Greetings Nephalem!
My gaming regiment usually rotates between everything Blizzard has to offer (with the exception of Starcraft usually). World of Warcraft usually maintains my focus through Garrison chores and raid nights. Until recently, I usually found myself logged in to Hearthstone when I feel like I have a good handle on the decks I'm seeing, and Heroes of the Storm when I don't. Lately however, Diablo has me logging in on a daily basis.
We all know about Diablo's checkered past. The nostalgia excitement around launch was quickly doused by error 37 and auction house woes. Since then, Blizzard has taken huge steps to try and improve on the game systems in order to turn the game around. They aren't quite there, but they are very close to this being the game I was hoping for 3 years ago. They have streamlined the leveling process so we no longer have to play through the campaign multiple times. Adventure mode gave the farming process some uniqueness from session to session. Seasons helped to recreate the D2 ladder system and gave us true competition in our PvE game.
Where they are hitting things out of the park for me, are the new sets and set changes introduced in patch 2.2. The Wizard, Demon Hunter, and Barbarian each got a new item set (Set details are in the links). And Wizard and Demon Hunter sets got some reworks to bring them more in line with other sets. The approach Blizzard has taken is to design each set around a specific class skill or set of skills. Wizards got Meteors flying all over the place and Slow Time bubbles trapping and punishing enemies. Barbarians are back to Whirlwinding non-stop through fields of demons. And Demon Hunters are raining arrows and spraying shots to clear out entire screens. What I love most about this approach is the sets help to strengthen the class identity. Talk Rasha's set for wizards encourages you to cast spells of all the different element types to increase the number of meteors you call down. This makes perfect sense for the masters of magic. The Unhallowed Essense set for Demon Hunters encourages you to keep you distance from enemies and increases your damage for it. In addition to strengthening the feel of each class, the sets feel unique from other sets for the same classes. Wrath of the Wastes for Barbarians feels miles different from the Legacy of Raekor set they were using a season ago. This is something they succeeded in with Monk sets last season, and something I'm hoping they continue with next season when they introduce new sets for Witch Doctors, Monks, and Crusaders.
Let's be fair, there are still some things that require fixing. The leaderboards continue to be tarnished by exploits at the start of every season. The trial system makes the process of attacking the leaderboard tedious and inconsistent. And as with any competitive game, class balance is an ongoing task. Blizzard as shown they are committed to improving Diablo 3 and I'm excited to see they steps they make going forward.
Blizzard is quickly cranking through gameplay videos for specific heroes on the Overwatch Youtube. There are notable updates to UI and targeting reticles. We get a few good looks of how heroes interact with one another, and we see how a game plays out from start to finish. Take the time to check them out if you are anywhere near the excitement level I am for this game. As usual, OneAmongstMany has a nice breakdown of the Zenyatta video. There are a lot of nuances that he makes note of that I won't try to replicate here in writing.
Well that's going to be it for this post. Just a short one this week.
Thanks as always for reading,
Chris
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