Diablo IV, Diablo 2 and Diablo 3 Forums - Diabloii.Net
Just to clarify, I don't really consider myself to be a Hater. But if you still play/post/read about D3, then you're in either one of two camps. If you think D3 has ANY reedeming qualities and it's dev team shouldn't be publicly executed for crimes against humanity, then you're a fanboy. If you think D3 doesn't one shot D1 and D2 at the same time with how awesome it is, it isn't the second coming, and you don't think all the naysayers need to be publicly executed for crimes against humanity, then you're a hater.
Now that some basic terminology has been clarified, I took the time to download the PTR patch this weekend. Why Blizzard doesn't recycle previous Test Realms is beyond me. It's somewhat ludicrous to have to download 16 Gigs each time a new patch is on the way. Then again, it's not like a new patch is a monthly thing, right?
The Good: There's a surprising amount of good in the PTR. As in, "holy $h1t, this' still D3 core?" good. Finding a cursed shrine in cathedral was a cool moment the likes of which I thought would never again see the light of day in the routine Paragon Crypt farming routine of D3 Core. The new add ons are cool and all, but what really makes the PTR shine is how more well polished the interface and mechanics are. Someone at Blizzard actually logged in at some point, because they've improved how you get in and out of games. The Multi-Player was especially good, as I didn't end up getting put into 20 empty games. There's really a lot of good here, it's just it all blends in so well with everything else it's difficult to pull any one thing out and highlight it. It's all mostly minor improvements, but it's all stuff that should have been in since release.
The Bad: Well, two things. One, the multi-player is fun but nobody's playing. I guess that's not really a PTR thing, though. Another issue is it seems much more laggy than live. Again, it's probably just PTR. What is bad though, are the builds. Things are probably going to change a lot in terms of raw numbers, but things still don't feel right. Everything still feels overpowered or useless. There are a lot of exceptions, but The Barbarian in particular is just plain terrible now. It's going to be hard to justify ever touching that class again.
The Ugly: ITEMIZATION. I mean COME ON. I remember I made a post on here months ago, and I asked "What would ROS need to improve to get you to buy it?" And Flux made it into a poll. The #1 responce was Improved Itemization. And THEY. JUST. DON'T. DO. IT. Why you kill my Diablo!? WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY!? Diablo!....
Anyway, yeah, Loot 2.0 fails. Hard. And it's especially striking how it fails on the PTR as opposed to Beta, because in the PTR it's a straight up head on bout between Loot 1.2 and Loot 2.0. In Beta you can level up beyond Loot 1.2, so it's not a fair match up. But when the two have the same level ceiling, Loot 1.2 wins hands down. 4/2 is just too big a handicap. It's especially bad on items that need sockets, because sockets apparently eat 1/4. Armor, Weapons, Helms, and Pants are all always worse off than loot 1.2 stuff.
Apparently the developers also think 700-800 DPS is an acceptable number for weapons to have at level 60. No wonder they're only rolling 2k in Beta. I thought they had fixed damage numbers on weapons? In the PTR, they've fixed nothing. Gloves, wristbands, shoulders tend to roll trifecta stats more often than in 1.2, but the values are lower. At the end of the day, the only reason Loot 2.0 wins is because it can outlevel Loot 1.2, and that's both sad and sadly not enough to save this game. Itemization is the biggest issue with D3, and they still haven't fixed it. Maybe the next patch. Actually, it's going to have to be the next patch, because RoS is just a little over a month away from retail at this point...
Now that some basic terminology has been clarified, I took the time to download the PTR patch this weekend. Why Blizzard doesn't recycle previous Test Realms is beyond me. It's somewhat ludicrous to have to download 16 Gigs each time a new patch is on the way. Then again, it's not like a new patch is a monthly thing, right?
The Good: There's a surprising amount of good in the PTR. As in, "holy $h1t, this' still D3 core?" good. Finding a cursed shrine in cathedral was a cool moment the likes of which I thought would never again see the light of day in the routine Paragon Crypt farming routine of D3 Core. The new add ons are cool and all, but what really makes the PTR shine is how more well polished the interface and mechanics are. Someone at Blizzard actually logged in at some point, because they've improved how you get in and out of games. The Multi-Player was especially good, as I didn't end up getting put into 20 empty games. There's really a lot of good here, it's just it all blends in so well with everything else it's difficult to pull any one thing out and highlight it. It's all mostly minor improvements, but it's all stuff that should have been in since release.
The Bad: Well, two things. One, the multi-player is fun but nobody's playing. I guess that's not really a PTR thing, though. Another issue is it seems much more laggy than live. Again, it's probably just PTR. What is bad though, are the builds. Things are probably going to change a lot in terms of raw numbers, but things still don't feel right. Everything still feels overpowered or useless. There are a lot of exceptions, but The Barbarian in particular is just plain terrible now. It's going to be hard to justify ever touching that class again.
The Ugly: ITEMIZATION. I mean COME ON. I remember I made a post on here months ago, and I asked "What would ROS need to improve to get you to buy it?" And Flux made it into a poll. The #1 responce was Improved Itemization. And THEY. JUST. DON'T. DO. IT. Why you kill my Diablo!? WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY!? Diablo!....
Anyway, yeah, Loot 2.0 fails. Hard. And it's especially striking how it fails on the PTR as opposed to Beta, because in the PTR it's a straight up head on bout between Loot 1.2 and Loot 2.0. In Beta you can level up beyond Loot 1.2, so it's not a fair match up. But when the two have the same level ceiling, Loot 1.2 wins hands down. 4/2 is just too big a handicap. It's especially bad on items that need sockets, because sockets apparently eat 1/4. Armor, Weapons, Helms, and Pants are all always worse off than loot 1.2 stuff.
Apparently the developers also think 700-800 DPS is an acceptable number for weapons to have at level 60. No wonder they're only rolling 2k in Beta. I thought they had fixed damage numbers on weapons? In the PTR, they've fixed nothing. Gloves, wristbands, shoulders tend to roll trifecta stats more often than in 1.2, but the values are lower. At the end of the day, the only reason Loot 2.0 wins is because it can outlevel Loot 1.2, and that's both sad and sadly not enough to save this game. Itemization is the biggest issue with D3, and they still haven't fixed it. Maybe the next patch. Actually, it's going to have to be the next patch, because RoS is just a little over a month away from retail at this point...