I got my copy of Diablo 3 on this Monday but I played it only for a few hours. I'm only lvl 7, I wanted to play it today, but I saw on the desktop my Torchlight 2 Beta shortcut. I read that beta should have ended yesterday on tuesday so I just tried to run it what will happen.
And there was an announcment that beta will be playable until the end of Thursday, so I clicked on a play button to check it for a moment again.

I started with my lvl 13 outlander and enjoyed 2 hours of wonderful gameplay. I thought a few times "okay, I'll just complete this quest and kill these monsters and I'm going to exp my demon hunter in Diablo 3", but the truth is that I just couldn't stop playing it.

The gameplay in Torchlight 2 is very fast paced and agile. Music is beautifull, and the whole UI is very well designed and user friendly. I played both games only for a few hours, but I can already say that in these components is TL2 superior. I hope D3 will catch me after a few hours, maybe just the start is a little bit boring. But I believe that TL2 will be awesome game and in comparison with D3 has nothing to be worry about.

This post is not for starting any flame here, just wanted to share with you my experience with D3 and TL2. I'm looking forward to play the hell out of both these games :)

It has been a long time since I last saw this video. LOL I was imagining some guy throwing darts at Diablo while saying "lightning bolt".

The medium is the message.

Finished the game twice on normal, first Barbarian and then Wizard. All in all the game is a disappointment for me.

At first glance it starts out strong with act I being very atmospheric and really long filled with nostalgia considering all the lore and characters (was really happy to see the butcher again).
The second act promises a lot being placed in the largest city of the Sanctuary, but never really capitalizes on it.
After that it all falls apart with two almost identical acts. It starts with teleporting you from one place to another with very little exposition on what is going on.
For a game 11 years in development it really seems sloppy and unpolished.
Not to mention how some characters stand out not belonging in this game. For instance Maghda an witch leading a satanic covenant is a very colorful character, flying on shoulder pads that are dragonflies, she would better fill a role as a storybook fairy godmother.
Not to mention what such a misplaced character does to the most iconic guy of the series.

As for the gameplay, well it's not as interesting as it was. Remember when you did a Zeal Pally and then made another one, now Elemental Avenger, and then another one Hammerdin? Well that part of re-playability is gone since every character lvl 60 is the same, you just rearrange stuff.
There were some weird decisions made with the streamlined skill system that scales with you and an even heavier emphasis on equipment. So now we have a monk that punches and rounhouse kicks with a damage determined by a two-handed battle axe, same goes for the other classes.
Mentioning streamlining, I don't know why the game is slower than D2, it's the only reason I can find for slowing the gameplay.

The two above mentioned problems make the endgame really boring, with advancement dependent hugely by gear which leads to constant grind and farming. Because of the scaling skill system your skill combo is of little use here without the gear to give you the needed DPS.

With all said I really don't see the game as the GOTY messiah every review tries to paint it.
For a game with 11 years of development, I do not understand how unfinished the skill/item system, story and overall presentation feels. Even features like PvP were cut in the last minute, the RMAH is delayed and a heap of technical difficulties for a 11 year cycle.

It's a good and fun game, but I somehow don't see the potential for longevity that it's predecessor had and expect to see player numbers falling fast after a few months.

Latest hotfix changelog:

http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/blog/4662223/Diablo_III_Hotfixes_-_May_Updated_2205_-23_05_2012#blog

You see, here's a good thing about this, people won't be required to download and install patches, everything is being fixed server-side.

Some tooltips, even though the spells they related to have been changed, remain the same. Expect this to be fixed in a future patch (not server-side hotfix).
That doesn't mean the game was under 'functional' development for 11 years. Probably only several years.

Sorry, it's *impossible* to discuss Diablo 3 without discussing the DRM. So much of its system was designed around the DRM.

And why is it so fucking hard for you to not post here?

Jesus fuck, don't let the forum become like some others full with trolls and idiots.

FUCKING PLEASE, leave us to discuss the game mechanics and gameplay if you have nothing to say about them.

:DiabloisNOTamused.jpg: comes to mind as his reaction to such.

Had exactly the same thoughts. Remember that it's always the same with casters: weak at the beginning, op at the end. Just wait until you get electrocute, disintegration and archon. I've read many posts about how the sorceress is way op. I'm at the point when I finally start to feel that power.

I understand. And the place for such talk is here
http://www.gog.com/en/forum/general/diablo_3_is_out

I won't argue there, but for a company known mostly for it's spit and shine principles it's a very slippery slope. It started with SC2 where they released an eSports game without any chat channels and made it region restricted. Good luck organizing a tournament on that.
I'm aware of future patch announcements, but the player base is dropping fast with every season because some of the features that made the Brood War community strong were ignored by Blizzard.

I remember when I tried having a DNF thread with comments from both sides and all people commented on was how bad it was....good times. (Dunno if it is similar to the DRM debate in every D3 thread being the dominant topic[much to many user's chagrin] but it seems like it.)

It wasn't 11 years in development. The last iteration of the game came out 11 years ago, it doesn't mean this one was continously developed ever since. Deus Ex: Human Revolutions wasn't under development for 9 years. XCOM hasn't been under development for 18 years (or 11, however you want to put it). There's a huge difference.

True, but they are bringing them back / in. We can never know, though, why did they leave them out on release. Its not like they don't want more people to play the game. Maybe the servers / Battle.net 2.0 development was not up to date at the time?

Getting my ass whopped in A1 Inferno and the AH is down for maintenance }:<
I need some new gear, god damn it!

I WANT MY MONEY BACK