1.13 Public Test Realm online!

[snickersnack]

Re: 1.13 Public Test Realm online!

Sure you can still get killed by IM but how fun is it to play without any chance of getting killed. No excitement at all

Yup, that combined with nerfed gloam damage, I guess I'll only ever run nihlathak now since that is the only place you have a chance of dying.

That, or I'll have to switch to HC.

 

[Corrupted]

Re: 1.13 Public Test Realm online!

While I agree removing IM entirely wasn't necessary I'd say its still far better than having an IM kills you in one hit pretty much no matter what. IM in 1.09 was fairly well balanced, you had to have lifesteal proportional to your damage to not get gibbed from it.

 

[scottee]

Re: 1.13 Public Test Realm online!

Does anyone have a copy of the beta patch hosted yet? Since I accidentally logged into Bnet with the modded .dll and got CDkey-banned, I can't log on to update

 

[Nightfish]

Re: 1.13 Public Test Realm online!

Dunno, personally I feel removing IM is hugely unnecessary. It's pretty easy to tell when you've got the curse on, after all. If they capped the amount of damage you can receive in one shot to, say, 500, it'd be all good. Iron Maiden still kills you quickly if you don't pay attention, but not instantly. And it's not like there were a dozen ways for pretty much any character to avoid taking any damage from IM at all...

So meh, as far as I am concerned, they can keep the patch. I don't need the game to be made any easier. If I want easy, I can always reinstall torchlight...

Overall the patch seems very half-assed to me, anyway. They did buff a few skills that needed it, but completely ignored others that are just plain broken. Unless I missed the note saying the fixed inferno and arctic blast...

 

[frozzzen1]

Re: 1.13 Public Test Realm online!

They just made game for 3 years old children

Meh, removing IM is ok ( still I think they could nerf it ) but nerfing Gloam dmg? Why?
I was hoping this game would actually become harder to play, and seriously now you won't be able to die at all.
Increase Frenzytaurs dmg by 100% and speed by 100% + + +

Meh I don't like it at all. Only good thing is Hammer down and rune drops increased.
For now I'll keep away from new patch or starting 1.13 from scratch and leave 1.12 as it is.

 

[Shagsbeard]

Re: 1.13 Public Test Realm online!

Anyone give any thought to how this might be being used to introduce us to the design philosophy in D3? Clearly (to me anyway) they've introduced respec here in order to make it harder for us to complain about it being in D3. They've also eliminated several key "if you do this, you will regret it" features that made D2 have more planning involved. One critique we've had for other ARPGs is that they're dumbed down to the point where a six year old can play. Perhaps D3 will be designed with a similar demographic in mind.

The more I think of it, the more I see this as a transitional patch rather than a reformation patch (like 1.10 was). They seem to want to ween us off D2.

 

[omgwtfbbqpwned]

Re: 1.13 Public Test Realm online!

but nerfing Gloam dmg? Why?

I think they only nerfed Gloam boss/unique damage. Gloam damage is still bugged though.

 

[Rummski]

Re: 1.13 Public Test Realm online!

Hmm, what to say that hasn't been said yet...

I am holding hope that this is purely test and that hopefully more SP aspects are added, I do realize that Blizzard makes no recurrent money from us playing in SP, and that all their changes are to get people to log on to Battle.net. That said, I'm really bummed at the lack of anything fun for us here.

The hiatus may have just become permanent...

EDIT - My wife asked me if I thought this would suck me back into the game, I said no, but I think now I can teach my daughter (turns 18 months next week) how to finish the game in hardcore...

 

[Twoflower]

Re: 1.13 Public Test Realm online!

Anyone give any thought to how this might be being used to introduce us to the design philosophy in D3?... One critique we've had for other ARPGs is that they're dumbed down to the point where a six year old can play. Perhaps D3 will be designed with a similar demographic in mind.

That has been going on in WoW for years. Blizz realised that casual gamers who enjoy a not so challenging game bring in so much more money than the few % of hardcore nerds. I totaly assume that Diablo3 will be easymode too. Which scares me off a little, to be honest. I am not hoping for much with D3, to be honest.

One thing indicating this is that stat points will be distribued automaticaly. May not seem so big, but the HUGE amount of D2 builds came from the freedom to spent points whereever you like. While D2 had tons of possible builds, in WoW you are allready reduced to ( at best ) 3 builds per class.

Let's face it, some of us have been playing this game for a decade and know it better than the back of their hand. Of course it gets easy. Diablo is still a quite complex game for people who start fresh, no matter if glooms do a little bit more damage or not. So stop the "this turned into Kindergarden" crying.

 

[BobTheWarrior]

Re: 1.13 Public Test Realm online!

You can't please everybody...

This game has been "easy" since I started playing it. "Oops, I died to that nasty pack of monsters, oh well S&E, pick up body, look nasty pack gone!". "Dang, I can't get past the Chaos Sanctuary, I'll just run Mephisto 500 times, then it's cakewalk".

You can choose how challenging the game is to you. If you set out to find the nastiest combination of gear you can put on and expect things to be difficult, how would it even be possible to get there by playing the game straight through (which I believe is the way Blizzard has publicly stated they intended the game to be played).

They could have ramped up the challenge to the point where you need four players just to have a chance to survive, then everyone would complain that they can't solo Hell. Instead they went the other way so that you can solo anywhere in the game with modest gear while looking for leet haxxor items alone.

My point is, if you want the game to be challenging, set your own rules and play by them.

I think the tournament crowd is going to enjoy the new patch. I can already see a tournament where you are required to respec your character three times and only use one tree per difficulty...

 

[UllaV]

Re: 1.13 Public Test Realm online!

While I agree removing IM entirely wasn't necessary I'd say its still far better than having an IM kills you in one hit pretty much no matter what. IM in 1.09 was fairly well balanced, you had to have lifesteal proportional to your damage to not get gibbed from it.

As a HC player I have to say that it's been long time ago when my character died on IM or gloams, dolls though are different. Even my untwinked characters can plan around IM and dodge gloam lightnings.

I don't understand people saying that it's boring that you must be prepared for danger. To me it will be boring when I can make a zealot and zeal away without never thinking that I need to do something else.

Ulla

 

[jjscud]

Re: 1.13 Public Test Realm online!

Ok, after a little testing in LK, I can say that a good number of the patterns will remain the same. However, plain and simple odds say that a few less will "tumble down".

Furthermore, one could hope that LK has been nerfed by having fewer high rune patterns.

Possible yes, but, one of the things that the RoF running has shown is that the random odds in LK were quite unlucky. RoF had a setting with 3 Surs, 2 Ohms and 4 Vex's. While that's clearly the other end of lucky. We should expect to fall somewhere in between and with 4 psettings to choose from, even hope for a little luck. Considering a nearly 3x increase in drop odds and another shot at a little better odds, I think there's a fair chance at a setting with [highlight]4 Bers[/highlight].

It could also mean another shot at RoF and Act 5 special chests. Maybe they'll drop Jahs, Chams and even Zods in act 5 now. Hmm, I seem to have some work to do.

 

[JoeBruce1]

Re: 1.13 Public Test Realm online!

BobTheWarrior is spot on. Most SP'ers take a lot of time to collect gear and plan builds, with the basic goal of having the easiest time through the game. Ever try playing a character straight through the game, without re-running areas or using third party programs? I did it once and it was freaking hard. It was also my proudest D2 moment. Certain people on this forum do that all the time (although 99.99% of us still use a muling program), because they enjoy that challenge.

I believe the reason most of us play SP is to establish our own challenges and restrictions. Sure, patch changes have a direct and undeniable effect on the implementation of those self-imposed restrictions, but it is still up to the individual player to decide how to play. Stop twinking and then tell me how easy this game still is. (I'm not trying to flame anybody - I twink all the time! Just giving an example.)

The dichotomy between people complaining the patch did nothing and made the game too easy is rather funny...

 

[Fabian]

Re: 1.13 Public Test Realm online!

Is it even necessarily so that the LK chests' drop odds have changed at all? If so, what happens now? Start running like crazy on each player setting until it's all figured out again? No way of knowing what patterns exist until x hundred thousand runs?

 

[silospen1]

Re: 1.13 Public Test Realm online!

I think there's a fair chance at a setting with [highlight]4 Bers[/highlight].

Like I said, Ber is more rare than Jah now...so more like 6 Jahs

 

[Rhone]

Re: 1.13 Public Test Realm online!

My point is, if you want the game to be challenging, set your own rules and play by them.

Yeah, I wonder how many people here play solely HC and untwinked. Probably a rather small percentage of the people complaining that the game is too easy now. The moment you use a third party program to provide a character with equipment found by another character, you are willingly making the game much easier than it was designed to be.

And everyone keeps talking about nerfed gloam damage. It's only the champs and uniques. A pack of gloams is still a pack of gloams.

I played around a bit in 1.13 WSK with my MFing WW barb last night, and while OKs were obviously less threatening (though it's still irritating when they decrep you and run away ), the gloams didn't feel any different. The regulars do as much damage as before (and I'm sure the champs/uniques still do more damage than the regulars), and the fact that they are still mana burn and unleechable means that ranged characters still have a huge advantage over melee characters for MFing in WSK.

 

[UllaV]

Re: 1.13 Public Test Realm online!

BobTheWarrior is spot on. Most SP'ers take a lot of time to collect gear and plan builds, with the basic goal of having the easiest time through the game. Ever try playing a character straight through the game, without re-running areas or using third party programs?

You haven't read the various tourney threads. Have you?

Most of them are untwinked & single pass. Several restrict external stash use. Almost all are HC.

We do what you ask all the time. Cannot remember IM deaths nor Gloams. Once again I can remember doll deaths. Super uniques are much deadlier. Rakanishu, Fangskin and Duriel are feared. Normal Cold Crow is deadly for new sorcs. Nihlathak on the other hand seldom kills characters and in most tourneys all quest must be done. Lister is also one to fear.

Ulla

 

[Thomh]

Re: 1.13 Public Test Realm online!

You don`t do that. We all use ATMA or GoMule, and believe me; it makes a world of difference.

 

[UllaV]

Re: 1.13 Public Test Realm online!

Yeah, I wonder how many people here play solely HC and untwinked. Probably a rather small percentage of the people complaining that the game is too easy now. The moment you use a third party program to provide a character with equipment found by another character, you are willingly making the game much easier than it was designed to be.

The game is designed for mp. In mp you can trade whatever equipment from one character to another. What ATMA and GoMule does is to provide SP the same possibility that MP already has.

To our relief it's easier than handling hundreds of mules though.

Btw. When 1.13 comes out to Europe server I'll bid for HC ladder. Unfortunately I have to do it still alone as Blizzard has still not addressed unconsented PvP in D2. I've heard that in D3 PvP will be only between consented players.

Ulla

 

[Rhone]

Re: 1.13 Public Test Realm online!

I don't understand people saying that it's boring that you must be prepared for danger. To me it will be boring when I can make a zealot and zeal away without never thinking that I need to do something else.

By the way you describe it, it sounds like CS and WSK are the only areas where you get any enjoyment from a zeal character , since you know you can "just zeal away" everywhere else.

Also, how come you don't complain about life being so easy for non-melee characters? How come no one complained that their sorcs, trapsins, LF/FA zons, etc. are so boring to play because they are unaffected by IM?

I'll try my best to help you understand why IM=boredom for some of us. When I hit CS with a melee character, I'm not thinking "uh-oh I might die, it'll be challenging", I'm thinking "*yawn* I'm going to use a strategy that will keep me from dying to IM, but I'm going to be stuck in this relatively boring area for 5x longer than it would take for my non-melee characters."

The thing that makes the game fun for me is using different skills on different characters, so I experience variety in the gameplay. The most boring part of the game, to me, is when you are stuck using regular attack at low levels while you're waiting for the skill(s) you really want to use to become available. (Funny enough, this is an area where respeccing could actually be a good thing--many low level skills get completely ignored because the skillpoints would be "wasted" on them.) The second most boring part of the game for me (in terms of questing, anyway) is CS with melee characters, because you essentially revert back to regular attack with a missile weapon, or berserk (which works exactly like regular melee attack, in terms of gameplay). That's not exciting or challenging to me, it's just boring. It's like a Superbowl half-time show, I'm just stuck waiting for the snooze fest to end so the game can resume.

Now dolls, on the other hand--I love those things. They are dangerous, but you can survive against them using tactics that don't drastically slow the game down. I also appreciate that dolls--in drastic contrast to IM--can present a danger to any character, but can also be dealt with by any character without requiring the player to ignore his skills in favor of 1pt berserk or whatever. I appreciate gloams for the same reason, and contrary to popular outcry a pack of gloams in 1.13 is still a lot like a pack of gloams pre-1.13.