no problems here with always online. Duping ruined diablo 2 so anything to stop that is a good thing

Thats the other thing. Starcraft and Diablo 2 were hacked to buggery thanks to a lack of DRM and anti-duping tech.

Yea, it's less of an issue these days, but from the gameplay vids, it looks like a boring as hell game anyway, so playing something better instead doesn't really matter on drm anymore. :lol:

As crap as the game play looks I’m still going to buy DIII as I’m an massive fan of the originals, however it’ll probably ruin the love that I have for the Diablo serries…

Am I missing something here? The gameplay to me looks just like D2. It's a hack and slash type game, you played it for the story and the loot really.

No sure if this has posted yet or not (couldnt be bothered reading though all the complaining :lol: )

Blizzard: Diablo III Hits Early 2012

It just doesn’t look like it will ‘feel’ the same as the other Diablo’s if you know what I mean, it looks a lot like a cross between sacred 2 and titan quest…

Lol it won't be the same game, it has been many many years. Expect different, but same addictive qualities!

No, it's pretty much the same. That's a plus and a minus really.

You guys *can* feel free to actually ask questions instead of speculating ;p

But it's more fun to make up things and state them as FACT!

Edit: I will actually take you up on that offer. I noticed in a few demo walkthrough vids I saw that it looks a bit linear. But then I was watching a full play through (1.5 hrs) of some person using a monk and they found quite a few extra areas that had hidden booby traps etc.
Just wanted to double check that the game is quite open and it isn't straight forward as to which crypt you need etc. So the chance for exploration is there....

Have they ramped up the 'mana' regen for all characters in the beta? I was watching some demon hunter play and he was back at full hatred shortly after shooting off any spell. Curious if that's just the nature of the early game, or if they've upped the regen temporarily so you can get a taste for all the spells.

There is quite a lot of exploration but, like the originals, some areas are blocked off arbitrarily until quest scripting allows them to be opened. For example, in one section, you're cleaning out "Old Tristam" of the undead and there's a locked gate in the corner. As part of a quest line to teach you how to use teleporters, you need to go back to town, grab an NPC and come back - she unlocks the gate and yet you in.

When you're wandering around an area, crypt, whatever, there's still a fog and there's still various cellars and mini crypts you can muck around in, find sub bosses, loot, etc. There is still a lot of exploration expection. The new features they've added just make it easier to get around, back to town and to join back with friends.

Mana Regen is extremely fast in the beta, but I'm not sure if thats for test purposes or they're trying to take the focus off mana potion management. I didn't have any issues at all using lower level skills for attack some some of the higher ones I couldn't really spam.

It struck me as particularly odd because it looked like a resource like hatred was passively regenerating but I think only comes from attacking, though I may have misunderstood the mana systems.

Edit: Nevermind, seemshatred is actually fast regen due to having a lot of skills that regenerate it. Could have sworn it was originally attack based.

Anyway my plan is to be a demon hunter focusing on heavy crit damage with hand xbows. My passive skills will reflect that, and my active skills will likely be 2x hatred generators 2x hatred spenders, and 2x discipline focusing on keeping me alive.

well... yeah, i will enjoy being social, the ability to dynamically drop in and out of games, trade on the auction house, and get hotfixes and patches the second they're out

so yes, yes i will enjoy my always online DRM.

Whats that, blizzards servers were in a storm and theyre unavailable? No single player for you..