In Which The Warlock Contemplates a Cluster of Points...

Friends and neighbors, it's hot here.  Whooo, man, is it hot!  Too hot to think, all told.  So, mes amices, while I prep your next participant in my ongoing Hell on Earth series, here's some random points!

• As per my usual, I've all but taken on a nocturnal schedule here in the summer.  I stay up late, either working on Cold Steel Wardens or playing Diablo III, then go to sleep in the early morning.  Most people tend to think I'm a little nuts, but it tends to work for me.  I stay out of the oppressive heat of the morning, and still manage to be productive.  Besides, I'm more of a night-owl anyway!
• My long-running (and almost as long on hiatus!) campaign of "The Flood" is finally reaching its conclusion.  After a stopover at Fort 51 with "Mr. Eddington" and "Mr. Andrew Lane", my posse has only two glyphs to find--which they've already located and mapped out--before triggering the titular flood in Lost Angels.  While I've been enjoying this game through and through, it makes me wonder what we're going to be doing next.  The PlatinumChick has mentioned the possibility of running Hell on Earth, and I'm still contemplating that All For One: Regime Diabolique game, but nothing's concrete yet.  We'd better get our ducks in a row:  we only have about 3 sessions left in Deadlands!
• Instead of braving the heat and traffic on the 4th of July, the PlatinumChick and I decided to go see Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.  Figuring it'd be a better bet than the up-and-down Amazing Spider-Man, we weren't disappointed in any sense of the word.  It's an over-the top action flick with a goofy premise and some great scenes. In fact, there's a point near the end that I'd swear is ripped straight from John Goff's infamous Night Train scenario.  Not that that's a bad thing, mind you!   Go give it a run, if you find yourself near a theater!
• What's in a name?  In the hopes of taking a serious run at seeing myself in print, I've been planning on incorporating (most likely through an LLC) in the very near future.  However, in doing so, it occurs to me how important naming my company will be.  Obviously, you want a name that will stand out, but will also be able to be taken seriously.  I've come up with one idea which has tested well, but I'll keep under my hat for the time being...
• It appears that, following the current "Avengers vs. X-Men" crossover event, Marvel appears to be headed towards some restructuring.  While I'm sad to see Brian Michael Bendis leave the core Avengers books, Johnathan Hickman makes for a fantastic heir to the big chair.  That said, it makes me wonder who will be taking up Fantastic Four!  In either case, the PlatinumChick will no doubt be happy with the upcoming Captain Marvel ongoing series.  I'm eager to read that one myself!

I think that's about all my brain can take before baking, friends and neighbors!  Next entry, you'll meet "The Main Man" Marlow!  Until then!

In Which The Warlock Revisits Tristram...

If you follow this blog regularly, you're probably well aware of my fascination (read:  utter obsession) with Diablo III.  The PlatinumChick, I'm sure, has gotten sick of me watching videos of beta footage before bed, ranting about rescheduled and reschedule release dates, and agonizing over my inability to play the beta. 

While the first two might remain true...the third?  Oh, there's been a change...

Thanks to a quick trigger finger on my F5 key and the generosity of the fellows at Vox Gamers, I managed to win my very own beta key!

Now, while I'd been lucky enough to play through once, thanks to WoWSonya's husband Sean, this meant that I could really immerse myself in the full Diablo experience, rather than just rushing my way through on a computer that wasn't mine.  I could sit back, relax, and let the monster-slaying, loot-snatching carnage begin in earnest!

Firstly, though, a caveat.  My laptop is nearly 4 years old and is beginning to show its age.  I'm missing two keys, with two more super-glued on.  My dual-core processor, while hefty for its time, is quite out of date now, as Intel's "i3/5/7" series of processors were state of the art when I bought this machine.  My graphics card is still reasonably useful, though my sheer lack of processing power is a definite detriment.  When I get my car paid off--three payments to go!--I'll be looking at a serious upgrade, but until then I'm stuck.

Sith Lightning for the win!

My first play-through was using the Wizard, whom I had been eyeing up for months.  The sheer awesome-factor of "Electrocute" was simply too much to pass up--I mean, who doesn't want to shoot lightning from their fingertips?!  And, while I wasn't disappointed with the Wizard, I had to let out a complacent sigh:  with the changes made the most recent patch, Electrocute was moved to level 11, while the level cap remained at 13.  When I defeated Leoric, the Skeleton King, I had just barely managed to make it to level 10...my dreams of Sith lightning would have to wait for another playthrough.

That said, the Wizard was a blast to play.  Arcane Orb, runed shortly after getting it, produced bluish-purple explosions that sent enemies flying in pieces.  Zombies splattered apart into meaty, rotting shards with the concussive force of my arcane might.  Oh, what fun!  I tried using Shock Pulse over the old standby, Magic Missile, but found that the range on Shock Pulse was simply too short.  Enemies at the range of my screen would stand there, oblivious, as my bolts of electric power fell short of them and fizzled out.  Frost Nova, as well, was something as a let down, as it dealt no damage.  I quickly replaced it with Wave of Force, which sent enemies' corpses flying away from me in a most delightful manner.

This is, however, where my technically-lacking computer came into play.  While playing the Wizard, the numerous particle effects slowed my computer down significantly.  I'd often go through the casting animation, with the actual spell effect only taking place a second or two later, resulting in misses and several near-deaths.  However, upon the advice of ChaoticFrederick, I shut down several background processes and programs, resulting in much smoother playthroughs on the subsequent characters. 

A Demon Hunter unleashes Multishot.

I tried out the Demon Hunter next, which was a class that I'd had my reservations about.  As I started my playthrough, I found myself underwhelmed.  I had no area-of-effect skills, and my Hungering Arrow shot seemed underpowered.  That is, until level 5:  Rapid Fire.  Suddenly, it was as if someone had handed my wanna-be ranger a P90 and let her rip through the dungeon!  Retching Mothers spun as if riddled by automatic weapon fire, before slumping to the ground in a heap.  At one point, I fired up a set of stairs, shearing a zombie in half across its waist...and its upper half slowly tumbled down the stairs, arms akimbo, leading a trail of blood until it stopped, about three stairs from the bottom. 

With a combination of a runed Hungering Arrow (an increased chance to pierce through enemies really helped this one), Rapid Fire, Strafe, and Caltrops, my Demon Hunter blasted her way through the Skeleton King with near impunity.  I'd almost say that the DH is a touch overpowered--while her Hatred resource is meant to be a slow-regenerating one, I found myself mowing down enemies with Rapid Fire almost at-will. 

My latest playthrough was with the Monk--a class that I'd been looking forward to for a while, as I typically played a Paladin in Diablo II.  The spiritual successor to that class, the Monk came loaded with Mantras (echoing the Paladin's Aura skills) and numerous martial arts skills.  However, the Monk came off as very low-impact compared to the other classes.  While the Wizard was a sheer force of devastation and the Demon Hunter ripped apart enemies with incredible speed, the Monk was more methodical and much less visually impressive.  While I could attack numerous enemies at once, the effects were much less spectacular and I felt like it took much longer to kill a pack of enemies with the Monk than its long-range counterparts.

Case in point:  the Monk's resource-generation skills are all combo skills, which have varying effects if used several times in sequence.  However, when using any skills, the Monk's weapon is stowed on their back, in favor of fist strikes!  Even the Wizard manages to actually swing their sword or dagger, when casting a spell.  I don't feel like it'd be unreasonable to have the Monk actually use a staff or weapon, along with their combo skills, but such isn't the case. 

Diablo III  also brought quite a few new features to the party, which I'd been eager to try out.  The crafting mechanics, for one, were at the top of my list.  Rather than using the ubiquitous Horadric Cube to piece together rares or use the nearly-worthless gold to gamble on items (that were nearly-universally useless), DIII's crafting mechanics allow you to break down useless magic items into crafting materials, which can then be used to make whatever you like.  Even rares and (supposedly) uniques are on the table, should you level your blacksmith up enough!  Between expanding my stash, leveling up my blacksmith, and crafting new items, I always felt like there was something to purchase, even outside of the vendors (who had some fairly useful items, particularly early on!).  This is a spectacular change, as it gives a reason for gold to stay in the economy.  No more Stones of Jordan as trade-bait!

Plus, this also gives a pile of options in the Auction House.  DIII has come under a fair amount of fire for its use of a real money--that is, you pay in actual dollars, to purchase an in-game item--but also has a gold-for-items auction house as well, which allows you to find that item your Witch Doctor needs, but you haven't quite been able to find yet.  While I have no intention on blowing real cash on items that only exist on a virtual level, I definitely plan to make use of the gold-based auction house!

The only real issue that I have with the Diablo III beta right now is the skill interface system.  In previous patches, you could view every skill simultaneously, choosing from the ones available at your level.  In this new UI, you're only able to a few skills at a time, grouped together somewhat arbitrarily, based on their function.  This makes it difficult to compare skills and decide upon which suits your character best.  But really, this isn't a deal-breaker for me, and the visceral gameplay and multitude of class/skill/gear options make this one an auto-buy for me.  Can't wait for this one to come in!

As I play through with the rest of the classes, you can be sure that I'll keep you updated here!

In Which The Warlock Drools All Over the Keyboard...

This past Saturday was one of the more relaxing we've had in a while, as the holiday season has been rolling on.  The PlatinumChick and I, along with ChaoticFrederick and GeoMike, headed off to Columbus to see the WildLights exhibit at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.  Also joining us was the PlatinumChick's good friend WoWSonya, who we don't see nearly often enough.

That made for a great afternoon, but the bigger treat came for me that night.  You see, friends and neighbors, WoWSonya's husband Sean had recently received a beta key for Diablo III!  Oh, man!  The envy, it must have been streaming off of me when I first heard the news.

Luckily for me, Sean is of the generous sort, and once we returned from dinner, he logged me onto his Battle.net account and let me have at it!  I'm pretty sure that you could see my grin from orbit, as I slid into his computer chair and started my quest. So, as you might expect, here are my observations on a single playthrough of the Diablo III beta!

 I wanted to be able to jump into the action as soon as possible, without having to worry about fragility or spells, so I knew the Barbarian would be a great fit.  I typically played a Paladin in Diablo II, and tend to favor melee classes in most computer games, and I wasn't about to change here.

First up, the gameplay feels like I'm sliding back onto a comfortable couch.  The feel of the game immediately brings back memories of Diablo II, with primary skills attached to left and right mouse buttons, and other skills linked to hotkeys.  But, while the gameplay felt familiar, it simultaneously felt more...advanced?  That's not the right word, but it's close.  It was incredibly easy for me to pick up, though I did move around my hotkeys, setting my non-mouse skills and potions onto the home keys, for easy motion.

The mighty Barbarians of Mount Arreat

In Diablo II, characters typically advanced one or two skills--my Paladins typically favored an offensive aura like Holy Shock or Holy Freeze, coupled with Zeal--a low mana cost skill that delivered up to five incredibly fast melee hits with a slight damage buff on each.  In DIII, however, you have an entire range of skills at your disposal, which you can swap any time you return to town.  While I enjoyed trying out all of the offensive skills--I didn't care much about buffs or defensive skills--I quickly found a combination that worked well for me:  Cleave (a multi-hit swing that generated the Barbarian's resource:  Fury), Hammer of the Ancients (a close-range, massive-damage Fury-spender), and Weapon Throw (a long-range toss of a barbed axe, dealing tons of damage and "snaring" the target).  I did, however, trade out Hammer of the Ancients for Ground Stomp, which dealt sizable damage and stunned all enemies near my barbarous avatar.

Since none of these skills were reliant on skill points or the like, they always worked at their full capacity.  Really, there's very little number-crunching necessary in Diablo III.  Even the four primary stats are simply representatives of how much damage, critical chance, health and the like your character has.  While some have decried this as a lack of customization, it really serves to get you back into the action faster--there's no need to stop the zombie-smashing!  And, really--by the time I finished the beta, I was level 10 and had about 12 skills to choose from, which made for plenty of choices already.  And with the rune system still on deck?  Yeah, choice won't be a commodity here.

Hammer of the Ancients smashes a Cultist
in the Diablo III Beta!

One thing that struck me, however, is how beautiful this game looks.  Details are everywhere, and nearly everything can be targetted and destroyed.  I was in awe of the blood spatter as I smashed a zombie into the ground with Hammer of the Ancients, then followed up with a Cleave that sent the zombie flying back, with its head neatly severed and spinning on the ground.  After acquiring the services of the blacksmith, Haedrig, I picked up an enchanted two handed sword.  At first glance, the detail was quality, with a sharp-looking wavy blade and a squared-off hilt, but when I zoomed in, I found that not only did the hilt have a uniquely-designed pommel, but also an etching of an eye on the lower portion of the blade!  Gorgeous!

The visceral nature of combat, though, may be the best part.  Watching zombies ragdall as I Cleaved through them, hacking my way through barrels and watching the rings scatter across the floor, stomping the ground and seeing baddies stagger backwards...this is the visceral, full-bodied feel of a game that's never going to be tiresome. 

Whenever it manages to come out, Diablo III is going to be a massive blast.  Can't wait!

In Which The Warlock Wants a Frost Reaver...

A few months ago, you may remember some comments that I made about Diablo III's runestone system, and how it could be applied to a potential D&D skill system.  As you might imagine, I'm a bit of a Diablo fanatic.  While I don't care much for either of Blizzard Entertainment's other titles, the Diablo series (particularly Diablo II and its expansion pack, Lord of Destruction) managed to walk that wonderful line between action game and role-playing game in a deep, horrific environment. 

Can we get a release date yet?  Please?

I've been specifically excited for the information coming out on Diablo III as it's finally managed to hit its public beta test.  While my actual chances of getting into the beta might as well be infinitesimal, the footage from the beta that's been pouring in looks utterly spectacular, and I find myself desperately hoping that the game manages to surface this year, despite Blizzard's continual affirmations that the game will release "when it's ready."

Among the screencaptured pictures and streaming beta footage, Blizzard has also updated their primary Diablo III website, including a skill calculator--complete with all runestone combinations for each skill!--and a database of all the glorious gear that can drop, as your character eviscerates the minions of the Lord of Terror.

And, oh, my!  So much gear!  So many items and so many modifiers!  Armor for defending!  Weapons for bashing!  Wanga dolls and fetishes for...well...who cares?!  They look great!

Flipping through the numerous Legendary and Set Items, something occurred to me:  there's a distinct difference between certain role-playing games.  Some games are fundamentally gear-driven--the D&Ds of the world, primarily, while others place almost no emphasis on gear.

Pick a card, any card...

There's nothing wrong with either approach, really.  There's something to be said about finding a truly unique weapon or a relic that's been the subject of a massive quest spanning numerous game sessions.  Items like the Eye and Hand of Vecna, the soul-sucking rune-sword Blackrazor, or the infamous Deck of Many Things provide definition and opportunity for character development, centered around not just the acquisition of said items, but also the use of them.  After all, who hasn't had a campaign derailed when someone's taken an unfortunate draw on that Deck of Many Things?

One of the criticisms that I've seen tossed towards 4e D&D is the element of "Christmas Tree syndrome"--characters are expected to have certain elements of gear at certain levels, resulting in a laundry list of items, few of which have any real meaning or campaign relevance.  This, I think, may be one of the reasons that I've somewhat dropped D&D for a while.

Johnny Blaze loves his Hellfire Shotgun

On the other end of the spectrum is my current games of choice, Savage Worlds and ICONS.  Gear, while not quite irrelevant in Deadlands, only becomes important as a plot point--items like Maerlyn's Grapefruit, the Riggins Hellfire Carbine, and the like were grippingly vital, but mundane weapons and the like are glossed over.  ICONS, on the other hand, doesn't even have rules for equipment!  It's entirely left to the imagination!  Any gear that's listed becomes a plot point, usable for the GM (and the PCs, in some cases) to break the rules!

Neither way is bad, per se, but the key is to make gear matter.  A hero's choices should be vital to their core.  And, as always, it should look cool...

In Which The Warlock Needs Larzuk to Socket his Weapon...

One of the biggest attractions for me in terms of 4e D&D is the varied and unique nature of the power system.  When nearly every class gets new Encounter and Daily powers at various levels, one would think it would become hard to itemize all of the different bonuses, cookies, and wound dice that get tossed around between powers. 

To be honest, for all of the flak that they take (from yours truly, even), the guys at Wizards of the Coast have done a pretty solid job of both keeping things balanced and in maintaining the flavor of each class.  A fighter gets powers that mark and punish enemies for moving away.  A paladin, while in the same role, gets more healing and buff cookies, and deals a lot more radiant damage--fitting, for a holy warrior.

But, there are other good ideas out there, too...what say we come up with some creative plagiarism, shall we?

A game that I've been slowly, agonizingly anticipating is Blizzard's upcoming Diablo III.  Yes, friends, I was a DII junkie--I still have a level 70-something Holy Shock paladin around here somewhere, decked out in uniques and rares.  Last night, though, Blizzard debuted some new videos demonstrating a new mechanic to Diablo III:  that of skill-based runestones.  You can check out the full series of videos here (Diablo III--Runestones)  to get an idea of how this works.

Diablo III's Witch Doctor casts an Acid Cloud

Essentially, each type of runestone changes trappings and effects of the skill.  While remaining mechanically similar--in each case, the Acid Cloud deals ongoing damage acid damage, followed by an additional, smaller effect--the change in the cookies makes all the difference.  One rune changes the skill to a puked-out cone of acid, while another turns it into an immediate burst, stemming from an exploding corpse!  While in all cases, those cookies are still a tasty delicious treat, it's like replacing your chocolate chip with white chocolate and cranberries!

Imagine, my lovelies, if D&D could manage to work this way!  Rather than taking a set Encounter power at each level, you could instead assemble your own from a table.  The runestones in Diablo III are separated into seven tiers of quality...much like D&D has Encounter powers at levels 1-3-7-13-17-23-27.  Let's say that, for example, you're building a level 1 Wizard.  You might start with a base level 1 Encounter power that deals 1d8 damage of a specific type...call it lightning, for the time being.

Then, you'd get to pick a an option or two from a table of choices, based on what you'd like that power to do.  Among other things, perhaps you could:

• Push X squares.
• Daze the enemy
• Deal an extra d8 damage.
• Make the attack into an Area Burst 1 or a Close Blast 3.
• Slow the enemy.
• Attack two creatures, rather than one.

In each case, no two powers would look alike!  You could easily start off with a "Chain Lightning" type spell that attacks two creatures, dazing them, or turn the spell into a more druidic "Call Lightning", calling down a column of lightning from the heavens in a burst, knocking enemies backwards.  Two spells, relatively equivalent in power, that come from the same pool...and the options are left in the hands of the player.

At higher levels, you'd get more "sockets" that you could use for customizing your powers, as well as be able to pick from "better" tables.  You'd still be able to pick from lower tables, but would be able to name, customize and prioritize your powers based on what you want!  Naturally, the table should be customized for each "archetype"--a rogue-type would probably have to make a much more significant investment to be able to teleport than a mage-type would, simply because it's out of their purview. 

While I really love this idea for its customizability and its flexibility, I can't imagine ever seeing something like this take effect.  It's simply too flexible, too individualized to fit into tournament-style or "sanctioned" play.  Unless there were a way to standardize the selection process--which a good solid Character Builder could do, but I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon--it'd be too difficult to implement.

But, maybe...someday...