re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

Installed and played no problem last night from 8-10PM EST. Played with 2 friends that I played Diablo 2 with back in the day, and had a blast.

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

I played about 3 hours last night. I was lucky I guess. I did try co-op once and decided to leave the game after a few minutes. When I tried to go back into the single player I kept getting some error about "party members" and it wouldn't let me in. Then after a while I just got the Error 33 Server busy, which was fine, I was fixing to go to bed anyway.


Awesome game if they can get all of the server bugs fixed.

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

i didn't have any problems either playing on the east coast.
i'm confused about the public game. how do you create your own private game with just you and your friends? There's only 1 button - public games and that brings you automatically into a game with random people.

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

TirMcDohl#1669

I only had time to play through the first mission. No issues with connectivity.

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

That is a lot of travel for a video game.

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

noob question about the barbarian. i have a dual wielded most of my time so far. if i have a shield equipped do I have to block manually with it or do i just take less damage automatically?

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

Block happens automatically.

I have a question about the Witch Doctor if anyone is using one. I can't figure out how to use my equipped weapon. The mouse buttons map to magic skills and I have no idea how to change it. Any ideas? The only time I was able to use a weapon was before I unlocked magic skills.

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

where do i go to find my "battletag". i named my Barbarian "GreyWolfSif", is that it?

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

The short answer is: you don't (unless you run out of mana). Instead, your skills are modified by your weapon. Hold control while hovering over a skill for details on how it works.That's your character's name. Your battletag is associated with your whole account. To find it click the social button and then click "Add Friend" and it'll show it to you.

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

i just went to battle.net and found it I think -- "GreyWolfSif#1556"

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

Finally got this to run somewhat smooth on my macbook. I dropped the foreground fps from 150 to 100 and it made a big difference. I was even able to bump the resolution from the bare minimum.

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

I don't think you can. Most (all?) classes don't actually do a default attack. The only thing a Witch Doctor's weapon would be used for is to calculate their skill damage, and for other stats.

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

Is it more satisfying playing the Barbarian so that you can actually see your character actually use the weapons you pick up?

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

I dunno, I'm having a blast playing the Witch Doctor. I'm digging those toads that you can throw out. He can dish out some pretty awesome AOE damage. Honestly it hasn't bothered me at all not having a need to do a normal attack, actually its more fun without it.

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

I would say no. In fact the witch doctor is amazing. He has a good attack...his summoned animals keeps enemies from attacking you...and his slow spell is easier to use than the traps the demon hunter has....of the three classes I have used it is my favorite so far.


Just to be clear...weapons DPS raises every spell you have in the game. It is the base of all your spells. (even though this makes NO sense) The Demon Hunter needs to actually have a bow to use some of their spells. I think this is only class that lets you equip some weapons that do not work with their spells...

As said above, shields add to your armor automatically. If you are confused about using two weapons for a monk or barbarian...it works like this. You add the two dps of each weapon, divide by 2 and then times it by your attack per second number, which you can find under your stats. So I was doing about 15% more damage with two weapons...worth it to me since Diablo is all about the dps.

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

D2 had a single player mode with characters that you couldn't use on bnet. You could only use it for tcp/ip and single player. I want to say local too but I don't remember if D2 had that.

I remember having to download a trainer in Diablo 1 so the cheaters couldn't kill me anymore. I lost way too many ears.

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

Yes, but their infrastructure is completely different for Diablo 3. Mobs and their loot tables are stored on the servers, along with many other things. They did this for a reason. They want to try to obfuscate stuff as much as possible to avoid having the hacking and duping issues that Diablo 1/2 had. So even if they wanted to have an offline mode, they'd have to recode a lot of stuff. I understand people's frustration in this, but I also understand Blizzard's reasons for doing it this way (piracy and hackers, basically).

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

Thanks for the opinions. I played the Witch Doctor in the beta and found it pretty fun (since, of course, I play one in real life). I just thought it was weird that he'd grab a broadsword and then blow darts at people. I guess I'll just have to get over that.

Man, I love New Egg's free shipping. They sent out my copy of Diablo from Baldwin Park CA ysterday at 5:30 PM, and it's sitting on my desk before lunch. Sweet!

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

I have to correct my above post...using two weapons increases your aps by 15% only..not 50%

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

I'll be on tonight. Quake1028#1224, rolling a wizard. Gave up last night and went to bed.

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

My initial impressions of Diablo 3:


So, the elephant in the room – Yes, you have to be online to play Diablo III even if you’re going solo. However, despite all the people who have complained about the launch issues in the first 24-48 hours of release, that stuff was to be expected and really, the way they have implemented the online functionality is genius.


I usually have terrible latency at my house in the evenings, and that really keeps me away from playing games like Counter-Strike, where having good latency is truly key. Such a game depends on information going back and forth continuously without any issue, and there’s usually multiple ‘hops’ from one location to the next, meaning there could be information lost along the way no matter how good your in-home connection might be anyway.


However, in Diablo III, you really don't have to wait for information to continuously come back to your end. Blizzard just monitors the information your PC sends them, no matter what the latency looks like… and as long as they don’t see anything bad that makes you appear to be hacking, your gameplay is uninterrupted. It’s just YOU sending information pretty much, and that’s it. It’s pretty awesome. Multiplayer isn’t something I’ve tried yet though, and I don’t intend to until I get a bit further in the game and build my character up, which is the Barbarian. Really though, during the hour and a half I spent playing solo last night, my game rarely had any hiccups at all. There were a couple of brief moments where my character had ‘rubber banded’ due to some lag, but Blizzard WAS experiencing a tough first day on their server end.


Anyway, I find this game to be superior to Diablo II in pretty much every way… but how you will feel depends on your own personal preferences. Me, I'm a gamer that doesn't like to be taken out of the action too much to micro-manage everything, and I don't have a ton of time. So...


Everything in this game has been streamlined – Meaning when I level up, I no longer have to assign attribute points to strength or stamina or health or the like… the game does that automatically for me so I don’t have to. I always hated having to do that… my time for games on a daily basis is rather limited, so nothing used to irk me more than to get halfway through a game and hit a brick wall, just because I didn’t use my attribute points correctly. No, the only thing I have to do along the way is choose the special skills I want my fella to use in order to cause serious damage to the bad guys, or to quickly get himself out of the middle of a mob of baddies.


No longer are outdoor areas big blocky generic looking fields that are easy to get lost in. That was my main complaint about the first Diablo – Everything looked the same, inside and out. Diablo II improved on this greatly, but it was still pretty generic on any given ‘level’. Diablo III on the other hand, has made many areas seem unique and more shapely. There’s still the element of exploration in any given part of the map, but it doesn’t feel as daunting or disorienting. It’s much easier to navigate. Also, the map system is drastically improved. Before, you’d have to hit the ‘Tab’ button to pull the map up, overlaying the entire screen while you play. Now, the map is in the corner of the screen at all times and isn’t obtrusive at all… although you can stil lpull up a map by pressing ‘M’ if you want to get a view that’s not as immediate. Anyway, I absolutely loved the atmosphere in any place I’ve visited thus far – The dimly, candlelit lower levels of a cathedral, the foggy moonlit cemeteries, the dank caves to explore… it’s all been a MUCH more rewarding experience than in prior games.


Of course, it’s the gameplay that’s the most important, and the pacing is designed this time around so you don’t have to spend half of your time messing around with item menus and whatnot. Before, you used to have to use health vials like crazy, and fighting vs maintaining your health really seemed to take away from the feeling that you were actually battling some bad little ghouls or demons. Now, health orbs are dropped rather liberally, meaning the more effective you are at destroying your foes, the better off your health will be. I like this ‘reward’ system for health, as well as for your magic/mana… it’s now ‘fury’, at least for the Barbarian, and with each hit on an enemy it increases. The attacks are ferocious – It’s very satisfying to see the bad guys fly across the screen, and with the changes mentioned, you always feel like you’re in the thick of it and not really distracted with micro-managing other aspects of the game. New enemies are introduced all the time to keep the game interesting and to keep you on your toes.


So far, Diablo III is a great game for casual gamers like myself that don’t have 6 hours a day to play. It’s easily accessible to anyone and for that, it’s WAY more fun. Well done Blizzard, well done.

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

Anyone have a guest pass they are not using? My daughter would like to try it out.

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

Pretty certain that isn't true. There are many times I've seen issues with rubber-banding, and lag can cause mobs to not move/attack. There is definitely a good deal of 2-way communication going on with Blizzard's servers.

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

Yeah, comparing it to an FPS is a little unfair, and a lot of rpgs these days have auto level options (just most people want to obsess over it themselves). But I'm glad that you can enjoy it as a casual fan, hopefully it appeals to both casual and hardcore, especially as you get further into the game. I'll find out tomorrow, when I finally have time to play again... :)

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

you still need it? I have one if you want it still. Let me know.

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

my buddy was all excited. he found someone that posted some zip file on the Blizzard forum to help fix his problem. he downloads it and it allows him to finally download all the files. he was all excited. but then he realized that it won't install anything for him. i keep giving him shit about it, which is only causing him more frustration. it's so awesome. rotfl

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

I think it has more to do with item randomization than anything. I've never rubber banded just walking around... only in battle. And that lag causing mobs not to move or attack only happened to me during the open beta when their servers were getting decimated, despite controlling how many concurrent users were able to be logged on at a single time.

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

Yes, if you still have it.

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

Apparently I have to ditch work to play this game, as the servers NEVER work after 5pm!

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

Looks like I'll be back in Asia tonight. Last night Americans outnumbered Asians on that server 10:1. :lol:

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

fuck...down again...wtf

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

I must admit it. I am starting to enjoy this error 37 mini game they are giving us instead of Diablo 3.

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

I got on, but I would not recommend playing it when your internet is tethered from your cell phone.

I guess, all things considered, it performed admirably, but I won't do it again until I can get an LTE signal at work.

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

GRRR..I wake up to check my auction items and server is down again.

Anyone else use the auction house? There are a lot of overpriced items, but if you search you can get great gear. What I did was set the level of the items to my level, and the buy out price to 1000. I was able to find some items that would cost more to forge. In fact these items would run for 4000 bucks at merchants, but I was able to get them for 500-850 bucks.

On top of that I have been making a lot of money. You can only have 10 items up at a time, but they sell fast if you know how to list them. Those people asking 50000 bucks for items are stupid. If you sell a magical item to a merchant you might get 100-150 gold. If you put it up on the auction house you can put a buyout price of 850 or so, and because so many people are asking so much, it gets bought up quick. I was able to empty my 10 item limit twice in about an hour, giving me around 15,000 extra gold.

I know you need to break down magical items to build better stuff, but all the gear I can make right now is WAY higher level than me, so this seems to be the best way to make money and get good gear as long as you set that buyout limit to under 1500. Really if you keep refreshing I have found better items listed for 800 gold than those listed for 10000.

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

i got somemore playtime in last night and I am loving the game. For some reason last night I was able to play the game at higher settings, it was very choppy the night before when I tried that. It must have been the server, I was running the game at almost the highest setting and it was smooth as butter. however, probably later in the game when things are more hectic and I am playing with 4 other players I will probably have to turn them down.

My main character is my Barbarian which is level 11 right now. I have finished the first act...I think...I beat the skeleton king and I have found the first piece of that sword.

I decided to start another character because I was interested in seeing how I liked a ranged fighter. I chose the witch doctor and he is cool as hell. I got him to level 4 I think before I went to bed. His attacks are very interesting and awesome to look at so far. Those hands coming out of the ground is awesome looking and the fire bats kick ass. He will be a good support player in MP I think.

The voice acting is absolutely incredible. Whoever acts for the witch doctor is superb. This is my first Diablo game so I am a little lost storywise, but so far I am impressed

Just when I think the game is dull graphically wise, I enter an area with some color and I am very impressed. The bottom line is the game kicks ass, I wish I had more time to play it. Please add me as a friend (GreyWolfSif#1556), I don't have a headset for my laptop right now, so i will have to text chat.

Also, since I got the boxed version -- i have 3 Diablo 3 guest passes and 1 guest pass for World of Warcraft. If anyone needs one PM me. I will try to send it to you tonight

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

Wow, the version you're playing makes you pay 4000 dollars for items? I'm glad I didn't get that version. Mine only makes me pay gold :P

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

How long is the first act? I just started to find the pieces of the sword. Is the act over after I find all of them?

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

I thought I beat the first act when i took out the skeleton king. glad i am wrong, the more game the better

re: Diablo III + Reaper of Souls (multi-platform)
 

I am hoping this is different than the first 2 in that you dont have the 6 quests per Act, wash, rinse, repeat. Of course once I get up to Nightmare or Hell difficulty I may change my tune.