Diablo III Catch-All

They made it so easy to drop in and out of game with other people that I cannot see myself playing this game solo. If I am, it's only because no one is around and I dont really see that happening.

TempestBlayze wrote:

They made it so easy to drop in and out of game with other people that I cannot see myself playing this game solo. If I am, it's only because no one is around and I dont really see that happening.

As much as I normally play this game solo, I'm thinking I'll be doing the same thing as you come launch. The game just ran so well in Coop mode.

2 more weeks, wow. I never thought I'd see the day.

It almost reminds me off the weeks before "Phantom Menace". I doubt the disappointment the weeks after will be the same.

kazar wrote:
ranalin wrote:
kazar wrote:
Toddland wrote:
Slacker1913 wrote:

That said, I still resent Hellgate.

I would like to take this time to point out that I'm in the credits to Hellgate: London. :D

That might not have been the best thing to point out.

Naw it's pretty cool. Not like he was a designer. Even if he was it's still cool to create entertainment for other folks.

I forgot to include the I was just messing with him.

You're not going to offend me one way or the other. I was in the "special thanks" section. Good friend of mine was their UI guy.

I'll still prefer solo for the first normal run-through. With group, I'm afraid some people don't have the patience for "story" and will click past every good bit of dialogue to get back to combat.

fangblackbone wrote:

2 more weeks, wow. I never thought I'd see the day.

It almost reminds me off the weeks before "Phantom Menace". I doubt the disappointment the weeks after will be the same.

IMAGE(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-HvjhSAPldRA/T58FoxK0KUI/AAAAAAAAAW0/Ylh-iogXUDY/s800/diablo-3-followers-jj.jpg)

I'll probably run open games the whole time. If folks want to drop in the more the merrier.

I think I'll make the first run solo just to soak in the story and then run higher difficulties with groups.
The bigger challenge will be selecting which class to put on which region as I have friends in both EU and US I want to play the game with.

TheGameguru wrote:
Thirteenth wrote:
Shadout wrote:

The contract you accept when starting the game probably says something about items being subject to change at any time and probably also that Blizzard is the owner of the players items, characters etc. The RMAH mostly representing a transaction cost to move the items Blizzard own from one character which Blizzard owns to another character which Blizzard also owns.

People will be pissed for sure, but I cant see how they could do anything about it.

That's my guess as well. If it's written in the contract then Blizzard will have shielded itself from tons of potential suits. It's got to be. If they want to seal the issue shut they put up another notice the moment you open the auction house menu. Still, I wonder if these will help much if the price go to the range of hundreds or thousands. Even with all the warnings, is it fair for a player to lose so much after just one patch? Probably if he's forewarned, but maybe not?

A ton?? Do items change stats that often from patch to patch? I'm sure like anything there will be ridiculous lawsuits.. but why would Blizzard be concerned about that in any shape or form? I mean beyond the probably ridiculous law suits they have had over WoW.

I think your inventing an issue that probably has very little chance of being an issue... theres not enough on the line to bring it anywhere but small claims court.. unless you have an enterprising Law Firm try to round up several thousand players and even then.. what does that law suit really bring home for the firm? Some free press? Big deal.. one Silly Class Action suit amongst a sea of silly class action suits that probably won't get out of the first Judge's office... for what a potential $1M Damages suit?

Sorry just not buying it.

For giggles I will parse the final terms of service to confirm this, but there is absolutely no way Blizzard's lawyers haven't locked this whole silly thing down. There are dozens of ways to draft a TOS that will Blizzard completely. If I drafted the language, I'd make it clear that the player doesn't own jack crap, that the entire marketplace is within Blizzard's complete and total discretionary control, that players waive any class-action rights, submit to mandatory arbitration for dispute resolution, etc.

plavonica wrote:

Anyone know if I can gift this game to a friend via Blizzard's services like I do with steam? Or will I have to buy a physical copy and ship it?

Last I tried there was no easy way to do a straight up digital game gift on bnet, may well have changed since then but at a quick look over I'm not seeing the option (and indeed my account says "license limit reached" for Diablo 3 with a single copy).

So yes you can have a physical copy shipped to them, or if shipping time is an issue I believe you can buy a physical copy and just give your friend the cd key which (at least for other bnet games, might want to verify it still works with D3) opens up digital downloads.

PKSebben wrote:

For giggles I will parse the final terms of service to confirm this, but there is absolutely no way Blizzard's lawyers haven't locked this whole silly thing down. There are dozens of ways to draft a TOS that will Blizzard completely. If I drafted the language, I'd make it clear that the player doesn't own jack crap, that the entire marketplace is within Blizzard's complete and total discretionary control, that players waive any class-action rights, submit to mandatory arbitration for dispute resolution, etc.

No doubt. It'll be fun to read the terms to confirm all that, see what they did exactly.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/services/...

"It's important for us to ensure that Diablo III remains balanced and fun for years after launch. To that end, it may be necessary to change stats or alter abilities of items from time to time. It's very important to note that Blizzard will not be providing refunds or making other accommodations if a purchased item is later altered in a patch. Given this, it's up to players to determine whether they're comfortable purchasing items in the currency-based auction house."

Frankly, I think the more interesting question is whether this system is effectively gambling. The easy answer is that it is not, but I can think of varying hypotheticals that make it a much closer call. What about purchasing through blizzard an item that gives the player boost to find magic (25% lets say) for 10 champion level monsters. Would that move the needle closer?

Just finished my last pre-goodbye-beta run through of the various classes I hadn't played with the new rune system. Right now, there is not one class that I do not think is awesome. It's going to be a rough two-weeks wait.

PKSebben wrote:

Frankly, I think the more interesting question is whether this system is effectively gambling. The easy answer is that it is not, but I can think of varying hypotheticals that make it a much closer call. What about purchasing through blizzard an item that gives the player boost to find magic (25% lets say) for 10 champion level monsters. Would that move the needle closer?

Wait, why do you think that's the easy answer? Is it because the consideration is not attenuated to the reward?

Thirteenth wrote:
PKSebben wrote:

Frankly, I think the more interesting question is whether this system is effectively gambling. The easy answer is that it is not, but I can think of varying hypotheticals that make it a much closer call. What about purchasing through blizzard an item that gives the player boost to find magic (25% lets say) for 10 champion level monsters. Would that move the needle closer?

Wait, why do you think that's the easy answer? Is it because the consideration is not attenuated to the reward?

Yes, basically. The conversion of investment consideration (whether defined as initial purchase price or listing fee) to prize seems too attenuated to me for this to be considered gaming. I'm not a gaming law expert, but here a couple facts that seem to make me lean towards not gambling:

1. Listing fee -- The listing fee is not contingent on whether the sale is made or not. The "house" doesn't benefit more from a loss than a win like traditional casino games.
2. Game of Skill -- Notwithstanding my Diablo play, I think there is a strong argument that skill is substantially involved.
3. Investment (past purchasing a license to play the game [goodbye, first-sale doctrine!]) is time, not money. I suppose that the listing fee can be funded with real money softens this argument.

Yet online poker is gambling. Go figure.

Okay, yeah I see your point. Regarding 3, I doubt the presence of listing fee will change the analysis. Seems like the listing fee is consideration for using the auction house service, not for obtaining chance-based rewards. I'm skeptical about the Game of Skill element though. Skill could influence frequency of obtaining items, but not the exact characteristics of the item obtained. So there is a part of the game that falls generally outside the influence of player skill. Then again, I can't say that it is definitely gambling just on that.

LiquidMantis wrote:

I'm down for starting co-op with the idea of actually paying attention to story and quest text. This is what sucks about my brother not being able to game anymore. But I think we have enough like-minded GWJ'ers to have a more methodical exploratory group rather than just rushing for the bosses and quest rewards.

Mark me down as someone who wants to experience all the content.

I'll take my time and clear all the areas for the first story playthrough. Even then, there's have randomized quests which gets the OCD side of me.

I'd like to say I will sit and play through the story to get the most out of that experience first, but the reality is I'll be running open games and popping in and out of others games too frequently to just concentrate on story stuff. I kind of just want to kill me some baddies with some friends

Chump wrote:
LiquidMantis wrote:

I'm down for starting co-op with the idea of actually paying attention to story and quest text. This is what sucks about my brother not being able to game anymore. But I think we have enough like-minded GWJ'ers to have a more methodical exploratory group rather than just rushing for the bosses and quest rewards.

Mark me down as someone who wants to experience all the content.

I'll take my time and clear all the areas for the first story playthrough. Even then, there's have randomized quests which gets the OCD side of me.

Same here. My first run through I want to pay attention and enjoy the plot.

Once that's done, I'll pick a favorite character and work on items.

When did Diablo have a story?

I thought the game was about stress testing your mouse.

Queueball wrote:

When did Diablo have a story?

I thought the game was about stress testing your mouse.

Clearly you did not stay a while and listen.

LOL Damn, beat me to it!

But yeah, there actually is a story complete with history, lore, etc that fleshes out the world a bit. It can be easily missed if you just want to clickclickclickclickclick though.

Hehe its easy to forget but D2 for its time has amazing cut scenes and Blizzard has maintained that high standard of cut scenes for all its games. But most people only saw it once and forgot about it.

The cutscenes are where a lot of the storytelling happened.

Yes, but amazing cutscenes != great story.

Exhibit A: RAGE.

FSeven wrote:
Chump wrote:
LiquidMantis wrote:

I'm down for starting co-op with the idea of actually paying attention to story and quest text. This is what sucks about my brother not being able to game anymore. But I think we have enough like-minded GWJ'ers to have a more methodical exploratory group rather than just rushing for the bosses and quest rewards.

Mark me down as someone who wants to experience all the content.

I'll take my time and clear all the areas for the first story playthrough. Even then, there's have randomized quests which gets the OCD side of me.

Same here. My first run through I want to pay attention and enjoy the plot.

Once that's done, I'll pick a favorite character and work on items.

This is my approach as well, which is why I generally avoid multiplayer until after my first runthrough. If there are other like-minded goodjers, though, it would be ideal to play cooperatively from the get-go.

emyln wrote:

Hehe its easy to forget but D2 for its time has amazing cut scenes and Blizzard has maintained that high standard of cut scenes for all its games. But most people only saw it once and forgot about it.

The cutscenes are where a lot of the storytelling happened.

Yep and for the time they were created... phenominal looking.

emyln wrote:

The manuals are where a lot of the storytelling happened.

That looks more accurate now. The cutscenes were mostly about the Wanderer + Marius and really didn't setup most of what was going on in the game.

However, Blizzard crammed a ton of lore into their manuals back in the day. I think that's less the case now (SC2 barely had a manual) with most of the lore for their games explored through tie-in merch and in-game (infamously brought up at a GDC panel in '09 according to Idle Thumbs).

INTERNET CLAIM TO (PATHETIC) FAME!

I actually have a top rated comment on a D2 cutscene someone threw up on youtube.

shoptroll wrote:
emyln wrote:

The manuals are where a lot of the storytelling happened.

That looks more accurate now. The cutscenes were mostly about the Wanderer + Marius and really didn't setup most of what was going on in the game.

I thought the movies did a wonderful job of explaining why you were where you were, and why the forces of Hell were arrayed against you every step if the way. Assuming of course you caught on to the fact that you were following after the people in the cutscenes. It may have been accidental (I read somewhere that the people who were making the movies thought you were playing as the Dark Wanderer) but it was still a brilliant storytelling device.

Spoiler:

The east. Always, to the east.