Well then I'm definitely getting on the A1 train tonight. 5 more levels with my DH to 60 then paragon leveling.

3/5/2014 11:13:14 AM

you running a hardcore character?

3/5/2014 11:25:21 AM

Nah, I don't have the patience for that shit. One bad lag spike or horrendous epic pull and I'd wind up putting a hole through my monitor. /nerdrage

3/5/2014 11:26:32 AM

You lose so little now even if you do drop a hardcore character.

Losing all of the paragon levels was the big issue, but now you just lose a level 60 which takes no time at all.

you lose the gear you had as well, but lets face it; gear isnt hard to come by now.

3/5/2014 2:47:46 PM

thats what i'm noticing, that you can always just reroll into a new one, and if they keep the leveling mechanic close to the same shouldn't take long to get back to max level quickly

3/5/2014 3:09:35 PM

none the less, what benefit does it provide?

3/5/2014 3:46:36 PM

I assume you can only gain experience toward Paragon level on a toon that is at max level (currently 60 for a few more weeks)?

3/5/2014 4:04:44 PM

^ correct

^^ the benefit to me is there is something to lose, which means your build choices and play styles take a bit more thought than on softcore.

3/6/2014 1:35:00 AM

Does anyone know if there is a cap on the number of Fetishes a WD can have out and running around? I want to say I got it up to 10, but it looked like it wasn't going any higher.

3/6/2014 6:47:06 AM

^^ fair enough. i personally prefer a steep penalty rather than outright death. In Everquest for instance, you lost exp when you died and had to fight naked to your corpse (a big deal). that made you fear death, but also was a huge pain in the ass if you got DC'd from the server. it was an alright balance though.

at the same time, however, some monster combos are REALLY tough for certain classes. there's only so much crap i can stand in at once as a barbarian and still do dmg. it would suck to have to restart the game just for that reason and i dont want to always have to choose a super tanky build.

3/6/2014 9:33:38 AM

yeah, i wouldn't mind them keeping the leveling speed the same when the xpac comes out for 1-60 so time to recover a lost character is kept minimal. but i'm liking the idea of being extremely careful in what i choose to engage and where

3/6/2014 10:00:11 AM

Alright, got all my high end characters to 60. Now just to grind out Paragon levels until the xpac drops. Surprised at how this game has roped me back in.

Got a Mat piece for some lvl 70 craftable last night too...hmmm.

3/6/2014 10:44:21 AM

i got a pattern for a craftable set piece, but its only level 52
also got 2 legendary pieces for something.

i assume you can't level the other levels of blacksmithing and jewelcrafting until xpac

3/6/2014 11:44:30 AM

Logged back in with my DH to check out changes. Seemed ok.

I don't know what build or gear to be searching for, assuming my current setup is less than ideal.

Just a major glass cannon, like 250k dps but die if I get touched.

3/6/2014 9:43:38 PM

With the new itemization of gear there isn't always one clear cut build to go with. Get a couple sweet pieces of gear and one particular skill you never use could do 30% more damage, or get some elemental affinity bonuses and switch to skills that use that element and get crazy damage spikes.

3/7/2014 9:06:21 AM

i keep getting legendary rings that are sidegrades for me on my barb, but also got a new belt and bracer for wizard and a new bracer for hardcore barb. so i guess things are dropping pretty quickly overall

3/7/2014 9:13:51 AM

Yeah I've upgraded almost everything on my Barb and my old equipment wasn't bad.

3/7/2014 9:22:27 AM

The new loot system is so much better it is ridiculous. The last round of playing this game I did who knows how many rub throughs and only found one legendary item the entire time and it was hot garbage. This time I am just finished with act 2 and have already found four legendary items.

3/8/2014 8:21:33 AM

they probably over did it a TINY bit, but they're still rare enough to be exciting, particularly since they're not that much better than a good yellow item.

3/8/2014 10:12:14 AM

Is it just me or is teleport pretty awful? I remember in 2 I would teleport all over, now it hardly works if I want to cross over a barrier or I don't have the mouse just perfect.

3/8/2014 12:16:28 PM

i should've posted this earlier, but my battle.net name is badup#1412

3/8/2014 11:15:08 PM

go wormhole on teleport and it's just fine

3/8/2014 11:53:24 PM

im having more fun on my DH right now than wizzie

3/9/2014 7:14:22 PM

Im actually liking the loot system less the more i play.

You are pretty much not going to find a legendary that another of your characters can use because of the 'smart loot' unless the main stat happens to overlap (i.e. dex for DH and monk).

I keep getting awesome shields or rings that are intended for barbarians but because they dropped for my wiz they are completely useless because they rolled with int instead of str.

I guess this is probably going to be less of an issue once RoS hits and you can re-roll primary stats.

3/10/2014 9:24:01 AM

Quote :

"I keep getting awesome shields or rings that are intended for barbarians but because they dropped for my wiz they are completely useless because they rolled with int instead of str."

this is a huge problem with the so called "smart loot" system. why the fuck would i need a 2 handed sword with int EVER.

ive also come to notice pretty much anything without +crit chance or +crit damage is useless.

i'm starting to think RoS will fizzle out pretty quickly much like d3 vanilla did.

3/10/2014 9:52:49 AM

i agree that i noticed that problem with the smart loot too, but it feels offset by the fact that you actually do get gear you want more often. set items though will be tough.

i still contend that diablo style games are never going to be more than a filler game because the gameplay just hasnt evolved. that goes for path of exile, torchlight 2, and all other games in the genre as well.

3/10/2014 10:41:32 AM

^ Pretty much that. I've mostly been getting back into D3 while I wait for Titanfall to drop tomorrow. I do look forward to putting some time in to the XPac though.

3/10/2014 11:14:54 AM

i guess since i'm running a barb i haven't noticed it, since i haven't been getting wand drops or sources, but most of the loot now is all downgrades.

i'm reading that a lot of people are noticing that its a legendary every 2ish hours though.
and the item quality doesn't depend on the difficulty you're playing (it may be slightly higher drop rate % in torment, but that probably offsets by killing faster in normal)

i mostly get rings and belts now though

3/10/2014 11:40:19 AM

they've changed the way stats roll .... trifecta's don't exist anymore, and massive crit on gear doesn't exist anymore... so you're unlikely to find many upgrades if you had high crit items before the loot change.

3/10/2014 6:41:38 PM

I'm about to hit 60 on the DH, and I was curious as to which spec seems to work well. I looked online, but ideas are all over the place post patch. I'm running with Hungering Arrow and Elemental/Frost Arrow with Caltrops and whatever the vanish thing is. I keep swapping out the stun grenades for the lightning spike trap.

3/10/2014 7:41:34 PM

^on my dh I'm using entangling shot (it's not as aoe heavy, but it has the highest damage ratio of all the normal shots) and I alternate between frost arrow and explosive shot/loaded for bear depending on how im feeling.

pretty much anything works.

I found a hallowed plan the second day after people found out they got buffed... sold it for 95mil... and then i found another one yesterday hooray sweet weapons for me. Wiz is up to 363k dps and 1.2mil toughness


as an aside

think d3 is runnable on an i5/i7 laptop with integrated graphics?

i need to get a laptop for school, but im trying to spend as little as possible while still having enough to run a couple games. d3 is prob the most intense game I'll play. Putting things on low is just fine for me.

something like

http://tinyurl.com/pcwn5ah

3/22/2014 7:07:12 PM

That's awesome!

I'll give entangling shot a ...... Wait for it.... shot.

3/23/2014 9:22:08 AM

yeah I use entangling shot/shock collar and rain of arrows/shade bc i have some 20%lightning damage/6 crit demon's bracers.


anythoughts on the laptop?

anyone playing when RoS drops tomorrow?

3/23/2014 5:08:14 PM

Just finished leveling a WD. Was more fun than I thought it would be.

I'll be playing tomorrow, have the XPac PreOrdered already.

3/24/2014 8:22:37 AM

The best part of Blizzard launching on a Tuesday is the servers won't be down for maintenance for once.

The bad part of Blizzard launching on a Tuesday is the servers will be down because it's launch day.

3/24/2014 10:44:02 AM

Servers were rock solid. Act 5 Fucking rocks! And I got A lev 70 azurewrath

3/25/2014 9:47:45 AM

so pretty much all of the old gems are useless now since marquise are dropping from mobs?

3/25/2014 9:53:23 AM

good old Blizzard hyperinflation.

3/25/2014 10:12:41 AM

Yes all old gems and crafting mats got replaced

3/25/2014 10:44:10 AM

I read where it's a good idea to get a hellfire ring of strength for a new crusader to level with. I haven't played for awhile, how do I go about getting the mats for that? I see that the recipe is on a merchant for 2mil. I have a 61 DH that I could farm stuff with.

3/25/2014 10:49:17 AM

It's a big pain in the ass.

[Edited on March 25, 2014 at 11:10 AM. Reason : act v is incredible]

3/25/2014 11:09:42 AM

~~~~Spoilers?~~~~


The environments/tile-sets in Act V look amazing. Above and beyond vanilla D3. The mobs seem harder? Not as in they have more health, but rather they do more shit ranging from annoying to instantly drawing my attention when they come in.

And holy shitloads of side dungeons Batman. If you're not in a hurry, there are an abundance of tangential holes to go exploring.

Unlocked Adventure Mode and tried Bounties and Rifts. Lots of potential.

3/25/2014 7:52:07 PM

Crusader is also kind of a blast to play. A lot like the paladin in D2. Good options for for CQC and ranged play.

3/26/2014 8:23:22 AM

Yeah I've liked the crusader so far. Only got to level 12 with him before I started act V with my Barb though.

3/26/2014 8:47:33 PM

Just hit 70. It's pretty easy to level if you had good gear at 60 if you play on torment 2-3 until 65'ish when it starts to become too hard. Had to tone it down to master when i hit 66.

Pretty pleased with the game so far. Act V is a blast (especially the last level which totally feels a little bit like arcane sanctuary from d2). I like bounties a lot because it lets me bounce around the acts and the map and mixes things up for a change (as opposed to just doing halls of agony runs) with exp bonus incentives and not having to worry about skipping thru dialogue in story mode. I'm just hoping to get 1 or 2 more pieces of gear so i can play comfortably on torment 1 again.

3/27/2014 10:30:08 AM

Adventure Mode in general is pretty amazing. Reminds me of the Mephisto runs (and Arreat before they patched that) of D2. I can't see myself doing the story much more now that we have this.

I dabbled in my first Bounty run last night as a 41 Crusader. In 2 hours I'd completed all the bounties, killed all the major and sub-bosses, cleared and Neph Rift and gained 12 levels, 3-4 legendaries and ridiculous amounts of common mats.

3/27/2014 10:40:21 AM

The game-play and exploration is really great in this expansion. I like it a lot. I only just started bounties in Adventure Mode.

Unfortunately, though, they appear to have kept the same story writers as original D3. I was expecting interesting plot or reasons for Malptael going after humans; but no, he's just an Angel who decided all humans needed to die. I feel like I gained nothing by watching the cut-scenes and listening to dialog. "Malthael has stolen the Black Soul Stone! Now he is killing humans! Why did he steal the Stone? Oh, to kill ALL humans!" Such a complicated story :/

Then again, maybe a lazy/forgettable story is better than the bad story with vanilla D3.

3/27/2014 1:41:13 PM

Spoilers**




I feel like you maybe didn't pay that much attention to the plot. All humans dying was just a side effect of what Malthiel's plan was. He was attempting to re purpose the soulstone to absorb the essence/soul of all demonkind, and end the Eternal Conflict. Since - in this mythos - humans are made of both angel and demon the net end for humanity was extinction.

I do like how they slid in at the end that since Malthiel broke the soulstone that he's unleashed Diablo again (as well as the other Prime/SubPrime Evils). At least there's hope for more installments to the series.

3/27/2014 1:48:02 PM

I just ran a Nephalem Rift where I encountered a room with a monster pack spawn of Treasure Goblins.

No shit, it was like 20 Treasure Goblins.

Fucking. Awesome.

3/27/2014 2:49:24 PM

My Neph Rift was full of those stupid bugs from A2 that shit mini bugs at you...much crash-and-burn was had.

3/27/2014 3:06:29 PM