Diablo III Previews

Two more previews are in for Blizzard’s highly anticipated third installment in the most famous hack’n’slash franchise, or, in other words, Diablo III, as a result of the time spent on the title’s closed beta.

Ten Ton Hammer:

If the beta experience tells us anything, it’s that quests are a constant and exploration might go to the wayside. You’ll have indicators on your map and minimap indicating where to go and what to do or kill at any given time. Running into NPCs begins dialogue that every player will see, but the player who started the conversation will be the one speaking. Don’t worry, this isn’t Star War : The Old Republic; they can’t screw you over as the dialogues lack any kind of options. Still, the framework for the story is there and enjoyable your first time through.

Quests range from journeys across the wilderness, to finding artifacts or slaying beasts. Optional bonuses are present and grants a hefty reward for completion, which gives some substance to the .o here, kill here’ quest style. The beta itself, while constantly keeping you moving, is actually quite short in length. You should be able to run the whole thing within an hour so those of you who aren’t in it, relax, you’re not missing all of Act I or anything.

There’s even some crafting shenanigans, and I don’t just mean combining in your ol’ cube.

While recipes will drop in the wild, training these up requires a lot of farming for an uncommon drop and that’s just to get past the initiate level. It’ll be interesting to see how the grind for crafting interacts with the auction house, both cash and goldwise.

Middle East Gamers:

Combing through the map, I defeated the Skeleton King, which is when the beta stops, in about six hours, although my longest single session was about an hour and a half after which point my hand gave up and I was cursing every imaginable profanity I could think of. Yes, at it’s heart, Diablo 3 is still a clickfest that shows absolutely no mercy. However, there are so many improvements/ additions to the game that are not necessarily related to the core of it that make it so much better than its predecessors.

For example, within the demo, I had two NPCs that helped me in my quest at different times. In fact, defeating the final boss, the Skeleton King, would have been insanely hard if I did not have the Templar helping me. Your Blacksmith can now be leveled up as well, in the sense, that you can find training manuals for him to learn how to do new things. One interesting addition is socketing Runestones into your skills. Previously you were able to socket your weapons and armour but now, even your skills can be socketed.

Also, at least during the course of the beta, all journals you find lying around are read to you while you are playing so you don’t have to pause and read the sometimes lengthy texts found in previous games. Blizzard has also made some things easier such as converting inventory into gold. Previously you would have to take items to a merchant to see them in town which took over a large chunk of your inventory but with the Cauldron of Jordan, you can instantly convert your junk to gold from anywhere at all. You also have a Nephalem cube that turns items into crafting materials and a Stone of Recall that creates a two way portal to the town. There is a cool down period for the Stone of Recall so you can’t use it all the time. Similarly health potions have a cool down time now as well so you can’t continuously keep upping your health.