Diablo III Catch-All 2.0

Does it feel like you’re playing D2 though? There are so many things from animations to sprite details, to spell effects that make D2 D2 that I’m scared I’ll get it (because I am definitely getting it!) and it’ll just be missing those vital sparks that made it so special to me…

If it sucks me right in and takes me back to 2001 like it could, I am going to have some serious sleep problems coming up to Christmas o_O

Can't get on the D2:R beta, when I agree to the battle net terms & conditions the game just crashes back to the PS5 home screen, send error report, rinse & repeat. Tried it about 4 times last night & twice this morning.

Feels like D2 to me, though that might ve a very subjective matter for people.
The servers are laggy, and aiming seems weird, but I hope that is just lag. Like sometimes my spells (as a sorc) is not going where I think I clicked.

It is still possible to get a beta key from "watching" twitch streams afaik, though it goes away in a few hours. You just need to let a stream run for 2½ hour to get in.

Character models and running animation in particular are not great. They tried to add impact to the movement and it ruins the flow. D2R seems stilted while D2 was smooth IIRC or at least smoother.

There is some odd hiccups with collision where your hireling will short range teleport through something.
There is also some odd things where pets attack from out of melee range and the monster turns away to run and dies. This could be lag/sync issues rather than bugs.

There are some really gorgeous fx and playing at 1440p is so much easier on the eyes. Everything fire is just outstanding, especially in the environment.

Playing the beta. Wow its fun and brings back memories from 2000.

Doesnt support ultrawide though.

Interestingly, it supported UW in the alpha. But looks like it was altered. From screenshots I have seen, you still get some extra screenspace with UW, but with some black bars.

In alpha there were videos of monsters not being able to respond to you, if you attacked outside normal 16:9 distance, so I assume that is the reason. Maybe also PvP balance.

If you press F5, the game switches back to original D2. Not sure if it still has some of the issues mentioned but it looks pretty much like it did.

I'm really surprised at how ambivalent I feel about D2R after playing the beta over the weekend. Playing with an xbox controller was a nice novelty and works surprisingly well.

I haven't touched D2 since 2001 or 02 and Resurrected most certainly feels like a very old game. Many niceties we've come to expect in modern gaming aren't here. I especially hate the inventory system i.e. non-stacking items.

It's a decent trip down memory lane but now I'm rethinking that pre-order.

Agreed on all points.

Maclintok wrote:

I haven't touched D2 since 2001 or 02 and Resurrected most certainly feels like a very old game. Many niceties we've come to expect in modern gaming aren't here. I especially hate the inventory system i.e. non-stacking items.

I am very much on the team of "a remaster should aim to preserve the game experience", but yeah, not making gems, runes etc. stack is just silly. Like the limited stash space, it serves no other purpose than spending time managing mules and playing stash/inventory tetris.

That said, potions should not stack. Stacking them would essentially make them unlimited, more than they already are. That would change the game.

Another simple thing that should change; allow mouse/keyboard to use the same action bar UI as has been added for gamepad. D2s LMB/RMB setup was also bad 20 years ago, and the gamepad UI mostly serves to save clicks.

I dont think D2 feels old though. It might not be the best A-RPG around (I'd give that to PoE or Grim Dawn currently), but after 20 years, it is still up there, and it is a bit more approachable than both of those.

I still think they desperately needed an "adventure mode" and they could have codified the "/players" system into an actual difficulty selection instead of typing a macro.

They also need to fix pet AI and responsiveness. It is one of the most dated things about the game. And that they couldn't be bothered to fix the hirelings so that they could all be as viable as nightmare act 2 mercs.

I am really hoping they hold up to their end of the bargain when they promised us things for easier modding. I don't see this having much legs other than the diehards that do 5000 pindleskin runs or youtube.

Are they planning to resume active development? D2 was never quite as overhauled as D3 was, but they did change quite a bit when the game was in active development. Skill synergies were the big thing I remember.

How does the controller support compare to the console version of D3?

Played D2 on Xbox and it felt like a lesser version of D3 on a controller, but worked well enough. The dodge mechanic in D3 brought a whole new level to the feel.

What I don't like is that the environments and level chunks feel so antiquated that I have little interest in continuing work it when newer games do things better and more interesting. That's pretty much my entire take: The genre had moved on, if ever so slightly, and D2 feels old.

I basically never use the dodge roll in D3 when I'm on console. It's no faster than running and I already have my thumb on the left stick. I am looking forward to the mechanic being built in to D4 from the beginning though.

Once D2R's open beta hit I plugged an Xbox controller into my computer and spent some time swapping back and forth on the same character. They did a really good job. And hotkeys aside, it's interesting how D2 switches almost seamlessly between the two inputs while D3 needed to adjust the camera angles and enemy placements.

So I finished the season and to my surprise, there is another tab of stash space! If I had known, I would have finished the last few seasons for sure

On a side note, thank god the necro set dungeon are so easy to complete. Just because of RNG, I got trag's set first. I'd never run it before but it is probably the easiest one. I've tried rathma and inarius but not pestilence yet. Trag's was completed on the second try. The first try I had the ring that gave you double mages so I finished the dungeon before I could use 1000% of my health in blood abilities. I probably could have nerfed my hp as well to make it easier.

I have to say, I am not looking forward to playing a season without ethereals now They are just so awesome!
Maybe next season you get 3 ethereal armor pieces in addition to the weapons?

I've got one Ethereal on the one character I've been dabbling with. It buffs an ability that I'm not using at all, but it's otherwise so much stronger than anything else I've seen that I'm still using it. Not sure what I think about that.

The key attribute is the 100-300% buff to all skills depending on whether it is a one handed or two handed ethereal. Of course that is aside from the fact that it is and ancient legendary with near primal rolls. (and a random passive and legendary property)

It is a bummer that the necro doesn't get a two handed ethereal. The 300% buff is incredible.
In past seasons my damage topped out at just over 3 million when echoing fury procced. With an ethereal, it is 5.8 million without echoing fury.

fangblackbone wrote:

So I finished the season and to my surprise, there is another tab of stash space! If I had known, I would have finished the last few seasons for sure

Out of curiosity, which conquests did you complete? That's all I have left for the season, but my WD is not as high-charged as last season's barb.

GR 45 with no set items on normal and hardcore.
Level 3 gems to 70(75?)

Hydra sorc is very easy to get GR 45 with no set pieces on normal and hardcore. You just level up the LoD gem and get halo of karini or just a aquila cuirass.

I leveled a new character and decided to play through the story again for some reason. It's been years, but I still remember *all* of it. It might not have been the best story in the world, but they sure did an effective job of telling it.

New season starts tomorrow.
Looks like we are getting new gems like legendary gems but not for rings and amulets.
They rank up but it seems like there are only 4 ranks and it has a positive and negative trait.
I guess sort of like cursed items where if you can mitigate the negative effect, the boon is very powerful for certain builds.

Wow, the upgrades are really something else!
I was expecting RNG to make you choose between main stat and crit%. But you get both and more (elite%, etc.) with just one upgrade.

I was holding off putting one in my weapon, waiting for the right set pieces. That was a mistake because even with the pet specific one, I was doing way more damage even on my non pet skills than without it.

I am so confused as I have a lot of the support pieces for an energy twister firebirds build. But I've always mained typhon's hydra build and upgraded the soul shard for pet builds.

I think its only us veterans left so these tips are probably moot but I wanted to share them in case anyone wants to get off to a great start to the season.

-Bosses apparently have a 1 in 4 chance to drop a soul shard. I've found it much higher than that to almost 1 in 2.
-As a newb, do Zoltan Kulle runs on normal to farm soul shards because they can be salvaged for 3 marquis gems. (ZK is the quickest boss to farm)
-You will probably be like me and not salvage rubies after several attempts. But you can sell marquis gems for some really good money. This will make leveling up your smith, jeweler and enchantress a breeze.
-You can use that money and a few more gem runs to use the act 2 recipe to convert 9 gems to rubies.
-Use rubies to make a breeze out of leveling up to give you a weapon that will power you to level 40+ and be sure to put one in a helm (preferably leorics) to get bonus% xp.
-I don't know how this weeks challenge rift is but I bounced hard off of last weeks so these tips are a decent bypass if this week's is too difficult too

side note: for 50-61, you can do the same trick as crafting a level 70 weapon with -level req. The only difference is it will be a 58 weapon that can have -10 level req max instead of a 70 weapon usable at 40-45. The former is still a great boost until you can do the latter.

My first hellforge ember didn't dop until Torment 10 or GR40-45. I hit 70 on my wizard after 5ish hours after putzing around with hunting soul shards and getting my bearings on the season mechanics. If I had to start all over, like when I make a hard core season character, I could probably do it closer to 4:15 without challenge rift rewards.

fangblackbone wrote:

I think its only use veterans left so these tips are probably moot but I wanted to share them in case anyone wants to get off to a great start to the season.

Not only vets! I'm still lurking this thread in case I ever give D3 a third chance.

...I have absolutely no idea what any of the stuff you wrote means.

I'm sticking with my self-imposed Blizzard boycott, but that does seem like a cool new season.

Well, by all reports if you decide to end your boycott, this is the season that everyone can reach GR 150 with practically any class, set and a wide variety of builds. (not just the S, A or even B tier builds)

fangblackbone wrote:

Well, by all reports if you decide to end your boycott, this is the season that everyone can reach GR 150 with practically any class, set and a wide variety of builds. (not just the S, A or even B tier builds)

Sounds like the theme of this season is "everyone is playing Diablo 2... screw it, turn everything up to 11."

Is D2R all that popular?
I'd be all over it but it seems that they walked back on mod support and streamlining modding. I had pre-ordered it but canceled as soon as the devs got wishy washy on modding.
Also, it brought out toxicity like only Blizzard can with zealots screaming not to change a thing on even the most simple QoL improvements.

I still maintain that if you want it to be THAT faithful, then just install the original that is perfectly playable. As we have seen from the fixes during D2R beta and release, changing the graphics can have more of an impact on gameplay than running over gold to pick it up (that I believe they had to make a toggle because morons complained)

I have no idea how popular D2R really is. I just know that the controller support felt good enough that I picked it up on the Switch when it was $10 off.

Well that, and YouTube likes to show me various D2R videos for some reason. Not sure how much of that is the game and how much is me.

On the one had it doesn't bode well for a new release being discounted this first holiday season. On the other hand, Blizzard has had a (self-inflicted) rough go of things lately even if D2R was fine. And even Nintendo first party games were on sale so this is very much not a normal shopping season.

It retailed for $40 which is just too much.