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[Nadaka]

I think the advantage of always on DRM is that it might not even go discount.

How in the hell is that an advantage?

[hemmingjay]

advantage is for the developer/publisher, not you.

[Rez]

Regardless, it's a huge blizz game, so it probably won't start to be discounted for at least 6 months (after release).

[hemmingjay]

If memory serves me, Diablo 2 took like 4-6 years before being seriously discounted.

[Rex_Nex]

Oi, yeah, I remember having to pay 60$ for the D1/2 combo pack just a few years ago.

[nenjin]

Blizzard is the only game company in history where you're advised to pay extra for an additional level of security that they can't even guarantee works. (I don't have a smart phone.) As far as I'm concerned, fuck Blizzard. I'm out of patience or love for what they do now. And if the price of playing a game that the whole world is aware of is basically having zero security guarantees on their end, then I don't need to be playing their games.

Because like I said. If my routine hasn't changed in 5 years and yet somehow I'm still getting hacked, it's their problem. Not mine. I'm not sure at what point people stopped holding Blizzard responsible for account security (or automatically assuming anyone that was hacked did it to themselves), but I feel like that's essentially blaming the victim.

[Briggsy16]

What phone do you have? You can also do it on your desktop I think, through a workaround

[KaelGotDwarves]

Witchdoctors: Zombie Bears are so good. So good. Although because of various builds viability, the class might as well be called Vision Questers, or Spirit Vesselers. Every endgame build involves activating vision quest in some way, and then spamming.

I've tried Zombie Bears, but I just feel Dire bats are way safer (they still outrange even Mortar elites) and still do formidable damage. How are bears supposed to be used so I don't get gibbed while they are spawning from the underworld?

The trick to zombie bears is that if you line your back against a wall or corner, they start to funnel out instead of spawning all around you. So if you're right up against a wall, the zombie bears shoot out single file from each cast, stampeding right on top of each other, machine-gunning and mowing down anything in their path. The damage is obscene, and the reason that there are videos of zombie bear witchdoctors farming act bosses within seconds.

So while it might be a little more difficult without a tankier build or lifesteal/life on hit against trash mobs, it's ridiculously powerful for farming champions and bosses in different places.

It's beyond a doubt the highest damaging skill in the game when used right.

[Niveras]

It's beyond a doubt the highest damaging skill in the game when used right in a way Blizzard did not intend so expect it to get nerfed because you can't have players showing intelligence or ingenuity or versatility in ways that the developers did not expect.

Fixt.

[Andir]

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-07-05-blizzard-diablo-iii-lacking-long-term-sustainable-end-game

[Darkmere]

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-07-05-blizzard-diablo-iii-lacking-long-term-sustainable-end-game

Well at least they admit it. I do wonder how long they'll flail helplessly before (if they ever) hit on a system that works.

[Andir]

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-07-05-blizzard-diablo-iii-lacking-long-term-sustainable-end-game

Well at least they admit it. I do wonder how long they'll flail helplessly before (if they ever) hit on a system that works.

Good question, but I think this explains it best from what I read so far:  (for me)

As Tycho of Penny Arcade said: The game's a piņata. You click on monsters to make them explode with loot, then you get the loot. If someone just wants the candy, they can buy the candy, the piņata becomes secondary to the whole pursuit if you're just wanting the candy.

Problem is a lot of people bought a piņata, bought the candy, and then realized they don't need the piņata anymore. If the auction house hadn't caught on, the piņata would still be fun, or if something was still even mildly obtainable without real funds. But the simple fact of the matter is that they've given the community a way to entirely bypass the game, and then made the bypassing actually necessary to succeed past a certain level.

Even if you exclude the RMAH, the black market in D2 was something I had absolutely no interest in participating in.  Having any sort of AH makes it feel like a sanctioned and required part of the game for me.  You can claim that I should just ignore it... but that feels to me like you are asking me to ignore a part of the game I paid for.  If they spent dev time making the AH, and I paid into the game, I should be able to partake and get the same value out of my money as the next guy.  You can call it odd reasoning, but it's one thing to ignore mods (or third party additions) to games, but it's entirely different to ignore something you paid for (ie: came included with the price.)

If the AH was a separate service and/or third party service... I think I could ignore it as a part of the game, but since it's Blizzard official with a big old button, it places it firmly in the vanilla Diablo Experience.

[SalmonGod]

Even if you exclude the RMAH, the black market in D2 was something I had absolutely no interest in participating in.  Having any sort of AH makes it feel like a sanctioned and required part of the game for me.  You can claim that I should just ignore it... but that feels to me like you are asking me to ignore a part of the game I paid for.  If they spent dev time making the AH, and I paid into the game, I should be able to partake and get the same value out of my money as the next guy.  You can call it odd reasoning, but it's one thing to ignore mods (or third party additions) to games, but it's entirely different to ignore something you paid for (ie: came included with the price.)

If the AH was a separate service and/or third party service... I think I could ignore it as a part of the game, but since it's Blizzard official with a big old button, it places it firmly in the vanilla Diablo Experience.

Doesn't even matter.  Blizzard didn't balance D2, as far as I'm aware, according to the effects of the black market.  The AH being a built-in part of the game, they now have to balance the game accordingly.  So you cannot ignore it without handicapping yourself.

[Vactor]

Nenjin's comments relate to why I expect the real money AH to be a bit of a flop.  You would be paying to no longer have to play the game. 

Good question, but I think this explains it best from what I read so far:  (for me)

As Tycho of Penny Arcade said: The game's a piņata. You click on monsters to make them explode with loot, then you get the loot. If someone just wants the candy, they can buy the candy, the piņata becomes secondary to the whole pursuit if you're just wanting the candy.

Problem is a lot of people bought a piņata, bought the candy, and then realized they don't need the piņata anymore. If the auction house hadn't caught on, the piņata would still be fun, or if something was still even mildly obtainable without real funds. But the simple fact of the matter is that they've given the community a way to entirely bypass the game, and then made the bypassing actually necessary to succeed past a certain level.

I guess i was looking at it backwards, instead of the AH being a flop, it was a great success, making the game a flop instead.  Funny how easily we are enticed into ruining our own enjoyment of something.

[Darkmere]

I still don't see the AH as the direct problem, but as-is it's certainly the largest, most irritable symptom. The problem is a large shift in focus from D2's character-centric gameplay to D3's gear-centric focus. D2 had you looking for gear that accentuated the way you wanted to play a character. D3 has you looking for gear... to look for gear. You don't have the option to "go for a [insert variant] set" because there are no variants.

I'd propose adding in more methods to customize gear, that give SOME control to the player besides "this is all crap. Need to farm more gold for less crappy crap." If there were some way to, for example, put half an item's stat budget on the item as a stat of player choice (but that still cost the player something. Worthless crafting mats, perhaps?), the massive piles of shit would have some use other than vendoring, and almost-but-not-quite gear would still be worth something to the right person.

That would all need to be worked into a class rebalance and more useful/varied item mods though. If something besides main stat, vit, allres gear was appealing, the market might dilute to a more sensible place.

However, given their history of axing content that gave players options (blacksmith socketing gear, the mystic enchanting gear, magic weapon damage effects), I fully expect their solutions to be turd sandwiches. If they pleasantly surprise me, it'll be the first time since Ulduar. And that was a while ago.