Hands On Review of Diablo 3

[YosemiteSam]

I haven't gotten to read the whole review yet. I've only read the skills section and it sounds like really good stuff.

======================================

At this year's Blizzcon, we got to try out a section of Diablo 3 that was pulled directly from the single-player storyline and playable with all classes. A large number of skills and abilities were playable, and the skill rune system has been implemented, a feature that was lacking for last year's demo build. We also got to spend some time trying out the newly announced PvP system — Battle Arenas. Read on for a walk-through of Diablo 3 as we've seen it so far. In short: it's shaping up to be an excellent game, and a worthy successor to Diablo 2.

The demo started me off at with a level 9 character and dropped me into a dungeon, offering up two objectives: fight my way through and, as a bonus, find and destroy a particular boss. From the start, it had a very familiar feel. I took a few steps down the hall and got rushed by a group of monsters, which I quickly mowed down by mashing the buttons on my mouse. It's Diablo, alright. Here I paused to actually read my abilities and see how the UI worked. If you've followed along with the game's development at all, you're probably aware of the fact that the Diablo 2 potion belt is gone. The 1-5 keys are now used to activate skills displayed on an action bar at the bottom of the screen. The right and left mouse buttons also activate skills (ostensibly the most-used ones), and pressing tab will swap back and forth between two skills bound to the right mouse button. Subtract one of those slots for health potions and you've got seven easily-accessible skills.

Complete Review

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Interesting.

So this is a range weapon class that is a mix between assassin and amazon.

I never played either of those classes.

Was hoping it would be a paladin but I guess no holy hammer mass destruction in D3

That was mainly what I played.

So I might either try starting with a Witch Doctor (seems similar to the druid/necro) or maybe the wizard.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Interesting.

So this is a range weapon class that is a mix between assassin and amazon.

I never played either of those classes.

Was hoping it would be a paladin but I guess no holy hammer mass destruction in D3

That was mainly what I played.

So I might either try starting with a Witch Doctor (seems similar to the druid/necro) or maybe the wizard.

Did you ever play text based muds? (MajorMUD, etc)

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Did you ever play text based muds? (MajorMUD, etc)

Well since I have not heard of that...I am not sure.:

 

[Dallas]

Well since I have not heard of that...I am not sure.:

MajorMUDD was a MAjorBBS game. It was huge in the old BBS days of telco modem call for interweb access.

I used to play it all the time in Texas on a board called Argus via Procomm plus terminal software. You could script GOBS of stuff in it to basically play the game for you while you worked or out away from home. A scrpt game w/ skills/classes/exp pts/hp etc....Just think Diablo w/o the pictures. The developers supported it for years and it has constant version changes and content addons etc. Super fun back in the day.


I wrote some amazing scripts back then for it. I could not be home and the script would run and farm the rooms of monsters/loot and even protect itself from other players in pvp.

Fun times back then and what really got me involved gaming early on my old 286 w/ 300baud modem.

300BAUD !!!! :laugh2: marinate on that speed for a bit....

 

[YosemiteSam]

MajorMUDD was a MAjorBBS game. It was huge in the old BBS days of telco modem call for interweb access.

I used to play it all the time in Texas on a board called Argus via Procomm plus terminal software. You could script GOBS of stuff in it to basically play the game for you while you worked or out away from home. A scrpt game w/ skills/classes/exp pts/hp etc....Just think Diablo w/o the pictures. The developers supported it for years and it has constant version changes and content addons etc. Super fun back in the day.


I wrote some amazing scripts back then for it. I could not be home and the script would run and farm the rooms of monsters/loot and even protect itself from other players in pvp.

Fun times back then and what really got me involved gaming early on my old 286 w/ 300baud modem.

300BAUD !!!! :laugh2: marinate on that speed for a bit....

:laugh2:

Oh yeah? Argus? What was your name in both MajorMUD and on the board itself? I used to play there and also on Alias BBS.

Back then I was using Telemate. Later I wrote a few Telix scripts. I have PowerTerm now, never never wrote a script for it.

I've been writing a MajorMUD like game that is PVP only and works like FPS arenas. (maps change) It's still in it's early stages but it is playable.

 

[WarC]

I think we'll see quite a bit of World of Warcraft influence in the Diablo 3 classes.

I can't wait for this game...Diablo 3 is going to single-handedly push us into another recession with all the time lost.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Never played those.

I really am not a gamer.

I just happened to play Diablo I and II and now looking forward to III.

I think the only other computer game (except for some facebook games) that I put a large amount of time in was the Pirates game but it no longer works on my computer.

The most I played games was back during com64, atari and original nintendo days.

When I get the D3 game I will play it but I will not be doing so online as I don't pay for that stuff. I did not play D2 online until it became free to do so. So if this one is pay...I will just play it without going online.

 

[WarC]

I'm only 24, so when I tried the text-based MUDs it was really during their twilight...I found that the players that were around were very helpful though. Although I did get setup and ganked a few times. But keep in mind I was in middle school at the time.

One of my favorite encounters in gaming, ever, happened in a text-based MUD. I had spent a few days on the game's community board ranting on about how there should be a "warc sword", this all-powerful weapon.

I really didn't think I'd get anywhere with it, but one day a few weeks later this Goddess character spawns in the tile I'm residing in. She does some wizardry and creates this level 8 sword, the "Warc Sword". Turns out she was the wife of the guy that created and ran this MUD, and she'd read some of my threads and decided to track me down...I was one of the few "newbies" left in their game. The weapon itself wasn't very powerful but I would wield it whenever I went into towns.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Hey Dallas, does this look familiar? :laugh2:

Town Square
Also here: BrAinPaiNt, Dallas
Obvious exits: north, east, south, west.
nyc surprise smashes you for 266 damage!
*Combat Engaged*
nyc smashes you for 20 damage!
nyc critically smashes you for 41 damage!
nyc critically smashes you for 52 damage!
nyc smashes you for 17 damage!
nyc smashes you for 20 damage!
nyc critically smashes you for 57 damage!
You cleave nyc for 16 damage!
You critically cleave nyc for 38 damage!
You swing at nyc with your ebony greataxe, but miss!
You critically cleave nyc for 38 damage!
[HP=42/515]
nyc critically smashes you for 41 damage!
nyc smashes you for 27 damage!
You drop to the ground.
nyc critically smashes you for 60 damage!
You are dead.
*Combat Off*
nyc breaks into a wide grin.

 

[Dallas]

Hey Dallas, does this look familiar? :laugh2:

Town Square
Also here: BrAinPaiNt, Dallas
Obvious exits: north, east, south, west.
nyc surprise smashes you for 266 damage!
*Combat Engaged*
nyc smashes you for 20 damage!
nyc critically smashes you for 41 damage!
nyc critically smashes you for 52 damage!
nyc smashes you for 17 damage!
nyc smashes you for 20 damage!
nyc critically smashes you for 57 damage!
You cleave nyc for 16 damage!
You critically cleave nyc for 38 damage!
You swing at nyc with your ebony greataxe, but miss!
You critically cleave nyc for 38 damage!
[HP=42/515]
nyc critically smashes you for 41 damage!
nyc smashes you for 27 damage!
You drop to the ground.
nyc critically smashes you for 60 damage!
You are dead.
*Combat Off*
nyc breaks into a wide grin.

lol hilarious... wow old school hilarious :laugh2:

I was on Argus w my same nuc here... dont recall my ninjas name back then... he was my ganker

Man that was funny you posted that. Good times.

My buddies back then were Caine and his bud Abel... i dated his sis for a while.... Etheria on Argus... who were you?

 

[YosemiteSam]

lol hilarious... wow old school hilarious :laugh2:

I was on Argus w my same nuc here... dont recall my ninjas name back then... he was my ganker

Man that was funny you posted that. Good times.

My buddies back then were Caine and his bud Abel... i dated his sis for a while.... Etheria on Argus... who were you?

I came around late in Argus' lifetime. Argus died about a year or two after I had arrived. I think I showed up around 93 or '94 maybe? I remember Caine and Abel thought I believe they split not long after I arrived. I was Bios on Argus and a whole slew of names on Alias.

You may have been gone before Alias cranked up. It was Bytewriter and Sue who started Alias BBS. The hosted it over at Flashnet. The crap that went down on Argus and the fact that Alias came online pretty much killed Argus dead.

 

[Khartun]

I never played any of the MUDs but I was big into D&D pen and paper. Of course now I'm addicted to WoW.

Can't wait for D3 to hit.

 

[kmp77]

So when is D3 coming out? Right after Duke Nukem does?

 

[Dallas]

I came around late in Argus' lifetime. Argus died about a year or two after I had arrived. I think I showed up around 93 or '94 maybe? I remember Caine and Abel thought I believe they split not long after I arrived. I was Bios on Argus and a whole slew of names on Alias.

You may have been gone before Alias cranked up. It was Bytewriter and Sue who started Alias BBS. The hosted it over at Flashnet. The crap that went down on Argus and the fact that Alias came online pretty much killed Argus dead.

Bios huh? lol I remember you.

Sue? I remember her and Bytewriter. Sue and I used to hang out all the time when the board would get together at Bennigans. :laugh2:

Small world...funny about that.

I never got over to AliasBBS though I knew about it.

We had some CRAZYYYYY parties from the old Argus days. Man for a bunch of geeks....some of those got outright C R A Z Y!!!

A lot of swingn going on in those days and Sue was RIGHT in the middle of all of it.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Bios huh? lol I remember you.

Sue? I remember her and Bytewriter. Sue and I used to hang out all the time when the board would get together at Bennigans. :laugh2:

Small world...funny about that.

I never got over to AliasBBS though I knew about it.

We had some CRAZYYYYY parties from the old Argus days. Man for a bunch of geeks....some of those got outright C R A Z Y!!!

A lot of swingn going on in those days and Sue was RIGHT in the middle of all of it.

Dallas eh?? That names rings a bell, but it does for two reasons. Does the name Jill ring a bell with you? If not, then you are the *other* Dallas that I'm having a hard time placing a name to a face.

Yeah, I remember Bennigans and then it moved over to Vino's over there off highway 10. (Vinos was still there last time I was on highway 10) Occasionally they would go back to Bennigans.

What was the elderly lady's name that had the party in far south Ft Worth? You MUST know the party I'm talking about. I can't recall her name for anything. Of course my memory of almost 15+ years ago is shot anyhow. :laugh2:

As for Sue, nothing needs to be said about her crazy ways. I actually have spoke with her as recent as 2004. I heard that since I've spoken to her she settled down and got married. Of course, I haven't heard anything about it since moving to NY in 2005 though.

 

[Dallas]

Dallas eh?? That names rings a bell, but it does for two reasons. Does the name Jill ring a bell with you? If not, then you are the *other* Dallas that I'm having a hard time placing a name to a face.

Yeah, I remember Bennigans and then it moved over to Vino's over there off highway 10. (Vinos was still there last time I was on highway 10) Occasionally they would go back to Bennigans.

What was the elderly lady's name that had the party in far south Ft Worth? You MUST know the party I'm talking about. I can't recall her name for anything. Of course my memory of almost 15+ years ago is shot anyhow. :laugh2:

As for Sue, nothing needs to be said about her crazy ways. I actually have spoke with her as recent as 2004. I heard that since I've spoken to her she settled down and got married. Of course, I haven't heard anything about it since moving to NY in 2005 though.

The older lady who had those crazy partys outside Burleson went by the name of Countrygirl on the boards. I went to a couple of them because I lived out that way s. of Mansfield.
:laugh2:

I totally remember Jill. Do you remember KamaSutra and Nanook? What about Enchantress? She and I facebook still. Shes awesome.

Hmm remember Zima and Sin .... gosh who else... lol so many memories back then.

 

[YosemiteSam]

The older lady who had those crazy partys outside Burleson went by the name of Countrygirl on the boards. I went to a couple of them because I lived out that way s. of Mansfield.
:laugh2:

I totally remember Jill. Do you remember KamaSutra and Nanook? What about Enchantress? She and I facebook still. Shes awesome.

Hmm remember Zima and Sin .... gosh who else... lol so many memories back then.

Yeah, Countrygirl. I actually didn't live all that far from her.

Damn my memory is not good from those days. KamaSutra, Nanook, Enchantress I remember the names, but can't place the face. Actually, I'm having trouble remember a lot of names. I now just remember faces. I remember the names Zima and Sin, but not sure I actually really knew them. (maybe I did!)

I remember Reddog he was going out with Cindy for a while (so did several others) but I can't remember what Cindy's handle was. The guy everyone referred to as Grand Poobah (a club that existed) who ended up marrying the other girl I can't remember her name either. They were both Ops on Alias. (maybe Argus too)

Dio though I can't remember his name up top. Another guy I can only remember his mage named Sojourn but that wasn't his primary, gangs on Argus like >>>DAMAGE INC<<<, Eye of Terror, Hell's Kitchen and the like.

There are several faces I can't match names too right now. Lady Italian I remember. I went to several parties at her house. GrapeApe and his buddy (can't remember his name either) and their gang BudSmokersOnly~8. :laugh2:

Catch22 who I've known since well before we ever joined Argus and am still friends with today. I remember Nydia, Faeravus, Sexytech, (Jill), Taz, SirSexyPsycho, Whysper, Drizzt, and I can't remember the name of the girl who created Damage Inc. Oh yeah, Morpheus and Eldriella (sp). (most of those are in mud names)

Damn, That lasted from about the age of 21 to 25 back then. That was a wild few years. I wish I could remember it better. :laugh2:

Yeah, there was Kip (real name) too. Don't recall his handle.