Diablo III

[Cthulhu]

On the other hand, if they generate a continuous source of income, they can add free extra content to the game. Or, should. But then again, they got the development cost out of it four times over on just the first day (or something, wouldn't be surprised if it was more).

 

[Xelazander]

free-to-play models work off microtransactional models because the game itself is free and the content to have an edge over other players is (or should be) entirely optional,

The difference here is that players spend 60 dollars to purchase the game, so to spend more money to buy items to keep a competitive edge is pushing it imo.

The game was free for me

And woop for being in the 1%

 

[Cthulhu]

Farthest progress so far is The Butcher on Nightmare, . But since yesterday I now have my second character (a demon hunter) on NM too. I should push forward now and finish NM.

 

[Xelazander]

I'm starting a demon hunter on hardcore now for lols.

 

[Hisako]

both demon hunters have sexy voices
mmfh

 

[Cthulhu]

hardcore, lolz. Read a poast. Guy makes it to level 60 on HC. Dies. Starts again. Reaches level 60. Dies again by remaining in the fire after killing the Butcher on live stream TV. DERP

 

[Hisako]

I guess he missed it by *this* much

 

[Cthulhu]

Stuff about things they've changed, will change, and the game design people's intentions with the game.

Basically, if an ability or class is too strong, they'll nerf it, . What? Improve some other skill? Fuck no.

My interest in the game is atm dwindling, but I'm a bit interested to see how it'll evolve over time. After all, it'll be the shit for at least another six months, and if they're lucky, another ten years. SC2 seems to be doing well, at least.

 

[Cthulhu]

And just finished Nightmare. What's that, a week or so? Not too bad, I guess, . Nightmare is still doable, as long as you keep your gear sort of up to date and change your playstyle a bit. I'll probably have to work on that the most if I go to Hell difficulty. Kiting, here I come

 

[Xelazander]

Going from act 1 to act 2 in nightmare is probably a bigger step up than going from hell to nightmare.. It's insane! Finally made some progress and killed the bitch though. Just trying to steam through and ignore elite packs now cause I get raped by any group of mobs if I stand still long enough.. With 60k health

 

[Joe]

Playing a Monk is pretty awesome.
Got a passive skill that heals me for a percentage of any Spirit (the Monk's mana/energy/rage pool) I spend on other moves. Alongside that, the Monk also has a self-healing move (that heals others nearby).

Overall, while I have found my friend's Demon Hunter dishes more damage, the Monk definitely has a survivability level far beyond the others. I love the class for their speed in combat (as opposed to the Barbarian's more clunky movements) but also for the fact that I can tank bosses and huge mobs. Loving it.

 

[Cthulhu]

yeah, I read that the only viable build for DH's (and probably mages too) is the so-called "glass cannon" build; dishes out tons of damage, but can't take shit. Monks (I have a monk I should get up to Hell as well btw) seem to be a good middle ground between dealing damage and taking it, not unlike barbarians, although the latter is a bit more obvious about it.

And Witch Doctors, well, wtf .

 

[Xelazander]

I sucked at Witch Doctor. - Demon Hunter I like, damage and good at kiting/avoiding.

I need to make some dollar and start dual wielding +LifeOnHit weapons, but the BiS set will cost about 50 million and I never seem to get over 200k without spending.

 

[Cthulhu]

Yeah, I actually spent some time just earning money tonight, . Shame I actually spent more on the 20% moar money equipment than I actually earned, .

I should get a character up to level 60 though; I just read that you get a buff that increases magic and gold drops after killing elite mobs, stacks up to 5 times. Of course, then there still needs to be a market in good high-level gear in the auction hall. What I'm reading up until now is that people spend a shitton of time grinding the same boss over and over and over again for gear.

In fact, what they do is get the boss down to 1 or 2% health, then quickly swap to high magic find % gear, so the boss drops better / more gear. Somehow I'm sure Blizzard is going to fix / nerf that soon,

 

[Xelazander]

The nephelem valour 5 stacks buff makes it better to farm elite groups instead of bosses over and over

 

[Hisako]

What I'm reading up until now is that people spend a shitton of time grinding the same boss over and over and over again for gear.

In fact, what they do is get the boss down to 1 or 2% health, then quickly swap to high magic find % gear, so the boss drops better / more gear. Somehow I'm sure Blizzard is going to fix / nerf that soon,

That's what happens in the Starter Edition too,

 

[Cthulhu]

Starter Edition is nothing, . Normal difficulty too. Actually, the game only becomes interesting - gameplay-wise - after Normal. Which is a bit of a shame, but then again, the difficulty curve is nice.

I do hope they add content to the game, though. The game quickly turns from a somewhat wonky story-driven game to a repetitive grindfest. One where you can't actually get good gear; the kind of gear you need at one point in the game can only be gotten several acts / a difficulty level later. Or so I've heard from reliable sources, . So in that sense, it is a 'pay to win' game, as in, you have to buy stuff from other players in the auction house in order to be able to progress.

 

[Hisako]

Any game with microtransactions for superior gear will be called a pay-to-win game.

 

[Cthulhu]

Well in this case, it's either that, or endless grinding, .

 

[Cthulhu]

explanation hear: http://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/uovpp/accidentally_discovered_item_chat_link_code/. It seems this was also possible in WoW. Makes sense, encoding the item in the actual chat message, seeing that items don't have an ID embedded into the clients and this approach avoids a lookup at the server for the item - if items have an ID over there, that is.

 

[Interslicery]

Fuck me.

 

[Hisako]

So uh

do those items actually do 30k damage

 

[Cthulhu]

No, it's a hack where you basically pass the code through the chat system that says 'this is a 30K damage item'.

 

[Cthulhu]

So, according to the internets, the AH prices for items are currently undergoing what seems to be hyper-inflation; items are more and more expensive, etc. This can of course in part be explained by the fact that more players - that stick with the game, that is - reach the higher difficulty levels, earn moar gold, and thus add more to the economy and are able to afford more stuff.

But it's also due to bots and the like. Here is a shitty online interview with a botter that has a hundred accounts and plays 200 games simultaneously (you can play on US and EU servers simultaneously on a single account, apparently), making 300 K per account per hour, or 60 million per hour, and in all likelihood 24/7.

And this is why the real gold auction house will never work or last long; botters will fill it with items for cheap (or transfer from the gold AH from their botted moneyz to the real one for real moneyz), and it will all be shit.

Then again, Blizzard will be making money off of it, so I don't actually think they mind. But then, the fuck do I know

 

[ForceStealer]

Blizzard to start cracking down on cheaters.

...so, I thought the reason we're all supposed to love the always-online bullshit is because it was supposed to prevent people from cheating.

Of course, now they can just ban a cheater from playing the game AT ALL, so I guess that makes them feel good about themselves.