I’ve been playing the Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls patch 2.1 pretty hard since the launch. I had to get back into the groove since I was doing more World of Warcraft. Fortunately, (depending on how you look at things), World of Warcraft has been in a massive slump recently so the patch is a much welcome relief to my gaming boredom. The big question is: how long will that be?
I saw a youtube video posted by Kripparian where he talks about his thoughts on the current state of Diablo 3. For the most part, I agree with the vast majority of points he makes in the video. I think the game is in a VERY good state. You can gear up quickly, not grind too hard and really get into all the content fast. Whether you choose to participate in seasons is entirely up to you, but the main thing is that the game is pretty fun and has it’s challenging moments.
I left off gearing a Demon Hunter who had bits and pieces of the Marauder’s set. He was doing decently on Torment 3 but I ended up getting discouraged after some assholes told me off during a Nephlam Rift run. Lucky for me, I haven’t had that type of idiocy in any group play thus far. In fact, I made a few online friends. But the main thing is that I’ve been incredibly fortuitous in my play by being able to receive the rest of my Marauder’s set and getting into higher and higher levels of difficulty.
Part of the reason is that they had buffed the drop rate for legendaries and class specific set items. So in my case, I was able to get the rest of my Marauder’s set from rift runs and Kadala. On top of that, this week had a nice buff to the cache only legendaries, which allowed me to get a few Rings of Royal Grandeur. Naturally, these things have come together in boosting me up to be more competitive overall in game play (I did finally get my Ring for my Demon Hunter just prior to the buff but it was a real pain).
In addition, I have managed to get into 2 Goblin Vaults which led to me finding the goblin treasure legendary gem. After seeing someone on Twitch use that gem on T6 runs, I realized very quickly that I could make some serious gold. So that by itself was another really lucky find for me as I managed to snag that opportunity while the buff was going on.
Right now, I’m not only gearing up my Demon Hunter in searching for even better gear to really maximize his potential, I’m gearing up the rest of my folks. So far, I managed to get the 5 set bonus for my Wizard, 2 pieces for my Crusader and have been working on my monk as well. And whatever hand me down gear from the main Demon Hunter ends up going to my 2nd Demon Hunter. That’s how ridiculous it’s been!
I know there’s a lot of so-called hardcore players who find the increased drop rates as stupid. But here’s the reasoning behind all of this: Blizzard is trying to get everyone caught up for the seasons. The real end game content isn’t gear progression but Greater Rifts with the ladder system in seasons. From what I’ve heard, seasons probably will last a few months at most (two from all accounts). Naturally, Blizzard doesn’t want people endlessly receiving rare junk and really want to see people push Greater Rifts with the best stuff possible and use skills to eek out progression in the really high end rifts. This is especially true for hardcore only seasonal players. So upping the drop rate has been a boon to all.
Now, is seasons a thing for everyone? I mean, it’s really about competing and starting from scratch (so they say). Some people enjoy that fresh moment where you essentially have the equivalent of a brand new account. Add to that the small incentive of season only legendaries with the competitive factor and you can satisfy that audience who want to really show their skill.
For someone like me, it’s not that big of a deal. I already have 7 level 70s. But the primary difference is that I like to feel overpowered all the time. So I end up feeding my new characters with all my spare gear. The reason is that I personally enjoy seeing how much of a huge difference the leveling gear makes rather than struggling to play catch up. Also, once the season is complete, I believe your season characters become part of your normal core and the season gear goes into the main pot.
For me, most of the seasonal gear thus far has been meh at best. The only piece I thought was worth anything was the wizard wand because of the infinite teleport potential (makes them competitive to a Demon Hunter with the Danetta’s set bonus). Beyond that aspect, the seasonal stuff really is just hype so people can try to get viewers on Twitch in the hope of getting noticed and thus a partnership and a few extra spending bucks. Seriously, that’s the long and short of seasons.
Instead, I just use all the fringe benefits of seasons like getting the buffed gear drops. For me, I can then see all the content quickly without mindlessly grinding for months. Now, the grind just becomes a few solid days, especially with my feeder character. I can just solo some T5’s on my Demon Hunter, rack up a ton of Blood Shards and hand them to whatever character needs better gear.
Going back to Kripparian’s video, one of the main things he pointed out was that the game in its current state is good for a few weeks at best (maybe two solid weeks). And it’s true. I can’t see myself doing this grind as hard as I’ve been pushing forever. But I would love to gear up each of the classes to see what the end game potential is like for them. With the gear buffs, I can do this in a much more efficient manner (*cough* World of Warcraft *cough*). Then once I’m done, I can move on with my life until the next major patch hits and possibly get some of the seasonal gear once this is complete.
Honestly, you can’t really demand that much more from a game and I don’t mind if this current patch enters for a maximum of a few weeks. I like having that hobby that I can hit for a few solid days and slowly diminish as I feel content. That to me is the mark of a good game. You really don’t want to grind endlessly, mindlessly and pointlessly forever (*cough* World of Warcraft LFR/Raiding *cough*). The get-in/get-out philosophy is where the game needed to be at. It’s in that state. Now, the developers can just work on some content patches that probably will be gear heavy, a few maps every few months, maybe a couple of new monsters like that goblin boss and you have a game you can come back to every now and then. Sure, we’re still missing PVP (which I honestly don’t care about) but compare this to the dark days of the Auction House and you see a very enjoyable product. There’s always room for improvement but the current state is enjoyable, doesn’t require that much time and lets you move on once you feel satisfied. I’m very happy with things and hope that they continue this trend (*cough* World of Warcraft *cough*)