Just logged into D3 for the first time in ages and WHOAH

[Deleted]

They still could easily have and IMO should have kept the names Normal, Nightmare, Hell, and Inferno. Since there are five modes, I would have named the middle difficulty Torment, because it seems more severe than Nightmare but not as necessarily severe as Hell.

I think it was a pyschological choice to change the names more than a practical one - they could have easily kept the old naming system, but a brand new naming system makes it clear to players that the system is different, which makes them spend more time reading the descriptions and thinking about it when they first encounter it. Keeping the old names but a new system could have been even more confusing to people.

[Pua]

I might consider giving D3 another go, I've heard a lot of good things about it recently. Still a bit soured by the embarrassment they called a launch which was followed by an underwhelming gameplay experience, but a fresh start might be worth it.

[Deleted]

I might consider giving D3 another go, I've heard a lot of good things about it recently. Still a bit soured by the embarrassment they called a launch which was followed by an underwhelming gameplay experience, but a fresh start might be worth it.

No point dwelling in the past, all you do is damage your own ability to have fun and enjoy the entertainment that at the end of the day, you already paid for. Might as well give it a go with an unbias state of mind.

[Pua]

No point dwelling in the past, all you do is damage your own ability to have fun and enjoy the entertainment that at the end of the day, you already paid for. Might as well give it a go with an unbias state of mind.

Aye, a new set of eyes and no pre-judgements might help me to enjoy the game more. To be honest, I couldn't say for sure that I wasn't underwhelmed by the game because of its dreadful launch; fingers crossed.

[Krommm]

I've gotten more usable loot in an hour than I have during my 800+ hr nolife early launch play filled with garbage. Overall pretty good changes, though I still preferred Monster Power even though the system is similar in respect.

[Azutael]

Loving it so far, finally finding upgrades on my most geared characters. Without using the damn AH.
Though I haven't yet found anything truly amazing.

And I love that more spells are viable now compared to before, everyone I see seems to have different builds.

[Coldkil]

After playing a while, i found the best changes are:
- build diversity promoted via gear: you can get some legendary combo that make some skills more usable hence making you drive away from "cookie cutter" builds
- party sinergy: different builds promote different playstyles depending on who you are in party with; examples are me using stuns/more aoe, the monk the run speed mantra and the other DH more single target abilites. If you plan your builds with other people, it turns out really cool.

[Mormolyce]

I have to say, this is now a totally different game to the one at launch.

I actually had plenty of fun back then but these changes definitely improve a lot of things. I do sort of miss the crushing, massively unfair difficulty of Inferno at launch (I played without buying any gear :P) but maybe the higher difficulty levels are like that. Also sad to see the AHs go, I actually liked them, but apparently I was the only one.

[Cairhiin]

Don't really know what happened but my Witch Doctor feels really rather meh since this patch (pets seem massively buffed but I ran pet-less). He was my best character, and paragon 100. So slightly disappointed I switch over to my Wizard and whoaah. What happened to her? She kicks total ass now, and is in much less gear than my Witch Doctor. I surf through Torment II with ease. Frozen Orb (Hell yeah that is an awesome change, loving the D2 Orb) just destroys everything.

[Akii]

Sounds like they changed a bit, seems like I have to install D3 again and try it, I heard something about loot also changed what's it like now then?

[Asmekiel]

Also sad to see the AHs go, I actually liked them, but apparently I was the only one.

Definitely not the only. Oh well, time to go back to 3rd party sites D2-style. (oh, wait, trading didn't happen back then )

[PetersenIII]

Definitely not the only. Oh well, time to go back to 3rd party sites D2-style. (oh, wait, trading didn't happen back then )

How ya gonna trade stuff that's bound to your account?

[Asmekiel]

Rare items still can be traded afaik, or did they completely remove trading from the game? Anyway, I think it's a lame change to basically remove trading.

[Deleted]

Sounds like they changed a bit, seems like I have to install D3 again and try it, I heard something about loot also changed what's it like now then?

Full patch notes here but super condensced version

Loot 2.0 -

Legendary and set Items are Bind on account (can still trade with party members for 2 hours).

Smart drop - items now drop based on the class being played, ie. a wizard will find mostly items with int and wizard skills. It's still possible to get other items but mostly you'll get stuff for your own class. Items can't have "useless" stats, ie. the barbarian belt can no longer have int.

Rework of stats into primary and secondary stats, more interesting item affixes, more interesting and unique procs on sets/legendaries

Visible stat ranges (hold ctrl over an item).

Basically, items drop that are more useful, legendary items are more unique & fun to use, there's a lot less frustration from drops, there's a lot more itemisation and different ways to build.

- - - Updated - - -

Rare items still can be traded afaik, or did they completely remove trading from the game? Anyway, I think it's a lame change to basically remove trading.

Rares can still be traded, you just need to meet in-game to do so after the AH is removed (March 18th). Legendaries can be traded with people who were in your party when it dropped, for 2 hours after it dropped only.

[Mormolyce]

Well I'm having a blast with the new system. Got my WD from 19 to like 28 in one night. I put the difficulty around the middle and it's actually both challenging and rewarding. I'm not even finished Act II, at this rate I'll be pretty high level if not 60 after one playthrough.

I love that I determine the difficulty now, based on how much xp/loot I want to get versus how hard it is to kill things, and it's not tied to what difficulty I've gotten up to. I wish they'd launched like this, it's a big change from traditional Diablo but I think it's way better. The difficulty really feels right, and the drop rate works well too: I started out getting my ass kicked but after I killed enough mobs I got some big upgrades and now the monsters are much more manageable. In fact I'm going to tweak the difficulty up another notch. Such a good system.

P.S. Is MF being removed? Seems kind of redundant now, haven't seen it on new gear but my old crap still has some.

Sounds like they changed a bit, seems like I have to install D3 again and try it, I heard something about loot also changed what's it like now then?

Basically 1/10th the amount of loot drops, but what drops is like 80% yellow or above. From what I saw.

I only ever found one legendary when I used to play (I mostly played alts, didn't do much at max level) but in the last couple of days I've gotten 3 legendaries on my alts and one really good set piece on my main (it seriously dropped on like the first elite I killed, was on Normal mode too, no doubt that was luck though).

Definitely not the only. Oh well, time to go back to 3rd party sites D2-style. (oh, wait, trading didn't happen back then )

Tell me about it. Was it so hard for people to exercise self discipline and not buy uber gear and ruin the game for themselves?

- - - Updated - - -

Smart drop - items now drop based on the class being played, ie. a wizard will find mostly items with int and wizard skills. It's still possible to get other items but mostly you'll get stuff for your own class. Items can't have "useless" stats, ie. the barbarian belt can no longer have int.

I noticed Templar relics are finally dropping with STR on them lol, my old ones were like DEX and INT because the shitty things never dropped right.

Hey did I miss an option or are item levels invisible again? I can see the level requirement but not the actual i60/i61/i62/i63.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

My Barb(Warrior really) is still fun. Not sure what people are groaning about. Once RoS is out I'm switching to Crusader bitches!

[Archimand]

the major change is the loot you get and its a HUGE change for loot based game.

played for around 2 days, not that much maybe 2-3 hours total.

got 10 legenderies and countless useful rare items.

[Bill Nye the Spy]

This 2.0 patch has made me a believer. I haven't played another game since. I took a break from being a boss in League of Legends and leveling alts in WoW for this, and I love it. Thought I'd let you all know.

[kail]

Definitely not the only. Oh well, time to go back to 3rd party sites D2-style. (oh, wait, trading didn't happen back then )

Won't be easy trading as the legs/set items are showing true power with these unique affixes, which are BoA. That and trading will literally be...trading. Yellows, gems, and some mats are the only things we can trade to others with 2.0, gold is also BoA. It really screws the sites that sell gold and/or gear. The only thing left for them is selling characters.

In a way I'm glad it promotes playing the game to earn the gear instead of shopping for them. However, Loot 2.0 comes with a grouping blowback. Because the loot will be tuned for your character, it kinda forces single class grps (i.e. All barbs or Wiz).

[Mormolyce]

P.S. What the heck is Griswold's Scribblings? Mat for some legendary?