Patching 1.0.2c -- potentially nerfed mob damage

[Elric of Grans]

It has its negative points, however. I know yesterday, I entered Warrior's Reach and found an Invunerable Minions mob. My automatic reaction is to quit and restart the game. I had to do this 10 or more times in as many minutes as I kept spawning at the Checkpoint with an Elite group literally on top of me with mods I knew I could not defeat (eg Invulnerable Minions, Extra Health/Reflect Damage/Vampiric/Teleporter, Fast/Mortar/Waller/Arcane, etc). If I had done that today, I would have been blocked out because I kept rolling games that were, for me, not enjoyable. I have also heard of it blocking out people who were checking the Auction House, achievement-hunting or just plain have unreliable connections (eg Aussies).

Similar to their nerf on drops from vases, it is addressing the wrong things. They want to stop bots and farming, but their approach is having a lot of unnecessary collateral damage. I wish Blizzard would focus on fixing the things that matter in this game rather than their bizarre war on the gamers themselves.

[MongoJerry]

Similar to their nerf on drops from vases, it is addressing the wrong things. They want to stop bots and farming, but their approach is having a lot of unnecessary collateral damage. I wish Blizzard would focus on fixing the things that matter in this game rather than their bizarre war on the gamers themselves.

I can agree that perhaps they could dial it back a little, but basically what they want is for people to actually play the game in a consistent way -- kill several champ/boss packs, maybe a boss -- and move through the game. What they want to discourage are the exploiters who rush using (previously) Azmodan and Kuhl runs, pop in and out to goblin farm, and pop in and out to chest farm -- or at least make such strategies less profitable. I think that's a good thing.

Regarding your examples, I just don't think you'll run into that limit unless you are running very short runs. Like I said, it took about 10 runs before I ran into the error message.

[Elric of Grans]

If you are refreshing to get rid of an Elite you do not want to face, it can take seconds to switch games (I definitely would have got this yesterday if the patch were in by then). If you are achievement hunting, it likewise does not necessarily take long (eg you may jump in, get/do something, then leave to change quest so you can access the next thing you need). I got the Auction House example from someone who got the error doing exactly that (not one I would personally see happening, but it did). It has not impacted me personally, but I can see it as a pretty stupid way to address farming (in a game where the entire meta revolves around farming, ironically).

I understand what they want to stop. Honestly, I am not sure if we need to stop it. This is not WoW. If people want to waste all day doing boring things, let them; it has absolutely no impact on me. It is the same as the enrage timer. I park most Elites I come across in Inferno because I know I cannot beat them before the enrage timer. If I want to spend 5 minutes kiting a Waller/Jailer/Vortex/Extra Health mob, then just let me: it does not hurt anyone and doing this without taking a hit is my idea of fun. It feels very much like Blizzard has its own idea of what defines fun and you can be damned if you find your fun in any other way. Just like how melee attacks hit you even if you are half a screen away: Blizzard stated that dodging is an unfun and unskillful strategy they wanted to discourage, so they prevented it. If people want to do it, let them; if they do not want to, they will not.

It is like releasing a bunch of kids into a sandpit, then telling them off for every game they start. No, no making castles. No, you cannot play with your cars in there: you may lose them! No, do not eat the sand. I said, do not eat the sand. Look, now the other kids are eating the sand. If you do not stop eating sand we are going home. Perhaps a bad example. The parents tell the kids what not to do: Blizzard is implementing changes, only for us to later discover `Oh, I got banned because the rules changed!'. This game continues to be a PR nightmare for them!

Perhaps I am just getting crabby? The game is turning very unfun for me at the moment. I keep playing because I want it to be the best thing since Diablo II, then I run into a pack of Illusionist Soul Rippers (the other attributes are irrelevant at this point) and go ``Oh, that's right, the game royally sucks''.

[FireIceTalon]

If you are refreshing to get rid of an Elite you do not want to face, it can take seconds to switch games (I definitely would have got this yesterday if the patch were in by then). If you are achievement hunting, it likewise does not necessarily take long (eg you may jump in, get/do something, then leave to change quest so you can access the next thing you need). I got the Auction House example from someone who got the error doing exactly that (not one I would personally see happening, but it did). It has not impacted me personally, but I can see it as a pretty stupid way to address farming (in a game where the entire meta revolves around farming, ironically).

I understand what they want to stop. Honestly, I am not sure if we need to stop it. This is not WoW. If people want to waste all day doing boring things, let them; it has absolutely no impact on me. It is the same as the enrage timer. I park most Elites I come across in Inferno because I know I cannot beat them before the enrage timer. If I want to spend 5 minutes kiting a Waller/Jailer/Vortex/Extra Health mob, then just let me: it does not hurt anyone and doing this without taking a hit is my idea of fun. It feels very much like Blizzard has its own idea of what defines fun and you can be damned if you find your fun in any other way. Just like how melee attacks hit you even if you are half a screen away: Blizzard stated that dodging is an unfun and unskillful strategy they wanted to discourage, so they prevented it. If people want to do it, let them; if they do not want to, they will not.

It is like releasing a bunch of kids into a sandpit, then telling them off for every game they start. No, no making castles. No, you cannot play with your cars in there: you may lose them! No, do not eat the sand. I said, do not eat the sand. Look, now the other kids are eating the sand. If you do not stop eating sand we are going home. Perhaps a bad example. The parents tell the kids what not to do: Blizzard is implementing changes, only for us to later discover `Oh, I got banned because the rules changed!'. This game continues to be a PR nightmare for them!

Perhaps I am just getting crabby? The game is turning very unfun for me at the moment. I keep playing because I want it to be the best thing since Diablo II, then I run into a pack of Illusionist Soul Rippers (the other attributes are irrelevant at this point) and go ``Oh, that's right, the game royally sucks''.

No, its not just you. I tend to agree with almost everything you wrote there. Game is pretty awesome on normal-hell, but Inferno just plain SUCKS. I know they want the game to be hard difficult and challenging, but surely there are much better ways to do this then to cheese the player entirely. I think most of the affixes are over the top, whether as ranged or melee (though I tend to think ranged has it harder overall), but in hell mode, when monsters generally have 3 affixes, the cheeze isnt so over the top and if you are geared right, it can be dealt with. But on Inferno, you are facing 5 affixes on all elite packs - this is a bit excessive I think, especially when many monster types have base abilities that can easily kill you or out run you if you try to kite. I mean, is it really necessary to put the "fast" affix on a monster like Soul Lashers or Scavengers, which are already lightning fast? The fast affix just puts these monsters over the top, especially if you are playing a ranged char. For melee, molten with freezer or jailer is probably the worst.

In hell mode, when playing my Barb, I have been able to overcome even the toughest of mobs using Wrath of the Berserker, but something tells me come Inferno mode it wont be enough because I will be facing 5 affixes instead of 3....I really think Blizz should cut it down to 4, in ADDITION to removing some of the spiked damage, and get rid of those damn enrage timers. This would keep the difficulty level high yet reasonable to the point where the game isnt pure cheese as it is now (on Inferno). My Barb is almost in Inferno, and I have to say, although I think it will be a little easier for him than my DH, I'm still not really looking forward to it, cause I know I'm just going to be cheesed. I also completely disagree with their philosophy that dodging isnt fun or involves no skill. No, getting auto hit by melee from 3000 feet away is is un-fun, and has no skill - it's just another lame tactic to cheese the player. Dodging is one of the aspects that made combat interesting and dynamic in the first two games, especially D1. So once again, Blizz has it all wrong.

It is ironic to me that Blizz said, before D3 launched, that they disliked games that "punished" the player (I think they were speaking about D2's skill system and its flaws), yet Inferno itself punishes the player in a multitude of ways, so, um yea.....

[ViralSpiral]

Blizzard: "Farm! Wait, stop farming! Hold on, why did you guys stop farming? This is a game about farming! Hey, why are you farming? Farming is forbidden! We kill farmers!"

Player base: "What is this? I don't even."

[MongoJerry]

I understand what they want to stop. Honestly, I am not sure if we need to stop it. This is not WoW. If people want to waste all day doing boring things, let them; it has absolutely no impact on me. It is the same as the enrage timer. I park most Elites I come across in Inferno because I know I cannot beat them before the enrage timer. If I want to spend 5 minutes kiting a Waller/Jailer/Vortex/Extra Health mob, then just let me: it does not hurt anyone and doing this without taking a hit is my idea of fun. It feels very much like Blizzard has its own idea of what defines fun and you can be damned if you find your fun in any other way. Just like how melee attacks hit you even if you are half a screen away: Blizzard stated that dodging is an unfun and unskillful strategy they wanted to discourage, so they prevented it. If people want to do it, let them; if they do not want to, they will not.

They want to make it so that the most effective way to obtain loot, either to use or sell, is to actually kill dangerous mobs. Thus, it makes obtaining loot an actual achievement rather than a simple grind of refreshing games over and over to kill goblins or loot chests that incurs no danger. I think that's appropriate.

And if you have to park nearly every Elite you come across, then go back an act or two and farm there. Clearly, you are not geared for the level you're trying to play at.

[FoxBat]

I saw the "input errors" as some stopgap to counter botting or just plain throttle the server load of making new games. If you have actual game design reasons for inhibiting new game creation, it needs to be integrated into the experience far more smoothly than "at some random point, which we won't say, you won't be able to make games for a while." This is the job NV is supposed to be doing after all.

[FireIceTalon]

I understand what they want to stop. Honestly, I am not sure if we need to stop it. This is not WoW. If people want to waste all day doing boring things, let them; it has absolutely no impact on me. It is the same as the enrage timer. I park most Elites I come across in Inferno because I know I cannot beat them before the enrage timer. If I want to spend 5 minutes kiting a Waller/Jailer/Vortex/Extra Health mob, then just let me: it does not hurt anyone and doing this without taking a hit is my idea of fun. It feels very much like Blizzard has its own idea of what defines fun and you can be damned if you find your fun in any other way. Just like how melee attacks hit you even if you are half a screen away: Blizzard stated that dodging is an unfun and unskillful strategy they wanted to discourage, so they prevented it. If people want to do it, let them; if they do not want to, they will not.

They want to make it so that the most effective way to obtain loot, either to use or sell, is to actually kill dangerous mobs. Thus, it makes obtaining loot an actual achievement rather than a simple grind of refreshing games over and over to kill goblins or loot chests that incurs no danger. I think that's appropriate.

And if you have to park nearly every Elite you come across, then go back an act or two and farm there. Clearly, you are not geared for the level you're trying to play at.

But going back an Act or two kind of defeats the purpose, since lower quality gear drops there. Again, this whole system is designed to force the player into using the AH, because if you farm earlier acts you will pretty much be doing it for gold to spend on the AH, since 99.9% of drops are trash anyways. Almost every upgrade I have made on any of my chars was through the AH....once in a blue moon, I will find something that improves a slot, but that is rare, and I do mean RARE.

[Elric of Grans]

And if you have to park nearly every Elite you come across, then go back an act or two and farm there. Clearly, you are not geared for the level you're trying to play at.

Act I/Inferno. I have no choice: if I want Inferno-tier gear in any kind of a reasonable time-frame, I need to play Inferno (or use the Auction House). It depends on the mods and the base-type, really. I quickly weigh up `can I kill this in two minutes?' If not, I leave it. There are very few mobs I face I doubt I could defeat, but that enrage timer makes most of them too risky to bother with. If I go back an Act or two, items will be 10 levels below what I need; as it is, most of them are a few levels too low to be of any value.

[MongoJerry]

Act I/Inferno. I have no choice: if I want Inferno-tier gear in any kind of a reasonable time-frame, I need to play Inferno (or use the Auction House). It depends on the mods and the base-type, really. I quickly weigh up `can I kill this in two minutes?' If not, I leave it. There are very few mobs I face I doubt I could defeat, but that enrage timer makes most of them too risky to bother with. If I go back an Act or two, items will be 10 levels below what I need; as it is, most of them are a few levels too low to be of any value.

Isn't the enrage timer something like 10-15 minutes?

They turned off the game creation limit temporarily, because it was throttling things too much. They say that when it's working properly, it shouldn't be noticeable in "normal 'farming' conditions" or "reasonable amounts of character swapping."

[Elric of Grans]

Not sure exactly how long it is. What I do know is that I have been getting it CONSTANTLY since Hell difficulty. My play-style leads to long battle times. That is how I like to play, but apparently it is unfun.

[Trevan]

In hell mode, when playing my Barb, I have been able to overcome even the toughest of mobs using Wrath of the Berserker, but something tells me come Inferno mode it wont be enough because I will be facing 5 affixes instead of 3....I really think Blizz should cut it down to 4, in ADDITION to removing some of the spiked damage, and get rid of those damn enrage timers.

I'm pretty sure i've never run into 5 affix mobs in inferno so far. They only have 4.

[FireIceTalon]

I've seen them with 5, though it could be Champions only. At any rate, the difficulty spike from Hell to Inferno is way over tuned. I went from being able to beat about 95% of the packs in Hell, to less than half in Act 1 of Inferno with my Barb. He's doing somewhat better than my DH was at this point, but there is still NOTHING FUN about playing Inferno.

[Athenau]

Inferno has 4 affixes. One additional affix per difficulty

[Bolty]

And if you have to park nearly every Elite you come across, then go back an act or two and farm there. Clearly, you are not geared for the level you're trying to play at.

While what you're saying is of course true, I can't help but get the continual impression that you haven't experienced the Act 1 to Act 2 Inferno transition personally. You repeat this mantra as if you don't realize how insane the amount of farming that is required, or you just don't care. The gear that drops in Act 1 Inferno isn't enough to get you over the Act 2 hurdle without a level of farming that has been, well, documented somewhat here already (four players creating hundreds of games to farm treasure goblins, for hours on end). And now that loophole's been closed, too.

The players who are in Act IV Inferno got there through a number of different means. The most common is via the exploits that were patched out within the first few weeks. There were soooo many exploits, not just in broken skills (Force Armor) but cheeseable bosses (people were selling runs to get players key waypoints to get to these bosses), farmable spots where you could kite champ packs to you and they'd get stuck while ranged blasts them, and skill/player combinations that were abused (four Monks could be set up such that they'd be invulnerable to damage). Secondly, there's people who bought the items off the AH from the exploiters. Hardcore characters, who couldn't level quickly enough to take advantage of those exploits in Inferno difficulty, are getting slaughtered in droves trying to break into Act III. Here's the kicker, though: the damage was done already in softcore mode. Once you're able to farm parts of any later act via exploits, you're able to gear up with the gear in that Act, making it far more doable even after the exploit is fixed. Everyone I know who has not been exploiting is stuck in Inferno Act 1. Everyone. Those I know who HAVE been exploiting (or running with those who have exploited, to be carried), and admitted it to me freely, are having a ball in later Acts because they're loaded with the level 62-63 gear.

And they're benefiting from it. Massively.



100 bucks. Yep.

The fact that you could point to specific individuals, e.g. "Here's this Barbarian who cleared Inferno Act II," doesn't invalidate the argument that the game design has issues. There will always be outliers, players who have been able to put in the ridiculous time required to gear up.

I'm tired of Inferno Act 1. Sick to death of it - I just can't stand playing it any longer. And since my options are Inferno Act 1 or watching my Barbarian get 3-shot by a champion mob in Act 2, I just don't bother logging in.

Dammit, I said I wouldn't post again, and here I am.

[ErickTheRed]

I was busy for a week so mostly stopped playing. I took a serious try at the start of Act 2 with my barbarian last night and had some success, so maybe they did make it a bit easier.

By the time I cleared Act 1 I'd spent about 100-200K on each piece of gear. That sounds like a lot, but I've probably picked up about that much over the course of playing. I did do some Butcher runs. Mostly I'd join a public game, watch hilarity ensue, then ask one of the players if they wanted to duo in a private game. The game is still so new to me that I come across people using skills I haven't seen before. It didn't feel like a chore playing.

I accumulated another million gold doing this, and bought a few 300-400K items. This put me at 9.5K damage, 55K life, 8.5K armor, and 400 resistance. Now Act 2 inferno white mobs are interesting but doable. Most of them don't really want to be straight up tanked so I certainly spend a lot of time dodging things. I can kill about half of the packs I face - enough to build up stacks of valor even getting sidetracked engaging packs I can't kill. Mostly my problem is damage, I bet I'd have had more luck with a dps friend.

I did die a fair amount. Some of these are tactical mistakes I can learn from. Many of them could have been prevented by only engaging packs where I could escape if things went bad, but I didn't bother with that.

This said, I do see the same gearing wall. All my gear is purchased. I may need to spend 500K-1M per item to break into act 3. It's probably more efficient to keep doing act 1 runs to get this. I don't see myself farming that, so I will probably start to more seriously play the other classes instead.

[ViralSpiral]

And if you have to park nearly every Elite you come across, then go back an act or two and farm there. Clearly, you are not geared for the level you're trying to play at.

While what you're saying is of course true, I can't help but get the continual impression that you haven't experienced the Act 1 to Act 2 Inferno transition personally. You repeat this mantra as if you don't realize how insane the amount of farming that is required, or you just don't care. The gear that drops in Act 1 Inferno isn't enough to get you over the Act 2 hurdle without a level of farming that has been, well, documented somewhat here already (four players creating hundreds of games to farm treasure goblins, for hours on end). And now that loophole's been closed, too.

The players who are in Act IV Inferno got there through a number of different means. The most common is via the exploits that were patched out within the first few weeks. There were soooo many exploits, not just in broken skills (Force Armor) but cheeseable bosses (people were selling runs to get players key waypoints to get to these bosses), farmable spots where you could kite champ packs to you and they'd get stuck while ranged blasts them, and skill/player combinations that were abused (four Monks could be set up such that they'd be invulnerable to damage). Secondly, there's people who bought the items off the AH from the exploiters. Hardcore characters, who couldn't level quickly enough to take advantage of those exploits in Inferno difficulty, are getting slaughtered in droves trying to break into Act III. Here's the kicker, though: the damage was done already in softcore mode. Once you're able to farm parts of any later act via exploits, you're able to gear up with the gear in that Act, making it far more doable even after the exploit is fixed. Everyone I know who has not been exploiting is stuck in Inferno Act 1. Everyone. Those I know who HAVE been exploiting (or running with those who have exploited, to be carried), and admitted it to me freely, are having a ball in later Acts because they're loaded with the level 62-63 gear.

And they're benefiting from it. Massively.



100 bucks. Yep.

The fact that you could point to specific individuals, e.g. "Here's this Barbarian who cleared Inferno Act II," doesn't invalidate the argument that the game design has issues. There will always be outliers, players who have been able to put in the ridiculous time required to gear up.

I'm tired of Inferno Act 1. Sick to death of it - I just can't stand playing it any longer. And since my options are Inferno Act 1 or watching my Barbarian get 3-shot by a champion mob in Act 2, I just don't bother logging in.

Dammit, I said I wouldn't post again, and here I am.

So basically in true Blizzard tradition, only cheaters win?

[Archon_Wing]

And if you have to park nearly every Elite you come across, then go back an act or two and farm there. Clearly, you are not geared for the level you're trying to play at.

While what you're saying is of course true, I can't help but get the continual impression that you haven't experienced the Act 1 to Act 2 Inferno transition personally. You repeat this mantra as if you don't realize how insane the amount of farming that is required, or you just don't care. The gear that drops in Act 1 Inferno isn't enough to get you over the Act 2 hurdle without a level of farming that has been, well, documented somewhat here already (four players creating hundreds of games to farm treasure goblins, for hours on end). And now that loophole's been closed, too.

The players who are in Act IV Inferno got there through a number of different means. The most common is via the exploits that were patched out within the first few weeks. There were soooo many exploits, not just in broken skills (Force Armor) but cheeseable bosses (people were selling runs to get players key waypoints to get to these bosses), farmable spots where you could kite champ packs to you and they'd get stuck while ranged blasts them, and skill/player combinations that were abused (four Monks could be set up such that they'd be invulnerable to damage). Secondly, there's people who bought the items off the AH from the exploiters. Hardcore characters, who couldn't level quickly enough to take advantage of those exploits in Inferno difficulty, are getting slaughtered in droves trying to break into Act III. Here's the kicker, though: the damage was done already in softcore mode. Once you're able to farm parts of any later act via exploits, you're able to gear up with the gear in that Act, making it far more doable even after the exploit is fixed. Everyone I know who has not been exploiting is stuck in Inferno Act 1. Everyone. Those I know who HAVE been exploiting (or running with those who have exploited, to be carried), and admitted it to me freely, are having a ball in later Acts because they're loaded with the level 62-63 gear.

And they're benefiting from it. Massively.



100 bucks. Yep.

The fact that you could point to specific individuals, e.g. "Here's this Barbarian who cleared Inferno Act II," doesn't invalidate the argument that the game design has issues. There will always be outliers, players who have been able to put in the ridiculous time required to gear up.

I'm tired of Inferno Act 1. Sick to death of it - I just can't stand playing it any longer. And since my options are Inferno Act 1 or watching my Barbarian get 3-shot by a champion mob in Act 2, I just don't bother logging in.

Dammit, I said I wouldn't post again, and here I am.

So basically in true Blizzard tradition, only cheaters win?

That's kind of extreme, but I have 2 friends in Act 3 Inferno who grinded the hell, and didn't cheat. They just fought their way with the AH. It was really tedious though.

I have another group of 3 friends that legitimately got to act 4 through teamwork and lots of dying. Their gear isn't that much better than mine... I was shocked.

(Wait, we're talking about hardcore. Oh fuck that. Never mind, this game is NOT designed for hardcore, when it comes to inferno)

Well, I did manage to sell a ring I found in Act 1 Inferno for a few bucks probably for the same reason that bow sold for so much, so it wasn't all moot. :p Don't give up yet.

It doesn't change the fact that exploiting has done a lot of damage though.

[MongoJerry]

While what you're saying is of course true, I can't help but get the continual impression that you haven't experienced the Act 1 to Act 2 Inferno transition personally. You repeat this mantra as if you don't realize how insane the amount of farming that is required, or you just don't care. The gear that drops in Act 1 Inferno isn't enough to get you over the Act 2 hurdle without a level of farming that has been, well, documented somewhat here already (four players creating hundreds of games to farm treasure goblins, for hours on end). And now that loophole's been closed, too.

You forget the rest of my mantra (#2):

1. There aren't any game mechanics that can't be solved with appropriate use of player skills and better gear.
2. I believe that Blizzard held off on some gear while they waited to see what skill and farming exploits the community comes up with.

You might not believe me on #2, but we do know this: In the 1.0.3 patch, they're going to make high end gear easier to find at lower tiers of Inferno, they're going to make legendary items more legendary, and they're going to retune the damage and/or health of mobs in Inferno. Plus, they've already made it so that damage does not increase with additional people, making it easier for people to group up together -- an effect that massively increases dps, because people don't have to kite so much in group situations as they do in solo player situations.

OK, you say, but what do I do now? Here are things you can do before 1.0.3 comes out:

1. Continue to farm Act 1 so that you can make the transition to Act 2. Too many people have said that it is possible to do this for you to convince me that it isn't possible, although yes, it is perhaps tedious and grindy.
   
   
2. Go ahead and buy some things on the gold auction house so that you don't have to grind quite so much. Sure, all of the top items will be on the RMAH, but you don't have to own the very top items in the game.
   
3. Set aside your barbarian and play another class up through Act 1 Inferno. I've had a ball on my Wizard, and it seems like the other classes are pretty fun to play as well. Or start a completely different barbarian from scratch, do not twink him or her at all, and use completely different skills.
   
4. Look at the achievement lists and knock off all of the ones you can.
   
5. Start a hardcore character. It's a whole different very intense game. You know my attitude: Softcore is just practice. Come join us over on the hardcore side. I think you'll get addicted to it. As a bonus: No RMAH, so you no longer have to have to even think about it anymore.
   
6. Join the Lurker Lounge tournament. Play a random class with random skills assigned in hardcore and laugh when you die at level 18 or surprise everyone when you make it all the way through hell.

So, there are lots of things to do, even before 1.0.3 comes out and makes things a lot easier. I doubt that you have explored everything there is to know about the game, yet, so branch out to explore some other aspects of the game.

[Roland]

OK, you say, but what do I do now? Here are things you can do before 1.0.3 comes out:

1. Continue to farm Act 1 so that you can make the transition to Act 2. Too many people have said that it is possible to do this for you to convince me that it isn't possible, although yes, it is perhaps tedious and grindy.

Perhaps? No. No "perhaps" about it. It IS tedious and grindy. Almost everyone I know who's gotten into Act II and beyond, including those HC players in Inferno (whatever Act they're on), have farmed Goblins with excessive MF gear in order to get ahead. That is fundamentally broken, period. Farming Act I is boring, and I say that as someone who probably enjoys Act I more than any other Act (I'm undecided on this point, but it certainly gives me the D1 vibe more than any other Act). I have done hundreds of Warden / Butcher runs with full Nephalem Valor stacks. It's not even challenging anymore - it's flat out boring. Almost every single mob I can handle in Act I, including Immune Minions (most of the time, though I may die once to the more extreme combinations). Yet I step foot in Act II and die half a dozen times just reaching the first waypoint. The solution is to grind more? Nuh uh, no thanks. I've spent two solid weeks farming Act I and have jack to show for it save for a couple pieces that made a minor difference, and not nearly enough to get me even remotely comfortable in Act II.

The basic fact is Inferno is fundamentally broken for certain characters / playstyles right now, and no amount of farming Act I will change that. You either get the gear via the AH, or via Goblin farming with MF gear. That's it, and it sucks the fun right out of the game.

Go ahead and buy some things on the gold auction house so that you don't have to grind quite so much. Sure, all of the top items will be on the RMAH, but you don't have to own the very top items in the game.

I've been doing this. Do you want to know how much I've spent on the Gold AH doing this, before the RMAH came out? Well over 2 million gold, and probably more than 3 million. I still can barely set foot in Act II. In order to buy any sort of upgrade I'm looking at 1 million plus per item, and I guarantee I'll need at least 3 new pieces to get anywhere in Act II (let alone all the way to Belial, which seems an almost impossible task at this point). The requirements scale up so ridiculously fast you'll get whiplash trying to follow them. Also, pardon me but spending 20 hours a week farming for gold is not my cup of tea, especially considering how I'll just have to double that to get any further the next time.

Set aside your barbarian and play another class up through Act 1 Inferno. I've had a ball on my Wizard, and it seems like the other classes are pretty fun to play as well. Or start a completely different barbarian from scratch, do not twink him or her at all, and use completely different skills.

Right. Set aside our primary class that some of us have invested well over a hundred hours into so that we can, what, get yet another class to the brick wall? What do we do then, play another class, and so on, and so on until we run out of classes? What if we find the first three difficulties boring due to a lack of challenge? What if we don't enjoy the other classes nearly as much? There needs to be some middle ground here.

Look at the achievement lists and knock off all of the ones you can.

More mindless tedium that usually involves recreating games over, and over, and over again in order to accomplish this. I admit some of the challenges intrigue me, but some of them are just far more difficult for certain classes, and others are so random an encounter as to require multiple attempts at trying to finish them.

Start a hardcore character. It's a whole different very intense game. You know my attitude: Softcore is just practice. Come join us over on the hardcore side. I think you'll get addicted to it. As a bonus: No RMAH, so you no longer have to have to even think about it anymore.

Yeah, I'm really going to get addicted to dying due to desynch (NOT latency issues, flat out desynch). To say nothing of outside interference IRL (you try playing in a household with 4 kittens), nor lag spikes, nor one-shot kills (and how do you avoid those? Oh that's right, more mindless farming.) Sorry, but HC is not the be-all end-all. It's for people who don't care about their investment into their character, and don't mind the idea of losing all the time and effort they've put into their character to situations beyond their control.

Join the Lurker Lounge tournament. Play a random class with random skills assigned in hardcore and laugh when you die at level 18 or surprise everyone when you make it all the way through hell.

Probably the only suggestion that sounds even remotely fun, but not something I care to sink the time into right now. Frankly, I'd rather just set the whole game aside and wait for 1.0.3, because it's just too damn grindy at the high end, and the low end is too easy to hold my interest longer than an hour at a time. Admittedly, if I wasn't just flat-out burnt out on this game I probably would give this a go, and have a grand ball doing it. That's me, though - to each their own.

So, there are lots of things to do, even before 1.0.3 comes out and makes things a lot easier. I doubt that you have explored everything there is to know about the game, yet, so branch out to explore some other aspects of the game.

Nope. There's plenty of the game I haven't explored - namely certain random side quests / areas that refuse to pop for me. I just can't be bothered to do it because I find the game boring at this point in time. Melee flat-out bores me 85% of the time (the rest of the time is plenty enjoyable, but it's not enough to alleviate the disappointing majority), the Witch Doctor doesn't interest me in the slightest, and I can't get past the mental block of trying to progress through Normal for the third time with a new Wizard when it's a complete snoozefest.

I understand I'm bitching for the sake of bitching to a point here, but you have to understand until you've not only hit Inferno, but been there long enough to see all its ugly features hidden behind that shiny new coat of paint you cannot fathom what all the fuss is about. Between everyone telling everyone else what to do about it, and actually playing it day after day it just burns a person out (maybe that's why they dubbed it Inferno? ) There's no challenge left in Act I short of near-impossible fights (IM), yet Act II is precisely a brick wall. There's just such a jarring disconnect it truly makes one wonder how it got to this point prior to release (although we all know how that happened - complete lack of testing). Do I think the overall game is a broken mess? Absolutely not. Do I think certain parts of it are? Absolutely yes. For some of us, there's not nearly as much fun to be had in the game outside of Inferno simply because that's where the real challenge is (and this is different for everyone; if this was a top-down shooter I'd be farming "Normal" mode while plenty of others would be in "Inferno" ).

When 1.0.3 comes out I'll be back to try my hand at Act II, and hopefully gain access. From there who knows, but I intend to continue playing this game for quite some time. For now, though, there's no middle ground anywhere, no happy medium, no comfortable zone. It's just too easy, or too hard, and often times too grindy. It's not a bug-ridden fiasco, it's not a piss-poor game, but it's far from perfect. I have better games I can be playing while I wait for this one to get the polish it needs (and I will emphatically state that, outside of Inferno D3 is THE most polished Diablo title ever, especially at this stage comparatively speaking). I don't hate Diablo III by any stretch of the imagination. I just hate the state Inferno's in at the moment.