Diablo 3

The beta has fairly limited replay value. I think I'm going to play through once on each of the classes (and I expect it'll take me less than the 2 hours it took me to do it the first time), and then I may play through the content again on a few of the classes I enjoy more to try different builds or abilities.

Playing through has given me a glimpse of how much depth the runestone system is going to give the game. It's going to be out of control how many options you have for tweaking your character. My first playthrough was as a wizard and the final spell set up I went with was wave of force, arcane orb and electrocute. I don't really see how any other signature spell but electrocute could possibly be worth using, but maybe that'll change with gear or runestones.

 

i've had almost zero time this week, but i put in ~2.5 hours last night as a witch doctor. i loved the graphics and voice acting but i wasn't crazy about the frog attack ability i got. hopefully the subsequent ones are better or i enjoy another class more. i'm an alt-o-holic anyway (never got a toon to max level in wow but had 20 toons) so a beta's perfect for me, haha.

 

I finished the Beta today and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I also did my first play through as a wizard and went with Frost Nova, Arcane Orb and Electrocute. I agree about electrocute, it seemed so much better than the other signature abilities (at least at this level).

 

Since the patch 6 reset I've leveled a DH to 11, a wizard to 10 and a monk to 9. Killed Leoric with all three. I started a witch doctor, but it's been slow going so far. Their starting spells are not very interesting at all. I've put together some fun-looking WD builds, but they've all required runestones and the full list of skills to pull off. There's also something very boring about summoning a bunch of things and just letting them run around doing their thing. I'd like to try a pure caster WD build, but I don't think it'll be very feasible with the beta limits.

 

switched to demon hunter since when i returned my witch doctor was wiped and i really like it. the huge frisbee ninja star was a little powerful, but all the abilities were useful. i like how easy it is to re-spec and experiment. i can see myself losing a lot of hours in this game when theres more levels.

 

I didn't like the chakram ability at all when I played a DH. Getting it to hit what I wanted it to was very frustrating, even if it looked cool. I think that ability might be more useful once you can rune it. I really hit stride with my DH when I picked up elemental arrow, which just destroys everything. 100% pierce high damage ability? Yes please.

 

I'm thinking I'll go Demon Hunter next. Will probably do monk last.

 

So Patch 13 has finally dropped and with it, the new rune and skill system at very long last. I have to say that I'm very impressed with its conceptual simplicity and how much fun it is to level and almost every time to have a new ability or rune to check out. Having only a 10 second cooldown on a new ability means that you can hotswap on the fly (but not in combat) and not have to deal with either the insanity of constantly swapping or going back to town and the altar just to mess with your build.

A lot of people have maligned the loss of runestones as an actual item and the fact that now runes are level-based instead of "luck" based, but I really wouldn't have the rune system any other way. Other than being an inventory nightmare, I just don't think runes worked well as an item. I think they function much better as a gradual unlock system that you get as you work your way towards the end of Hell and the beginning of Inferno. The only complaint I might have is that I recognize there are certain players who got really excited about highly specific builds which now they can't unlock until they've leveled. To me, this really isn't unlike most other RPGs out there where you can't have access to every skill you want either at all or until you've completed most of the game.

I feel like between Hell and Inferno, there's still going to be a TON of gameplay left by the time you get to the late 50s and level 60, so I'm not really worried about that.

Has anyone else had any experience with the new system and have any thoughts? Am I the only person still mucking around in beta?

 

I think you'll find it's worth it, cynth. The game feels very different now and leveling is much more satisfying. Even with only 13 levels worth of stuff, there are already some amazing runes that completely alter how your characters feel and play. It's pretty sweet.

 

I had it downloaded and ready to go last night. I set aside what I figured would be enough time to get up to the Skeleton King (Took me about two hours on the beta), but when I tried to get on the server was down...

I'll give it another shot tonight. I will probably have more time tonight anyhow.

 

Reading on Fark they're saying the servers were overloaded quite heavily, and it's come to be expected from Blizzard.

 

S will probably beat it the first time tonight.

 

Well, I've got some time set aside, so I'm going to give it another go....

Here's hoping!

 

I did get in for some play time, but down again the server goes...