A lot of demos don’t do that these days, actually, which I miss. I enjoyed those screens. Now they automatically launch your browser and put you at the game site/steam page. :(
Oh I had tech issues during the stress test weekend, but I’m completely willing to overlook those.
The problem I has was the graphics and the gameplay.
KevinC
4223
I have a question that can probably best be answered by Google or BleedTheFreak. So, BtF, do you know how the content in the Beta correlates to to the release game? By that I mean is that the entirety of Act I, was it Act I chopped into stitched together pieces, or was it just a portion of Act I? Any info on that?
According to the Diablo 3 wiki:
The Diablo 3 beta test is roughly the first half of Act One, taking a brand new character from the start of the game up though the battle with King Leoric. All five character classes, all of their skills, and almost all of the game features are included. Followers, Artisans, and the full item system is in the beta, though only the Templar and Blacksmith are encountered that early in the game.
Not in the beta: Some story elements were removed to preserve surprises, and there are no cinematics. Runestones are not included as they’re undergoing further development, and the Arena is not available either.
KevinC
4225
Yea, you’re right, it wasn’t a demo in that sense, but it was the first impression a lot of people were going to have of the game. There’s no way you want the first impression to be being unable to get past the login screen, no matter how many times you try to cover your ass with “it’s a beta!”.
KevinC
4226
Runestones not included? So is that part outdated info, or are runestones different than runes that modify skills?
Edit: Fuck it, you guys aren’t my research bitches. Off to Google I go - thanks for all the info!
Yeah, outdated, I’d imagine. Runes were added in Beta patch 13
Actually at that time, I didn’t plan on buying it. The beta didn’t change that, the complete desert of gaming industry did.
Regardless, we’ll see who’s right. I may regret canceling my 2 week vacation if it’s actually playable.
nomaar
4229
I’ve read the beta was more like a third of the Act I, and probably even less in terms of the time required to finish the entire act. The Skeleton King fight, which marked the end of the beta, is one of three boss fights in Act I.
The official word on game length was something like 15-20 hours to complete Normal difficulty. That actually struck me as being very high, so hopefully that’s going to be 15-20 hours of rewarding content and interesting locales. That also means about 5 hours per act, and since you can get to the SK in about an hour, I would imagine either that 15-20 number is completely inaccurate, or the beta is MUCH less than the first half of Act 1.
Here’s another black mark: I downloaded the installer, it finished, I closed it, and it left a feeder process running with no hint that it was until I looked in the task manager… very sneaky.
DeepT
4232
On the open beta weekend: It was only bad for the first few hours after it opened. It was quite playable by 8pm EST the first day.
On the beta in general: I thought I read a recent source that the beta experience was stitched together sections of Act 1. Some things were out of sequence and the SK was actually to come much later in Act 1 than it did in the beta. In short, you will see a very different path to the SK in release than you did in beta. I also heard the beta was like 1/3rd of the size of Act 1, not 50%.
We also do not know how many acts there will be, do we? It would be nice to revisit some old areas, and it would be nice to see some new ones.
nomaar
4233
If you missed getting any of the unique class sigils over the past month or so, you now have 10 days to get them:
http://reveal.diablo3.com/en_US/mark_of_valor/#!/create
Ninyu
4235
Bashiok basically refuted this The full game will be laid out exactly like the beta. I think he did mention that it was 1/3 of Act 1.
KevinC
4236
It certainly wasn’t for me. I tried like mad to get in all day/night Friday with no luck. I was then able to get in for an hour or so around 11:00 PDT, only to have the server get taken down. I wasn’t able to get back in until Saturday night.
Ninyu
4237
For some reason, I thought today was Wednesday. How depressing. This week is craaaaaaaaaawling!
100% unlock is available here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LEAPxgMCEA8
KevinC
4239
Ehh. Diablo story in Saturday morning cartoon style just looks so jarring and wrong. I was waiting for the ThunderCats to show up (which would have been awesome).
EDIT: It is nice having more background story, though.
