Diablo 3

[BlackLion]

I happen to be in the beta, and there's no NDA, so if anyone wants to talk about it or ask questions feel free.

[xXCrystal_Rose]

Are the classes also gender restricted like on Diablo 2? Playing an amazon was just so not a substitute for having no female barbarian option :(

[LegendsOfYmph]

They are not restricted.

[BlackLion]

They are not. All classes can be any gender. MF barb, witch doctor,demon hunter, monk, wizard.

[Ebok]

How are the classes themed? Strengths / weakness?

Does anything stand out to you as being above expectations or otherwise different from the previous incarnations of the game?

[Vlaid]

Yeah I've had the beta for a while.

The game has a lot better feeling of quickly being able to kill stuff, loot stuff and move on without having to micro-manage inventory as much.

There's also a neat crafting system where you just break down magic items into only a couple different types of crafting materials, and then use the stuff you get from breaking down those magic items to craft "random prefix/suffix" magic items. So it's like the old gamble shop basically for dumping gold, but instead you can turn magic items you don't want into chances at ones you might.

[BlackLion]

How are the classes themed? Strengths / weakness?

Does anything stand out to you as being above expectations or otherwise different from the previous incarnations of the game?

Barbarian is your straight up melee damage/tanking class, devoted to getting up and whacking shit in the face, occasionally giving a party buff, and getting stuck in the middle of things. Later game weaknesses might include encountering enemies with physical resistances, or being surrounded and overwhelmed. The Beta is only 1/3rd of act one on normal however, so once you get cleave (primary rage gaining ability, aoe frontal cone attack) and rupture (indigo rune for Cleave, any enemy killed by cleave -exploads-) you effectivly roflstomp all over everything infront of you. Ranged could also be a problem, but you get a gap closer in leap.

The Monk is a faster/dps melee class, devoted to fast strikes, aura buffs, and combining status effects to proc combo's. Your not as tanky as the barb, but you have a whole tree of abilities called Mantra's which are essentially paladin aura's. Possible weaknesses include the monks own tankyness, which is not as high as the beefy barbarian, and a lack aoe crowd control. Again, the beta is short and only goes to lvl 13, though.

Wizard is a glass cannon. All your abilities are devoted to dealing damage in singles or groups, and briefly evading and disabling enemies or negating their damage so you can deal more damage. You are a squishy, archers aren't your friend. Your best spells eat arcane power like candy too, though Signature Spells don't cost any arcane power and it regenerates fast.

Witchdoctor is a controller, with a large amount of summons and pets, and all his dmg abilities are damage over time. Battlefields with him tend to get more hectic, since his zombie dogs are going to be running all over proccing aggro and he doesn't have any 'instantly vaporise' abilities, though your poisen dmg can be high enough to drop most enemies in a second. Like any caster, you are a squishy.

Demon Hunter is a 'rogue' type character devoted to doing high single monster  dps or inflicting debuffs, and evading. I haven't played this one much yet.

[tropic]

I've played the demo - you have a limited number of key mappings to skills. It's a little bit like DOTA or LoL in that regard. But if you remember swapping skills in Diablo 2 and how cumbersome it was to bind the F1-F12 keys to skills and swap them rapidly (like for assassin charge-up and finishing moves), this is a huge improvement.

It's nice that you don't have to click gold to pick it up. Items that drop also glow green/blue/yellow or whatever depending on their power/scarcity.

Also when you're wandering around there's a lot of stuff that's neat- like monsters will jump out from trees and doors and things, as opposed to just kind of wandering around in the killing fields MMO-style.

[BlackLion]

As for differing expectations from the last game, there's a lot of hue and cry from the haters about how the game has been 'dumbed down', and it has been streamlined a lot yes. You gain abilities as you level, and then you gain runes as you level as well, increasing your options and essentially guaranteeing your getting a new thing you can do every level, causing you to make choices about what abilities you want to slot. You can swap abilities at any time, but there's a lengthy cool down for doing so, so it'll take you out of a fight for about a minute or two. You can have 6 abilities equipped at any time, A primary (left mouse button, usually costs no resource/generates resource except with the witch doctor), Secondary (right mouse button, generally more powerful, uses resource or has a cool down or other requirements), and a variety of 'other' use spells mapped to 1-4 you gain over time. Potions are an instant heal with a cool down mapped to Q, you'll do most healing via health orbs dropped by enemies.

It may just be because, as I have said, the beta is a -very early very easy- part of the game, but the gear you can get crafted is almost always better than what you can find. But, again, it's only the 1st 3rd of the 1st 4th of the game. Essentially, it's three quests, and some random dungeons and events thrown in there as well, and you max out at lvl 13 (something you won't even do on first playthrough of a character). Think of it as completing Diablo 2 up to killing Blood Raven and searching the Forgotten Tower. Thus, long term judgements about the game are hard to form, the Beta Test is primarily devoted to working out the itemization systems (runes are earned by lvling now, for instance), the trade shop, drop systems, etc.

Diablo 3 is, somewhat mechanically, a different beast than Diablo 2 - more action than rpg, yeah? A great deal of things have been streamlined to increase the focus on player interaction and story. It's less about numbers and more about the application of your characters skills, and your decisions on how you want to play. Stat allocation is gone, though each class still has a primary stat they can benefit from by getting equipment that boosts that stat. This is less of a game for minmaxers and spreadsheeters, which will draw the inevitable cry of casualization and dumbing down for consoles (a console release is seeming more and more likely based on the UI and controls).

Frankly, I think it's way too early to judge the game. People who cry out about it not being dark enough haven't played it.

Also, they killed Warriv :(

[Ebok]

Sounds cool. I'll be keeping an eye on the release date.