I just got the game as a gift. I want to give it a shot. What is the best class to start out with? I love D1 and D2. From what Ive been reading, I know this is not like D1 or D2. I will not spend real $$ in the Auction House. Will have hurt my toon? Any advice would help me out.
Comments
Playing D3 atm, my fav, is the Demon Hunter, you may want to start with barbarian, i would say don't look at the Auction House until mayb later difficulties just have fun, don't be afraid to play public games ethier.
Advice: don't bother, lol.
On a more serious note... We can't possibly tell you what is best without knowing what you prefer. Barbarian is melee. Wizard is a Mage. Witch Doctor can summon and do very temporary summons as well as ranged type magic. Demon Hunters are ranged archers with traps.
It depends on what you want to do, but I find barbarian or monk to be the "easiest" classes. If you build them defensive, you'll rarely die. My Monk hasn't died in like 4 months, but that might be because it's maxed out hehe.
The RMAH is really not used much as far as I know of. I got 10 items up there constantly and a stash full of "perfect" 63 items that I can't sell on it. I generally end up just selling stuff for gold now.
I don't think they have changed it, but Barbarian and Monk take 50% less damage outright (I rarely read the patch notes hehe), so you won't die very often. However if you want to be a killing machine I would go with Wizard or Demon Hunter. Wizard is good and can take more hits than Demon Hunter, while Demon Hunter relies on fast movement and evading attacks with movement.
Witch Doctor is a good all around class, they can be built to do high dps while being fairly survivable with their pets. The only problem with Witch Doctor is if you get hit, you'll probably die. They have a couple of skills to help them survive, but they rely on a tank or pets to get hit.
Barbarian absolutely wrecks shit.
Also for the best play experience, stay far away from the AH.
For the best play experience, stay far away from the game. On the bright side, at least the human plague known as Jay Wilson no longer has any input.
All classes are fun, none are really gimped until you are worrying about monster power level 5+ in Inferno.
The people who hate D3 are just bitter and cynical - your first play through will be awesome, you'll love it if you enjoy ARPG's at all. Enjoy.
Do NOT play US if you can avoid it. US economy is trashed by the dupe bug and shows no sign of recovering back soon. If you can and you are willing, play EU.
Otherwise its all personal taste really. Play what you like. Enjoy it as the mindless kill fest it is.
I'd say in order of easiest to hardest to play...
Wizard (CM) > Barbarian > Monk > Witch Doctor > Demon Hunter
CMs can be quite mindless and repetative of spamming buttons. Barbarians are just a bit of a joke going WW to play but it can be relatively fun to do none the less. Monk I really enjoy and it does have a good balance in terms of managing your actions that gives complexity, though still pretty simple. WD takes a bit more finesse but with the latest patch they are quite powerful, just trickier to pull off. Demon Hunters are just god awful weak unfortunately. They lack survivability and if you want to go for the 'farm' end game, they are quite far behind the other classes, even a pro geared out player usually farming MP7 rather then 10.
Monk - Easiest and most played
Demon Hunter - Glass Cannon with high utility
Barbarian - Good all around, but heavily gear dependent
Wizard - Damage dealer with average survivability
Witch Doctor - Was the weakest and least played
That's basically the order from most played to least played according to my last experiences with the game. I haven't played in a while though and some classes probably got nerfed. There's no need to spend real money at all. Only lazy people with too much expendable cash actually do that. Don't spend real money to obtain a piece of gear so you can then turn around and... farm more gear with it.
I suggest you only play through the campaign solo or with close friends the first time through. Most random online players just like to rush through everything as fast as possible and it will hurt your impression of the game. Diablo 3 will seem like a crappy game if you get caught running on that endless treadmill. Take some time to enjoy the story the first time through and save the mad dash for later.
Couple of comments.
1) RMAH is not needed. In fact, all the items there are so high end that you won't need it until end game. OTOH, it is a good place to cash in when you get a super lucky drop that you cannot use.
2) The US economy is just fine. There are tons of very very cheap low level, and low MP items.
3) Any class is fun. They all play very differently. All are viable at end game. You should pick what you like.
4) If you like a challenge, even during leveling, remember to increase the MP level. No MP is very easy. MP10, without major twinking, is very hard. Choose something in between.
5) And i agree with the solo comment. The first play-through should be solo. Unless you have friends you really want to play with, there is really no need to go MP.
Ignore the hate.. the game is very much changed now since most of the people who are slagging it off played it. It isn't perfect but it can still be fun, especially on your first play through.
Either melee character is a good bet if you are looking for the easier option.. but that doesn't mean they are better in every situation.. it's just easier to get away with being slightly lazy with them.
I would also say D3 is better than any other ARPG, or MMO in two aspects...
1) Combat fun factor. There are just so many skills and stuff you can do and try .. in the name of killing mobs.
2) The ability to experiment with builds. You can experiment with builds & variations all day. Even after playing the game for a year, i still experiment from time to time, particularly when i go to a higher MP level, or for a particular boss.
I don't see any other game that have some many skills that you can mix & match easily.
My advice is, Play hardcore only.
Auction house for hardcore has no real money system, only ingame gold so you avoid all that bull.
One thing you will not avoid is eventually die to server lag, just remember you had fun so far and create a new one - levelling the next char gets increasingly easier because you know some tricks and you also have some money. Well its not for everyone, but I didn't have fun till I made my first hardcore char.
Starting one softcore and play it to inferno or something is a good way to learn some tricks and not die right away on your first hardcore char. For hardcore, Monks are the best at surviving server lag and disconnects. I found witch hunter the easiest survivable class because of range and pets. Have a good group when doing Belial (end act2) and act4. Farm in act1 inferno till you are really strong.
When you get bored, go play Path of Exile instead :P
"I am my connectome" https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HA7GwKXfJB0
The real money auction house, OTOH, is better at protecting the value of your stuff .. because gold has inflation, and real money has much lower inflation.
I use the RMAH for all big ticket items (buying & selling), but ONLY use money i got by selling stuff (in fact, i am still $40 ahead, i pump most of my money back to gear, and also bought MOP with D3 money .. so i am way ahead, and already make back the game).
Note that the transaction fee is actually LOWER if you use the RMAH (because it charges a flat $1, instead of 15%).
Oh, PoE is a good game too, there is no reason not to play both. And if you like these kind of games, also try The Incredible Adventure of Van Helsing. That is a very good game, much more polished than PoE, although it probably will not last as long.
The attitude towards Diablo 3 changed a lot over the last 8 months.
Only forum trolls still speak about D3's launching problems, its gameplay etc...
In HC it is simply the best game out there. IF you like the extreme grind and are not afraid to die ... once.
I never thought D3 would be more played than MMO's, but as its popularity still puts it in the top 10 in both Korea and the west after more than a year, it shows a remarkable resilience.
Actually, when you come to think about it: this kind of fast&simple play is better adapted to present day internet play than MMO's.
So it turned already into a classic and that can only better with pvp arena's in the future.
The attitude has changed, but certainly not for the merrier. 8 months ago everyone was with hope that PvP and fixes were coming to make the game better. There have been some bandaid fixes, but the game is still at a pathetic state, and the PvP patch was a joke. The overall sentiment on the forums is the game is crap and doesn't have a future, and this is why there are always a half page worth of rants on the 1st page.
IMHO, the game is in a better state than 6 months ago, but this is largely because of the gold dupe, and the abundance of decent gear at rock bottom prices. I find it ironic that broken patches do more for the game, than the developers have done since it's release.
yes, it is.
Paragon level, legendary items improvement, uber boss, and particularly MP levels are all seen as good improvements. That is why the game is still top 10 on xfire, and 3 millions players still play D3 every month.
http://www.gamespot.com/news/1-million-play-diablo-iii-every-day-6406151
Just for the record, I have never seen any community whine and cry about anything as much as the RMAH.
For a system that is 100% optional, and in a game where you are not in direct competition with anyone, ever (well I guess brawling but that's not even the point of the game) I have never seen so much hate placed on a game system before.
Its like the community forgets how popular the D2 3rd party RMAH sites were and pretends that the RMAH being in game is game breaking yet pretends D2 was just fine with a 3rd party site that did the same...its ridiculous.
Oh and a heads up, if the idea of beating the game several times over so you can farm the same stuff over and over for the potential of getting loot sounds like grind and boring don't bother with this or any ARPG game.
Advantage that D3 has over the rest is the combat is fast, high in action, and looks crazy. If you don't like the combat and generally speaking find it entertaining and fun to watch then you might want to try other games that have more of a slow combat that's based more off choices you make that are somewhat irreversible.
Game is under rated (community wise) based of a shitty launch, and endgame that was too hard for most (now fixed) and the fact that they have a RMAH in game and its always online (two huge non-factors that were made out to be game breaking)
Combat and gameplay are top notch and imo the largest factor in an ARPG.
My only piece of information I have to offer is going Hardcore mode as soon as you are willing and able. It ups the enjoyment of the game a good sum and the AH there is a lot less inflated than the Softcore AH. Since when you die in Hardcore all the items high-end, legends, rares etc all go poof with you.
It lends you into finding more suitable people to play with also, since there are those douches out there that think that PvP'ing is inviting some dude on your friend list into a game where you've set up a death trap in the starting town to have them dead before they even fully load into game.
The servers have gotten better in stability there are still stories of people losing their hardcore toons because of D/C's and game freezes but really I think it's worth the go with Hardcore Mode since you do get a much larget thrill when completeing the difficulty levels.
I'd suggest starting off in Softcore Mode of play getting comfortable with a class and or build and then taking your talents to Hardocre for your utlimate decision on playing Diablo 3.
As far as classes I like Witch Doctor and the Demon Hunter. Demon Hunters can be really squishy so you'll want to be decent with them for hardcore. Witch Doctors can be a bit more forgiving with the pets and they also have a passive that grants a Save-Ur-Ass mechanic that procs on near death (Well technically death is gives you a second life with minimal HP)
PM before you report at least or you could just block.
I think is the opposite. Prices in softcore AH has been crashing for a long time, because every single piece of rare ever found in game is still in the market.
Unless you are talking about the ultra high end stuff (like 6cc mempo), everything, including entry, or even mid-range legendaries, are dirt cheap.
Secondly, not everyone is suitable for hard core. I don't play HC because i want to experiment with builds, and push what i can do. Currently i am farming MP9 and i die from time to time. I can farm MP8 or even 7 a lot safer ... but i like the challenge.
I also try out new builds (or variations) from time to time. It is very hard to do so in HC mode.
Yea I'm not all tied up in the AH tend to stay away from it for the most part and when I do get stuff it is normally the cheap but good stuff indeed.
Also yea playing around with builds in Hardcore probably isn't your best choice LoL.. I remember switching one or two skills out in HC to see how some skills would synergize and ended up getting owned because when I needed to do my OH SHIt manuver I didn't have my build right.
You can lose your HC in a flash if you don't stay on your P's and Q's.
PM before you report at least or you could just block.
Plus 1. Diablo 3 as it stands is the MOST underrated game in the history of on line gaming.
In its genre as a casual on line game it simply is dynamite. Both in speed of combat, always groups avaibalable, choice of hardcore play or softcore, easy mode, choices of difficulty (MP 0-10 !), choice of buying things to save a life time ... etc...
If they EVER include a kind of arena play, I think it offers all what current on line CASUAL games need to have.
In the meantime I play hardcore with the goal of defeating Diablo in Inferno with ALL classes available. Good for 1000+ hours of playing time.
You might wonder what's the reason of this "hating". Several things I guess: WOW players who think they are playing an MMORPG with an ever growing end game (NOT the goal) or old Diablo 2 players who simply wanted an 1-1 translation with upped graphics (NOT the goal) and don't neglect the ex WOW players who now want to destroy Blizzard for even inventing PC play and are in an uncontrolled stalking period of their lives against an ex love.
D3 is a great game and it gets better with every patch.
This isn't a signature, you just think it is.
And probably even better with the new expansion. D2 does not get to the "god game" status until Lord of Destruction either.