Octopus Overlords

Yeah based on the positive reviews I pulled the trigger on Digital Deluxe for the early access. Hope I don't get burned with launch server issues but I couldn't bear the thought of going a whole weekend waiting for official launch when in theory I could be playing.

YellowKing wrote: Tue May 30, 2023 2:36 pm Yeah based on the positive reviews I pulled the trigger on Digital Deluxe for the early access. Hope I don't get burned with launch server issues but I couldn't bear the thought of going a whole weekend waiting for official launch when in theory I could be playing.

I leave for a 10-day trip the morning Early Access starts. Womp womp.

At least they'll have had a few days to hopefully ensure the servers are stable by the time we get back.

GreenGoo wrote: Tue May 16, 2023 9:30 am I found the original necro in DII fun because of it's playstyle. Hordes of damage reflecting undead. Almost 100% safety until they start to drop faster than you can replace them, then...game over.

Probably influenced Vampire Survivors!

Nuts, I thought the basic preorder game included early access too. While $10 (CAD) per day of early access doesn't seem that outrageous, I'm not paying the equivalent of a good indie or some AAs or a bunch of on-sale games for four days of access that might be inhibited by technical problems.

On the other hand, I'll probably drop more than that on one Uber Eats order so maybe I will.

Pre-order culture is just out of control. Almost half the price of the game for a bunch of meaningless digital tat and the inclusion of a paid battle pass coming out within two months of the game launch?

Now my big decision is going to be if I want to play a Necro, Druid, or Rogue. I played Druid a little in the first beta, and Sorcerer in the server stress test. Both were fun, but the Druid was certainly more challenging to play. I specifically avoided Necro because I am leaning towards that and want the fun of discovery.

I grabbed it for the PS5. My computer while not terrible is getting long in the tooth and I generally like the ease of the console. Kind of bummed that there is no Paladin, but I'm sure that gets added later in an expansion or something. Barbarian ftw for now. The Druid does look pretty freaking awesome though.

I wasn't going to get sucked in but the reviews changed my mind. Why did I read them!? Grabbed DD for PC.

As an aside, I forgot how long ago Diablo 3 came out. Battle.net still had my old address in my profile. I haven't lived there in 11-ish years.

Octavious wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 9:02 am I grabbed it for the PS5. My computer while not terrible is getting long in the tooth and I generally like the ease of the console.

I made the switch to Diablo on console last generation and could never go back. I like it far better than PC now.

I don't play much on my PC at all lately. Partially that my CPU needs an upgrade and partially because I have zero patience for mucking around with settings. I just want to play a damn game not troubleshoot. I have no idea what my id is. Guess I'll find out tonight and add it to the list. I've never really played Diablo online, but I may be up for it.

Because my daughter loves playing Diablo with me on the PS5 and my wife's away for a scientific meeting from Fri-Sun I sprang for the deluxe digital version so I could just exist on Diablo and fluids for the weekend.

At the risk of it feeling a little basic, I'm probably going Barbarian. While Necro appeals to me more thematically, I've always been a tank/melee guy and it looks like they've added enough cool mechanics to the Barb to make it a fun class. I'll eventually level all the classes so in the long run I guess it doesn't matter that much.

I liked barb in DII. The spinning health leaching was fun and easy and relatively fast. All necessary for late game clearing.

YellowKing wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 11:04 am At the risk of it feeling a little basic, I'm probably going Barbarian. While Necro appeals to me more thematically, I've always been a tank/melee guy and it looks like they've added enough cool mechanics to the Barb to make it a fun class. I'll eventually level all the classes so in the long run I guess it doesn't matter that much.

Barb for me for now. I've ever been able to get into a ranged build in a ARPG. It just boring to me.

YellowKing wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 11:04 am At the risk of it feeling a little basic, I'm probably going Barbarian. While Necro appeals to me more thematically, I've always been a tank/melee guy and it looks like they've added enough cool mechanics to the Barb to make it a fun class. I'll eventually level all the classes so in the long run I guess it doesn't matter that much.

Allow me to tempt you with this:

Play the first 10 or so levels as a pets necro, then switch over to a blood and thorns necro build. Thorns gear and a necro skill that adds 77 thorns with three points, coupled with a blood nova that heals you, and voila! NecroTank.

Skinypupy wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 9:26 am

Octavious wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 9:02 am I grabbed it for the PS5. My computer while not terrible is getting long in the tooth and I generally like the ease of the console.

I made the switch to Diablo on console last generation and could never go back. I like it far better than PC now.

Ditto. Playing the wizard was sublime.

I loved the original but actually never played the second one; not sure why. I eventually did get D3 but somehow I have zero memory of it. Like, I can look at my Blizzard account and see that I finished it, but I genuinely don't remember playing any of it at all.

I'm intrigued by D4. Not sure if I'm Day 1 intrigued, but I'm not going to lie - I'm definitely watching.

The series is not something that usually excites me much, but the darker tone of this one compared to 3 has me intrigued.

Hyena wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 12:11 pm

YellowKing wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 11:04 am At the risk of it feeling a little basic, I'm probably going Barbarian. While Necro appeals to me more thematically, I've always been a tank/melee guy and it looks like they've added enough cool mechanics to the Barb to make it a fun class. I'll eventually level all the classes so in the long run I guess it doesn't matter that much.

Allow me to tempt you with this:

Play the first 10 or so levels as a pets necro, then switch over to a blood and thorns necro build. Thorns gear and a necro skill that adds 77 thorns with three points, coupled with a blood nova that heals you, and voila! NecroTank.

Oooh, I love a good Thorns build.

I also was not aware early access appears to go live at 7 PM EST. Looks like I know how the evening is going.

I'm downloading it as I had to clear up space. So I'm not going to be ready by 7. Oh nosss

Stuck in a queue. Which I mean ya I knew that was going to happen lol.

Breaking news releasing world wide at the same time kills servers.

Ps5 users getting license error messages. Me being one of them. Do I get free cosmetics now?

Family is watching TV right now so Blizzard better get their act together in the next few hours because it’s all about my needs of course

I cant even buy the game via Battle.net.
Keeps erroring out.

I just keep hitting retry over and over. It will work eventually.

When I started up the PS5 a Diablo 4 update was finishing up. Booted the game up, logged into battlenet and I'm now watching the opening cutscene which I hope will be over soon.

I'm still stuck at login. I'm not giving up!

Spoiler. I gave up. I tried for over an hour. I should know better. I do know better.. And yet here I am.

I got in pretty easily on PC around 8pm EST. Also I changed my mind at the last minute and went Necro after reading Gamespot rank the Barbarian at the bottom for n00bs. I did start at World Tier 2 though.

I'm kinda freaked out by wanting to only play SP but finding out that randoms can decide to participate in my fights. Is there a way to play in "true" SP and lock out others from my gameplay?

Octavious wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 8:50 pm Spoiler. I gave up. I tried for over an hour. I should know better. I do know better.. And yet here I am.

Did you consider paying more money?

Diablo IV is out, at least in Early Access, and while things seem to be going smoothly so far on PC—fingers crossed—loads of PS5 players have run into a wall and can’t access the game.

It’s not a traditional “servers down” or “queue full” kinda deal either: instead the issue preventing them from logging in is a licensing one, with players getting “Unable to find a valid license for Diablo IV” screens, which is an error they should only be getting if Blizzard couldn’t verify their purchase license, but which is currently affecting people who have clearly paid for the game. And not just the game, but the more expensive versions of the game!

...

While folks have been waiting and endlessly retrying their logins, however, some have stumbled on a temporary workaround. It seems that making a $1.99 currency purchase—you don’t need to login to the game to access its store—kicks something in the backend and is letting some players in.

Smoove_B wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 10:21 pm

Octavious wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 8:50 pm Spoiler. I gave up. I tried for over an hour. I should know better. I do know better.. And yet here I am.

Did you consider paying more money?

Diablo IV is out, at least in Early Access, and while things seem to be going smoothly so far on PC—fingers crossed—loads of PS5 players have run into a wall and can’t access the game.

It’s not a traditional “servers down” or “queue full” kinda deal either: instead the issue preventing them from logging in is a licensing one, with players getting “Unable to find a valid license for Diablo IV” screens, which is an error they should only be getting if Blizzard couldn’t verify their purchase license, but which is currently affecting people who have clearly paid for the game. And not just the game, but the more expensive versions of the game!

...

While folks have been waiting and endlessly retrying their logins, however, some have stumbled on a temporary workaround. It seems that making a $1.99 currency purchase—you don’t need to login to the game to access its store—kicks something in the backend and is letting some players in.

The irony of deciding to buy it on console for a more troublefree experience and yet PC is the easy button.

I got in a while ago. I logged out of psn and back in and boom it went in.

Quick impressions before bed (again, I didn't play beta so this is old hat to those who did):

- Game looks fantastic and plays just fine on my rig. I am a bit above midrange specs, but it was still a pleasant surprise considering how old my PC is.
- I don't really like how big chunks of the map are already open (unfogged) unlike DIablo 3. It sometimes makes it hard to tell where youv'e explored and where you haven't. I haven't looked in options to see if this is customizable.
- Playing on World Tier II and it's super easy so far. But I've only just completed the Prologue
- I can already tell I'll be playing this a LOT - so many things to do and world so much bigger
- Already loving the story WAY more than D3. It's REALLY dark and I love the main villain.
- It's going to take some time to retrain my brain out of D3 and into D4. Some of the UI stuff bothers me, but I know it's just unfamiliarity.

Forum effect got me, so I bought, and am downloading now. Not the biggest Diablo fan but did play multiple seasons of D3 and pretty into a couple of them. Will probably enjoy it. We'll see soon.

I had no issues getting in on PS5. Played through the prologue and up to level 10.

I was in the beta so I've seen all this already, but it's a very polished game. It looks and sounds fantastic, the hack & slash gameplay is rock solid, and there's tons to do. The story seems to be a bit polarizing, with some reviews really praising it and others saying it's just meh. I personally quite like it and the darker overall tone and feel is perfect.

I almost always play a melee fighter in ARPGs, but figured I'd mix it up a bit and go with a caster this time. Trying out a lightning Sorc. Fun so far, but oh so squishy. Definitely will take some getting used to that playstyle.

I echo almost everything skinypupy said (except the beta).

I had no troubles downloading/installing/playing the game last night. (Also no trouble getting back into my Blizzard account after years of being away, and the authenticator dying, and the password not changing... honestly, if I had issues with the b-net account, I probably would have just passed on the game).

But yeah, it's really smooth and polished. It plays "easy" and it definitely felt like all of the good parts of "diablo". I'm one who isn't crazy about the story or the darker feel. I'm ignoring because I enjoy the gameplay, but not a fan of that aspect of the game.

One irrational annoyance for me is the glowy exclamation point next to the shop menu option. I just can not figure out what it's supposed to be notifying me about, other than the existence of the cosmetics store overall? Go away exclamation point, and don't come back til you have something new to notify me about!

Only got to play a bit last night, and a tiny bit this morning. Was looking forward to getting into it over the weekend, but change in plans might squash that idea. Hoping to get some playtime in though.

Baroquen wrote:One irrational annoyance for me is the glowy exclamation point next to the shop menu option. I just can not figure out what it's supposed to be notifying me about, other than the existence of the cosmetics store overall? Go away exclamation point, and don't come back til you have something new to notify me about!

I finally figured that out. Some of the new items will have a yellow diamond in one corner to show they're new. I had to click on that item for the notification to clear. So you may have to just go in the shop and click on everything. It's annoying.

I'm having a blast with this, though there are things I haven't figured out. Like in one dungeon I was in, I ran into a named creature who kicked my ass. When I revived in the same dungeon and went back to that spot, he was gone. I wound up finishing the dungeon and the actual dungeon boss. So I'm not sure where that guy went - do dungeons just sometimes have random named bosses? (Note: I'm dancing around spoilers but this was an actual named boss from D3, not one of the normal named Elites you see in every dungeon).

I love love love that the game is not as linear as D3. Being able to just ignore the main storyline and run a dungeon I need to complete, work on reknown for an area, or do side quests REALLY breaks up the monotony. I'm not sure if I should be focusing on the main campaign or trying to 100% areas before moving on, but either way I'm having a ball.

So in order to do the couch co-op we had to set my daughter up with her own battlenet account and we didn't have time last night for that so I ended up playing alone. Ended early because I wanted to play along with the daughter in the future but I'm liking it so far. I'm trying out the Necromancer and it's fun playing with my skeleton friends.

Are you still playing beta? I thought the full game was June 6.