Octopus Overlords

Jaymann wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2023 1:49 pm Are you still playing beta? I thought the full game was June 6.

Paid for the Deluxe edition which granted you access a few days earlier. Usually I'm pretty patient about these things but with the wife out of town I do have some prime TV time so I thought it was worth paying for early access!

Jaymann wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2023 1:49 pm Are you still playing beta? I thought the full game was June 6.

Early access for the deluxe and whatever even more pricy edition started yesterday evening.

I took a look and there was nothing else in those editions that interested me, so I'll be playing next week.

I have early access but not clear if my character will carry over.

Jaymann wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2023 3:52 pm I have early access but not clear if my character will carry over.

This is not beta anymore, what you do now will persist after 6/6.

coopasonic wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2023 5:01 pm

Jaymann wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2023 3:52 pm I have early access but not clear if my character will carry over.

This is not beta anymore, what you do now will persist after 6/6.

Great, I will give it a whirl.

Jolor wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 9:57 pm 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?

I don't think so. Even the articles that say you can play single-player talk about the other players. There is no offline mode.

Alefroth wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2023 6:01 pm

Jolor wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 9:57 pm 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?

I don't think so. Even the articles that say you can play single-player talk about the other players. There is no offline mode.

What about if you enter a dungeon? Randoms can't follow can they?

Jaymann wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2023 6:04 pm

Alefroth wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2023 6:01 pm

Jolor wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 9:57 pm 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?

I don't think so. Even the articles that say you can play single-player talk about the other players. There is no offline mode.

What about if you enter a dungeon? Randoms can't follow can they?

I can't say for sure, but I don't think I ever saw another player in a dungeon in beta.

I'm a solo-centric player myself, and so far the other players in the game have been a complete non-issue. I haven't seen any in dungeons, and overworld I mostly only run into them in town. Occasionally one will be around for an event.

Admittedly it's early access so things will get much more crowded after launch, but as it stands you can just ignore everyone else.

I'm pretty sure that standard dungeons are instanced (IE - you get your own, private copy.)

The good news is that unless you intentionally decide otherwise, the other players you encounter simply exist there. They can't do much of anything to you - they'd might as well be NPC adventurers unless you say otherwise.

The benefit is that you'll occasionally come across world 'events', like an attack in progress or a boss, that everyone can join in on (without interacting in any other way - no need to team up, no loot stealing, just every one jumps in and fights and everyone gets the rewards.)

Fuk, there was a blue button that said INSTALL. I thought I already did that.

If pre-purchased the $70 version, you're playing next week. If you pre-purchased the $90 version, I'd imagine it launches like every other game.

YK - Thanks for the store explanation. That makes sense. I'll clear out the notifications next time I boot it up.

And I had the same random dungeon boss destroy me and then disappear too. I was not able to clear that dungeon with my sorcerer though. I'll try again later.

Still very smooth so far. No crashes. Queues. Issues.

Might try a different class that's a little more hardy than the sorcerer. Not sure yet.

It made me download the latest Nvidia drivers, but now I'm in and seems to be running OK.

coopasonic wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2023 3:31 pm

Jaymann wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2023 1:49 pm Are you still playing beta? I thought the full game was June 6.

Early access for the deluxe and whatever even more pricy edition started yesterday evening.

I took a look and there was nothing else in those editions that interested me, so I'll be playing next week.

And finishing next week....

I now have the sweet setup. My PC couldn't really handle the truth, so I downloaded it onto my newer laptop. Plugged that into my smart TV and plugged my PS5 controller into the laptop. Now I have big screen goodness and reduced carpel tunnel from mouse pressing.

Level 31, running a Bone Spear/Corpse Exploder Necromancer. It's been a lot of fun running around with my skelly army laying waste. The only caveat is that with no minions, I get super squishy. So boss fights are often a juggling act of me running around raising minions as fast as the boss can kill them.

I ran into my first weird bug in the game, and it's only happened twice, both times in events. My hotkeys suddenly just stop working. For instance, I can't hit Q for potions, I can't get the numbers for my skills. I can click on them and they work, but the key input is just gone. It cost me a couple of deaths the first time it happened which was really frustrating. Once the event is over, however, they go back to working again. I can't replicate it either; most events work just fine.

I can't really tell what the hell I'm doing campaign-wise. I have Act 1, Act 2, and Act 3 quests (???) so I'm just running around doing whatever is closest. That's the fun of the game, however - with it being more open world, you can just stop the story and go do side stuff all you want. I've already hit Tier 3 reknown in the first area without really trying.

Up to level 14 with my bow using rogue. I remembered from the Beta that two companions join you to enter some mines so I got there as soon as I was able. But instead of going into the mine I turned around and started roaming the earth with two invulnerable companions. There is a limit to how far they will travel, but this is what I was waiting for.

Good news everyone! Login queues are back!

Oh well, it was fun while it lasted Blizzard. Still not too bad, roughly 10 minutes here but not great considering I wasn't hitting any queues since early access launch. Next week is going to be fun.

Blows my mind that in 2023 there are login queues for a SP game.

There is no SPoon.

Smoove_B wrote: Sat Jun 03, 2023 5:41 pm Blows my mind that in 2023 there are login queues for a SP game.

That's the thing - it isn't a single player game. It's an MMO-hybrid.

I realize I'm out of my depth here as a casual, but did they justify an "always on" (i.e. need to log in) design by tossing in random optional encounters where you can join with randos?

It just feels like maybe this didn't need to be a quasi-MMO offering. Again, disregard if I'm not clear on the game.

I haven't played it enough to know (I played the most recent beta for a few hours.) I was under the impression, though, that it was intended as more of an active live game - sort of like Fallout 76 (which may actually be the best analog.)

Not sure of the MMO/SP online intents. But Blizzard was posting about the login/queue problems this afternoon. I was hit by them too. Supposedly fixed now, though I haven't been on since I got back. Will be trying it soon. Hopefully, it was an aberration, or that doesn't bode well for the actual launch.

Smoove_B wrote: Sat Jun 03, 2023 6:54 pm I realize I'm out of my depth here as a casual, but did they justify an "always on" (i.e. need to log in) design by tossing in random optional encounters where you can join with randos?

It just feels like maybe this didn't need to be a quasi-MMO offering. Again, disregard if I'm not clear on the game.

I don't think they need to justifgy always on. The way the game plays is excellent including the world bosses and dungeons etc etc. Aditionally we all know always on removes the piracy option which is still an issue in many places regardless of if we like it.

I have had zero issues playing since day one, UK based, no queues or issues at all. Must be lucky with my timinings

No problems at all getting in today so hopefully last night was just a fluke.

Man this game is big. Just hit 41 and I haven't even left the first area.

YellowKing wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2023 11:13 am No problems at all getting in today so hopefully last night was just a fluke.

Man this game is big. Just hit 41 and I haven't even left the first area.

I'm in a similar situation. I still had at least four or five quests in Act I, but I've done them so many times from beta I just wanted to move on and see new content. I'm lvl 39 and loving it, My altoholism is flaring up bad, but I'm sticking with my necro for now.

coopasonic wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2023 3:31 pm

Jaymann wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2023 1:49 pm Are you still playing beta? I thought the full game was June 6.

Early access for the deluxe and whatever even more pricy edition started yesterday evening.

I took a look and there was nothing else in those editions that interested me, so I'll be playing next week.

A rare moment of restraint!

GreenGoo wrote: Mon Jun 05, 2023 7:22 am

coopasonic wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2023 3:31 pm

Jaymann wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2023 1:49 pm Are you still playing beta? I thought the full game was June 6.

Early access for the deluxe and whatever even more pricy edition started yesterday evening.

I took a look and there was nothing else in those editions that interested me, so I'll be playing next week.

A rare moment of restraint!

It lasted until Saturday evening when I'd finished Tears of the Kingdom and my older son said he'd pay part of the cost of the upgrade. I think my Necro is 31 or 32 now.

As usual this thread induced me to buy this and a version that let me play ASAP.

I have hit two dungeons with different characters where I cannot beat the end boss and in one "The Butcher" came out of nowhere, killed me right quick and then was gone when I headed back that way but the end boss was too much for me.

Anyone have this happen as well? The bosses are on level and I can figure out their attacks but they seem to do unavoidable damage and my potions dwindle rapidly and not enough drop

I figured out what I thought was the "bug" where I suddenly lost my skill/potion hotkeys. Seems I was accidentally hitting a button to bring up the chat, so the chat window was stealing my key focus and in the heat of the battle I didn't notice it.

I haven't had any major issues with bosses yet even on World Tier II, but my Necro is ridiculous. I've got 10 pets (5 skeletons + 2 more due to gear, 3 skelly mages, 1 golem). Pets tank while I stand back and fire Bone Spear and explode every corpse. As I mentioned before, the only time things get dicey is if my pets go down and I don't have enough corpses to raise them back up quickly.

5+2+3+1 = 10?



On a serious note, do you know what the maximum number of pets possible is?

This is why you don't do math before coffee.

I haven't been able to find the max number, but I do know gear that raises the cap doesn't stack. I've got two pieces of gear that give me +2 Skeleton Warriors, but I only get +2, not +4.

I went a different way with my Necro - I just wrapped up Act 1 and sacrificed all my minions for the bonuses and built a necro tank. It is based on fighting up close, hemorrhaging blood, and smashing mobs with the blood surge. My only weak spot is generating essence which I'm trying to figure out a fix for. But generally speaking I don't even have to use potions to heal in most boss fights so far.

I purchased the standard version this morning and started the download before leaving for work.

I was tempted on Friday evening to spend the extra $20 so that I could play this weekend but managed to resist the temptation as, other than early access, there was nothing in the higher tier packages that interested me.

Not sure what I'm going to run first though. The wife is waiting until Friday (payday) to get her copy and we discussed running together with her doing sorceress and me doing druid.

Does the character from the beta (not the recent server stress test) transfer to the retail version of the game? If so, I might pick up where my rogue left off.

malchior wrote: Mon Jun 05, 2023 10:16 am I went a different way with my Necro - I just wrapped up Act 1 and sacrificed all my minions for the bonuses and built a necro tank. It is based on fighting up close, hemorrhaging blood, and smashing mobs with the blood surge. My only weak spot is generating essence which I'm trying to figure out a fix for. But generally speaking I don't even have to use potions to heal in most boss fights so far.

The Iron Maiden curse has a option where it no longer costs anything and then provides 5 essence when you use it. I'm running a very similar build and it's a blast. The key passive that gives your Blood Spell overpower after 15 seconds of remaining healthy is wonderful.

Jaddison wrote: Mon Jun 05, 2023 7:45 am As usual this thread induced me to buy this and a version that let me play ASAP.

I have hit two dungeons with different characters where I cannot beat the end boss and in one "The Butcher" came out of nowhere, killed me right quick and then was gone when I headed back that way but the end boss was too much for me.

Anyone have this happen as well? The bosses are on level and I can figure out their attacks but they seem to do unavoidable damage and my potions dwindle rapidly and not enough drop

The Butcher seems to show up in random dungeons. I've gotten pretty solid at killing end bosses but the Butcher destroys me. He really needs multiple characters pounding on him (I think). Or maybe I just have a weak build.

Brian wrote: Mon Jun 05, 2023 10:47 am I purchased the standard version this morning and started the download before leaving for work.

I was tempted on Friday evening to spend the extra $20 so that I could play this weekend but managed to resist the temptation as, other than early access, there was nothing in the higher tier packages that interested me.

Not sure what I'm going to run first though. The wife is waiting until Friday (payday) to get her copy and we discussed running together with her doing sorceress and me doing druid.

Does the character from the beta (not the recent server stress test) transfer to the retail version of the game? If so, I might pick up where my rogue left off.

The beta character progress does not carry over.