Diablo III - New patch 2.1 Coming Aug 26

[PsYcNeT]

No you guys, you see, D3 sucks now because it's fun for the majority of people to play. :jerkoff:

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

No you guys, you see, D3 sucks now because it's fun for the majority of people to play. :jerkoff:

Just like World of Warcraft - "GD casuals ruined everything!!!"

[Flaming Choy]

Originally Posted by Rathji

The fact that they have a huge number of people who are returning to the game means that you are in a small minority.

When I started again, my DH was kind of weak. I spent a couple days farming some gear and almost all my stuff has been replaced with better items and I have either changed my skills so I am clearing far more efficiently than ever.

I actually look forward to playing now.

Gotta echo Rathji's thoughts here. My DH was horrible before. Ok DPS but would die with 1 hit. After playing a couple hours I was able to upgrade everything piece of gear, including a couple great legendaries, all without have to spend anything at the AH. The changes they made actually makes playing the game fun now, and not just grinding out the same runs over and over. The new items are also neat and often change up the skills/build i'm using to take advantage them. Looking forward to playing with my other non-main characters to try them out.

[Blaster86]

I am playing this abomination again. Glad they have fixed so many of the issues. Enjoyable.
Killed my Demon Hunter cause I have no ####ing clue what I was even doing with him any more.

Time for a good ol' fashioned smash and dash Barbarian! Up to 27 if any low levels wish to join me.

[Free Ben Hur!]

Originally Posted by Regorium

I disagree with everything you've said here.

First, the RMAH shutting down between expansions is the best time to do it, and is not a slap in the face at all. Consider that any money you've spent at the RMAH would've been useless anyways with the release of the expac. Blizzard understood that while a small minority of players love looking for deals on the AH/playing the AH game, the vast majority of people prefer finding stuff in game. The removal of the AH and buffing of drop rates was probably the best thing that ever happened to the game.

The only people these changes benefit from are the people that don't have jobs? Are you kidding me? I played ~1 hour a day back near release. I never had enough gold to actually buy anything decent on the AH. I never found anything that would let me survive in inferno as a witch doctor. My DPS when I finally quit was approximately 20,000 and that was after spending what little gold I had on upgrades. I never found a single upgrade personally.

Now? I played the same 1 hour a day, and I'm already up to 50,000 dps, and can actually play through torment 1 and progress through the game. Frankly, considering you have 460k dps buffed with enough specific gear to use a completely broken and nearly exploitative build (lifesteal), it's pretty clear you are the person that played 20 hours a day.

Funny though, the 20 hour a day player is still going to benefit from these changes - with the fact that things are BoA, as mentioned it's extremely hard to complete sets. The top players will be able to farm for these sets, and be far better than casuals like me, who will have a mish-mash of legendaries and rares, but at least I can actually play the game and have fun, rather than using 6/9 blue items, all of which were purchased off the AH.

You've missed the whole point of my rant. It's not a matter of when they are shutting the AH its the fact that they are shutting the AH. Blizzard started with a game design / philosophy that allowed those players with a PayPal account or credit card to buy top end gear. They have now arbitrarily removed that ability a year and half or whatever into deployment. I guess you think its ok for the game designer to significantly degrade gear that was paid for with actual money (not game gold) over and above the cost of the base game. I do not think its ok.

Not sure what 'broken and exploitative build' means. If the gear has the attributes you use them. It's not like life steal is cheating or some how illegitimate. Pretty much the only way a monk (or any toon, really) survived at the higher levels is with life steal. Now they've arbitrarily changed the philosophy, nerfed life steal and emphasized life on hit making my (expensive) gear far less effective.

As for the 20 hours a day jab, its because I have a limited number of hours to play online that I chose to use the real money auction house to get gear that allowed me to compete at a high level with very good sets and legendary gear. Doesn't seem like a difficult concept to me.

The fact that I'm in a small minority (glad to know you work at Blizzard and know these things as fact) should be immaterial. Fact is players like me poured significantly more revenue into Blizzards bottom line via the real money AH than players that chose to just farm or go the game gold route and that should count for something. Again, this doesn't seem like a difficult concept to me.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by chemgear

Just like World of Warcraft - "GD casuals ruined everything!!!"

It has some base in truth, actually. The problem in WoW was the mindset of Blizzard was like a pendulum when it came to expansions. They seem to have trouble hitting a middle ground that satisfies multiple groups of players.
Burning Crusade - Heroic dungeons harder than raids, rep grinds/attunement
Wrath of the Lich King - Heroic dungeons were easy enough that normal dungeons were completely ignored
Cataclysm - Heroics returned to Burning Crusade difficulties (ie. Stonecore) which scared off a ton of people after they got used to WotLK.
Mists of Pandaria - Heroics hit a middle ground in difficulty, but rep grinds and dailies became a huge chore. You had to grind rep to open up a new rep grind!

We'll see if the pendulum swings wildly in the other direction with Warlords of Draenor. < /offtopic >

[Regorium]

Originally Posted by Free Ben Hur!

You've missed the whole point of my rant. It's not a matter of when they are shutting the AH its the fact that they are shutting the AH. Blizzard started with a game design / philosophy that allowed those players with a PayPal account or credit card to buy top end gear. They have now arbitrarily removed that ability a year and half or whatever into deployment. I guess you think its ok for the game designer to significantly degrade gear that was paid for with actual money (not game gold) over and above the cost of the base game. I do not think its ok.

To address this, yes, they decided that the philosophy where you could buy top end gear was a bad one and removed it. I don't see a huge problem here.

Your second point, in that a game designer significantly degrades gear - well, I don't know what you expect in a game that has expansions. Did you expect that the gear that you purchased (lvl 60 gear might I add), was still going to be top of the line at lvl 70? I mean, even if the RMAH continued to exist, with the launch of the expansion, your gear was going to be worthless anyways. Unless, maybe i'm not getting something that you expected your gear to be the best forever just because you paid for it?

Not sure what 'broken and exploitative build' means. If the gear has the attributes you use them. It's not like life steal is cheating or some how illegitimate. Pretty much the only way a monk (or any toon, really) survived at the higher levels is with life steal. Now they've arbitrarily changed the philosophy, nerfed life steal and emphasized life on hit making my (expensive) gear far less effective.

Broken in that it was overpowered - as you said, it was the ONLY way a toon could survive. "nearly exploitative" means that you were basically invincible when you had a critical amount of life steal. Neither imply that you're cheating. You're not. But to expect that not to be nerfed/fixed is silly.

As for the 20 hours a day jab, its because I have a limited number of hours to play online that I chose to use the real money auction house to get gear that allowed me to compete at a high level with very good sets and legendary gear. Doesn't seem like a difficult concept to me.

The jab was primarily that you had no idea how these changes actually affect players that played the game (and not just played the AH). Players that played the least number of hours actually obtained the highest benefit from the changes, whereas the players that played the most benefited the least (or an overall net loss, like yourself).

The fact that I'm in a small minority (glad to know you work at Blizzard and know these things as fact) should be immaterial. Fact is players like me poured significantly more revenue into Blizzards bottom line via the real money AH than players that chose to just farm or go the game gold route and that should count for something. Again, this doesn't seem like a difficult concept to me.

Well, I, for one, am glad that Blizzard cares more about making a good game than the bottom line.

[PsYcNeT]

I can't believe people actually exist that are mad about the AH going away.

The mind boggles.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Free Ben Hur!

You've missed the whole point of my rant. It's not a matter of when they are shutting the AH its the fact that they are shutting the AH. Blizzard started with a game design / philosophy that allowed those players with a PayPal account or credit card to buy top end gear. They have now arbitrarily removed that ability a year and half or whatever into deployment. I guess you think its ok for the game designer to significantly degrade gear that was paid for with actual money (not game gold) over and above the cost of the base game. I do not think its ok.

Not sure what 'broken and exploitative build' means. If the gear has the attributes you use them. It's not like life steal is cheating or some how illegitimate. Pretty much the only way a monk (or any toon, really) survived at the higher levels is with life steal. Now they've arbitrarily changed the philosophy, nerfed life steal and emphasized life on hit making my (expensive) gear far less effective.

As for the 20 hours a day jab, its because I have a limited number of hours to play online that I chose to use the real money auction house to get gear that allowed me to compete at a high level with very good sets and legendary gear. Doesn't seem like a difficult concept to me.

The fact that I'm in a small minority (glad to know you work at Blizzard and know these things as fact) should be immaterial. Fact is players like me poured significantly more revenue into Blizzards bottom line via the real money AH than players that chose to just farm or go the game gold route and that should count for something. Again, this doesn't seem like a difficult concept to me.

So you got an advantage early on, and won't have that advantage going forward and that's why your mad?

Your gear is all going to be out of date as soon as the expansion hits, that's how these games work. The fact that you need to play for your gear, instead of paying for it, will make it harder for you.

I understand your concern, because that's how you want to play, but really don't agree that it is a problem.

[JeanLucPicard]

I have not followed Diablo 3 news for a while so may be someone can answer this:

1. I have read that there will be "bound" items in the game now. Is there a reason why? I think everything should be tradeable, no? If they had negative feedback on the Auction House, there should still be some platform that allows item-item trading for every item.

2. Will there be ladders? I ask because ladders allow you to experiment with new builds every season as you race against everyone. That should keep someone like me interested.

[Hemi-Cuda]

I have zero sympathy for people who spend real money on imaginary items. Blizzard took advantage of people like that, plain and simple. Now they're letting you upgrade your gear for free just by playing the game, which is handy since the expansion will make all those expensive 1's and 0's you coveted completely worthless. I don't see the issue here

[Free Ben Hur!]

Originally Posted by Rathji

So you got an advantage early on, and won't have that advantage going forward and that's why your mad?

Yes, I paid for that ability / advantage.

Your gear is all going to be out of date as soon as the expansion hits, that's how these games work. The fact that you need to play for your gear, instead of paying for it, will make it harder for you.

So it should be my expectation that what I paid for should not have enduring value? Got it - that seems reasonable.

I understand your concern, because that's how you want to play, but really don't agree that it is a problem.

Not a problem for anyone who didn't use the real money AH obviously.

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by Free Ben Hur!

Not a problem for anyone who didn't use the real money AH obviously.

You're asking for enduring value in a game that is always about getting that next carrot on a stick.

It was never intended to have enduring value. If you thought it was then you're delusional. It's not how games like Diablo, WoW or Skyrim work. This isn't a game with items that have set finality like Zelda, Metroid or Final Fantasy. There is always going to be a new expansion or new patch that dropped new loot that made your old loot absolutely 100% useless going forward. It's why you were never supposed to drop the 15000 gold in the WoW AH on the BoE BIS Epic. Because next patch the first boss in the new raid was going to drop something better.

If you dumped money into the AH without realizing that then you only have yourself to blame.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Free Ben Hur!

Not a problem for anyone who didn't use the real money AH obviously.

I spent real money on the AH (that I earned there, but it is still real money). I have zero problems with people spending money on this. If I need to farm gold for 8 hours to buy something or put $5 on my credit card , I would likely choose to pay cash.

What I can't understand is why items you needed to buy on the Real Money auction house, that are either obsolete now with loot 2.0 or will be obsolete once you hit Level 70 and/or start farming new areas, will somehow impact the game going forward. You spent that money and got to use the item, that item is about to suddenly lose a ton of value because of mudflation, and nothing the RMAH does will change that. I suspect that you have no idea that mudflation exists, or somehow convinced yourself that it wasn't going to apply here.

It doesn't impact people who have previously spent money on the game at all, unless you can't play the game without spending that money. Then I guess it has ruined the game for you.

[Free Ben Hur!]

Originally Posted by Blaster86

You're asking for enduring value in a game that is always about getting that next carrot on a stick.

It was never intended to have enduring value. If you thought it was then you're delusional. It's not how games like Diablo, WoW or Skyrim work. This isn't a game with items that have set finality like Zelda, Metroid or Final Fantasy. There is always going to be a new expansion or new patch that dropped new loot that made your old loot absolutely 100% useless going forward. It's why you were never supposed to drop the 15000 gold in the WoW AH on the BoE BIS Epic. Because next patch the first boss in the new raid was going to drop something better.

If you dumped money into the AH without realizing that then you only have yourself to blame.

**sigh**

To my knowledge there is no other game that operated with a real money auction house. It was / is a realistic expectation that this feature would be a permanent fixture of the game for those that chose to use it. It's no sweat off your ass if you choose not to use it. Blizzard gladly took a piece of every real money auction and have at least some obligation on that basis alone. The idea that the AH was nixed to enhance the game play for those that mostly did not use it is actually pretty amazing and something they should have considered at the time they built the game. I understand that expansions change the dynamics and that game play, toon strength, gear attributes, etc. will be adjusted with patches and so on. That said, removal of the AH and the ability to trade loot is not nibbling around the edges. It's a fundamental change in the structure of the game that is to the detriment of anyone who spent real money or wanted to play at advanced levels quickly instead of putzing around forever trying to find very good / great gear.

[photon]

Originally Posted by Rathji

mudflation

I learned a new word today!

[Komskies]

Originally Posted by Free Ben Hur!

**sigh**

To my knowledge there is no other game that operated with a real money auction house. It was / is a realistic expectation that this feature would be a permanent fixture of the game for those that chose to use it. It's no sweat off your ass if you choose not to use it. Blizzard gladly took a piece of every real money auction and have at least some obligation on that basis alone. The idea that the AH was nixed to enhance the game play for those that mostly did not use it is actually pretty amazing and something they should have considered at the time they built the game. I understand that expansions change the dynamics and that game play, toon strength, gear attributes, etc. will be adjusted with patches and so on. That said, removal of the AH and the ability to trade loot is not nibbling around the edges. It's a fundamental change in the structure of the game that is to the detriment of anyone who spent real money or wanted to play at advanced levels quickly instead of putzing around forever trying to find very good / great gear.

Those items you bought off the RMAH are sunk costs. They don't matter now.

[secol]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Alrighty. So I've spent a couple of days with my Barbarian and a few things.

I either really need to get my damage up for him or whirlwind is so dwarfed that it isn't even feasible to play Barbarian anymore.

Even Earthquake is gimped hard. I'm not sure what else to do . I do not really want to go into another build as I have the most fun with and Earthquake/Whirlwind build.

So my build is this:

Primary: Frenzy w/Maniac
Secondary: Whirlwind w/Wind Shear
Tactics: Warcry w/Invigorate
Defensive: Ignore Pain w/Ignorance is Bliss
Rage: Path of the Berserker w/Thrive on Chaos
Rage: Earthquake w/Molten Fury

Passive skills: Boon of Bul-Kathos , Weapons Master and Tough as Nails

That build you will not die....Ever......as long as you are in scores of mobs. Not the best build for single bosses like the Butcher though.

But I've found in this patch, there's piles of monsters to plow through and keep going.

Now this is where my issues with the Whirlwind dwarfing come in. I can sit there, full health and full fury (seriously, its never ending in this build) and take five to ten minutes on a pile of monsters. Really sucks and slows the progress down.

I have some really solid weapons and gear but my damage is at 81,361 but it feels like I'm in MP10 with MP3 damage. Really disappointing. I kind of feel they unbalanced Barbarian too much.

what torment level are you at? i have around the same damage, but use frenzy/hammer as my mains, mainly depending on crit damage and i do ok. not exactly knife through butter. used to be set up as WW but i heard it got nerfed a bit so i went another route

[dammage79]

I'm kicking it in T1 for a bit. I think health wise I could rock T2 or maybe even T3, but the lack of damage concerns me.

Since Ive gained one or two levels things have even out a tiny bit. But I've come to the desicion to load my Paragon pins from here on out into my critical damage and percentage stats. Things seem to be catching up.

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by Free Ben Hur!

**sigh**

To my knowledge there is no other game that operated with a real money auction house. It was / is a realistic expectation that this feature would be a permanent fixture of the game for those that chose to use it. It's no sweat off your ass if you choose not to use it. Blizzard gladly took a piece of every real money auction and have at least some obligation on that basis alone. The idea that the AH was nixed to enhance the game play for those that mostly did not use it is actually pretty amazing and something they should have considered at the time they built the game. I understand that expansions change the dynamics and that game play, toon strength, gear attributes, etc. will be adjusted with patches and so on. That said, removal of the AH and the ability to trade loot is not nibbling around the edges. It's a fundamental change in the structure of the game that is to the detriment of anyone who spent real money or wanted to play at advanced levels quickly instead of putzing around forever trying to find very good / great gear.

I could understand this attitude based on the way D3 was structured previously, but since the patch I find at least 1 legendary every 60-90 minutes played.

And this is from a guy that made well over 100 bucks from the RMAH back when it was first out.

If you want to make $$$ playing videogames, EVE has some great Cash4Plex opportunities.