Yes Yes Yes Yes!
15 March 2012
12 March 2012
Beating the beta, first impressions
Finished with a Demon Hunter level 9. Quick vote: on 0-10 scale I liked it 7.5. I did not find any particular bug but I'll be honest... I did not really see a "killer" videogame here. Yes, it's Diablo. Yes, the Demon Hunter is cool (note: Rapid Fire is a bit ridiculous, check this video) and yes, there are tons of coins/items to collect. But the beta is too short and too fast to let youo effectively "judge" it. I guess that's the point of a beta anyway: to test basic mechanics, UI (user interface) and system performances. And -overall- I guess that my expectations were a bit too high.
So here we go with some random feelings, in random order. Don't take it as a review, it's just a fast recap of personal feelings.
GRAPHICS
7.0 (8.5 with custom filters)
This was the main problem of the beta: my very personal opinion is that... Diablo III graphics are barely decent. I was not looking for impressive visuals, and of course I don't want a Crysis 3 engine for a dungeon-crawler game. The main problem is the overall "blur" effect: everything is somewhat confused and there is a complete lack of sharpness/detail. If you try DarkD3 filters (link) you will be shocked at how the "vanilla" game is ugly, compared to the dark and sharpen effect offered by those filters. It's a real shame that a fan-made tool can enhance the game so much, Blizzard. That was YOUR job and Mac users are screwed in any case.
UI
7.0
I don't like it, I'm sorry. Buttons, drop-down menus, tabs and general layout could be improved a lot. Inventory icons, on the other hands, are great (items, reagents, ...).
SYSTEM PERFORMANCES
9.0
Nothing to complain about here. Almost non-existent loading times, fast portals, fast zoning. I just had to fight with a horrible ping (300ms with spikes of 5-600) but that's the price to pay for a US-based beta. The retail game will feature European hardware too, so no worries.
n.a.
As stated above, the beta is too short and does not offer any real challenge. I downed the Skeleton King at level 9 by just running in circles and shooting at him, completely ignoring adds, special moves, teleports or anything else. I was sporting a 13DPS crossbow with some blue gear (mostly focused on magic finding). I
DIFFICULTY
5.0
While leveling 1-10 (I dinged 10 after the last kill) I did not use a single health potion and I never died (yes, it's that easy). I don't like the idea of playing Diablo at this difficulty level, it's just too easy. You can grind mobs and kill PACKS of them with no skill. We should be able to choose the difficulty as soon as we start a new character, instead of being forced to finish the game at the easiest level... because trust me, it's stupidly easy.
I'm now testing the Barbarian class. A "beta" is not a game, after all, but a "testing environment". So I'll try to test it more and see if I can find some bugs/nasty stuff to report.
11 March 2012
Beta? I'm in.
It seems someone really likes me over the official forums... because when it came to decide WHO should have been eligible for an extra key, people decided to mail me a message saying I was the chosen one. Shy Loque, happy Loque.
Now it's time to test, test and test more, I'll try to give some useful feedback as soon as possible (of course I will avoid to spoil and/or write about stuff that was already discussed to death everywhere).
Back to the game, now ;-)
24 January 2012
19 January 2012
So, what about early 2012 release, Jay?
Source of this awesome news is here. Let's be honest guys, Blizzard keeps trolling us. Over and over.
Tell me how on earth you can say "polishing phase" when you are overhauling the most basic mechanics of the game. Oh well, we'll meet this summer, I guess?
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