**OFFICIAL** Diablo 3 Thread

[smackababy]

As far as basic stats--improving DPS, eHP, etc--I suppose it would. However, it doesn't help that much if you're interested in trying a certain gear set with synergies, which might include these new unique item properties and/or specific set bonuses. It's the BoA that bothers me, rather than loss of the AH. You're entirely reliant on the RNG to both (1) get the drop you're looking for and (2) get stats you need on that drop.

The AH was the only reason the 1st release was bearable, since the drops were so horrible and uninteresting 99.999(repeating)% of the time; though it wasn't enough for a lot of people, because *surprise* people like to find good loot. Now that the drops are more interesting (at least IMO), they're gonna restrict you from trading them. I don't think an AH is needed, necessarily, but I'd be surprised if D3 keeps people interested in the long-term without trading. We'll see.

I think with them removing the AH and making legendaries BoA they have really killed a cockroach with a rocket launcher. They removed almost the entire community aspect of the game. You might as well be playing single player now.

I never had a problem with the AH or the initial drop rate (I think the best items should be sparse, just like D2 before the dupes). The AH was only a problem if you were an idiot. You can easily choose to avoid it entirely and play the game without it. Or, you could choose to exploit it and be perfectly fine using it. Being against it is literally like being against others drinking Pepsi, when you only drink Coke.

I see this expansion helping boost playerbase for the short term, but the long term will deter more and more players. At this point, getting gear is trivial and the difficulty isn't exactly incredible. Quite a bit of people are going to get to a "what now" much faster. The 'carrot on a stick' type of draw only works when you can never quite get the carrot. If they simply give you carrots, it becomes less of an incentive to get a slightly larger or different shaped carrot.

 

[sweenish]

The AH was the only reason the 1st release was bearable, since the drops were so horrible and uninteresting 99.999(repeating)% of the time; though it wasn't enough for a lot of people, because *surprise* people like to find good loot. Now that the drops are more interesting (at least IMO), they're gonna restrict you from trading them. I don't think an AH is needed, necessarily, but I'd be surprised if D3 keeps people interested in the long-term without trading. We'll see.

You're mixing up your cause and effect. Drops sucked because the AH existed. It wasn't the other way around.

 

[laviathan05]

As far as basic stats--improving DPS, eHP, etc--I suppose it would. However, it doesn't help that much if you're interested in trying a certain gear set with synergies, which might include these new unique item properties and/or specific set bonuses. It's the BoA that bothers me, rather than loss of the AH. You're entirely reliant on the RNG to both (1) get the drop you're looking for and (2) get stats you need on that drop.

The AH was the only reason the 1st release was bearable, since the drops were so horrible and uninteresting 99.999(repeating)% of the time; though it wasn't enough for a lot of people, because *surprise* people like to find good loot. Now that the drops are more interesting (at least IMO), they're gonna restrict you from trading them. I don't think an AH is needed, necessarily, but I'd be surprised if D3 keeps people interested in the long-term without trading. We'll see.

Yeah my buddy was a purist that never used the auction house. Spent loads of time playing the game and couldn't equip himself well enough to get one character beyond mp3 or so. I spent probably a quarter of my time flipping items in the auction house and have 4 characters that could survive mp10 even though I spent less total hours than him playing. It was just too awfully skewed.

 

[tedrodai]

Witch doctor was the last class I tried, and there were some level ranges that I didn't enjoy much. But when I reached 60 I had a blast, and I ended up playing it primarily. Of course, the real reason it became my primary was because it was relatively easy to get started with in Inferno with the dogs and gargantuan as meat shields. It became my favorite class because I found a way to progress back in the day, and I thought it was fun to boot.

But the signature spells do suck pretty bad, and I only use them sometimes for the 4% extra mana regen from that passive ability. Most of the builds I've tried have major mana issues in the harder difficulties, and I'm starting to enjoy it less these days. A lot of the skills have really high mana costs and/or really long cooldowns, or I just don't like them. I may need to try gear with -resource cost and the like, but I've never found any good ones.

With gear being much easier to find, and drops tailored to the class you're playing, I've shelved my WD for the time being so I can try out the other classes again. I'm also trying out hardcore a little, cause I already have each class leveled in softcore.

 

[TheFamilyMan]

I think with them removing the AH and making legendaries BoA they have really killed a cockroach with a rocket launcher. They removed almost the entire community aspect of the game. You might as well be playing single player now.

I never had a problem with the AH or the initial drop rate (I think the best items should be sparse, just like D2 before the dupes). The AH was only a problem if you were an idiot. You can easily choose to avoid it entirely and play the game without it. Or, you could choose to exploit it and be perfectly fine using it. Being against it is literally like being against others drinking Pepsi, when you only drink Coke.

I see this expansion helping boost playerbase for the short term, but the long term will deter more and more players. At this point, getting gear is trivial and the difficulty isn't exactly incredible. Quite a bit of people are going to get to a "what now" much faster. The 'carrot on a stick' type of draw only works when you can never quite get the carrot. If they simply give you carrots, it becomes less of an incentive to get a slightly larger or different shaped carrot.

I really hope it gets closer to the loot system on the consoles. I really enjoyed being able to play D3 on my Xbox and get gear that would be an upgrade. I was able to get up my toons via drops and crafting to levels far better than I could (or have been able to) on the PC version. Don't get me wrong...there was some really crappy loot on the console version but no where near as bad as PC. 90% of the loot that dropped for me was usable on the toon I got the drop on. It might not have been an upgrade or have been just a slight upgrade, but it was sensible and logical. I actually got excited and enjoyed seeing a legendary drop as I knew there was a good chance I might be able to use it.

Not so on the PC version. I just started back playing again. The last time I logged in D3 on the PC was back in Q3 of last year sometime...October I think. New patch isn't much better IMHO. As Charles Barkley would say if he was doing color commentary for a D3 game..."Turrible...just turrible".

I haven't seen anything that would provide any sort of upgrade yet. Nothing. Zip. Nada. Of the few legendaries that have pinged for me, all were useless. Utter garbage. It's almost to the point of being unplayable because of this.

I'll give it till RoS and run a Crusader through to see how it is then but if it's no better, D3 is uninstalled and gone. Seriously...a retarded monkey with a droopy left eye and clubbed fist could have produced a better loot system. I don't want everything handed to me but I'd like at least something that lets me know my few hours played resulted in something rewarding. Running through AI - IV over and over and over again isn't quite the reward I'm talking about either. I should be making strides to move from TormentIII to IV to V etc etc. I'm not even crawling with the loot that's falling.

 

[darkewaffle]

The statistical jumps between the torment levels get pretty massive (and larger with each level), expecting to already be making strides into them is asking for a lot very quickly imo. My wizard can comfortably do T2 despite being only a week or two 'old' and using entirely 'new' gear but progressing to that point is very easy because you can accomplish it doing nothing but loading up on the vit/stat gear that's so readily available. Past that you need to be more particular and a bit luckier. 3000 stat and 3000 vit is a good start but only gets you so far.

For characters with "old" gear it's a bit tougher because the cc/cd/as is harder to find currently and most people can't handle seeing their DPS go down lol. But it can work out ok if you target your "stat stick" slots for replacements to up your toughness.

 

[DeathReborn]

I think with them removing the AH and making legendaries BoA they have really killed a cockroach with a rocket launcher. They removed almost the entire community aspect of the game. You might as well be playing single player now.

I never had a problem with the AH or the initial drop rate (I think the best items should be sparse, just like D2 before the dupes). The AH was only a problem if you were an idiot. You can easily choose to avoid it entirely and play the game without it. Or, you could choose to exploit it and be perfectly fine using it. Being against it is literally like being against others drinking Pepsi, when you only drink Coke.

I see this expansion helping boost playerbase for the short term, but the long term will deter more and more players. At this point, getting gear is trivial and the difficulty isn't exactly incredible. Quite a bit of people are going to get to a "what now" much faster. The 'carrot on a stick' type of draw only works when you can never quite get the carrot. If they simply give you carrots, it becomes less of an incentive to get a slightly larger or different shaped carrot.

The community aspect is sorely lacking but it can be saved with allowing inter-clan trading, even if only for 24 hours after getting the drop.

I am actually finding myself communicating much less now than before I took a hiatus from D3 in mid last year, there's just so little "community spirit" in D3 now. It may be better in the US but the EU is pretty dead when it comes to decent people.

So many times I go into a public game and find either one or all the players just going off doing their own thing which just makes me wish they'd bring back /players 8 (or 4 in D3's case) so they don't pollute public games. There are nearly 20 people on my friend list with over 200 days since log in which tells me just how badly Blizzard have mismanaged the Diablo franchise.

 

[akahoovy]

The community aspect is sorely lacking but it can be saved with allowing inter-clan trading, even if only for 24 hours after getting the drop.

I am actually finding myself communicating much less now than before I took a hiatus from D3 in mid last year, there's just so little "community spirit" in D3 now. It may be better in the US but the EU is pretty dead when it comes to decent people.

So many times I go into a public game and find either one or all the players just going off doing their own thing which just makes me wish they'd bring back /players 8 (or 4 in D3's case) so they don't pollute public games. There are nearly 20 people on my friend list with over 200 days since log in which tells me just how badly Blizzard have mismanaged the Diablo franchise.

I can't imagine the way trading is currently setup staying as is. I agree it greatly diminishes community. Strangely enough I think it discourages class diversity in parties. If you want to trade currently, it's better to travel with all barbs or wizards or whatever because your party mates are more likely to get drops you could use and might be willing to pass off if the leg/set item dropped doesn't help their builds or preferences.

 

[TallBill]

My DH was running MP 3-4 pre-patch and after about 10 hrs of gaming was burning through T4 post patch easily. I sold a few key items though to pay for RoS and I'm back to T1. It isn't that hard to progress.

 

[pandemonium]

I think with them removing the AH and making legendaries BoA they have really killed a cockroach with a rocket launcher. They removed almost the entire community aspect of the game. You might as well be playing single player now.

That's what I've been trying to say. Ending the AH and making every single unique BoA is an overbearing and rash move. As with most things, Blizzard doesn't know how to make moderate changes that are rational and well adjusted. It's either way too much or way too little. This is how all of their games have such well-defined cookie cutter builds with FOTM being a thing due to rash nerfing or buffing instead of actually balancing.

The AH was only a problem if you were an idiot.

Careful, you'll offend a lot of people with such a comment. You should see the nerdrage commencing on b.net forums in the responses to that truth, lol.

 

[Jumpem]

My DH was running MP 3-4 pre-patch and after about 10 hrs of gaming was burning through T4 post patch easily. I sold a few key items though to pay for RoS and I'm back to T1. It isn't that hard to progress.

Using what build? I use a Sentry build to slowly whittle down mobs while I keep moving to stay alive on T4.

 

[darkewaffle]

I don't think there was much of a Diablo community at any point anyway. At least not "in game" / with strangers. It will still exist "out of game" as people congregate to talk builds, brag about loot/levels, theory craft, discuss XP runs, etc still. I don't think trading was ever much of a part of D3 - largely because D3 actually had a meaningful currency so there was no need to barter.

I do wish there was some sort of 'loophole' to trading by way of friendlist, clan, something. But at the same time it would just enable the third party interaction that they're trying to prevent. Though I would say "who cares" to that in the same sense I would say "who cares" to someone buying gear off the AH.

I was also expecting to still be able to browse/purchase from expiring auctions. Was bummed that they turned it off entirely and once current auctions finish, that's that. On the bright side I managed to be the top bid on a pretty decent WKL (want to try swapping LS for LoH) at 558 gold.

 

[Rhezuss]

I started a Monk yesterday to give it a shot. Level 12 and it's a pretty fun class. Should I go 1H+Shield, DW or 2H?

 

[Majes]

Careful, you'll offend a lot of people with such a comment. You should see the nerdrage commencing on b.net forums in the responses to that truth, lol.

Most people here are smart enough to know that if you buy the best gear on the AH you won't find any upgrades. That's the only complaint against the AH that anyone ever posts... Some people don't realize that it was optional...

 

[digiram]

Witch doctor was the last class I tried, and there were some level ranges that I didn't enjoy much. But when I reached 60 I had a blast, and I ended up playing it primarily. Of course, the real reason it became my primary was because it was relatively easy to get started with in Inferno with the dogs and gargantuan as meat shields. It became my favorite class because I found a way to progress back in the day, and I thought it was fun to boot.

But the signature spells do suck pretty bad, and I only use them sometimes for the 4% extra mana regen from that passive ability. Most of the builds I've tried have major mana issues in the harder difficulties, and I'm starting to enjoy it less these days. A lot of the skills have really high mana costs and/or really long cooldowns, or I just don't like them. I may need to try gear with -resource cost and the like, but I've never found any good ones.

With gear being much easier to find, and drops tailored to the class you're playing, I've shelved my WD for the time being so I can try out the other classes again. I'm also trying out hardcore a little, cause I already have each class leveled in softcore.

I maxed out on + mana and reduced resource cost on my wd. I never run into mana problems. Even before patch actually, mana was never much of a problem, you just have to gear him correctly. Zuni set is a must for + 20 mana regen, and mana regen on your knife and/or oh as well. Limiting IAS is also important, ias causes you to spend too much mana. So even if you don't use a cknife, a spear or axe is a good wep as they have lower ias.

 

[ewdotson]

I started a Monk yesterday to give it a shot. Level 12 and it's a pretty fun class. Should I go 1H+Shield, DW or 2H?

If others tell you otherwise, don't hesitate to listen to them, but my impression was always that it's probably not worth worrying about 1H+shield unless you're playing HC and that DW is marginally better than 2H, but the difference is small enough to just go with whatever the best weapons you find while leveling. I don't think I ever got to the point where it made sense for me to switch my monk over to DW, but that was just because skorns were *so* cheap and I was never really dedicated enough to get to the point where it made sense to play on the higher mp levels.

 

[ViviTheMage]

soooooooo, played after quitting about a month in.

60 barb, is toughness a useful stat now? Or should I prioritize stats as follows?

Strength > Vitality > Critical Damage > Critical Chance > Attack Speed

 

[smackababy]

I started a Monk yesterday to give it a shot. Level 12 and it's a pretty fun class. Should I go 1H+Shield, DW or 2H?

End game, you will want DW, as it is just better. You might be able to do 2H, but you will have very slow attack speed. Monks need APS to keep their spirit up (the rule was like 2.01 APS was required to keep Mantra of Conviction - Overawe up 100% of the time in a fight).

When leveling, it doesn't really matter. Just use what you can to level as fast as you can. If you need some extra survivability, pick up a shield. If you need some extra damage, grab a DW weapon.

 

[darkewaffle]

Further with healing moving from LS to LoH that also favors higher APS.

 

[Tweak155]

Most people here are smart enough to know that if you buy the best gear on the AH you won't find any upgrades. That's the only complaint against the AH that anyone ever posts... Some people don't realize that it was optional...

I think it is more the perception that the loot drops were intentionally neutered to encourage people to use the AH.

Given the much better drop rate and itemization (it isn't perfect, but it is a lot better), only bolsters that perception for people.

I've played way way way more "end game" recently than I ever did in the past, as I saw no point.

 

[Cappuccino]

Bring back Jay Wilson!

 

[smackababy]

I think it is more the perception that the loot drops were intentionally neutered to encourage people to use the AH.

Given the much better drop rate and itemization (it isn't perfect, but it is a lot better), only bolsters that perception for people.

I've played way way way more "end game" recently than I ever did in the past, as I saw no point.

The problem is that the original drop rates were in line with what D2 had. You weren't supposed to find a WF every other day. It didn't help that Inferno (at launch) was a giant gear check 99% of people failed instantly. But, people couldn't stand they couldn't do it. It is like WoW where people want to hit level cap and jump into end game raiding. And Blizzard caters toward them (not that it is a bad business move to do that).

People think they want the dupe days of D2, when everything is available and cheap. But, that cheapens the entire spirit of the game. What is the point having difficulties if you can get to the highest in a day or two?

 

[ViviTheMage]

so I think i'll stick with this on my barb

Strength > Vitality > Critical Damage > Critical Chance > Attack Speed - Always gem emerald in weapon and ruby for everything else


I wish they'd bring back the gold AH, gold is so useless now.

 

[Rhezuss]

End game, you will want DW, as it is just better. You might be able to do 2H, but you will have very slow attack speed. Monks need APS to keep their spirit up (the rule was like 2.01 APS was required to keep Mantra of Conviction - Overawe up 100% of the time in a fight).

When leveling, it doesn't really matter. Just use what you can to level as fast as you can. If you need some extra survivability, pick up a shield. If you need some extra damage, grab a DW weapon.

Thanks. I actually have a 2H that I crafted but I think i'll move to DW on the Monk...and probably my 60 Barb.

For the Monk, any types of weapons work right? But are the fist weapons roll better stats for the Monk? And is there some weapon type that are tailored for the Monk class? Daibo?

 

[Cappuccino]

Thanks. I actually have a 2H that I crafted but I think i'll move to DW on the Monk...and probably my 60 Barb.

For the Monk, any types of weapons work right? But are the fist weapons roll better stats for the Monk? And is there some weapon type that are tailored for the Monk class? Daibo?

2H are good if you play Tempest Rush other than that every monk users play DW. Unless you play hardcore you be likely to be using a shield.