Demensia

Lately the Diablo 3 server issues have been a right pain in the ass. Everyone’s experienced it, and no one is much of a fan of getting booted out of a game right when it’s getting good.

It’s like getting stone walled right when you’re trying to get it on. No bueno.

Even with that hassle, though, I have to admit, the server architecture of Diablo 3 is actually pretty damn sweet.

When you’re playing solo, you just don’t see it, and yes the server downtimes are a serious freakin’ hassle.

When you’re rolling multi-player though, it all comes together. Why? Because running Diablo 3 solo is a blast. Running Diablo 3 with friends is EPIC.

That and, it was an awesome way for me and my guy to celebrate our 4 month anniversary. He’s Euro, I’m US, so it’s not like we could set up a LAN. The BattleNet servers really are the best way for us to spend time together.

And what a way to spend time together!

Thing is, he wasn’t going to pick up D3 AT ALL. Mostly because it took so long for the game to actually publish. I have a copy of D3 because I signed up for the World of Warcraft Annual Pass. I played it, told him it was fun, he decided he had to try it after all. Now we’re both hooked.

I’m totally stoked he was willing to do that since it gives me a chance to blog about the multi-player side of Diablo 3. Now I actually prefer playing it multi-player over playing solo. It really is a different game when you get to throw even just one more player into the mix.

The character talents play well together. There’s more mobs. You have someone else to enjoy the map with. I mean, what’s not to love?

You don’t really see how the classes work together until you get them into a multi-player scenario. Deal is though, it can also depend on who you’re running with. It helps if you’re running with someone that you can talk to and coordinate attacks with. That actually makes all the difference in the world.

In multi-player, you kind of need that edge. The game spawns more mobs and more difficult mobs when in multi-player than in solo mode. Having more mobs to shoot at is always a win. You get more loot that way, but the game is also more challenging. I really like that, it kept me and CrankyB on our toes.

Oh and sidenote on loot. When in multi-player, the loot that you see is your loot, so there’s no loot squabbles. We can however trade if it looks like something dropped would be better for the other class. I’m loving the just loot and go aspect.

To me, the best part about multi-player is having someone to laugh with while running through the maps. There was one point where CrankyB and I finished mowing down a couple of groups and all we could do is laugh and laugh hard.

I had just mentioned that the combo we have going, CrankyB as a Witchdoctor and myself running Demon Hunter was pretty bad ass. Then a bunch of skeletons pop up out of the floor. I go “Eeeeeeek!”, we mow them, down and spend the next five minutes or so just laughing.

Between his flaming bat breath and my rapid fire arrows, we’ve been having a blast. Literally and figuratively. Though he did have me rolling when he said “shouldn’t I be called creep now?” Yeah, the Witchdoctor has a lot more creep to it than the Demon Hunter, but I just love me some swift and blinding violence. It’s just my thing.

If you get the chance to go Multi-Player in Diablo, give it a shot, it’s a blast. Not only is it more rewarding loot wise, it’s also a lot more fun to run through the maps with friends.

Not to mention that when you run with other folks you get to see and do stuff that you probably wouldn’t have on your own. I showed CrankyB that you can tear down bookcases. He showed me that you can shoot up statues.

Of course by the end of that we were wondering what the townspeople would think about us running through and further trashing the joint. Probably something like: “Heroes my ass, they just destroy damn near everything.”

Hey even a hero has to let off a little steam.

Till next time, I’ll be doing just that.

My Demon Hunter in D3

I downloaded, I authenticated, and I played Diablo 3 *queue evil laughter*.

The most interesting part is that I ACTUALLY enjoyed it. Granted I didn’t get through much of the first act before I was booted from the server. *grumble mutter bitch whine moans*

It’s a lot like what I remember from watching friends play Diablo 2. I didn’t get a chance to edge into that game and didn’t have a machine that could play it back then. Fortunately times have changed and now it’s my turn to get to enjoy some creeptastic Diablo goodness. OK well maybe Diablo evilness… I’m not sure which.

I really like what Blizzard has done with Diablo 3. I was able to step right into the game and get into it. That part I really dig. There’s no advanced tutorial on how to use their user interface re-envisioned. No, oh look at how cool you’ll be at the end of the game then smacked down to null from the start, it’s just boom, right to the fun.

OK, well that is once you get past logging into BattleNet. That is kind of annoying, but as long as I have a net connection and the servers are up it’s not too bad.

On the upside, the net connection makes it really easy to play the game with anyone that might want to drop in and play. I like that. I haven’t had a chance to try it myself, yet, but me and CrankyB are planning on hopping into some games once he gets D3 installed.

In the meantime I am able to talk to any of my RealID friends in game. I like that quite a bit. Even if they’re playing other Blizzard games, as long as they have RealID support, I can see they are online and chat it up with them a bit.

Now I’m sure that everyone will be either praising or dissing the actual gameplay. Since I didn’t get to far into it before I got booted, I can’t say too much. I can say that I like the voice overs. I liked the combat. I also like being able to tear shit up.

I think I spent most of my time busting barrels, tearing down bookcases, oh and dropping every chandelier I could find. I also searched through every nook and cranny of the game as I went.

That’s the awesome part about Diablo, it pays to poke around.

Diablo 3 lives up to the creep factor too. The way some of the mobs work, at least so far is pretty awesome. I mean explodie mobs, things that crawl at you, it’s all awesome.

So far I’ve only been able to try out the Demon Hunter. I’ve only wanted to play one since the trailer was released for the Demon Hunter who knows how long ago now. I’m stoked that I finally have a chance to try it out. I really like it. The Demon Hunter is just my style, swift and blinding violence. What’s not to love?

While I’m no Diablo pro, I did really enjoy what little I’ve been able to get into so far and I’m looking to play more.

If you get a chance to try Diablo 3, I say go for it.