05-17-2012, 12:53 PM
I'm not far enough in to speak a lot about it. I've currently only got 2 toons, an L10 softcore witch doctor and an L24 hardcore witchdoctor. I want to play all the classes of course, but rolling the 10 sided die selected witch doctor for me. 
Group play is more enjoyable than it was in D2. D2 group play tended to be 4+ players soloing in the same game, people intentionally going to places other folks weren't to get their loot. The change to the drops has eliminated much of that. You may not need to tackle things together in multi because even with scaling you are powerful enough, but there isn't active incentive to avoid the other people like D2, there isn't fear of loot ninjas. This is a big deal, and I think it's going to change the dynamics of PuG play too (which I've done a little of too).
As has been stated the general feel is more like D1 than D2. I think the world is smaller than D2. Sure there are open areas, but things feel closer in than they did in D2. Sure there are plenty of set pathways that help with this, but even in the fields and such, there are more natural obstacles. Perhaps it's the abundance of events that helps with this. You just don't seem to have to need to travel as far before you find something (a champion back, an elite, a neat event). I remember some of the Act 2 areas in D2 where it felt like FOREVER between anything of real interest and you were just trying to get through the massive square dessert to the next WP. In D3 I want to wander around and find the events.
That might be something that helps too. D3 is not squared. D2 was, and the only levels that really weren't were in Act 3 and they had their own issues. D3 isn't square. D1 was square too, but the tile based nature, and the setting of being underground made that feel fine. D3 also uses the 3D terrain fairly effectively. The heavy and chunky nature of the environments works nicely too. I'm still not the biggest fan of the water color artwork feel, but since it is very internally consistent and the rest of the atmospheric elements are heavy/chunky/dark/gothic it makes the overall feel work, and ties it to D1 much better.
While I want to be able to have more skills available than just the 6 slots, they have so far made it work for that to act as builds. I'm not missing the skill trees. I'm happy that I don't have to plan out builds before I play, but that I still can plan them out. The frustration in not being able to have more skills is balanced by the fun of being able to create a unique playstyle based on the choices you make. This again "feels" more like D1 than D2 for me. You really couldn't have builds in D1 because you didn't really know what spells you were going to find. Drops could really determine what you could do, how you had to play, though you had some control over this with stats. D3 isn't the same and the class I've played the most is less affected by it, but I could see a barb or monk changing which skills they favor based on drops. It just feels more like D1 but with the ability to redo choices, you can't mislick, even if you put something in a socket and find something else you want to use that gem for want a different gem in that socket you can. This isn't really softening things up, or dumbing it down like it may seem from the outside. It really just enables more choices. Maybe that is because I'm playing hardcore and I know that everything I have can still be ultimately lost, but I don't have to mule off stuff that I want to keep in case that happens. Being able to pull a gem out of a socket just means I don't have to farm up another one, and that I can instantly use that socket and not feel like I'm "wasting" something.
I very much enjoy how gold still feels valuable. Of course for me, it felt valuable in D2 and D1 as well (D1 because it took inventory space and had a natural limit (even with piles of it on the ground, bugs/crashes/whatever could eat it) but I used it to gamble in both games. In D2 it was actual gambling. In D1 it was a fair bit of resetting Wirt (and at times Gris) to try and buy something I wanted. In D3 it's to be able to pay for crafts, trying to not roll monk gear when I make stuff. Now when I get start playing another toon, some of the gold stress will go away because I won't be expanding the stash or leveling the smith/jeweler, but I'll also have more crafting mats and spending more on trying to get that right item.
On that topic too, so far there has been a good balance of drops and crafts being good. I get excited when I see a yellow, I still check out the blues because they can beat crafts. Some of this will also lessen with the next toon because I will have more gear sitting waiting for them, but the quest for something better I think will always be there.
While boss fights are certainly less complex than they were in something like WoW, compared to D1 and D2 there is more to them and while I've felt powerful enough in normal that things have ended quickly enough, I've seen some mechanics that make me worry for higher difficulties and I will definitely have a different skill set up for some of those to try and make sure I don't get stuck somewhere I don't want to be.
So yes while I'm offering impressions early, still being young in the game I really do think they've done a good job of balancing things out. The design tends to just lead to fun and I think there is more replay involved than I first thought there might be.
Group play is more enjoyable than it was in D2. D2 group play tended to be 4+ players soloing in the same game, people intentionally going to places other folks weren't to get their loot. The change to the drops has eliminated much of that. You may not need to tackle things together in multi because even with scaling you are powerful enough, but there isn't active incentive to avoid the other people like D2, there isn't fear of loot ninjas. This is a big deal, and I think it's going to change the dynamics of PuG play too (which I've done a little of too).
As has been stated the general feel is more like D1 than D2. I think the world is smaller than D2. Sure there are open areas, but things feel closer in than they did in D2. Sure there are plenty of set pathways that help with this, but even in the fields and such, there are more natural obstacles. Perhaps it's the abundance of events that helps with this. You just don't seem to have to need to travel as far before you find something (a champion back, an elite, a neat event). I remember some of the Act 2 areas in D2 where it felt like FOREVER between anything of real interest and you were just trying to get through the massive square dessert to the next WP. In D3 I want to wander around and find the events.
That might be something that helps too. D3 is not squared. D2 was, and the only levels that really weren't were in Act 3 and they had their own issues. D3 isn't square. D1 was square too, but the tile based nature, and the setting of being underground made that feel fine. D3 also uses the 3D terrain fairly effectively. The heavy and chunky nature of the environments works nicely too. I'm still not the biggest fan of the water color artwork feel, but since it is very internally consistent and the rest of the atmospheric elements are heavy/chunky/dark/gothic it makes the overall feel work, and ties it to D1 much better.
While I want to be able to have more skills available than just the 6 slots, they have so far made it work for that to act as builds. I'm not missing the skill trees. I'm happy that I don't have to plan out builds before I play, but that I still can plan them out. The frustration in not being able to have more skills is balanced by the fun of being able to create a unique playstyle based on the choices you make. This again "feels" more like D1 than D2 for me. You really couldn't have builds in D1 because you didn't really know what spells you were going to find. Drops could really determine what you could do, how you had to play, though you had some control over this with stats. D3 isn't the same and the class I've played the most is less affected by it, but I could see a barb or monk changing which skills they favor based on drops. It just feels more like D1 but with the ability to redo choices, you can't mislick, even if you put something in a socket and find something else you want to use that gem for want a different gem in that socket you can. This isn't really softening things up, or dumbing it down like it may seem from the outside. It really just enables more choices. Maybe that is because I'm playing hardcore and I know that everything I have can still be ultimately lost, but I don't have to mule off stuff that I want to keep in case that happens. Being able to pull a gem out of a socket just means I don't have to farm up another one, and that I can instantly use that socket and not feel like I'm "wasting" something.
I very much enjoy how gold still feels valuable. Of course for me, it felt valuable in D2 and D1 as well (D1 because it took inventory space and had a natural limit (even with piles of it on the ground, bugs/crashes/whatever could eat it) but I used it to gamble in both games. In D2 it was actual gambling. In D1 it was a fair bit of resetting Wirt (and at times Gris) to try and buy something I wanted. In D3 it's to be able to pay for crafts, trying to not roll monk gear when I make stuff. Now when I get start playing another toon, some of the gold stress will go away because I won't be expanding the stash or leveling the smith/jeweler, but I'll also have more crafting mats and spending more on trying to get that right item.
On that topic too, so far there has been a good balance of drops and crafts being good. I get excited when I see a yellow, I still check out the blues because they can beat crafts. Some of this will also lessen with the next toon because I will have more gear sitting waiting for them, but the quest for something better I think will always be there.
While boss fights are certainly less complex than they were in something like WoW, compared to D1 and D2 there is more to them and while I've felt powerful enough in normal that things have ended quickly enough, I've seen some mechanics that make me worry for higher difficulties and I will definitely have a different skill set up for some of those to try and make sure I don't get stuck somewhere I don't want to be.
So yes while I'm offering impressions early, still being young in the game I really do think they've done a good job of balancing things out. The design tends to just lead to fun and I think there is more replay involved than I first thought there might be.
---
It's all just zeroes and ones and duct tape in the end.
It's all just zeroes and ones and duct tape in the end.