**OFFICIAL** Diablo 3 Thread

[smackababy]

With the latest changes on the PTR, my desire to continue playing is about completely gone.

These devs still refuse to address Barbs correctly, as well as Monks and Wizards.

Greater rifts are still awful in their current state.

There are other things as well. The latest patch notes for the PTR are up at Blizzard's site.

Bill, I will still help you with your HC boss achievements. It should only take about an hour to get them all.

I haven't even started up D3 in awhile. I've been playing PoE waiting for 2.1, but I might not even come back for awhile (I am sure I will eventually).

 

[Cappuccino]

I haven't even started up D3 in awhile. I've been playing PoE waiting for 2.1, but I might not even come back for awhile (I am sure I will eventually).

I haven't clicked on my D3 icon for at least 3 weeks now. I'm waiting for 2.1 aswell. Really no point playing AT ALL right now. Maybe some warden farming but that's is all really. Meanwhile I'm playing Scribblenaut and LoL!

 

[*kjm]

With the latest changes on the PTR, my desire to continue playing is about completely gone.

These devs still refuse to address Barbs correctly, as well as Monks and Wizards.

Greater rifts are still awful in their current state.

There are other things as well. The latest patch notes for the PTR are up at Blizzard's site.

Bill, I will still help you with your HC boss achievements. It should only take about an hour to get them all.

Hate to hear this..... They must think Barbs should jump around with a dress on..... darn it!
Should have known after this long they just seem to have something against Barbs:\

 

[Zenoth]

I'm glad to see that the Crusader's Shield Bash will finally be affected by attack speed. My own Crusader has a build completely based on Shield Bash, using Piro Marella. The new Crusader set will also have a Shield Bash bonus (the Set is still unnamed though). So specifically for that I can't wait to see the changes, because my Crusader has become my main character, can't stand playing the Barbarian anymore.

 

[digiram]

I haven't clicked on my D3 icon for at least 3 weeks now. I'm waiting for 2.1 aswell. Really no point playing AT ALL right now. Maybe some warden farming but that's is all really. Meanwhile I'm playing Scribblenaut and LoL!

Same here.. been playing dota 2, and some xb1 for a change...2k, titanfall, cod.

 

[pandemonium]

I'll never play a HC character; wish I could. I have packet loss sessions that are at the first node of Blizzard's network (pccb something or other is the DNS). Without fail, I'll always get packet loss every 20 minutes or so. So, yeah...that'll never happen for me. And stacking vast amounts of vitality just to survive session time-outs is not my idea of fun.

I've been playing Heroes & Generals lately. 2.1 will probably pull me back for a bit, but for now D3 is on cooldown since there isn't much to do really.

 

[Malladine]

Lost my Crusader @ lvl 55 (13 hrs played) last night...on my first time at Malthael

Ran into those flying skulls...

I knew I should have waited too, damn it. I had 290k toughness and 12k damage if it helps anyone.

I think i'll level a Barbarian through expert next, Malthael will go down.

 

[Ertaz]

I am going to keep grinding. Going to try to get to 400 before the patch. At 335 now.

 

[Cappuccino]

Same here.. been playing dota 2, and some xb1 for a change...2k, titanfall, cod.

I never played DOTA 2, is it similar to LoL? I've heard it's better and relies more skill. Not sure if it's true or not

 

[Cappuccino]

I am going to keep grinding. Going to try to get to 400 before the patch. At 335 now.

Wow good luck lol! What route are you doing for XP? D:

 

[Ertaz]

Wow good luck lol! What route are you doing for XP? D:

T5/T6 rifts.

 

[sweenish]

Huh. Interesting. While leveling up, how do you decide when to go up in difficulty level? Do you typically start on normal or expert or what? Do you drop back down for known tough boss fights?

I'm not the greatest font, as I only have two HC toons: crusader and witch doctor. But I'll give it a go with my methods.

I play the entire campaign on normal. I did a search for rough estimates on levels and damage, but at the end of the day, it comes down to feel. I was very meticulous in Act 1, fully exploring and doing all side crawls for XP. Crafting pays off big time in the earlier levels.

My WD was killing it by the end of Act 2 on normal, but I chugged away on normal, knowing that my gear would suck again and I'd have to wait for the next wave of upgrades. But at the same time I just started charging through the campaign. I was in the 30s when I beat Diablo. Probably forties or low fifties for Maltheal. In softcore, I would always get up to 70 for Maltheal, but my mindset is different for HC.

After I beat the campaign, I almost immediately stepped up to hard due to amount of faceroll I was having in Normal. I think I made it most of the way to 70, if not all the way. Because I don't have a crazy amount of Paragon levels, I still had to gear up for expert. And I play it super safe with my HC toons. My WD is very likely ready for master, but like I posted earlier, I just need a few mats and expert is better for that due to the speed I can clear it on.

My difficulty check is two-fold. First one is just going to to the festering woods in adventure mode and trying out the mobs. If I feel good about that, I'll stick around for a bit and do bounties and all that. After I feel pretty good about how the toon handles bounties, I'll try a rift.

Depending on how the rift goes, I'll stay at that difficulty or step back down for a bit until I get some better gear. My crusader jumped between T1 and Master about three times before I finally stayed at T1. T2 is just within my reach, but those scary moments I had during a T2 rift were pulse-pounding. Luckily the horsey and my kind of ridiculous healing stat saved my bacon each time.

And after entering a new difficulty, I avoid the Kill Maltheal/Adria/Izual bounties until I feel really good about my ability to take him on. In fact, I run a lot of Act I after I first get into a new difficulty. Slowly expanding from there. Act V is still a whole different beast from the rest of the game in each difficulty, at least for me.

 

[Malladine]

Act V is still a whole different beast from the rest of the game in each difficulty, at least for me.

having played through acts 1-4 many times i have to agree there. TBH i'd be fine it they removed 2-4 altogether. 1 and 5 only lol

i'm definitely not as cautious as you are. Lost a 59 witch doctor, several 30s and the crusader.

Do you really need that much gear for Expert? i was doing fine until Malthael. The leveling boost is great.

 

[sweenish]

It's not like I got super geared before expert. I think it was for the most part crafting some 70 rares "of Intelligence." If it sounded drawn out, that's on me. I just never dove right into expert. I may not have been level 70, I can't remember. I moved into expert when Hard got easy, and that took awhile.

The last thing I wanted was an undergeared 70. Hitting max level also changes the difficulty enough that it was worth it for me.

I get decently geared before T1, though. A few legendaries, at least one crafted set bonus.

Seems like we just have two different mindsets going into HC. I would be a bit more cavalier if I had something like 200 paragon. At least then I could max some of those stats out and make expert a much safer experience much sooner.

 

[Malladine]

It's not like I got super geared before expert. I think it was for the most part crafting some 70 rares "of Intelligence." If it sounded drawn out, that's on me. I just never dove right into expert. I may not have been level 70, I can't remember. I moved into expert when Hard got easy, and that took awhile.

The last thing I wanted was an undergeared 70. Hitting max level also changes the difficulty enough that it was worth it for me.

I get decently geared before T1, though. A few legendaries, at least one crafted set bonus.

Seems like we just have two different mindsets going into HC. I would be a bit more cavalier if I had something like 200 paragon. At least then I could max some of those stats out and make expert a much safer experience much sooner.

Yeah i'm kinda like my avatar

Might have to change that actually, calm down a bit, haha. There's a Hard?! I completely missed that, i thought it went easy, normal, expert, master, torment

 

[Denithor]

I think it's Normal, Hard, Expert, Master, Torment.

There's no "Easy" setting - even though that's more or less what "Normal" comes out to.

 

[pandemonium]

T5/T6 rifts.

Split bountying would be largely faster if you're going for exp.

Get in a T5/T6 game, have everyone in the same act and don't be afraid to do any other events you come across while also doing the bounties, as they'll reward the entire group as well. You can then jump from act to act together. Exp goes very quickly like this.

 

[sweenish]

Yeah i'm kinda like my avatar

Might have to change that actually, calm down a bit, haha. There's a Hard?! I completely missed that, i thought it went easy, normal, expert, master, torment

I took a bit from you and adjusted some of my skills around on my crusader to be a bit more offensive. I swapped Hold Your Ground for Towering Shield, and it's paying off in spades. I was already using Punish and Shield Bash, so what's losing some block percentage to up those skills by 20%?

Also helped to give my Templar a Doombringer that dropped.

It's nice, as is T2 so far. Gold comes in so much faster. I imagine this is where my crusader will live until I get a game changing weapon, preferably a 2H, and enough of a class-specific set to invoke some bonuses.

I'm excited for the Roland set in 2.1, but I'd still be fine with Akhan's.

 

[Malladine]

Ahh nice!

I actually tried Hard with my HC Demon Hunter and it's pretty damn easy so far...

He was previously on master and level 30 just barely into Act 2
but yeah it takes FOREVER to kill packs and bosses

 

[Denithor]

I started a HC Crusader this weekend, played some Friday night and Saturday, just running on Normal so far. I'm around level 26 about 2/3 through Act 2, have just killed Magda. Normal enemies and even most elites just fall over, even the boss fights haven't been hard at all, the only thing even remotely challenging is elites with arcane or frozen.

Gold is in short supply though at this difficulty setting.

So, how do you judge when you're ready to up the difficulty? I certainly don't want to lose the 12 or so hours I have played at this point, but at the same time it's actually kinda boring when everything falls so fast/easy.

 

[Malladine]

By the sounds of it you'll be fine on Hard There's no increase in loot drops or anything like that, just Gold and XP. The former should help your funds a bit though so it's worth it for that as well as for the challenge. Hard isn't particularly crazy, my DH has mediocre gear (maybe 1 legendary/set item) in the early 30s almost through Act 2 and destroys everything. Expert is where things start getting hairy for me leveling from scratch. Finding recipes is great as it's permanent and shares to other HC characters.

Is this your first HC? Kinda fun starting over isn't it?

 

[Adrenaline]

I started a HC Crusader this weekend, played some Friday night and Saturday, just running on Normal so far. I'm around level 26 about 2/3 through Act 2, have just killed Magda. Normal enemies and even most elites just fall over, even the boss fights haven't been hard at all, the only thing even remotely challenging is elites with arcane or frozen.

Gold is in short supply though at this difficulty setting.

So, how do you judge when you're ready to up the difficulty? I certainly don't want to lose the 12 or so hours I have played at this point, but at the same time it's actually kinda boring when everything falls so fast/easy.

If you can kill a Goblin on your current difficulty, you are fine. If you are unable to kill a Goblin on your current difficulty, you need to lower it.

 

[smackababy]

The more I play PoE, the less I think I will come back for 2.1 right at the patch. I'm sure I will eventually play again, I just am having a lot more fun alternating between Fifa and PoE.

 

[Denithor]

By the sounds of it you'll be fine on Hard There's no increase in loot drops or anything like that, just Gold and XP. The former should help your funds a bit though so it's worth it for that as well as for the challenge. Hard isn't particularly crazy, my DH has mediocre gear (maybe 1 legendary/set item) in the early 30s almost through Act 2 and destroys everything. Expert is where things start getting hairy for me leveling from scratch. Finding recipes is great as it's permanent and shares to other HC characters.

Is this your first HC? Kinda fun starting over isn't it?

Yes, this is my first HC toon. So far it's been a walk in the proverbial park, on Normal there's just about nothing challenging. The only time I have even been below half a globe was when wandered into two packs of elites simultaneously, one was arcane and the other was frozen. That was a little hairy, I popped the horsie and ran away as soon as I saw ice and laser beams start up together. Took those ones down piecemeal instead of tanking like everything else.

If you can kill a Goblin on your current difficulty, you are fine. If you are unable to kill a Goblin on your current difficulty, you need to lower it.

Now that's a good measure to judge by. I can take them pretty easily now on Normal, they usually don't even get to open the portal unless I don't notice I have hit one until too late.

Time for hard mode I think. We'll see how it goes!

 

[Malladine]

Yes, this is my first HC toon. So far it's been a walk in the proverbial park, on Normal there's just about nothing challenging. The only time I have even been below half a globe was when wandered into two packs of elites simultaneously, one was arcane and the other was frozen. That was a little hairy, I popped the horsie and ran away as soon as I saw ice and laser beams start up together. Took those ones down piecemeal instead of tanking like everything else.



Now that's a good measure to judge by. I can take them pretty easily now on Normal, they usually don't even get to open the portal unless I don't notice I have hit one until too late.

Time for hard mode I think. We'll see how it goes!

meh not bad but "wade in and try it" is better!