Please dont read this BLIZZARD!!! (diablo 3 beta)

[edistotiger]

Come on. Everyone was using the same 1-2 skills at level 13 in D2 too. A level 13 Barb had access to the following damaging abilities: Bash, Double Swing, and Double Throw with Bash being the only one that even offered a damage multiplier.

[Jedouard]

1) SKILLS- the skills were the worst thing about the game. My cousin and I both had Barbs...we both got to lvl 13 ....and when we started farming, we used the same freakin skills because the rest sucked. Two identical barbs leaping around with the only difference between us was our gear. BOO Blizzard. At least the old beta the skills actually did something, like Bash was 160% of weap dam and cleave did an arc attack but was only 140 % weap dam....at least that would make me think of using a different skill. Zero customastion

It is hard to take this criticism seriously since you are talking about two level-13 barbs being used for the same purpose: farming. Discussing what options are available at level 13 for the same purpose is pointless. Just discussing level 13 is pointless. The vast majority of options are not yet available. Moreover, at level 13, I have three barb builds I regularly use: farmer, tank and “cc”. CC was a bit stupid, I’ll admit, but he did come in handy multiplayer.

2)Leveling- In diablo 2 patch 1.12 before respecs I had a 93 bowzon with 20 attribute points into reserve just because I feared I might find a armor that needed more strength so I saved my points. This game, leveling is the biggest JOKE, u skills power are based on ur attributes and I have NO control over how powerful i want to become. BOO BLIZZARD! I feel like they made a game that is made for brain dead children.

I am disappointed with the levelling system. Although I like the access to new skills and new runes, it does feel like the reward is somewhat missing. But – and this is a big “but” – the D2 stat points are hardly an answer to this. What you are talking about boils down to this: minimum here, minimum there, minimum in X to do Y and the rest in Z. This is not fascinating or interesting. And the point hording you describe is not fun. It stinks to get a reward you can’t use lest you fudge your build. In addition, gems will largely fill the role of manipulating stat points for a specific build.

3)Gameplay- The game doesnt feel like a diablo game, it feels like last years Dungeon Siege 3 down to the running of the character to the lack of customization of skills to how your character attacks. It also feels like blizzard made this game to aim more on the console side then PC, the controls feel more like a console game.

See the response to point 1. Talking about customisation at level 13 is pointless. How many different barb builds for farming did you have at level 13 in D2?

4)Cubing- Diablo 2's greatest part. Rolling small charms....magic weapons...and making crafted items.

It is hard to take your criticisms seriously when you aren’t aware of the function of the blacksmith. The “6 random properties” on the rares you create with the Blacksmith are ample opportunity for rolling and, according to the devs, will lead to the best weapons in the game (though they will be rare).

5)Forced skills slots- On my monk i could only have one spirit generator and one spirit user on the left and right MB, then the rest of the skills were FORCED into the 1,2,3,4 slots....maybe i dont want a mantra, maybe i wanted 3 spirit generators and two users. Thanks for taking my options away blizzard.

It is even harder to take your criticisms seriously when you aren’t aware of the “elective mode”, which allows you to put whatever skills you want in any slot.

Suggestions- I have only one suggestion....I had many more complaints about this game but the only real problem I had with this game was the skills. I didnt like that my barb was the same as my cousins barb....I tried to be different using ground stomp rather than leap, but lets get real, leap is just better. But here is a solution, why not have a quick switch like D2 weapons switch hand, but make it for the skills.....that way on one hand I can have all my buffs and switch to my damage skills on the other.....plus it would make your stupid, yeah, your skill runes are a terrible idea, more useful. Example, say like the monks teleport are on one hand, but i wanted the last rune on that punch as well. I cant have both, but i could put it on my second switch hand giving the player more options and making my character different from others.

It sounds like you shouldn’t buy D3. The devs have explained why they don’t want you to have more than 6 skills – and, interestingly, it was the same reason they don’t want weapons swap: they want you to manipulate strategically the limited number of skills you have in order to play the game. This is why you have 6 skills slots, this is why you can only have one runed version of a skill on the skill bar, and this is why your Nephalem Valor (the magic find bonus you get from killing champions and uniques after level 60) disappears if you change skills. Allowing players to have the perfect skill for every situation defeats this design goal. That would eliminate strategy to a large degree.

In general, your criticisms are indicative of either a lack of familiarity with the game systems (e.g. blacksmith, elective mode, gems) or a nostalgia for things that were not that great and sometimes pretty awful (e.g. point hording, cookie-cutter allocations, one-point wonders, switching build functionality via weapon swap in D2 – which is the basis for your suggestion for skill swap in D3, etc.). And it does not help that you structure these criticisms around two level-13 barb builds designed for the same purpose – farming – in the game's linear tutorial.

[SteveG]

Barb lvl 13, 4 skill selections, total of 10 skills to choose from and 3 passives.
Disregarding passives: 210 combinations, with passives 630 combinations and this is WITHOUT RUNES.

Barb lvl 13, 4 skill selections, total of 10 skills to choose from and 3 passives. ONE COMBINATION. A five second cool down (30 sec in nm and beyond) for switching skills is negligible. All "builds" are all one big, identical build. It's kinda sad how many people Blizzard has fooled on this issue. They are steering you to purchase gear from the RMAH.

[dragon457]

Barb lvl 13, 4 skill selections, total of 10 skills to choose from and 3 passives. ONE COMBINATION. A five second cool down (30 sec in nm and beyond) for switching skills is negligible. All "builds" are all one big, identical build. It's kinda sad how many people Blizzard has fooled on this issue. They are steering you to purchase gear from the RMAH.

I can see why you think that, but you have to be realistic about it. If you're in a group, and you're constantly changing skills around while running a dungeon, you're going to get left behind, or kicked (if possible) for slowing the group down so much. You might not think the cool-down is a big deal, but it adds up.

Then again, by your thought process, any other dungeon crawler with the ability to respec means you only have one combination as well. It would all be an illusion.

No one will stop you from changing your skills around as you see fit, but when you find yourself ostracized for doing it all the time, don't forget this post.

[Scorch Hellfire]

Nub scrub OP that is behind the times on information and doesn't seem to grasp that is only a small part of the game and not a demo for the entitled... Nothing more to see here folks...

[SteveG]

Then again, by your thought process, any other dungeon crawler with the ability to respec means you only have one combination as well. It would all be an illusion.

I think there should have been a compromise, ever increasing respec costs, something, anything. Static character development and no new content in the later difficult levels = 0 replayability, IMO.

No one will stop you from changing your skills around as you see fit, but when you find yourself ostracized for doing it all the time, don't forget this post.

When I stop playing D3 after one month from sheer boredom due to the super static, one-dimensional character development, I will definitely remember this post.

[waijie]

There is not much to be done with skill customisation at lvl 13, I have to say.

I think these levels are for experimenting your skills until you have obtain most of your skills and rune combinations.

Then the skill customisation will become strong there.

Most skills start to become useful after they are runed anyways.