[Update] We’re done streaming for the night, but we’ll pick up again and play tomorrow right where we left off. We’re almost done with Act 1! It feels weird going back and playing a game with a max resolution of 1024×768. I don’t remember Diablo 2 being that old, and I don’t remember it feeling as old as it does. After playing D3, it’s hard to not look forward to a much more modern and polished experience.
Even after a few hours of D2, compared to a few hours of D3, they’re not so different. I think D3 continues the legacy quite well.
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We’ve decided to begin our journey down the Road to Diablo 3 by replaying all of Diablo 2 and the expansion pack Lord of Destruction. It’s shocking how many people still play. I checked Battle.net this morning and 30,000 people were logged in playing games. Blizzard also appears to have added some sort of respec system.
We’re going to play co-op together and stream it for your enjoyment as we kick off our ‘Co-op Summer’! We plan to play through several newer, and some older, games co-op to relive the awesome experience of playing great games.
D3 will go in the file folder with ME3 and GW2 and the rest of “OMG GREAT!” games that insist on business models designed to shake the last nickle out of my pocket.
I’m sorry but I’m done. All I can do is vote with my wallet and the more I compromise and buy a game that goes against my idea of fairness the more the publishers will continue to push it.
Is D3 a great game? I’m sure it is, like the rest. But what about KoA, and Skyrim? And Rift and TOR and even (barely anymore but still) WoW… The ones that play by the rules?
Anyways. Go ahead all of ya and play D3 and GW2 but just remember when you buy that box you’re voting for them to take more of your money, and more importantly, for them to make taking your money more a part of the gameplay experience. Have fun.
@Jim How you spend your money is your own business, of course, but I’m curious to know how you imagine you’ll need to spend more than $150 per year in the GW2 cash shop ($150 being the putative cost of a $14.99 monthly sub even with a discount for paying multiple months in advance). I’ll be surprised if I even spend the equivalent of a couple of months’ subscription in a year’s play on that game.
As for playing by the rules – there are rules? Who set those, then? And on whose authority? The only “rule” I can think of is that “they” make an offer and “we” accept it or reject it, the basic rule of trade.
I can only speak for my own circumstances, but so far the gradual drift away from a hard subscription model is saving me a fortune and my MMO gameplay experience has improved right across the board.
I played Diablo III and liked it, but can’t see the -value- in it at AU$80.
Torchlight 2 will get my money at $20. FFS they used the same voice actors.
Well I feel Jim has a point regarding D3. It is a bit greedy that Blizzard wants a cut every time you sell something. But I can live with it
I really can’t wait for D3 to come out. I need a bridge game to GW2. I really miss GW2….
@Jim via bhagpuss:
“I’m curious to know how you imagine you’ll need to spend more than $150 per year in the GW2 cash shop ($150 being the putative cost of a $14.99 monthly sub even with a discount for paying multiple months in advance).”
My sentiments exactly. ANet’s current cash shop is a reasonable model for micro-transactions; it is actually financially beneficial for my play-style so I support the box only fee wholeheartedly. My main fear is that they may not be able to generate enough income and be driven to change it to a more P2Win model later.
Imagen if they made Diablo 2 in HD on a network that pretty much stops cheating like xbox live or so.(compared to pc.. we all know the duped stuff and the bots)
That would be pure gold….
Diablo 3 looks to much like world of warcraft to me, but I might still play it if they had a seperate normal mode with out a real money auction house.
That auction house is a dealbreaker to me.
Everyone will be ninjalooting like crazy and there will be no normal trading like in D2. Meh…
I’m actually curious how far people will be able to advance without the use of buying gear with real money.
Halfway through nightmare? Complete nightmare?
I bet the rich people have fun in the highest difficulty why the common folk waits at the gates dressed like bums for the rich people to get out so they can offer their just found Phat l00t.
I don’t see a reason why anyone would EVER have to use the real money trade system. I played D1 and D2 for years, ran countless magic find runs, and never once traded any real money for anything (yes, there were/are sites to RMT for D1/D2).
D3 is not massively multiplayer — it’s a multiplayer game. You can play solo or with friends, and there are no barriers to entry that require you to spend money after the initial box purchase.
There are no gates with the rich keeping the poor out. No one can control where you go, what items you find, or how much success you have but you.
@Zyler There is no ninja-looting everyone gets their own separate drops from all the kills as long as your in the area.
During the beta several times my friend would get a drop beneficial to me while I got one that was beneficial to him so we would just trade
Ninja-looting was a big concern of mine as well buts its a non-issue with this system
I’m not a big fan of the Real Money Auction House simply because if I sell something blizzard is going to take 30% right off the top. I don’t mind the 15% hit for selling something but then another 15% for them to transfer it to a Paypal account, not to mention whatever charge Paypal / The Third Party Service takes off as well.
D3 just didn’t do it for me. In the decade since D2’s release, MMOs I think have trumped any real enjoyment I can have playing action RPGs…there’s just not enough meat on the bone for me. I have no doubt that D3 will sell in the millions and there will be folks who love it, but I was underwhelmed with D3…it felt watered down (the skill trees are laughably simplistic) and on the whole the game felt like it should have come out in 2005 rather than 2012.