Diablo 3 - Regional Release, Open Beta Ends, Witch Doctor Spotlight

Video Description: 

FSG presents: Purgatory (Diablo 3 Weekly News Recap)

IGN Witch Doctor Spotlight:

http://youtu.be/X0Zqmfmzmy4

Regional Release:

https://twitter.com/#!/Bashiok/status/194303701953949696

Blizzcast 17:

http://youtu.be/Ku0oEryTX7o

Open Beta Celebration:

http://youtu.be/5l0XsmfKsiQ

Force Strategy Gaming:

http://www.ForceStrategyGaming.com

http://www.youtube.com/ForceSC2strategy

Force Strategy Gaming

Your premier location for strategy and tactic advice for all the games you love.

Music used:

Diablo II Soundtrack

Intro by: Zach Booth http://www.youtube.com/mographzach

Comments

Submitted by MAT on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 12:16
Pleas let me know in the comments below you should be a poet :)
Submitted by Olivier on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 12:21
I found that they dumbed the game alot especially the char stats and skills, none the less the game was good fun
Submitted by Michael on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 12:32
I played the beta this weekend and was a very disappointed that it didn't run as smoothly as I aspected. There was a lot of lag and i don't know if it's because i'm a Mac user or because i played it from Europe. I can read on other forums that i'm not the only mac user who says that the game is almost unplayable. For example i don't think you're suppose to die as Barbarian while rescuing Cain. Or maybe i'm just a lousy player ;) Does anyone know if blizzard is about to correct this major lag for Mac users??
Submitted by chris on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 12:33
hi force i love your work man you are doing great job!anyway i wanted to let you know that i played d3 at my lap top this weekend but i had an issue with lag and i had to put all my graphics to low and off options to be able to play without lag! and the most weired thing is that i m playing wow in that lap top and aion in ultra graphics ..if you have any advice let me know about it ..ty for your time ! these are my pcs stats : intel Core i5-2410M 2.3GH with turbo boost up to 2.9GHz NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M Up to 2741MB TurboCache 4GB DDR3 Memory 15.6 HD LED LCD 500GB HDD Acer Nplify tm 802.11b/g/n the model is ASPIRE 5750G in my opinion i think these pc stats should play d3 well but im not..
Submitted by Mac on Thu, 04/26/2012 - 05:22
Try updating your video card drivers. If you haven't, that will probably work.
Submitted by EL Diablo on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 12:42
got in the beta this weekend was awsome.i had no lagg issues thought graphics would be a little better but who cares its d3 giggity.i have the evga gtx 580 3g graphics card upgradeing to 680 but wont matter in this game.cant wait to get my hands on some loot see u all in game in 3 weeks woot.
Submitted by speedslayer1 on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 12:47
no dude i havent played the flipping beta cause i had flipping problems and i could flipping play so flipping blizzard pls fix the problems with the betas(in MoP too i cant play) and let us enjoy your flipping games!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!FLIP!
Submitted by Bryce L on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 12:49
I'm running on a Alienware PC, Windows 7, not even a year old, and I couldn't even get the Beta installed. Spent about a day and a half trying to get it and nothing worked. Looked like I wasn't nearly the only one as the forums were FULL of problems with the beta (Well yes, it's a beta, but not even able to play or if so maybe for an hour). I was rather disappointed, I never got a key or even a chance to play except for going over to play on a friends computer for a short time on his Old Old Windows XP.. Well, that was depressing. Regardless, I can't say I'm any less excited for the release in less than a month now.
Submitted by trav on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 13:02
Sadly one weekend was not enough time to play! Especially if you had to work all weekend like I did. So I only maxed out my demon hunter. I did get a chance to play each class and I was surprised with each one. Getting the chance to test each class helped me figure out who I will enjoy playing for the real thing. I did have a few issues with lag, especially in the daytime but I don't have very good internet so honestly it ran better than I anticipated. I am very glad that my laptop could run it and now I feel more confident buying the game.
Submitted by pontus on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 13:03
so eu cant play d3 15 th may??
Submitted by Mac on Thu, 04/26/2012 - 05:20
EU WILL be able to play 15th of may! That is the point of regional release! This way EU players don't have to wait until it is 15th of may in the US!
Submitted by Ravaged1 on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 13:23
I don't know why Blizz wouldn't leave the beta open until May 1st. Just a weekend seems very short for stressing the system.
Submitted by 10PumpBBGun on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 14:05
For some reason down loading the beta on friday it would stop at 10%, but if stoped and started again it went through. This happened on four different computers. Blizzard put a cap on players friday till about 4:30 pm when more and more people were able to get on and I was finally able to play. There were some lag issues, every log on for about a 2 min and then it seemed to run ok. I am runing fairly fast computer with 62 mb up and 12 down on the internet so I am sure the lag problems were on their end not mine, especially since StarCraft 2 has no lag problems on Ultra settings. Friday, there was problems creating games once in and you would have to leave the game competely to creat a new game. Blizzard fixed this problem Saturday when they brought the servers down again in the afternoon and then brought them slowly back up at about 2 pm. Sunday also had down time around 3 or 4 pm. Over all I think Blizzard did a farely good job of fixing most issues. Cant wait for release!!!!
Submitted by Achroous on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 14:25
I got some good game time in to the beta about 15 hours or more, maxed 3 classes(Monk,Barbarian,Wizard) I really was surprised how well barbarian played :D and every class was really well made and polished and didn't feel different power wise :) It really got my gears running for the release :D
Submitted by Andy on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 14:46
Hey everyone and hey Force, When you announced that there was going to be an open Beta weekend I, as well as a lot of other people I know, felt so extremely happy. I said to myself: Don't get your hopes up to high because you will not be the only one trying to burst-enter the server and you will probably be in luck when you get to play an hour! Nothing was less true. I had installed the beta already and it only needed a small update which went absolutely slick. At first I got the well known 'error 37' and I thought 'whatever, I will just try again tomorrow'. I am a deliver mail as my side job and when I got back from work I gave it a second go. There it was...... I was happy as a child. I played through all classes and enjoyed the Monk the most. My computer pulled highest specs without lagging and the full impact and ambiance of the game just pulled me in once again. Thank you Blizzard, and on May 15th I will be there!
Submitted by SKull on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 15:28
Managed a full run through of each class, although on Saturday it was nearly impossible to get on because they limited the amount of players. Worked almost without issue on Sunday and perfectly on Monday though. I still had occasional lag though which I don`t think is from my connection. Can`t wait till lag spikes start killing hc characters. The lamentations will be endless and the drama a sight to behold, I`m sure...
Submitted by Ben on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 15:57
Hi Force. Do you think that most players in Facific time will be able to play Diablo 3 at midnight? the only reason i bought the digital copy was for the purpose of playing it at midnight. if blizzard doesn't allow all of us who purchased the digital copy with the purpose of playing at midnight on may 15th, then it would be unfair, there fore blizzard would be ripping us off which would be a big problem. let me know if you know anything about it. I am in CA i would appreciate a response.
Submitted by Raynor on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 18:23
Ok here my take on the beta, as an experienced D2 player: Barb was easy, survivable and fun - but lacked a play style that was anything more than clicking Demon Hunter was surprisingly powerful, quite agile and fun to use, yet seemed like a girl even when I was a guy. Totally emo too, sad. Witch Doctor was a huge surprise - massive DPS and damage dealer.The fire bats move rocks your sox off and with spirit tap I had dps of 80 at lvl 12 Wizard was ultimate power, diamond skin looks great sounds great and has a nice cooldown, not at all mobile w/o tele but boy did he do some AOE Monk, ah the monk, so sad, so sad. Cant even choose what hand his weapons go in? not like it matters he puts them away to attack I really have to say, blizz dropped the ball on the monk. Was my preferred character, now thats down the drain. They claim hes a skilled warrior able to duel wield swords, maces, or use big two handers right? well then why is it that moves pull out so lame ass ghost staff when I want to be a duel-wielder? I guess nothin is more embarrassing than puttin my weapon away every time I attack. SO LAME, must be fixed. Overall, yes they made the game "dumb" and newb-proof, felt like I had NO CHOICE at all, and felt like gear drops were weak, the boss dropped crap. Yet, it was surprisingly smooth graphics and a fun game overall, however I would not call this Diablo 3, its more like an off-shoot because the customization and realism that made D2 so timeless is now thrown out the door for a cartoony arcade version. You cant even choose what weapon is in what hand for the monk, really? wowwwww blizz step it up. Also the start music suckssss I hate listening to it and just want to switch chars asap. They made a dagger 2 slots, and a huge 2 hander? thats just dumb. Plus now my inventory is huge - great I dont need that - yet the stash used to swap items between chars is tiny, its really a mess. Im sorry that this game is commin out so unpolished, even when you enter a new area the white letters that come up just look like a 3 year old powerpoint, yet the graphics, diablo charm, and fun "unlimited power" style of diablo still shines through even if its muddled in newbdom. Blizzard has sold out big time, its not about the love of the game, its about opening it to new markets, its economics now not hardcore, for that I QQ. Still played about 14 hours this weekend, Look forward to the end game, the PVP, and inferno, Raynor
Submitted by Sinhartha on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 20:30
Wow, that was a lot of bitching for some that played it for 14 hours. I agree the monk needs to use the weapons not his fists, though in the chaos of battle I barely even noticed. The lag and latency I experienced was certainly server side as it vanished over the course of the weekend and when I was able to get in to play it was smooth and every bit as exciting and tactile as I could hope for. I to noticed the WD int buff was very good given that 30 seconds is a very long time in diablo. The choices D3 gives you are ALL valid options and suit a variety of play styles, the slow burning dots we found useless in 4 man beta will be critical in harder difficulties. In D2 everyone tweaked the usefull skills to different degrees claiming that it was giving them options, while really it was just the illusion of option. This kind of micromanagement and number crunching is not fun for the wide audience that blizzard has to consider. Most of us just would end up going to a website for the lowdown and to have someone tell us what is best. I loved all the diablo games and this one is shaping up to be much better than the others. Each class does have a resource to manage though the DH is definitely the most difficult. Judging the play styles of any of these classes before lvl 60 is ludicrous. If anyone is fussing over class balance without having max lvl and all the skills at their disposal is wasting their breath. I loved the beta, I played it as much as I could, and I'm looking forward to playing all the classes.
Submitted by filthgrinder on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 21:23
hey force! had some trouble getting into d3 servers as it went live but it was 4 am here so i just went to bed and fiddled with it the following morning just deleted some files as advised by the d3 forums and it ran not a problem at all, had minor rubber banding issues but certainly not unplayable. im pleased to say its amazing and exceeded expectations, it hasn't helped me to decide what class to play only strengthened the fact it will be hard to stick with one to lvl to 60. was an awesome experience and cant wait for release, see you in 3 weeks \m/
Submitted by Expendabl3 on Tue, 04/24/2012 - 02:21
Games usually come out on a Thursday in Australia so us aussies will prob get it a day later on the 17th (16th in US). A world release would have been nice :(, Meh i'm too busy to worry about release dates.
Submitted by Kingcoot on Tue, 04/24/2012 - 10:23
Even though Friday is the start of a new work week I did get the chance to play on breaks and a few hours after work for Saturday, Sunday and into Monday noon. About 10 or 11 hours I got to try all classes. Not quite enough time to get my barbarian maxed which I absolutely loved. Reminded me of the barb in d2 and was nice to see runes added to some of his abilities. The game play was smooth while connecting to games. However if I started a game and my friend would join me it became very laggy at times. Not sure if this is cause my computer was worse than his, but the lag did clear up at some points. I do like the achievements you can get in the game. Gives me something to go for when I'm bored. Thanks for the heads up on the open beta Force, I was looking and looking for beta keys and open beta was good enough. 1 more week would have been nice to check the lvl 13 abilites a little bit more.
Submitted by ShaggyDA on Tue, 04/24/2012 - 12:36
I sure did manage to get in. And thx too force for announcing it. I don't always watch the Diablo site, but I Just about check here everyday for Diablo stuff. Man, I would have felt bad if I missed it!! Hit upon a few snags, much like everyone. Here's what Beta open Beta did for me! 1)Most important, it shows that my ageing rig can STILL get a good solid FPS with D3 (that being 50+ woot) 2)It showed me that the 3 classes I most likely NOT played at start, now get a look in. WD, DH, and Monk were low too zero chance before Beta, now only the Monk has no chance of being my start char! WD, and DH played soooo much better than anticipated. 3)That the game is really worth the extra few quid (£) I put in for CE. Though it was never in doubt :P 4) Last, but not least, it shows me that if the rest of the Lore and gameplay is 'anything' like the Open Beta, then the 15th just isnt coming fast enough =D Thx Force for you ongoing coverage that I have been following for what seems an eternity. Jessie man, you rule. You funny inciteful and a pleasure too listen too. Keep it up guys. Regards
Submitted by Trez on Tue, 04/24/2012 - 17:15
I got into the Beta ALOT of problems up until about Sunday afternoon. I did all achievements so I played a fair amount. I'll do a quick blurb of what I thought. General game play was good. No major issues. Loved the random events even when it was something long for something simple such as the corpses coming together to form an unburied. Also the fact that if you can gain exp by looking for small things ie Leah and Cain's journals letter to the black smith. The beta was about an hour of game play to beat from level 1 - 8 or 9 getting to the skele king and beating. Not overly Changeling unfortunately but that is to be expected in an hour long demo. I rarely had to hit q (potion button) if I did I was just being lazy standing in font of skele king. Monk - Monk was fun. Before entering the beta I figured the class to either be really bad or really fun. Thankfully it was the latter. It got crazy at the end though with healing from my rare fists and spirit regen. It took me abit to learn that I didn't have to follow what skills where given to me for each slot ie left click = spirit gen. After that though blind + heal was incredibly easy mode this early in the game. Demon Hunter - The class I looked most forward too. One thing I didn't like is it seems like the hand xbows always had better advantages over the reg xbows. Still it may just be my luck. DH was fun. Rapid fire really shines with the rune. Chakram was insane once you got it barely any haterid use and big damage it wasn't too hard to hook enemies in for multi hits Barb - Well I'm not going to lie Barb was the last class I played... Not too fond of heavy mele/tank characters. This was fun though it was just something carrying around a huge 2h sword and just bashing the crap out of everything. HP was high so it was pretty easy mode as well Witch Dr - Ok let me get this off my chest. I hate having left click as a skill slot... I miss D2 where right click was skill and left click was move. I wish there was something like holding alt to fire but moving ignoring mobs... Here is why range = good with WD. Soul Harvest = insane. I think the tooltip on D3 website is wrong I think it was +35 int for each mob caught in it anyways that is a HUGE damage increase. I can see this really useful in inferno +resistances and + damage. I know whos to say anything about inferno, but this looks nice. Ok back to the problem. During times when lets says fighting the skele king. You fine sitting back shooting your darts into him. Finally he summons up some skeles and everyone is all nice and close time to run in... oh wait don't attack... run in... crap now I only got 2 mobs caught in my spell.. other than that WD was fun. One stage of WD is throw spiders until = win seems pretty true.... Wizard - I thought this was going to come in second after DH... I thought it was ok. Wave of force + ice nova is pretty strong. I didn't think arcane orb was much stronger than arcane missile. I know it says 60% more damage. I guess early on that doesn't matter much. Arcane torrent was good though. Power hungry is very nice. I could see it losing its usefulness later game though. Oh and chat sucks... Horribly
Submitted by Brun on Wed, 04/25/2012 - 06:01
My experience with open beta weekend, had minimal issues couldnt create a game a couple times played solo and with a friend had a blast will play Witch Doctor as first character cant wait for release. Enjoying your videos will be back.
Submitted by milson on Mon, 05/14/2012 - 10:31
Extremely awsome, I had no access to a computer for Throwing knives a week And checked my e mail now and tattaaaaa!! ( I m here!!!!) Sweet WebsiteForce and game play for this epic looking title, lol even Though it's wasn't exactly your 'genra' made it even more fun To look at, can't wait to see any and all new titles comment out

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