Oh and if you've ever played Gauntlet, I would describe D3 as a bit like that. You pick a character and then go off to kill waves of enemies and eventually a boss. You get more and more powerful as you go. You can see videos of it on Youtube to get a better idea of get a Guest Pass of a friend.

I did enjoy Torchlight, which was a blatant copy of DiabloII with better graphics... Hard not to see the resemblance between the two, though! D3 does it MUCH MUCH better, however...

Can't wait to actually be able to play!! Got my Monk up to level 9 last night before the servers crashed... Liking Monk so far

I did enjoy Torchlight, which was a blatant copy of DiabloII with better graphics... Hard not to see the resemblance between the two, though! D3 does it MUCH MUCH better, however...

Can't wait to actually be able to play!! Got my Monk up to level 9 last night before the servers crashed... Liking Monk so far

I got my Torchlight 2 beta key last night, looking forward to checking it out.

I leveled a Barbarian up to 12 and a Monk up to 4. The level of polish on Diablo 3 is crazy, it'll be nice once they have the back end server stuff up to the same level.

So question - is it worth me trying to free up space on my laptop? I've not really played any online games since Everquest first released, but I am looking for a good MMO to try, something not too difficult to learn would be great

Diablo is not an MMO. It is an action RPG type game that reminds you a lot of a _much_ more advanced version of the old Zelda type games. The game is played online, however it is entirely campaign based. You don't encounter other players in your travels like you would in an MMO. However, people on your friends list can join you in your game at any point. It's pretty cool being in the middle of a dungeon in what you thought was a one player campaign when your friend appears out of nowhere and jumps in to fight alongside you.

The game is _extremely_ simple to play. The replay value comes entirely from the fact that the map layouts are totally randomized for each individual player. If I were to help you through the first part of your quest, the map would have a totally different layout than it did for me, so there's always exploring done each time around. There's no real map to memorize the layout of since it's created from scratch by an AI for each individual.

I beat the story on Normal difficulty last night. I really enjoyed my first play through! I'm playing a barb which I'm enjoying thoroughly. Gonna take a stab at Nightmare tonight after work (provided the servers are up - *fingers crossed*).

If anyone wants to add me to their friends list send me a PM here

Just installed and up to lvl 3 ... interesting so far. Definitely looking forward to more socialization.

Played this last night.

I was a little dismayed that you couldnt even instal the game without being connected to the internet. I then hit a few 3007 errors which seemed to be down to trying my battlenet ID as my login (it should be your full email address and not the ID). I was then in a queue for a minute or so..nothing major, but a little irritating that it took me about an hour to log in from getting home.

Playing the game I was surprised you couldnt customise the look of the 5 chars you can play, probably spent too much time in MMO's. I got into it anyway and was led through the starting area by a series of mini guides. However, these mini guides miss out some fairly important things like Z to zoom and Shift to stand still while firing. Its worth spending time in the options menus to learn what everything does and put on Tool tips and elective mode.

The game was amazingly similar to Diablo 2 I felt... and that led me to being very underwhelmed. I was expecting more from the hype and 12 years . What I had a real problem with was that I was happily getting into the game when everything stopped working. I could run around but not fire or pick up anything. THis lasted almost 2 minutes and I nearly gave up before the game lurched back into life and I had to fend off a load of mobs that had appeared in the interim. For a SINGLE player game this was very poor. This happened again (much shorter) later on a couple more times. I never died, but its certainly frustrating and immersion breaking.

Game over all is pretty good. Just as you are getting used to it and settling down, it throws a new skill or mob or treasure at you. The random nature of the mobs and drops make it always a bit nerve wracking as you meet a new wave and then see an "elite" amongst them. THe elite means a chance of better loot, but also of a better death.... no that I've got anywhere near dying so far. Must be my "magic pants" I'm now wearing.

One thing that I thought was surprisingly lacking was a clear narrative. Maybe that id just me, but I felt not a lot of thought had gone into the plot and it was not much better than the sort of thing you see in an mmo. I.e. Go to X to find out about Y. X says before I can help you with Y you must do Z for me which hasnt anything much to do with the main plot, but will kill some time. It just doesnt feel very "epic" at the moment. I assume it will build though. I didnt like entering the basement of two buildings (the only two I entered so far) and finding they had exactly the same layout. I thought that was lazy and could have been done differently to make me think it was a bit less random. As it is one identical room in each sucked a bit. I'm also concerned that some people have already finished it and all there appears to be after that is play it again at a higher level. Hopefully the replay value is there. THis weekend will tell I guess and if nothing else, it will keep me out the pub.

I fancy trying other chars (currently on Witch doctor who got better when I discovered the zombie dogs), and may find one I love to bits. Remapping keys might also help. Sound is really good. The drip rate of new "stuff" is currently exactly right and its nice seeing my mates and their achievements and whispering to them.. though it would be nice to be able to use voice chat with them or filter chat. Maybe you can or will in the end.

Oh and keep hold of blue and yellow items it appears you can turn them into useful items later on (store them in your vault outside the pub - which is account wide btw).

Early days, but it was enjoyable (lag aside) and I will play it again and I did enjoy it. It did make me feel a little like a kid again... well a 20 year old. I think I better spend some time with my lass tonight though or I may find I dont have a lass when I emerge from Diablo.

AngeleDei#2505 apparently

Having issues with the social aspect. It seems like I'm the only person I know who has a job or doesn't have gobs of free time, so everyone I play with gains 10+ levels a day. I come home from work at night and the people I grouped with last night are now into the next act, 10+ levels higher than they were last night. Am I the only person playing Diablo 3 who has a full time job and only plays for a couple hours a day? It ruins the social aspect of the game for me when you don't have a consistent group of people you can play with.

So I am cleaning up some hard drive space on my laptop, but - and please don't hurt me, I'm not a computer person - can I run it straight from an external hard drive?