Diablo 3 announced

[Naph]

Blizzard confirmed at the conference call that it will not ship any products in Q1. They haven't even clarified if Q2 is the target.

My guess is Q4 but wouldn't be surprised to see it slip to next year. I almost feel like I should boycott this game and not buy it, though I'd be pretty much alone with the decision.

It's Q2.

There's also a note on IncGamers from the company's post-earnings conference call, where Mike Morhaime announced Diablo III is now due in Q2 of this year, saying:
"We have implemented changes which will greatly improve the game experience and final release will live up to the highest expectations. We expect launch to be a big opportunity for Blizzard. More details will be announced in the coming weeks."

Pretty close release date. Poor Guild Wars.

 

[Quixoticism]

Poor Guild Wars? Poor Diablo when Guild Wars 2 gets a release date. There's no official word yet but a Q2 release is a possibility for Arena Net as well.

 

[ray_MAN]

I've since calmed down from my previous issues with this game. I even like a lot of the changes. However, there are some things I still do have problems with.

After playing the beta last night with a friend, I came upon a realization: it's far too easy to attain great gear. Crafting will give you pretty much everything you need for relatively low cost. Every magical item is guaranteed to give you either an essence or a fang, and an hour of Diablo 3 will net you enough magical items to create magical equipment for every slot.

Many of the drops that I encountered did not even compare to the items I was able to craft. Once i had my full set of crafted armor and items, the only item the only drop that I used was a ring that dropped from Skeleton King and probably because you can't craft rings.

Diablo 1 and 2 was about exploring every edge of the map to find loot. I don't feel that obligation in this game. I do like the idea of crafting, but it should be far more expensive in terms of gold and in terms of materials to do.

My second issue involves character imbalance. I played co-op with a friend yesterday. I rolled a Wizard and he rolled a Barbarian. By the end of the game, I had more Life than he did (806 vs. 802) and more armor (398 vs. 394). Regardless of whether or not I was playing Wizard properly (most of my items did affect my intelligence or arcane), it should not be possible that I am more survivable than a Barbarian.

This problem, I believe, comes from three roots: crafting (as discussed above), the static skill system, and items being locked to certain classes.
In Diablo 2, you would never see a Sorceress with any sort of heavy armor because no Sorceress would ever put points into Strength other than to use certain weapons. Also, the lighter armor and not the heavy armor in Diablo 2 often provided greater perks to the Sorceress. In Diablo 3, there are no such restrictions. You can use the items that the game says you can use and that does not change over the course of the game. The only restrictions are class-specific items.
Blizzard has put themselves in a sticky situation here. I feel that these issues cause too much balance between the classes. You will find lots of people running around with the same armor in their first run through the game. I'm sure that on the higher difficulties, the drops will rival, or even beat, crafting items. But as it stands, there seems to be no point in doing anything but crafting.

Does anyone else agree?

 

[Bakurei]

Diablo 1 and 2 was about exploring every edge of the map to find loot. I don't feel that obligation in this game. I do like the idea of crafting, but it should be far more expensive in terms of gold and in terms of materials to do.

For me the Diablo franchise has always been about beating the game as fast as possible, never exploring anything but the needed quests. Then just rushing to the end boss and kill it quickly - continue rushing the last boss to infinity.

I wouldn't say anything about the items since it's just a short beta. Plus Blizzard has stated that normal only has the 30% of the items, which I find to be a rather large number...

I tried to find information about the release date to be Q2 but found nothing. Only thing they have stated is another target, just like 11Q4 and every target before that.

 

[Yorick]

ray_MAN, I haven't played the Beta, but I agree with everything you're saying, and I can totally see Blizzard doing those things. My only hope is that since it's still beta, that some of these things are going to be tweaked.

 

[Bad^Hat]

For me the Diablo franchise has always been about beating the game as fast as possible, never exploring anything but the needed quests. Then just rushing to the end boss and kill it quickly - continue rushing the last boss to infinity.

That is nothing at all like I play it. My neurosis will not allow me to leave an area until the automap is filled in. :>

I tried to find information about the release date to be Q2 but found nothing. Only thing they have stated is another target, just like 11Q4 and every target before that.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/10/blizzard-announces-new-diablo-3-slipping-date/

http://www.giantbomb.com/news/yep-diablo-iii-has-been-delayed-again/3977/

 

[Bakurei]

As again, no release date given. They're giving targets, not release dates, which just means it might come Q2. With every other date they've said the same, they're targeting XXQX.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Oh right, I didn't read your post properly.

Let's be honest though, even if it was a release date, this is Blizzard we're talking about. Everything is subject to change.

 

[Bakurei]

True

Looking forward to the incoming information. I guess they'll reveal the new rune and skill systems.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Okay, this is what I like to hear.

 

[Bakurei]

New skill and rune system explained: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/4475014/Skill_and_Rune_Changes-2_15_2012

I actually like the change, good job Blizzard! And now give me a damn beta key! >.<

Edit: I had no idea how much they changed the followers in D3. They actually seem pretty awesome now!

 

[ray_MAN]

They have made some serious changes to the beta in the past month or so. As it is, the game is phenomenal and many of my issues have been addressed.

 

[Bad^Hat]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/03/12/blizzard-vs-diablo-iiis-player-vs-player/

They're cutting PvP from launch as it's not up to their standards and putting them behind schedule. It'll be added back in in a future patch. As it stands, the rest of the content is "just about complete" (which you may or may not have noticed if you clicked that link), so maybe possibly perhaps we can expect a launch date soon...?

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

This means there's a slight chance of it making this century, but don't count on it brah.

 

[unozero]

wrong thread lol

 

[Yorick]

Release Date: May 15th, 2012

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/4612389/Test-3_16_2012

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Wow, that's WAY sooner than I expected. They must be done.

 

[ray_MAN]

Wow, that's WAY sooner than I expected. They must be done.

Pretty much. As it stands, the game is in a great state. Many issues have been addressed and the game is ready for release IMO.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Haven't played the beta in a good while, wish they'd add content but with it coming this soon I guess that would just spoil things.

 

[ray_MAN]

Haven't played the beta in a good while, wish they'd add content but with it coming this soon I guess that would just spoil things.

Well if you haven't played since they added runes, I suggest that you do. The runes really add a whole new aspect to the game in terms of depth and it makes up for the loss of editable stats and skill points.

 

[Edeslash]

I can't resist. ;_;

 

[Naph]

May 15

 

[unozero]

mhm....not sure if want quite frankly with my new job and me simply growing out of Video Games I'm not sure if I can spend $60 on something that I will get bored of in 1 week.Only game that I syill play atleast 2-3 a week is BF3