Daehawk wrote: Sun Jun 25, 2023 12:31 am
Hows the loots in D4? D2 loots had some really great stuff but I was let down by D3's loot..weak and far between. nothing super cool. I feel D4 is the same after the beta I tried.
I find gearing/loot to be somewhere between D2 and D3, with the aspect/imprint system really shaking things up. You now grind for not only gear, but for the best aspects to rip and apply to your best items. The aspects/legendary effects are now effectively separate from the items. It's an interesting system, but I feel it's designed to stretch out the gearing process. Which makes sense as D4 has been designed as a life-sucking live service game. I'm not actually at endgame myself yet though, so some of my perceptions may be immature. I've watched a lot of videos though.
I found gearing in D2 to be capitivating but a little frustrating because the best effects aren't always easy to determine. I know that's what some people like about it; in Diablo 3 there's a very clear progression. legendaries have unique effects that can be very powerful. By the end of each season you'll usually be wearing a set that heavily impacts your playstyle and overall power level. And if you play deep into the season you'll likely wind up with multiple copies of each legendary. The different sets and supporting legendaries are more build defining than your skills/runes.
I believe one of D4's design philosophies was to decouple builds from item sets and particular legendaries, at least to a degree. You can definitely feel that legendary effects have been neutered. But they're also better balanced and allow for more fine-tuning. I think in D4 your skills and their modifiers frequently govern which legendaries/aspects you want rather than vice versa in D3.
Uniques may shake this up though, I haven't encountered them yet. They look more in line with D3's legendaries in terms of their effects affecting specific skills.
I saw a commercial on late night TV. It said, "Forget everything you know about slipcovers." So I did. And it was a load off my mind. Then the commercial tried to sell me slipcovers, and I didn't know what the hell they were. -- Mitch Hedberg
I'm at level 63 and just recently really started wrapping my head around how best to customze gear towards a specific play style. The lightbulb moment went off when I looted a nice Level 63 amulet that was actually an improvement but for the fact it had no aspect. Then I realized - derp - I've got three chest tabs full of legendaries, let's just go find a cool aspect for it. Found one on a random item that gave my Skeleton Mages a cold blast, extracted it, threw it on the amulet (which upgraded it to a legendary) and I was in business.
It's definitely a mental shift. I don't know how many legendaries I salvaged or tossed aside in the early game because I wasn't looking at the aspect, just whether the overall item was an upgrade or not.
YellowKing wrote: Sun Jun 25, 2023 8:26 am
Found one on a random item that gave my Skeleton Mages a cold blast, extracted it, threw it on the amulet (which upgraded it to a legendary) and I was in business.
Funny coincidence, but I'm also a lev 63 minion necro. Just fyi, if you haven't found it, there is an aspect that gives you 2 additional mage minons. And, if you put that on an amulet you actually get 3 because amulets get a 50% bonus. So, I'm running around with six cold mages, six warriors (did a +2 aspect for them) and my bone golem tank for a motley crew of 13. I feel like a teachers aid on a kidnergarten trip trying to herd everyone around, but it's fun in total chaos sort of way.
I also unlocked the paragon board that is minion focused and got all the legendary/rare nodes on that, so my minions are wrecking stuff. I saw some YouTubers complaining about the fragility of minions which is why they chose to sacrifice them, but if you tailor your build towards them you can make them extremly viable.
I confess I was getting a bit bored with the long grind from 60-70, but "locking" into my build and just focusing on tweaking everything towards minion damage and survivability has given me renewed interest.
Getting the "unable to find license" error that apparently is affecting a lot of folks today. Guess I won't be playing. Oh well, on to game number 2378 in my backlog.
Oh, I hear ya. Though my number is probably closer to 600. With some that I don't ever intend to play. But just looking at the ones that at one point in time I thought "gee, I'd really like to play that!", I probably still have an easy 100.
Black Lives Matter
Isgrimnur - Facebook makes you hate your friends and family. LinkedIn makes you hate you co-workers. NextDoor makes you hate your neighbors.
Between bundles, sales, free games on multiple platforms, and 20 years of digital distribution (Steam turns 20 in September), I have a very high number of games. I have no idea how big my backlog is, as I don't think of it as a backlog. I think of it as a library. If I want to do [activity], I go to my library and find something that looks fun.
And just a like a regular library, I don't see every unread title as a 'to do' or some sort of indication of personal failure. And I certainly don't make myself play the ones that don't excite me just to justify their existence. That would make gaming a miserable experience! No, no backlog. Just lots of games, many of which I will play and love, some of which I will play and love more than once, and many of which I will never even install. And I'm 100% fine with that.
Found myself kinda foundering the last couple of days, bouncing back and forth between alts, until I remembered I had picked up a nightmare dungeon token/thing on my necro. I figured I'd give it a shot, and man I've rediscovered the fun again. I've also pinned down my vampire/blight hybrid necro build to a place where I'm happy. Got a couple of legendaries with some cool effects with blight and bone prison, including one where when I cast blight it pulls anything with 10 yards into the blight area, where I hit them with a bone prison that also burns them with more blight for over 1k/sec, and corpse explosion that turns to blight for over 6k/sec. I circle the mobs and pull 10-15 of them in and watch them melt away. Throw in an occasional blood nova for a heal and 3-6k on overpower and I'm having a blast again.
"You laugh at me because I'm different; I laugh at you because you're all the same." ~Jonathan Davis
"The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives." ~Robert M. Hutchins
YellowKing wrote: Sun Jun 25, 2023 8:26 am
Found one on a random item that gave my Skeleton Mages a cold blast, extracted it, threw it on the amulet (which upgraded it to a legendary) and I was in business.
Funny coincidence, but I'm also a lev 63 minion necro. Just fyi, if you haven't found it, there is an aspect that gives you 2 additional mage minons. And, if you put that on an amulet you actually get 3 because amulets get a 50% bonus. So, I'm running around with six cold mages, six warriors (did a +2 aspect for them) and my bone golem tank for a motley crew of 13. I feel like a teachers aid on a kidnergarten trip trying to herd everyone around, but it's fun in total chaos sort of way.
My Necro is still only about level 30 and I just unlocked the Golem recently. Do you all bind "summon skeletons AND summon golem" and summon both, or is there another way to load up on multiple types of minions?
Black Lives definitely Matter Lorini!
Also: There are three ways to not tell the truth: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
Pyperkub wrote: Mon Jun 26, 2023 5:06 pm
My Necro is still only about level 30 and I just unlocked the Golem recently. Do you all bind "summon skeletons AND summon golem" and summon both, or is there another way to load up on multiple types of minions?
The golem summons himself, the action is for his active skill.
Pyperkub wrote: Mon Jun 26, 2023 5:06 pm
My Necro is still only about level 30 and I just unlocked the Golem recently. Do you all bind "summon skeletons AND summon golem" and summon both, or is there another way to load up on multiple types of minions?
The golem summons himself, the action is for his active skill.
Hmm. So bind (on xBox) "Y" for summon skeletons, and some other button for the Golem skill?
Does that sound right?
Black Lives definitely Matter Lorini!
Also: There are three ways to not tell the truth: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
If it's like the other titles, you have to have it bound in order for it to be active (summoned), but only need to hit the button to activate his cooldown-based skills (like an attack bonus, or exploding into corpses, or whatever.)
I finished the campaign this past weekend and I'm enjoying the extra stuff that unlocks after that (World Tier III, the whisper whatchamacallits, and general higher difficulty). However, at level 55 with my Necromancer (Bone Spear with no minions), what I am not enjoying is that the game seems to actively avoid giving me legendary items with any aspects that would actually help me out.
infinitelurker wrote: Mon Jun 26, 2023 8:59 pm... the game seems to actively avoid giving me legendary items with any aspects that would actually help me out.
I'm in the same boat. I'm level 51 Rogue and I'm still using level 30-40 gear.
Nothing I'm picking up gives me anywhere near the boosts of the gear I picked up 15-20 levels ago.
I've got nearly 4 million in gold and that's from selling only blues and whites.
Yellow and golds I've been scrapping and/or harvesting aspects.
I've also got about a hundred or so fully leveled (for now) gems that are stacking up in my stash.
Oh, and I'm still only about halfway through Act 3.
I don't think the horse even unlocks until Act 4.
"Don't believe everything you read on the internet." - Abraham Lincoln
The game can be an absolute slog unless you find ways to keep yourself entertained. Right now I'm in the situation at Level 63 where everything is too easy at Tier 3, but I can't move up because the dungeon to unlock Tier 4 is still too difficult. So I have no choice but to grind it out. I wouldn't mind that so much if the loot was more varied and interesting, but as it stands I'm kind of getting the feeling I've seen every aspect in the game.
I flip back and forth between enjoying just being a completionist and trying to finish all the dungeons, and being bored out of my mind and considering shelving it until Season One starts.
I finished the story tonight at level 49. This might be the most mixed I’ve been on a mainline Diablo title. When it’s good it is very good but when it’s bad it’s dreadful.
I think if you stick to the main questline and don’t try to do any of the side quests it can be pretty enjoyable but most of the side quests are straight up MMO quests, and not good MMO quests at that. Ick.
The loot feels pretty terrible. I gave up on expecting good items to drop. Every good idea I had in the game was received by gambling. It was actually pretty reliable to get a good item that way but who thought that was a good idea and fun?
The skill tree felt meaningless for the last 10 levels. I had every skill I cared about maxed out and every time I leveled, I was picking a tiny passive boost at random because they didn’t matter anymore.
Dungeons all felt too long, and enemies were all slightly too tough to be enjoyable to fight. Not tough in the sense that I ever felt endangered, but just took too long to kill. I died like 5 times in my entire playthrough and each time it was from something that just one-shot me without any chance to respond.
Writing this all out I think I enjoyed the game less than I thought I did but I guess the story was alright…
YellowKing wrote: Mon Jun 26, 2023 9:59 pm
The game can be an absolute slog unless you find ways to keep yourself entertained. Right now I'm in the situation at Level 63 where everything is too easy at Tier 3, but I can't move up because the dungeon to unlock Tier 4 is still too difficult. So I have no choice but to grind it out. I wouldn't mind that so much if the loot was more varied and interesting, but as it stands I'm kind of getting the feeling I've seen every aspect in the game.
Have you tried Nightmare Dungeons? I’ve been working my way up the dungeon tiers (they go 1-100, but you can only go up to 20 in world tier 2). I’m about the same level as you and right around dungeon level 15 things started becoming an actual challenge again.
YellowKing wrote: Mon Jun 26, 2023 9:59 pm
The game can be an absolute slog unless you find ways to keep yourself entertained. Right now I'm in the situation at Level 63 where everything is too easy at Tier 3, but I can't move up because the dungeon to unlock Tier 4 is still too difficult. So I have no choice but to grind it out. I wouldn't mind that so much if the loot was more varied and interesting, but as it stands I'm kind of getting the feeling I've seen every aspect in the game.
Have you tried Nightmare Dungeons? I’ve been working my way up the dungeon tiers (they go 1-100, but you can only go up to 20 in world tier 2). I’m about the same level as you and right around dungeon level 15 things started becoming an actual challenge again.
I've only seen up to T2 on the nightmare totem things. They go up to 100??
"You laugh at me because I'm different; I laugh at you because you're all the same." ~Jonathan Davis
"The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives." ~Robert M. Hutchins
YellowKing wrote: Mon Jun 26, 2023 9:59 pm
The game can be an absolute slog unless you find ways to keep yourself entertained. Right now I'm in the situation at Level 63 where everything is too easy at Tier 3, but I can't move up because the dungeon to unlock Tier 4 is still too difficult. So I have no choice but to grind it out. I wouldn't mind that so much if the loot was more varied and interesting, but as it stands I'm kind of getting the feeling I've seen every aspect in the game.
Have you tried Nightmare Dungeons? I’ve been working my way up the dungeon tiers (they go 1-100, but you can only go up to 20 in world tier 2). I’m about the same level as you and right around dungeon level 15 things started becoming an actual challenge again.
I've only seen up to T2 on the nightmare totem things. They go up to 100??
Yeah, same place that allows you to add/remove legendary aspects also allows you to destroy and create new nightmare sigils. I'm level 65 and find that I can (depending on the modifiers) handle up to Tier 19, with some difficulty. It definitely adds new challenge and big opportunities to upgrade your paragon board.
YellowKing wrote: Mon Jun 26, 2023 9:59 pm
The game can be an absolute slog unless you find ways to keep yourself entertained. Right now I'm in the situation at Level 63 where everything is too easy at Tier 3, but I can't move up because the dungeon to unlock Tier 4 is still too difficult. So I have no choice but to grind it out. I wouldn't mind that so much if the loot was more varied and interesting, but as it stands I'm kind of getting the feeling I've seen every aspect in the game.
Have you tried Nightmare Dungeons? I’ve been working my way up the dungeon tiers (they go 1-100, but you can only go up to 20 in world tier 2). I’m about the same level as you and right around dungeon level 15 things started becoming an actual challenge again.
I've only seen up to T2 on the nightmare totem things. They go up to 100??
I don't know what triggers it to unlock (running enough nightmare dungeons? a certain level?) but when you go to the occultist (aspect adding guy) you'll see a 3rd and 4th tab for creating or deconstructing nightmare sigils. When you craft them, you can choose if you want to create level 1-5, 6-10, etc. Once you get to world tier 4, you can craft dungeons higher than level 20. And yeah, the in-game explanation is practically nonexistent.
I haven’t tried the nightmare dungeons yet, nor have I grouped up with anybody in our clan - perhaps a good time to start, especially since going outside in Chicago right now is a no-go…
I got to tier four at level 68. Finally beat the boss to get there. Really enjoyed his fight. I started trying to kill him at lvl 65, but needed to beef up and change my build. Changing my build was the key. I like how it doesn't cost too much to switch builds, pretty minimal. It's fun to plan your next build through the skills, aspects that you have, and the paragon board. Lots of different routes you can take. Just takes time to rewire your brain on how to play your character.
I switched to traps and that brought the boss down. If you follow an optimized build then I'm sure it can be done at earlier levels. It helps me learn the game better by doing trial and error myself.
Learning how aspects work is definitely a must have knowledge to progress after the campaign.
My recommendation is to focus on completing the campaign as quickly as possible. You will never have to do it again. Then focus on the alters, strongholds, and side quests to get all the renown awards per zone. I wouldn't start an alt until those things are done. Your alt will be fairly powerful out of the gate.
Tier four is tough! All mobs are level 73+. Getting ancestral items to drop is rare but they can be a super good upgrade.
I tried a Nightmare tier 4 dungeon because of the new boosted XP from the patch that dropped today, but I was way underpowered to do it. I did notice my experience was gaining faster. Nice to see that.
For my fellow altoholics, I saw a great...loophole in enchanting items with the occultist online. If you enchant a low-level item with an imprint from a higher-level legendary, it changes it to the higher level.
Spoiler:
But if you use a higher level character to enchant a lower level item from the CODEX instead, it will keep that same lower level requirement. Because most of the aspects are percentages, it might not seem to matter. However, there are a few that do flat damage, such as Aspect of the Brawler for barbs. If you use a 60+ character, it will enchant a 4k+ damage explosion onto a low-level item, and you can give that item to a barb alt to power through most stuff early on. Rogue has a few, as well, but necro doesn't have any flat damage aspects that I could find. Cheeses the system, but it doesn't really "power level" per se, because instead of upping the xp it just let's you kill groups faster.
"You laugh at me because I'm different; I laugh at you because you're all the same." ~Jonathan Davis
"The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives." ~Robert M. Hutchins
I rebuilt my rogue according to the highly popular Twisting Blades build. He’s built for taking out large groups, as well as single bosses. It’s pretty amazing how much damage he does. I was getting killed on the first stronghold with my previous build. But this one? Just..wow. Tore through that place like a razor blade filled cyclone.
Lack of stuff to play brought me back here. I finally went through and got all the altars and am now working on the renown grind. Two areas down. I'm about halfway through level 58, my build is feeling pretty strong (Bone Spear Necro) even though the gear is pretty bad. I really need to address my resource generation issue. When I can bone spear, it is strong as hell, and then I run out of essence...
Doing the renown grind makes me wonder if I will bother with the season. I will test it out, but no way do I want to do this all again. I hope my next class is more fun to play.
coopasonic wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 12:09 pm
I really need to address my resource generation issue. When I can bone spear, it is strong as hell, and then I run out of essence...
Same here. I havent found a good way to boost it yet.
As it is, I can get off 4-5 shots and that's it.
coopasonic wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 12:09 pm
I really need to address my resource generation issue. When I can bone spear, it is strong as hell, and then I run out of essence...
Same here. I havent found a good way to boost it yet.
As it is, I can get off 4-5 shots and that's it.
If you have an essence-builder like hemorrhage or decompose, alternate one or two shots in between each bone spear. Hepls a ton.
"You laugh at me because I'm different; I laugh at you because you're all the same." ~Jonathan Davis
"The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives." ~Robert M. Hutchins
I finished the renown grind and checked the T4 capstone dungeon, not ready for it at 62. My build is well below that kind of power. In theory a few more levels would close the gap, particularly if I can replace a few pieces of gear along the way. I ran through a few nightmare dungeons and a couple helltides and... yeah, it still feels like a grind. At this point I am not even sure I will have interest in Season 1, particularly with all the must play games coming in the next few weeks.
I have probably already gotten my money's worth from a playtime perspective, so if I do get some time in on the seasons, it will be a bonus, but honestly there is no way I want to do that renown grind again unless they do something meaningful to lighten the burden.
coopasonic wrote: Wed Jul 05, 2023 11:34 am
I finished the renown grind and checked the T4 capstone dungeon, not ready for it at 62. My build is well below that kind of power. In theory a few more levels would close the gap, particularly if I can replace a few pieces of gear along the way. I ran through a few nightmare dungeons and a couple helltides and... yeah, it still feels like a grind. At this point I am not even sure I will have interest in Season 1, particularly with all the must play games coming in the next few weeks.
I have probably already gotten my money's worth from a playtime perspective, so if I do get some time in on the seasons, it will be a bonus, but honestly there is no way I want to do that renown grind again unless they do something meaningful to lighten the burden.
New small patch coming today, season patch on 7/18 and season start on 7/20
They confirmed you wouldn't have to do the renown grind again, regardless of which character you did it on (if you made alts). You will only have to log each character in and it will get an "overall" credit for any progress that wasn't already accounted for. I'm really happy about this because I have been having more fun and making more progress playing my alts.
My overall impression of the new seasonal content is it sounds fairly similar to PoE where there's some new mechanic to make you more powerful, which you may or may not be interested in. There's a new stand-alone quest line which I think is nice, and then they blend in some tasks like D3 to get other rewards if you are into that sort of thing. Nothing spectacular so if you are kind of bored of the overall grind it's doubtful this will change your mind.
My son has been in a big gaming slump the last few weeks, so our coop game is stalled in the ~level 30s. I think I'm going to start a solo character and give it a go on my own in order to knock off the campaign before then.
I'm getting towards what I think is the end of the campaign, I'm in hell, but I'll have to pick it up again the next session. I kind of hope o don't have to power through hell again...
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Black Lives definitely Matter Lorini!
Also: There are three ways to not tell the truth: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
Pyperkub wrote:I'm getting towards what I think is the end of the campaign, I'm in hell, but I'll have to pick it up again the next session. I kind of hope o don't have to power through hell again...
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And it actually saved my progress! So I was able to finish the campaign with my necromancer!
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Black Lives definitely Matter Lorini!
Also: There are three ways to not tell the truth: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
