F&F Diablo III Beta Begins

[DemolitionSquid]

Just finished my weekend Beta test of SWTOR (which was AWESOME), so now I'm just waiting for D3 beta.

[Todie]

you might want to spell out what SWTOR is. just sayin'

[TheEconomist]

There's people in the gaming community that don't know what SWTOR stands for? Strange.

Oh well, that's what Googles for.

[sandwich_bird]

Just finished my weekend Beta test of SWTOR (which was AWESOME)

Really? I thought it was gonna suck even though the cgi trailers were amazing. I guess I'll have to try it out.

[Peanutbutter]

Really? I thought it was gonna suck even though the cgi trailers were amazing. I guess I'll have to try it out.

From what I've seen so far in various game play trailers, the game looks pretty uninteresting. Pretty similar to WoW in terms of mechanics from the looks of it.

DSquid liked it though, so who knows?

I dislike MMO's generally, so I'm not gonna try it, at least until there's going to be a trial out.

[DemolitionSquid]

SWTOR is Star Wars: The Old Republic.

What I can say is, with 8 classes, its like playing Kotor 3-10. It's also WoW in space, and that's a good thing. All the genre standards are there - leveling, skill trees, trinity system, raids, guilds, chat spam. It takes the best of WoW, what makes it so huge and addicting, and then adds in lightsabers and starships. If you were expecting or hoping for something truly different, I can say you'll be disappointed. But if you were hoping for a fun Star Wars game, another "Grade A" Bioware game, and a functional and refined MMO, then it pleases. The dialogue and class stories really help reduce the grind, and there are innovations like the cover-using classes and the crew crafting system that make it feel fresh. The space combat is simple yet fun and a nice change of pace.

I intend to play at launch. I hope to see some of you there.

[Blazur]

Please stop spreading that kind of rubbish around, without even giving a source.

Rubbish nothing. At the time of my posting Bashiok himself had posted on the official forums that it hadn't started as a response to this direct leak.

Although today the Internet had exploded with leaked material, which pretty much confirms that it has begun recently. Want to see something interesting? Check out this serious data-mining.

(Spoilers)
http://wowbox.tw/d3/index.php

LOL: http://wowbox.tw/d3/tmp.php?stl=BannedCharacterNames

[DemolitionSquid]

The Profanity section of the D3 leak is really funny too.

[Peanutbutter]

SWTOR is Star Wars: The Old Republic.

What I can say is, with 8 classes, its like playing Kotor 3-10. It's also WoW in space, and that's a good thing. All the genre standards are there - leveling, skill trees, trinity system, raids, guilds, chat spam. It takes the best of WoW, what makes it so huge and addicting, and then adds in lightsabers and starships. If you were expecting or hoping for something truly different, I can say you'll be disappointed. But if you were hoping for a fun Star Wars game, another "Grade A" Bioware game, and a functional and refined MMO, then it pleases. The dialogue and class stories really help reduce the grind, and there are innovations like the cover-using classes and the crew crafting system that make it feel fresh. The space combat is simple yet fun and a nice change of pace.

I intend to play at launch. I hope to see some of you there.

After reading your post, and looking at a few gameplay videos, the game has caught my eye.

Back in the day, WoW used to be an awesome game, filled with all kinds of cool people and a ton of fun. After WOTLK and Cata were released, it all just became a huge grind ( IMO ).
If SWTOR really focuses on the gameplay and not on the grind, and isn't filled with ignorant herp derp morons like WoW these days, I'll give the game a serious shot.

[DemolitionSquid]

The removal of grind through story really helps the game. If you just do quests and flashpoints you'll be just fine leveling.

A lot of main quests receive "bonus objectives," which are the typical "kill X" mini-quests. The difference between these types of quests in WoW and in SWTOR is that in SWTOR, you have to cut through mobs to complete the main quests anyway so you fill the "kill X" quota without having to go off the beaten path. I remember a quest where I had to fight through a cave to collect a lightsaber crystal to build my first lightsaber. It was full of ancient droid sentries and feral beast mobs. I had to kill them regardless on my way to my main quest, so with the bonus objectives to kill them, it felt more fluid. I wasn't trying to kill X, I was fighting my way through X to build my lightsaber. And somehow that made all the difference because it didn't feel like grind.