Latest edition of Blizzard Insider released

[NiteFox]

*Cough*

Well, it is <_<

And it's not even a special edition this time.

[DralaFi]

Well if it did come out, then the 1.10 Patch for D2LoD should be out then.

Unless Blizzard lied again.

[Quark]

"We are currently in test on the patch and hope to have it out before the next issue of the Insider is released."

Blizzard Insider 12
<_<

[NiteFox]

"We are currently in test on the patch and hope to have it out before the next issue of the Insider is released."

Blizzard Insider 12
<_<

I had hoped that I could do my 3@30 solo last night. Things just weren't meant to be :)

[DralaFi]

3@30?

[Roland]

3@30?

INFIDEL!

[Bolty]

"We are currently in test on the patch and hope to have it out before the next issue of the Insider is released."

Did you know that they told me that in November? :)

Oh well, it's easy to poke fun, but as you know from my LoungeRant I'm very appreciative of this. 1.10 is a BIG patch. It's going to give us a lot of work to do, for from what I've heard, there's so many changes that they've (as usual) lost track of them all and the Readme that comes with it will not display close to the total number...

-Bolty

[Quark]

3@30:
A term used in Diablo where a character killed Diablo in Hell difficulty (hence, get your 3rd dot) at level 30, which is the lowest possible level (minus trickery).

[Quark]

Definately realize that Blizzard is off it's rocker when it comes to releasing stuff when it says.

But the term lied is just flat out wrong, as they never promised a release date.

Yeah, I'd love to see the patch today, but I'd rather see it done right. Blizzard sure does give alot of ammo for yelling/making fun of (which one you choose seems to depend on whether or not you think Blizzard owes you something).

Oh wait, I don't want the patch today :(
I'm busy with two games as it is, MOO3 and a hidden-little persistant RPG Astonia 3.

Edit, Sidenote: Man. that flood control has caught me twice today.

[Roland]

..."It's a whole new game" bit again? ;) Last time, that kinda blew up in your face. You were right. LoD was a whole new game. And it became Diablo II, as well. ;)

Sorry, I just can't help but laugh over that. STILL. :D

In other, related news, you CAN say that about The Frozen Throne. My God, has it changed Warcraft III completely or WHAT?! I miss your old beta reports. :( I was hoping you'd throw up some new ones this time around. Any chance of that happening? Hell, any chance of me even SEEING you in War3? ;) I haven't seen a single Lurker yet, despite a few saying they have the beta. :P

As for the patch... You'd think they'd learn to just shut the hell up about deadlines. They NEVER meet them. Not once. Ever. Why can't they just accept that? :P Instead of saying, over and over, "We hope to have it out by this date", why not just say "We have no ETA. We're working around the clock on it, and when it is finished, you will know." :P You can't play with fire and not expect to get burned.

Personally, I don't have enough (or any?) faith that this patch will be enough to bring me back to D2 for any substantial amount of time. It was good for awhile (up through 1.06), but eventually it just went to Hell. Literally. I got more than my money's worth, and though it certainly opened my eyes a bit to the less-than-desirable side of Blizzard, as time goes by I try not to hold it against them too much. The more time goes on, the more I soften up to them. I don't think they'll ever reach the point that they used to hold with me, but then, I don't think I'll end up outright hating them anytime soon, unless they really continue on their downward spiral. I have high hopes (and worries) for World of Warcraft, and although Starcraft: Ghost may completely flop (isn't it NOT being done by Blizzard, but by someone else?), I think they stand a good chance of pulling it off beautifully. Or, at least, they would if THEY were doing the work. ;)

One thing I hope to see in my lifetime: Blizzard doing a full-length movie. With the goddamn talent they have with full-motion video, they could make a killing, AND keep true to their roots: branching out into new territory, and setting the standard. What Final Fantasy only WISHES it could be, they do in just about every game they release. And they just keep getting better. I know, it'll never happen, but Christ, they deserve a damn award for their work in that area. Just absolutely brilliant. I hope to one day see alot more of their videos. The little 5 minute clips, while incredible, just aren't enough. ;) It's like a drop of water when you're in the desert. Simply not enough. :D

[DralaFi]

Ah now I understand. Sorry I wasn't a lurker back in the days of Diablo I, so I wasn't familiar with this term.

Quark, thanks for the explanation.

[Roland]

Hehe. I could have answered, but I wanted to make you the butt of a joke too much to pass it up. :D It's not often we get a Diablo I newb around here. And, seeing as how what got me into this community in the first place is Diablo I, it holds great roots in me. So for someone to ask what a 3@30 is, well... it's a little surprising, and warranting of at least a little good-natured humor. ;)

Hope I didn't upset you in any way. I'm just a regular joker sometimes. :D I'll try to be more helpful next time. ;)

[EspyLacopa]

One thing I hope to see in my lifetime: Blizzard doing a full-length movie.

If they did that, it would be neat if they did one on some of the things that happened to the orcs before they got sent to Azeroth. Maybe expand on the whole demon thing a bit.

[The Luminaire]

and although Starcraft: Ghost may completely flop (isn't it NOT being done by Blizzard, but by someone else?)

What about Metroid Prime? That wasnt done by the original Metroid team, for that matter, there wasnt a whole lot of involvement with Nintendo itself either.

How did that turn out? ;-)

[Roland]

...that Zoid was working on it? :P Besides, this is Nintendo we're talking about. Involvement or no, they would not allow crap to carry the Metroid name, ever.

Whether the same can be said for Blizzard, or whether they can enforce that... that remains to be seen.

[Ravage]

3 dots at level 30
A big deal for some people in diablo1. However this essencially means that you dont kill anything in hell except diablo himself. You can't enter a Hell difficulty game until level 30, so if you get to many kills in hell you get level 31 and are no longer a l33t g4merz.

It does mean that you were able to be super sneaky ninja type and get past all the monsters that would otherwise kill you.

[Skandranon]

3 dots at level 30
A big deal for some people in diablo1.&nbsp; However this essencially means that you dont kill anything in hell except diablo himself.&nbsp; You can't enter a Hell difficulty game until level 30, so if you get to many kills in hell you get level 31 and are no longer a l33t g4merz.

It does mean that you were able to be super sneaky ninja type and get past all the monsters that would otherwise kill you.

No, you can kill a fair number of creatures in Hell and still not go to 31 in D1. I know this because I did a 3@30 with two special rules:

1) +144% light radius (I actually had a little more).
2) No retreating, i.e. no moving in a direction not toward a monster.

I had to kill my way through a number of large crowds of monsters on the way, and was still 30 when I killed Diablo.

[Whiggles]

One thing I hope to see in my lifetime: Blizzard doing a full-length movie. With the goddamn talent they have with full-motion video, they could make a killing, AND keep true to their roots: branching out into new territory, and setting the standard.

Personally, that is something I don't want to see just yet. I think the Blizzard Film Department people have a lot of talent, but I don't think they're yet at the stage where they could handle a feature-length project. Their biggest strength, the epic set-pieces, are not enough to carry a movie for around two hours. Looking at their cut-scenes, the fight scenes always look great, but as soon as the characters enter into any significant dialogue, everything falls apart. I think their writing needs to improve for a start (look at the way Medivh continually launches into clichéd expositional speeches), but they also need to develop their skills at making character speak in a convincing way. Every time I watch their cut-scenes, it feels like I'm watching something that had been dubbed from another language. The lip-sync seems correct, but for some reason it never seems to add up. This is at its worst in the Orc cinematic in Warcraft III, where Archimonde (I think it was Archimonde :huh: ) starts laughing. Watching his face it looks like he's meant to be talking, and someone slapped a laugh sound over it.

Don't get me wrong, I think that with a bigger budget and a larger team, they would be able to clean up many of their problems. However, I don't think it's something they can rush into. Look at how quickly the standard of their cinematics has advanced. Back in the Starcraft days, people were crying for them to make a feature film. Imagine if a film with animation and cinematography of that standard was released in cinemas. It would probably end with the audience rolling around laughing.

[bervaz]

I agree with Whiggles when he said:
"I think their writing needs to improve for a start (look at the way Medivh continually launches into clichéd expositional speeches"
I think Blizzard should make new stories.I dont know if it's just me but War 3 seems a little like Starcraft when you consider the story.The undead/zerg are the evil race and there is someone that goes evil(Artha/Kerrigan)and the coolest race(night elf/protoss)sacrifeces everything to kill origin of all evil(overmind/Archimode).I hope the expansion doesnt get to be like Brood War

[Whiggles]

Warcraft III's storyline is definitely very close to that of Starcraft. It's quite odd, considering how much they hyped up the single player campaign and storyline. It seems to me that, despite all their boasting, they rushed the back-story and campaign. There are a number of large discrepancies in the stories presented in the manual, including a lot of statements that flat-out contradict what was seen in the previous Warcraft games and their respective manuals. Warcraftiii.net had a large thread listing all the inconsistencies a while back.

In my opinion, the Diablo world is the best one to use in a potential feature film. The back-story in the Diablo I manual is very good, and it's just a shame it wasn't conveyed better in the games. Warcraft has been done to death, and it's getting a bit silly now, where the story team seems to operate along the lines of, "What shall we do next? I know! Let's introduce a new race and a new continent! Where have they been all those years? Well, let's look at the options. ( a ) They've been sleeping for thousands of years, or ( b ) They came through a portal from another world. What's the hook? Hmm... let me think... I know! The end of the world!" (Sorry for the rant. :P ) Starcraft has potential, but personally sci-fi has never been my thing.