Diablo III Philippines Comics 3

Level 60 Barbarian

I've finally reached Level 60 on my Barbarian. I think I've gone as far as I can go with Diablo 3, at least for now. No, I've not finished Inferno. I guess I'm not really that good of a player and I can admit that without a problem.

I'll just wait for future patches before I start playing D3 again. These would be patches that would make Legendaries more, well...LEGENDARY and patches that would hopefully make the game a lot more fun to play than it already is.

I've become frustrated with the game after getting hardly any items at all while farming that I can actually use.

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I mean...why are you still getting 160DPS Level 60 rare weapons? What possible use can there be for that? And yet at the Auction House you see Level 60 weapons that are more than 1K DPS. I mean WTF is that?

I've been playing since this game came out, and I've never had an item drop that was more than 600DPS.

If you need to play a whole lot more to get these items, well, the game was probably designed for people who have lots of time on their hands. You know, people who don't have jobs, or maybe supported by their parents, and can afford to play all day and all night.

I can play only an hour or so a day...2 hours at the most. Is there anything in this game for me? Apparently not much after you reach Level 60.

As I said, I'm not giving up on Diablo 3 all together. I'll come back when it has something new to offer.

For now, it's back to Path of Exile!

Not So Legendary

I've been playing the game since May 16, 2012, and in the last 2 months I think only two Legendary items have dropped for me while playing.

Legendary items in Diablo III is a curious thing in that they're not that Legendary. I think they developers have explained why these items can be such crap, compared to the more common Rare items, but their reasons, to be honest, are just idiotic.

Legendary items are supposed to be LEGENDARY. Meaning, when you get them, you freak out, gurgle a bit, convulse for a minute or so, then run round and round the room like a crazy person, just like winning the lottery.

Legendary items that are crap=NOT fun.
Legendary items that are awesome=FUN.

I think that's the only bottom line for any game of this sort. It's a game. You're supposed to have FUN. Never mind all the other reasons and statistics and probabilities and all that crap. Always always the bottom line: IT SHOULD BE FUN.

At any rate, the developers have said that they will be upgrading Legendary drops in a future patch. I certainly hope so! Because imagine my thrill upon seeing this Legendary item drop, only to find out that I couldn't use it because it was just too weak.

And look at that...I'm at Level 33, and this is a Level 26 item. I mean come on! The weapon I have at this time already has something like 70+DPS. And you give me this...41.8 DPS?

Madness.

I tried selling this thing at the Gold Auction house for cheap and nobody's buying. Figures! Who'd want this crap?

Diablo III Philippines Comics 2

Diablo III thus far...

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I reserved a copy at Data Blitz weeks before Diablo III came out, I waited patiently in line for my turn to get my grubby little hands on a copy of the game on D-Day, installed it and the next thing you know I was back in Tristram!

I battled as a Barbarian (but of course) and, though the new skill system with all these runes and shit took a bit of getting used to, I managed to muddle my way through.

Some observations:

1. It wasn't as awesome as I thought it would be (though that could probably be attributed to my high expectations).

2. Needing a stable internet connection to play kinda sucks sometimes (lag death, server maintenance, etc).

3. The Auction House is awesome but the price tags on some of the items are just outrageous!

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There's lot of things to do however...like color coordinating my armor via dyes care of the local merchants. I used white dye on all of my items to make me look more like one of the archangels...and also because it was the cheapest they had.

I'm saving up on gold to try and purchase better armor and equipment.

I'm almost at Level 60 (currently at Level 59 as of this writing) and it kinda makes me sad because of the level cap at 60. After that you're going to have to rely on jewels, magical armor, and weapons with unique qualities to better your character's stats.

That being said, Diablo III is still a delight to play and I will be playing it for quite some time.

After I'm through running my Barbarian character through all the difficulty levels, I'm a-gonna take all the other characters for a spin.

Diablo III Philippines Comics 1

My Hardcore Barbarian Finally Dies

Damn... well, there you go. My Hardcore Barbarian finally dies right in Act 1 of Nightmare, just before I entered Leoric's Manor.

I encountered TWO Elite Packs in this area where I used up all my offensive skills to dispatch the first one. I didn't see the second pack until it was almost on top of me. With my offensive skills still on cooldown I was caught vulnerable, pinned by the Elite's jailer affix, and unable to run.

I didn't feel as bad as I thought I would but I have to be honest and say I didn't expect to die so soon (not after breezing through Normal with very little difficulty). It was my mistake. I got complacent. I wish I could say it won't happen again as I won't be attempting Hardcore again.

One thing this has taught me though, is how strong Barbarians really are. My first Diablo 3 character was a non-hardcore Barbarian but, because I had a hard time getting a grasp of the game that early, I ditched that character at Level 16 and went with a Monk. And it was with a Monk that went the distance until Level 60.

But now I've gotten a better handle on the game and a better handle on Barbarians that I've revisited my Level 16 Barbarian and I'll be taking him from there. It will be the character I will be playing for much of the time from now on.

Killed Diablo on Hardcore, Normal

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I finally killed Diablo on Hardcore Mode, Normal Difficulty.

Because my Barbarian is probably on a very high level for this stage of the game (he's currently Level 32) and bearing some really good gear for that level, it wasn't really that difficult dispatching Diablo.

Diablo barely made a dent in my hitpoints (life level) and at no time in the battle did I feel in danger of dying. I'm pretty sure that will all change when I enter this character into the next level of difficulty, Nightmare.

But for now, I'm just gonna take this in. I just can't believe I was able to actually finish the game without dying once.

I was never able to do it in Diablo 2.

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.

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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.

Hardcore Barbarian, Level 21

My Hardcore Barbarian is still alive at Level 21!

I'm currently on the search for Zoltan Khule in Act 2 and it's going good so far.

I must admit, I almost died a couple of times. One time was against those huge Elite Bull Creatures and that huge mace weilding monster guarding the gate to Alcarnus. I thought I was a goner that last time but I managed to pull through.

I've been going very slowly making sure to search every part of the map, opening chests, and breaking pots. I do this so that I would level up more before progressing further. This makes my character stronger and more durable.

Whatever gold I make, I buy the best armor and weapons I can find at the Auction House. Low level items generally costs dirt cheap on the AH, as compared to Level 60+ items that range in the millions.

My hardcore character would most likely be dead long before then so I'm not really worried about spending that much.

I figure this character will die when he goes up against Belial, the boss of Act 2. I died there plenty of times with softcore characters before but since I've been really buffing this character up level wise and gear wise, who knows?

Hardcore

Laying off my Level 60 monk on Inferno Act 1 for now as I gather my wits about further progressing through the game successfully.

For the meantime, I decided to start a new Barbarian character...on Hardcore setting!

This means that once my character dies, that's it. Game over. He can't be revived anymore. I lose all money and gear that this character is associated with.

I have no illusions at all that I can finish the game (at least on Normal Setting) without dying once. I would just like to see how far I can go with that kind of risk looming over my head. I would like to see how careful it would force me to play and what techniques I learn here I can use on my Monk on Inferno.

I'm currently on Level 9 and I've successfully killed The Skeleton King. So far so good!