Diablo III launch

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The Demon Hunter gets an invulnerable companion (a raven, spider, bat, boar, pair of ferrets or a wolf, depending on the rune used), so it doesn't seem a stretch at all that the so-called summoner of the game would have such a benefit also.

It doesn't sound like that is the direction Blizzard wants to go, but it seems they haven't made any firm decisions yet, so who knows.

 

Invulnerable summons can't tank for you. One hit on your dog is one less on you.

 

Good point. Personally, as my DH has around 1200 vitality, allowing this stat to improve the survivability of minions, garg and dogs, would surely make the summoner option a lot more viable for me.

 

I got the game at launch, but had to wait a week and a half until I got a working computer that would run it (That's a rant for somewhere else if I want to go back there). I've tried all 5 classes and like them all. The shared stash is really helping me gear my lower characters better.

I'm still seeing server lag issues, but they only pop up when I have limited time to play, and the auction house hasn't been helpful yet as I keep getting outbid on items I've tried to get.

So for now I'm stuck at Diablo with my WD is stuck at Diablo (normal), my Barb is just entering act IV, Monk working act III, DH just getting there, and my Wizzard is late in act II. I've got some work cut out for me, but I'll have more time next week...

 

How can you be stuck in normal? You must be doing something seriously wrong if that is the case. The game doesn't even start to get remotely challenging until early Hell and even there things are quite manageable. Now, inferno, jeez, again act1 inferno ok but after that things become stupid. Fun but stupid.

I think you should give the AH another look, don't bid on stuff. Just buy things out.

Another tip is to check for elective mode I think it is. It allows you to choose whatever skills you want on your action bar and doesn't limit you to one per "school". I struggled a bit when I kept thinking that newest skill is the best skill. Not the case, find a set of spells that fit your play style and stick with them. Below Inferno you can make pretty much any combination work although some are easier than others.

 

The dogs also double as a resource, specifically for the Sacrifice skill. Sacrifice is basically D3's Corpse Explosion, with runes that that grant useful secondary effects (recover HP/Mana, create more explosions, significantly improve your DPS per dog sacrificed). Using the dogs as a resource helps circumvent the mana problem, which is why I'd rather have the option to have invulnerable dogs than 1-2 hit meatshields (besides, the fetish already have that function covered). It would be different if I could command my dogs to kite enemy mobs away from me, but currently their AI is basically run-towards-the-first-thing-that-comes-in-range - Arcane Enchanted (a.k.a. kite or die) or otherwise. While the warning they provide (by revealing where enemy mobs are) and their ability to block enemy movement can be invaluable for some builds, their actual "meatshield value" is questionable, especially when they take off in different directions. The 60 second cooldown on the Summon Zombie Dog spell doesn't help.

 

I was stuck on normal because I was undergeared with my lead character. I have since given the Auction house another look, and that put me over the top. My Barbarian has also fared well between a lucky drop and some stuff my Witch Doctor found when Diablo finally fell.

I see what you're saying about just buying things out, as bidding rarely gets you anything.

I'm also starting to auction off some of the stuff I find and think a lower level character might appreciate. I'm wondering if a buyout price might help me move some of this crap...

I find that buying gems may be the best bargain I've found there. Interestingly enough, it's over 100 for a chipped gem, but a flawed one can be found for 40 to 60 gold...

The biggest hurdle I'll have this week is time. It's the middle of the hay harvest, and I've had a couple long days, and there may be a couple more long days ahead...

 

Holy cow! A Gnarff sighting!!! Have you transferred from WoW to Sanctuary?

 

Last fall, I just hit a point where I just couldn't look at WoW any more. It was confirmed this spring when someone paid for a two month time card to bring me back so he could get a fancy mount.

I pre-ordered Diablo III when I heard that they were taking orders. I figure this summer I will give SW:TOR a real try.

Meanwhile, I'm selling some interesting things I find on the AH to finance my advancing characters...

 

I bought two copies of this game on Thursday and myself and Teen Snook are already hopelessly addicted. One thing I'm enjoying is that he has way more free time and is a much higher level than I am so he keeps saving cool things for my Demon Hunter.

My only complaint so far, and this really isn't a complaint is that the multiplayer doesn't seem as intense as it was in D2. Although, that may be because I'm still going through my first pass (still haven't gotten out of Act I)

 

All the way up to inferno is basically just levelling smoothly and easy. The "real" game doesn't really start until inferno and there it is plenty intense. You can play it once on normal but it isn't very satisfying and you do not get much bang for your bucks and I was thinking what was so special about this game and why people were so excited. Then I came to inferno. Jebus, what you basically do is die, die, die, curse unfair mob ability combos and then die some more. But slowly you start to get a hang of it and you start improving your gear. You have to farm a lot, scan the AH for upgrades. Improve your gear one piece at a time to be able to progress. I have been doing this for two weeks now and am enjoying it a lot more in some twisted way than when I just blitzed past the first three difficulties. I am getting ready to start progressing in act3 inferno and am playing with a bunch of both rl friends and some old WoW mates.

What class is Teen Snook playing? If you are a demon hunter I would recommend him to play a monk or a barbarian. It is really hard to progress solo for anyone in inferno but things get more manageable with one tank and one damage dealer. Tank focuses on beefing up hp, armour and resistances while the damage dealer beefs up his damage. Keep us posted Snook!

 

Barbarian all the way for him. He started playing D2 at age 5 (now 16) and the barbarian suited him then and still does.

 

You picked just the right combo. Barbarians have less crowd control skills than monks, but all the protection a demon hunter really needs is a lot of distance between him and his target/s.

 

Bit late to the thread, but I've been having fun playing the game. Leveled a Wizard to 59 on the European servers (for latency reasons) but then I realized I have the US client and when they patch stuff, it seems to break my client for some reason and it only lets me play on the US servers...

Rerolled with a Demon Hunter that's in A3 Inferno at the moment. It's been a lot of fun certainly.

Also, if any of ya'll are looking for multiplayer in game, Battle tag: Atterana#1327!

 

I think you may be right about that. We are still in Act 2 normal and last night we got some decent playing time in. He is I believe level 21 and I think I'm 19. We found that as long as we played together we were unstoppable. It was when we seperated that we would end up dying. I need him to be an aggro meat shield killing machine and he needs me "bring on the pain" from a distance. There was one time in particular that it worked well. He was surrounded by about six "champion" level bad guys. He noticed that the first one took around ten hits to kill, but by the time he got to the last one it was so weakened he got it in one.


Here's a question. Does resurrection do anything except bring you back where your corpse is?

 

Nope. It still has its uses though, like if you keep dying you'll have to wait longer (~30 seconds) before you can respawn, so it helps if someone just resurrected you instead.

 

I'm planning to buy a copy for my son when he turns 9 next month. Glad to hear I'm not the only father consenting to allow their youngins to play this game. I'm looking forward to grouping up with him when he gets it.

He's been playing D2 for almost a year, and has a level 70ish Druid as his main character. He's a well adjusted kid, and I don't see a problem with him doing D3... fighting for the forces of light to bring down the bad guys. I'll just have to really watch him on the online aspect of the game (would greatly prefer an offline play option), and set some good ground rules. I'll also be looking into restricting his account with the parental controls that are available.

 

Man, the attack speed nerf screwed me over a lot more than I thought it would. Lost 10k damage and now it feels like fighting in syrup. I hadn't even invested heavily in haste but just used items I found. Need to find me some fast weapon so it at least feels reasonable again because now things are way too slow.

 

As far as WDs are concerned our damage has always favored crit/crit damage, attack speed for us is more damage + versatility thanks to on-hit stats. I heard those solo build WDs trying to be demon hunters were hit pretty hard though. Multiplayer-wise, I'm currently having a blast farming the hell out of Inferno Act 2. Our favorite haunt is Kulle's sanctuary, where there are no wasps/lacuni.

 

I absolutely loathe lacuni stalkers and harbour a deep resentment towards the wasps. Have not noticed them being less prone to run away since the patch.

Attack speed was the best offensive stat for all classes and honestly still is. 1% haste is 1% more damage. 1% crit is not even that, to get it to that you need lots of +crit damage as well. It needed a nerf but I understand how people feel cheated. My wizard feels much more sluggish now and I hadn't even invested heavily in it. I now need 3-4m or a bunch of lucky drops to be able to properly progress act 3.