Flux
07-11-2008, 15:11
Everyone who reads this forum probably checks the main page too, but just in case I'll put in a link to my blizzcon wizard gameplay report (http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/wizard-gameplay-report/), which was just posted yesterday. It's long and thorough and goes over basic wizard gameplay, wizard items, and then covers all of the lower level spells (that I used) in great detail. A quote:
Gameplay Style
The play style I found most effective with the Wizard was to basically treat her like a low level, twink-free, slightly more deadly version of the D2 Sorceress. The Wizard had a lot of destructive power, but was quite fragile and was more than able to kill herself. She’s got some pretty useful skills right off the bat, actives and passives, but they’re almost too useful, since they’re so fun to fire and they kill so effectively that you want to keep using them non-stop, and your mana pool is nowhere near deep enough to cash the checks your hunger for slaughter is writing.
The Wizard’s mana regeneration seemed much faster than a Sorc’s in D2, but it was even easier to use it all up in the first place. My Wizard had around 100 mana at level 6, and with my main skills (Spectral Blade and Magic Missile) costing (respectively) 7 and 8 mana per use, I found myself resorting to melee weapons every time I had enough health to risk it, in order to let my mana refill a bit. I never missed the ability to distribute my own attributes while playing with a Barbarian or Witch Doctor, but two minutes into the Wizard I wanted to start putting points into Energy Willpower, and two minutes after that I wanted to load up Vitality too, when I found myself almost dead, all the time, while retreating to gain space and mana to wipe out the pursuing skeletons in hopes that they’d cough up some health globes. I don’t know what good strength and dexterity were doing my Wizard, but it wasn’t anywhere near as much good as more health and mana would have done her.
My first game with the Wizard was the hardest, since I joined a multiplayer game (there were 4 machines in the press room, linked up in a LAN to allow MP or SP, though most people chose SP). It’s not known just how much monster hit points and density and level size are modified by more players in a game, but it sure felt harder, and the levels seemed bigger, than when I played later, in a single player game. I can’t make a very good comparison though, since my first Wizard game was my only multiplayer game, and it was the first time I’d ever touched Diablo III. I played a Wizard again the next day, and had much less trouble keeping up her mana, clearing out the dungeons, and eventually defeating the Skeleton King.
It was fun both times. Fun for the novelty the first time, plus the constant near death(s) and struggle for mana and health orbs kept me alert. The next time I played I was alone, more experienced at the game, and I engaged in a more methodical massacre of the dungeon hordes. I needed to retreat far less often, and I wasn’t constantly emerging from crazy, retreating, running, spell-throwing battles with no more than a a sliver of health. The multiplayer game was further complicated by the fact that the other people in it had no idea what they were doing, and kept standing motionless and laughing as they got killed, or casting spells at the walls, or (harmlessly) at me, or simply looking over their equipment and skills instead of fighting. Worse, they were all playing Wizards, so they couldn’t even tank very well. At least if they’d played Barbarians they would have lasted a few seconds longer before each death.
The hardest monsters, or at least the ones that dealt by far the most damage to me, were ranged attackers. I could blast or outrun or chill most melee attackers, (mana permitting), but the ranged attackers were nastier, since they’d always get in a shot or two before I could take them out (this changed somewhat when I got better with Disintegrate). This wouldn’t have meant a thing in D2, since I’d just have sucked down a potion, but in D3 there are no potions to buy, they drop very rarely, characters don’t regenerate hit points right from the start, and therefore, all of those little bits of damage added up. I don’t know if it was true or just my perception, but ranged attackers seemed to drop health globes much less often than melee mobs. As a result the archers were almost always a net loss in hit points, one that I had to overcome with health dropped by the melee monsters, who were easier to kill without being injured by, but who did a lot more damage when they did get a paw on me.
My Blizzcon Wizard play can really be described as a tale of two games. The first was chaotic and funny and frustrating, but quite memorable. The second was much easier and more successful, but far less difficult. In that one I played systematically, only advancing as much as I had to to draw some monsters into sight. I’d the retreat, or hold my ground while blasting them, and take time to look at the items they dropped. Which gave my mana time to regenerate. I had an easy enough time that when I got to the Skeleton King, I ran a few extra laps around his multi-level throne room area, blasting away at his hordes of skeleton minions and taking pot shots at him, just to prolong the fun. Eventually I killed him by experimenting with Disintegrate and trying to judge if the damage actually did increase the longer I held the beam on the same target. (Results = inconclusive.)
Comments or questions are best posted on the main page thread, which I'll be checking and replying to, as need be.
Gameplay Style
The play style I found most effective with the Wizard was to basically treat her like a low level, twink-free, slightly more deadly version of the D2 Sorceress. The Wizard had a lot of destructive power, but was quite fragile and was more than able to kill herself. She’s got some pretty useful skills right off the bat, actives and passives, but they’re almost too useful, since they’re so fun to fire and they kill so effectively that you want to keep using them non-stop, and your mana pool is nowhere near deep enough to cash the checks your hunger for slaughter is writing.
The Wizard’s mana regeneration seemed much faster than a Sorc’s in D2, but it was even easier to use it all up in the first place. My Wizard had around 100 mana at level 6, and with my main skills (Spectral Blade and Magic Missile) costing (respectively) 7 and 8 mana per use, I found myself resorting to melee weapons every time I had enough health to risk it, in order to let my mana refill a bit. I never missed the ability to distribute my own attributes while playing with a Barbarian or Witch Doctor, but two minutes into the Wizard I wanted to start putting points into Energy Willpower, and two minutes after that I wanted to load up Vitality too, when I found myself almost dead, all the time, while retreating to gain space and mana to wipe out the pursuing skeletons in hopes that they’d cough up some health globes. I don’t know what good strength and dexterity were doing my Wizard, but it wasn’t anywhere near as much good as more health and mana would have done her.
My first game with the Wizard was the hardest, since I joined a multiplayer game (there were 4 machines in the press room, linked up in a LAN to allow MP or SP, though most people chose SP). It’s not known just how much monster hit points and density and level size are modified by more players in a game, but it sure felt harder, and the levels seemed bigger, than when I played later, in a single player game. I can’t make a very good comparison though, since my first Wizard game was my only multiplayer game, and it was the first time I’d ever touched Diablo III. I played a Wizard again the next day, and had much less trouble keeping up her mana, clearing out the dungeons, and eventually defeating the Skeleton King.
It was fun both times. Fun for the novelty the first time, plus the constant near death(s) and struggle for mana and health orbs kept me alert. The next time I played I was alone, more experienced at the game, and I engaged in a more methodical massacre of the dungeon hordes. I needed to retreat far less often, and I wasn’t constantly emerging from crazy, retreating, running, spell-throwing battles with no more than a a sliver of health. The multiplayer game was further complicated by the fact that the other people in it had no idea what they were doing, and kept standing motionless and laughing as they got killed, or casting spells at the walls, or (harmlessly) at me, or simply looking over their equipment and skills instead of fighting. Worse, they were all playing Wizards, so they couldn’t even tank very well. At least if they’d played Barbarians they would have lasted a few seconds longer before each death.
The hardest monsters, or at least the ones that dealt by far the most damage to me, were ranged attackers. I could blast or outrun or chill most melee attackers, (mana permitting), but the ranged attackers were nastier, since they’d always get in a shot or two before I could take them out (this changed somewhat when I got better with Disintegrate). This wouldn’t have meant a thing in D2, since I’d just have sucked down a potion, but in D3 there are no potions to buy, they drop very rarely, characters don’t regenerate hit points right from the start, and therefore, all of those little bits of damage added up. I don’t know if it was true or just my perception, but ranged attackers seemed to drop health globes much less often than melee mobs. As a result the archers were almost always a net loss in hit points, one that I had to overcome with health dropped by the melee monsters, who were easier to kill without being injured by, but who did a lot more damage when they did get a paw on me.
My Blizzcon Wizard play can really be described as a tale of two games. The first was chaotic and funny and frustrating, but quite memorable. The second was much easier and more successful, but far less difficult. In that one I played systematically, only advancing as much as I had to to draw some monsters into sight. I’d the retreat, or hold my ground while blasting them, and take time to look at the items they dropped. Which gave my mana time to regenerate. I had an easy enough time that when I got to the Skeleton King, I ran a few extra laps around his multi-level throne room area, blasting away at his hordes of skeleton minions and taking pot shots at him, just to prolong the fun. Eventually I killed him by experimenting with Disintegrate and trying to judge if the damage actually did increase the longer I held the beam on the same target. (Results = inconclusive.)
Comments or questions are best posted on the main page thread, which I'll be checking and replying to, as need be.