Request to the HC community - Play in public games please!der=0>

[mrmud]

People randomly joining and increasing the health of a boss with an enerage timer just does not seem fair in HC.

[Simfish]

I would second people give public games a shot. Nearly everyone that I've come across in Hardcore so far is receptive to your concerns and advice, as nobody really wants to die, and if someone might have an idea of what he's talking about based on past experiences, why not listen? In one instance, I pointed out that one needs to be careful in level 2 of the keep dungeon in Act 3 because those Fallen monsters spawn there. People are more receptive to non-obvious advice, and even appreciative if you establish yourself as an authority on the game and not just some arrogant individual.

The game is actually even easier in a party as well. The monsters splitting aggro across 4 players makes it much easier to navigate dangerous situations. As a Wizard, I find that I can put out a lot more pressure from a distance when there's a tank in the party. The players also come much more adequately prepared than their SC counterparts, who typically die once every few minutes in relatively simple scenarios. I don't agree with the attitude that people feel that they are better than other players, and so participating in a party increases the danger when in fact, it has been quite the opposite for me. Besides, a good player knows how to play off the strengths, weaknesses, and play style of his party members.

Of course, the game drastically changes in Inferno, and while I'm not there yet, I don't think people are too fond of Inferno pubbing just yet.

[magicrectangle]

Besides, a good player knows how to play off the strengths, weaknesses, and play style of his party members.

Absolutely. This is why playing with friends is so great. Playing with strangers though? Sure you might get lucky and find somebody who is highly geared and skilled, but you might also get somebody less skilled and less geared (or worse, somebody actively trying to grief you). Why risk your character's life on that, when you could play with people who you know to be good.

[Simfish]

Absolutely. This is why playing with friends is so great. Playing with strangers though? Sure you might get lucky and find somebody who is highly geared and skilled, but you might also get somebody less skilled and less geared (or worse, somebody actively trying to grief you). Why risk your character's life on that, when you could play with people who you know to be good.

I have a perfect response to that, but let me just first say...

I live life on the edge

[Wizz]

Interesting to see the different approaches to HC. While I do not fear pubbies that much, I just don't see the point with massively increased chances to die. I expect the HC community to know their thing and not pull half a zone, kite into unexplored etc. But, regardless of what skills I may find public. Suddenly more members join the group in the middle of a calculated fight. Or similar situations where escape button is no longer a option.

With the increased repair costs I stopped pubbing softcore, even. I won't find myself pubbing HC in a very long time yet. Sorry.

Anyway... Social Graveyard... Seriously, do not try make Diablo into another chat-room like happened to WoW. Multiplayer in D3 is penalty enough already.

As if hundreds of social tools is not enough. Even want it when your slaying demons, well. Don't that just explain to why I for one prefer to slay these demons alone instead of listening to some

Player1: woah look at that big pack of mobs!

Player2: Yea I just killed them. Coming already!??

Player1: Sorry was whispering a friend.

Player2: Has left the game.

ur quote,, is what i do in softcore all the time... i join public and it takes like 5-10 games to find a DECENT GROUP OF PLAYERS.. its frustrating and is mainly why people prefer solo for harder content, i know i can trust myself.. but not some wow derp derp lol

[mrmud]

but not some wow derp derp lol

Because everyone who played wow must be terrible right?
6 years of raiding and raidleading didn't make me worse at games, it made me better.

Anyway, it feels like pubbing inferno should be fairly safe because everyone in inferno got there without dying so they have to be competent. That said, I don't know if I'm ready for it yet.

[magicrectangle]

Because everyone who played wow must be terrible right?
6 years of raiding and raidleading didn't make me worse at games, it made me better.

Yeah, but most pubbies in WoW were terrible, just like most pubbies in D3 are terrible. No reason to read any more into it than that.

[mrmud]

Yeah, but most pubbies in WoW were terrible, just like most pubbies in D3 are terrible. No reason to read any more into it than that.

If you have gotten to Inferno in Hardcore you are by definition "not terrible"

[Simfish]

Absolutely. This is why playing with friends is so great. Playing with strangers though? Sure you might get lucky and find somebody who is highly geared and skilled, but you might also get somebody less skilled and less geared (or worse, somebody actively trying to grief you). Why risk your character's life on that, when you could play with people who you know to be good.

Getting back to your post, I feel that your concerns are not largely grounded in reality. Good is also such a relative term. The people that you know, and the people that are really, really good at this game are not necessarily part of the same subset. From my SC experience, the best people I have ever found playing this game were from pubs. Sure, the vast majority of them had poor character control, questionable character builds, and unoptimized item selections, but I can't say that the best players I have ever seen were those that I decided to team up with for organized play.

In fact, most of the people that I've played with on release night, while enthusiastic about game progression, did not have the requisite skills for theorycrafting and were generally folks who did not possess great mechanics as evidenced when I played other games with them. The belief that organized groups > pubs is just arrogant I feel, and needs to be dropped if one is to get better.

Logistically, I would also prefer to just sign in and play whenever my schedule allows me to, as opposed to just agreeing on set times for non-endgame content. Thankfully, this community has a bunch of great folks at level 60 for the Inferno content including an IncGamers Mumble server, but my perception is that the game before Inferno is not so hard anyways, and is completely doable in pubs.

[Trebol]

The belief that organized groups > pubs is just arrogant I feel, and needs to be dropped if one is to get better.

By "get better" do you mean "improve at the game," or "rid yourself of your mental illness?"