07-25-2012, 08:16 PM
There is no doubt that Blizzard missed the mark on several key elements of the game, but let me give you an alternate view of the game. I think I am well suited to do this because I have a sort of split personality about Diablo 3, on the one hand I love it, and on the other hand I see the validity of many of the common complaints lodged against it. I want to point out the good and the bad as a list of 'features', note you may see some features in both lists.
Ways in which Blizzard improved on Diablo 2 (in my opinion):
The shared stash - Massive improvement from Diablo 2 in terms of ease of use. Additional benefits include, less game creation for 'muling' less danger of losing items which formerly were commonly dropped on the ground in order to change items. There is no offline mode so use of tools like ATMA would not be possible.
Fun Heroes - I find the 4 new and 1 recycled hero classes to be interesting and fun. Each has a number of unique skills with visually stunning graphical effects attached to them. The addition of gender as a choice adds a bit of spice. I play all male characters in softcore and female characters in hardcore. They say the same things and have generally the same personalities, but interactions with NPCs are unique based on gender and at least mildly humorous.
Same simple Interface- Diablo 3 expands the UI from 2 active skills and 4 potion slots, plus hotkeys to switch skills to 6 active skills and 1 potion hotkey. Its not an overwhelming number of keybinds to remember. One of the things that finally drove me out of the MMO fan base was the need to keybind 15-20 keys in order to be successful. Diablo3 requires 5 keybinds and 2 mouse buttons to be fully functional. I find it perfect to be honest.
Fun Combat - Maybe its a class based thing.. I don't know. I have played primarily a Monk post beta, and I find the combat very engaging. Sure its click to kill. But at least in my playstyle, character and spec its Left Click to kill, 1 to heal, 2 to retreat, 3 apply AOE dot, 4 to apply extra damage debuff, Right Click to aggro dump and do extra damage if and only if I have the focus and if dumping agro will not adversely effect my groupmates. I find the interaction of the defensive skills, the cooldown timers, and the "don't stand in the fire" to be the perfect amount of complexity to keep me engaged without being overwhelmed.
Boss Mods - Despite rumor to the contrary, (and in fairness some combinations do suck) this is the bread and butter of the current game. Each inferno boss pack is a uniquely different and challenging encounter. Many of the mods are completely original, most are well developed with original artwork, and I also enjoy that I can typically tell whats going on by watching the video effects on the screen, not by trying to read the words under the Boss name.
Multiplayer enabled, Single Player Game- This is why I am addicted to Diablo. I like the MMO/ARPG type games, I like to play with my wife and 1 or two friends, I want access to the entire game, and I don't want to have to organize 25-40 people to have access to the entire game. Diablo offers this. Its outstanding to me that I can beat the game single player. Then I can play with my wife and the difficulty scales accordingly.
Content - First playthrough on Normal will take an average player 20 - 25 hours. Playing through nightmare and hell is probably up to 80-100 hours. I've got 300 hours played (200 in my monk) and I've not yet completed Inferno. I feel like I got enough product for my money. I'd take more if it was freely given, but I do not feel gipped on content.
Always Online Requirement & Auction Halls- I understand peoples frustrations with both of these items, but I side with Blizzard on them. The cheating in D2 sucked. The black markets that existed were dangerous, and also made public games unfun. These two elements of Diablo 3 are Blizzards best attempts to combat these issues. Are they flawless, absolutely not, are they better than the environment that existed in Battle.Net and Open Battle.Net for Diablo 2, in my opinion, a resounding yes. In fact I've made back my purchase price for the game by selling items in the RMAH.
Cutscenes- The cutscenes and animation in the series continue to be stellar for the times. Blizzard sets the mark with its realtime anitmated shorts. I love them.
Things off the Mark in Diablo 3
The Always online Requirement & Auction Halls- Funny I know. Still the always online DRM prevents the modding community which I personally never participated in, but I understand was a huge part of what made Diablo so great. Losing this capability is a serious dent in the franchise. Addtionally the RMAH has contributed to what I think is a blatant balancing issue. Inferno is arbitrarilly more difficult than needs be, in order to encourage use of the RMAH. This is short sighted and too bad, because I think people would have used the RMAH anyway.
Story and the death of Deckard Cain- theres no getting around the fact that Deckards death is poorly handled. The story in its entirety is a bit lame to be honest. Although, I found myself on the first playthrough wanting to know what would happen next.
Loot quality and itemization- Getting good loot is much harder that in previous Diablo iterations. And the problem with Legendaries being boring and usually useless is really sad for the entire franchise. I understand the thought process that lead to the issue, but its clearly a mistake and one they have promised to rectify. Addtionally white items have 0 relevance in the game. "Enhancing the loot explosion" is silly justification. The Charsi quest and the Larzuk quest in diablo 2 made normal items relevant. Diablo 3 needs a similar functionality.
Max Character Lvl 60- I get the idea. Don't let characters level beyond the level range of the monsters. Keep the game challenging. Its at odds with the heart of the franchise. Honestly I can live with this one, but many people cant.
Gear checks, Enrage timers, hit detection- Simply put, this isnt World of Warcraft. Make this stuff go away. Bring back the Diablo a legion of fans loved.
Anyway that summarizes my view of the game. I honestly feel its $60 well spent, even if you don't walk away with the "Best Game EVAR!" feeling.
Ways in which Blizzard improved on Diablo 2 (in my opinion):
The shared stash - Massive improvement from Diablo 2 in terms of ease of use. Additional benefits include, less game creation for 'muling' less danger of losing items which formerly were commonly dropped on the ground in order to change items. There is no offline mode so use of tools like ATMA would not be possible.
Fun Heroes - I find the 4 new and 1 recycled hero classes to be interesting and fun. Each has a number of unique skills with visually stunning graphical effects attached to them. The addition of gender as a choice adds a bit of spice. I play all male characters in softcore and female characters in hardcore. They say the same things and have generally the same personalities, but interactions with NPCs are unique based on gender and at least mildly humorous.
Same simple Interface- Diablo 3 expands the UI from 2 active skills and 4 potion slots, plus hotkeys to switch skills to 6 active skills and 1 potion hotkey. Its not an overwhelming number of keybinds to remember. One of the things that finally drove me out of the MMO fan base was the need to keybind 15-20 keys in order to be successful. Diablo3 requires 5 keybinds and 2 mouse buttons to be fully functional. I find it perfect to be honest.
Fun Combat - Maybe its a class based thing.. I don't know. I have played primarily a Monk post beta, and I find the combat very engaging. Sure its click to kill. But at least in my playstyle, character and spec its Left Click to kill, 1 to heal, 2 to retreat, 3 apply AOE dot, 4 to apply extra damage debuff, Right Click to aggro dump and do extra damage if and only if I have the focus and if dumping agro will not adversely effect my groupmates. I find the interaction of the defensive skills, the cooldown timers, and the "don't stand in the fire" to be the perfect amount of complexity to keep me engaged without being overwhelmed.
Boss Mods - Despite rumor to the contrary, (and in fairness some combinations do suck) this is the bread and butter of the current game. Each inferno boss pack is a uniquely different and challenging encounter. Many of the mods are completely original, most are well developed with original artwork, and I also enjoy that I can typically tell whats going on by watching the video effects on the screen, not by trying to read the words under the Boss name.
Multiplayer enabled, Single Player Game- This is why I am addicted to Diablo. I like the MMO/ARPG type games, I like to play with my wife and 1 or two friends, I want access to the entire game, and I don't want to have to organize 25-40 people to have access to the entire game. Diablo offers this. Its outstanding to me that I can beat the game single player. Then I can play with my wife and the difficulty scales accordingly.
Content - First playthrough on Normal will take an average player 20 - 25 hours. Playing through nightmare and hell is probably up to 80-100 hours. I've got 300 hours played (200 in my monk) and I've not yet completed Inferno. I feel like I got enough product for my money. I'd take more if it was freely given, but I do not feel gipped on content.
Always Online Requirement & Auction Halls- I understand peoples frustrations with both of these items, but I side with Blizzard on them. The cheating in D2 sucked. The black markets that existed were dangerous, and also made public games unfun. These two elements of Diablo 3 are Blizzards best attempts to combat these issues. Are they flawless, absolutely not, are they better than the environment that existed in Battle.Net and Open Battle.Net for Diablo 2, in my opinion, a resounding yes. In fact I've made back my purchase price for the game by selling items in the RMAH.
Cutscenes- The cutscenes and animation in the series continue to be stellar for the times. Blizzard sets the mark with its realtime anitmated shorts. I love them.
Things off the Mark in Diablo 3
The Always online Requirement & Auction Halls- Funny I know. Still the always online DRM prevents the modding community which I personally never participated in, but I understand was a huge part of what made Diablo so great. Losing this capability is a serious dent in the franchise. Addtionally the RMAH has contributed to what I think is a blatant balancing issue. Inferno is arbitrarilly more difficult than needs be, in order to encourage use of the RMAH. This is short sighted and too bad, because I think people would have used the RMAH anyway.
Story and the death of Deckard Cain- theres no getting around the fact that Deckards death is poorly handled. The story in its entirety is a bit lame to be honest. Although, I found myself on the first playthrough wanting to know what would happen next.
Loot quality and itemization- Getting good loot is much harder that in previous Diablo iterations. And the problem with Legendaries being boring and usually useless is really sad for the entire franchise. I understand the thought process that lead to the issue, but its clearly a mistake and one they have promised to rectify. Addtionally white items have 0 relevance in the game. "Enhancing the loot explosion" is silly justification. The Charsi quest and the Larzuk quest in diablo 2 made normal items relevant. Diablo 3 needs a similar functionality.
Max Character Lvl 60- I get the idea. Don't let characters level beyond the level range of the monsters. Keep the game challenging. Its at odds with the heart of the franchise. Honestly I can live with this one, but many people cant.
Gear checks, Enrage timers, hit detection- Simply put, this isnt World of Warcraft. Make this stuff go away. Bring back the Diablo a legion of fans loved.
Anyway that summarizes my view of the game. I honestly feel its $60 well spent, even if you don't walk away with the "Best Game EVAR!" feeling.