Diablo III - why are they torturing us?!

[Timmy Dee]

Wow - this is all bad news. I would hate to have all my gear stolen. I hope Blizzard can get to the core of the issue and help to rectify this threat.

[jwcarlson]

That sucks big time, dude. There are a ton of people going through the same thing right now.

Just curious, but did you have an authenticator? There's a lot of controversy whether people using authenticators were hacked or not; many individuals say they were, yet Blizzard denies it.

I didn't know authenticator existed so I did not have it. But I signed up for it right before logging on. Unfortunately too late...

Wow - this is all bad news. I would hate to have all my gear stolen. I hope Blizzard can get to the core of the issue and help to rectify this threat.

Blizzard can restore my character but I would lose about 16 levels and all of the gear I've gotten since hacked (brother and cousin have been very helpful).

I will touch on "difficulty"... earlier I said that I liked the difficulty set up and I'm going to go back on that statement.
The amount of one hit/two hit kills is really really rediculous and I've not even in Hell or Inferno yet. I like engaging combat... not frustrating/nearly impossible combat. It's a difficult proposition for Blizzard and one that I would call impossible because of the linear nature of character progression and the way the skills are set up. I won't get into it because what's the point... but suffice it to say that D2 thrived because a couple of character classes were over powered and unbalanced. Sorceress and Paladin (Hammerdin)... You could grind gear with those two characters and make "fun builds" of the remaining characters (PvP focus or tanking focus?)

Blizzard is currently nerfing the Demon Hunter and Wizard because they are the two most dominant classes. The focus on uber-balance in both the classes and the skills they have will be the downfall I think. If all the classes are exactly the same why even have classes? Why not just give them all skills that look different and allow a customized body? I have faith that Blizzard will eventually get D3 "right". But as is, it's got some pretty serious issues. I will probably end up playing through normal (which was awesome) with each class and then calling it quits. I do forsee myself going back and beating D1 and D2 again by myself. Those were great games.

[Arcadies]

I will touch on "difficulty"... earlier I said that I liked the difficulty set up and I'm going to go back on that statement.
The amount of one hit/two hit kills is really really rediculous and I've not even in Hell or Inferno yet. I like engaging combat... not frustrating/nearly impossible combat. It's a difficult proposition for Blizzard and one that I would call impossible because of the linear nature of character progression and the way the skills are set up. I won't get into it because what's the point... but suffice it to say that D2 thrived because a couple of character classes were over powered and unbalanced. Sorceress and Paladin (Hammerdin)... You could grind gear with those two characters and make "fun builds" of the remaining characters (PvP focus or tanking focus?)

Blizzard is currently nerfing the Demon Hunter and Wizard because they are the two most dominant classes. The focus on uber-balance in both the classes and the skills they have will be the downfall I think. If all the classes are exactly the same why even have classes? Why not just give them all skills that look different and allow a customized body? I have faith that Blizzard will eventually get D3 "right". But as is, it's got some pretty serious issues. I will probably end up playing through normal (which was awesome) with each class and then calling it quits. I do forsee myself going back and beating D1 and D2 again by myself. Those were great games.

I know the feeling, as of right now I plan on finishing normal and nightmare with my Monk and maybe go back and do it again on 1 or 2 other classes and then quit. I'm just not digging D3 enough to go through the repeated NM/Hell and now Inferno grindfests like the old days. Nerfs are Blizzards forte, they've poked, prodded and nerfed WoW so much it's a shadow of the game it once was. Most classes have been watered down and given spells/buffs other classes have to be "fair", pets for hunters have been watered down and homogenized to where they're nearly all the same thing, just pick a type/look you really like and roll with it. The same will happen to D3, give it time.

I haven't had much issue with character durability yet, but I've just started nightmare. I have been making sure to balance my stats some what though, I usually make sure I keep Dex/Vitality within 50 points of each other, my instinct always wants to pile on tons of Dex but uber dps isn't going to do much good when you drop dead in a couple of hits.

[jwcarlson]

I know the feeling, as of right now I plan on finishing normal and nightmare with my Monk and maybe go back and do it again on 1 or 2 other classes and then quit. I'm just not digging D3 enough to go through the repeated NM/Hell and now Inferno grindfests like the old days. Nerfs are Blizzards forte, they've poked, prodded and nerfed WoW so much it's a shadow of the game it once was. Most classes have been watered down and given spells/buffs other classes have to be "fair", pets for hunters have been watered down and homogenized to where they're nearly all the same thing, just pick a type/look you really like and roll with it. The same will happen to D3, give it time.

I haven't had much issue with character durability yet, but I've just started nightmare. I have been making sure to balance my stats some what though, I usually make sure I keep Dex/Vitality within 50 points of each other, my instinct always wants to pile on tons of Dex but uber dps isn't going to do much good when you drop dead in a couple of hits.

I have over 20k hit points. My damange is around 2k. BUT, it would have been around 4k if I hadn't lost my good gear. :( I ground through Act 3 last night in NM got to level 50.

[jwcarlson]

I reached level 60 this weekend and got a monster damage boost from a high school friend who is currently in Act III Inferno (soloing). Running around 42,000 hit points and several thousand (near 19,000 when my critical is "charged up".

Finished with Act III Hell Mode. The difficulty can be pretty insane at times. The champion groups with teleport, shields, etc are a bit frustrating. If you're melee I don't know how you'd ever survive. Kiteing is the name of the game.

Found my first "legendary" item in Act II Hell after a lot of hours of gameplay: Lacuni Prowlers, which were pretty disappointing.

[Arcadies]

I reached level 60 this weekend and got a monster damage boost from a high school friend who is currently in Act III Inferno (soloing). Running around 42,000 hit points and several thousand (near 19,000 when my critical is "charged up".

Finished with Act III Hell Mode. The difficulty can be pretty insane at times. The champion groups with teleport, shields, etc are a bit frustrating. If you're melee I don't know how you'd ever survive. Kiteing is the name of the game.

Found my first "legendary" item in Act II Hell after a lot of hours of gameplay: Lacuni Prowlers, which were pretty disappointing.

I'm still in Act II Nightmare, I just never really can get in the mood to play it, my free time these days is pretty limited and D3 just feels low on the time/enjoyment ratio. I usually end up watching something on Netflix or playing some WoW. I noticed Steam has pre-orders up for Torchlight II @ $19.99, I expect it will be as much if not more fun (probably) than D3 and at 1/3 the price. I hear the difficulty for Inferno is quite insane, almost impossible without a group or perfect gear/spec and tons of kiting and luck, which is all fine and dandy but sometimes there isn't room for kiting. There seems to be a fairly large percentage complaining about the loot, it's all over the place really, rare and legendary loot are almost all pure junk. I've seen blues 10 levels lower than some rares with 5x the stats and bonuses, it really is quite pathetic and is another sign the game was rushed out the door before it was properly completed. I'm sure they will iron out all the problems eventually, and put in all the stuff they removed, but not until quite a few months/years have passed and 1-2 expansions have been paid for.

I found this thread on the D3 forums last night, I have to agree with the original poster as they hit the nail square on the head.

[OldSchoolYoungin]

I'd absolutely love to see Diablo 3 succeed. I give them the benefit of the doubt considering that D2 wasn't exactly perfect when it was first released by Blizzard North, either, for those that may remember. There's a TON of ironing out that needs to be done and I truly hope they don't simply think of D3 as a cash cow; what with the scarcity of even decent gear, yet an upcoming RMAH project with a cut going to Blizzard. Is there a connection? I hope not.

FWIW, Jay Wilson (I think?) has mentioned that there will be several expansion packs along the way. There will certainly be tons of patches, too, if anyone at Blizzard gives a crap about consumer input.

Enjoy, guys! The current incarnation of "Diablo" 3 saved me about $800-1000 from building a new computer.

[bodge]

I hope there is a patch in 2-3 years that will allow me to play single player offline, so I can play the game properly without latency/banding/unfun

[jwcarlson]

I'm still in Act II Nightmare, I just never really can get in the mood to play it, my free time these days is pretty limited and D3 just feels low on the time/enjoyment ratio. I usually end up watching something on Netflix or playing some WoW. I noticed Steam has pre-orders up for Torchlight II @ $19.99, I expect it will be as much if not more fun (probably) than D3 and at 1/3 the price. I hear the difficulty for Inferno is quite insane, almost impossible without a group or perfect gear/spec and tons of kiting and luck, which is all fine and dandy but sometimes there isn't room for kiting. There seems to be a fairly large percentage complaining about the loot, it's all over the place really, rare and legendary loot are almost all pure junk. I've seen blues 10 levels lower than some rares with 5x the stats and bonuses, it really is quite pathetic and is another sign the game was rushed out the door before it was properly completed. I'm sure they will iron out all the problems eventually, and put in all the stuff they removed, but not until quite a few months/years have passed and 1-2 expansions have been paid for.

I found this thread on the D3 forums last night, I have to agree with the original poster as they hit the nail square on the head.

I tried playing Torchlight but I couldn't really get into the original one. I can't say that I gave it a whole lot of time, though. I feel the game is very polished and doesn't feel rushed. I will agree that the item "stuff" is a bit out of whack, but what I don't get is why that's so terrible? Sure, you're not decked out in all Legendary stuff... but why does that matter? Just because the name is in blue instead of dark gold? I actually kind of like that idea. I like being driven to take a look at my gear. The gear turnover seems pretty high. In D2 it seemed like you'd get to level 60ish and you could basically bank on wearing that gear "forever". I don't mind swapping gear out and things like that.

I wonder how many of the "ragers" come from a WoW background? I really never played that game but I kind of wonder if there's not some cross cutting bias? I'd contend that if you just bought the game and played through Normal mode it's hard to argue that it doesn't feel like Diablo. The rest of the game is basically a relatively new idea. Perfect, no. Frustrating... absolutely at times. It is very challenging. I found that I was playing above my level at times and if I dropped back half and act or so it seemed to help. I was level 60 before I finished Act III Hell mode.

If you played D2 from before the expansion... D3's items feel really similar in the sense that your items were never that great. When LoD came out it came with a bunch of new uniques. I'm tempted to install D2 and play a non-expansion character for a bit to see what it feels like.

If there is anyone who needs some gear on here send me a PM... can't guarantee anything but I'll be starting Act 1 Inferno tonight (beat Hell Diablo last night) and have quite a bit of other stuff I'm more than willing to part with.

Can't read the D3 forum post right now, so I can't comment on that.

I'd absolutely love to see Diablo 3 succeed. I give them the benefit of the doubt considering that D2 wasn't exactly perfect when it was first released by Blizzard North, either, for those that may remember. There's a TON of ironing out that needs to be done and I truly hope they don't simply think of D3 as a cash cow; what with the scarcity of even decent gear, yet an upcoming RMAH project with a cut going to Blizzard. Is there a connection? I hope not.

FWIW, Jay Wilson (I think?) has mentioned that there will be several expansion packs along the way. There will certainly be tons of patches, too, if anyone at Blizzard gives a crap about consumer input.

Enjoy, guys! The current incarnation of "Diablo" 3 saved me about $800-1000 from building a new computer.

Have you played it or are you just basing your opinion on what you've read? Because if you're just reading all the people whining about DRM, etc you may be doing yourself a disservice. Unless you lived under a rock and bought D3 off the shelf because if "looked cool" at the store you KNEW it was online only. So if you're dumb enough to buy a game with features you're well aware of what does that say about you? Kind of like complaining your new car has cloth seats once you drive it home. Probably knew that going in...

They are driving you to the auction houses, there is no doubt. Basically, to play the content you're currently in you almost have to buy in the auction house. Otherwise you're going to grind for gear at a lower level and just hope to get lucky. Oh, and they charge you 15% even in gold auctions... I sold some Lacuni Prowlers (Legendary Bracers) for 450,000 gold... only "took home" 382,500. There's obviously a drive to get you to spend your gold or real money in the auction houses... does it kind of suck... yes. But it also doesn't bother me at all if it keeps the game around longer. Blizzard did a great job supporting D2 for a VERY long time. Blizzard will do a great job supporting D3 for a VERY long time as well... and why shouldn't they continue to make money off the game?

I hope there is a patch in 2-3 years that will allow me to play single player offline, so I can play the game properly without latency/banding/unfun

Do you have broadband? I haven't had an issue at all even if my wife is streaming HD on Netflix. I think an offline mode is almost necessary. But the amount of hacks/dupes/etc in D2 were rediculous.

[OldSchoolYoungin]

Have you played it or are you just basing your opinion on what you've read? Because if you're just reading all the people whining about DRM, etc you may be doing yourself a disservice. Unless you lived under a rock and bought D3 off the shelf because if "looked cool" at the store you KNEW it was online only. So if you're dumb enough to buy a game with features you're well aware of what does that say about you? Kind of like complaining your new car has cloth seats once you drive it home. Probably knew that going in...

A rhetorical statement, I hope? Nothing I mentioned has anything to do with the game being online only. It's a gripe, I guess, but everyone was informed about it beforehand so there's no use complaining about it.

[jwcarlson]

A rhetorical statement, I hope? Nothing I mentioned has anything to do with the game being online only. It's a gripe, I guess, but everyone was informed about it beforehand so there's no use complaining about it.

Not "you" specifically, no. :)

Have you played the game? The game is much better than the reviews will let on... if you played the first two games in the series I really think you'll enjoy it.
Honestly, if you haven't and your computer is capable of running it (it isn't that big of a resource hog, I have a one and a half year old $400 laptop that can play it on low settings) let me know. You can have my guest passes for D3 as I will never use them. That offer is open to anyone on here, just PM me. I think the game came with three of them.

[Arcadies]

I tried playing Torchlight but I couldn't really get into the original one. I can't say that I gave it a whole lot of time, though. I feel the game is very polished and doesn't feel rushed. I will agree that the item "stuff" is a bit out of whack, but what I don't get is why that's so terrible? Sure, you're not decked out in all Legendary stuff... but why does that matter? Just because the name is in blue instead of dark gold? I actually kind of like that idea. I like being driven to take a look at my gear. The gear turnover seems pretty high. In D2 it seemed like you'd get to level 60ish and you could basically bank on wearing that gear "forever". I don't mind swapping gear out and things like that.

I wonder how many of the "ragers" come from a WoW background? I really never played that game but I kind of wonder if there's not some cross cutting bias? I'd contend that if you just bought the game and played through Normal mode it's hard to argue that it doesn't feel like Diablo. The rest of the game is basically a relatively new idea. Perfect, no. Frustrating... absolutely at times. It is very challenging. I found that I was playing above my level at times and if I dropped back half and act or so it seemed to help. I was level 60 before I finished Act III Hell mode.

If you played D2 from before the expansion... D3's items feel really similar in the sense that your items were never that great. When LoD came out it came with a bunch of new uniques. I'm tempted to install D2 and play a non-expansion character for a bit to see what it feels like.

If there is anyone who needs some gear on here send me a PM... can't guarantee anything but I'll be starting Act 1 Inferno tonight (beat Hell Diablo last night) and have quite a bit of other stuff I'm more than willing to part with.

Can't read the D3 forum post right now, so I can't comment on that.

I don't really care about what gear I am wearing to be honest, as long as it gets the job done. I just think it's a bit ass backwards to have blues that are way better than rare and legendary items, as those items are supposed to be...wait for it....rare and legendary and should be awesome....but in the current incarnation they're just ho-hum.

I'd say quite a large chunk of the D3 population come from WoW, Blizzard has devout and hardcore fans that will play anything they release. I play WoW and have since it's late beta stage in 2004, I also played the original Starcraft for a few years but fail to see how that has any bearing on my, or anyone else's thought and opinions on D3. I call foul on WoW elements I am not happy with all the time, and there are a lot of them but that is an entirely different topic. My main issue with D3 is the game is nothing like it seemed it was going to be a year or two ago. I admit I enjoyed going through normal for the story...a bit thin on substance though it was, but now what? Without the story it's just a grindfest and the elements that make a game shine when it hits grindfest territory are uniqueness, challenge, loot acquisition and multi-player..there is no uniqueness, loot is sub-par and they've butchered multi-player down to tiny 4 man groups...they got difficulty right at least.

I dunno...right now I just feel ripped off for shelling out 60 bucks for basically a few hours of the limited enjoyment that was normal mode. Another drawback to online only and also another reason Blizzard went that route, now I can't sell it to someone and get rid of it since you're basically just paying for the serial number to associate it with your account, nips used game sales in the bud.

Oh well, hopefully if enough are complaining they will make massive changes, that is one thing I will credit Blizzard for, they do listen to their players and are willing to bend over backwards to try and make most of them happy. (can't make us all happy) I just hope all of the changes aren't crammed into a money grubbing expansion pack, not that I have anything against expansions, I just get peeved when they're nothing but bug fixes and reintroductions of features that were removed due to time restraints and should be free as part of the original game.

[jwcarlson]

I don't really care about what gear I am wearing to be honest, as long as it gets the job done. I just think it's a bit ass backwards to have blues that are way better than rare and legendary items, as those items are supposed to be...wait for it....rare and legendary and should be awesome....but in the current incarnation they're just ho-hum.

Do you recall Diablo 2 "classic"? The item situation is quite similar to what it was in the original Diablo 2.

I'd say quite a large chunk of the D3 population come from WoW, Blizzard has devout and hardcore fans that will play anything they release. I play WoW and have since it's late beta stage in 2004, I also played the original Starcraft for a few years but fail to see how that has any bearing on my, or anyone else's thought and opinions on D3. I call foul on WoW elements I am not happy with all the time, and there are a lot of them but that is an entirely different topic. My main issue with D3 is the game is nothing like it seemed it was going to be a year or two ago. I admit I enjoyed going through normal for the story...a bit thin on substance though it was, but now what? Without the story it's just a grindfest and the elements that make a game shine when it hits grindfest territory are uniqueness, challenge, loot acquisition and multi-player..there is no uniqueness, loot is sub-par and they've butchered multi-player down to tiny 4 man groups...they got difficulty right at least.

I'm just saying that WoW and Diablo are different games with different things that make them tick. The story was a bit disappointing in D3... I agree. I don't have quite the issue with the loot that you seem to... but I've been farming Act 1 Inferno for about a week. Saved up about 1.8 million gold and been finding items to help both me and my friends. They aren't "legendary" items, and yes... the item stuff is a bit messed up, but it'll work itself out. The most enjoyment I ever got out of D2 was magic finding. And Diablo 3 (once level 60) has some pretty good magic finding mechanics. I'd do Andariel/Mephisto/Baal runs till I was blue in the face and then give away everything I found...

I dunno...right now I just feel ripped off for shelling out 60 bucks for basically a few hours of the limited enjoyment that was normal mode. Another drawback to online only and also another reason Blizzard went that route, now I can't sell it to someone and get rid of it since you're basically just paying for the serial number to associate it with your account, nips used game sales in the bud.

Oh well, hopefully if enough are complaining they will make massive changes, that is one thing I will credit Blizzard for, they do listen to their players and are willing to bend over backwards to try and make most of them happy. (can't make us all happy) I just hope all of the changes aren't crammed into a money grubbing expansion pack, not that I have anything against expansions, I just get peeved when they're nothing but bug fixes and reintroductions of features that were removed due to time restraints and should be free as part of the original game.

Well, they're on patch 1.02 which helped balance the characters a bit. I'd have to imagine that any major skill/crafting/item fixes will be part of an expansion. The game is designed to drive you to the auction houses. I kind of figured that going in, so it doesn't surprise me. I can accept it as a sign of what a game has to be to a company. Diablo II was supported for how long? It's not like they were selling millions of copies a year. I don't have an issue with this business model other than it just kind stinks. I love using the gold auction house and have sold a lot of stuff. I may try to sell some things in the RMAH when it goes live, but I doubt I'll buy anything... unless it's with money "made" selling other gear.

[jwcarlson]

Patch 1.03 goes live later this month. Lots of very encouraging changes... many of which address the stuff discussed in this thread. Hopefully they implement in-game as well as they do in-print. :)

[Arcadies]

Patch 1.03 goes live later this month. Lots of very encouraging changes... many of which address the stuff discussed in this thread. Hopefully they implement in-game as well as they do in-print. :)

I got tired of it all and decided to quit complaining and vote with my wallet. I petitioned for a refund and it was approved and should go through within the next week. The final straw was this past week, 4 separate times on 3 different days I tried to play and couldn't due to their incompetence and/or lousy infrastructure. I don't complain often about games, believe it or not, and I've purchased 10-12 Blizzard games over the last two decades (counting WoW expansions) and have never asked for a refund, they've all been magnificent games and a testament to Blizzard's talent and well worth the investment. But sadly that Blizzard seems to no longer exist and I refuse to pay $60 for a mediocre unfinished game that's worth $10-15 at best. Who knows, maybe several years down the road, after 2-3 expansions re-add the features they've removed over the last 2 years and fix the screw ups, hacks, dupes and lousy servers it might be a great game, but as for now I refuse to pad their pockets for what is essentially a pay to play beta.

Good luck with D3 everyone and happy gaming!

[OldSchoolYoungin]

Sorry to hear that, Arcadies.

A terribly late response to carlson, but I've played D3 on other people's systems and not my own. However, I don't reckon that organic gameplay would be all that much different. You may choose to ignore my limited experience, but it is what it is.

Nonetheless, I'm interested in what others have to say about the latest patch. I haven't played at all in the past couple weeks, if that means anything. I can sit here and rehash what others on very popular gaming forums say about it, but that, for me, doesn't do it much justice. Curious to know what fellow B&Bers think

[jwcarlson]

Sorry to hear that, Arcadies.

A terribly late response to carlson, but I've played D3 on other people's systems and not my own. However, I don't reckon that organic gameplay would be all that much different. You may choose to ignore my limited experience, but it is what it is.

Nonetheless, I'm interested in what others have to say about the latest patch. I haven't played at all in the past couple weeks, if that means anything. I can sit here and rehash what others on very popular gaming forums say about it, but that, for me, doesn't do it much justice. Curious to know what fellow B&Bers think

I'm not ignoring you opinion. I think, for the most part, with games like Diablo II and III you really had to get a bit more deeply involved in the game than running through the lowest difficulty. In reality they were/are designed to be very easy at those levels. Diablo II and III are gear driven... it's a game that's based on randomized "loot". Not deeply engaging gameplay, deep plot, or emotion. It does those things well, but they are not the primary draw for 99% of the players. The gameplay, combat, and difficulty are MUCH improved over D2 in my opinion. I don't think picking up someone else's character and clicking and punching buttons is a good overall look at the game to be honest. That doesn't mean you can't have an opinion about it, I just think the game deserves a much deeper look before you could truly decide if you do or do not like it.

If you don't like grinding the same or similar areas over and over looking for better gear then the Diablo series is not for you if you don't intend to play it clear through all difficulties and get to the "end game". It's not like Risen or Fable where you finish the game and it's "over". Diablo never really ends until the player ends it. I played and "beat" Risen awhile back. Fun game. But I beat the last boss and then what? Absolutely nothing. I finally get the best gear in the game, I use it for one battle, and that's the end.

Regarding the most recent patch 1.0.3...
They nerfed Demon Hunters (my primary character) even farther. Nether Tentacle rune in particular. It's not a game breaker but it make sit more difficult. They "buffed" up Barbarians so much survivability-wise I have a feeling those will be the next class to get nerfed. They have fixed some issues and made it more adventageous to play in a group instead of solo.
Biggest/best change was that you can find the next tier of gear in the act below where you actually need it to be viable. Meaning... you can grind Act 1 Inferno and have a small chance of finding gear that will suit you as you move into Act 2. Prior to the patch this was not possible... you had to go to the auction house.

[jwcarlson]

Well, if anyone still cares. I'm torn on the whole thing. Loved the entire Diablo series from the beginning. No complaints with Diablo III in the first play through minus the fact that it leaves a bit to be desired in regards to the storyline... but none in the series have been terribly deep.

Gameplay is polished and was at release...
But game content, beyond Hell Mode, was not. I guess they kind of told us that was going to be the case when they said that they basically doubled the difficulty of the internal Inferno Mode and then released it. As is the game is constantly changing... nerf this, buff that... retroactively knock your items down to worthless from awesome. It's all over the place. Very few people are playing it seems. Sure the die hards are, but I think the casual gamer is gone.

Things that were going to be great in D3 compared to D2:
* No hackers/cheaters/bots. - Strike 1
* End game = awesome. - Strike 2
* Auction House. - Strike 3

Bots and cheaters are adding SO much gold to the economy it is impossible to buy decent items in-game for the "little guy". There are items listed and selling for hundreds of millions in gold... even billions. Really?

End game... One of the knocks was D2's difficulty... D2 was pretty easy. So apparently that meant they wanted D3 to be impossible for anyone but those who are supremely geared. This was my comment to my brother about three days into D3: "Remember when the developers said they wanted your character to feel awesome? What they really meant was that they want YOU to want your character to feel awesome. Luckily, Blizzard sells awesome pills in the auction house." Inferno mode was originally billed as end game. But end game... can't... end, right? Well Inferno does end... either you spend gobs of gold and beat Inferno Diablo or you don't spend gobs and you quit playing part way through Act 2 when you realize that regardless if you have 50,000 hit points and 300 all resistance or 5,000 hit points with 0 all resistance... you are going to get one shot.

Auction house... I really really like this feature, both the GAH and RMAH. I love the idea of being able to easily market your wares without spamming in one of 200 trade channels hoping someone catches your information in the sea of available stuff. But... if cheating and botting was bad when there wasn't a whole lot of incentive to cheat in D2... it's going to be out of control now. I thought Blizzard had this stuff sorted out. I thought D3 was going to combat the cheaters enough to at least keep their impact on the economy to a minimum. They have failed miserably in that regard. My brother and several of our friends that played D2 extensively (my brother and I played D, D2, and now D3 a ton)... they have all pretty much quit playing. You can't find anyone to buy your stuff in the auction houses because pretty much no one is playing. And if they are playing they see the prices in the AH and realize it's not even worth looking. The only way I have been able to sell stuff is to find similar items and price mine at about 1/5 of the lowest cost. Boots that previously cost me about 200k are now being listed for 1M. But even listed at 200k no one will buy them... because the prices are out of control and no one is playing. Regardless of what you're buying on the AH, rest assured you are probably being ripped off. No one likes that feeling.

Where am I?

Spoiler:

I'm purifying poisoned water supplies, purging the dungeon of murderous demons like The Butcher, walking around very slowly, and struggling to see items when they fall to the ground. :)
The way it is supposed to be.