D3 vs DDO = ddo wins

[teh_meh]

Worked fine for me.

see post #11

[Uska]

yeah you would say the exact same about DDO if you only ever played khorthos on normal.

Get some perspective.

kothos on normal is 100% better than d3 beta the first time through I will agree kothos has about zero% replay interest. but if you never played it its not bad

[Aaxeyu]

kothos on normal is 100% better than d3 beta the first time through I will agree kothos has about zero% replay interest. but if you never played it its not bad

I disagree.
I have not played it with anyone who didn't find it boring and confusing the first time around.

[ShadowFlash]

Seems funny that the only game that can keep me playing is 6 years old

I STILL play Age of Wonders...the last expansion was 8 years ago, lol...sadly that genre has dissapeared.

ShadowFlash

[Uska]

I disagree.
I have not played it with anyone who didn't find it boring and confusing the first time around.

well diferent tastes for different folks I am sure it will be a huge success but they wont get a dime or another second of time out of me so much search for an alternate to ddo for a break or replacement when it dies goes on

It still nothing new from d2 really other than maybe the upcoming ah.

[Uska]

I STILL play Age of Wonders...the last expansion was 8 years ago, lol...sadly that genre has dissapeared.

ShadowFlash

never really cared for that one much but my friend sure did I prefered Kohan.

[Caliban]

I've played the D3 beta all the way through about 4 or 5 times now - have a lvl 11 monk and a lvl 11 demonhunter. I'm trying to get the beta achievements for some reason, probably OCD on my part.

It basically is a prettier and slightly dumbed down version of D2, at least so far.

But still fun in that mindless clickfest, watch hordes of enemies die kind of way.

Normal mode is way too easy - being able to get to lvl 10 without dying or even using a single healing potion is a bit much. Hopefully Hard/Nightmare will be worth playing in the finished game.

Your stash and the NPC Smith are shared between characters, so you can transfer stuff or have the Smith craft stuff for you to twink new characters, even if you choose to ignore the auction house (like me).

D3 will be fun for a weekend or even a week (maybe a month or so if you are dead set on beating Nightmare mode with all classes), but DDO keeps you playing for years.

[Lotusxyx]

again, I see this time and time again on these boards. I did compare the game to d2 initially. Please don't think i'm making a direct comparison of ddo to d3 because you are right that is apples to oranges.
However from d2 to d3 it has become dumb'd down and neutered.

Alter

I wasn't really having a go at you or anything like that. The bulk of my argument was highlighting the difference in the genres. The comparison you made between the games comes from the very title of your thread, that's all.

[xveganrox]

I spent a massive amount of time playing Diablo 2 as a kid and have been waiting for Diablo 3 for years, and after playing the "beta" for about 45 minutes I cancelled my preorder. I'd heard all the bad stuff from people who have been in the closed "beta" but was hoping it was mostly hyperbolic.

There's no skill and attribute selection. There's no need for healing potions (though they exist) since every other enemy drops a health globe you can get healed by just by walking on or near it. Town portal and identify have been eliminated as scrolls and spells and have instead become intrinsic abilities. The graphics would be state-of-the-art by 2001 standards (when Diablo 3 production started) but are laughable at this point - and worse, their cartoony style prevents the setting from feeling any darker than a Casper the Friendly Ghost cartoon. The real money auction house and the complete reliance on Blizzard servers for any gameplay (even single-player) are just the nails in the coffin. I could go on about the other things I hate (weird emphasis on crafting, the boot-up screen is a WoW log-in screen, etc) but the above is more than enough for me to avoid this game.

As far as I've seen, Blizzard's success in WoW has really hurt their ability to make other games. Starcraft 2 was, in a lot of ways, disappointing (battlenet 2.0 was a huge disaster, there was only 1/3 of a campaign, and unit variety was low) but at the same time, I found it to be a good game at its base. Diablo 3 might be a good game, too, but Diablo 2 does almost all the same things (and a lot more) and does them better, in my opinion.

Just my $.02

[Postumus]

It is clear, though, that too much customisation is a bit of a double edged sword. I'm sure you can attest to the number of gimp toons running around Stormreach. This is, in large, because it's easy for a newer player to shoot themself in the foot thanks to the myriad of differences they can make when rolling a new toon.

I think this is a horrible argument for the 'negative' aspects of freedom of customization. People learn how to build characters by trial and error. Sometimes the errors are so bad they need to re-roll, and I think new players do this quite a bit as they are feeling out the game, but this game is easy enough for most builds to make it to 20 while the player has fun doing so. Non min/maxed cookie cutter build does not equal unplayable.


Building for epics is a different mindset altogether and it would be extremely rare for a new player to reach this goal in his/her first life considering the gear, past lives, tomes, etc always included in 100% of the epic builds posted in the forums.

[Lotusxyx]

I think this is a horrible argument for the 'negative' aspects of freedom of customization. People learn how to build characters by trial and error. Sometimes the errors are so bad they need to re-roll, and I think new players do this quite a bit as they are feeling out the game, but this game is easy enough for most builds to make it to 20 while the player has fun doing so. Non min/maxed cookie cutter build does not equal unplayable.


Building for epics is a different mindset altogether and it would be extremely rare for a new player to reach this goal in his/her first life considering the gear, past lives, tomes, etc always included in 100% of the epic builds posted in the forums.

I never said it was a bad thing XD. I said it was a double edged sword, meaning it has the potential to backfire. Personally, I'm all for customisation. The more the better. It's one of the main reasons I'm still playing DDO, and it certainly shows. In particular, compare it to SWTOR. I feel the customisation in that MMO is superficial at best. Your characters have very strict roles, and you basically pidgeonhole yourself into one of two things with your class/advanced class choice. It made the game feel too restrictive, as far as I'm concerned.

[Pfold]

I haven't played the beta but have seen some stuff on the game play. I can't make an informed assessment without seeing it as a whole. As long as it's comparable to 2 in any way, shape or form I'll pick it up to play it. Basically I'm hoping it's the hack and slash I remember it as.

Making the comparison between D3 and DDO seems illogical to me. Perhaps it's because I see one as simply a multiplayer game and the other as an mmo. The only common thread between the two is the fantasy genre. A similar comparison would be comparing Halo versus SWToR. /shrug.

If the comparison is solely based on what keeps your attention/enthusiasm then the post is just subjective. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, including those replying to yours.

I believe a closer comparison to DDO (subject matter and sub model) would be the the new Neverwinter. Which looks ~ok~ though what I saw is just what was shown during PAX (I believe they said it was in alpha).

[Matuse]

I was excited for Diablo 3...2 years ago. Now? The more I see and learn about it, the less interesting it gets. It seems like Blizzard has gone above and beyond the call of duty to nuke out any semblance of interesting game mechanics. Every time I'd see a bit of information about a feature and I'd say to myself "That seems like a good idea", the next month would be a post from Bashiok saying they removed it.

Definitely not buying it.

[oweieie]

The game basically is super dumb'd down. There is no thought really in it other than kill and get items. Everything else is taken care of for you.

Haven't tried D3, but from what you say it really sounds like D2, not a dumbed down D2. All D2 was was kill and get items. Or perhaps "don't pick the blatently sub-optimal abilities and kill and get items".

Blizzard is releasing the exact same game ever few years but change the name slightly. It's Nintendo's formula and it's worked wonders for them, people have bought 5 different copies of Mario Cart or Brawl or whatever just for different platforms. Why shouldn't Blizzard cash in on people's desire to buy the same game again?

[goodspeed]

Bah theirs no such thing as customization. Solid build templates are constructed by the masses as the best possible choice be it dps or defense or the half and half mix and that's what ya got.

Anything else is unacceptable and if seen is branded as a nub build and they are then egged in the marketplace.

Sometimes theirs the guy that throws the egg shaped stone.

Personally in any new mmo I expect graphics to match great combat and an equally useful ui system. Anything that isn't, ain't worth the time. And for something like diablo 3 I was really sad to see that in all this time they could only really rip off the gauntlet look from the n64 . I mean that thing looks only a hop skip better then diablo for the play station.

[Lotusxyx]

Bah theirs no such thing as customization. Solid build templates are constructed by the masses as the best possible choice be it dps or defense or the half and half mix and that's what ya got.

I couldn't disagree more. You're trying to say that there's only about three viable builds for any given class. Sure, there are flavour builds, and sub-optimal builds, but that doesn't mean that they aren't viable. It really doesn't matter if the community shuns your build, you play it for yourself, not for anyone else.

For example, I have a custom-made Drizzt build. Everyone and their mothers hate Drizzt with a passion. The build is gimpy, I freely admit it. It's totally sub-optimal, it's squishy, and isn't top-flight DPS. He's still my main, though. I played him to cap, gotten him a healthy supply of green steel and have started Epics with him. I'll TR him, too once I've gotten all the end-game gear I want out of him.

I wouldn't want to take that enjoyment away for anyone, dunno about you.

[Alrik_Fassbauer]

I liked playing D2 & LOOD, but at one point it because far too repetitive (spelling ?) to me.

And, I began to notice the absolute lack of proper role playing.

I coined my growing disgust into the (cynically meant) saying of "I fight, therefore I play a role". Which implies that every social interaction just does not exist in these Action-RPGs.

It was like waking up from a bad, but yet very, very, very addictive "dream".

Nowadays, I'm a full hater of these games. Especially when I notice the lack of social interaction. I could go ranting on and on, but most incorrectly called "role"-playing games are nothing but fighting games. And they continue in doing as if social interaction was either

- not desired
- not existent
- not necessary for playing a role

Or something like that.

DDO is fun for me as long as it is able to give me a compelling story and at least something in terms of complexity.

In hard contrast to the majority here I'm not playing DDO for gear or for collecting.

I'm almost only playing it for story and "fun". And I define "fun" for me in terms of "fascination", mostly. Yes, to use the Bard's skyll name, DDO in part indeed "fascinates" me - but not in terms of grinding, fighting and collecting.

Blizzard won't ever get my money again. Except when they manage to do a game like Drakensang River Of Time - and that will NEVER be - not according to their history of released games.

[fco-karatekid]

One thing to keep in mind with the Diablo III Beta is that it only gives us a glimpse at the beginning parts, which now-a-days are akin to extended tutorials, so it is not much of a surprise if folks currently find it easy.

In comparison to Diablo II, it is likely similar to running the amount of content that allowed you to get to Tristram to save Deckard Cain, which still leaves plenty of mystery on the difficulty and enjoyment of the upcoming parts of the game.



If it means anything, I was also on the open beta from 11:00PM to 1:30AM EST yesterday, as well as 9:00AM to 11:00AM EST this morning (until they had to bring the server down).

Indeed - now I am not a fan of what's been done to Diablo III (especially single player MUST be online); BUT the comparison is also similar to Getting a feel for DDO by playing the Korthos quests only. Had I not gotten to stormreach harbor, I wouldn't have continued playing. New Ringleader and Durk's Got a Secret were what really got me interested, then Waterworks, believe it or not.

then I went to Tanglerootcanal and wanted to commit suicide - but that's a whole nother topic.

[Lotusxyx]

Indeed - now I am not a fan of what's been done to Diablo III (especially single player MUST be online)

This is how Blizzard roles now. It's their patented anti-piracy measure. Damned be the consequences, they'll have none of this thievery lark. It's a shame that thanks to the piracy lunatics out there trust-worthy gamers get it in the neck.

It's still not as bad as EA's DRM with Spore though. Limited number of installs? One account per game? Total craziness, if you ask me. Just pray things don't get worse.

You never know, maybe developers will come around in future and authorise you to play every time you boot up a game...

[Ryiah]

I can't make an informed assessment without seeing it as a whole.

I'm highly amused by the number of people who are complaining about Diablo 3 as if the meager amount of content available is enough to make a real assessment. They're comparing a game that is in beta stages to a game that has been around for years and has had plenty of time to mature. This thread is pointless.