Diablo III

Tonight? Oh snap.

Oh my god, I think I came.

Should be down at this point. Going to check.

EDIT: Yep, down. Holy crap, that's a lot of changes.

edited 21st Aug '12 3:25:48 AM by Pyrite

A lot of the changes are good, but with whats done to Caltrops, it means that the Tank build for Demonhunters is pretty much gone. :(

Mmmm. Datamined updated Legendaries. Wonder what this means for the pre-patch items. Collectors' items, or salvage fodder?

Ah well, with the Paragon System in place, I'll probably have a lot more farming to do.

EDIT: Aaaaand the new patch is up for download, even if the servers aren't. Sadly, it's too late at night for me to test it out. Let me know how it goes, guys.

edited 21st Aug '12 9:11:39 AM by Pyrite

Belatedly chiming in to note that butthurt is a horrible word.

I might see if my WD plays better after the patch. For a bit. But really I'm just waiting for TL 2.

Okay, played my Demonhunter to confirm post-patch and, yep, until someone figures out a replacement for Caltrops, the Tank Demonhunter build is dead and buried. Mmph.

Tested Seven-Sided Strike with my monk, and while the damage was a whole lot better (I actually did 50k damage to Ghom at one point), for some reason I felt that the attacks kept on MISSING, particularly against large mobs of skeletal axemen in Act 3. o_o

I'm shocked they didn't change toad of hugeness. There was a useless skill.

When you balance that against the boosts to playability for W Ds in general though, it's pretty minor.

Anyway, I'm surprised how some Critical Mass wizards move don to Meteor from Whirlwind so quickly. Going to have to try that on my own Wizard later on.

edited 21st Aug '12 4:13:13 PM by MyssaRei

Critical Mass lowers your cooldowns, right? What cooldowns are you supposed to use with it?

Force Armor (plus the rune that gives Armor and Resists) and Crystal Shield. They're basically the things that keep you alive, given how a Critical Mass wizard is pretty much tanking hits by monsters, specifically elites. Since Whirlwind had the highest proc coefficient (before this patch), it was the skill of choice for the skill combination.

edited 21st Aug '12 4:47:42 PM by MyssaRei

I'm kicking some ass with my Barbarian in the new patch. Act I Inferno and I've already found a level 62 two-handed axe and a 63 shield. The axe doubled my DPS but I have to invest in some survivability stats.

My monk is a happy monk now.

Dat Exploding Palm feels worthwhile in Hell, for once.

Also, finally hit 60.

edited 21st Aug '12 6:13:42 PM by Blackmoon

Oh, and I briefly played my level 37 Witch Doctor and the responsiveness is so much better now that casting any primary spell doesn't have a short delay.

I'm so lucky. The first drop I found post-patch (in Inferno act 1) was a level 63 1-hand that was better than my old 2 hand. The next drop was a shield that had a bonus to the specific WD doctor ability that I was using. I've already replaced both since then, because wow the item level of earlier acts and the power of lower level items has been raised.

Well, I finally finished off my Lore collection. Yay. Haven't picked up anything particularly notable, though.

LOL Despite the death of the Demonhunter Tank build, some of my friends are reporting frankly HILARIOUS instances of using Vault+ Trail of Cinders to wreak unheard-of levels of destruction. Seriously, 1500% weapon damage is a BIG deal.

Personally, I'm finding the thought of offensively vaulting TOWARDS mobs of monsters funny.

edited 22nd Aug '12 8:42:06 AM by MyssaRei

The guy made a public apology about the thing.

I'm finding that the buffs to the Witch Doctor have made Nightmare difficulty hilariously easy. I got him up to level 39 last night — finding time in my schedule to play is kind of tricky at the moment.

Rain of Frogs, Acid Cloud, Zombie Dogs, Gargantuar/Humongoid — nothing even gets to me, never mind damages me, unless I run in there to drain them all for the Intellect buff.

Do you think a Diablo IV will be made at some point in the future? Diablo III seemed pretty conclusive, but then, Diablo II combined with Lord Of Destruction seemed pretty conclusive, too!

I wonder what Downloadable Content or Expansion Pack will be made for Diablo III?

It's hard to say. Some form of expansion to Diablo III is inevitable given the fact that Adria escaped. But whether they can find yet another rationale to bring back Diablo himself? Seems doubtful.

I thought the developers said that Diablo III and its expansions were going to end the current storyline / franchise? (Of course, this isn't going to stop them from going back on their statements later on and making a IV, but even so... Of course, correct me if I remember wrongly.)

edited 23rd Aug '12 10:11:14 AM by Pyrite

I thought it was pretty obvious that the whole thing was setting us up to fight that angel guy (Imperius?). I assumed he'd be the boss of the expansion. A full Diablo game without Diablo might be a bit odd though.

Imperius was a Red Herring, although I admit I thought he'd be taking more of an active role. Still, you can't have a Diablo title without the villain in the title. It just wouldn't be right.

edited 23rd Aug '12 9:32:23 AM by Fighteer

The Black Soulstone fell to Sanctuary.
I can see Imperius being cast out of heaven for his behavior during the invasion. Or even leaving on his own out of spite. (After all, mortals walked there, it's defiled now)

I can totally believe him becoming Diablo's new host, then leading us on another merry chase. Kill Adria, stop by Hell to save Leah's soul, and deliver another satisfying Diablo beatdown in the end.

Diablo with the power of all the Prime Evil, and Imperius's Archangel abilities/followers, and time to learn to use them. That is a terrifying thought.