I'm slow, I know, but I finally reached the end of Diablo 3 this weekend. My Demon Hunter topped out at level 31 - playing through Normal difficulty, of course. I died a total of three times: once to a 'splodey suicide bomber type demon early in Act II, once because I hit the tab button while trying to spam a health potion, and finally at the end because Diablo is a cheap, gimmicky boss.
I'm undecided as to whether I'm going to do the whole thing over again on Nightmare or try out another character class. If I do roll another character, I think I'll try out a Monk next.
I will not speak of the story or the characters, as both aspects are pretty bad. I was surprised at my lack of anger at that, but I guess all my damns have already been given in that department for the year. (See also: Mass Effect 3)
Is it a good game? Sure. It's a clickity-click action fest filled with a variety of things to kill and loot to pick up, which is what the Diablo series has always been about. I'm not sure I can say it was worth twelve years of expectations, but then what could be?
I haven't delved into co-op, so I can't speak to that.
I'm not sure that D3 will have a long shelf life for me. I've played through the story and viewed all the cinematics, and while I enjoyed the gameplay I'm not convinced that the OCD loot grind will be enough to keep me interested - too much of that side of my brain is invested in WoW, I think.
I miss you :C
We finished our first play through and it was a lot of fun, but now I'm one of those sadistic mofos that is enjoying the higher difficulties. For some reason having it be much more difficult is extending the game for me. The loot grind is strange because gold is so plentiful and the AH has so much good stuff that it seems silly to grind for gear. Lots of people grind just for gold and then buy whatever they need to get through inferno. Come play co-op, it's a blast.
Add me and we shall dungeon crawl together: salovia#1627.
Mizz and I are thinking about re-upping our WoW accounts as well.
Hope all is good in your neighborhood. Look forward to seeing you online again.
--
Sal
Posted by: tov | June 02, 2012 at 09:08 AM
Well, I've been going through Nightmare and I'm at level 44 and halfway through with Act II. (It's been slow going because I've been farming achievements - and while that can be tedious it does net you quite a bit of xp and loot.)
Nightmare - so far - has been more like Unpleasant, Vaguely Remembered Dream. But again, I'm only in Act II, so I'm still expecting the difficulty to ramp up Real Soon Now.
The Auction House really does change the way the formula works. It seems almost too easy to gear up, and people don't seem to know how to price items. (Not that I'm complaining about that part.)
You all should definately make plans to come back to WoW. I know it's all cool and insidery to not like Mists of Pandaria but I've been encouraged by what I've seen so far. But it's fair to wait until there's a release date assigned - no need to come back to the Interminable Lull Between Expansions.
Posted by: Brian | June 04, 2012 at 12:46 PM