D1, D2, D3 comparisons
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5889310208
This is long and I apologize. There will be a TL;DR provided for those kind forum-goers who wish a synopsis.
Diablo 1 - Go through labyrinthine caverns and catacombs that change dynamically with every new game, allowing the option of jumping to different areas with town links, constant killing, massive levels, farming for items that were GOOD, and getting excited as hell when you get a unique. PvP was terrifyingly random and felt real - You could just walk up to someone and kill them, take their ear, and move along. A little scary when you're 13 years old [which is when I played it the most], actually, but man it was awesome and I still enjoy it. Characters were simple, but due to how stats and spells worked you could make some pretty interesting builds, though the internal character caps made it so that you still had some rough shaping until you hit a higher level. Gold actually took up inventory space, when you died you dropped all your items and lost gold [and had to walk alll the way back down to get it unless someone has a res scroll and was near]. Granted, the game was slow, as you had to walk everywhere [Unless you had the Hellfire expac... wait, no one knows about that] and there were some basic flaws with the game, like being unable to see items that dropped and trying to find a ring was damned difficult [BUT I SWEAR I HEARD A DING IN THE MIDST OF THE SCREAMING DEMONS] but it was fun and most could look past it. [Hey, I'm no milkmaid.]
Diablo 2 - Same concept. Everything changes almost constantly when it comes to each level, though sliiightly more linear story-wise. In order to compensate for this, they allow waypoints and the ability to kill every boss regardless of where you are in the game [unless said boss was killed in game already]. Set items were added, crafting was added [which items had a set amount of stats that they were crafted with, and then the character's level added more affixes, most of which were random but usually quite nice], runewords were added [Which people may or may not have liked, but it did add another element to the game], and stuff in general was just pretty cool. Mechanics-wise, new and exciting builds were very common since stat resets were not released when I played, so people would re-roll characters for a specific build and just work with it. Trades were done in trade games, done mostly using SoJs and actual item trading, and the whole thing got you out talking with people. PvP was slightly more limited in this game, expressing hostility and showing that 'hey they gonna mess with ya", but it was still there, still very fun. The classes were a bit more numbered, seven instead of three, and the possibilities were impressive, like strength-focused Sorceresses and Barbarians that went through the game using their Howling abilities to buff and damage opponents. A little silly yes, and people made fun of 'em, but you could do it!
Diablo 3 - Very little in the way of dynamic levels. Just by guessing, I can find the entrance or exit to almost anything and the dungeons and levels are microscopically tiny compared to, say... Act 3 Durance of Hate Level 2, Nightmare. Or even Diablo 1 Catacombs level 1, to be perfectly frank. The level randomness was what made these games awesome and fun, and were still massive even with teleportation and other movement-enhancing effects. These maps were huge! ... Wtf happened to them, seriously? I will say I like the events, they add an element of randomness to it, but the areas are so microscopically small it's kind of silly.
Character customization through spells is "supposed" to be more dynamic, but the sad truth is that most of the spells seem to have so little planning or even testing on the company level that most people fall into a set build and are forced to run with it - This is especially true with Witch Doctors. Stats are no longer selected by the player, nor do they have an internal softcap - You have NO control over your own stats, at all, which seems... Really weird compared to the last two games. The game permits the use of six spells, as opposed to Diablo 1 and 2's slots of 2, but the aforementioned games allowed the individual to scroll through a selection of spells needed using the mouse wheel or F keys and prepare up to four to eight [D2] spells to use. Not only that, but this could be changed at a whim; Diablo 3 requires one to go to town, flip the spell, lose your NV buff, and then go back if you want to fight a challenging boss and be more prepared and not die, and since they added enrage timers [lolwtf?] to this game, it makes the need to change spells and adapt all the more needed [and be subsequently punished for it by losing all your NV.]
Gold is much more valuable in this game compared to D1 and D2, but the trade-off is that all the things that required drops and farming in the past, whether it be crafting or simply upgrading gems, now requires gold. So! In a game where farming was once the main thing for getting items, you now require gold. Instead of farming and hoping for new, exciting things to trade with other people, you now hope to find an item to sell for a lot of gold on the AH. It turned a game all about trading and getting gear to getting gold instead, which seems... flawed.
Now, the AH. For another game? Good idea. For Diablo 3..? Bad. Bad bad bad. Where are the trades from 1 and 2, the thrill of finding an item to trade with another of equal value for your character or perhaps some SoJs, which for all that they were currency, they were USEFUL AND AWESOME. And the RMAH... just... no. Again, a different game that was released AFTER the game is polished? ... sure, why not. It's stupid and it seems to degrade the entire purpose of farming, but whatever, different people like different things. But a Diablo game, really? I know several people aren't even bothering with it, using gold and money and direct item trading alike outside of the AH in disgust, but the amount is somewhat small. Or it was, anyways...
Items! Items in Diablo 3 are between diablo 1 and 2 in being interesting and dynamic, leaning closely to Diablo 1. In Diablo 1, items were straightforward, giving bonuses to skills, all resists, stats, flat damage... sound familiar? In Diablo 2, they went crazy with the stuff things could do, and it was awesome! Very fun, very enjoyable, and made things very drastic and different. Yes, you could go with 'what's best numerically', but if you didn't and just wanted cool items, you could have them! Diablo 3... is on par with Diablo 1 in items, which is a huge disappointment honestly. Crit is.. okay I guess, crit damage is nice, and attack speed [hah] is okay. But where are the auras, the resource regen, the 2% chance to turn you into a tiki guy? Where are the things that made legendaries cool?
... And don't get me started on legendaries. They're legendary pieces of crap, and sets are a joke. I can understand them wanting to focus on rares a bit more, but seriously, the discrepancy is so bad it's really silly.
The game feels unfinished. Not only that, but the game feels like an unfinished game completely outside of the Diablo feel that pretty much just used the name to try and make sales. That's... it, and it's honestly very disappointing. Classes still have passives that don't work, the first 3 "difficulties" can be completed stupidly fast and really without much difficulty, Inferno was put in place for some reason but the discrepancies there are also noticeable and stupid [Why is Hell a cakewalk and Inferno challenging? It's Hell mode! Hell is rough! Why is it easy?!] I was expecting Diablo 2 - Hell challenge, which was sometimes "HEY THIS IS IMMUNE TO PHYSICAL AND EVERYTHING YOU CAN DO. RUN AWAY." It was rough to complete, and even with a level 90 something I tended to stay in earlier acts just to farm pleasantly. I was thinking that hell would be Diablo 3's hell, and Inferno would be this massive place of rage and pain and awesome!
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Normal was a joke. Nightmare was lulzy. Hell was what I expected Nightmare to be like. Inferno Act 1, cool. Act 2 was just me laughing at the screen - That was a bit more what I had in mind when I thought of Inferno. Me running screaming in terror as bugs ATE MY WITCH-DOCTOR FACE. Oh, and I also got a Wizard up there, too. Same thing, but more death. [I'm a terrible wizard.]
Affixes? Anyone who complains about affixes just makes me giggle. Diablo 2 has immune to physical, immune to fire, immune to ice, immune to death, extra fast, aura enchanted to eat your resistances, etc. Just silly. These affixes don't bother me that much. Sure, they're annoying but I like them overall, and mixing them makes for deadly approaches. But...
The issue with affixes actually has nothing to do with the mobs. It's the fact that these maps are so tiny, there's a pretty damned good chance there's an unbeatable pack where you need to go. You can't avoid them, you can't go somewhere else. They're just there, period. And where do you farm? You can farm one act per game, then you have to reload the game and go somewhere else. No waypoints between acts for farming the various good places in each one [Like the Hole in Act 1 or the Kurast cities in Act 3] And heaven forbid you're trying to actually progress.
Also, jars, chests, and other stuff aren't affected by magic find like they are in d2. I... still have no idea why they decided to change that, aside from 'Oh it's not fun'. I wonder when they decided what they thought about 'fun' dictates what other people view as fun. BREAKING STUFF IS SATISFYING.
Oh, and PvP... uh.. what PvP? The things promised in the game aren't even here.
I'm probably even missing a few things. And what's silly... If this wasn't a Diablo game, I actually might even like it. Sure, it's a little lacking, but with time it might be really good! But... It's is. This is a company who has produced some really stellar games, and they really dropped the ball on one that has been anticipated for more than a decade, which is a huge mistake.
TL;DR - Diablo 3 brings to mind "non-sequitor". I wonder if the people who made it ever actually *played* Diablo 1 and 2?
I don't really like any of them, Frenzy is too stack dependent that when your stacks drops it sucks, and the others are just mediocre (either good aoe or mild single target dps), and none of ours give massive debuffs to mobs like a Monks gives. And yeah the Monks "pets" yeah they are just there to help, I've seen it save lives before as he doesn't care and will stick in while others need to move out and gain some life. So not super great, but it's a helpful option for sure, especially in a group setting where you have others that can cover you on some sort of CC if you need it.
