OT: Video Game Thread Part VIII

[DancingPanther]

@Magua

View attachment 728839

That's lunacy lol also I don't even know what the point is for the different sets

 

[Magua]

That's lunacy lol also I don't even know what the point is for the different sets

The point is to protect your skin from harmful UV rays.

 

[DancingPanther]

The point is to protect your skin from harmful UV rays.

They are proven carcinogens after all

 

[Amorgus]

I got all the altars, seems like getting the +4 paragon points are the way to go. @Amorgus @Beef Invictus is there a way to go about getting them that’s smoother than bouncing around hitting quests as they pop up?
I have the alters strongholds and waypoints finished.

Sadly, no. Since some of the side quests take you to dungeons anyway, you may as well so all the side quests you can find until you get within maybe 100 points of renown. Then you can decide how many dungeons will put you over the top. Someone actually did a map of the dungeons that cross over with side quests. That way you can get 50 points on one dungeon run.

Sadly at this point of the game it seems all real advancement comes from the Paragon Board and the loot stays with its crummy little incremental gains, making the drops 99% worthless. I just got to world tier 4 on my own and got a new copy of the unique helm I use for my build. Aside from having 50 more armor, all the stat bonuses were garbage compared to the one I've been using for the past 15 levels. It's like the game wanted to switch genres for the endgame and become pure level grinding for skill points instead of the excitement of finding better drops. How Blizzard could f*** up this fundamental aspect of the genre they essentially created is beyond me.

As far as season one, only your map discovery and altar bonuses carry over. The side quest and dungeon stuff gets completely reset and even though you can see the way points you've already found on the map, you'll have to reactivate them. Yay.

 

[Lord Defect]

Sadly, no. Since some of the side quests take you to dungeons anyway, you may as well so all the side quests you can find until you get within maybe 100 points of renown. Then you can decide how many dungeons will put you over the top. Someone actually did a map of the dungeons that cross over with side quests. That way you can get 50 points on one dungeon run.

Sadly at this point of the game it seems all real advancement comes from the Paragon Board and the loot stays with its crummy little incremental gains, making the drops 99% worthless. I just got to world tier 4 on my own and got a new copy of the unique helm I use for my build. Aside from having 50 more armor, all the stat bonuses were garbage compared to the one I've been using for the past 15 levels. It's like the game wanted to switch genres for the endgame and become pure level grinding for skill points instead of the excitement of finding better drops. How Blizzard could f*** up this fundamental aspect of the genre they essentially created is beyond me.

As far as season one, only your map discovery and altar bonuses carry over. The side quest and dungeon stuff gets completely reset and even though you can see the way points you've already found on the map, you'll have to reactivate them. Yay.

Do Paragon points unlocked for the account carry over?

 

[Beef Invictus]

I got all the altars, seems like getting the +4 paragon points are the way to go. @Amorgus @Beef Invictus is there a way to go about getting them that’s smoother than bouncing around hitting quests as they pop up?
I have the alters strongholds and waypoints finished.

There are maps online to help you. I haven't done it yet.

 

[Amorgus]

Do Paragon points unlocked for the account carry over?

NOPE. You're starting fresh on quests, so no paragon points. They wanted to make you start from ground zero but I guess they didn't want to receive more death threats than they probably already do and let us keep the altars and uncovered map.

 

[Lord Defect]

NOPE. You're starting fresh on quests, so no paragon points. They wanted to make you start from ground zero but I guess they didn't want to receive more death threats than they probably already do and let us keep the altars and uncovered map.

That’s kinda crazy.
Any suggestions for a season character class or build?
I’ve played a spark werewolf for a hot minute and an arc sorceress as my main.

 

[Amorgus]

That’s kinda crazy.
Any suggestions for a season character class or build?
I’ve played a spark werewolf for a hot minute and an arc sorceress as my main.

I've only played as a necro so far so I'll be going in completely cold to a new class for next season. I'm not sure how well a Bone Spear build would work early game but good lord is it deadly later on. The gear I had originally led me to rely on some blood skills for a while but I never tried Blood Lance. My friends are both sorcerers and are true glass cannons while I'm doing tier 20's Ancestral Dungeons on my own. Tried a couple 30's and got put in my place though.

 

[JojoTheWhale]

I see D4’s S1 is a complete shitshow, as expected. There are so many good ARPGs out there now. Don’t waste your time with Blizzard.

 

[Lord Defect]

I see D4’s S1 is a complete shitshow, as expected. There are so many good ARPGs out there now. Don’t waste your time with Blizzard.

What happened?

 

[JojoTheWhale]

What happened?

The first big patch hit. The one that was supposed to bring the game together. The communities are in flames. Massive nerfs, but that's generally how first patches work. Not a big deal to nerf things, but they've done it in such a way that everything is significantly more grindy to get anywhere without adding significant new content or much in the way of items.

For example, Crit/Vuln/CDR were much better multipliers than everything else. Instead of giving you other ways to scale effectively, they just nerfed those across the board and called it a day. They're still the best methods by miles. You just have to work much harder to get them to required levels.

They nerfed Damage Reduction across the board, except the one that's overpowered. That one (while Injured) is unscathed. This is pure math. There's no room for interpretation here.

Some of them are hilariously petty hits to quality of life. For example, you now have to channel Leave Dungeon for 5 seconds instead of 3. CDR being nerfed on gear means the gameplay slows way down in an ARPG already sorely lacking in mob density. They added level requirements for World Tiers such that they're no longer relevant. WT4 requires 70 for example. Resistances still don't function in a way that makes any sense at all. Mystery chests went up in price in the standard Blizzard method.

I just wish people would stop trusting this company. There are plenty of super talented people in the various departments, but their directives are not trying to prioritize making the best games they can.

 

[DayoftheGreek]

It is a shame because D2 is one of my favorite games of all time. But to this day I am still extremely salty about what they did with D3 and haven't given them a second thought since before D3 even launched.

 

[wankstifier]

I see D4’s S1 is a complete shitshow, as expected. There are so many good ARPGs out there now. Don’t waste your time with Blizzard.

D4 is my first ARPG. I just play casually on rare occasion with my brother, so I'm not the most invested. What other games would you recommend?

 

[JojoTheWhale]

D4 is my first ARPG. I just play casually on rare occasion with my brother, so I'm not the most invested. What other games would you recommend?

I'm not going to give you an order because it's personal preference, but here's a list of ones I've enjoyed. Some are free. Some are less than $10. Nothing is $70 or close to it unless you go deep and buy expansions and/or cosmetics.

Grim Dawn
Last Epoch
Path of Exile
Hades
Victor Vran
Torchlight II
Torchlight Infinite (mobile platforms also with a completely fair f2p mode)
Titan Quest

 

[Amorgus]

The first big patch hit. The one that was supposed to bring the game together. The communities are in flames. Massive nerfs, but that's generally how first patches work. Not a big deal to nerf things, but they've done it in such a way that everything is significantly more grindy to get anywhere without adding significant new content or much in the way of items.

For example, Crit/Vuln/CDR were much better multipliers than everything else. Instead of giving you other ways to scale effectively, they just nerfed those across the board and called it a day. They're still the best methods by miles. You just have to work much harder to get them to required levels.

They nerfed Damage Reduction across the board, except the one that's overpowered. That one (while Injured) is unscathed. This is pure math. There's no room for interpretation here.

Some of them are hilariously petty hits to quality of life. For example, you now have to channel Leave Dungeon for 5 seconds instead of 3. CDR being nerfed on gear means the gameplay slows way down in an ARPG already sorely lacking in mob density. They added level requirements for World Tiers such that they're no longer relevant. WT4 requires 70 for example. Resistances still don't function in a way that makes any sense at all. Mystery chests went up in price in the standard Blizzard method.

I just wish people would stop trusting this company. There are plenty of super talented people in the various departments, but their directives are not trying to prioritize making the best games they can.

I never played an actual Diablo game but played a bunch of clones. Then one friend decided this was going to be the big game to hold us over until the Elden Ring DLC. He will hear absolutely no complaints about this game despite never having played the previous Diablos. He bitches everyone else is being toxic and the game is perfect and yet his level 70 character can't survive outside tier 3 while my other friend and I have left him in the dust. He would totally fit in here with our resident contrarians.

 

[Fire Tortorella]

D4 is my first ARPG. I just play casually on rare occasion with my brother, so I'm not the most invested. What other games would you recommend?

I asked a similar question about a month ago and went with Torchlight 2 - it's a completely different art style and theme but as far as actual gameplay I'm having a ton of fun.

 

[trostol]

I'm not going to give you an order because it's personal preference, but here's a list of ones I've enjoyed. Some are free. Some are less than $10. Nothing is $70 or close to it unless you go deep and buy expansions and/or cosmetics.

Grim Dawn
Last Epoch
Path of Exile
Hades
Victor Vran
Torchlight II
Torchlight Infinite (mobile platforms also with a completely fair f2p mode)
Titan Quest

Been seriously considering installing Titan Quest...it looks so lonely sitting in my steam library

 

[Chicken N Raffls]

Been seriously considering installing Titan Quest...it looks so lonely sitting in my steam library

I hear it's a smash hit! I'll see myself out now

 

[Lord Defect]

The first big patch hit. The one that was supposed to bring the game together. The communities are in flames. Massive nerfs, but that's generally how first patches work. Not a big deal to nerf things, but they've done it in such a way that everything is significantly more grindy to get anywhere without adding significant new content or much in the way of items.

For example, Crit/Vuln/CDR were much better multipliers than everything else. Instead of giving you other ways to scale effectively, they just nerfed those across the board and called it a day. They're still the best methods by miles. You just have to work much harder to get them to required levels.

They nerfed Damage Reduction across the board, except the one that's overpowered. That one (while Injured) is unscathed. This is pure math. There's no room for interpretation here.

Some of them are hilariously petty hits to quality of life. For example, you now have to channel Leave Dungeon for 5 seconds instead of 3. CDR being nerfed on gear means the gameplay slows way down in an ARPG already sorely lacking in mob density. They added level requirements for World Tiers such that they're no longer relevant. WT4 requires 70 for example. Resistances still don't function in a way that makes any sense at all. Mystery chests went up in price in the standard Blizzard method.

I just wish people would stop trusting this company. There are plenty of super talented people in the various departments, but their directives are not trying to prioritize making the best games they can.

It sounds like they know what they are doing but not where they are going.
Side note, very very early on on my first character I came across one of the chests that need a key from that shady vendor and I had no keys.
So when I got the currency, I made 20 keys. Since then I have not seen one again.

What would you say is the current best loot driven arpg?

 

[Beef Invictus]

That’s kinda crazy.
Any suggestions for a season character class or build?
I’ve played a spark werewolf for a hot minute and an arc sorceress as my main.

Summoner Necromancer when done the right way (my way) seems to have gained power from the patch

 

[Beef Invictus]

I never played an actual Diablo game but played a bunch of clones. Then one friend decided this was going to be the big game to hold us over until the Elden Ring DLC. He will hear absolutely no complaints about this game despite never having played the previous Diablos. He bitches everyone else is being toxic and the game is perfect and yet his level 70 character can't survive outside tier 3 while my other friend and I have left him in the dust. He would totally fit in here with our resident contrarians.

How is he this bad

 

[JojoTheWhale]

It sounds like they know what they are doing but not where they are going.
What would you say is the current best loot driven arpg?

I don't question their competency. That's your standard incel rage territory. I do think their directives are such that they don't line up with a good player experience. That fault lies with the higher-ups.

I don't think there is a best because personal preferences decide that.

If you truly want meaningful variety and replayability, nothing does that better than PoE. The convention where PoE 2 is shown and the beta announced is in less than 2 weeks, so the gap is only going to grow. No one can compete with having a decade plus of developed content that's still relevant. Likewise, no one else puts out an entirely new endgame system every 3 months.

If you want a slower-paced game with less mobs and offline play, I would say Grim Dawn.

The best middle ground between the two should be Last Epoch. The crafting system in particular is A++. It needs a little time to build up more content, though.

If you want a casual in and out quickly option with a fast pace to the gameplay, Torchlight Infinite. Crafting here also shines, albeit in a different way. Every time you try to add on to an item, it can simply be reverted if you get a bad outcome. That's how it should be for their target audience.

 

[TB87]

hold us over until the Elden Ring DLC

I have yet to play Elden Ring but even I’m excited for the DLC. The Souls games, Bloodborne, & Sekiro were great so I’m expecting greatness from the Elden Ring DLC too (FromSoftware FTW). Is their Armored Core game series worth playing? I know they have a new game in that series coming out soon.

 

[AndHeMissedTheNet]

I just finished D4's campaign yesterday. Took me about 45-50 hours (with some side content) and started doing some of the endgame content today... post-patch, of course. It's really hard to tell how much of my current opinions would be due to the fact that i have no previous experience with a world tier higher than 2 until today, or even that i just decided to change up my build to something a bit more glass cannon-y after beating the campaign, but my first impressions of this postgame with the current patch are that it's a total clusterf***. I was relying on crowd control through either corpse tendrils or bone prison w/ vulnerability, and i can pretty easily tell the difference with vulnerability being shittier now. And necros seemingly didn't even get the worst of it; I can't even imagine what sorcs must be going through.

I'm not ready bail on this game like the rest of D4's playerbase has been talking about doing for the last 24 hours or so, but i will say that i think i might be spending a bit less time with S1 than i would've expected to. I've also been playing FF16 and TOTK, both GOTY contenders so far, and Remnant 2 looks insanely cool and first impressions of that one seem to be promising. Blizzard picked a real bad time for all these nerfs, to say nothing about stuff like Baldur's Gate and Starfield around the corner.