I, like so many other people, jumped into and trudged through Diablo 3 the night of its release. I was even honored with an invite to the Diablo 3 Beta a few months before, and was able to see the game change and grow over that small period of time. So, for me, the ability to finally play the sequel to one of the most influential games of my formative years was both exciting and wicked fun. As usual, I burned through the game at my usually quick pace and did everything in my power to absorb as much of the story and characters as I could. I’d hop online to play with my friends, we kill a hordes of demons… it was High School all over again. Alas though, it wasn’t meant to be.

Azula, my level 60 Wizard (with 1 Paragon level).

As the game progressed and my friends and I made it into the higher difficulties, the “grind” started to kick in. Especially as the monsters we continued to fight got more and more challenging. There came that point (for me it was level 56 or so) when I just kind of sat there and wondered if hitting 60 yet was really worth it. I mean, where would I go from there? So as other new releases hit and my time started going towards other titles, I slowly slipped away from Diablo 3 like I’m sure many others did. I didn’t abandon it though, and made sure to keep up with any recent news or changes they talked about or released. Which brings us to their recent 1.0.4 Patch and the introduction of the Paragon system.

The Paragon system, for those of you who haven’t been keeping up with things, is essentially an additional 100 levels for each character to achieve. Only where the first 60 levels brought you new abilities and runes to customize and experiment with your build, the new Paragon levels help fill in the other important part of your Diablo 3 character: items. You see, for each Paragon level you have you get and additional 3% boost to your Magic Find and Gold Find, meaning that not only will leveling up you level 60 character net you a higher chance of finding awesome weapons, but it’ll get you more money to spend on the auction house to get you that one special item you’ve been missing to complete your build. At paragon level 100, you’ll end up with and additional 300% to both stats; a sizable amount of Gold and Magic Find by anyone’s standards.

Once again I can kill things with Arcane Hydra and Disintegrate… just as God intended.

Patch 1.0.4 also brought with it some serious tweaking of offensive abilities for every class. Where as I was previously picking some abilities over others due to the desire to max my damage, like picking Acid Hydra over Arcane Hydra, 1.0.4 brought many of the classes weaker abilities up to par with their stronger ones. Arcane Hydra for example, which was only doing 28% weapon damage per orb prior, was brought up to 60% weapon damage per orb. Making it a much more viable option when facing the increasingly difficult monster of Diablo 3′s higher difficulties. As someone who is always a fan of picking things that look cool over things that work well, it was really nice to see Blizzard level the playing field and give people some freedom back into their builds for their characters.

Likewise another large change that was made was with weapons. And oh boy, let me tell you… these changes were big. Before I left Diablo 3 for other games I was lucky if I could find a weapon capable of doing 300ish damage a second on the auction house. Now though? Weapons capable of doing 1000ish damage are not only more prevalent, but more accessible to characters lower than level 60. I was floating around 2,000 damage prior to hopping back into Diablo 3. Now though? I’m sporting 39,000 weapon damage and I know I can easily get more. Inferno difficulty isn’t nearly as intimidating as it used to be, where I’d often hear stories about how people simply ran out and fought the most basic enemies for hours to work up enough money to start doing anything seriously. I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sound like fun, and was one of the reasons I was so hesitant on hitting level 60 in the first place. Now though? Inferno is a comfortable challenge. Oh sure, I can burn down some basic zombies in a second. But if some elite monsters show up? Well, then $h!t gets real… and got forbid they have  Damage Reflection and I already cast Blizzard on them. That never ends well.

Gotta love that damage…

But that’s the name of the game. You run around, fight monsters, and do your best to stay alive. I have things I have to look out for, items and stats that still need filling out, and strategies to perfect. I’m not invincible, yet still powerful enough to cut down waves of enemies like the BA Wizard I am. And with some upcoming tweaks coming to defensive skills in Patch 1.0.5, my ability to customize my powers to my liking will only get more expansive. I really have to hand it to Blizzard on this one; where they once had a game I was having to talk myself into continuing, they now have a game I once again can’t pull myself away from. And I’ve already beaten it! That’s the kind of quality, balance and dedication I like to see from a game company. So I tip my hat to you Blizzard, you’ve re-affirmed my faith in you.

Well, that’s that really. If any of you have taken a break from Diablo 3 like I have, now is the perfect time to hop back on the proverbial horse and get to hacking and slashing once again. I can assure you, the game is more fun than ever now. So try out a new build or swing by the auction house to beef up the one you’re already sporting, because 1.0.4 has given you all the options you could dream of.

And now, I’ll leave you all with a taste of what’s to come…

The big announcement that came with patch 1.0.4, aside from the changes mentioned above is the addition of the Paragon System, giving you another 100 levels and adding an increase in stats, magic find, and gold find with each level gained. This ends up curbing the current trend of players swapping their main gear off for magic find gear right before the monster is dead and killing it with as high of magic find as possible to get better drops. How does this do it? Well if you level up your character to Paragon level 100 you will have a base max magic find of 300%. Which is actually a lot of magic find and on top of that you can still use magic find gear but there really is no need to now since 300% magic find is good enough to get you very good drops. So how is this not a good addition to the game?

For one it doesn’t add any new content to the game, you will still be playing the same game doing the same runs. Only this time you’ll eventually gain a level after gaining a large amount of experience. If you’re wondering how much experience is needed to level up to 100, here’s a graph to show you.

Compared to the normal experience you need to get from level 1-60, the Paragon leveling is exorbitantly higher. This isn’t a bad thing, it should be higher but the problem is now you’re playing the game again just to level again. There’s no new content to make you want to gain these new levels, I don’t really want to run Inferno over and over again to get to 100 Paragon.

Maybe the new items will push players to keep going. I’m hoping that new content will come with the PvP patch and allow players to achieve the high 100 Paragon levels through different means. I’ve been playing the game and I don’t even notice the Paragon Levels, I’m mainly playing again because I want to try other builds. The buff to certain skills to make them more viable was a needed change and with it may come a brand new game for some people. The Paragon Level system is mainly there to make you feel like you’re progressing. I don’t feel like tacking on another 100 levels is the best way to deal with that.

]]> http://glamorousgamergirls.wordpress.com/2012/08/23/last-summer-outdoor-bbq/ Thu, 23 Aug 2012 04:14:45 +0000 C1 Queen http://glamorousgamergirls.wordpress.com/2012/08/23/last-summer-outdoor-bbq/ http://chiyoshi.wordpress.com/2012/08/21/patch-1-0-4-preview-demon-hunter/ Tue, 21 Aug 2012 12:56:37 +0000 Chiyoshi http://chiyoshi.wordpress.com/2012/08/21/patch-1-0-4-preview-demon-hunter/ http://chiyoshi.wordpress.com/2012/08/21/diablo-iii-patch-1-0-4-notes/ Tue, 21 Aug 2012 12:41:38 +0000 Chiyoshi http://chiyoshi.wordpress.com/2012/08/21/diablo-iii-patch-1-0-4-notes/ http://bgcmnerd.wordpress.com/2012/08/21/blizzard-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/ Tue, 21 Aug 2012 01:44:47 +0000 Dan http://bgcmnerd.wordpress.com/2012/08/21/blizzard-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/

I talked in my last post about how I was torn between buying Mists of Pandaria and Guild Wars 2, and the various pros and cons of each.  Well, there’s been a ton of news in the past couple of days that have thrown a third option into the mix…and some of the research I’ve done has made me even more uncertain.

I looked up videos from the GW2 beta on Youtube, specifically for PvP…and I have to say, I wasn’t impressed.  I know this is an overused term, but the gameplay just looked…clunky.  It looked slow and awkward…more like, as one Youtube commenter put it, “a game released in 2004 than 2012.”  Maybe the actual gameplay is better…but I definitely am not super enthusiastic about purchasing it after seeing it in action.

The good news is that I now have a third option: going back to D3.  Patch 1.04 is probably coming tomorrow if tweets from blues are any indication, and they just announced a new “Paragon” system that will add a second layer of 100 levels at level 60.    Between that and the multitude of buffs to classes and nerfs to elites coming tomorrow, it kinda makes me want to start playing again….though I feel kind of sick for wanting that, now that I know some of the personalities that designed this game.

So…there’s been a pretty big controversy brewing on the Internet over a profane comment D3 lead director Jay Wilson made about Diablo’s creator, David Brevik (which you’ve probably already seen in the header image) after Brevik expressed some very spot-on criticisms about Diablo 3′s release and the way the developer team has handled it.  Needless to say, a very classless response on Wilson’s part to what, after watching the interview, was obviously an extremely diplomatic and constructive criticism of the game’s flaws.  Certainly far kinder than the criticisms the majority of posters on the Battle.net forums have had for the game.  Perhaps Mr. Wilson is upset because those criticisms actually have some validity now that they’re coming from the person who literally built the franchise into what it is today.

Some people are saying that they’ll never buy Blizzard products again because of this comment…but I’ve always been the type of person who’s been able to easily separate somebody’s character from their work, particularly when it comes to creative media (I prefer that term over the more subjective “art”.)  I may think Tom Cruise the person is a deranged lunatic brainwashed by what is more or less a very cleverly disguised cult…but I can also say that Tom Cruise the actor is pretty talented, and that I still am impressed by his performance in classics like A Few Good Men.  I may not agree with some hardline black metal artists’ Satanic or even anti-Christian beliefs…but at the same time I can agree that a lot of the music they’ve made is pretty damn awesome.

I suppose that’s my justification for still playing Diablo 3 even though I know now for certain that its lead developer is an asshole.  And with all the buzz this has been getting, I’m expecting at least a public apology from Blizzard and Jay Wilson in the next few days…though I’m sure I’m not alone in preferring that they just fire the bastard and make Wyatt Cheng – who, from what I’ve read of his blog posts, seems much more in touch with the playerbase – the lead developer.  But I digress.

So, the question now I suppose is, do I give GW2 the benefit of the doubt and try it out, since it’s only a one-time purchase?  Or should I stick with Blizzard and start on my Paragon levels for my Demon Hunter or Witch Doctor and give MoP the benefit of the doubt?

Either way, I’m taking a risk…but maybe I’m being a bit too harsh on MoP here.  After all, at least the lower end PvE instances on the MoP beta aren’t even remotely as hard as Cataclysm instances were at first (I ended up two-manning an entire scenario on my priest with a very competent druid, since apparently you can’t requeue for replacements in scenarios at the moment)…and, as much as I hated it, I survived Cataclysm’s first patch and kept playing and enjoying certain parts of the game.  And, as I said in the (numerous) edits to my last post, the professions in MoP aren’t as reliant on Spirits of Harmony as I initially thought, at least not while leveling.  So, maybe the gear thing won’t even be that big of an issue.  I could probably get away with skipping the rep grinds and sticking to PvP until Blizzard inevitably nerfs them in 5.1 (maybe even earlier if enough pissed off raiders unsubscribe.)

Besides, if I don’t buy MoP, I won’t be able to take advantage of the ridiculously overinflated beginning-of-expansion prices.  There’s a ton of gold to be made there.  And I like gold.   But then again, who doesn’t?  Even Jay Wilson probably likes gold.

More than he likes David Brevik, anyways.

Ironically, I’m probably going to spend a good chunk of today not playing my computer, but actually going outside and enjoying the nice weather (seems like that’s starting to become a foreign concept in this day and age, heh.) The heat wave we had last month is finally beginning to die down, and it’s so damn beautiful out today that I feel like I just have to go down to Lake Michigan and enjoy it to the fullest.  One of the perks of living on a lake that’s the size of one of the Great Lakes is that looking at it seems like you’re looking at an ocean…but you don’t get the tremendous prices and uppity attitudes living in a city like Milwaukee as you do in other ocean-side cities like, say, some place in California or the Northeast US.

Not only would going to the lake today be very enjoyable, but I can always kill two birds with one stone by just leaving the downloader for one of the games I have to reinstall on while I go down to the lake for a couple of hours, since doing that usually takes up the majority of my home network’s bandwidth.  I still have to reinstall D3, after all.

Speaking of which, developer Wyatt Cheng posted a preview for Diablo 3′s patch 1.04 a little while ago.  I won’t go over everything since it’s a lot to cover, but it looks like Blizzard heard the complaints about Inferno – particularly the disproportionate difficulty of certain champion and rare affixes – loud and clear, and is nerfing Inferno into oblivion.  Not only that, but much like patch 4.3 in WoW, drop rates for high end weapons – as well as all the underused and underpowered runes – are gonna get BUUUUUUFFFFED! (As I said in the mouseover caption above, that is why I had to use this incredibly awesome picture.)

Of course, there was plenty of QQ on the forums about this, but they’re impossible to satisfy anyways so that doesn’t count.  I think the majority of players are happy about this patch, and for me personally, it’s started to restore my faith in Blizzard to listen to player feedback and produce quality games.  Hopefully the growing pains of the first three months of D3 will be remembered as just that.

Time to get moving and enjoy the sunshine.  Stay cool, y’all.