Diablo 4

[Sudy]

Yeah, I'm actually surprised to really be enjoying myself so far... but I did skip the first two seasons, and never bothered finishing the campaign until earlier this week.

I picked bow rogue, and despite usually loving playing mages, I'm finding the combat a lot more satisfying than on my initial main character, a sorcerer.

The game certainly has flaws, and I doubt it will seem as much fun once I'm fully levelled and decked out in legendaries. But maybe I had less fun with it at launch because my class/playstyle was a poor fit and I didn't have the will to push through to endgame.

I ran into the Butcher for the first time. I was disappointed he wasn't harder? After everything I'd heard. I mean, it wouldn't have been much fun of I hadn't been able to beat him. But at around level 20 he wasn't much harder than the tougher bosses. Of course, I'm only on world tier 1.

[Jaddison]

If i hadn't done the other seasons it would be entertaining but having done them, this is SSDD. No new powers/skills even though the construct is different it isn't significant. The dungeons are sort of different but not really. No new class, no new skills, no new regions, SSDD.

[Blackhawk]

I'm having a good time with this season but I think it's because I skipped Season 2 entirely so a lot of the quality of life improvements are new to me. I'm not cracked out on it or anything, as I have a lot of other irons in the fire game-wise right now, but it's been a fun diversion.

This is where I am. I power-Diabloed through season 2, but I'm doing S3 as a sort of side project, alternating with other things.

If i hadn't done the other seasons it would be entertaining but having done them, this is SSDD. No new powers/skills even though the construct is different it isn't significant. The dungeons are sort of different but not really. No new class, no new skills, no new regions, SSDD.

This is going to be a problem eventually. They can't reskin Helltides/Blood Harvest forever. Hopefully they will periodically add in new types of activities and rotate them, so that we're only seeing each activity type every few seasons.

The game certainly has flaws, and I doubt it will seem as much fun once I'm fully levelled and decked out in legendaries.

FWIW, I and my son both found that the game gets much, much more entertaining once you hit 50 and graduate to World Tier 3 (and later, 4.) They up the quality of the gear significantly, and add new abilities, yes, but they also increase enemy density considerably, and the enemies are tougher. The two balance out fairly well - you'll have to think to play, not just button-smash, but it's not brutally hard, either.

FWIW, I wouldn't recommend playing on WT1 for too long. If you have any interest in the later content at all, you'll want to hit 50 with WT 2 feeling like a cakewalk.

[coopasonic]

I am not entirely certain why I still strongly prefer Diablo 3. I think it is that I just know what to do in D3. Doing season stuff feels more straightforward. I don't need to worry about quests or dungeons or traversing a massive map. I think the moment to moment gameplay of D4 may be better, but i just GET the D3 progression and endgame. Obviously, most of that is because I spent many hundreds of hours with D3 so I would need to do the same with D4, but then I try and get to the mid-game and none of the equipment I want shows up and I get frustrated and walk away.

I'm not sure why I am posting this. I just was so excited for a new Diablo game and I guess the fact that it did not capture me the way the others all did is frustrating. Thinking back I didn't really replay 1 and 2 all that much, it was really just 3 that kept me coming back.

[TheMix]

I am not entirely certain why I still strongly prefer Diablo 3. I think it is that I just know what to do in D3. Doing season stuff feels more straightforward. I don't need to worry about quests or dungeons or traversing a massive map. I think the moment to moment gameplay of D4 may be better, but i just GET the D3 progression and endgame. Obviously, most of that is because I spent many hundreds of hours with D3 so I would need to do the same with D4, but then I try and get to the mid-game and none of the equipment I want shows up and I get frustrated and walk away.

I'm not sure why I am posting this. I just was so excited for a new Diablo game and I guess the fact that it did not capture me the way the others all did is frustrating. Thinking back I didn't really replay 1 and 2 all that much, it was really just 3 that kept me coming back.

Brother?

[Blackhawk]

Diablo 3 right now is probably a better game, but that's largely because it's had many years of polish. It was pretty rough when it was first released. Remember the real money auction house?

Right now I prefer Diablo 4. It's still a good game, but even if 3 might be better, I've been through 3 so many times that I don't feel like there's much there that I haven't seen before.

[YellowKing]

I've been playing a Pulverize Druid for Season 3 and it's been really fun. Such a well-rounded character - you get some ranged, you get some melee, you get some summons. Skill rotation is dead simple, but spirit management keeps you on your toes. Great elite/boss killer due to the high burst damage, but you can still hold your own with group mobs with your AoE. And to top it all off you have a self heal to get you out of binds.

This is the build guide I'm following:

Wowhead Pulverize Druid

[Blackhawk]

I'm doing a Hammer of the Ancients barbarian. After a season of constant fast movement and being very fragile, being tough and slow is a fun change.

The two guides I'm following:

Leveling up to 50
Endgame

I also sort through those guides and create a 'quick reference' for the items/aspects I need in OneNote, which I can keep open on my second monitor and check off as I go. It's nice to be able to get a pile of gear, then glance over and see which ones I need to keep without having to look things up. It's also nice to see which of those aspects are drop-only versus which are available in dungeons. I'm much more likely to want to extract and save a low-roll aspect if it's drop-only. That one page speeds up gameplay considerably.

Note to self: Add preferred potions/incense to that list.

Click to embiggen.

[Daehawk]

I like to play a character until I have about 28 points to spend then redo it and try something new.

I like the little robot friend. He doesn't seem to do much to help really but its fun having a portable flame thrower and healer in one. He is ok at healing. I need to find more stones to help that side. Seems easier to find the boost stones for the attack side of things. I have a pummeling gov stone but haven't tried it yet..basically a melee stone...because the flamer is so cool.

Im very underwhelmed by my assassins this time. Seems to be no real OMmph to them.

Also Ive noticed all classes really only have 2 attacks skills they use their entire time from lvl 1 to forever. Kinda boring. I know I can switch what I use in my mouse buttons but if I switch then Im using me energy or mana or whatever that skills uses so I only get a few shots of those skills....if I use the basic stuff I can fire or cast them forever. So you're really stuck with the basic stuff forever ...unless theres a way to regen mana and energy faster than I have found.

Its getting kinda boring to say get BOLT at lvl 1 or 5 and use that even at lvl 50..yawn. Same animation and such gets dull.

[Blackhawk]

Also Ive noticed all classes really only have 2 attacks skills they use their entire time from lvl 1 to forever. Kinda boring. I know I can switch what I use in my mouse buttons but if I switch then Im using me energy or mana or whatever that skills uses so I only get a few shots of those skills....if I use the basic stuff I can fire or cast them forever. So you're really stuck with the basic stuff forever ...unless theres a way to regen mana and energy faster than I have found.

Diablo has always been that way. You can slot four additional skills on your bar, too. For my rouge, I had Puncture on my left mouse (my basic attack/builder), and my right mouse was Twisting Blades, as it was my #1 high-damage skill. My movement skills and the imbues (where all of the damage boosts come from) go on the bar.

For my sorcerer, my left is Arc Lash (my builder) and my right is Frost Nova (which I open every fight with.) The two armor abilities, Unstable Currents, and teleport.

That's six abilities, all of which are situational and important, which creates quite a bit of variety.

[Jaddison]

I like to play a character until I have about 28 points to spend then redo it and try something new.

I like the little robot friend. He doesn't seem to do much to help really but its fun having a portable flame thrower and healer in one. He is ok at healing. I need to find more stones to help that side. Seems easier to find the boost stones for the attack side of things. I have a pummeling gov stone but haven't tried it yet..basically a melee stone...because the flamer is so cool.

Im very underwhelmed by my assassins this time. Seems to be no real OMmph to them.

Also Ive noticed all classes really only have 2 attacks skills they use their entire time from lvl 1 to forever. Kinda boring. I know I can switch what I use in my mouse buttons but if I switch then Im using me energy or mana or whatever that skills uses so I only get a few shots of those skills....if I use the basic stuff I can fire or cast them forever. So you're really stuck with the basic stuff forever ...unless theres a way to regen mana and energy faster than I have found.

Its getting kinda boring to say get BOLT at lvl 1 or 5 and use that even at lvl 50..yawn. Same animation and such gets dull.

If get ever region completed for perks you start out every character with quite a few points. I found last season I did not really appreciate what a character could do until I had 30 or so paragon points.....and now when I get to 50 I have 20 waiting for me every time.

[Sudy]

I hit 50 on my penetrating shot rogue today. As far as I got with my first character in six months, I accomplished in one week! The campaign was such a drag (I skipped it this time). It's criminal they make you wait so long for your mount the first time.

I just took down Varshan on my third or fourth attempt... thought I'd have to give up.

I'm not looking forward to getting the rest of the altars of Lilith. I do about a dozen at a time, following a route I got online. I don't know who thought this would be fun, even if you only have to do it the one time. I can't imagine finding them all through natural exploration.

[Blackhawk]

If you do all the of the statues and all of the region renown, you'll get:

+5 potion capacity
+10 skill points
+500 maximum Obols
+68 to every stat

And you'll start off with all of those things unlocked on every character from that point on. Starting a new character at level 1 with 10 skill points to spend is really, really nice.

You also get +24 Paragon points when you hit level 50, again - with every character from that point on.

I found last season I did not really appreciate what a character could do until I had 30 or so paragon points.

This is absolutely true. The characters and builds only really start to kick into high gear once you have a couple of legendary nodes unlocked and a couple of glyphs slotted - in other words, after 50. And a lot of the abilities don't really work great until World Tier 3+, as there just aren't enough enemies to really get things going, like 'on damage' bonuses, or bonuses that kick in when you hit multiple enemies. Fighting ten doesn't give that stuff much of a chance to shine, while fighting 30 does.

[Blackhawk]

I'm not looking forward to getting the rest of the altars of Lilith. I do about a dozen at a time, following a route I got online. I don't know who thought this would be fun, even if you only have to do it the one time. I can't imagine finding them all through natural exploration.

I used MapGenie. Since I have an account, I can save my progress. Whenever I went into a zone through a quest, I'd just grab all of the statues in that zone, then mark them as found on the map. It kept me from having to spend hours running in circles.

Although with a horse and some music, that can actually be kind of relaxing.

[Jaddison]

Got my barbarian to 49 did the capstone dungeon and breezed through it.....the final boss fight was so easy I thought something was wrong.
Still not all that enthusiastic to keep going but will probably do it. Does seem like drops are better in Tier 3 as it only took about 10 minutes to get much better sacred gear, though not legendary

[Blackhawk]

Got my barbarian to 49 did the capstone dungeon and breezed through it.....the final boss fight was so easy I thought something was wrong.
Still not all that enthusiastic to keep going but will probably do it. Does seem like drops are better in Tier 3 as it only took about 10 minutes to get much better sacred gear, though not legendary

You're right at the point at which the game really picks up. If you're not, do some Helltides. They're fun, and a quick way to get better gear.

[Torfish]

Got my barbarian to 49 did the capstone dungeon and breezed through it.....the final boss fight was so easy I thought something was wrong.
Still not all that enthusiastic to keep going but will probably do it. Does seem like drops are better in Tier 3 as it only took about 10 minutes to get much better sacred gear, though not legendary

Yeah, I recommend doing the capstones about 5-6 levels early. T3 at 45 and T4 at 65. Shouldn't be much of a challenge at those levels.

[Daehawk]

That demon in The Loom...the one who cackles at me everytime I step on a trap and get damaged...I cant wait to wring his scrawny neck. That annoying giggle he does is driving me mad. The traps dont even really hurt much...Id like to yell back at him...one day demon your time is coming.Gonna split your tongue with my daggers and nail it to a wall with an arrow. Might maker a belt out of his tail....or a new bow string with his guts.

[YellowKing]

I was getting really frustrated with my Pulverize Druid's endgame build, which I switched over to once I hit 50. It's quite a bit different than the leveling build, with a tighter focus on single-target damage. It was taking me FOREVER to kill elites on WT3, and I was super close to respeccing back to my old build.

But before I did I figured I'd probably better check out the recommended aspects first, and MAN am I glad I did. Just adding a single Shockwave aspect changed my guy from a sluggish weakling to a dungeon melting powerhouse. And he's only gotten better as I've run around collecting the other recommended aspects.

Just goes to show that any mediocre build could be an aspect, piece of gear, or paragon glyph away from being awesome.

[Blackhawk]

It also goes to show that you can't overlook any of those things - the aspect, gems, the glyphs, which nodes you buy to unlock glyphs, etc. can make a huge difference. If someone just builds based on skills and hand-waves the rest, it's unlikely to be very effective.

[Sudy]

Beat the second capstone dungeon at 63. Died four or five times on the boss fight... got him down to about 5% a couple times but kept getting one-shot lol.

I'm getting a bit bored... there's just so much to do, but most of it's a grind now. Having unlocked ancestral items gives me a whole new build to uh... build, though. So that should occupy me for another couple days. Then I have to decide whether I start a second character for the season to give me some variety. I'm only halfway through the battle pass.

Chaining servant of Malphas events with other players in the open world seems to be extremely profitable, but it's just kind of boring after a while. Browsing legendaries becomes a chore when you can get 100 to drop in an hour. But that's always the endgame in some fashion.

[Daehawk]

I couldn't remember if I finished the story with my necro. Did I kill Lilith? I dont know. Had to log my necro in and see I had no story quests to assume I finished it. So un-rememberable.

[Hyena]

I liked the storyline, but I can see how by the quests it might be a bit unremarkable. I thought they did a decent job of ending the story on a bit of a cliffhanger, either setting up a sequel or expansion pack, all while calling back to previous games and setting up the ending. I was a bit disappointed they didn't include a certain...um...important bad guy in the franchise, but maybe that was just me and they're putting up the dominoes to knock them down?

[Jaddison]

Beat the second capstone dungeon at 63. Died four or five times on the boss fight... got him down to about 5% a couple times but kept getting one-shot lol.

I'm getting a bit bored... there's just so much to do, but most of it's a grind now. Having unlocked ancestral items gives me a whole new build to uh... build, though. So that should occupy me for another couple days. Then I have to decide whether I start a second character for the season to give me some variety. I'm only halfway through the battle pass.

Chaining servant of Malphas events with other players in the open world seems to be extremely profitable, but it's just kind of boring after a while. Browsing legendaries becomes a chore when you can get 100 to drop in an hour. But that's always the endgame in some fashion.

Heck it is fair boring at lvl 52 though the beefing up of the pet has been a little bit entertaining but I know I am never getting the 5 glyphs to 21 ever so after 5 season tier is done I am done

[Sudy]

I was a bit disappointed they didn't include a certain...um...important bad guy in the franchise, but maybe that was just me and they're putting up the dominoes to knock them down?

I've thought about this and I really didn't mind it. I almost hope he doesn't make an appearance in the expansion(s), unless there's a gradual escalation to something huge. Diablo's been the final boss of each game in the series, and by the third one I found it anticlimactic, especially in comparison to the visually amazing scale of the Belial fight.

I get it's strange that Diablo wouldn't be the primary antagonist of a game named for him, but in Diablo 4 we've reached the point where half the bosses are regurgitations of previous ones. And while that's not inappropriate lore-wise, I found it to be a letdown considering how imposing (and challenging) most of them were in Diablo 2.

Spoiler:

I absolutely dreaded fighting Duriel in D2, for example. Not to mention that's when dying had much higher stakes. But in D4 I blinked and he was dead. And while I really enjoyed Lilith being the main antagonist in this game, her boss battle was mediocre and I was disappointed I steamrolled her my first time (on world tier two). I kind of wish she'd lasted into the first expansion, but that would have been too great of a letdown/cliffhanger for most. I'm guessing we fight Mephisto next which I'm looking forward to. I hope they make him as great an expansion boss as Malthael was.)

[Hyena]

I was a bit disappointed they didn't include a certain...um...important bad guy in the franchise, but maybe that was just me and they're putting up the dominoes to knock them down?

I've thought about this and I really didn't mind it. I almost hope he doesn't make an appearance in the expansion(s), unless there's a gradual escalation to something huge. Diablo's been the final boss of each game in the series, and by the third one I found it anticlimactic, especially in comparison to the visually amazing scale of the Belial fight.

I get it's strange that Diablo wouldn't be the primary antagonist of a game named for him, but in Diablo 4 we've reached the point where half the bosses are regurgitations of previous ones. And while that's not inappropriate lore-wise, I found it to be a letdown considering how imposing (and challenging) most of them were in Diablo 2.

Spoiler:

I absolutely dreaded fighting Duriel in D2, for example. Not to mention that's when dying had much higher stakes. But in D4 I blinked and he was dead. And while I really enjoyed Lilith being the main antagonist in this game, her boss battle was mediocre and I was disappointed I steamrolled her my first time (on world tier two). I kind of wish she'd lasted into the first expansion, but that would have been too great of a letdown/cliffhanger for most. I'm guessing we fight Mephisto next which I'm looking forward to. I hope they make him as great an expansion boss as Malthael was.)

I agree with pretty much everything you said here. I see your point with the retread of boss battles, and 100% agree with your fear of Duriel in D2. Especially since my first toon there was a bowazon. Trying to run then turn and shoot only to have him already be up in my grill in that tiny little boss room was a friggin' nightmare.

I also thought Maltheal was a great antagonist in D3 ExP.

I think the overall cinematic story in D4 was really good, including the cliffhanger and such, but oddly enough the massive open world kinda pulled me out of the story. So many quests, so many MORE side quests breaking up the main one...on a couple occasions I wasn't even aware I had moved on to the next Act because the quests were so all over the place. But the cinematics were amazing and did a great job of bringing things together. Always been a Blizzard strength.

[Blackhawk]

The D4 quest had it's moments, but I also think it was forgettable, and while those moments had some good storytelling and kick, they lacked the 'fun' element that the previous games have had.

Upon finishing it, I immediately assumed that the aforementioned bad guy was going to feature in an expansion in some capacity. If not as its final boss, then as an antagonist being set up by it.

[Daehawk]

I ran into that bastard The Butcher again last night. One day buddy. Im curious if he drops some unique loot. He better.

[Jaddison]

I ran into that bastard The Butcher again last night. One day buddy. Im curious if he drops some unique loot. He better.

Beating the Butcher becomes fairly easy in WT3 and WT4 (non-nightmare dungeons) though he has always required me to use a lot of health potions. In Nightmare dungeons he has been untouchable in WT4 as he gets this "shield" that regenerates to full over and over and over...maybe they are getting rid of that in the next patch.

[coopasonic]

I ran into that bastard The Butcher again last night. One day buddy. Im curious if he drops some unique loot. He better.

There's a chance you get a decoration for your mount I think.

[Hyena]

I ran into that bastard The Butcher again last night. One day buddy. Im curious if he drops some unique loot. He better.

Beating the Butcher becomes fairly easy in WT3 and WT4 (non-nightmare dungeons) though he has always required me to use a lot of health potions. In Nightmare dungeons he has been untouchable in WT4 as he gets this "shield" that regenerates to full over and over and over...maybe they are getting rid of that in the next patch.

There's also a way to cheese the hell out of him if you're lucky. If you ever meet up with him in a dungeon with a level change (ladder or gap to jump) you can just sit on the other level and pelt him with damage until he goes down. It was the only way I ever beat him in vanilla, and I ain't ashamed. Bastard cheeses with all his dumbass skills, so do I.

It must be how the goat men feel when they see us coming over the horizon swinging our giant sword made from a spine and surrounded by burning hellfire...

[Jaddison]

I ran into that bastard The Butcher again last night. One day buddy. Im curious if he drops some unique loot. He better.

Beating the Butcher becomes fairly easy in WT3 and WT4 (non-nightmare dungeons) though he has always required me to use a lot of health potions. In Nightmare dungeons he has been untouchable in WT4 as he gets this "shield" that regenerates to full over and over and over...maybe they are getting rid of that in the next patch.

There's also a way to cheese the hell out of him if you're lucky. If you ever meet up with him in a dungeon with a level change (ladder or gap to jump) you can just sit on the other level and pelt him with damage until he goes down. It was the only way I ever beat him in vanilla, and I ain't ashamed. Bastard cheeses with all his dumbass skills, so do I.

It must be how the goat men feel when they see us coming over the horizon swinging our giant sword made from a spine and surrounded by burning hellfire...

I just beat him in a season dungeon lvl 1, took a lot of potions and he did respawn his shield once...didn't drop anything overly great

[Blackhawk]

I've only seen him three times. The first two were both in a party at very low level, and he wiped us without trying hard. The last time was solo when I was still in WT2, and was fairly high level, but hadn't finished the campaign yet to enable me to switch to WT3. That time he went down in a heartbeat without me really even trying.

[Jaddison]

I've only seen him three times. The first two were both in a party at very low level, and he wiped us without trying hard. The last time was solo when I was still in WT2, and was fairly high level, but hadn't finished the campaign yet to enable me to switch to WT3. That time he went down in a heartbeat without me really even trying.

I have killed him at least 10 times and has never been great drops. WT4 Nightmare dungeons 20 and above he is unbeatable for me

[YellowKing]

I've always cheesed him by kiting him around a pillar or other obstacle Elmer Fudd/Daffy Duck style. Hit him, run, heal up, repeat. It takes forever when you're not powerful, but I've killed him a bunch that way. But yeah, never got great drops from him either. I'll occasionally get a decent unique that lasts a few levels, but I've never had good drops once I was strong enough to beat him easily.

[Blackhawk]

The Lunar New Year event started today starts on the 6th. They had the sense to apply it to both seasonal and eternal realms this time. Here's a guide on how it all works.

[Daehawk]

Gold in D4 already falls like rain. Im not sure how or where to spend millions of gold already.

[Blackhawk]

Gold in D4 already falls like rain. Im not sure how or where to spend millions of gold already.

How many high-end Ancestral Legendaries have you rerolled the traits on a dozen times? You can easily spend a few million per item.

[YellowKing]

The older I get the harder it is to parse game currency. I read that Lunar Event twice and I feel like I'm still sitting there staring with drool coming out of my mouth. "Do this to earn Gibzoid Baubles! The Baubles can be traded for Zipthang Shards, which can be crafted into Doowattle Prisms! Spend Doowattle Prisms on Ascendancy Points, which you can trade in for Zimshattle Rewards at any of the Gorthwaite Vendors!"

I need the Dummy translation. GO SHRINE. SHRINE DO THIS. YOU WANT NEW HAT? GO HERE DO THIS GET NEW HAT.

[Blackhawk]

I apparently need to dummy version, too: The download may have been today, but the actual event starts on the 6th.

Sorry about that.