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[jashman]

Diablo 3 is not an MMO. It's that simple.

[nenjin]

I don't really find there's much to say on the game, either. "Did you hit stuff good" "I hit stuff real gud!" "What build do you use?" "I use the abilities that hurt stuff gud and the runes that make it look purty."

That's not really fair, but I think it's mostly true. There's just precious little to talk about as far as the game itself is concerned, at least on the normal difficulties. You get a handful of personal choices to make, and really the only thing that truly matters is you weapon, everything else just pads your stats further.

I'm enjoying myself playing through with a friend or solo but there's almost nothing that's worth discussing, except maybe how terribly cliche'd and shallow the Skeleton King was.

[Andir]

Wut @ comparing GW2 (an MMO) to Diablo 3 (a hack'n'slash rpg)

Diablo 3 is an MMO in every sense but the fact that you can party up with 40 other people.  Login/Internet required, some (if not all) AI handled by server, characters and items stored server side, relative location in the world synced with the server at all times, and from what I read, even the worlds are generated server side.  D3 is a client application to connect to the Diablo3 world hosted on the cloud.  Without that server, you have no game.

I feel it's fair to compare D3 to any MMO on the market.

I don't, if only for the fact it'd be one of the most limited MMOs out there in terms of content and interaction. D3 is a SP/Co-Op game loaded down with retarded MMO sensibilities.

I wouldn't even call them sensibilities.  I'm thoroughly convinced that they are using the Diablo name to sell the game and forcing the online all the time model is purely for monetary gain and not for the sake of the game or the community.  (ie: This is Activision's game, not Blizzard's.)

[timferius]

Wut @ comparing GW2 (an MMO) to Diablo 3 (a hack'n'slash rpg)

Diablo 3 is an MMO in every sense but the fact that you can party up with 40 other people.  Login/Internet required, some (if not all) AI handled by server, characters and items stored server side, relative location in the world synced with the server at all times, and from what I read, even the worlds are generated server side.  D3 is a client application to connect to the Diablo3 world hosted on the cloud.  Without that server, you have no game.

I feel it's fair to compare D3 to any MMO on the market.

I don't, if only for the fact it'd be one of the most limited MMOs out there in terms of content and interaction. D3 is a SP/Co-Op game loaded down with retarded MMO sensibilities.

I wouldn't even call them sensibilities.  I'm thoroughly convinced that they are using the Diablo name to sell the game and forcing the online all the time model is purely for monetary gain and not for the sake of the game or the community.  (ie: This is Activision's game, not Blizzard's.)

This is a serious question, it occured to me while typing that it could be taken sarcastically, but how exactly do you think they get monetary gain from always on? I mean, they have to pay for and support whole server banks that otherwise they wouldn't need, and they have to know that there is a percentage of people unable to get good internet (though a dwindling number sure). Do you mean this from a purely anti-piracy stance that they "save money"? (in quotes because that's an arguabl/unproven/outwright wrong assumption).

[Microcline]

Wut @ comparing GW2 (an MMO) to Diablo 3 (a hack'n'slash rpg)

Diablo 3 is an MMO in every sense but the fact that you can party up with 40 other people.  Login/Internet required, some (if not all) AI handled by server, characters and items stored server side, relative location in the world synced with the server at all times, and from what I read, even the worlds are generated server side.  D3 is a client application to connect to the Diablo3 world hosted on the cloud.  Without that server, you have no game.

I feel it's fair to compare D3 to any MMO on the market.

I don't, if only for the fact it'd be one of the most limited MMOs out there in terms of content and interaction. D3 is a SP/Co-Op game loaded down with retarded MMO sensibilities.

I wouldn't even call them sensibilities.  I'm thoroughly convinced that they are using the Diablo name to sell the game and forcing the online all the time model is purely for monetary gain and not for the sake of the game or the community.  (ie: This is Activision's game, not Blizzard's.)

This is a serious question, it occured to me while typing that it could be taken sarcastically, but how exactly do you think they get monetary gain from always on? I mean, they have to pay for and support whole server banks that otherwise they wouldn't need, and they have to know that there is a percentage of people unable to get good internet (though a dwindling number sure). Do you mean this from a purely anti-piracy stance that they "save money"? (in quotes because that's an arguabl/unproven/outwright wrong assumption).

Essentially, the reason for the most complained about feature is the second most complained about feature, the real-money auction house

[nenjin]

It's purely speculative. If you have x people forced to be exposed to both a profit model and an item purchasing model, you're going to get a volume of transactions no matter what. The whole profit forecast is based on the assumption that there will be a minimum amount of attention on it, and a % of that attention will turn into sales. It's the exact same mentality that underpins advertising. To put it another way, it's a bit like Obama's mandatory health insurance. The ability of the system to function is based on the assumption that everyone will pay in.

[Andir]

Of everyone I've talked to, they all want to sell items for real money.  The only problem is that I don't know anyone willing to actually put money in.  Sadly, some of those people (in their mad rush to get to the higher difficulties) will spend money on that AH to get an item to help them continue leveling as fast as they can.  It's the typical "My game doesn't start until I max my character" syndrome we've all seen in MMOs for years.

In other words, all the wrong reasons to play a game.

[Empty]

Diablo 3 is a singleplayer/co op game with a cash shop.
That requires a always on connection to prevent item duping.

[timferius]

On a Diablo related note, blizzard has apprently made a statement that they'll honour all of the pre-orders from GAME, so that's cool.

[Andir]

Diablo 3 is a singleplayer/co op game with a cash shop.
That requires a always on connection to prevent item duping.

I don't know if I'd say it "requires" it.

I had plenty of fun with Diablo 2 without ever buying/selling/trading items with random strangers through any auction house.  My friends and I would fire up a game, play through it on the hardest difficulties and get items we needed without ever having to connect to Battlenet.  When we got bored, we'd make alternate characters to try other skills.  D3 has taken away much of what made D2 fun for us.  Not only that, they took away a major part of the Blizzard gaming history of mods.  I mean, the whole genre of Tower Defense games were rooted in mods to Warcraft.

D3 is clearly focused on the RMAH.  There's no denying it.  The crafting items are "tiered" so they can be sold off on the AH to getentice people to use it.  They'll push in patches to hinder players abilities to farm items making the prices go up.  They'll call it "balance" and they'll start to make it harder and harder to get certain stats that make the game fun in order to drive the price up on items marked with "of the blah" that will be required to complete/compete at the higher levels.

Feel free to bookmark this for later reference.

[fenrif]

Fenrif, I have the utmost respect for you and your opinion and personal experience. The fact is that those games all had significant populations of people who couldn't play the game they bought for 1-2+ days due to registering, broken product, online issues etc. Always online is indeed ludicrous but let's not lose all perspective.

I feel like the burden of proof is upon you here. I'll agree that it sometimes happens, but to suggest that it's par for the course, and that no major game has ever been free of these issues for large portions of its customer base is just baffling to me.

Essentially, the reason for the most complained about feature is the second most complained about feature, the real-money auction house

It also seems like they're trying to see what they can get away with. SC2 always online... D3 Always online + RMT shop. People still buy their products, so I wouldn't be surprised if their next major release had something a little more ontop. Though maybe I'm just being cynical.

I don't know if I'd say it "requires" it.

I had plenty of fun with Diablo 2 without ever buying/selling/trading items with random strangers through any auction house.  My friends and I would fire up a game, play through it on the hardest difficulties and get items we needed without ever having to connect to Battlenet.  When we got bored, we'd make alternate characters to try other skills.  D3 has taken away much of what made D2 fun for us.  Not only that, they took away a major part of the Blizzard gaming history of mods.  I mean, the whole genre of Tower Defense games were rooted in mods to Warcraft.

Definatly doesn't require it from a gameplay perspective. Buisness perspective though? Yeah, definatly need that always online.

[hemmingjay]

So I am noticing that each playthrough(still on normal) I am getting some significant diversity in the way the game goes. On one playthrough I saw a good balance of normal and elite mobs. On another I got mostly normal while on this third one I am drowning in elites. It's pretty cool, to say nothing of random(semi) encounters that sometimes take place.

Overall, I would say so far that replayability is decently high, if you like loot-whoring and ARPGs.

[nenjin]

So I am noticing that each playthrough(still on normal) I am getting some significant diversity in the way the game goes. On one playthrough I saw a good balance of normal and elite mobs. On another I got mostly normal while on this third one I am drowning in elites. It's pretty cool, to say nothing of random(semi) encounters that sometimes take place.

Overall, I would say so far that replayability is decently high, if you like loot-whoring and ARPGs.

I am however pretty annoyed that many of the loot containers spawn in the exact same places on these fixed maps.

[Briggsy16]

Diablo 3 is a singleplayer/co op game with a cash shop.
That requires a always on connection to prevent item duping.

I don't know if I'd say it "requires" it.

I had plenty of fun with Diablo 2 without ever buying/selling/trading items with random strangers through any auction house.  My friends and I would fire up a game, play through it on the hardest difficulties and get items we needed without ever having to connect to Battlenet.  When we got bored, we'd make alternate characters to try other skills.  D3 has taken away much of what made D2 fun for us.  Not only that, they took away a major part of the Blizzard gaming history of mods.  I mean, the whole genre of Tower Defense games were rooted in mods to Warcraft.

D3 is clearly focused on the RMAH.  There's no denying it.  The crafting items are "tiered" so they can be sold off on the AH to getentice people to use it.  They'll push in patches to hinder players abilities to farm items making the prices go up.  They'll call it "balance" and they'll start to make it harder and harder to get certain stats that make the game fun in order to drive the price up on items marked with "of the blah" that will be required to complete/compete at the higher levels.

Feel free to bookmark this for later reference.

I love a little conjecture.

Can we please just concentrate on the gameplay in this thread? I really don't care to read about all this shit.

[hemmingjay]

So if you had to choose one class that seems to make the game too easy, which would you pick?

For me it's the Demon Hunter. With dual crossbows and the penetrating shot, the first two chapters were a breeze. Chapter 3 is quite a bit harder for DH, but the overall balance seems to favor this class, imho.