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Easter Progress Update


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Heh these are a couple of the soldier medal images. The art for them are all done but the code's not done yet (and is quite a low priority at the mo) so I figured I'd use them somehow.

The build won't be coming tonight (thankyou Diablo 3 beta!) but I'll release it tomorrow. Major improvements are an updated launcher that remembers resolution settings and has a Quick Battle function that launches a terror site directly, new maps, updated Xenopedia stuff and some other bugfixes. I'm also working on the maps still so we'll have a bit more variety for you guys there.

Unfortunately, as I say, no AI bug fix.

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Well, I can definitely see how that D3 beta could've caused a digression from game development, it's quite nice. :)

However, playing a single-player game and then having latency issues or seeing a message in your "chat window" that says server will shutdown in 5 minutes is kinda bullshit to put it bluntly.

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D3 is going to require a constant internet connection for single player as well. It's caused a great deal of uproar during the past months. I only mentioned it matter-of-factly.

Got an evening of game time planned? Sorry, server maintenance. **** you very much for playing.

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There are many reasons but primarily it's about binding people to your company, your product and your brand. "Community commercialization" is a good name for it I think.

It's what Valve does with Steam and its exclusive achievements, mp service and with allowing games not bought via Steam to be activated on it regardless. It's what EA is trying to do with Origins, tying ME3 to it being the most prominent example.

Every big game company that has the resources is creating its own community of consumers. Blizzard is doing it with the Battle.net leash and jealously guarding itself against the likes of Steam, Impulse (GameStop) or anything not directly under their control. They're a big enough brand not to need third party promotion or distribution.

I understand why they do it (viral marketing via connectivity & community) but online authentication for single play and keeping characters and vital game assets in a "cloud" is still a shitty thing to do.

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It's because it effectively reduces piracy to nil and ensures that they have a massive market for their auction house, which will be an enormous money spinner for them. I can see why they do it, really, although it does have disadvantages too. I'll probably still buy D3 anyway, though I was slightly underwhelmed by the beta.

There's always Torchlight 2 if you want to do the offline thing though.

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I'll probably still buy D3 anyway, though I was slightly underwhelmed by the beta.

Have you tried the Wizard? Activating Diamond Skin, running into a mosh pit with ~20 mobs, casting "Wave of Force" and then phasoring down the survivors with Ice Beam gave me quite a rush. The spell effects and execution made me feel really powerful.

Having said that all of those early wizard spells really agreed with my aesthetic preferences. I'm a big sucker for "blue" where blue is a vague reference to anything having to do with lightning and ice (especially ice) or that which is sleek, elegant, subtle or cerebral (like diamond skin or the later time slow spell) in its presentation, it's hard to explain.

There's always Torchlight 2 if you want to do the offline thing though.

I found TL1 to be a bit too cartoony for my taste and I got bored with it pretty quickly (even though I like guns and the steam punk stuff). Not saying TL2 won't be more agreeable but I'll probably end up putting my chips on Grim Dawn. Ironically I did enjoy the D3 beta but I'm not paying 60 euros for it. Maybe I'll catch a Christmas sale or something.

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Have you tried the Wizard? Activating Diamond Skin, running into a mosh pit with ~20 mobs, casting "Wave of Force" and then phasoring down the survivors with Ice Beam gave me quite a rush. The spell effects and execution made me feel really powerful.

Having said that all of those early wizard spells really agreed with my aesthetic preferences. I'm a big sucker for "blue" where blue is a vague reference to anything having to do with lightning and ice (especially ice) or that which is sleek, elegant, subtle or cerebral (like diamond skin or the later time slow spell) in its presentation, it's hard to explain.

I'm just annoyed by "diamond" abilities (Less so with this wizzard ability since it's a spell name and doesnt need to be litteral, but any reference to diamonds percieved indestructability just irks me.)

A diamond is scratch resistant because it's a hard material. It's not really impact resistant, that's toughtness and a completly different scale (granted there might be a correlation between hard and "brittle"). Most metals can withstand a lot more preassure then diamonds.

A good wallop and that diamond skin is going to act as splinter from a fragmentation granade and cut you to pieces.

/random rant

Edited by Gorlom
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@Gorlom - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artistic_license :)

JL - Nah, I played the Monk. It was pretty tedious until about level 8 when I suddenly got a teleport ability for my standard punch and then was teleporting across the screen and roundhouse kicking enemies left right and centre. Some of that did make me smile. I just felt it didn't grab me in the same way that Diablo 2 did when it came out. It might be because I knew it was a beta and I'd lose my characters, I guess.

Also, where do you live? That sounds very pricey for a game. Even now you can buy D3 for £32 and free shipping on Amazon in the UK.

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Is it artistic licence when everyone and their mothers use the same "licence"? It strikes me as more of a widespread missconception that keeps beeing propagated by iteration.

I can see what you mean, but it still irks me since I know people that acctually believes diamonds to be near indestructable, due to this artistic license.

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Also, where do you live? That sounds very pricey for a game. Even now you can buy D3 for £32 and free shipping on Amazon in the UK.

The 60€ "pre order" price is straight from Blizz's official site. It's probably 60$ in the US but if you live in Europe you get the privilege of paying 20-30% more for every game. It's because we're so rich over here.

I'm from Serbia and, as I've moaned before, shipping here is both very expensive and unreliable. I could get it from German Amazon (no English version yet though) for 50€ but shipping would send it to 60€ or over. The further west you go the worse it gets. My best bet is to wait for a price drop and appearance of an English version on Amazon.de or a holiday sale on Blizz.com (barring any less honorable methods of game acquisition).

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I had night shifts for the beta weekend, but I still got a Wiz to 13, a Barb to 12 and the rest to 9 and 10. I agree with you Chris, once I got the teleport strike for monk it was a lot of fun. Other than that I liked the pure crunchyness of playing a Barbarian and the Wizard was a hoot as well.

I was a bit underwhelmed at first, but the game seems to be quite entertaining so I've already bought it. 60 euro is below standard shelf price for boxes in Norway, so wasn't too put off by it. (New AAA games cost about $100 in the store here.)

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