Diablo III and other PC titles

[Apathy Wind]

So I saw a preview of this game the other day and thought "hmm that looks interesting and I have a computer capable of PC gaming now...". But I don't know that I'm necessarily convinced - the gameplay looked kind of Smash TV-esque on the preview I saw (though I imagine it'll be a great deal more involved).

I know Diable is a popular title so I imagine it must be fun but I'm curious as to what kind of fun. I've heard that gathering loot is the main attraction here - I guess that motivated/pleased me in Borderlands so I thought DIII might be interesting as well. But is the actual gameplay solid? What's it like (I can't imagine my Smash TV analogy would be accurate).

[SonicTempest]

I've never played Smash TV so I can't really comment on that angle, but the previous iteration in the series, Diablo II, is basically a mouse-driven action game where you pick a character class, each of whom has unique skills. Unlike Borderlands where each character has one active skill and a bunch of passive skills, Diablo characters have a combination of active and passive skills that confer different sorts of abilities.

For instance the Diablo II Paladin (the class I played in that game) has an active skill called Zeal that causes each click to perform multiple swings of his primary weapon, each with a bonus to accuracy and damage. He also has access to passive skills called auras that confer various benefits on him, such as Fanaticism that increases his damage and attack speed. Those skills are unique to the Paladin - other classes like the Barbarian and Sorceress have completely different skills and skill tree progressions. So really as far as builds go the game offers a good deal more variety than something like Borderlands.

My understanding of Diablo III is that it uses a somewhat simplified version of Diablo II's skill system - you unlock skills via a tree, but you can only have at most 3 passive skills and 6 active skills available to you at one time (you need to pick which ones, obviously). Both Diablo I & II featured character stats that you could assign manually (Strength, Dexterity, Energy and Vitality) but it sounds like they've done away with that stuff for Diablo III.

I did pour hundreds of hours into Diablo II - I got at least one character into Hell difficulty (the equivalent of Borderlands' third playthrough I guess?) and enjoyed every moment of it. I'm still not too sure what I think about Diablo III since they still seem to be changing a lot of stuff, but I'm also keeping an eye on Torchlight II (www.torchlight2game.com) which is by some former Blizzard devs.

[Foxhole]

Isn't it easier to say "Click on stuff to kill it while leveling up your skills to continue your endless loot hunt?"

[SonicTempest]

Well I could have said that, but it doesn't really highlight the differences between Borderlands and Diablo at all...

Also my example of Paladin auras being a passive skill was a bad one since you need to have auras equipped to use them. A better example would be something like the Barbarian's weapon masteries that increase his damage/accuracy with a given class of weapon. So basically they work like Borderlands skills.

[Apathy Wind]

I was less interested in the BL vs Diablo stat adjustors then I was the loot fest similiarities (I guess). Essentially that 'drive' to play and play just to get better loot (i.e. how I still feel the pull to play BL to get a legit pearlescent weapon - even though I have zero use for it). Maybe I'll try the beta when it comes out

Anyone ever play League of Legends? I hear it's free (some form of it at any rate) and it's got alot of fans. Never played a RTS on the computer but this looks kind of cool

[SonicTempest]

LoL isn't really an RTS, though, is it? No resource management/base building (outside of placing towers) in it, as far as I know. Although it was inspired by a Warcraft III mod (Defense of the Ancients).

That said I haven't played DotA or any of its imitators...no real interest.

[SonicTempest]

The Diablo III beta is underway and people have been uploading footage all over the place.

Here's a sample:
http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/commen ... gameplay-8

But there's plenty more on that website that you can look through if you're so inclined. All in 1080p too.

[SonicTempest]

I got into the beta, hurhurhur

Seems pretty fun so far. Playing a Monk.