5961

Thats about what it looks like for my monk. Especially with the crying because I have no spirit and can’t do anything else.

5962

This looks suspiciously like my witch doctor strategy in hardcore when I run into multiple bosses (but in Normal!)…

5963

Sooo, I just hit L60 on my Wizard and saw that you get the Nephalim Valor buff right away. That’s good news to me, since I thought it was an Inferno-only thing. Hopefully that alleviates some of my gear problems!

5964

People relying only on drops are going to find the road difficult, since it’s relying purely on luck. But there are multiple merchants in every act. They are surprisingly useful for weapons and especially for rings and amulets.

There are also “special event” merchants on the maps themselves, which often sell rares. I’ve upgraded a few pieces of my equipment through them.

When the right weapon just can’t seem to drop, check the merchants for an upgrade. They don’t have one? Restart the game and check again. Do this a few times and you will get an upgrade on what you’re using, if you’ve been playing untwinked. This will hold you over till you find something.

As for rings and amulets, someone should not be using the rings/amulets found in Normal! Check the merchants. Until my Barbarian found a couple great rare rings in act 4 NM, he was using two store bought magical rings with +60 STR +14% Increased Attack Speed (and something else I forgot). That’s FAR better than anything you’ve found on Normal. Maybe that’s pretty crappy for you AH people, but for my Barb it was a great find. All I had to do was check the merchants each time I came back to town.

Lastly, because these are merchants, if you find something great, you can buy it more than once. My Barbarian bought two of those rings. And the best thing about the merchants? They don’t cost you an arm and a leg, like the Blacksmith does. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a weapon, armor or amulet cost more than 9k a pop, right until Act 1 Inferno. That’s a steal.

5965

Seems like you just end up getting the same amount of crap in 1 hour that you previous got in 2 hours, unless the buff actually increases the quality of the drops and not just the quantity.

Do you actually get Inferno level stuff in Hell, or is that reserved for farming Act 1 of Inferno?

5966

Act IV Hell drops can include items from Act I Inferno. That is why Blizzard keeps recommending people farm Hell before going to Inferno but everyone is in such a rush and dies repeatedly and then cries to Blizzard to nerf Inferno. The game is only been out for two weeks. There is no way most people are properly geared yet.

5967

I compare this to my experience playing D2. I would play D2 and hit a wall somewhere with regards to gear or resists or DPS. So I’d try to farm stuff. Of course, nothing useful would drop. So I’d start gambling. Maybe one out of every 5 pieces I gambled for was good, and of those maybe one out of three of those would be some sort of upgrade. So then I’d be low on money and would have to repeat the process.

Eventually I’d just lose interest.

In D3, I can do the same thing, except I can convert the unwanted blues and yellows into money, and then go take that money to the AH and buy something which IS an upgrade , for sure. So to me it’s just a way of making my farming for gear more rewarding, and of making the the game a lot more fun for me than D2 ever was. I’ve gotten way further in D3 than I ever got in D2!

Of course, if you don’t want to hit up the AH, that’s fine. Playing that wasy can be a lot of fun. That’s actually how I’m playing Hardcore. Got a 24 Monk who is working his way toward the end of Normal.

5968

Basic psychology would dictate that you actually stay interested longer with the system that dicks you over and leaves you with nothing most of the time than the system that always is giving you rewards, even if that seems counter-intuitive.

5969

Well, actually, that might be debatable … Modern Warfare constantly rewards you for basically existing. You get stuff for owning, for sucking, for shooting, for camping, for … well, everything.

5970

Also, the “possibly better loot” system in D3 involves buying loot put up by other people, not just cranking the lever for another turn at the RNG with a guaranteed loss, like D2 had. That unpredictability and wider range of possibilities at any given price point, because of the loot being provided by humans, makes it a more engaging system.

5971

Which makes checking the AH addictive, much like checking Facebook or checking your email. The gameplay is cranking the lever that keeps trickling a steady stream of food pellets while every so often checking for Facebook updates on the computer sitting next to the lever, but they aren’t one and the same - two different behaviors with two different systems of reinforcement.

5972

Soooo, since I’m thoroughly addicted and need something to fiddle with while the servers are down … do any fence-sitters want a Guest Pass? I have two to give away, but I’d prefer to give it to a forumite who needs it, rather than one of your friend’s or second cousins. I’ll send a code to the first two people who post.

UPDATE: One code gone to Ultrazen.

5973

I do agree that the items are pretty boring compared to Torchlight 2. Or even some of the Diablo 2 items: items with negative attributes like reduced sight, items with cast on hit, damage goes to mana, etc.

There are few tiny effects like 2% chance to freeze on hit but it’s almost entirely increased numbers in the stats/resistances.

5974

My SO and I started Hell this weekend (wiz/WD duo). We had hit a bit of a wall in NM but after we reconfigured our skills/runes and managed to find some upgrades we finished NM without problems. We’ve been trying to ignore the AH - but because of that we ended up under geared for Hell. Against some elite/champion packs we have no hope of defeating them, although with a lot kiting we can handle most we run across now. We’re probably going to have to use the AH now for at least some upgrades - if we don’t go broke first from repair and potion costs :)

5975

That’s been the thing that has disappointed me the most - in D2 (which I played quite casually) I’d see set items and legendaries drop as I levelled, even if they weren’t useful it really kept the interest up. D3, it’s just a desert.

5976

You made me LOL on the train to work. Thank you.

5977

I have a feeling that the legendaries are so bland, in keeping with the same philosophy where they dont want any patticular build to be required, because they didn’t want there to be any individual “must have” items. You may want to have a one-handed sword with 1000 dps, but there’s nothing analogous to a Windforce bow, that’s so special, everybody wants it.

5978

I got my first legendary drop Saturday. It was some mid-30s level weapon with stats I thought were a bit sucky.

So I sold it on the AH for 49997.

5979

I understand the devs don’t always want legendaries to be best in slot, hence rares can and usually are better, which is fine.

I just wish they would have at least made them fun - like each one has a random proc (e.g., 1% chance on hit to spawn a tiny double of your character that helps for ten seconds, etc).

This would make them more desirable and just fun to play with. Both WoW and D2 had purples/uniques that did this type of stuff. I haven’t seen a full legendary loot list so maybe some have this, but it is something I wish they would consider.

They are just too boring right now just for the sake of allowing rares to have better stats.

5980

I haven’t bitten the bullet for a few reasons yet, but would love to give it a try :)