Hell on Heels

It's been a while since I threw out some fan fiction on Friday. Wanted to write something quick and fun in the Diablo universe (since that's where I've been spending my time). I scheduled this to go up on Friday (I was away on vacation). Apparently I failed, so you get some fiction on a Tuesday. Oh well. Hope you enjoy.

The Demon Hunter grunted as she pulled her heel out of the corpse's arm. There was a sickening plop as the dispossessed limb settled back to the mossy ground. She plucked a bolt from the quiver at her waist, and fired down into the body... just to be sure.

"Would hate to be a villager around here," she mumbled.

She surveyed the graveyard, attempting to count the forgotten bodies. The practice grew tiring after the first dozen or so. They clearly outnumbered the headstones.

"Large village."

The hunter moved forward with a lithe grace that was more animal than human. Nephalem. The word echoed in her brain. She'd never much considered the term, but it'd been popping up far too often lately. Was she, in fact, one of the bastard children of the angels? A hybrid fostered from a heavenly pairing with the very thing she despised?

Demons.

The crack of a splitting stone yanked her attention to the right. Twin crossbows whipped around to point at the offending mausoleum. The stone slab sealing the chamber crumbed to the ground. For a moment, she just stared into the darkness. And then, dozens of chattering red creatures poured fourth, swarming toward her across the green.

"Vengeance will be mine," she growled.

The night gave way to a tempest of fire. Blazing bolts streamed toward the attacking horde, each bolt finding purchase in the flesh of a demon. The burning beasts did not falter, though. They crashed onward. A wave of flame meant to smash the lone figure that stood in defiance of their invasion.

The hunter knelt, and for a moment darkness reclaimed the night. The demons surged forward. At the last second, the hunter's head snapped up, eyes aglow.

The lead demon took a swipe. The hunter leaped high into the air, somersaulting and twisting, bringing her weapons to bear. She was firing again long before her feet found the earth.

In the space she'd just vacated, a small tuft of smoke puffed. Small, glittering objects scattered among the demons. The screeches were immediate. Sharp pieces of metal punctured demonic feet, all but halting the advance.

The hunter smiled. From a satchel on her hip, she drew out a small, spherical object. Pulling a pin, she tossed it into the cluster.

"... two, thr--"

The explosion was deafening. Bits of gore splattered among the headstones. When the displaced dirt settled and the smoke cleared, naught but a bloody crater remained.

The hunter rose languidly. A contented sigh escaped her lips. She tucked a stray strand of hair back behind her ear.

Then, she stalked away in search of more prey.

#Diablo - Speed Play

Okay, I retract my previous statement. Namely, that I wasn't all that interested in replaying Diablo. I didn't have a lot of time to play this weekend, but I did start my monk on the next difficulty mode. Because I was expecting malaise, I decided to remove the band-aid quickly. That is to say, I tried to move as fast as possible to each objective, spamming the fel out of space bar whenever people tried to talk to me.

It was a lot of fun.

Yeah, color me surprised. It wasn't so bad when you skip everything. And when you're not being compulsive about trying to explore every nook and cranny of the map, the game actually moves pretty quickly. So far, I've been rolling over things still. I can tell stuff hits harder, but there have only been a few rough patches. I'm not very far in. I'll be it'll toughen up sooner rather than later.

Speed play is pretty intoxicating. I'm not just playing, but trying to play faster, more efficient. It's sort of like gold farming, only with an secondary purpose in mind (of progressing). At least, I think it is. I've never been a big gold farmer, but I imagine you try to really maximize your profits over time.

Anyway, thought I'd mention this. Thanks to the comment tips last week on how to speed up play (like spacebar... though my spacebar does not thank you). Now back to your regularly sucky Monday, already in progress.

#Diablo - Vanquished, Now What?

This post may contain mild spoilers. Fair warning. I'm not going to do it on purpose, but I didn't want folks to take a chance if they didn't want to. I finished Diablo last night, on normal mode. It was a great game for the price of free. Probably would have been solid at full price, but you can't beat free.

I've learned that my monk is pretty much OP. Some of the normal bosses are a struggle on my Demon Hunter. I have to be quick with moving out of the bad and such, but the Monk can just stand and take it. My self-healing is ridiculous. Made the final boss a bit of a joke, if you ask me. I wasn't really ever in danger of dying.

I didn't care for the ending so much. Maybe I wasn't emotionally invested enough, but it just didn't speak to me. I guess it was a happy ending. I'm not sure. Seemed like more of an ambivalent, quickly produced ending. Are there alternate endings on harder difficulties? Extended cuts? I guess after all the build-up, it was just a pretty mundane ending. I don't know if I was expecting to see shots of them toppling Emperor Palpatine's statue, dancing Ewoks, and space fireworks, or what.

Long time fans of the series may note that the story was pretty true to the flavor of the games. These are gore-fests. Perhaps a happy, emotional ending would tarnish the art. I don't know. Having only played Diablo III, I enjoyed the lore, the gameplay, and the story right up until the end. Is it just me, or did the ending seem rushed? Act IV went so much faster than the previous acts. I guess I would have liked them to be more balanced.

Or maybe I'd just figured out the game, so what took me a long time before was much quicker. Like I said, my Monk felt OP, so perhaps I just picked the "easy" class. If I had struggled more at the end, it probably would have seemed longer.

I'm not sure what I want to do now. I wish I could max out my character by doing something other than simply replaying what I just finished. Like if they had some challenge modes or something. Not just a difficulty slider, but like where they throw you into a scenario and you just try to beat it. Like zombie mode in FPSes or some sort of PvE arena. Make the reward dependent on how long you survive or something.

I plan try and jump into groups with some of my friends. That should help extend the life of the game, but only if I can find them on. I'm not sure what I'll do when left to my own devices. Am I the only one that would just like a simple "killing mode" where you don't have to experience the story again? I'm probably just being picky.

#Diablo - Musta Been Tuesday

Got the "Error 37" rigamarole last night. Awesome. My evening activities were cancelled. I'd already cleaned the bathrooms. My wife was raiding... but there were no spots for me. All I wanted to do was log in and play my purchased single-player game in peace. Oh, wait. It's patch day. And WoW is up, running smoothly, but Diablo is full? Must have been full because the server was up.

So here's my question, if Blizz is trying to make Diablo like WoW in that it runs from a server and all that... where the hell is my queue? I never thought I'd say those words. Or these: Can we get a felling queue? Seriously. If this "Error 37" crap is caused by overburdened servers, then the least they could do is put me in a line for spots when they open up.

Maybe it was something else. Like I said, the website indicated the servers were up. I noticed on The Facebook and The Twitter that other folks were playing. I had patched completely. Why was I getting an E37? Was I just unlucky, something was messed up? Or were the servers really full.

I wanted to highlight a post by Targeter. It's pretty ranty, I'll warn you, but he raises good points. Points that I thought about, sort of irked me, but ultimately dismissed. The big one that I disagree with him on is the whole gold selling thing. I know Blizz said they didn't want to do gold selling, but it happened anyway (and companies, like people, can change their stance on things). My thought is that the best way to stop gold selling from third parties is to simply offer the gold yourself. Make it cheaper and more convenient than the other guy. Heck, I don't even mind them taking a cut. Whatever, this is a business. In my dream world, they'd make a bunch of money, stop charging subscriptions, and sell cheaper games (also never sell stuff in the AH that isn't readily available in the game. Make sure you didn't miss the "dream" part of this world).

I think it's silly that they're doing a second AH. I don't see how that lets you opt out. I mean, you can just buy gold and then go shop on the non-$$ AH, right? I guess it's a nice gesture.

At the end of the day, I can turn a blind eye to the AH stuff. I may throw some things up, maybe I'll make a couple bucks, who knows? Ultimately, the AH is a completely optional facet of the game. You can play from start to finish and never do any dealings on the AH. Thus, ignorable (unless you have moral qualms against it, which is your right, I just adopt a more live-and-let-live view, so it doesn't rile me up).

This logging online to try to play a single player game stuff, though... this is getting old. It wouldn't be so bad if it worked. But any DRM that prevents you from playing game is felling stupid in my opinion. Great way to lose customers. Blizz can afford to make these mistakes. They've delivered enough to convince people to give them the benefit of the doubt (me included), but they're the exception.

As things stand now, if I had not purchased a year pass, I would not have bought Diablo III. It is a great game. I'm enjoying playing it, when I can. I would have missed out. The game is great. All the other crap? Seems like one blunder after another.

Fine Blizz, if you're going to make us log into every game from now on... fine. Then make it felling work. My game time is precious. I can deal with maintenance windows. I can deal with full servers. But at least give me a queue. Really, is that too much to ask? I can be flexible, but only if I know what I'm being flexible for. If I know where I am in line, I can go do other things. Getting straight E37s just makes me want to write a strongly worded letter to the developer. Much like Targeter did.

Now, where did I put my lightsaber?

#Diablo - A Monk-ee?

I hate wasps. I do not like them in real life, and I dislike them in Diablo III as well. A lot of it is probably because I'm a monk, a melee. I have to run through their stupid explodey offspring (or darts, or whatever) to attack them. And they run away. And the mini-wasps hurt.

Fortunately, I can teleport. What now, wasps?!

Anyone else find that they change their talent choices to match the trash? For a monk, I flip between many of the main attacks. The first one, with the teleport rune, is nice when stuff sits at ranged. Zip, zip, zip... dead. The second is great for waves of attackers. It has a slight range to it that knocks through the lines of baddies. I feel like shouting YOU SHALL NOT PASS. The third is amazing for dashing into giant groups of mindless zombies, and then going to town. I feel like a badass firework of death.

I've not quite found how I want to use the fourth one yet. The first three seem to cover my needs.

I tend to pair the basic attacks up with supplementary "hotkey" attacks. Like, if I'm in sweeping strikes (firework of death) mode, I put either the bell (for waves) or the immune-dashy attack (I know, I'm great with names) because it's fun. When using the teleport main attack, I try to use the other skills to boost AoE. So the main attack deals with the main body of baddies, the secondary stuff is for the random, annoying, one-of-these-things-is-not-like-the-other mobs. It's surprisingly fun and fluid. There's something to be said for having fewer abilities that mesh better together. I hope they apply this same thinking to MoP.

Some Random Thoughts

In what's becoming somewhat of a trend during the pre-expansion lull, my Monday will once again be the home of some random recaps from the weekend. I have some Diablo thoughts to share. I want to link to a bit of warlockery from the great Cynwise. I've not played TOR due to Diablo, so, um, nothing there. Sorry TOR. I'll be back once I bring my glass of ice water all the way through hell, which I'm suspecting a max-level monk will be able to do. I'm pretty sure that's how Diablo ends: a triumphant character, holding aloft a sweating glass of clear beverage whilst hordes of demons swoon and slobber at the sides. "In the land of the thirsty..."

Anyway, Diablo. Yeah, I wanted to share a bit about my playstyle. I've mentioned that I rolled a monk. Basically, every time I level, I've been trying the new skills I get. After somewhere around 17 levels, I find myself gravitating toward a certain playstyle and speccing to match it. I like to use the charge ability (I forget its name, it's on the 2 button) to zip in, and then unleash holy hell. I've been using sweeping strikes, as I feel like that hits everything around me the best. I also use the fiery roundhouse kick (at least that's what I count it) as my secondary ability. I have the heal on 1 (with AoE rune) and the suck-everyone-in-and-explode on 3. Though, for 3, I just got the run-around-like-the-flash-with-fists, which is vying for usage. The main perk with that one is that you go immune to damage for a few seconds. Great "oh shit" button.

Since I'm mixing it up in melee, I generally try to bring a ranged companion. Right now, it's the Scoundrel that's picking off the stragglers. Also, his blatantly loot whoring makes me laugh. The Templar is just too dull.

[Insert flashy game transition here]

I have two links I wanted to share, warlock related. I didn't have enough to say to make a full post, so I'm tacking them on here random-style.

First, Cynwise wraps up his wonderful series with a surprisingly hopeful post concerning the future of warlockery. I guess it shouldn't be surprising. Still, halting the downward slide of the class I love is no easy task. Cynwise has laid out a solid, logical path, but will the devs take it? Initial forays by 'locks into the beta (myself included) see good signs. Only release will tell the true tale, but there are definitely things to look forward to. I wanted to link and thank Cynwise for his exhaustive look into 'locks. Really great stuff.

Second, I wanted to link a new (to me at least) warlock blog. Amijade the Warlock posts over at warlockery.com. Immediate shards should be given for the site name. Furthermore, seems to be good content over there, and I mentioned that I was on the lookout for new souls as part of the whole NBI thing. This is the first warlock-specific blog I've seen. Thanks to Rivs for pointing it out. Amijade, consider yourself /followed.

That's all for today. Hope your Monday is overrun with zombies. (That would be an improvement on most Mondays, right? Especially if you're in the firearms business.)

#Diablo - Onward to Ring Two

I spent another night in Diablo yesterday. I figured I'd join the blogosphere with some Day 2 insights. Only these will be less of insightful. It's more like I was able to verify a lot of what I learned through comments yesterday and wanted to publicly declare it. Which sounds sort of egotistical, but one of my general principles here has been to simply chronicle what I've learned. Chances are, though there are many people that learned before me, I won't be the last.

Anyhoo, the night started off with another server scare. Logged on only to be immediately rebuffed. Error 37, or 3003, or whatever. I think they should have renamed it error 666, just cuz. So I went and tended to my Castleville castle, stared at some football slides, and came back about 30 minutes later. Got right in.

Fuu had finished downloading somewhere in there and logged in herself. The first thing I want to report is that the ease of a private multiplayer session were just as easy as described. Fuu exists on my realID list. I clicked her name, and my monk ported into her game. Pretty neat, though I was slightly OP since she'd just started. We had fun playing co-op for the rest of the night with nary a disconnection.

I've swiftly gotten over my initial displeasure at a lack of character customization. You don't really zoom in close enough to mind. Also, since gear can change, at the level we can say, that's probably enough.

Playing co-op meant I got to see how the story varied if it were Fuu (witchdoctor) or me (monk). Pretty similar, though slightly different flavor. A cool thing I learned is that all the dungeons re-spawn randomly. That is, we did the first cathedral part again... and it was different! Some stuff was recognizable, but I didn't know where I was going. That's pretty cool. I had seen someone mention that feature, but hadn't experienced it for myself.

So Diablo was good last night. Hopefully the servers can remain stable enough to play. If not, there's always Zynga, the Productivity Vacuum company.

Thanks to all the folks that commented yesterday. It was all just as you said.

My First Night In Hell

I think Blizzard has taken immersion too far. Not only did they want me to play a game simulating a fantastical hell on Earth, but they really wanted me to feel it as well. This, of course, is evidenced by the server failure just as I was getting going.

I didn't have a whole lot of play time last night, but I did roll a toon. A monk. I think I'm around like level 6. The early levels go fast. Having never played a Diablo title before, the gameplay is all new to me. I can't speak to any improvements.

I like that it is very mouse driven. It provides a nice change of pace from most of the games I've been playing lately. I guess I feel that I'm playing in a more relaxed posture because of that. Slumped back, hand laid negligently across my poor mouse (which may quickly tire of the repeated clicking). It's a far cry from the normal "stooped gargoyle" look.

The gameplay is addictive. I'm enjoying my monk. I think the game design engenders a feel of nostalgia, even for someone that didn't play Diablo. It's "throwback" without looking "old."

I've not tried any of the online features yet. I was simply playing single player. Fuu started her download after her raid last night, but it didn't complete by the time I was being kicked off. Server instability appears to be an issue with Diablo. There was a whole lot of rage on the forums.

I'm not terribly upset, despite my comments above to the contrary. These things happen. I do wish Blizzard had seen fit to include an "offline" mode for pure single player play. I don't see why this couldn't have been done. Having to rely on server connectivity when playing alone seems pretty dumb. Maybe there are reasons, though. Otherwise, it doesn't surprise me that their servers are getting bombarded. They gave away a ton of games essentially for free, plus I'm sure there are a whole boat load of people that didn't do the year-long deal. That's a huge in-rush of players. Still, who better to handle this than Blizzard? It's not like they're new to the game.

I suppose I have some questions, not knowing much about Diablo. I've not read up a whole lot. Perhaps the wisdom of the interwebs can rescue my newbness. Feel encouraged to answer me in comments:

• Am I right that there is essentially no character customization? You simply pick class and gender?
• Do different classes have different stories, or does that not matter?
• I saw the "make game public" option, but what if I just want to play with my wife? How does that work? I'll break this down into two sub-questions:
• Are private co-op games easy to create?
• Do you both have to be on the same story parts? If not, how do the levels resolve? That is, what's to stop me from bringing a max character to a new co-op event? Not that that's necessarily a problem, just wondered...

That's all I have for now. Gotta run to lunch. Thanks in advance for the help! I'm sure y'all know way more than I do at this point.