First Hardcore Inferno Belial Kill (by a Barbarian, too)

[MongoJerry]

Belial has been killed in hardcore Inferno for the first time, and it was done by a ... (drumroll)... Barbarian. Kripparian live streamed the event, although he's probably asleep right now, so right this second, he's not streaming.

He also has a YouTube channel with lots of gameplay videos of his Barbarian playing Inferno both in softcore and hardcore.

If you're playing a barbarian and want some tips on what skills Kripparian has found to be useful in Inferno, his video describing his skill choices and the reasons for them is excellent.

His epic battle against Shatterbone in Act II is also hilarious.

So, I guess it's time to push the back the goalposts again. Barbarians are now officially broken in Act III of Inferno. It's impossible for them to ever play in Act III Inferno. It just cannot be done.

Edit: Fixed link to Shatterbone video

[MongoJerry]

UPDATE: He's posted a YouTube video of the fight. I love that he starts the video by showing a fight against a fire chains, frozen, arcane enchanted, health link champ pack.

[BellaStrega]

Impressive.

[FireIceTalon]

Nice. This is somewhat comforting news, as I've started playing my Barb alot recently - he's level 39 in Act 2 of Nightmare, and I have to say, thus far, it has been by far the easiest class I've played yet. Granted, Ive only brought the DH to Inferno, but even in normal and nightmare, he has been much easier to play than DH or even Wizard - hopefully this trend continues in the higher difficulties somewhat because my DH is NOT having fun with Inferno at all. I've beat Act 1, but have little desire or incentive to even attempt Act 2, or even farm Act 1 to try and get better gear since the AH prices are outrageously inflated. Capitalism sux just as bad on video games as it does in real life, heh.

[ViralSpiral]

Someone tell Sirian there may yet be hope.

[Elric of Grans]

Damn, he is good. Makes me look absolutely terrible at this game.

[Tal]

Someone tell Sirian there may yet be hope.

I believe we already did.

[ViralSpiral]

Not with actual proof at the time, though. :op

[smegged]

Damn, he is good. Makes me look absolutely terrible at this game.

Seriously? That fight was anything but a demonstration of skill. Sure, he might be a very skilled player, but that fight did NOT demonstrate it, remarkable though it was.

[Trevan]

I believe you posted the wrong video for his epic shatterbone fight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWI1mvEgW...ure=relmfu

[Tal]

Not with actual proof at the time, though. :op

[Mavfin]

Not with actual proof at the time, though. :op

We had at least as much proof as he did.

He had a lot of opinion masquerading as fact, same as some others around here. Especially a couple who keep mentioning they don't even play D3 yet, and are just repeating what they read elsewhere.

[Concillian]

My feeling after playing a melee class and a ranged class both into early hell is that:

- Melee feels like if you have the gear you can handle 95+% of everything by just standing there and pounding, but if you don't have the gear... you are screwed... royally.

- Ranged feels like whether or not you have the gear you can still handle most situations, but even if you are very well geared, you will sometimes run into situations where you get cornered or whatever and even gear cannot save you.

I predict all of the major firsts in HC inferno will be melee classes. I know last week there was a monk who tried (and unfortunately failed) HC inferno Belial. You don't hear about the HC wizards and DHs in inferno, because these have more potential 1-shots / 2-shots even with solid gear.

[ViralSpiral]

Not with actual proof at the time, though. :op

We had at least as much proof as he did.

He had a lot of opinion masquerading as fact, same as some others around here. Especially a couple who keep mentioning they don't even play D3 yet, and are just repeating what they read elsewhere.

That's okay, we also have a couple of people who make passive-aggressive insults for no apparent reason, so it all balances out. Well, at least the theorists state up-front that they're working off theory and thus are honest people. So I guess it's not really balanced after all. But that's okay, because the fundamental principles behind maths are not at all objective and one's knowledge of them would be completely invalid if adapted to any situation other than already known variables. This is exactly why mathematics has stagnated and never once changed ever since it was formalised as a science.

[Mavfin]

Not with actual proof at the time, though. :op

We had at least as much proof as he did.

He had a lot of opinion masquerading as fact, same as some others around here. Especially a couple who keep mentioning they don't even play D3 yet, and are just repeating what they read elsewhere.

That's okay, we also have a couple of people who make passive-aggressive insults for no apparent reason, so it all balances out.

I just have much more respect and I'm much more likely to listen to people who, when they first run into the wall, step back to see what they might be able to do better, and/or ask what they might have missed, rather than blame everything on the game immediately, or make broad sweeping pronouncements of opinion as fact; i.e. this game is fail, or 80% of people won't play it past X time.

Also, math is great, but it has to have some basis in game-reality, and not just pulled out of nowhere.

You can continue to troll me if you want, but I won't rise to the bait any further. I've said what I have to say on this. If anyone wants to make dire pronouncements about a game they aren't even playing, they're free to do so, but don't expect to be taken seriously, especially if your pronouncements look cut and pasted from Diablofans or other similar sites.

[ViralSpiral]

You set the bait in the first place by starting the trolling.

But you seem to have a few of your "facts" criss-crossed.

1) I haven't made any dire pronouncements regarding the game. I've *asked* if certain things are as bad as I'm reading them, or speculated in regards to where some non-gameplay-specific things (such as the RMAH) will go, but I don't go making prophecy without any kind of experience. I'm not an idiot.

2) The maths I've worked with have been pulled from other posts on this forum, YouTube videos, and so forth. We're talking videos like Kapparian, not "Random Guy #8251 who says everything is too hard because he's not plowing through things the way his SF/Orb sorcie used to." I assure you I'm taking a very active interest in learning as much as possible prior to playing. It will only help me later, after all.

3) Aside from the odd YouTube video, I'm not checking any other sites. Not even AB currently. If anything I say looks "cut and pasted", then that's a reflection on the locals here - and I've said in other posts that not many here complain much. There's a lot of chit-chat, back-and-forth, and brainstorming about what looks out of whack or could be improved, but very little complaining outside of a few DH players, and unless there's some secret everyone's been missing out on; some kind of ultra cool skill set that solves most of their issues or something, they seem to have valid grounds for complaint.

4) I never asked or said I expected to be taken seriously in any case. I make a frequent point of mentioning my lack of direct experience for that very reason. I want everyone to be clear that any advice I have is either theoretical or garnered from elsewhere, that any speculations I have are based on maths rather than gameplay experience (for example, I have no idea how fast any monster I haven't seen in a video moves.) Neither do I pretend to any of this information.

So yeah, I don't really see any justification for your unprovoked, indirect, cowardly personal assault. I certainly didn't do anything to deserve it that I can tell.

[Jabberwolky]

Thanks for posting this. I have tried some of his tips out and they work wonders for champ packs and such.

[MongoJerry]

But you seem to have a few of your "facts" criss-crossed.

1) I haven't made any dire pronouncements regarding the game. I've *asked* if certain things are as bad as I'm reading them, or speculated in regards to where some non-gameplay-specific things (such as the RMAH) will go, but I don't go making prophecy without any kind of experience. I'm not an idiot.

2) The maths I've worked with have been pulled from other posts on this forum, YouTube videos, and so forth. We're talking videos like Kapparian, not "Random Guy #8251 who says everything is too hard because he's not plowing through things the way his SF/Orb sorcie used to." I assure you I'm taking a very active interest in learning as much as possible prior to playing. It will only help me later, after all.

Viral, I believe Mavfin was referring to the other thread discussing melee classes and "math" and such rather than to your comments in this thread.

[ViralSpiral]

Oh, I know he wasn't talking -exclusively- about me, because I never claimed the game is fail or X people won't play it past Y time, but I know full well he was addressing me in part - which he didn't shy away from admitting when called on, you'll note - and I was making a point that I need not be lumped in with everyone else who doesn't have the game yet but is still posting about it. I've been in a largely inquisitive mode as opposed to Chicken Little mode. But I refuse to be talked to like an idiot in any case. I played D1 until D2 came out and I never took a larger break than 13 or 14 months from D2 either. I've got probably close to 25K or so hours in on this series. In another thread I went into extensive discussion on Diablo history and how defence-oriented classes are the ones who ultimately always end up on top in this franchise, and I haven't seen anything in D3 proving that wrong - even Kapp's 2H Baba goes for defence at every turn other than using 2H over sword and board.

So yeah, just because I don't have the game doesn't mean I'm unable to perform pattern recognition or otherwise have valuable input. I know how Blizzard designs games, the history of the series, and what tends to work in their games. I'm willing to bet I've learned enough that when I do have the game, I don't die prior to Inferno. Although I've also read enough to know I won't regret not being in any rush to get the game just yet either - it sounds like 1.1 is intended to be their first polished release.

[Frag]

Damn, he is good. Makes me look absolutely terrible at this game.

Irony? I hope so. He didn't do anything impressive, nor difficult. It was gear & spec that was really shown, just normal play.