Single Player and Consoles versions (Specifically Switch)

Vang

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Just getting a feel.

I am not a console gamer. I don't enjoy using anything but a mouse and keyboard, but I will tell you I much prefer playing D3 on my Switch over the PC and it is literally one of the only games I own on the Switch (think 3 total) Yes, there are few annoyances they really aggravate me such is imperfect targeting and scrolling through my stash, but it just plays better overall.

I will get D2:R for the Switch and do not think it'll be my go to since I'm mainly a SP person and without extended stashes it feels kind of rough. (Unless there is a way to transfer single player toons fast and easy). But for general run of the mill play or with a couple people on cattle..er battle.net I'm probably going to play on it.

Anyone else?
 
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@Nagisa PMed me about the Switch, I suggested we make a thread. I'm getting it on Switch too, so is @jjscud

It would be good to share our experiences. I want the SPF to be console friendly, but that depends a lot about how it works.
  • Can we transfer saves from PC to Switch
  • Can we upload screenshots?
  • How can we get item readouts?
Mostly we will just have to work it out as we go.
 
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There seems to be a "Copy to a Computer via USB Connection" option in the system settings for moving screenshots, which is pretty convenient. I assume readouts will need an SD card reader or something to get the files on PC, unless D2R will have something built in. I suppose there's also the option of just owning a PC version as well.

I plan to play on Switch exclusively, so hopefully we figure something out after release.
 
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There seems to be a "Copy to a Computer via USB Connection" option in the system settings for moving screenshots, which is pretty convenient. I assume readouts will need an SD card reader or something to get the files on PC, unless D2R will have something built in. I suppose there's also the option of just owning a PC version as well.

I plan to play on Switch exclusively, so hopefully we figure something out after release.
I'm going to assume that if your Console and Single Player only, readouts really aren't going to matter unless you actually buy a PC copy.
 
*Waiting impatiently for switch like……..

Waiting's no fun.

20210919_143600.jpg

I pre-ordered the version with D3. A fairly good deal since I had been close to buying that when it was 3 times as much. I had to add a microSD, luckily I had one laying around. I'm sure it won't let me start until Thursday, but it's there already.

I'm going to assume that if your Console and Single Player only, readouts really aren't going to matter unless you actually buy a PC copy.

I'm not following, why would a console be any different?
 
I'm not following, why would a console be any different?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but readouts are mainly intended to prevent duplicate items. If your playing on switch and single player only, there is no way to trade that I would be aware of currently without a PC. (and even then I'm not sure if cross-progression is on single player as it maybe a battle.net only thing since those are stored server side)
 
It only really matters if you trade. First step is to find out if we can actually get anything off the switch in the first place. Let’s hope the character file is the same and accessible.

The stash & inventory interface is very different to PC in the D3 version, I don’t think this is a given.
 
AC6090F9-A4D6-491B-94C6-653EA79F9B10.jpegPre-installed

Screenshots was easy. Instructions here:

I then transferred it to my phone with the QR code from the Album on the home screen. A bit long winded but it works without a USB cable being needed.

It is installed on an SD card so I can plug it into a PC anc see what files I can see as soon as I have made a character.
 
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After about 2 hours of play, this is really nice. The only thing missing that I want is the players command. Everything else runs incredibly smooth. (Casey the assassin level 7) up next stony field.
 
You can't see any d2s files on the Switch SD card using a file browser.
Looks like we are going to need some clever person to make us a SwitchMule to transfer characters between PC an the Switch.
 
Hi, Im currently playing on the Switch while im waiting for my new laptop to arrive and have some questions for the switch players that hopefully that someone can answer for me?
1. How do you give your merc a health potion while playing ?
2. Is there a way to zoom in on the switch ?
3. Is there a quick way to change between small mini map and full map and can you scroll it around like the PC version to check that you have everything mapped out for example?
4. Can you cross progress between offline switch to offline PC ?
Cant think of anything else for now thanks unless other ppl have switch tips and tricks they have found so far?
Thanks :)
 
Hi, Im currently playing on the Switch while im waiting for my new laptop to arrive and have some questions for the switch players that hopefully that someone can answer for me?
1. How do you give your merc a health potion while playing ?
2. Is there a way to zoom in on the switch ?
3. Is there a quick way to change between small mini map and full map and can you scroll it around like the PC version to check that you have everything mapped out for example?
4. Can you cross progress between offline switch to offline PC ?
Cant think of anything else for now thanks unless other ppl have switch tips and tricks they have found so far?
Thanks :)

I haven't played much on the switch yet. I was really hoping to use it as my leveling platform and the PC as my running platform. From a quick once over, we haven't found a way to move SP chars to/from the switch, but I'm sure someone will figure something out. I'm going to give it another shot.

I haven't found any way to adjust my minimap other than the options page.
 
Hi, Im currently playing on the Switch while im waiting for my new laptop to arrive and have some questions for the switch players that hopefully that someone can answer for me?
1. How do you give your merc a health potion while playing ?
Use the ZL button in conjunction with using the potion, whether from your belt (arrow/d-pad keys) or by long-pressing A in your inventory.
2. Is there a way to zoom in on the switch ?
Yes. Use the built-in zoom capability of your Switch. Enable it through System Settings > System > Zoom. To use it, double-tap the Home button; you will then be able to zoom in and out using Y and X, pan using the thumbsticks or d-pad, and lock the zoom settings by tapping Home again (you need to do this if you want the buttons to have their regular game mappings while you're zoomed in). Double-tap Home once more to revert to non-zoomed mode.
3. Is there a quick way to change between small mini map and full map and can you scroll it around like the PC version to check that you have everything mapped out for example?
Hit the - button to turn the map on or off, and long-press it to cycle through top-left, top-right, and fullscreen map modes.

Unfortunately, there is no way to pan the map display as you can on PC using the arrow keys. This is a major annoyance for me while playing on the Switch; hopefully they will enable this in a later patch. For example, they could have used the right thumbstick for this.
4. Can you cross progress between offline switch to offline PC ?
Not to my knowledge. Any of the cross-play features work only with online characters, and you will need a Switch Online subscription to play on b.net. This is another annoyance.

There is also zero support for other multiplayer methods, like TCP/IP or LAN games. Apparently, this facility existed in the PC beta (I never used it myself, as none of my PCs can run the game), but they removed it for some asinine reason. Let's hope that with all the negative press they're getting about their server issues they decide to reinstate it. I'd *love* to be able to play D2R locally with other Switch users; imagine playing with e friend on the train or something.

When you've got a console with portability and local group play as main selling points, this omission seems particularly egregious.
Cant think of anything else for now thanks unless other ppl have switch tips and tricks they have found so far?
Thanks :)
Until you manage to farm some good starter gear, you will probably want to stick with a 'safe' character like a skellimancer.

You will quickly run out of room in your stash (yes, this includes the three shared stash pages) if you are accustomed to hoarding. Try to kick this habit. Use up those pgems, crap jewels, and low runes for some early-game crafting. Be brutal about selling items you'll likely never use; if it's some unique item that would have just sat in your GoMule stash pre-D2R, then you're probably better off selling it.

Dropping potions and then picking them up is often a faster way to fill your belt than trying to load them one by one from your inventory.

Keep in mind the targeting AI uses a 'targeting cone' (well, more of a wedge or pie-slice area) to determine what to target. This means that you still need to face the general direction of what you want to attack, unless you're using a skill like Strafe.

If you're using a third-party controller that supports turbo, it can be useful in some cases. In particular, skills like Zeal, Fury, Fend, and Strafe that start 'whiffing' if blocking, hit recovery, or Dodge/Avoid get triggered can likely benefit from this. I haven't tested it, but since rapidly clicking the mouse sometimes helped with this in legacy D2 (it forced a new attack cycle to begin, even if the player still saw the previous cycle's animation), I suspect that rapid button presses might help here. Blade Fury gets a special mention; I expect that rapid button presses would prevent the wind-down/wind-up animation that will probably happen if you just hold the button down, since you can't target the monster at the back of a pack like you could with a mouse.

Some skills that were previously very useful have lost some usefulness on console. Examples include Decoy (it spawns adjacent to your character, rather than allowing you to cast it at a distance) and Guided Arrow, Bone Spirit, and Fist of the Heavens (you can't target that shaman or greater mummy at the back of a pack). Revive has likewise lost utility, as you cannot select which corpse gets raised, and Raise Skeletal Mage micromanagement is harder since targeting Unsummon is near impossible.

There is no /playersx support on console, at least not yet, which means leveling is much more of a grind, and you're likely to be underleveled for bosses if you're accustomed to running /players8 through Normal and Nightmare. Normal Duriel, in particular, will likely pose a stiff challenge for non-melee builds unless you grind some levels.

On the upside, ladder-only runewords are enabled in offline play; I've already made Insight a few times, and I'm looking forward to Harmony when I find a nice base.
 
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I've Just Made it to Hell. I was surprised Fallen weern't Fire immune, as I rembered them as such. I soon noticed Nothing was immune. (playing a bone Necro, so I didn't notice wether immunities were applied)

Until I saw a miniscule red dot under the monster name in the middle of the screen. Turns out, there's immunities, they're just displayed in a near-invisible way. I don't see an option to just display it as text, is there one?

I'm also left wondering what colour magic and physical immune will be,
 
You will quickly run out of room in your stash (yes, this includes the three shared stash pages) if you are accustomed to hoarding. Try to kick this habit. Use up those pgems, crap jewels, and low runes for some early-game crafting. Be brutal about selling items you'll likely never use; if it's some unique item that would have just sat in your GoMule stash pre-D2R, then you're probably better off selling it.

Dropping potions and then picking them up is often a faster way to fill your belt than trying to load them one by one from your inventory.
As I undersand it, you can have unlimited offline characters. This means you can create mules for an extra stash page + their inventory each. While not nearly as convenient as gomule, this allows for unlimited stash space.

As characters are shown alfabetically upon startup, I'm using a naming convention starting with zzz_ . This makes sure actual characters are above mules. Since charnames can't contain numbers, I'm using the alfabet to make multiples with similar contents.

As for potions, you can press the right joystick while hovering the belt. This will fill the belt according to its first slots. Therefore you only need to fill the first slot of each row, which is faster for me then dropping the potions
 
As I undersand it, you can have unlimited offline characters. This means you can create mules for an extra stash page + their inventory each. While not nearly as convenient as gomule, this allows for unlimited stash space.
Unfortunately not the case, at least on PS5. I got the "max character limit" a few days ago, I counted and it's only 30... so not only I can't keep everything like I wanted, but I will have to delete actual characters after I mat/pat them to make way for new ones. Sucks.
 
I've Just Made it to Hell. I was surprised Fallen weern't Fire immune, as I rembered them as such. I soon noticed Nothing was immune. (playing a bone Necro, so I didn't notice wether immunities were applied)

Until I saw a miniscule red dot under the monster name in the middle of the screen. Turns out, there's immunities, they're just displayed in a near-invisible way. I don't see an option to just display it as text, is there one?
Not to my knowledge. It's really frustrating, because those icons are really easy to miss. I'd prefer text labels as well.
I'm also left wondering what colour magic and physical immune will be,
I suppose I'll find out when I get to Hell.
As for potions, you can press the right joystick while hovering the belt. This will fill the belt according to its first slots. Therefore you only need to fill the first slot of each row, which is faster for me then dropping the potions
Hey, thanks. I didn't know about this one. I tried it, and it didn't work at first, but then I realized you meant long-press. Much faster than doing it my way.
 
Use the ZL button in conjunction with using the potion, whether from your belt (arrow/d-pad keys) or by long-pressing A in your inventory.

Yes. Use the built-in zoom capability of your Switch. Enable it through System Settings > System > Zoom. To use it, double-tap the Home button; you will then be able to zoom in and out using Y and X, pan using the thumbsticks or d-pad, and lock the zoom settings by tapping Home again (you need to do this if you want the buttons to have their regular game mappings while you're zoomed in). Double-tap Home once more to revert to non-zoomed mode.

Hit the - button to turn the map on or off, and long-press it to cycle through top-left, top-right, and fullscreen map modes.

Unfortunately, there is no way to pan the map display as you can on PC using the arrow keys. This is a major annoyance for me while playing on the Switch; hopefully they will enable this in a later patch. For example, they could have used the right thumbstick for this.

Not to my knowledge. Any of the cross-play features work only with online characters, and you will need a Switch Online subscription to play on b.net. This is another annoyance.

There is also zero support for other multiplayer methods, like TCP/IP or LAN games. Apparently, this facility existed in the PC beta (I never used it myself, as none of my PCs can run the game), but they removed it for some asinine reason. Let's hope that with all the negative press they're getting about their server issues they decide to reinstate it. I'd *love* to be able to play D2R locally with other Switch users; imagine playing with e friend on the train or something.

When you've got a console with portability and local group play as main selling points, this omission seems particularly egregious.

Until you manage to farm some good starter gear, you will probably want to stick with a 'safe' character like a skellimancer.

You will quickly run out of room in your stash (yes, this includes the three shared stash pages) if you are accustomed to hoarding. Try to kick this habit. Use up those pgems, crap jewels, and low runes for some early-game crafting. Be brutal about selling items you'll likely never use; if it's some unique item that would have just sat in your GoMule stash pre-D2R, then you're probably better off selling it.

Dropping potions and then picking them up is often a faster way to fill your belt than trying to load them one by one from your inventory.

Keep in mind the targeting AI uses a 'targeting cone' (well, more of a wedge or pie-slice area) to determine what to target. This means that you still need to face the general direction of what you want to attack, unless you're using a skill like Strafe.

If you're using a third-party controller that supports turbo, it can be useful in some cases. In particular, skills like Zeal, Fury, Fend, and Strafe that start 'whiffing' if blocking, hit recovery, or Dodge/Avoid get triggered can likely benefit from this. I haven't tested it, but since rapidly clicking the mouse sometimes helped with this in legacy D2 (it forced a new attack cycle to begin, even if the player still saw the previous cycle's animation), I suspect that rapid button presses might help here. Blade Fury gets a special mention; I expect that rapid button presses would prevent the wind-down/wind-up animation that will probably happen if you just hold the button down, since you can't target the monster at the back of a pack like you could with a mouse.

Some skills that were previously very useful have lost some usefulness on console. Examples include Decoy (it spawns adjacent to your character, rather than allowing you to cast it at a distance) and Guided Arrow, Bone Spirit, and Fist of the Heavens (you can't target that shaman or greater mummy at the back of a pack). Revive has likewise lost utility, as you cannot select which corpse gets raised, and Raise Skeletal Mage micromanagement is harder since targeting Unsummon is near impossible.

There is no /playersx support on console, at least not yet, which means leveling is much more of a grind, and you're likely to be underleveled for bosses if you're accustomed to running /players8 through Normal and Nightmare. Normal Duriel, in particular, will likely pose a stiff challenge for non-melee builds unless you grind some levels.

On the upside, ladder-only runewords are enabled in offline play; I've already made Insight a few times, and I'm looking forward to Harmony when I find a nice base.
Thanks so much for the detailed reply ! I now have a lvl 80 sorc and am in Act 2 (Hell) SP and still loving it although the stash size still is very disheartening as i love collecting and keep all gold and set items, I see below there is a 30 character limit, is this true ?
 
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