house obviously provides an incredible service to allow for very easy trades between characters, and essentially blows out the wide range of items you could have available to you at any one time. So, in fact, the AH has to be a factor in how we drop items. On one hand you have a huge benefit because you can buy and sell items very easily, as opposed to having to post up WTS threads in the old USEast trading forums, but on the other end it does impact the item pool economy with the inherent ease at which you can trade items. If the AH existed but wasn't a factor at all into how items dropped/rolled, the economy would be completely tanked within a matter of weeks.

 

So, in other words, items are dropped according to their availability on the AH, meaning that if a lot are available on the AH, they won't drop. Expect loot drops to get continuously worse as time goes by, and expect to be forced to pay those ridiculous prices people charge for items on the AH.

 

It's pretty much ruining the experience for me. It's really frustrating beyond all hell being level 21, beating a boss and having the best item she drops be a level 8 belt.

[Vindekarr]

Just tried the latest patch-it's yet another step backwards. Balance has been made worse by the tiny minority of PVPers whining about a variety of classes, especialy the already useless monk, which is now EVEN WORSE. Significant changes have been made behind the scenes ton smooth-out the game's infrastructure but TBH it's even laggier and more broken than before. After playing Dragon's Dogma earlier in the day, then logging in D3, all I could think seeing D3 again after they FINALLY revived the Asian server was "good grief, what is this garbage I'm playing" I only managed about 5 minutes before I pulled the plug, uninstalled the game, and went back to greener pastures.

 

Guys, really, if you haven't bought Diablo 3 yet, for the sake of all that your religion finds holy/the sake of science, DO NOT PLAY IT! You'll have nighmares for weeks afterwoulds, and not because it's scary... Eight years of devtime for a game that feels about on-par with the original Torchlight. Epic epic fail.

[Vagrant0]

Eight years of devtime for a game that feels about on-par with the original Torchlight. Epic epic fail.

I think that might be pushing things a bit. The original Torchlight may not be so great in the difficulty aspect, but it's more stable than D3 and most of what I've heard and seen from people playing it suggests that the game is really lacking much of a rewarding feeling: Loot is usually "meh" and most combat boils down to doing insane amounts of damage before a being one hit killed regardless of class...

 

Any game where the tank/melee class can't sit there and take a reasonable beating at higher levels is a game where something is very broken with the mechanics. And no, dodge chance doesn't count since that just randomizes the point where the insta-kill happens. Difficulty like that isn't difficulty, it's just a different form of masochism. Real difficulty comes from being a tank class and having to swap around skills, balance durations, and juggle potions in order to win. Too much glass cannon, and a game just lacks that aspect of player skill. Of all the times I ran thorough Diablo 2 bosses, the most memorable were those ones where I didn't just skill spam the boss to death from a safe distance. That feeling is still there in Torchlight (playing through it again in modded difficulty), if however limited by difficulty, but I just don't see it in D3.