Okay, so anyhow... my overall review at the time of my initial Launch day review of Diablo 3 was a 9.0 out of 10.

I still cannot believe the insane amount of user reviews continuing to flood the internet with scores of 1 and even 0 out of 10. There is absolutely no reason in the world to give a game like this a ZERO, even if it's not your style of game.

Anyhow, here is the link to my latest YouTube video where I basically NERD RAGE against all of the users giving this game a score like a 0 out of 10.

http://youtu.be/jPD9jfE3TBg

Again, feel free to comment here or on my Youtube page.

Oh, I am still VERY much enjoying Diablo 3 by the way.

- Zaxx

Here are some links to my first time spent with Diablo 3 after I got home last night and tried to play it between server downtime on launch day for Diablo 3 here in the USA (May 15, 2012)

These videos represent my first experience with the game, and my overall review is only based on MY experience with the game so far, and is certainly subject to change as time goes on and I get more time into it.

There are 3 parts to my review:

Parts 1 and 2 show me with a Monk class in the single player campaign, and Part 3 shows a little of my initial experience online with a level 5 Witch Doctor.

Enjoy. Please feel free to leave questions and comments below and/or on my Youtube video pages.

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3 (Multiplayer)

- Zaxx

First of all.. "LOL" @ all the people that NEVER EVEN PLAYED ASHERON'S CALL mocking it, commenting on it, or comparing it to the new MMOs.

Second of all.. "LMAO" @ all the people talking about WoW as if it is an 'old school mmo'. Wow is the game that really started the whole 'dumb the game down so that any 3 year old can succeed' to maximize profit crap.

You people want to know why old school mmos took more skill? VERY SIMPLE ANSWER...

In old school UO, you had to actually dodge and time you attacks and magic spells with proper timing to succeed in the PvP. It wasn't gear based nearly as much as these newer mmos.

In a mmo like Asheron's Call, again twitch timing, quick reflexes, and planning ahead in combat was essential. You had to actually watch your opponent player(s) and counter their attacks with dodge movements, reflexes, and counter attacks with timing was of dire importance.

Newer mmos since WoW are not basd on any of this at all. It's simply knowing your highest DPS attacks or spell hot bar buttons and hitting them just as soon as the timer for that attack clears. Most of the newer mmos even tell you exactly what your DPS is so you have nothing to figure out by application. Just spam your biggest attacks as fast as the game allows you to press that hot bar button.

To add more, most old school mmos didn't allow you the luxury of knowing the threat level of an opponent or mob with color codes (grey, yellow, orange, red etc). The death penalties were much harsher as there was actually a risk vs reward in old school mmos vs the all reward/no risk mmos of today. You lost all loot in UO. You lost your most valuable items, equipped or not in AC as well as incurring a +5% vitea penalty that could stack up to a whopping 40% penalty against all your stats and skills. You had to work off this Vitea penalty (VP) in AC by earning experience. At higher levels especially it could take HOURS to work off a VP, and if you kept dying trying to recover valuable lost loot on a corpse in a deadly PvE area, it could add up to a 40% VP which could literally cripple your character. Imagine if a level 50 WoW player died a few times to mobs and then suddenly had to start killing level 25 mobs again just to work off such a penalty. Hit any wow player with that kind of risk vs reward penalty and they'd probably cry and instantly submit a help ticket, heh.

But arguing with you people that have never played an old school mmo is quite honestly a waste of time. You think you know. You think RIFT is soooo freaking hard. No way could UO or AC have been harder. They are no different you keep screaming.

You had to be there playing old school UO before Trammel in 2001, or you had to be there playing the Darktide PvP server in AC in 2000-2003 to KNOW the difference between old school mmos and the newer mmos today.

There was a HUGE difference. In skill, in having to laarn the world and what to do without gold explanation points showing you the way and what to do. Old school mmos didn't hold your hand. My 4 year old boy can play a game like RIFT and easily level up and succeed. "Green is good, red is bad" is all he'd need to know. A four year old wouldn't stand a chance on old school UO or AC.

But this is a useless argument. All of you WoW and RIFT players that have never even played UO or AC keep yapping about how you know it all, and there is NO DIFFERENCE between old school mmos and new ones.

If you have no knowledge about what you speak, it's usually best and makes you look smarter if you STFU and don't try talking about what you don't know. If you haven't played old school Asheron's Call earlier then about 2003, then don't comment about it. Enough said. It would be like me trying to tell you how to remove your transmission and fix it, but I have absolutely no experience at it.

- Zaxx

..I pretty much asked EXACTLY the same questions about the exact same news in this thread just two days ago.... http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/331340/Could-the-makers-of-Dead-Island-be-starting-work-on-a-Zombie-Apocalypse-MMO-.html

- Zaxx

---

Originally posted by Destai
Starvault. I don't need to say why.
Square Enix. Can we just be done with Final Fantasy? Please?

---

100% agreed with Square. 90% disagree with Starvault.

And here is the difference, at least in my opinion...

Square has the resources, the gaming experience, and the ability to get the right experienced employees in their offices to make a great mmo. And what do they come up with as of late? FF14? This has to be like the worst game play in any mmo I've ever played.

While Mortal Online wasn't much better then FF14, I can play in their world. I can at least see what they were trying to accomplish here. And I highly respect what they DID accomplish considering their lack of resources, manpower, and funds. Mortal Online is easy to play and see that what was made was made from their hearts. It is very easy to see that they put in tons of hours of hard dedicated work, likely underpaid work, and tried to make a new 3D world with old school Ultima Online style game play mechanics.

What the hell was Square trying to accomplish by comparison?

I respect Starvault even though they don't have the resources to make their dream a reality. I disrespect Square for having the resources and putting out a total POS like FF14.

Big difference. And with that I really hope that Starvault gets the funds needed to make their dream a reality. If they only had more funds, I really believe that if they held true to their vision.. Mortal Online could be absolutely INCREDIBLE.

Imagine if you would if only Square had invested all the tens of millions they wasted on FF14 instead on Mortal Online, some guys with real heart and a gamer's desire to make a game for gamers by gamers. If Square had only invested that 100 million (or whatever they spent on FF14) into Starvault and let turn their dream a reality with the resources Mortal Online needs... both Starvault and Square could have "won" with much more success then how it worked out as it is. But the REAL winners if only that had happened would be the customers. You and I. - Hey, just a thought, hehe. ;-)

- Zaxx

---

Originally posted by lizardbones
I didn't say AC isn't an mmorpg. I've never played it, so I wouldn't be a good judge of that. Your description of AC's combat is not similar to the combat in pretty much any other mmorpg though. Old school or otherwise. Your description of the combat sounds much more like FPS or TPS combat. The combat is fundamentally different and doesn't have a whole lot to do with why people repeated say that old school mmorpg take more skill to play than new school mmorpg.

---

While I do understand that you didn't say directly that AC isn't an mmorpg, I went off on you because it was obvious that you as well never played the game bro. AC, especially on the Darktide PvP server was ALL about the combat. So me seeing you state that AC combat was FPS combat was basically the same as reading that AC was an FPS, because so much of Darktide was about the combat mechanics.

AC in definitely an mmorpg, even with it's combat. The problem isn't that AC ventured off the main path with it's combat style, but rather that the common mmorpg today is based on macros and hot keys and it so much different that what AC was back in the day.

Asherons Call was really only the 3rd main stream mmorpg in existence (Ultima Online in 1997, EQ in 1998, and AC in 1999) I am excluding graphical mmos like Meridian 59, but I am really only talking about bigtime mmos with retail publishers here.

Asheron's Call helped define what an mmorpg was much more then any MMO released today simply because back then mmorpgs were not nearly as popular or main stream as they are today.

Anyhow, I can understand how you might think the fast paced combat of AC as I describe it might be FPS, it really wasn't FPS, just much faster and had more depth to it then something like World of Warcraft and so many other mmos today. It was still very much RPG because you took damage based on protection spells vs sword or spell damage, you could heal, cast spells, heath, stamina, and mana were used while fighting etc etc. Very much RPG, just faster paced with much more depth.

I wish they'd make one mmo today in ACs image and style rather then the 473rd copying World of Wacraft myself. ..As do most of the old AC players. Unfortunately, Wow is much more profitable with it's main stream game mechanics and so AC is just an old, hidden gem today and old AC vets like me are left just frustrated trying to explain how/why it was so great.

I guess it's one of those things where "you really just had to be there" because unfortunately even though Asherons Call is still running today, it's not even a fraction of what it once was.

- Zaxx

Disdena... You are talking about a game that you never even played. You admitted that. Now you're saying that the movement skills needed to play a mage as I directed you to are a "cover-up" for a lack of complexity in the game?

You never played the game man.

Enough said.

- Zaxx

---

Originally posted by lizardbones
Asheron's Call PvP Combat is not indicative of 'Old School MMORPG' play. There is a completely different set of skills necessary to be competitive and successful at FPS/TPS combat as opposed to 'Classic' MMORPG combat. You're doing two different things.

---

OMG. Now AC isn't an mmorpg anymore. It's an "FPS". I suppose RIFT is a real mmorpg hmm?

Sorry to disagree again but I played Asheron's Call Darktide server for seven years. AC is a helluva lot more "mmorpg" then 90% of what you probably call mmorpgs released today.

But what do I know against all these people who never even played AC?

AC is a an FPS game.

With that, I suppose Ultima Online isn't an mmorpg either. I guess it's really a turn based strategy game right?

- Zaxx

---

Originally posted by Disdena
Before I watched this video, I had actually given you a lot more credit. I assumed (incorrectly) based on your description that winning in AC was based on quick reflexes. After watching the video, I can see that winning in AC is based on hilariously complicated movement controls.

---

Ummm what part of that video and all those keys that need to be pressed in succession with the correct timing do you think DOESN'T require quick reflexes? 'Hilariously complicated movement controls' you say? Is it just me, or does that sound like MAYBE it might mean more "skill" required then pressing a hot key macro in WoW????

- Dude, just admit you are WRONG. You were speaking about games you never played before and telling me that playing AC Darktide took no more skill then playing WoW or Rift. You were speaking out your ass because you never even played two of the games by your own admission.

...Wow, just wow. Talk about someone who can't admit when he is wrong, even when it's proven right in front of him.

Okay there bro, AC Darktide was just as easy and required no more quick reflexes or skill then WoW. All mmos are exactly the same. You are right. There is no difference at all between playing old school UO or RIFT. Wow or AC Darktide. {Shakin' my head...}

What ya gonna say next? I suppose you'll be screaming that Ultima Online in 1997 had no harsher death penalties or loss then RIFT.. even though you've never played either game.

- Zaxx

After Final Fantasy 14 Online, there is no reason to ever let SQUARE make another mmo. That game is such an epic failure it isn't even funny.

- Zaxx

---

Originally posted by Disdena
I haven't [ever played any of the games you compare or Asheron's Call]. Neither have the vast majority of people reading your post. You had the opportunity to explain what's so skillful about AC combat, instead you just said that spells have to be aimed and you have to cast fast and you left it at that. I don't have a clue about AC but I certainly do have a clue about skill encompassing way more than aiming well and clicking fast. 

---

No way am I going to try and explain in words all the fundamentals of AC PvP here. You wouldn't read it or understand it anyhow. You admit to never having played one moment of AC, yet here you are trying to tell me that it is no more complex then mashing a hot key in WoW or Rift. I'm beat before I even start trying to debate or argue my point with you.

But... Here's a video that covers some of the very basics of power slides, circle strafing, and the fast cast required for survival in AC. And trust me, these moves have to be timed perfectly in the heat of battle to even stand a chance of survival and take a lot more practice and yes.. "SKILL" then anything in WoW or almost any mmo since WoW. Watch this video in it's entirety, look at all the keys that have to be pressed in succession, with exact timing and then tell me again how AC PvP requires no more skill then mashing a hot key in WoW.

..And trust me, this video doesn't cover even a fraction of AC PvP fundamentals.

Here's the video link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aixHnEUMms&feature=related

- Zaxx

I really like the idea of red pk's and victims being able to place bounties on their killer from any gold they might have in their bank accounts. With that, bounty signs of the top 25 killers should be placed at banks in every town as in old school UO.

The problem with this is that if the bounty gets high enough, a pk might decide to have a buddy kill him to collect/share the loot, so the biggest killers not only killed all those innocent players, looted them, but then they collect all their bank gold in a bounty reward as well, heh.

The only fix to this I would say would be to give the pkers more then just the fame of being on that top bounty list and seen by all the players. Maybe give the pker's at the top evil points that accumulate over time as they stay alive against their bounties that they can use when they save up enough to trade in for really cool "evil skills" or something. For example, say a PKer goes red and kills 42 people over the weekend and has a top ten bounty of 12,000 gold. For every hour of game time that he stays alive, he accumulates 10% of his bounty in "evil points", so 1,200 evil points the first hour. The second hour he has killed 3 more innocent players and the bounty has grown to 13,500 gold. Now his next hour he stays alive he gets awarded with another 1,350 evil points. He will get to spend his evil points on super cool skills or spells such as maybe 10,000 evil points might buy him a really gruesome fatality type of skill so he can add insult to injury to all his future pk's by pulling out their heart and eating it or pulling their spine out of their mouth.

The pker would lose all evil points if killed, so he would be gambling with each fight he engaged in. Does he save up those evil points for the 15k really cool evil skill, or go ahead and spend 10k evil points now on that less spectacular skill? This way any innocent who tried to kill the top murderer would be risking a lot trying to collect that big bounty, and the pk'er would be risking a lot of evil points trying to take out his 47th victim.

Just an example.

I do remember how cool it was in old school UO to see the top dog murderers on the server and then seeing him out in a dungeon or something. You were scared for your life because you knew he was evil as hell, but at the same time you really wanted to take the risk at avenging his death for all his victims and claiming the huge bounty! Soo much fun, and moments that could definitely put you on the edge of your seat because so much was truly on the line!

- Zaxx

Faded Bomb is correct. I only played EQ a short time, but played a lot of DAoC, an awesome game both PvE and PvP. DAoC took a LOT more skill then playing WoW where no matter what class you played it's really just hitting your biggest damage hot bar buttons as soon as the timer for them refreshes.

Obviously, pulling aggro could be a problem in WoW, but not nearly to the effect as in DAoC. DAoC aggro usually meant death for sure. WoW usually just meant run and sprint away for 5 seconds, no big deal.

WoW presented EASY mode for all, and it is why it attracted so many people from 5 year olds to 92 year olds. Anyone could succeed at simply mashing buttons. And then most games since have just been clones of WoW and it's EZ mode or even easier.

Saying that a game like RIFT takes as much skill and knowledge etc as older mmos like DAoC or AC is like saying that GO FISH requires just as much skill and knowledge as POKER or CHESS. It's utterly ridiculous.

- Zaxx

Originally posted by Disdena

---

Reality check: you just called the behavior of a magical fire spell "silly".
As for the rest, you seem to be claiming skill means little more than twitch/reflexes. That's disregarding all other forms of video game prowess, such as threat assessment, resource management, situational awareness, taking calculated risks, and predicting the enemy's next move, just to name a few. What you see as "simply hitting hotbar buttons" has a lot more complexity to it. And I'm not stating this as someone who is a fan of WoW or Rift (hardly played the former, never played the latter). It's just nuts that anyone could claim that AC is harder based solely on the fact that fireballs travel in a straight line.

---

It IS silly. In WoW, a player could run from the fireball, run behind a rock, the fireball turns around the rock following him. The player runs into a house, and closes the door in front of the fireball. But guess what? The fireball doesn't hit the closed door and catch the door on fire or just stop. Nope. It hits the player in the ass. That's just stupid. It's stupid because there is NO WAY to avoid it. Player A mashes the fireball hot key and no matter what, player B gets hit. No chance of dodging it, period. THAT is why it's stupid/silly. It would be like player A swinging a sword at player B, and even if they were 1000 feet apart, player B gets hit. Even if player B puts a metal shield right in front of the sword, he still gets hit for full damage. That's dumb. Offering players no chance of dodging a given attack is FAIL, imo. Sorry you disagree.

Now for the rest of what you said. You admit to hardly playing WoW and never playing Rift. I'm pretty sure you also never played Asheron's Call, especially on the Darktide server. And suddenly you're an expert acting like I have no clue as to what I speak of? ..Really. That's just plain SILLY/STUPID too.

I've played all three games I speak of. I know and have felt the difference. They are NOT the same.

- Zaxx

Some older MMOs did take a lot more skill then a game like WoW or Rift.

Asheron's Call on the Darktide server required much more thought and planning your character then a newer game. Also, in PvP, your bolts such as a firebolt shot a straight line hitting anyone in its path. This gave the target player a chance to dodge it with quick reflexes, and required a caster to aim and cast it well to increase the chances of a hit. Compare that with a firebolt spell in WoW or most newer games, where no dodging is required. The bolt of fire just follows the target no matter where they run and hit them regardless, which is quite silly to be honest.

Asheron's Call PvP required casters to use twitch skills and fast cast twitching to succeed and even have a chance against another caster. This certainly required much more focus and reflexes then simply tapping the fire ball hot key as in so many newer mmos.

Melee users in AC also had to focus much more and be much quicker at using healing skills to have a chance against a caster. Let's put it this way. A high level player from WoW who knew how to use his hot bar well wouldn't have stood a chance on the Asherons Call Darktide server against the twitch skills and fast reflexes required. Any Darktide player would easily be able to go to WoW and simply hit hot bar buttons while picking his nose and have a good chance of success.

There is a difference. To say that older mmos are just as easy as newer mmos is ridiculous. This doesn't even take into account for item loss on death, skill penalties that could add up to 40% in AC. If most Wow players ever incurred a 40% stat and skill penalty they'd probably immediately cry, whine and quit the game.

..Not trying to sound elitist and all, just speaking facts. Saying that Rift = UO and WOW=AC Darktide in terms of skills required is utterly ridiculous.

- Zaxx

OH WOW!

I feel sooo sorry for Blizzard entertainment!!

How will they ever recover now? I mean Gosh, you mean they MIGHT be making less then $50,000,000 a month now on their seven year old game?!??

I feel so bad for them. Maybe I'll send them my next paycheck as a donation to help them out ya know! Start a charity in my local community to raise some money for them.

/end sarcasm

In all reality, Blizzard got my last $14.95 way back in 2007 but they will be fine. They'll definitely be getting another $60 from me when Diablo 3 comes out, been looking forward to that game since even before World of Warcraft launched back in 2004! And even if World of Warcraft loses 90% of their current subscribers in the next year (which I don't see happening), they will still be making more money then 95% of all mmo's produced.

- Zaxx

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Originally posted by Boge
A Zombie apocalypse MMO would be cool, but not from Techland.  They did a terrible job on Dead Island.  That game is dull, repetivitive, and unbalanced, and that's not mentioning the bugs.  Terrible game.

---

LOL. Yeh, I haven't bought Dead Island yet for my PS3 because the reviews weren't as good as I was hoping they would be. That first trailer for the game that was played in reverse really had my hopes up for the game! Still the reviews weren't terrible (7.0 "good" on Gamestop) and some people have told me that the game is still really fun regardless of the bugs and stuff that doesn't make sense in the game.

But I get your point. If Techland can't even make a 4 player online zombie game without a ton of bugs, how could they ever pull off an mmo?

- Zaxx

Probably not. But it also isn't too far fetched seeing how Techland recently asked for
a copyright on the name "Dead World" on October 28.

It's all here: http://www.gamespot.com/news/dead-island-dev-has-plans-for-dead-world-6343943

I might be jumping the gun big time here but the words "Dead World" either mean a bigger, badder sequel to the newly released Dead Island, or a massively multi-player version.

My question comes with WHAT IF IT WAS AN APOCALYPTIC ZOMBIE MMO??

- Would only zombies be enough to keep an mmo interesting? Could they add other monsters to a zombie mmo to keep it more interesting such as black blobs, werewolves, vampires, and other such dark spooky creatures of make believe?

- Would it work? Could it work?

I definitely think that it could work, but I think it would HAVE to have open world PvP as any survivors in such a world might see advantages at times to kill other players (to take their weapons/gear, to survive against zombies as in using another player as bait, etc.

I also think that housing and land would have to be an option for players to own and need to protect vs monsters and other players. A home with land would be cool if it could farmed to grow valuable fresh food and other resources.

Being able to craft a an almost infinite number of creative weapons/tools would add a lot to the game. Same with armor/shields and other forms of protection. I mean go as wild as allowing a solo player the ability to build a box just big enough for him to enclose himself inside to hide against a wave of hungry zombies until they pass by. Having a wide range of crafting potential could go a long ways.

What about magic/spell casting? How would spell casting fit into such a world? Maybe it would be better left out? But how could it implemented without feeling "glued on" like a puzzle piece that just don't fit?

Just a wild thought here when I read that article on Gamespot. Your thoughts and ideas are welcome!

- Zaxx

I like all of what you want in your mmo. And sadly, most of what you want in your mmo was attempted with Mortal Online without much overall success. I haven't played MO for about 8 months now, but I hear it is still a mess and an empty world. Ashamed the one group who had the perfect vision of what so many want in an mmo don't have the resources to make it come true with the quality and end results we would want.

I would also add sea warfare and ship building in the game to everything you mentioned. Darkfall has ship warfare that is INSANELY FUN. If Darkfall does indeed have a free weekend coming up, I highly encourage anyone who hasn't rode a boat in that game to try it. Driving and manning the cannons on a boat out at sea is way more fun then I would have ever imagined.

- Zaxx

Call it what you want, naysayers, trolls, haters.. it really don't matter much.

For me, who has been playing mmo games since the pre-Trammel UO in 1998 - It doesn't take much to realize that an upcoming game is either something I might like or something I'll hate.

I looked at two youtube videos of the upcoming SWTOR to believe that it is just another clone of World of Warcraft with a Star Wars texture implant on the characters and world.

Now Guild Wars 2 I am still highly anticipating. Dynamic events could be really promising and make an mmo very pleasurable and interesting I think. They are going to need to pre-plan a lot of potential problems with that game however to make it as successful as they hope.

A lot of the naysayers as you call them are probably the mmo old school veterans who have been left out to dry of high quality old school risk vs reward type mmos in a flooding sea of nothing but Korean/Asian crap and an over-flowing river of World of Warcraft clones.

It's understandable that group of which I am one of is passionate about wanting one really good mmo made with a vision of an all new pre-Trammel Ultima Online or Asheron's Call: Darktide. Mortal Online had the right vision, but just didn't have the experience or the funds to make it a quality game.

That's obviously not all of it, there will always exist attention seeking and trouble loving people on ANY forum, but for the reasons you ask, I have given you a lot of the reasoning you seek.

- Zaxx