Why yes, Blizzard. I *do* have a phone, thanks for asking.

Joys of living in Australia, land of the early access mobile game tests.

(Kind of enjoying it so far, don't @ me. I enjoy Wolcen. Are any of you really surprised?)

Oooooo....
I haven't played anything on a mobile phone since Angry Birds, but I gave that up due to my eyes not liking it. Screen was too small for my liking.

"

xjjanie wrote:

Oooooo....
I haven't played anything on a mobile phone since Angry Birds, but I gave that up due to my eyes not liking it. Screen was too small for my liking.

I have a decent sized tablet for precisely these things. Great for reading too.

I would never play a modern mobile game on a phone, even if that's what they're designed for. I'm too old, eyes too shitty.

Something new to do while the most recent shitshow down there explodes at least.

"

aggromagnet wrote:

Something new to do while the most recent shitshow down there explodes at least.

Eh, I have my distractions aplenty. Contrary to very popular sentiment, I've been interested in DI from the start. I wasn't hanging out for D4, so it just made sense to me they'd announce a mobile game developed in tandem with a big Chinese company like NetEase. That's where the money is. We've been playing shitty ARPG knockoffs on tablet/phone for years, with Titan Quest probably being the high water mark (and it was not a particularly good port), so for an official Diablo game to go mobile is, whether PC masterracers like it or not, a big deal.

As for the shitshow...

I just wrapped the GF's presents while she's out doing some very essential shopping (medication); she's making a few sweet pies for Xmas (I am a sucker for pumpkin and pecan, separately of course). I made lobster w/ garlic butter, parmesan potato wedges and salad for dinner last night (dad randomly dropped off a fresh lobster yesterday, called two hours later for IT help -- this is how families work). It's gonna be a weird Xmas but damnit, it's gonna be Xmas.

i actually don't have a phone, blizzard. so go F yourself
haha

I don't trust Activision Blizzard. Not telling you how they are gonna precisely monetize the game and what exactly is the microtransactions they are gonna put into it is intentional. It is probably bait and switch lure tactic. I'd avoid f2p mobile games like the plague.

There is a shop (unlocked after the first handful of levels, of course), and it's pretty clear how they'll make the money. There's a battle pass (so free track, battle pass track -- standard f2p feature), and modifiers to Rifts I believe. So you can't outright buy power, but you do use some sort of currency to modify the endgame. That's not really my domain but I can see it being problematic. Eh, see how it pans out.

So that aside, as a story experience, I've enjoyed it more than Diablo 3 by far. Since it's set between D2 and D3, and I'd say much closer to D2, it taps D2 characters and settings. Xul, Akara, Kashya, Flavie...that lot. (Just checked the wiki: it's set 5 years after Baal's defeat, 15 years before Tyrael crashes to Sanctuary). So plenty of familiar elements to hold onto. I'm an old necro from D2 so the Xul stuff was of particular interest to me, especially his role as tongue-in-cheek fourth wall breaker. The story is certainly no less involved than D3's, for whatever that's worth. And far less...unnecessarily bombastic.

The multiplayer aspect is kind of weird. It's open world outside of dungeons (including zones outside of town), but you don't see all of the monsters other players are facing. When you do see them, you're told that you can attack them but that other players will get the loot -- i.e. team up to share. So it's not really in your best interest to attack monsters that aren't 'yours', but you don't really piss anyone else off for doing so. I suspect this is to encourage partying without forcing it.

Fairly limited skill offering but almost like a twin stick shooter, the way I have to move around while aiming the spells. This game is hard. Harder than D3 by a mile. That might come down to the controls, but I think it's just...harder.

I don't see myself putting any money into this, and I suspect the money will come from endgame players -- again, this is standard f2p these days. You can play Genshin Impact for free pretty much all the way, but if you want to engage with the endgame, that's where the investment is required. This is an interesting financial model shift from the 'stamina' system that once dominated f2p from the start, especially on mobile. Now it's more like 'the first taste is free', but the first taste isn't one or two zones, it's the whole game world. Path of Exile isn't actually much different: all 'content' is free, but if you want to engage with the game in any serious fashion, you HAVE to pony up for stash tabs. There's just no argument there anymore.

So as with Genshin, if a person can show restraint and not get too invested, there's a lot of free, high quality gameplay to be had with Diablo Immortal. Any jank I'm putting down to alpha right now, but that'll change as we approach proper release.

I stopped playing at level 23 because my thumbs started to ache. Heh.

At which point I happily went back to my $20 2017 investment, Wolcen. Free to play, regardless of its financial model, inevitably encourages if not outright demands bad game design in its progression and challenges, and Diablo Immortal is no exception. I'm invested in the D2 connections, but give me a buy-to-play game any day.

"

Foreverhappychan wrote:

Spoiler

There is a shop (unlocked after the first handful of levels, of course), and it's pretty clear how they'll make the money. There's a battle pass (so free track, battle pass track -- standard f2p feature), and modifiers to Rifts I believe. So you can't outright buy power, but you do use some sort of currency to modify the endgame. That's not really my domain but I can see it being problematic. Eh, see how it pans out.

So that aside, as a story experience, I've enjoyed it more than Diablo 3 by far. Since it's set between D2 and D3, and I'd say much closer to D2, it taps D2 characters and settings. Xul, Akara, Kashya, Flavie...that lot. (Just checked the wiki: it's set 5 years after Baal's defeat, 15 years before Tyrael crashes to Sanctuary). So plenty of familiar elements to hold onto. I'm an old necro from D2 so the Xul stuff was of particular interest to me, especially his role as tongue-in-cheek fourth wall breaker. The story is certainly no less involved than D3's, for whatever that's worth. And far less...unnecessarily bombastic.

The multiplayer aspect is kind of weird. It's open world outside of dungeons (including zones outside of town), but you don't see all of the monsters other players are facing. When you do see them, you're told that you can attack them but that other players will get the loot -- i.e. team up to share. So it's not really in your best interest to attack monsters that aren't 'yours', but you don't really piss anyone else off for doing so. I suspect this is to encourage partying without forcing it.

Fairly limited skill offering but almost like a twin stick shooter, the way I have to move around while aiming the spells. This game is hard. Harder than D3 by a mile. That might come down to the controls, but I think it's just...harder.

I don't see myself putting any money into this, and I suspect the money will come from endgame players -- again, this is standard f2p these days. You can play Genshin Impact for free pretty much all the way, but if you want to engage with the endgame, that's where the investment is required. This is an interesting financial model shift from the 'stamina' system that once dominated f2p from the start, especially on mobile. Now it's more like 'the first taste is free', but the first taste isn't one or two zones, it's the whole game world. Path of Exile isn't actually much different: all 'content' is free, but if you want to engage with the game in any serious fashion, you HAVE to pony up for stash tabs. There's just no argument there anymore.

Spoiler

So as with Genshin, if a person can show restraint and not get too invested, there's a lot of free, high quality gameplay to be had with Diablo Immortal. Any jank I'm putting down to alpha right now, but that'll change as we approach proper release.

I stopped playing at level 23 because my thumbs started to ache. Heh.

At which point I happily went back to my $20 2017 investment, Wolcen. Free to play, regardless of its financial model, inevitably encourages if not outright demands bad game design in its progression and challenges, and Diablo Immortal is no exception. I'm invested in the D2 connections, but give me a buy-to-play game any day.

A reason why i think WoWs 'free model' is outdated, considering most gameplay is in or around endgame, and most people skip leveling anyways by multiple means.
20 lvls (including limited skills,passives) with 10G cap and limited accesible zones is not really a free taste how this game is played.

The old Republic approach is a good one. Basically all content, no lvl/skill restriction for vanilla game and getting all expansions permanently when you sub for one month.

TOR is IMO one of the better story based FTP MMOs and a good experience if you dont intend to play it hardcore and want to enjoy yourself for some ('short') time.

TOR had/has years of baggage to shake. Apparently my googling of 'is TOR dead 2020' is anything but unusual. I'm glad it's found a model that remains profitable as something of a sleeper hit.