I eventually modded D2 because it gets boring after a while just playing Vanilla D2. I do however like collecting "phat lewtz", so I sometimes used an item drop mod to collect shit, just for fun. I didn't really have any friends to play it online either, other than joining clans that usually sunk themselves after a while.

 

As I always say: We need an awesome DLP Diablo II party all weekend long! Booyah.

 

Not a bad idea, if I say so myself.

 

I'd be game for a d2 mod Hell Unleashed stomping, as normal D2 just doesn't cut it for me (and probably most of you) anymore. The only time I've really played D2 is when the ladder resets to remind me how awesome it is playing through the game yourself without being able to rely on dime-a-dozen high runes. And Sigon's set. ha

 

I think an awesome play through without any aid would be awesome too...

 

I just got a beta invite, will read my terms of use then if there is not an NDA, i'll update the site with cool/interesting/broken things.

 

Last beta there was no NDA. Probably isn't this time either.

 

The download for the set-up files is taking forever. I wish they had a % or a number like they do for WoW so I would know if it was frozen or how much longer it would take.

Edit: This seems to be a common problem atm.

Edit2:

First review: I'm in love. Having only played as a demon hunter 1-13, wizard 1-7, and barbarian 1-5, this may be subject to change. All of the classes feel unique and powerful, although the scaling for multiplayer feels a little off. My demon hunter with good gear could solo mobs in a 4 player game at the current end game with no issue. My wizard with crappy gear struggled to do the same. Maybe the three levels between 7 and 10 (which was when I finished the campaign solo with my demon hunter. I started playing multiplayer on my wizard at practically level 1) but it was still enjoyable.

I do not enjoy the skill railroading though. At low level you have no choice what skill to use, but they are fun enough that this is not a major complaint. There seems to be one good skill st the moment for each classes, then the other one is flavorful, by weaker. I'm looking at you bash vs. Cleave, hungerig shit vs. Slowing shit/bola and ray of frost vs arcane orb. The world itself is still a bit underdeveloped, but engaging enough I had to squint my eyes to see the plot rails.

After your first playthrough, when you are trying to hit cap (13) you basically do arcane runs, but instead you are doing the final quest over and over again. The fact you get extra experience at the end (because you get to complete whatever quest the maker of the game was on, and if it was the last one it was worth about 5k esp, and from 12 to 13 you need something likewise 35k made it feel a little grindy, but not unbearably so.

The game feels a lot like the sequel to Diablo 3, which is good. The account wide achievements are amazing, though I'm struggling to get the 20 kills in one blow, even with my demon hunter whose hatred dump, rapid fire, allows you to count everyone you kill while using it on a single skill. I've gotten up to 15 already, so I guess it is just a matter of rounding uo enough easy to kill people . The monster AI needs work though, as even the tougher mobs won't Chase you very far. It would he nice to see aggressive mobs who actively hunt you down, as has happened a few times when i tripped s triggered event (the unread like to crawl up and over chasms and walls to "sneak attack" you when there are no other mobs around.

The "spree" mechanic is frustrating. Maybe it is because I don't have the instruction booklet, but sometimes ill blow though 6-7 enemies in one rapid fire and get bonus exp for it, and other times ill take out 12 and by nothing. I've been trying to compare time to kill the two groups, but they aren't that different. Those same bonus apply with using the environment and destroying destroyable containerss, again with no apparent rhyme or reason. Also, those bonuses need to get larger faster. Killing 10 guys in 5 seconds at level 12 yielded like 35 exp, which was like, a thousandth of what I needed to level. Doing the same thing two levels before that gave me like, a hundredth of what I needed.

Sometimes, I did not even notice my exp bar go up from the bonuses. Otherwise, the levelling is fairly paced, you don't really feel stuck at a level for a log time (except at 12 to 13) because if you are by yourself, stuff will die really fast and you can move pretty quickly if you want.

The crafting system sucks a Dick. I don't mind turning my wasted blues into powder or teeth (the reagents needed) but I do mind paying my gold to craft things. Paying the artisan to train up is a massive enough gold sink that crafting itself doesn't need to be. Also, there's almost no guidance to the crafting system based on class, so I crafted a bunch of useless shoulders and chest pieces. While I can turn around and salvage them for 1 basic craft material, it feels like a waste.

The stash is nice, but fills up quickly. You have like, 10 slots and most gear takes up 2, so you can really only fit 5 pieces in there. Basically, it is best used to quickly switch gear between characters, and not long term storage like the old one was. The bright side is, you can upgrade it for 10k gold to have more space. Stuff crafts for like, 4-700 gold, and the artisan (I only have a blacksmith) upgrades for 2k up to level 1, then 4k up to level 2. I'm still working on level 2 so I have no idea how it goes up after that. So you never have a ton of gold with nothing to spend it on.

MF gear and GF gear is way more common, and gear even has the ability to increase the radius at which if you run over gold it will be picked up, which is nice. You will have to pick up gear by hand though, but because the magical items are individual, it is no big deal.

 

Got a couple disagreements with you there.

Your experience with the Wizard having a hard time killing versus the Demon Hunter is very likely the gear disparity you mentioned--- all classes are far more dependent on gear than skill/talent choices as they would have been in D2.

It's also worthwhile to note that the 'end-game' of beta is tuned for approximately level 8-9. That's why you're seeing issues with xp scaling


Crafting HAS to be a gold sink for gold to be a viable currency for the auction house. Otherwise you end up with D2 bartering all over again, which is the very situation they were trying to avoid (rapidly fluctuating prices, scams all over the place, etc).

The crafting in the game also reaches beyond the content available---you're able to train up your artisan past where it's really necessary for the beta, which is only ~1/4-1/3 of Act I.


Other than that, I generally agree.

 

I have to agree with Lokesin somewhat, as the sheer aoe ability of the Wizard made wiping out enemies a breeze, although I must admit that I didn't play in multiplayer. Frost Nova + pbaoe-Ray of Frost + Wave of Force... Whatever could survive that, and was not worth sticking around in melee afterwords, usually got several applications of Magic Missile to the face to finish them off.


As for that "20 in one blow" achievement... the "Jar of Souls" event says "hi". Although, I believe that I got it on the previous Beta round with the Monk's reasonably large aoe burst attack, and the next time with a Frost Nova + Wave of Force combo from the Wizard.(although one sustainted pbaoe-runed Ray of Frost can do it too, if you have enough enemies around you)
Hmmm, from what little I've done of the Barbarian, it shouldn't be too hard for him either if you can setup his aoe to knock out a large group. Honestly, for the levels in the Beta, I would think that the Demon Hunter and Witch Doctor would have it the hardest(WD has good aoe, but most of it is over-time damage). I never did play the Demon Hunter though, only watched my brother and a friend playing it some, so I can't say quite as well.

On a related note, I presume that you stacked +exp items during the Beta? Later on, you can already notice a diminished effect, but if you stash some high bonus hand-me-downs(+3-6 per kill) and give them to a new character... well, when you kill something at level's 1-4 and are getting +20-30 bonus exp, and it's actually more exp than the monster itself gives, it makes a massive difference. I know that I was running at around at later Beta levels with +35-40 bonus exp per kill during my attempt to reach max level.

That said, if you actually want to get all of the achievements, it would likely be worth gathering some extra gold items as well. Upgrading the Blacksmith is expensive~

Spoiler

All of the achievements and characters/stash/blacksmith-upgrades I had in the previous round of the Beta were wiped when they released the latest version of it... so really pushing for all of the achievements is probably of dubious value. That is, unless the final round of Beta somehow carries on into the game release, as far as keeping the achievements.

 

There's nothing else to spend the money on, so it doesn't hurt. It's frustrating to waste gold to no benefit though. I found out about Jar of Souls after my initial post, and I got the 20 kills in one blow with my WD. Soul Harvest for 5, then use the bat spray during the 4 pillars before the Black King fight. After you get soul harvest, WD becomes very powerful.

 

So apparently I need to check my email a hell of a lot more often, I just found out Im in the beta for this and the new WoW expansion so when they finish installing Ill try and post some thoughts.

 

Wow, ok, I'm quite jealous about that. :/

Do you even have an active WoW account?

 

Yep, I do. I haven't gotten to play much lately for personal reasons but I have three 85's I still mess around on when I can.

 

MoP's beta is buggy as hell atm, you're not missing much, especially if you're Horde.

Monk is pretty cool though.


D3's what I expected it to be. But I also expect it to be just as grindy as d2 except now I have so many gaming alternatives that I don't see myself enjoying it nearly as much.

 

I'm honestly hoping to get into it in a few months. When they beta test raids etc.

 

Hey, anyone still interested in that awesome DLP Diablo II party HoS mention a month back? I think that would be pretty awesome, especially to relieve stress after exams...

Also, who is interested in partying up for DIII? A full team would be pretty sweet.

Finally, what do you plan on using as your first hero? I'm thinking Wizard or Demon Hunter.

 

I will be a female demon hunter. 'cause tits

 

After exams I'm still up for the game

 

Awesome.

And Anarchy, tits are indeed a good judge of who to play. Although, that female barbarian looks pretty good...