Do you like Diablo 3?

[zespri]

Stating the obvious: I was frustrated by the fact that it was not possible to get in the game for the first to hours. It seems that after the experience that they have with WoW and then Startcraft 2 and then Diablo 3 beta, they could have prepared better.

The requirement for permanent internet connection for single play and loosing half an hour of progress if internet goes down is horrendous too. They say it's not about DRM but I don't believe them.

But you know what, people are going to put up with this, and Blizzard knows it. Because what else can you do? Miss out on Diablo 3 because of it? Not going to happen.

I like the visuals in the game a lot. Al imagery is lovingly crafted and poor pleasure to look at. The gameplay is satisfying, however after having played two hours I feel impatient to level up since I feel that the combat options are really limited on the low levels (I think I got to 7th in two hours). Also not having ability to teleport to town to sale some inventory to free up space for new loot is annoying. I was told that the teleport will be given further ahead though.

All in all I'm seeing myself spending quite a bit of time with this game. Torchlight did start feeling a bit repetitive after awhile. It may happen with Diablo 3 as well. We'll see.

Anyone knows how multi-player works? Is it possible to play the main story-line with a friend? I'm sure I could have googled this one, but since we are all here =)

[KingIsaacLinksr]

Yeah...I already ranted about the DRM in D3.  I also have great issues with the Auction House that encourages pay-to-win. Optional or not, I don't appreciate that in the game. Both of those things made this game a deal breaker for me so I'm not getting it.

King

[Hearteater]

Not getting it.  Multiple reasons: online required for single player, real-money auction house, unlimited anytime respecs (I know about Nephalem Valor, doesn't fix the problem) obliterates replay value, Blizzard's whole "social media" bent to their accounts which makes me not want to play with friends in SC2, and giving money to Blizzard supports Activision which is almost as bad as supporting EA.

Meanwhile, I could get Torchlight 2 and be just as happy and have none of those problems.

[zespri]

Not getting it.  Multiple reasons: online required for single player, real-money auction house, unlimited anytime respecs (I know about Nephalem Valor, doesn't fix the problem) obliterates replay value, Blizzard's whole "social media" bent to their accounts which makes me not want to play with friends in SC2, and giving money to Blizzard supports Activision which is almost as bad as supporting EA.

Meanwhile, I could get Torchlight 2 and be just as happy and have none of those problems.

Yes. I'm actually sad that I can't do the same, al the while I do feel the same. I mean, every single complaint above - I agree with. You see, I started liking blizzard with Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. Played wc, wc 2 then diablo, then sc, then diablo 2, then wc3. And then WoW came about. When WoW started I was completely fascinated by it. I did not trust this whole MMORPG thing back then (ha-ha) and I was apprehensive that with WoW the best parts of blizzard experience would be killed. Amazingly this did not happen. Somehow they managed to mix the right ingredients, and although I hate both PvP and raids I spent very enjoyable 2 years in the world of warcraft. But then it became apparent, that not eveything nice and fluffy. Sure, I stopped playing WoW not because of this, but just because it got too old. 2 years! wow! I don't think any other game captured my attention for that long (I mean playing on regular basis). But certain things how blizzard managed community (I know, I know this is very hard thing, and with the amount of players it's hard to get right), how they decided to evolve the game... it did not feel right. It had no bearing on game play as such, but when the activision deal happend, I started wondering if it's time to stop loving blizzard.

Then startcraft 2 came about. Being non-competitive and not giving a shit about ladder and battle.net I regarded sc2 as lacklustre. Basically it's the same game as sc1 with modern graphics.  When I was pre-ordering sc2 just before its release I also pre-odered  diablo 3 at local retailer. From common sense perspective it's incredibly silly thing to do, I knew that the game would not be out for a year or more, but I decided that... well... that at that particular moment in time I don't care that much about that money that I spent on the pre-order. So I paid them just for the heck of it. I rarely if ever do this, so I figured, why not do it once =)

So basically from that point on back in 2010 I did not have a choice in not getting diablo 3. But even if I did, I would probably get it anyway. I guess this is remnants of my past respect for blizzard.

Well, I'm guessing it's really about time for me to stop. It does not mean I will never play any of their games, but I will certainly won't do any pre-ordering or collectors editions (which I was buying not because I wanted extra stuff, but because I felt that they deserved the money).

And I'll try my best to enjoy diablo 3. I'm looking forward to it.
 

[BobTheJanitor]

Because what else can you do? Miss out on Diablo 3 because of it?

That's pretty much my solution, yes. But of course, I never played the others, so I can get away with that. From what I understand there was a good story in D2 that has everyone chomping at the bit to play 3? I tried the open beta and it was an okay enough ARPG but it really didn't have anything that grabbed me. It just made me want to go play Torchlight and Titan Quest some more. The only thing I'm waiting on is Torchlight 2 which doesn't have some great story hook to bring me back (not that that's a bad thing, but if that's the main reason people want to play the game, is the gameplay itself actually that good, or would you rather just read the story?) but just promises more great solid gameplay. (and is actually made by the people that made Diablo 2 )

[zespri]

It just made me want to go play Torchlight and Titan Quest some more.

Somehow Titan Quest was mind-numbingly boring for me. I think I put in about 6-8 hours and that was it. Torchlight though, while after awhile feels repetitive, still a great lot of fun.

I'm waiting on is Torchlight 2 ... [that] ... promises more great solid gameplay. (and is actually made by the people that made Diablo 2 )

The thing is Torchlight 2 will NEVER be able to have the same level of polish as Diablo 3.

[BobTheJanitor]

The thing is Torchlight 2 will NEVER be able to have the same level of polish as Diablo 3.

Polish is a very vague descriptor, what exactly do you expect TL2 to be lacking? Admittedly, I've only got videos of TL2 to compare to the few hours of beta time I put in to D3, but graphically they both seem fine and I like the aesthetics of TL2 better, but I can understand that being subjective. The gameplay appears to be as least as good as TL1, which was quick and responsive. I don't know what seems unpolished except perhaps that TL2 is still in an actual beta state whereas I'm pretty sure the Diablo 3 beta was a "beta" with massive quote marks, that is to say a demo to hook in purchasers.

[Volatar]

Path of Exile is going to be another, F2P alternative to D3.

[Wanderer]

Heh... that's interesting.

The always on - glitch testing against accounts due to the real-money auction house is a bonus to me.  I believe you should be able to disconnect and NEVER use any of the online features, but that's a choice they made to not redesign a thousand internal pieces.

As for the social network meh.

Respeccing my primary dude?  Sweeeet!

Btw, it's not pay to win.  You can very happily go through the game without paying for a single thing.  Where the money will come in will be for that 'gotta have it'! pieces of set armor or random ultra-level gear for Nightmare level players.  Everyone else can go through 99% of the game without the real money auction house.  Though a lot may hit the in-game money auctions just to pick up uncommon stuffs.

Also, most people who can afford a triple A title on launch day have internet.  Sure, you might want it on your laptop while you're on a plane to kill off half an hour, but lets be honest, Diablo isn't marketed to a casual crowd anymore, if it ever was.

[Castruccio]

I have the Torchlight 2 Beta and have also played Diablo 3.  Torchlight 2 is more fun because the loot is better  (they don't have to balance it for arenas) and the game is generally faster paced and more exciting. 

[zespri]

Path of Exile is going to be another, F2P alternative to D3.

Do you know how are they going to profit? Uber items for real money or something else?

[zespri]

Polish is a very vague descriptor, what exactly do you expect TL2 to be lacking? Admittedly, I've only got videos of TL2 to compare to the few hours of beta time I put in to D3, but graphically they both seem fine and I like the aesthetics of TL2 better, but I can understand that being subjective. The gameplay appears to be as least as good as TL1, which was quick and responsive. I don't know what seems unpolished except perhaps that TL2 is still in an actual beta state whereas I'm pretty sure the Diablo 3 beta was a "beta" with massive quote marks, that is to say a demo to hook in purchasers.

Well, I'm sorry, but I can't pin-point what this is. When I saw Torchlight 1 I loved everything, it was a faithful diablo clone. I can't complain about the graphics at all - I quite like it. Game play is good too. But... the feeling that playing the game gives, whatever it means is different. There is some grandness for me about diablo it feels majestic. Where torchlight does not feel this way. You are free to laugh at me of course and tell me that there is no objective component in it, but I believe there is, I just can't figure out what that would be.

[keith.lamothe]

I would like to get it, I would like to be Blizzard's customer, but the always-on-the-internet (and internet-hiccup=lost-progress) ... they're just pushing me away too hard.  For WoW I was willing to deal with those constraints because they were inherent in the nature of the thing, but here it's not necessary.  I'm sure it'd be more work for them to support offline mode, but for a $60 (iirc) game they can pony up the effort.  Probably 70% of the work I put into AVWW that's actually still there was getting MP working.

Torchlight 2 does look very interesting, not sure if I'll get it due to time constraints, but at least I don't feel like I'm being actively repelled by the developer's/publisher's business practices.

[zespri]

Torchlight 2 does look very interesting, not sure if I'll get it due to time constraints, but at least I don't feel like I'm being actively repelled by the developer's/publisher's business practices.

What game will you definitely get (any genre) that would fit into your time constraints?

[BobTheJanitor]

Path of Exile is going to be another, F2P alternative to D3.

They did an open beta for this last weekend, and I actually played through all of the game that appears to be there so far with a character. Only two acts so far, then you just zip back to the beginning on difficulty level +1. From what I've heard you have to go through it all a few times and then you the next act unlocked, which seems kind of lame. But it is still in beta, so maybe they'll fix that. They also have some balance issues to work out still. Overall, it was a decent ARPG that really tries to go for the old school Diablo-like grim dark setting. Everything about the land looks like a place you definitely wouldn't want to be. None of the character are in any way pretty, none of the settings are at all attractive. They range from dreary at best to deep dark and horrible at worst. Nothing wrong with that, but it does sort of drain me after a while. Whereas Torchlight with its much more shiny colorful feeling doesn't make me start feeling sort of exhausted after a while. But clearly Path of Exile had something going for it, because I did play it for several hours over the weekend. It does nail the kill > level > loot feeling pretty well if nothing else.

Do you know how are they going to profit? Uber items for real money or something else?

It appears that they're not going to profit very well. Their model seems to be buying more character slots, and vanity pets, and that's about it so far. But they give you plenty of character slots by default, so I think they'll need to tighten that up if they want to make any money off of it. Right now their F2P model seems to be, dare I say it, too generous.

Well, I'm sorry, but I can't pin-point what this is. When I saw Torchlight 1 I loved everything, it was a faithful diablo clone. I can't complain about the graphics at all - I quite like it. Game play is good too. But... the feeling that playing the game gives, whatever it means is different. There is some grandness for me about diablo it feels majestic. Where torchlight does not feel this way. You are free to laugh at me of course and tell me that there is no objective component in it, but I believe there is, I just can't figure out what that would be.

That's fair. If it's just 'I know what I like' then no one can't really argue with it.