Dhruin
SasqWatch
Those who pre-loaded Diablo III from Blizzard or have the box in their hand can now install the game in anticipation of the release tomorrow. I got as far as the main menu.
Reviewers are apparently as restricted as the public - even IGN's Review in Progress isn't exactly making progress:
Reviewers are apparently as restricted as the public - even IGN's Review in Progress isn't exactly making progress:
Over at Eurogamer, lead technical artist Julian Love rejects "dumbing down" accusations, saying the beta isn't representative of the whole game:As for the Diablo III review, well, I can’t even start playing it until it goes public, because Diablo III requires an online connection to the live battle.net servers. I want to write about what it’s like taking on bosses with my friends, as well as what the experience is like selling and buying items for real money in the auction house, but that's not possible until after launch.
More information.Some players claim Blizzard has reduced character customisation in an attempt to make Diablo 3 "casual friendly".
But in an interview with Eurogamer ahead of Diablo 3's hotly anticipated midnight launch, Blizzard said opinions about the game have been skewed by the recent beta, which showcased early areas of the game and limited the level cap to 13.
"I definitely don't see it as dumbing down," lead technical artist Julian Love said. "One of the disadvantages beta testers have is they only see the early portion of the game. That's the portion of the game that really does need to be simple and approachable in order to live up to our mantra of easy to learn and difficult to master. You only get that experience in the beta, and that's the place where we're really trying to get it to be as dead simple and approachable as we possibly can.
"So it's not that we're dumbing the systems down, so much as we're changing the balance of when systems are introduced and how much information is thrown at the user. A lot of those things are just re-prioritised to flow into the proper portion of the game, where you've already gotton used to the early systems and early combat, and now you're ready for more. That's a big part of the process of just getting it to ramp up properly."