It’s confession time here on Neri Approves, and I have a real ripper to share with you. Here it goes! I have never played Diablo. I know, I know. In this day and age, I may as well have just confessed that I’ve never heard of electricity. While the rest of the gaming world was whipping itself into a frenzy over the midnight launch of this long awaited title, I was pottering around in the Mists of Pandaria beta and checking my auctions on live. My husband came screaming into the house with his Collector’s Edition and a Diablo 3 mousepad he’d bought for me and was puzzled when I didn’t share in his euphoria. Opening my friends list was a surreal experience – there’s nothing like being the only one with that little WoW symbol next to your name to really drive home the fact that maybe you’re missing out on something.
Then the whispers started.
“WTF?!”, “Why are you not in D3?!”, ”What are you doing on World of Failcraft?”.
Oh no. I can feel it creeping in. That stubbornness; that primal instinct that I must resist assimilation. Oh, jeez, I’m turning into a hipster gamer!
With this horrendous realisation burning in my mind, I decided that I’ll do a bit of research. I hit up the Diablo Wiki Lore Summary and had a bit of a browse over the plot. Hmm, well, so far it seems pretty cool. I couldn’t help but think of the snippets of later seasons of Supernatural I have seen, but I suppose the whole Heaven versus Hell thing isn’t exactly new or revolutionary. Still, the premise of this game in particular seems well thought out.
Right, now that I’m clued up on the story line, I suppose I need to learn the basics. Being late to the party means that half of the internet has already got it covered, and it wasn’t hard to find a post on learning the basics of Diablo 3 gameplay. Alrighty, minimal keyboard action; all hail the mighty mouse. Click to move, left click to build resources, right click to unleash them. Hold down shift if I don’t want to run off randomly if I mis-click a monster. Excellent. Look out for health orbs and potions, don’t loot the junk. Got it.
Okay, so I’m warming to the idea of installing this game, I’ll admit it. Time to have a look at the class types. Blah, blah, blah, Barbarian. Yada, yada, Monk. Wait, what is this? A class that throws jars of spiders at enemies? Well, that’s equal parts eerie and epic. Witch Doctor it is!
Sigh, perhaps everyone was frothing at the mouth about this game for good reason. There is only one thing left to do, fire up the installation and have a crack at it, I guess! Damn you, sheep mentality.
Confession booth! Are you devouring evil in Diablo for the first time, or would you rather watch paint dry? Unload your burden in the comments below.
Should the stars align and my computer comply, I’ll be streaming my experiences leveling a Witch Doctor today at 3pm Alice Springs time/3.30pm AEST/10.30pm PDT. Servers are down for maintenance, so no streaming for me. Conspiracy to stop me playing perhaps? Follow me on Twitter or like me on Facebook and never miss out when my hot mess of a stream goes live.
To be honest, I too had never really played. In the early 2000s I had a dickhead boyfriend that would never let me play, but would sit there and make me watch him for hours. (and because I was so intrigued I sat there, and had no backbone to tell this dickhead to GTFO)
I gave D2 a whirl a few months ago, but didn’t last very long. I didn’t really have an understanding of the story, wasn’t used to the different controls and my Druid was calling me from Azeroth.
However, the Beta changed everything. It was so much fun! I tried all of the classes, and found they were all great in their own way. Witch Doctor would have to be my second fave class (the jar of spiders throwing is actually really cool. And I do love me some smashing noises xD). Female wizard only trumps because her voice actor is so stuck up and over confident, I was sold.
Also the graphics. I have seen some whining that the graphics aren’t shiny and are outdated. I think the graphics are AMAZING. The cut scences are shiny and have realistic facial expressions etc, but the parchment-style sketches (like in the opening video) that come to life are one of the most beautiful things I have seen! They are almost 3D and stunning. I saw someone mention that Blizz were aiming for it to be like a moving painting, well Blizz hit it spot on!
Yes, I’ve seen the complaints about the so-called “graphics from ’92″ and I had a bit of a laugh. From what I’ve glimpsed on Disconcur’s screen, it looks amazing.
When you get back from holidays, we should totes level together or something. You can make sure I don’t get scared and run away
THANKYOU. My entire Real ID list was on Diablo 3. People who hadn’t logged on in months were on Diablo. Traitors!
I was added to some friends’ facebook group for Diablo 3 (so everyone could play together and share thoughts …) When I finally admitted that I didn’t get Diablo the shame was tangible. People started texting me sad faces. Clearly I am now a social pariah.
Traitors indeed! Some of the folks on my Real ID list haven’t been on in over a year, but here they were, engrossed in D3. My guild is a very lonely place to be right now, but at least they managed to tear themselves away for raid, I suppose!
Aye, the unintentional shame that I’ve been made to feel these past 24 hours is kinda depressing. Even though I’ve said I’ll play eventually, I’m still getting, “OMG I can’t believe you aren’t playing yet!”. Sigh. If it didn’t wipe your list clean, I’d be tempted to temporarily disable Real ID and live in ignorant bliss. Here’s to being social pariahs!