There are at least 3 moments in this game where the backgrounds make me stop running around killing things. That’s one of them. The others are later on, so I’ll try not to spoil them for you.
peterb
5402
How does creating a new character with other difficulties work? Do you have to take each character through Normal, or can you start one directly on Hard, or what?
Every character starts in Normal. It would be impossible to do anything with a level 1 character in other difficulties.
Sandra was playing this morning and got kicked out of an active game because the servers were full. Nice … Wasn’t she already connected and playing? I …
Hell was easier than I thought it would be… Just started Inferno and killed a couple of elite packs without dying… I’m expecting to get my ass kicked pretty soon, though ;)
I really, really hope not. I’m probably not very far into the game yet, I’ve only just begun meeting Goatmen. But so far the only kind of challenge I’ve caught more than the merest hint of the shadow of the vague scent of, is the “struggling to stay interested” kind.
I know current generation games are supposed to be piss easy, but this is just ridiculous.
They call it Normal, but it’s really an extended tutorial meant for story delivery. Once the game gets going in NM+ - you don’t even notice where you are and what you’re supposed to be doing. You’re just slaughtering hordes, struggling to survive Elite packs - and then you reap all the shiny loot full of bliss.
peterb
5408
But what possible (good) reason is there to force you to play the multiple-hour extended tutorial for every character type?
LazyShiftlessBastard reminded me, is there any interest in a “post your character” type of post to show off?
I’m an atypical Diablo player. I actually prefer the low level advancement and loot finding to the mid to high level. Since I explore thoroughly and listen to what dialogue, journals, notes, etc, there are, the pace of the higher difficulties does not appeal to me as much; the focus is all survival. I can see the argument for starting at higher levels, though. Difficulty is subjective and people want different things from their game; that’s why customizing the gameplay experience is so important. But how do you level the playing field in a game where every player is supposed to be “equal” and the game is balanced to manage characters of a certain level?
I’m far more likely to play all characters through Normal before making my way into the higher difficulties at all. I’ll probably be one of the few that does.
I’m not sure there’s a good reason for it being that easy in the first place, except to ease people into it. I suppose they want people to learn the classes as they go, but I don’t see a reason not to be able to skip normal and provide a higher level character or something. But it’s a messy solution to a minor problem, and it takes only 8-10 hours to go through normal if you hurry it up.
I’m personally looking forward to going through normal again with a new class, because it means I can learn how to play it without the stress of higher difficulty levels.
Since you’re not going to be remaking characters of the same class (except for hardcore) - I think it makes perfect sense to “force” people to learn their classes, but I do appreciate that some people just want to get on with the higher tiers. Too bad, I suppose.
Given the amount of time one is likely to spend playing it, if it’s not just for the story - I think the time to get through normal is trivial. But that’s me.
I guess I thought that was just for talking about who you were going to play as.
This game puts all other Blizzard game art styles to shame, even though I love WoW. The aesthetics are superb.
Wolff
5415
Once you have put one character through normal you have the cash and crafting abilities to really power an alt through normal. Plus if you have some high level friends you can each power level your alts very quickly.
Joe_M
5416
Well, for me, it’s a bit of a break from the harder difficulties and gives me some time to figure out how I want to play that character. I know it’s aggravating to some and it should probably be possible to create a fresh level 30 after you defeat Nightmare (or something like that), but Blizzard doesn’t strike me as particularly flexible about letting players bypass the grind unless it benefits them financially.
FWIW, Torchlight 2 offers difficulty options straight away.
JM1
5417
It’d be nice if the story wasn’t so fucking dreadful, then. Between this and Starcraft 2 I’m loathe to watch another Blizzard cutscene.
So, is the Spider Queen fight hard, or is that the game’s way of telling me to not play the Demon Hunter? I’m just wiping on the fight at 11.
Spider Queen was super easy , but I was playing Barbarian. Perhaps you need co-op helps? I’ll give it another go, even if I am a bit over leveled at 16.
friend me if you wants , lordkosc#1715
JM1
5420
I found it fairly tough on my demon hunter. The smaller spiders gave me enough health orbs to win in the end, though.
Dear Blizzard: You have loads of money. I shouldn’t be hearing the same bloody line of dialogue every 30 seconds. “Look! More hidden footprints!”
