Diablo III

Elite wrote:

Furthermore in order to get the required armor for the act would cost a fortune of gold pieces, all the good gear is also extremely expensive in the auction house. If anyone has any advice I would gladly take it.

I've been playing around with the auction house since Belial. You're right about prices being expensive but if you look closely, you can equip yourself for a very reasonable amount. Where I made my mistake earlier was I thought building up the blacksmith and jeweler and picking up upgraded weapons and armor was all I needed. I wasted all that gold on both of them. Now, I'm buying and selling on the auction house as well.

I learned about the auction house late in the game as well. It wasn't until I started playing hell difficulty that I started using the auction house; I guess that was my first big mistake. My second was jumping into the game without having a clue of how to play. I was so exited that I didn't read any manual or any tips on how to play, not to mention I have never played diablo or diablo 2 nor world of warcraft, so the whole character in a virtual world was new to me. Third mistake was spending all my gold on upgrading my blacksmith, artisan, and my gems; such a waste of gold. Fourth mistake was choosing my first character as the wizard, and from what I have read, the wizard is the hardest character to play with. So yes I have made many many mistakes but now after a month or two I finally understand how to play

Elite wrote:

I learned about the auction house late in the game as well. It wasn't until I started playing hell difficulty that I started using the auction house; I guess that was my first big mistake. My second was jumping into the game without having a clue of how to play. I was so exited that I didn't read any manual or any tips on how to play, not to mention I have never played diablo or diablo 2 nor world of warcraft, so the whole character in a virtual world was new to me. Third mistake was spending all my gold on upgrading my blacksmith, artisan, and my gems; such a waste of gold. Fourth mistake was choosing my first character as the wizard, and from what I have read, the wizard is the hardest character to play with. So yes I have made many many mistakes but now after a month or two I finally understand how to play

So, when you play your barbarian, you'll know what to do..............BTW, my online handle is, of course, DEMONSLAYER. Look me up if you want.

(DC)DEMONSLAYER wrote:

Chameleon wrote:

Only played the first one way back. Thought it was ok. Is the gameplay on the third one similar?

Movement is similiar but that's about it. Gameplay, graphics, etc. are far beyond even Diablo 2. If you are going to jump to Diablo 3 without playing Diablo 2, I would recommend reviewing the Diablo 3 websites and forums first to get some idea of the gameplay.

Remember, Diablo took place in one location (Tristam) and you just went deeper into the cavern. Diablos 2 and 3 takes you all over the Diablo world.

Of course, if you buy and play, I'm available to help you as well. The biggest thing is always upgrading your gear as much as you can.

My computer will run it, but my concern is the time I can actually play it. Is the game ok to play a couple of hours, not play for a week or two, and then jump in again? That is what happens to me with Battlefield 3. I end up forgetting maps, even controls, and generally how to play.

BTW demon, each name has its own pound key and 4 specific numbers after the name. So there are many people that go by the name demonslayer, so in order for me to add you, you would have to put DEMONSLAYER#9999 with those numbers being your specific numbers. For example mine is ZEUS#1102, you can add me if you want but I wont reply until a month from now, being in school and all.

Chameleon wrote:

Is the game ok to play a couple of hours, not play for a week or two, and then jump in again? That is what happens to me with Battlefield 3. I end up forgetting maps, even controls, and generally how to play.

If you play from checkpoint to checkpoint, you're good regards of how time you spend between playing the game. You do not have the problem with remembering the maps and quests as you will have reminders.

Elite wrote:

BTW demon, each name has its own pound key and 4 specific numbers after the name. So there are many people that go by the name demonslayer, so in order for me to add you, you would have to put DEMONSLAYER#9999 with those numbers being your specific numbers. For example mine is ZEUS#1102, you can add me if you want but I wont reply until a month from now, being in school and all.

#1798

Just for grins and gigles, I went online to try out the online multiplayer setup. Very nice.

First, you are placed in a group that is balanced, i.e. all players are of similiar levels. Any spoils of war are are divided among the players and only you can see your share of coins, health, and pickup. Killing the boss was a lot easier (not that it was easy). I was in a group that had four different characters and my eyes were opened on how much you learned to depend the other players during the map. Of course, the difficulty level goes higher with each additional player on but the xp and leveling seems to come faster. Also, your location on the map/quest transfers between the single player and online multiplayer.

However, I couldn't figure out the chat and there was little coordination between the players after you have three or more on.

(DC)DEMONSLAYER wrote:

However, I couldn't figure out the chat and there was little coordination between the players after you have three or more on.

The chat was quite confusing at first for me as well, in order to chat you must press enter, begin typing your text and then enter again to execute it. As to who you want to talk to is an entirely different matter. For example you can talk to 1 of the other 3 players you are playing with or you can talk to the whole party as a whole or you can talk to general (general implies other people within your category, Im still trying to understand what this means though). In order to switch between these options, there is an icon in the lower left corner that looks like a chat bubble. From this icon you can select exactly who you want to talk to, now if you select a specific player you want to talk to, then the other players will not see the messages you send him, but if you decide to send a message to the party then everyone will see it. I learned these options after hours of struggling in trying to communicate with players among other things of course.

Another thing you might find extremely useful is elective mode. It is located in the options menu. Press esc, then options, and enable elective mode. This option lets you use skills from the same category. For example say you want to use 2 offensive abilities... well when this is enabled, now you can. I also learned this when I was already level 60; if I knew about this earlier it would have helped by a long-shot.

After playing D3 for a while and now starting the Hell level, I have suggestions for beginning players who will start on the normal level.

Elite, feel free to add anything you feel that I missed since I know you are on Inferno.

First, after you decide what character you will play, you will need to start making decisions on how you build your character up. Just slinging a character together from pickup and purchases from the various vendors and the auction house will work until you hit the second or third boss. Then you will constantly die. Don't build your character without some research. It will be cheaper for you in the long run.

D3 is more of a planning and thinking game than the two previous versions. For example, the attributes need to be paid attention to as each one is important to a particular class.

Per the game guide, here are the attributes list:

"Each hero in Diablo III possesses immense power—incredible muscle, speed, sturdiness, or brilliance—that allows them to defy darkness. These core qualities are called attributes, numbers that represent just how potent a particular hero is in their areas of expertise. Here’s a brief overview of heroic attributes in Diablo III:

Strength: The primary attribute for Barbarians. Strength increases Barbarian damage, and increases Armor for all classes.

Dexterity: The primary attribute for Demon Hunters and Monks. Dexterity increases Demon Hunter and Monk damage, and increases Dodge Chance for all classes.

Intelligence: The primary attribute for Witch Doctors and Wizards. Intelligence increases Witch Doctor and Wizard damage, and increases resistances for all classes.

Vitality: Increases Life, the amount of damage you can take before dying. Armor: Decreases the amount of damage you take from enemy attacks.

Damage: Indicates the average amount of damage you deal with your attacks. Damage is derived from your equipped weapons, primary attribute, attack speed, and critical hit chance.

Each class has each one of these attributes, but depending on your preferred play style, you might be more interested in some attributes more than others.

For example, if you find yourself darting in and out of combat to deliver quick strikes instead of going toe-to-toe with enemies, you might be more concerned with your Damage, and less concerned with Vitality. It's less valuable to increase your health if you’re rarely hit.

Attributes are raised automatically as your level increases. You’ll grow more powerful as you destroy your enemies and progress through the game. In addition, many pieces of equipment that you’ll find are enchanted to confer specific bonuses to attributes when they’re equipped; select your gear to bolster the attributes you care about most."

Each piece of equipment needs to be picked up/kept/purchased based on your plan, current and future. For example, my barbarian does not need the intelligence and dexterity attributes as much as he needs the strength, damage, and vitality.

You may wish to spend the gold to increase the size of your stash so that you can have enough storage for present and future acqusitions.

Based on my plan, my level 50 barbarian is now at:

Strength=786
Dexterity=421
Intellegence=259
Vitality=794
Armor=2580
Damage=1781

Another thing to keep in mind is what level your character is in relationship to the next level of the game. For me, I planned on leveling up 25 times for normal, 25 for Nighmare, and 25 for Hell. Thus, when I finish up with Hell, I should have at least a level 75 character barbarian for Inferno.

You should start your planning by going to the following link and reading thru the guide. http://us.battle.net/d3/en/game/guide/gameplay/combat-skills

Demon, you have everything pretty much down, except for the part about reaching level 75. The max level is 60, it got bumped down for some weird reason, that is what makes inferno so hard. Most people reach level 60 around hell level, meaning that at inferno level all you can upgrade is your armor and weapons.

Also as a side not for the people just starting out, do not waste gold on the blacksmith or artisan, in neither upgrading jewels nor trying to forge new armor or weapons. This is one of the biggest wastes of money I have encountered. As you progress through the game, better jewels and better armor is dropped making forging items useless. Also try and equip your hero with rare items, they are usually the best items around except for the legendary ones of course which are extremely rare.

Elite wrote:

the part about reaching level 75. The max level is 60

Ooops, forgot about that. As to the blacksmith, I agree. The jury is still out on the jeweler. I probably have a 100,000 in gold invested on each.

OUCH. Nightmare was not a breeze by any means but Hell is three times tougher. After playing the Normal and part of Nightmare modes by myself, I went co-opt.

Co-opt play actually gives out more goodies, especially gold (very dependent on gold since the armor/weapon pickups are only good for selling for more gold). Along with that, you can resurect players who have died to keep them playing. Bad part, every time you die, the wait time to play again gets longer (up to 30 seconds) and you have to restart at the checkpoint unless another player has time to do the resurection.

I now agree with Elite on the jeweler. DO NOT spend your time and money building up the jeweler and blacksmith. Save your gold and build your amor and weapons up through the auction house by very careful shopping and bidding.

I've had to change my planning and started buying and stocking up on level 60 armor and weapon while at level 50+. There is no way that anything below 60 level items will allow you to survive in Infernal, not even at the beginning, based on the toughness of Hell.

One of the things I was able to do was to go back and mine the lower modes for gold but as you level up, those avenues disappear. For esxample, While playing the Hell mode, I was able to go back into Nightmare and fight, pick up gold and goodies, but now at level 56, there is only one portion left of Nightmare left and I think that I will lose that at level 57.

To give you an idea about how tough Hell is, four players level 54 and up and each playing a different class, we will all die during combat. Sometimes another player will have time to do the resurection, if we are lucky. Enclosed spaces are a real killer and there are a lot of them.

Ahh yes I feel your pain demon, but here's a tip, if you ever plan on using other characters (which in my case i have done), I would suggest keeping the best armor in your chest so like that you can pass down your unused armor to your other characters. It has helped me a lot. For example my wizard was the first to reach 60 and his main attribute was intelligence so obviously I had a lot of items on intelligence that were extra and also some on the other attributes that didnt really fit the wizard character. And so I saved the most valuable of the items in the chest and passed them on to my barbarian, demon hunter, witch doctor and monk, which has proved very useful in both survival and the gathering of even more powerful items. This might be coincidental, but I feel it is worth sharing, when I play a character that is driven mainly through intelligence, most of the drops seem to be everything else, only few intelligence items drop. The same goes for any other attribute, so by playing different characters, I can mixmatch items so I get the best possible items for my characters.

Also if you think hell is hard wait till inferno... each act in hell gets a little harder than the previous for example I think act 2 is about 50% harder than act 1 while act 3 is around 50% harder than act 2 so you get the picture. I wish the same was true for inferno, it seems act 2 is about 200% harder than act 1 and the same goes for act 3. But you'll see when you get there

Also on infernal is where you may want to start upgrading gems, the best gem drop I have seen thus far is a radiant square which is only half way through the gem levels, meaning in order to upgrade it you must spend a lot of gold.

Don't forget that anything you have in your storage chest carries over to the next character(s), and if I'm not mistaken, any gold that you have. Take the time to buy expansions to your chest as you will need the extra space.