First my Battle.net account was automatically locked when I logged in with my correct password, because my “login pattern” had changed. By which I guess they mean I logged in at all.
Then resetting my password was about an 11 step process involving 4 emails, a code phrase, many warnings, a “Battle Tag” I didn’t recognize at all (probably from total disuse) in the subject line of an email I was warned to ignore if I didn’t recognize… but if I had followed that advice my account would still be locked… on and on until finally my account was unlocked, I was invited to pointlessly log in on the Battle.net webpage, and then when I finally made it back to the Diablo III client, I got this:
“Thanks for trying to play our fucking game, here’s your punishment.”
FFS. You folks mock console gaming but I’ve never had to deal with this level of Keystone Kops fuckery on my XBox.
So you’re adding a real money auction house to your game?
Not sure why they want all this security for D3 anymore. Items are nearly all account-bound, including crafting materials. Gold is worth nothing. I suppose someone might want to steal a really high-level Seasons character, but there’s no value in it apart from bragging rights. Of course, people are still dumb enough to use login information across multiple accounts, so there’s that.
I forgot how horrible the Act 5 campaign was. The only reason to complete it is to get the “I killed Malthael” sigil. Now that you can go right into Adventure mode with a level 1 character, there’s no point in it at all. Maps are completely unlocked; all the support/crafting resources are available (blacksmith, jeweler, mystic, followers, etc.); bounties and rifts confer more gold, XP, items, etc. than the campaign. The Act 5 ending is comically predictable. If you want to kill Malthael, you can do it over and over in bounties.
As I’ve said a million times, the game really begins at level 70. Campaign is derp-derp-I-can-win mode. In higher Torment levels, the monster count is much higher. They’re more aggressive. The elite affixes are full-out and can one-shot you if you don’t have proper defense and escape tactics. I know you don’t care about proper gearing or build strategy, but if you ever change your mind let me know. I love to babble about it.
By the way, that freaking graveyard was right behind the boss fight where you acquire the buxom gypsy lady. I don’t remember if I walked away or followed you back to town, but it was literally 20 feet away from where we were already standing when we got her. 😛
LOL
Anyway, call me crazy, but I prefer a story in my fantasy slaughter to just fantasy slaughter generated by batch process… 🙂
Lord, now I feel silly knowing that the cemetery was so close to the mystic. I forgot so much about the campaign.
Okay, okay. I can’t help myself. Let me give you an example of a build.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/simmery-1600/hero/75622413
This should be my Seasons character. If it’s not, click the “orenishii” tab.
The first thing to notice is the “Primary” stats on items. Every item I’m wearing has the Intelligence attribute. As in the old D&D games, Intelligence is indispensable for a mage. It increases both damage and defense. Wizards have a big advantage defense-wise because every point of Intelligence contributes to All Resistance. This provides defense against every enemy power — physical and elemental. Strength characters like the Crusader benefit from Strength, which increases damage and defense in the form of Armor. Armor is like a poor man’s All Resistance, but it still works pretty well (technically, there’s a 10/1 ratio — 1 point of All Resistance = 10 points of Armor). This may tempt you to put diamonds in all your armor slots, but you won’t get as much benefit as you would from rubies, as they combine general damage and armor.
Vitality on armor is important for obvious reasons, but on weapons, damage trumps all. At higher levels, you should have a socket in your weapon, but this should not override good primary stats. My wizard’s weapon has Intelligence, a socket, and bonus damage when I use fire skills. This fire skill bonus won’t show up when you look at the weapon’s combined DPS number, but it adds huge value. Before level 70, you should usually put a ruby in your weapon socket for added general DPS. After 70, you need to look for items (rings and amulets, e.g.) that increase critical hit chance and critical damage. This adds enormously to your effectiveness. Something like 35% critical hit chance procs nearly all the time. The higher the better; same with critical damage. This is why my wizard has an emerald in her weapon instead of a ruby. Post-70 gameplay pretty much requires critical damage.
Next is the issue of synergy. The thing that makes legendary and set items more valuable than rare (yellow) ones is that they have special properties that can work together with properties on other items. Sets are valuable because they’re self-contained synergy machines. Observe how my belt works with my use of Disintegrate — same with the sword I’ve put in Kanai’s cube. The skill, the belt, and the sword all work together for more effective offense. You can work out how the set and the other items I’ve cubed use synergy.
My skills are chosen to complement this synergy idea. Slow Time becomes very powerful with the Delsere’s Magnum Opus set, as does Disintegrate. I can increase this effectiveness by luring monsters into the Slow Time bubble with me, so that’s why I’m using things like a short-range Disintegrate rune, Spectral Blade, and Wave of Force. It’s risky to have monsters in your face, so I compensate by using bracers that increase the effectiveness of the shield generated by Spectral Blade. High damage costs a lot of Arcane Power, so I’m using Force Weapon with the Conduit rune and Wave of Force with the Static Pulse rune to generate AP. Everything works together in one efficient system. You can see how the other items and skills do something similar. This is not the best system available to the Wizard because Delsere’s is a rather shitty set compared to other ones like Tal Rasha (notice, btw, how I’m using the benefit of the two Tal Rasha pieces until I can get the whole set).
You should print this off and keep it under your pillow.
My Crusader is horribly configured. She should be using the Thorns of the Invoker set all the way. She should also be using the Hack axe I gave to my Monk. Hack does crazy things with thorns damage, as does (obviously) the Thorns of the Invoker set. In a crazy departure from standard practice, she should have topazes in everything — weapon and all armor slots — to increase thorns damage. Other items and skills should align with the thorns strategy. I’ll fix this eventually.
I promise to read all that, but I can’t right now… I’ve got a billion more level assets to build today and I’m behind.
Right now my Crusader has Strength attributes on most of her stuff, and life regen on the rest (or both combined). On Normal I just sort of walk around hitting things and never once touch a health potion.
I should probably up the difficulty.
Wait.. you can go straight to post-game with a lvl 1 character? Dwa?