Finally Beat Diablo on Inferno

FINALLY. It's really not much of a victory. By this time pretty much everyone's beat Diablo on Inferno. I was finally able to do it only by reaching Paragon Level 12 and playing at Monster Power ZERO, plus the benefit of a few Legendary items given to me by fellow player Jonas Diego.

I gave up playing many months ago because it just became too hard. I got stuck on Act 3 and I couldn't progress and I just kept getting crap items. So I just gave up. So yeah, I guess I'm really not that good of a Diablo player. I admit that right now. It's actually quite more like RELIEF I feel at beating Diablo at this level because it was just simply too embarrassing knowing I haven't beaten Diablo until now.

At least now I can just sit back and relax and just continue to level my Paragon Levels up, this time at Monster Power 1! Yeah, I'm so hardcore.

I'm playing it again now to re-familiarize myself with the game in preparation for the Reaper of Souls expansion. I hope to gain a few more Paragon levels before that happens, you know, just to prevent further humiliation.

Patch 1.0.4

I've been playing Diablo on and off for the past few weeks just waiting for Patch 1.0.4. I've written quite a lot about the things I didn't like about the game but was hopeful that they could be fixed. Original Diablo creator David Brevik went online to express the same dissatisfaction with the game. Diablo 3 lead designer Jay Wilson responded with "fuck that loser" which I found insulting, not only to David Brevik, but to everyone playing the game who felt changes were needed...including me.

Yes, I too felt personally insulted by it and I swore on Twitter that I've finally had it and I would give up this game for good. It didn't matter that Patch 1.0.4 sounded awesome.

So, even when the patch went live, I didn't play it. And almost as miraculous as a truly legendary item dropping with truly legendary stats, Jay Wilson gave a public apology days later, not only to David Brevik, but to the players as well.

Great! I revved up Diablo 3 once again and here I am playing the game post patch. Inferno is still difficult, but not ridiculously so. The "Paragon Levels" certainly gives that added incentive to continue playing. It gives the players something to play for, especially when they get drops that are disappointing.

I have noticed a change in drops that I've gotten most noticeably with the 2 hander weapons. In the few hours I've played, at least two Level 63 2-hander weapons with more than 1K DPS stat have dropped. I thought wow...but I couldn't use them as my Barbarian is a one hander.

One Legendary item has dropped for me so far...a Bracer but it had crap stats very much like a pre-1.0.4 Legendary. I put it up on the auction house and what the hell...someone bought it for 120K gold. Amazing.

Right now I'm actually on ACT 3, currently lighting fires at Bastion's Keep.

What's my gear like? What skills am I using? You can take a look at my Barbarian's profile here:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Komikero-6931/hero/5717457

What about you? What's your player profile?

Hardcore Barbarian, Level 30

My Hardcore Barbarian has just killed Azmodan, the boss of Act III, and now I'm currently on the last Act on the way to killing Diablo.

To be honest, I never expected to make it this far.

Yeah, it's Normal Difficulty but since I'm not a hardcore gamer (I like to think of myself as just a casual gamer) this is quite an accomplishment already.

I could have taken Diablo tonight but my connection to Battle.net seems to be lagging at the moment. I had to stop because dying a "lag death" is very possible and very real. It's happened to me several times with my softcore characters.

I would be running and fighting and then all of sudden everything stops but my character. The monsters stop and even my mercenary stops. I can still move my character and I can still make it attack a monster but nothing happens. It's like time stopped and I'm the only one moving.

And then, a few moments later, everything starts moving again trying to catch up and, apparently, the monsters had been hitting me all this time and now I'm already dead.

LAG DEATH.

It's one of the many problems of the always-on-connection of Diablo 3. This would never happen if this game had an offline mode.

And with a Hardcore character (a character that cannot be revived once it's died ), I can't afford dying because of something stupid as this so the very first indication of lagging, I immediately stop playing and close the game.

Looks like Diablo can breathe a sigh of relief...at least for now.

Banned as a Troll

I just found out I've been banned for trolling on the official Diablo III boards. Well, there's only one thing I can say about that.

HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!

Well, okay. I have a few more things to say.

Let me just say that the official Diablo III boards at Blizzard is just hysterical. A lot of the stuff posted there are just so ridiculous that I just can't help but troll. Yes, I admit it. It was kind of an epic troll. I don't regret it.

What I find annoying about the place is the many defenders of Blizzard who can't seem to accept that there are people out there who are dissatisfied with the game for one reason or another, who have the right to say what they don't like about the game.

The idea that people should just stop playing and shut up if they don't like the game is just IDIOTIC.

My US$ 60.00 says I have every right to complain.

Click on thumbnail for a larger image.

I'm curious...are these people the type who just shuts up and not complain when a product they've bought is defective? Do you know what those kinds of people are? They're abused people. They're people that other people love taking advantage of because they don't say anything when they're being stepped on and kicked around.

I refuse to be abused and I refuse to be taken advantage of. That's what I do when I complain. That means I freakin' stand up for myself.

Blizzard has already officially admitted that there are shortcomings with the game.

It's all over the news and they're taking steps to hopefully improving the product. This is the result of people complaining. This is the result of people who care about the game and want it to be good.

As for being banned, I find it just hysterical. If Blizzard wants to act like an irate parent spanking a petulant child well, look for another whipping boy because this one ain't crying and begging to be taken back. You can take your forum and shove it up where the sun don't shine.

At least I can still play the game.

As for my Hardcore Barbarian...I've already killed GHOM in Act 3 and still going strong. I'm starting to feel really good about killing Diablo now.

I think I have a pretty good chance of at least finishing this game in Hardcore mode on Normal Difficulty.

Inferno...HOLY CRAP!

I enjoyed the game vastly right up to Hell difficulty, the third, and penultimate difficulty setting on Diablo 3.

Upon entering Inferno, it was like I hit a brick wall. I actually had an easier time of it a few weeks ago but, when Blizzard implemented Patch 1.0.3, my attack speed went down from 1.72 to around 1.10 and my Damage per Second went from around 22K to 12K. Not only that, the patch made repair costs so expensive that I end up losing more gold than making it.

Pre-patch, I was able to play right up to the Butcher. But post patch, I can barely get out of the Cathedral. I banged my head into Inferno like this until I almost became broke.

Of course, the solution to all this is to be more careful playing. Be more defensive so you will die less often. But believe me, the Elite monsters in Inferno are so powerful that you're going to die with one or two hits before you can even run away.

It has been frustrating and more than once I've logged off in anger.

Now I'm staying away from Inferno for a while. I've just been playing Acts 3 and 4 of Hell over and over just to stack up on Gold. Hopefully after a few weeks of this I'll be able to have so much gold I'll be able to buy better gear from the Auction House.

Because honestly, the drops I get from the game is just simply bad. On average, I've gotten only ONE useful gear in around two weeks of playing. In that same two weeks you amass enough gold to buy several good items of the Auction House. So what do you do? Just grind and grind or use the Auction House?

So yeah, that's what I've been doing lately. Once I get better gear, hopefully I start having fun again.

ACT 3

I finally reached Act 3.

Okay, as a preamble, let me say that Acts 1 and 2 were pretty much what I had been expecting to play. It's like Diablo 2 but kind of beefed up. It's still exciting, kind of easy going, and relatively stress free playing. I get this feeling when I play other games like Drakensang and Path of Exile. I get to play an hour to a couple of hours a day. It's easy to pause and go off and do something else. It's all pretty nice.

But then I hit Act 3. And I'm like...

OH MY GOD.

The game seems to have been injected with alien steroids on crack. All of a sudden I'm on the edge of my seat, clicking like mad, floods of sweat on my face. All of a sudden I can't stop playing. Just today I played like 4 hours straight

 It may not be much to most gamers, but that's a LOT for me.

The cinematic alone that began Act 3 should have been a clue to the Armageddon that waited for me then. Never have I uttered so many profanities in quick succession in playing a game. It was just insane. I mean it is insane...I haven't finished Act 3 yet. I just had to stop and pause for breath. Maybe I should just turn in and go to sleep. I'm almost scared to go back.

It's kind of undeniable the influence The Lord of the Rings had on Diablo. I haven't played Diablo 1, but it was obvious to me in Diablo 2. It's even more obvious in Diablo 3. I'm pretty sure the designers of this game saw Two Towers, especially the whole Helm's Deep sequence and thought "hmmm... this would make a pretty good video game".

And they pulled it off amazingly well.

Just one funny thing... in the middle of a battle torn fortress, with all sorts of monsters prowling around attacking and circling. There's this little room where this guy is selling weapons and armor like it's, you know, a regular day at the local market. Where does he get stuff to eat? Where does he sleep and piss? The minute he goes out that little room, he's dead.

I just found it funny.