Well, I got pretty unhappy with this game and put it on hold a few weeks back for all sorts of various reasons, which I'm sure you've heard elsewhere.
I feel like giving it a second shot though, and thought Single Playering might make it more fun. I can't stop the cutscenes or change the story, but the game would certainly be harder only playing with stuff I've found/crafted. And it would let me stop caring so much about the RMAH.
So.... hi!
I guess I have one opinion question besides popping in to say hi. Think I'd have more fun playing HC or SC? I was playing HC back before (which is also what I played in D2). In D2 I played offline though, so never died to lag. I didn't die much to lag on HC here, but it wasn't particularly enjoyable at all when it happened. On the other hand, playing HC will let me eventually PVP with people who don't use the RMAH (unless Blizzard adds it there, which would make me sad.... it's nice to at least have the option of playing in a mode without it).
SC wouldn't have those little annoying lag deaths. And would give me a one in a million chance of making a tiny bit of cash. I can see myself getting $50 or so eventually, and at least letting the game pay for itself that way. That would be kind of pleasant. I don't want much to do with people who buy stuff on the RMAH though, especially in PVP, but in PVM as well were I to ever do that post 60.
Thoughts?
Any tips on other ways to enhance my fun trying to play this again that I might not have thought of?
I'm not expecting to fall in love with the game or anything, but going in with a different approach and mindset might help me come up with a game that fills my time amusingly for now.
For the lag issue, all I can say is that I'm in SC Act4 Inferno and I haven't died to lag once. It is there, but all my deaths have been the result of gear issues/poor choices.
As for enjoyment, what has always kept me interested in D2 and currently in D3 is playing with all the underused/underpowered skills. It generally means I progress slower, but I have more fun while doing it. I'm looking forward to making a Leap Attack/Throw Barb. A Grenade Demon Hunter, etc, each one starting from level 1.
Another fun thing that is quite common on the D2SPF are tourneys with gear/skill restrictions where skills are chosen with a dice roll or something analogous. The point isn't to beat the game but to see how far you can get.
I'm sure there also going to be several balance changes in the coming months which will hopefully polish things up a bit. However, if you don't have fun playing a game, then maybe it is not for you.
I wouldn't say the game is really hard being selffound/crafted. I guess it's just more of a grind. I have a Wizard in A1 Inferno who doesn't die... excessively, and a DH who will be there probably soon. Obviously things are different if you go HC. Once I got a character to lvl 60 the gear issues really started to ease up. I just stash anything remotely interesting and let my other characters review it, which leads to many incremental improvements. Same with smithing. I don't make a lot of progress increasing my gold account due to blowing a lot of it rolling pauldrons and what-not @ Haedrig. but I don't need it for the AH, so no biggie.
It's quite satisfying to see characters progress and succeed due to such efforts. Perhaps it might improve the longevity of the game for you.
solo play - hardcore - only sell on ah
-i play solo cause i look after my baby girl whilst playing and can pause the game. no asshats + follower is nice.
-hardcore makes every encounter engaging.
-no ah makes it more grindy but you dont have that dirty ah feeling when you buy a new wep that turns the current difficulty to irrelevant. should vastly extend the life of the game. this translates into the old "YES!!" d2 feeling when you got a good drop.
cant play as much as most people with work and baby, but currently in hc a2 nm playing like this and i am finding this game pure enjoyment. hope you find a fun way to play
I've died twice upon entering a game. You know when you get a checkpoint in the middle of the map, like in Learic's manor. Sometimes enemies spawn near to you and start hitting you while you still have the "just joined the game" lag. Died once like that at Leoric's manor, and once at Rakkis crossing. Just want to remind you to be careful, if you play HC.
Ouch. I never had that happen. I had problems with those server spikes back in early june (i think). Was in hell at the time. Not a huge loss, but pretty disapointing. I hadn't really expected dealing with it, since I hadn't in D2 (being offline and all). That was the biggest thing I think. Anyways, lag hopefully won't be a huge issue. Maybe the servers stopped having that happen as much since I took my break. If it does start being a problem I won't be stubborn about trying SC.
I decided I'm going to give it a go on HC. I may/may not use the AH at 60, I'll see how I feel then. 60 is when I started to get bored the first time around, really, so I probably won't know how well this is going till I hit it again. I rushed through normal pretty fast (or the last two and a half acts of it) today, and had a good time getting to use most of my drops. I was a bit twinked from stash, so it was prettty easy, but late nightmare/hell should get a bit tougher.
I've died several times due to lag. But other than one or two encounters like Pijus described, they could've been avoided if I had been less stubborn about playing on during lag. So my best advice: if you start to see rubberbanding, quit.
I'm playing 10 characters through, one of each class, one SC one HC. No character can progress in an act until all 10 characters have access, but characters can re-run areas to their heart's content. It's incredibly slow paced... I'm still in normal difficulty Act III. From what I hear, Act IV is quick, so I might be finished with normal difficulty before August.
I'm going to be wonky and try a SP self-found HC 2-handed barb, starting.... now! Put my DH on hold a bit. I feel like I cheated since I used some stash stuff on normal, and, like Shagsbeard says, it's fun to mess with multiple characters instead of running through the game 4 times in a row on one (or closer to 12 times, in the case of my poor dying Demon Hunters ;.
Will be interesting to see how this works - I'm pretty skeptical at the moment, but hey! That's half the fun I guess.
Edit: Not starting now, NA servers down.... oh well. Taco time. That's exciting too.
Valeli
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