Memorable Encounters

[Deckard Cain]

Where are the memorable encounters / fun zones in this game??

D2 had quite a few that were pretty fun and challenging, specifically a few memorable and noteworthy encounters:
-Rakanishu
-Arcane Sanctuary
-The council in A3, and also the remaining council members in the Durance level 3.
-The 3 seals before Diablo in A4
-The summons by Baal before the final boss fight
-The ancients in A5

Where the hell is there ANYTHING like this in D3?!? I don't get how they could put a game together based on items and fights, and simply ruin both aspects of the game. The mob encounters are not memorable at all, and are not fun.

What do you guys think, are there any mob encounters in D3 that you found to be memorable and or fun?

[Kiroptus]

Well... I dont think I had any memorable fight against elites, infact, I want to forget about them because most were just way too frustrating to fight.

But some boss fights were cool, The Butcher, King Leo, Kulle, Belial, etc... fights that kept you on the edge.

Certainly there were some really crappy encounters like Magda, Grom and Cydea, but overall the fight mechanics were fun imo.

I think that is somethign I cant quite defend on Diablo 2, most of the bosses were loot pinatas, the only ones who seemed to fight back were Duriel and Diablo, the rest were too easy or glorified elite monsters. In short: most were loot pinatas.

[Stupiful]

1. Belial, I went from "That's all?" to "Oh ****"
2. Azmodan has an awesome death animation
3. Skeleton King, because fighting him in the beta fulfilled my hope that boss fights in D3 aren't as mind numbing as D2
4. As a ranged class, 100% of Butcher's damage is avoidable, but my gear sucks so in Inferno he 1-shots me with almost everything he has. As such, trying to dodge him and the floor for the 3 minutes it takes to kill him is pretty exciting.

Council in A3 were "memorable" because of hydra stunlock and that one MSLE guy that would invisi-instakill you from a screen away
Baal minions were "memorable" because of Lagster the Tormentor who brought our Celeron D's to a screeching halt
I agree the Diablo seals were cool and suspenseful and the Ancients were a great fight too.

I think rose colored glasses apply here though. And in ten years when D4's out I'll probably ramble on about how great D3 bosses were when they'll be garbage compared to the future.

[Deckard Cain]

The problem is, we aren't really do boss runs as we did in D2. In D3 you really need (you don't need too, but it is highly beneficial thanks to NV) to kill 5 packs of rares / champs. Also, rares and champs 'drop the best loot,' so when there are 0 memorable rare / champ mob fights it is pretty boring way to base your game.

[Kiroptus]

Yeah but I kinda understand the design decision, farming a boss right away would be too easy, you can try but its not the optimal choice. The need to stack NV is a good idea the problem is that Champion packs are just BS on Act2+, and certain abilities are a bit unfair like Jailer, Vortex and Invulnerable Minions, but the idea is good, it works just fine from Leoric Manor to the Butcher since you will stack 5 NV anyway. On Act2 its another story tho...

[Deckard Cain]

Yeah but I kinda understand the design decision, farming a boss right away would be too easy, you can try but its not the optimal choice. The need to stack NV is a good idea the problem is that Champion packs are just BS on Act2+, and certain abilities are a bit unfair like Jailer, Vortex and Invulnerable Minions, but the idea is good, it works just fine from Leoric Manor to the Butcher since you will stack 5 NV anyway. On Act2 its another story tho...

My point is that the mob fights AREN"T fun. I completely agree with the design decision they made, that killing rare and champ mobs would be the best way for loot. This erases the quick and easy boss runs. Sure it sounds good on paper, but in practice it ISN"T FUN.

D2 had rare packs with unique spells. For example, the trav had a mana burn ability, and hydra. Where is the creativity with the rare packs in D3? There are absolutely no memorable or fun encounters.

If you are going to make rare and champ packs the best mobs to farm, then you must also make them the MOST FUN. It is a game, I want to have fun.

[Kitteh]

I was doing act 1 with thundercat and thyiad, one of them released a chandelier, and I didn't realise it wouldn't harm me. So I panicked and chugged a potion

[Svetopolk]

The encounters you listed only became memorable for me once I ran them umpteen times. Before that they were just random monsters to me. And what is the difference between Rakanishu and a random LE, EF Fallen? The name, that's all.

[Kiroptus]

I think that Champions could be ones to drop the best loot, but once you get 5 NV, the Act boss or quest boss (like Leo or Kulle) should have a higher chance of dropping good loot than the Elite monsters. Because you got through 5 Elite Packs, the idea of a "run" D2 style, is out of the window (which is what blizz is trying to avoid) because you spent time hunting those elites, might as well finish it with a rewarding boss fight but no, even with 5 NV stacks it seems that they continue to drop lower lvls blues and rares.

[Svetopolk]

I think that Champions could be ones to drop the best loot, but once you get 5 NV, the Act boss or quest boss (like Leo or Kulle) should have a higher chance of dropping good loot than the Elite monsters. Because you got through 5 Elite Packs, the idea of a "run" D2 style, is out of the window (which is what blizz is trying to avoid) because you spent time hunting those elites, might as well finish it with a rewarding boss fight but no, even with 5 NV stacks it seems that they continue to drop lower lvls blues and rares.

Yeah, I don't get that either - why should bosses drop worse loot (or less, whatever) than champions? Have them drop equally good loot, otherwise the boss battles, while interesting, feel unrewarding.