Diablo IV Time to Play! Clan Name: DarkMattters -> Clan Tag: DarK

[Timotheus 416]

Got some playtime in today but the servers were a bit unstable still. Had some rubberbanding issues I haven't seen before.

I think I am fairly close to finishing up the campaign but so far no dice. I have switched my build up to a Shadowmancer (which gives me Dark Elf Poison Mist vibes) but I keep finding awesome gear for a Summoner build, so I don't know how long I will keep it going. I did run into the Butcher again, of course, and I did manage him on my own. The most difficult to handle enemies are ranged. Not because they are ranged in itself, but mostly because they are spread out too much to do damage effectively.

[Timotheus 416]

Today I finally finished the campaign. Be prepared for a longer sitting once you head out on Act VI because there's only one portal after and I don't know how the game would have handled stopping mid-quest. I maybe should have switched to Tier 2 if I'm honest. I wouldn't call myself overpowered by a long shot because it still took me about 2.5 hours, but the fights seemed a bit "meh". Although, at Tier 2 I guess boss health pools are even more ginormous...

I was wondering, is there any way to level a character and get Tier 3 access without playing the campaign? I guess not right?

EDIT: I'm a bit on the fence what I think of D4. Don't expect to be playing it a lot the coming few weeks or so, I really wanted to finish up the campaign, and go from there. And for now, I'll be on a short break I guess.

[lujate 578]

@Timotheus Congrats of finishing the campaign.  It's a shame D4 didn't make a better impression on you.  "Separation makes the heart grow fonder" as the saying goes.  Maybe it'll grow on you during your hiatus.

[gogoblender 3,070]

15 hours ago, Timotheus said:

Today I finally finished the campaign. Be prepared for a longer sitting once you head out on Act VI because there's only one portal after and I don't know how the game would have handled stopping mid-quest. I maybe should have switched to Tier 2 if I'm honest. I wouldn't call myself overpowered by a long shot because it still took me about 2.5 hours, but the fights seemed a bit "meh". Although, at Tier 2 I guess boss health pools are even more ginormous...

I was wondering, is there any way to level a character and get Tier 3 access without playing the campaign? I guess not right?

EDIT: I'm a bit on the fence what I think of D4. Don't expect to be playing it a lot the coming few weeks or so, I really wanted to finish up the campaign, and go from there. And for now, I'll be on a short break I guess.

sorry the experience went flat for you Timo   ... I kept myself in level two actually half way through compaign and lucked out with drops and build so that my ice shards (ever uber popular meta build for the sorcs )  got me through. I always found bosses horrible, they have never been one of my fave things in gaming...but found that drinking a crit potion just before i took him out or in the course after dying switching to a super armor potion or health pending on what ingredients I had left was enough to get me through till its demise.

re getting to level three, now that you've completed campaign you can actually create a new toon in non campaign mode, I think its called Adventure and that new toon can skip camp and run directly into the tree of whispers or nightmare dungeons instantly.. drops are worth more than double, will very much change a lot of skills manifestations and smooth out the leveling.  In fact if you choose that mode you can play with anyone of us already in nightmare and everyone gets higher levelling bonus exp

 

gogo

[gogoblender 3,070]

almost done vacay! And have been away from playing for almost a week now.. ...can hardly wait to get back home tonight, ive been having a lot of fun scoping out new bulds..this for me has always been the great fun of this game, being able to assemble wild, crazy builds, like assembling a puzzle... my ice shards last build was pretty good, but..holee moleee, this one is looking fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine... !

Infinifreeze,,, im coming!

gogo

 

[Timotheus 416]

I will take some time to provide some insight in my thoughts, bear with me. I will only be commenting on my experience with the main storyline, as you can play any game just for the loot and furthering your characters.

My favourite game of this series was and is Diablo II. It was my first proper introduction into gaming, the first game I played for years (before Sacred came along) and the first game that made me dive into statistics and stuff. The story was beautifully crafted, with the main storyline basically making you prove yourself to the elders in the villages before you would be sent out on difficult missions, furthering your hunt on the wanderer. A list of quests showed your progress clearly, indicating when you would get close to finishing an act. And with the transitions between acts, those gorgeous cutscenes for their time, Blizzard was IMO doing some great things. The regions were vastly different, in visuals, enemies, and sound. And the way the enemies reacted, like the Fallen bee-lining away after you kill one of their brethren, what a surprise (or the Zakarum Zealots actually running from you - ALL THE TIME - after you have destroyed the Compelling Orb for the first time, wow). And then there were the bosses, even on the lowest difficulty they had every potential to be LETHAL. First time encountering Andariel, you quickly learn poison resist is a requirement because her poison nova will decimate your health if you have none. Duriel, you better have saved any item with Cannot be frozen, because the combination with his regular attack hits HARD with no ability to counter. Mephisto always was one of the easier final bosses to me. Nihlatak one of the most lethal regardless of class. Minions of Destruction one of the hardest to beat just because of the group spawn size. For me, it was one of the greatest games I ever played, challenging me at every point, and still providing a fun experience now.

Also: it brought me this fanfic story, which is hilarious: Lord of Distractions < highly recommended to our Diablo II fans IMO. Don't forget the outtakes.

 

Diablo III was a pretty good story, but the visuals were a lot less "classical Diablo". There were interesting twists on the heroes this time, although I was disappointed not to find the Necromancer among the earlier release. It's backstory and aesthetic made it my favourite character from D2. So, naturally, I only purchased the game when the DLC came out. I had fun with trying the game with different characters, I loved the ability to just switch up your skills on the fly - so you did not have to get another character to level 40-50 just to try out another build properly - that being said I've only played characters through the campaign pretty much - it might be weird to learn but all that time I have not really dabbled in the paragon system.
The world felt big. Sometimes a bit too big, where I would get bored from doing quests simply because it took stupid amounts of running and killing just to get to where you needed to be. In D2 this could happen, taking a wrong turn in a dungeon. But usually, that point was easy to remember and find. With D3 there pretty much every dungeon felt so vast, that the route could have various points where you may have ran off in the wrong direction. If there is one thing I hate in these games it is backtracking, and there is a lot of it in D3. Something I missed in D3 was a general sense of progress. The story revealed itself in detail, thus in minute steps, with the downside being this made the main quest feel long and tedious at times. I absolutely despised the fight with Belial by forcing (IMO) stupid fight-breaking pauses, rescuing the people of Caldeum, and numerous other fetch-this-and-that quests, alongside those stupid points in the final act where you have to light fires and "defend" people working the lifts... The best part of D3 to me was actually the ability to play it on the Switch. And in all, I can legitimately say that D3 is the game I've owned the most copies of. I had it on PC, PS4 and the Switch.

 

Now, we have Diablo IV. Setting-wise, it is beautifully sinister, as it felt earlier in the series. Class-wise it seems to be a return of fan favorites from both the classic classes as the new ones introduced at a later stage in the series. My experience so far is limited to the female Necromancer. She looks properly frail, sinister with the right markings, but sadly I dislike her voice actor. She doesn't fit the image of the Necromancer in my mind. Other experiences so far are similar to D3. My view of the world and the dungeons is similar. My experience with the main quest and lack of a general sense of progression is similar. My experience with fight-breaking pauses with bosses is similar. Whoever decided that bossfights need special occurrences like flying away, sudden invulnerability, bosses getting downed where they don't fight back, I strongly disagree. Let us pummel each other into oblivion! I really dislike a proper sense of danger coming from the bosses at Tier 1, except for that darn Butcher who after your first victory just randomly pops up in every dungeon you head into. In all, a lot of my grievances with D3 remain with D4. Additionally, switching your skills costs you a bunch of money, with the skills seemingly based on a hybrid between a classical skill tree and the variation with modifications from the likes of D3 or Sacred 2. I like both D2 and D3's solutions better than the current one. 3-5 levels in a skill is not a lot and there are definitely skills I would have loved to push to the moon in early levels. And again, I find myself in D4 without checking out the the paragon system yet. As I have said in a previous post, the items I currently find tend to favour either a hybrid summoner/bone or full-on summoner build where I was running a shadowmancer build in the end, and point allocation in the paragon system would differ immensely between the two.

 

With all of this said, because I really wanted to start with my single player experience of the campaign, I have declined any multiplayer opportunities. I have not teamed up with anyone from FDM nor have I teamed up with any friends (since none have purchased the game - so far). Hence I have no idea how this will influence my gameplay or my enjoyment of the campaign. I just know that for now, I've had my share, gobbled it up, and as of now it remains installed to be played again for sure. But personal circumstances will have to take priority for a bit from now on, so I will not be devoting the same amount of time to the game as I have in the past 3 weeks. I will be posting here when I'm heading out again, and from this point onward on I'm all for teaming up and laying waste to the enemies of Sanctuary together. 

[Knuckles 904]

I just finished campaign myself....

 

Over all I would say the storyline is fine although I really dislike Nyrelle. Someone who is 'studying' to be a Horadrim with no teacher can somehow, on her own,  learn the written code they use, perform several spells/abilities and has better ideas on how to solve certain circumstances in just a few months/days? is just not plausible at all. I just felt like Donan and Lorath should have much more impact than they did.

I won't do the campaign again unless it's part of a new DLC so it doesn't really matter much to me.

Still on the fence about character progression. It really is just a loot/gear check. I have no stats to invest in and limited investment into skills. 3 or 5 points is just not enough to satisfy me. I know I'm not the best player by a long shot, but I don't really like the feeling I have to min/max every stat and over-analyze whether Vulnerable, Overpower, Lucky Hit or Crit Chance is best and how much of one should I have compared to another. It just seems overly convoluted for no reason. It gives the appearance of depth but just seems tedious. Going beyond Tier 1 is a no-go for me for quite awhile it seems.

Having one skill just for the sole purpose of getting out of Stun/Frozen/CC'd seems a waste. Ultimate skills given their long cooldown seem more of a gimmick than an actual useful skill.

I just don't like finding a good upgrade for my weapon and within a few levels it is mediocre, then upgrade it at blackmsmith for another level or 2 and then I'm looking for the next weapon shortly after.

I'm trying really hard to like the game but leveling just feels tedious and I'm not really having a lot of fun right now. I just never feel powerful, just seems all I can do is barely keep up with every enemy I fight. The only time I feel powerful is starting a new character and assigning the free skill points I got from the Renown and equipping gear I have stashed from playing other higher level toons.  But that only lasts until about level 20 right now. My highest character is mid 40's so my gear stash runs out quickly.

Don't get me started on the Butcher...I have run into this guy waaaaaay too much. The Druid I'm running now just got to level 20 and I've run into him 6 times already. And for whatever reason I just cannot beat him. As soon as I hear/see him I run away until I can finally shake him. The 1st time I ran into him it was cool, now it is annoying and kills my mood for playing.

I will say one thing, going into a cellar and finding nothing but Treasure Goblins was really cool and chasing them all down and not letting one get away was really fun. Too bad they didn't drop anything good. Could have really used a weapon upgrade then

[claudius 104]

About Nyrelle I thought she had toured with her mother and learned of the Horadrim?  Her mother was the one possessed by Lilith that the Character Hero fights in Act 1 and kills.

[Timotheus 416]

True, but later in the game she does so much stuff with reading runes and spells which logically Lorath and Donan should have done, at least in my eyes. Either she's a natural - which has no emphasis in the storyline, should that be the case - and/or there's a giant plot hole that is left to be uncovered. After all, we don't learn that much about her, and

Spoiler

she is the one that takes off early at the end of the campaign, leaving us wondering where she went and what her plans are.

 

[claudius 104]

Now I see the story arc with Nyrelle and see what you all are talking about.  I've completed the game and beat the WT2 capstone dungeon and started farming a couple of levels in Nightmare which was a bit of a jump in difficulty but it was not so hard that it was discouraging.  I could complete various content but not without the occasional death.

Now I have installed the new (today) update and I know that soon (2 days) a "season" is going to start.  Coincidentally my Druid who uses no shapeshifting found a (first) Unique of a chest armor for a Werewolf skilled character.  I made a new character to do a number of things.  I wanted to see how character creation goes after you have completed the campaign.  That question is easily answered in that there is a clickable box to skip campaign.  It's like the Hardcore clickable in that once it's selected and the character is created then it's irrevocably no campaign.  The second thing I wanted to do was to put this legendary item into this guys inventory and become my first mule.  I'm undecided if I should create a Werewolf style Druid or just use this guy as a mule?  He needs to gain 54 levels to equip the Unique item.

I think I'm going to play with a character in 2 days with the new season but I don't know that I'll do another druid?  I will probably try something completely different.

[Timotheus 416]

Yeah I figured I did not want to go into too much detail regarding the storyline, so I was a bit vague about the whole Nyrelle thing. Did not want to spoil too much for everyone experiencing the story for the first time.

Oh is there no shared stash? That would mean I can dump some stuff, I'm not doing the whole mule thing again for rares and gems...

[claudius 104]

There is shared stash and you can purchase more with gold (and not money thankfully).  I don't think there is personal stash.  I just made this 'mule' just to store this Werewolf Unique in case later on I decide to build a Werewolf alt.  I wouldn't stash legendary aspect gear unless I knew it was a key to a build I wanted to play.  And another reason I made the mule is to learn how the system of playing without a main campaign worked.  Probably at some point farming Nightmare and Torment I'll found so many Uniques that I'll be selling them or salvaging them.  I'm not sure how rare a drop they are.

[gogoblender 3,070]

Aloooooo DarkSters!   Aaaaamd... as can probably be seen, I've completely got sucked into this game  

its actually my first new game in years, last one being, hmmm oh yeah, Diablo 3 !  for me quest line is so and so... near the end of camp there was a LOT of dialogue to listen to but blizzards has always been one of my favorite story tellers and I was slowly able to make my way through to level 71 which is where I'm at now in Torment. 

For a week or so i got VERY stuck at getting through the final capstone...I was that guy begging at the gates end asking anyone to join my party so i could try and take out Elyas (HATEHIMHATEHIMHATEHIM... ) cuz no matter what i did, changing stones, builds even ...i kept getting taken out almost one shotted... just five days ago, someone anon, who i asked to join me mid fifties took the plunge to Elyas...and we made it! We both died together the first time, rezzed and redid our armor, but the second time I died twice, he rezzed me those two times and we were able to drill him down...

WHAT A FEELING...  ... finally!   but so close to season one opening! @Knuckles I hear you bout the butcher...what a drag...I really hope they tone him down, he's too much, and I cant imagine how frustrating it must be for HC players... its been a while since I'd played Diablo 3 HC and you couldnt really go glass cannon which is all i seem to want to play these days ... specially with these short seasons   @Timotheus ...that word u used ...sinister... u know it kept echoing around in my head for days...sinister... ya thats the apt word.. this game has built that touch in everywhere.. and there's times when I just sit back to let the beautiful atmosphere of this game just segue into me...specially with head phones!

 @claudius  Im in for season one !!!I just made a new toon a few minutes ago before I go in for my Lazer Ballz! (hahaha no no...just laser for me new eyes... hopefully NO MORE GLASSES) ... and hoping to see you or anyone else in the servers!

YOu can hit me up for team play ill always join up, here we go Full Rogue!!

Gotta say though im gonna miss my ice shorts Sorce...he was incredible to play even now..i feel like i havent even got to know half of his powers yet...oh well... follow the lemmings!

gogo

[gogoblender 3,070]

ps I did as Claudius advised, started new toon, skipped campaign...rawwwwwwwwwwwr

 

gogo

[Timotheus 416]

For now, I'm just roaming around killing stuff until I find any of you online so we can try some S1 content although I am unsure at what point I will be logging in again.

Today I finished my first capstone dungeon so T3 is available to my main. Participated in my first World Boss event as well, holy cow! That's a different experience all-together. We were around 8-10 strong I think, but we did not manage to kill Avarice the Gold Cursed. There's a 15 minute time limit on defeating a world boss - or at least there was on this one - and we still had around 5-10% health to go after 15 minutes. It was intense and I realised my minion-build is *very* ineffective in these kinds of encounters.

[lujate 578]

I'm still 0-1 against the Butcher, but I'm eager for a rematch.

With the time I have to play, I haven't unlocked seasons yet, so  Season 1 is probably out for me.

[gogoblender 3,070]

17 minutes ago, lujate said:

I'm still 0-1 against the Butcher, but I'm eager for a rematch.

With the time I have to play, I haven't unlocked seasons yet, so  Season 1 is probably out for me.

 

14 hours ago, Timotheus said:

For now, I'm just roaming around killing stuff until I find any of you online so we can try some S1 content although I am unsure at what point I will be logging in again.

Today I finished my first capstone dungeon so T3 is available to my main. Participated in my first World Boss event as well, holy cow! That's a different experience all-together. We were around 8-10 strong I think, but we did not manage to kill Avarice the Gold Cursed. There's a 15 minute time limit on defeating a world boss - or at least there was on this one - and we still had around 5-10% health to go after 15 minutes. It was intense and I realised my minion-build is *very* ineffective in these kinds of encounters.

 

17 minutes ago, lujate said:

I'm still 0-1 against the Butcher, but I'm eager for a rematch.

With the time I have to play, I haven't unlocked seasons yet, so  Season 1 is probably out for me.

guys i dont think we need anything to *unlock* the new season ? we just start it...howeverrrrrrrr... and im curious about this..if you havent completed compaign till now do you have to do it or... will they allow season one player *free rign*  when creating a new season two toon?

 

gogo

[Timotheus 416]

The season is unlocked, regardless of your progress. When you create a new character you get to pick whether you want a character on the seasonal realm or the eternal realm (where seasonal characters are transferred to when the season ends).

I don't think you will have the option to skip the campaign when you haven't completed it at least once, but I guess you could try @lujate

Did you start a new seasonal char @gogoblender or were you too early?

I have no clue what class to pick for my new char...

[gogoblender 3,070]

I pressed create new character and i got access to new season NO CAMPAIGN.. so i guess the no campaign need has travelled...gonna try a rogue, just looking for a sweeeeeeet rogue!
I had both my eyes lazered yesteday and was in pain for most of day, but poof , just like that last night, it went away, and im able to seeeeeeeeee...both eyes clearly!

 

gogo

[claudius 104]

I think you might need to complete campaign to skip the campaign with another character?  And then if you haven't completed campaign I'm not sure what of the new season content you can do?  Like if you have the main quest to do can you do season quest?  Can you get the new aspects and malignant things and so forth?

I completed campaign, logged in once with my eternal character after patch/season dropped in order to get the progress on altars of Lilith (read somewhere to do that).  Then I created a season character and selected at level 1 but able to do the new season quest and access to other new stuff.  I've gotten to level 8 and just did an aspect dungeon to unlock an aspect I can add to gear.

[lujate 578]

I believe I can create a season character, but I'd have to run the campaign first thing. I doubt I can even complete the campaign in a 3 month season.

[gogoblender 3,070]

If anyone needs camp to be run for them i can do it for you using my non season one character, its level 71 ...happy to do it, we can get it all done in a few hours

 

gogo

[Timotheus 416]

OK so I've been having some fun playing the seasonal content. Here's some random thoughts and findings:

1) shared stash apparently only works within the realm, so you will not be able to get setup with gear you find on your eternal realm characters

2) altars of Lillith you've uncovered on the eternal realm remain found on your seasonal characters, as is the state of the "world explored" and the location of the waypoints, however you do have to activate those again

2) there's an addition to the main quest - with an intro that makes no sense to me after the campaign... I haven't done any of it after the first quest

3) there's a cool mechanic to collect "tokens" you can invest in some randomized gear

4) the battle pass has - of course - all the cool stuff behind the premium (paid) option

[claudius 104]

I don't have all of the altar's of Lilith discovered so that's what I have been doing, gradually, while leveling to level 15.  I had my game crash and was given a message to let the game close and recover (can't remember wordings) and so I'm waiting 15 minutes and hoping all my progress isn't lost!

[Timotheus 416]

Neither have I, and I am making it my personal side quest to do this with my current character.

To be honest, I've just been running around following a map yesterday. They are a bit of a pain. As in, I have run around the marked areas before at least five times and have been missing the altar completely.

World tier 2 does make a better levelling experience so far. Although I managed to die 5 times to a random elite yesterday because it was plaguebearing and another poison related thing, which managed to almost one shot me with direct attacks and one shot me indirectly by spawning little plaguebearing spider thingies. My poor mouse may have been slammed into the desk with the second and third deaths LOL