Diablo 3

[Chainzsaw]

I only have a level 29 WD and a level 9 Barbarian, even though I have owned the game since it's midnight launch 3 weeks ago.

Granted, I have been splitting time between D3 and WoW, with more time going to WoW here lately.

I have beaten Diablo 3 on normal about a week ago, but seeing as how my WD was only level 27 when I finished, I wanted to get him up to level 30 before attempting to go through the game on Nightmare. I hear level 30 is what Nightmare is more or less intended for. And my WD is squishy to the point that I am not sure if even level 30 will be high enough, especially playing with others (where I often get separated - I like exploring every nook and cranny) where the enemies are even stronger.

I really need to start pouring more time into D3, because when Torchlight 2 is released, that will be yet another game I will have on my plate, and more than one ARPG is not really feasible, especially considering that I still play TQ:IT from time to time.

I think I was around level 32-33 when I entered NM mode with my wiz. Even then I was still very weak.

You might have to buy some stuff off the Auction House to get better equipment - as the equipment I was getting from drops was complete crap - or very good for a demon hunter or other char.

 

[PCgamer81]

I have mostly rare drops equipped that emphasize Vitality and Intelligence, each piece usually between +30 and +50 Vitality/Intelligence. I also put a big emphasis on health globes.

However, my WD's armor rating isn't very good at all. In fact, up until now I have put almost zero emphasis on actual armor. I would rather choose, for instance, a helmet with a very low armor rating (say, 50 or lower) with +10 Intelligence and +10 Vitality, than a helmet with an armor rating of 200 or more. When you apply that way of thinking to every piece of armor on my WD, it spells SQUISHY in big, bold letters.

But my WD sure can dish out the DPS.

 

[brett1042002]

I have mostly rare drops equipped that emphasize Vitality and Intelligence, each piece usually between +30 and +50 Vitality/Intelligence. I also put a big emphasis on health globes.

However, my WD's armor rating isn't very good at all. In fact, up until now I have put almost zero emphasis on actual armor. I would rather choose, for instance, a helmet with a very low armor rating (say, 50 or lower) with +10 Intelligence and +10 Vitality, than a helmet with an armor rating of 200 or more. When you apply that way of thinking to every piece of armor on my WD, it spells SQUISHY in big, bold letters.

But my WD sure can dish out the DPS.

I have all rares equipped at the moment. I'm split roughly 60/40 between Dex and Vit at the moment. Some +physical resist. Sword and board.

It gets expensive to always update gear to match your current level. I usually just hold out for the good deals on the AH, and update only when necessary. My gear is usually 3-4 levels within my current level.

I'm not sure it makes sense to worry so much about gear at this point. At least until the higher difficulties.

EDIT: I would like to eventually put together a DPS set/build for when i'm not tanking and use for farming. Or maybe a hybrid tank/dps build if such exists.

 

[Crush3d]

EDIT: I would like to eventually put together a DPS set/build for when i'm not tanking and use for farming. Or maybe a hybrid tank/dps build if such exists.

I found it best, monetarily, to buy and work on building one set of gear and switch skills depending on what I am doing. Tank gear + Tank skills or Tank gear + DPS skills. It is much cheaper to switch skills than buy two decent gear sets. Plus, you need to be tanky to farm inferno unless you have outrageously good gear.

 

[Chainzsaw]

I have all rares equipped at the moment. I'm split roughly 60/40 between Dex and Vit at the moment. Some +physical resist. Sword and board.

It gets expensive to always update gear to match your current level. I usually just hold out for the good deals on the AH, and update only when necessary. My gear is usually 3-4 levels within my current level.

I'm not sure it makes sense to worry so much about gear at this point. At least until the higher difficulties.

EDIT: I would like to eventually put together a DPS set/build for when i'm not tanking and use for farming. Or maybe a hybrid tank/dps build if such exists.

For my equipment I usually go for +int +vit and +life steal +critical dmg/chance. Although the lifesteal one seems to be harder to find with good weapons.

Sometimes i'll take lifesteal over +vit due to getting the Health back from doing damage.

 

[PCgamer81]

I never really benefited from life steal, at least not enough. It seems it didn't return enough life to justify putting any time and money into it. But that's just me.

In my opinion, Health Globes are one of the most (if not THE most) important drops in the game. I do everything I can to maximize those. Especially when I have my minions summoned and are taking damage. Not having to re-summon (after the cooldown, of course) my minions - which saves magic and allows me to put it elsewhere - is a big one for me.

 

[Jprobes]

I never really benefited from life steal, at least not enough. It seems it didn't return enough life to justify putting any time and money into it. But that's just me.

In my opinion, Health Globes are one of the most (if not THE most) important drops in the game. I do everything I can to maximize those. Especially when I have my minions summoned and are taking damage. Not having to re-summon (after the cooldown, of course) my minions - which saves magic and allows me to put it elsewhere - is a big one for me.

Life on hit is what you need to maximize, not life on kill.

I sack over 1500 LpH w/ Venom Hydra and Blizzard w/ a 1.3k DPS 2H. Inferno mobs melt. 2 Mobs walking through a Blizzard w/ a venom hydra up will heal me back to full 40k HP.

 

[SafetyJ]

I have a lvl 58 wiz that i'm playing right now. I really like this game. I too like to search everything. Funny how legendary gear can be looted from a vase that everyone else passed up! I have a few friends that come to my vent server. We offer up looted gear to better our party. If it isn't needed we sell on AH or salvage it. It works out great in the long run. Treasure Gobblins can drop some nice stuff too if u can kill him before he jumps into his portal. We have been running 1 Barb, 1 Monk, 2 Wizards, all within a level or 2 of eachother. I really like how the stash is viewable to all of your toons. If I happen to find something that will benefit another build, no mule is required! Woot! Jewel Crafting gets VERY expensive though. 20K Gold plus the tombs to make a Radiant Square!

I played d2 for far too long. I started when it was released and just stopped playing it last december lol. I am happy I don't have to run baal anymore. Will miss the uber runs and cows though. Moo MooMooMoo Moo. MOOOOOO! lmao

EDIT: I started playing d3 on a HP DV7 Laptop. I thought it was running ok. What a HUGE difference my new build made!

SafetyJ = Happy Dungeon Crawler

 

[Crush3d]

I have a lvl 58 wiz that i'm playing right now. I really like this game. I too like to search everything. Funny how legendary gear can be looted from a vase that everyone else passed up! I have a few friends that come to my vent server. We offer up looted gear to better our party. If it isn't needed we sell on AH or salvage it. It works out great in the long run. Treasure Gobblins can drop some nice stuff too if u can kill him before he jumps into his portal. We have been running 1 Barb, 1 Monk, 2 Wizards, all within a level or 2 of eachother. I really like how the stash is viewable to all of your toons. If I happen to find something that will benefit another build, no mule is required! Woot! Jewel Crafting gets VERY expensive though. 20K Gold plus the tombs to make a Radiant Square!

I played d2 for far too long. I started when it was released and just stopped playing it last december lol. I am happy I don't have to run baal anymore. Will miss the uber runs and cows though. Moo MooMooMoo Moo. MOOOOOO! lmao

EDIT: I started playing d3 on a HP DV7 Laptop. I thought it was running ok. What a HUGE difference my new build made!

SafetyJ = Happy Dungeon Crawler

Check out the 1.03 Patch Preview. Jewelcrafting lower level gems will take a massive hit to cost. Gems up to Flawless Square will only need 2 previous gems and ~1000 gold or less. Gems over Flawless Square will remain at their current price, which I agree can be very costly. Even with this cost, I like the system the way it is.. you have to make significant investment to get the best gems.

 

[Chainzsaw]

I've heard 1.03 is bringing much better Legendary items. I really hope so.

 

[Crush3d]

I've heard 1.03 is bringing much better Legendary items. I really hope so.

Here's a few of the changes that I can remember off the top of my head.. obviously if you want the detailed version you can look it up on the D3 website..

-Low-end (up to Flawless Square) jewelcrafting is getting MUCH cheaper. (Now requires only 2 gems and ~1000 gold or less). Gems over Flawless Square will remain at current cost (3 gems, 20,000+ gold, 3+ tomes.)

-Legendary items are getting some kind of rework so they are actually better than Rare weapons. Not sure how big of a change this will be. Just because it has "more" stats doesn't mean it is better.. look at some of the Rares you find compared to Magic items.. more stats.. just as worthless. 😛

-They are bridging the gap between Act I Inferno and the rest of the game. Basically people complained and said that is was impossible to progress after Act I, so they are leaving Act I at it's current difficulty and scaling the other Acts down.

-Monster will not longer get harder when multiple people join a game (the game currently scales damage/health of enemies when more people are present). I'm not sure if they are taking out the scaling completely or if they are just reducing it. The reason for this was, simply put, with multiple players in a game (especially 3-4) it was very, very hard (nearly impossible) for Monks/Warriors to tank mobs in the later Acts of Inferno even with high end gear.

-Nephalem Valor is being changed a bit. Currently, if you have 5 stacks and kill a boss you are guaranteed to get 2 Rares. If you kill an elite pack you are guaranteed 0. The upcoming change will balance this and encourage farming packs, not just bosses. In the upcoming patch, having 5 stacks of NV will only guarantee one Rare from bosses, however, it will also guarentee one Rare from all elite packs.

-Higher level gear will be attainable earlier in the game progression. They have a chart that shows the percentages on the website which shows it pretty clearly. But basically as it stand now, gear that drops in certain Acts has an item level that is specific to the challenge of that Act (For example Act I Inferno might drop up to iLevel 60.. where as Act IV may drop up to iLevel 63). Using that example, they are changing it so that iLevel 63 gear can drop in Act I Inferno, however, it will be at a reduced rate.

-Repairs are going to make us hate the game. They are increasing the cost of repair by 4x-6x. They are trying to curb people from killing elite packs by just dying and wittling them down. That means my current full repair of 8k will be nearly 50k - I hate this. I really hope that if they keep this they remove the "normal wear and tear" of weapons. I played for about 20 minutes last night with no deaths and I still had a 1200g repair bill.. Under the new system that would be 7200g for no deaths. That's 21k an hour.. just to play - without dying.

That's all I can remember off the top of my head..

 

[Chainzsaw]

Here's a few of the changes that I can remember off the top of my head.. obviously if you want the detailed version you can look it up on the D3 website..

-Low-end (up to Flawless Square) jewelcrafting is getting MUCH cheaper. (Now requires only 2 gems and ~1000 gold or less). Gems over Flawless Square will remain at current cost (3 gems, 20,000+ gold, 3+ tomes.)

-Legendary items are getting some kind of rework so they are actually better than Rare weapons. Not sure how big of a change this will be. Just because it has "more" stats doesn't mean it is better.. look at some of the Rares you find compared to Magic items.. more stats.. just as worthless. 😛

-They are bridging the gap between Act I Inferno and the rest of the game. Basically people complained and said that is was impossible to progress after Act I, so they are leaving Act I at it's current difficulty and scaling the other Acts down.

-Monster will not longer get harder when multiple people join a game (the game currently scales damage/health of enemies when more people are present). I'm not sure if they are taking out the scaling completely or if they are just reducing it. The reason for this was, simply put, with multiple players in a game (especially 3-4) it was very, very hard (nearly impossible) for Monks/Warriors to tank mobs in the later Acts of Inferno even with high end gear.

-Nephalem Valor is being changed a bit. Currently, if you have 5 stacks and kill a boss you are guaranteed to get 2 Rares. If you kill an elite pack you are guaranteed 0. The upcoming change will balance this and encourage farming packs, not just bosses. In the upcoming patch, having 5 stacks of NV will only guarantee one Rare from bosses, however, it will also guarentee one Rare from all elite packs.

-Higher level gear will be attainable earlier in the game progression. They have a chart that shows the percentages on the website which shows it pretty clearly. But basically as it stand now, gear that drops in certain Acts has an item level that is specific to the challenge of that Act (For example Act I Inferno might drop up to iLevel 60.. where as Act IV may drop up to iLevel 63). Using that example, they are changing it so that iLevel 63 gear can drop in Act I Inferno, however, it will be at a reduced rate.

-Repairs are going to make us hate the game. They are increasing the cost of repair by 4x-6x. They are trying to curb people from killing elite packs by just dying and wittling them down. That means my current full repair of 8k will be nearly 50k - I hate this. I really hope that if they keep this they remove the "normal wear and tear" of weapons. I played for about 20 minutes last night with no deaths and I still had a 1200g repair bill.. Under the new system that would be 7200g for no deaths. That's 21k an hour.. just to play - without dying.

That's all I can remember off the top of my head..

Holy crap - repairing is going up??? My god it's already expensive as is! Being a wiz....I tend to die a lot + the lag doesn't help when I can't use precise movements/skills.

The higher gear drop will be a welcome change....although i'm sick of getting great DH gear when i'm a wiz. I tend to get great gear for every other char except mine.

The monster thing is interesting, that should definitely help with making acts in inferno a bit easier...and maybe i'll die less (and maybe won't have to repair as often!)


Yeah Inferno 2 right now is just a gold sink for me. I can barely get anywhere and if a champ starts following me....i'm in big trouble lol.

But generally the changes look good...except for the repairing part.

My first legendary item -Angel Braid- was somewhat crappy. I mean it's nice...but I was level 60 for a while and after getting it I was kind of disappointed as quite a few people seem to get -Angel Braid- and its stats are not that great.

 

[SafetyJ]

-Nephalem Valor is being changed a bit. Currently, if you have 5 stacks and kill a boss you are guaranteed to get 2 Rares. If you kill an elite pack you are guaranteed 0. The upcoming change will balance this and encourage farming packs, not just bosses. In the upcoming patch, having 5 stacks of NV will only guarantee one Rare from bosses, however, it will also guarentee one Rare from all elite packs.


-Repairs are going to make us hate the game. They are increasing the cost of repair by 4x-6x. They are trying to curb people from killing elite packs by just dying and wittling them down. That means my current full repair of 8k will be nearly 50k - I hate this. I really hope that if they keep this they remove the "normal wear and tear" of weapons. I played for about 20 minutes last night with no deaths and I still had a 1200g repair bill.. Under the new system that would be 7200g for no deaths. That's 21k an hour.. just to play - without dying.

The NV changes sound good to me. However, the repair changes will be insane!

 

[Crush3d]

Holy crap - repairing is going up??? My god it's already expensive as is! Being a wiz....I tend to die a lot + the lag doesn't help when I can't use precise movements/skills.

The higher gear drop will be a welcome change....although i'm sick of getting great DH gear when i'm a wiz. I tend to get great gear for every other char except mine.

The monster thing is interesting, that should definitely help with making acts in inferno a bit easier...and maybe i'll die less (and maybe won't have to repair as often!)


Yeah Inferno 2 right now is just a gold sink for me. I can barely get anywhere and if a champ starts following me....i'm in big trouble lol.

But generally the changes look good...except for the repairing part.

My first legendary item -Angel Braid- was somewhat crappy. I mean it's nice...but I was level 60 for a while and after getting it I was kind of disappointed as quite a few people seem to get -Angel Braid- and its stats are not that great.

I think with the changes deaths will be less frequent, at least for me, since I expect to take considerably less damage due to party members killing mobs faster because they don't get harder wtih more people and mobs being "weaker" in general.

The NV changes sound good to me. However, the repair changes will be insane!

I thoroughly hope that it does not go through in its current form (a lot of people will complain.) I don't mind the bill going up, I just don't think it should go up just for playing. I believe that coined it in the form "Paying for your mistakes" (aka dying).. fighting enemies and not dying is not a mistake so I shouldn't have to pay an outrageous amount to do so.

 

[SafetyJ]

I think with the changes deaths will be less frequent, at least for me, since I expect to take considerably less damage due to party members killing mobs faster because they don't get harder wtih more people and mobs being "weaker" in general.



I thoroughly hope that it does not go through in its current form (a lot of people will complain.) I don't mind the bill going up, I just don't think it should go up just for playing. I believe that coined it in the form "Paying for your mistakes" (aka dying).. fighting enemies and not dying is not a mistake so I shouldn't have to pay an outrageous amount to do so.

Well... I can see your point but, I also understand that something beating on my armor would damage it even if I didn't die. So, the repair bill is just that; Not a death toll but an expense to repair those dents, holes, and scratches which weakens it. I don't think it should be 4x what it already costs though. 🙁

 

[Crush3d]

Well... I can see your point but, I also understand that something beating on my armor would damage it even if I didn't die. So, the repair bill is just that; Not a death toll but an expense to repair those dents, holes, and scratches which weakens it. I don't think it should be 4x what it already costs though. 🙁

I don't maind paying for "wear and tear".. but I want it at an affordable rate.. that's all. As I mentioned before, a full repair (actually not full, just when my gear turns yellow) is already 8,000 gold. 6x that would be ridiculous considering, as it stands now, I can die 10-20 times or more in an hour in Act II Inferno with 4 players.. I'd be looking at 100k+ per hour in repair bills.

 

[SafetyJ]

I'd be looking at 100k+ per hour in repair bills.

Yeah... That's outrageous for sure! Everyone needs to speak up on the blizzard forums about this.

 

[robertris2]

I think with the changes deaths will be less frequent, at least for me, since I expect to take considerably less damage due to party members killing mobs faster because they don't get harder wtih more people and mobs being "weaker" in general.



I thoroughly hope that it does not go through in its current form (a lot of people will complain.) I don't mind the bill going up, I just don't think it should go up just for playing. I believe that coined it in the form "Paying for your mistakes" (aka dying).. fighting enemies and not dying is not a mistake so I shouldn't have to pay an outrageous amount to do so.

To be fair, they are doing this in response to people going on suicide missions just to kill mobs that they are not ready for. I guess we will have to wait and see what they choose to do, but we can contrast the pros and cons of the new update:

Pros:
Inferno act 2-4 is being nerfed
Inferno monsters are being nerfed
Nephalem valor is being buffed to guarantee rares from elite and rare mobs
iLvl 61 items can now drop in hell mode. Also iLvl 63 can now drop in act 1 inferno and not just act 4. Basically allowing much easier farming.


Cons:
Higher repair costs

Sounds like a more then reasonable trade off, in our favor.