Diablo 3 - What's New in the Beta? @ IGN

Dhruin

Dhruin

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IGN has an update on changes to the Diablo III beta:
Blizzard still appears to be toying with how active skills are swapped in and out. In Diablo III, you'll eventually unlock six slots to assign active skills and three slots for passive skills. These function as your character build and are easily modified, letting adjust your class' strengths on-the-fly. Initially in the beta it was possible to swap out skills as often as you liked, though Blizzard was concerned this ease of switching encouraged you to play with the skill window open at all times. A later version required you to visit an altar in town to switch skills, locking out your ability to change skills in the field. In the current version of the beta, you can again swap skills whenever you like, though swapping triggers a 30 second cooldown during which swapping is blocked.
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More information.
 
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And a release for the game is no where in sight ? Pretty tiresome .
 
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rich ruffo said:
And a release for the game is no where in sight ? Pretty tiresome .
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I agree. "When it's done..." is really getting old. I wish I had the discipline to stick by a proclamation along the lines of "I won't buy this game..." but I know that is fruitless. As a fan of the series, though, I feel insulted by the media storm around the announcement of its "imminent" release, which at that time was late 2011. That was hype to rejuvenate waning interest.
 
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Unfortunately, much more than fine-tuning is needed.

I got in on the beta a couple months ago, and the game is thoroughly uninteresting due to the simplification of "building" your character (I use that term VERY loosely).

They keep promising that character customization is possible through skill runes, but those aren't even in a state good enough for beta-testing. And now they're saying they're re-working the skill system yet again. I consider that a good thing, since it needs a major re-working, but it sure doesn't indicate a release anytime soon. Frankly, it's an embarrassment to the project managers that the current system was allowed to continue and develop as far as it has.

Hell, the project managers should be embarrassed anyway. If there even are any. It's amazing to think that the first Diablo 3 teaser was demo'd in a playable state at Blizzcon 2007, over 4 years ago! I honestly cannot fathom what they've been doing in all that time.

I am embarrased to admit how many hours I've put into Diablo 2, but at this point I'm likely to skip D3 altogether unless they're able to show some amazing stuff to win me back…
 
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Fantasm, thanks for the info. Blizzard made a mistake to drag the game through the hype machine for this long. With all of Blizzards power and money they still cant seem to get this game right and out the door.And from what i understand D3 isnt that large in content. Its a good thing there are other GREAT looking hack n slashers out there for the fans. Not so good for Blizzaed.
 
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I agree, the more I hear about this, the worse it sounds. I know two people testing D3, and they admit that the game is pretty much a chore to even play at this point. Hearing something like that doesn't exactly make me reach for my wallet.


-Carn
 
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Skill runes will never be in the open beta. The open beta only covers a very limited part of the game and is meant to be more of a stress test then anything else. The D2 open beta worked the exact same way and was even more simple and limited then the D3 beta. Judging how finished the game is based on having played a tiny fraction of it which is not designed to have all the features of the full game is not going to be very helpfull.


Fantasm said:
Unfortunately, much more than fine-tuning is needed.

I got in on the beta a couple months ago, and the game is thoroughly uninteresting due to the simplification of "building" your character (I use that term VERY loosely).

They keep promising that character customization is possible through skill runes, but those aren't even in a state good enough for beta-testing. And now they're saying they're re-working the skill system yet again. I consider that a good thing, since it needs a major re-working, but it sure doesn't indicate a release anytime soon. Frankly, it's an embarrassment to the project managers that the current system was allowed to continue and develop as far as it has.

Hell, the project managers should be embarrassed anyway. If there even are any. It's amazing to think that the first Diablo 3 teaser was demo'd in a playable state at Blizzcon 2007, over 4 years ago! I honestly cannot fathom what they've been doing in all that time.

I am embarrased to admit how many hours I've put into Diablo 2, but at this point I'm likely to skip D3 altogether unless they're able to show some amazing stuff to win me back…
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Carnifex said:
I agree, the more I hear about this, the worse it sounds. I know two people testing D3, and they admit that the game is pretty much a chore to even play at this point. Hearing something like that doesn't exactly make me reach for my wallet.


-Carn
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do you mean you know two beta testers? I've watched quite a few beta-10 vids and the game looks pretty fun to me. The beta testers admit it's a blast as well. The beta is fairly short though, but from what I have seen of the game, it's ready and has been ready for a while now.

Blizzard could have released Diablo III years ago and turned the current work into Diablo IV. I feel the reason why the game has been delayed is not because of "finetuning", but because of internal strife between Blizzards producers, ect.
 
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Fantasm said:
Unfortunately, much more than fine-tuning is needed.

I got in on the beta a couple months ago, and the game is thoroughly uninteresting due to the simplification of "building" your character (I use that term VERY loosely).

They keep promising that character customization is possible through skill runes, but those aren't even in a state good enough for beta-testing. And now they're saying they're re-working the skill system yet again. I consider that a good thing, since it needs a major re-working, but it sure doesn't indicate a release anytime soon. Frankly, it's an embarrassment to the project managers that the current system was allowed to continue and develop as far as it has.

Hell, the project managers should be embarrassed anyway. If there even are any. It's amazing to think that the first Diablo 3 teaser was demo'd in a playable state at Blizzcon 2007, over 4 years ago! I honestly cannot fathom what they've been doing in all that time.

I am embarrased to admit how many hours I've put into Diablo 2, but at this point I'm likely to skip D3 altogether unless they're able to show some amazing stuff to win me back…
Click to expand...

Fantasm is 100% correct here. Diablo 3 is basically completely gutted of any depth all in the quest to allow "grandma" to play. Blizzard actually said that in so many words. It was actually a much MUCH better game 3 Blizzcons ago before they went down the path of simplification and emphasizing action of all else. It is really pretty bad.

I went to 2 Blizzcons just to play D3 and now I have the beta and have no interest in the game whatsover. I truly think that Path of Exile, W.A.R. and especially Torchlight 2 will all be much better action RPGs than D3
 
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jonnysd, Dont forget about Grim Dawn which looks like the best of them all. Also Krater and Nyrthos which actually looks like it has depyh.
 
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rich ruffo said:
jonnysd, Dont forget about Grim Dawn which looks like the best of them all. Also Krater and Nyrthos which actually looks like it has depyh.
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Wow, yes Grim Dawn too. I knew I was forgetting one, looks like I missed a few. It is really sad the direction that D3 has taken.
 
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Blizzard have become increasingly complacent - and it's supremely obvious why.

They've lost most of their most creative people, and they're left with an absurd amount of resources.

It seems to me that their entire design process is based on streamlining established ideas until they're no longer interesting - and then they start over when they're shocked to discover what watering down gameplay means.

They seem to have no core vision whatsoever.

Anyone can design a decent game if you can spend years iterating tried and tested ideas and you have the most talented craftsmen in the industry, but it's not going to be GREAT unless you have the vision to start with.

D3 will likely be extremely polished and playable - but ultimately I fear it will be pretty forgettable.
 
DArtagnan said:
D3 will likely be extremely polished and playable - but ultimately I fear it will be pretty forgettable.
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The first Diablo is the game that got me hooked on action/rpg's. The atmosphere in that game was nothing short of incredible. That was gone in the second game. I played and completed it, but I did not put in a lot of hours in the game like I have with Titan Quest and the Sacred series. I am not even tempted from this one at all. Dont like the descriptions of the game I am reading.
 
I never knew diablo had any depth. Admittedly I never played the second one as the first was boring enough. You just equip the next best weapon you find and click your way to the end of the game. How much more accessible could they make it?
 
Honestly I would be happy if they would release a Diablo 2 patch that allows play at higher resolutions. This would placate me until D3 comes out in a year.

I know there was a resolution patch before, but it wouldn't allow for battle.net play. Has this changed by any chance?
 
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sakichop said:
I never knew diablo had any depth. Admittedly I never played the second one as the first was boring enough. You just equip the next best weapon you find and click your way to the end of the game. How much more accessible could they make it?
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I'm not the only person who think that Diablo is a boring game!

I never understood the following the series have either.
 
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You are not the only ones that think Diablo is boring but I go beyond that to despising the game for ruining the only genre of games I play.
 
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Boring is a word I'd totally associate with the Diablo franchise. I honestly expect people to flat out laugh at this title, assuming it's ever released. If you want your title to be fresh, innovative, you need to bring something new to the table, and I don't see that happening with Diablo 3.


-Carn
 
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Carnifex said:
Boring is a word I'd totally associate with the Diablo franchise. I honestly expect people to flat out laugh at this title, assuming it's ever released. If you want your title to be fresh, innovative, you need to bring something new to the table, and I don't see that happening with Diablo 3.


-Carn
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But what developer is bringing anything new?
 
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