Paragon Level 106, 107, and 108

Transmogrified!

Went ahead and jumped to ACT V, but damn, I had to dial back the difficulty down to EXPERT because I was dying left and right to elites in Torment, even Master. Yes, I'm so crap at this. I'm already up to Level 67 and I finally encountered the new artisan, the Mystic. It wasn't so expensive to train her up to her highest level so I maxed her out immediately.

One fun thing about the Mystic is that she can "transmogrify" your armor, meaning she can change the look of your armor according to what you want. Place your, for example, helmet in the transmogrify window and you will be given several choices as to how you want it to look. It's so cool. That's my old Barbarian up there, fully transmogrified!

Reaper of Souls First Impression

I noticed a vast improvement in latency on the Americas server so I decided to continue playing my Barbarian there.

There was a big patch a while back, Patch 2.0 which upgraded the game and has in fact changed the log in screen to "Reaper of Souls". It came with an adjusted loot system (which is awesome), additions to the game like "Pools of Reflection" which allowed you to level up faster. But it wasn't until March 25 did the expansion "Reaper of Souls" was finally activated.

It comes with a new act, Act V, raising the level cap to 70, allowing more powerful items into the game.

Before the launch, I made it to Act 1 of Torment 3, Paragon Level 74. Torment 1 didn't seem all that hard, and the only thing that made Torment 2 slightly more difficult was that it took such a long time to kill monsters.

I thought I'd start over the game on Torment 2 after the launch, and just level up my character from there. What I noticed was the game had suddenly become more difficult, much more difficult than Torment 2 was before the launch. That's probably because the monsters are now leveling up the same time as me. Now that I'm up to Level 65, the monsters have leveled up to 65 as well. In fact, it's become so difficult that I've lowered the difficulty to Torment 1 and the monsters...just mobs and not even elites are STILL KICKING MY ASS. Holy crap. They seem to have a much higher damage this time around.

The joy in all this is that I've started to get much more powerful items, although I've noticed I haven't gotten much legendaries as I used to. Leveling up from 60 to 65 I only got ONE legendary item, but it's a really good one and it's now my primary weapon:

Additionally, the default gem that drops now is the "Marquise" gem, which automatically made all my other gems that I've been keeping and upgrading quite useless. I don't mind though. It's levels higher than the previous default gem which was I think "Flawless". As long as it makes my items much more powerful, I won't complain!

I've yet to see Act V or encounter the new artisan. But I'll get there eventually!

Paragon Level 105

Akarat's Champion

Latency has improved dramatically today enabling me to play lag free for the first time in a week. YEAH! I've been leveling up my Crusader and upon reaching Level 25, I gained the "Akarat's Champion" skill, which enables me to literally go berserk for 20 seconds, very much like the Barbarian's "Berserker" skill. The character grows dramatically, looking more ferocious, which is awesome.

When I started this new character by the way, I didn't bother with Diablo 3's "Normal" setting and went straight to "Hard". It's actually not that hard and it's faster to level up.

Paragon Level 104

The 50% Bonus XP has been over for a day or so now (the guys at Blizzard even expanded the XP Bonus to 100% during the last day or so of the allotted time). Thankfully I've broken through the Paragon Level 100 milestone before it ended.

I'm now at Torment III but I haven't been getting interesting items thus far (I'm currently at The Fields of Misery). I'm thinking of ramping it up to Torment IV but I'm somewhat worried that my character is not yet up to it.

We'll see later.

Serious Latency Issues

I continue to have serious latency issues. In an earlier blog entry I posted about how it became virtually impossible to play properly on the Americas server, causing me to switch to the Asian server. I was able to play OK for a while, but very soon it too became plagued with really bad latency issues. My new Crusader above already died several times because of it.

Can you imagine how frustrating it is when encountering a pack of elites, and you engage them, and everything just stops? You keep on hacking and nothing's happening. 8 seconds later everything moves again but you're dead. I'm like WTF.

Hardcore playing is SO out of the question.

This is not just because of Launch Day because I've been experiencing latency issues for about a week now. It's really soured my playing of the game. It's too bad because my Monk has been kicking ass and this new Crusader holds a lot of promise. Diablo 3 seems like a new and revitalized game. I'm so stoked to play it. But well...

It's just not me though. Looking over the forums at Battle.net, you have an endless list of people having the same issues worldwide. And yes, that includes quite a number of complaints from the Philippines.

Perhaps it is because of the launch. People have started to play Diablo 3 again after a long time and lots of people are starting to log in. Notice how I'm on a queue in the graphic above. I mean, that hasn't happened since the game first launched a couple of years ago.

With a renewed interest in the game, Blizzard has to recognize the fact that they need to make people happy at this time. This time more than ever. Many of these people have already swore off Diablo 3 (including me) and are coming back right now.

You are being given another chance Blizzard...don't blow it.

Paragon Level 102 and 103

New Character, New Server!

Fed up by the frustrating lags on the Americas server, I switched to the Asian servers where I'm able to play without lags at all. Unfortunately, my Barbarian, along with all the contents of my chest, don't come with me. I have to create a new character and build up its own inventory.

That's just fine. I created a Monk, which was the very first character I ever played on D3. I found myself leveling up incredibly fast. I mean, I just started this character today and I'm already at Level 24! Something must be in the air, and it turns out I was right!

Apparently, Blizzard has further boosted the Experience bonus to 100% on the eve of the Reaper of Souls launch. YEAH!

I'm not sure how long I will be playing on the Asian server. I will check again upon the ROS launch how playing on the Americas server will be. If it still lags, I will be playing Reaper of Souls, with a brand new Crusader, on the Asian servers for the time being.

Paragon Level 101

Going to get started with Torment Level III next week.

Paragon Level 100

Yes, yes...YES!

Paragon Level 99

Just one more to go!

Just Passin' By

Yep, just another monster passin' by. It's been difficult to play Diablo 3 lately. I don't know if it's just my connection or if more and more people are now logging in and playing in anticipation of "Reaper of Souls", but whatever it is, it's causing really frustrating drags.

What happens is you come across a monster like this, or an elite pack, you go swinging, then everything except you just stops. You're still swinging away, but it's having no effect. In the meantime, your Berserker Rage is counting down, your Eathquake is counting down, and its doing nothing. And then everything moves again and for some reason, you're transported some other place and your life is on half. Everything stops again. You escape, you run away. You think you're far away but, all of a sudden, you're in the middle of the fray again, monsters swinging at you, and you're about to die.

I can't play like this. I'm laying off for a while.

Paragon Level 98

Belial's Defeat

Finally defeated Belial at the end of Act II (Torment II) but it took the combined might of Gerry and I to bring the bastard down. Gerry's been having problems defeating the Lord of Lies himself for a few days now, same as me. He messaged me earlier and asked if I'm up to ganging up on Belial and, of course, I was raring to go.

The beasts between the gates and the Imperial Palace were easy enough. I'm a Paragon Level 97 Barbarian and Gerry's a Paragon Level 71 by this time.

Battling the minions were relatively easy (we were in no danger of dying) as well as Belial's initial form.

The killer really was Belial's ultimate form.

We actually died the first time around. Truth be told we still died at our second attempt but with his dying breath Gerry managed to land the killing blow (I was already dead at this point...my Barbarian's high on damage but relatively low on hitpoints, Gerry's is the opposite I think).

It was such a surprise that I forgot to take screencaps. Oh well!

On to Act III!

Paragon Level 97

Paragon Level 96

Just four more to go!

Paragon Level 95

Paragon Level 94

Just a few more before Paragon Level 100!

Paragon Level 93

Paragon Level 92

My Favorite Companion

My favorite companion is the Enchantress. Why? There's lots of reasons why.

1. She can charm enemies to fight for me for 8 seconds.

8 seconds might not seem too long in real life, but in Diablo time, that's a lot. A lot of things can happen in 8 seconds which can spell the difference between life and death. The best thing is, she can charm not only mobs, but elite enemies and the big dudes like the one above. Imagine being in a situation of almost dying, the monster gets charmed, stops fighting you and fights others... you have time to recover your life as you continue hacking him unopposed. 8 seconds is a LOT of time. I've escaped many scraps where I could have died because of this.

Apparently, the only thing the Enchantress can't charm are the big bosses like the Skeleton King, Ghom, Rakanoth, Azmodan, Belial and of course Diablo himself.

2. She increases your armor by 3% just by being the chosen companion.

Again, it may seem like not a lot, but it is. It works even if she's dead.

3. She increases your attack speed by 3%, Attack speed is important for a Barbarian because increased attack speed is increased damage. Nuff said!

There's another skill that I would like to use, but that means removing the additional attack speed, and that's the Enchantress' ability to turn enemies (even Elite monsters) into chickens for 5 seconds, making them lose their ability to use their skills as well as make them easier to kill. I opt for the attack speed though.

That said, I'm now Paragon Level 69, Torment II and I think I've pretty much hit a wall with Belial. I've stacked a lot of my skills in defense and vitality. I've got a TON of life but not so much damage. It takes a long time to kill Elites on Torment II and it takes forever to kill something like Belial. It gives Belial time to trigger his enrage timer at which point everything goes insane and I'm dead. There's no more going past it until I get better gear which gives me higher life and higher damage.

Reaper of Souls is just around the corner anyway so it won't be long now before I get that better gear! Belial better watch out!

Paragon Level 91

Paragon Level 89 and 90

As you can see I'm still taking advantage of the plus 50% XP Bonus.

Also, encountered a Cursed Shrine for the third time.

As far as I can tell it will keep throwing enemies at you until you dispatch a certain number of waves then you get a bonus. Not sure though as I've only managed to get through the third wave.

Paragon Level 88

Paragon Level 87

Yes, I survived this encounter. One of the little things that they fixed which I totally love is that I don't have to click on the health potions that you find. Just run over them and you automatically pick 'em up just like the gold.

If you've been away from Diablo III from some time then this is the perfect time to get back and give it another try!

50% OFF on Diablo III

To celebrate the upcoming launch of the Reaper of Souls expansion set, Blizzard is currently offering the original Diablo III on Windows and Mac for just US$ 20.00. That's 50% OFF!

Click here!

Offer ends at 11:59 PM PT on March 23, 2014 Sunday.

The Crusader

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Paragon Level 86

Paragon Level 85

Good God! I still can't beat Belial at Paragon Level 85. Time to level up a few more times.

Paragon Level 84

A few more level ups and I'll probably be able to beat Belial.

Paragon Level 83 and NEW Shoes!

Turned Paragon Level 83 today...

and got NEW shoes!

Didn't think I can find anything better than my old socketed legendary boots, Ice Climber but there you go (the new boots don't have a socket though but it boosted up my Damage and Toughness so I'm happy).

Paragon Level 81 and 82

Things are Challenging Again

For a time, my main concern was getting the best gear (which really meant going shopping at the Auction House) and accumulating as much gold as possible. After Patch 2.0.1 it became more of the adventure again and less of the daily struggle to earn gold.

Aside from the improved system, the bosses were challenging again particularly this guy...

I've died several times and I just couldn't beat him.

Decided to level up first so off I went.

The 50% XP Bonus was particularly helpful. Maybe I'll stand a chance this time. I'll find out tomorrow.

In the meantime, check out what's new with Patch 2.0.1! Click here.

What's New in Patch 2.0.1?

+50% Bonus XP in Diablo III

As of today you can prepare for death's imminent arrival with +50% bonus XP in Diablo III!

Bonus XP ends March 24, 2014. The +50% Boost applies to the PC and Mac only.

Now get going!