Anyone else in it?  They just sent out 275,000 beta keys last week.  I don't think they're alerting via email.  If you've opted in to the beta, you should check your bnet account through the website and see if you've got it.

Alternatively, anyone have questions for someone who is in the beta?

Still have not received a beta key and I signed up for it the first day they announced it.

I know what you mean.  I've got several friends that've also been looking forward to this game; we all opted into the beta months and months ago, have been participating in several of the contests that've been going on.  So far, I'm the only one with a key.  It's nice to play, but 75% of the reason I want this game is to game with friends.

I really wish they'd just put it into open beta.  We're exactly one month from release, you'd think they'd just do it.

I got a key.  I've already played through with a Demon Hunter and a Monk.  Started a Barbarian last night.  The game kicks TOTAL ASS so far IMO.  Then again, I played Diablo II enough to break 1 Logitech mouse and wear the feet off of the 2nd one. The Demon Hunter is my favorite so far (I played a Bowazon in D2 and a Hunter in WoW, so go figure).  I like the crafting addition, too, but I wish you could choose what stats it puts on the gear.

I think the crafting is really just meant to replace the 'gambling' that was in D2 (buying unidentified stuff from Gheed).  I've completed the beta with DH, Barb, and Wizard.  Gotten halfway through with Monk and Witch Doctor.  I normally played Paladins and Barbs in D2 (and Warriors and Paladins in WoW), but I think the DH is my favorite as well.  Barbarian was a little boring to start out with, but once I got 4 skill slots and a few different abilities to use it got a lot more fun.  Wizard... not normally my cup of tea, but I got him up to 11 and started using him as a melee wizard, and that was really fun.

ETA: And it was just announced that the beta is ending on May 1st.  So I guess if you're not in the beta yet, chances are you probably won't get in before it closes.  Sadface.

New patch today wiped all our characters.

It's not all bad.  For about two hours this morning, anyone with a bnet account and the beta client installed (which anyone can install) could access the beta, because Blizzard derped and enabled the 'starter edition' (which is basically the beta).

Also, it's a beta.  There have been many character wipes, it's kind of to be expected.  There will definitely be at least one more character wipe - on May 1st, when the beta ends.  Possibly more between now and then, depending on if they roll out any more beta patches in the next couple weeks.

Yeah, just sucked that I was almost finished taking my Barbarian through and planned to finish last night.  So instead I started a Witch Doctor last night, and though I only played for 30 minutes or so I'm not especially crazy about the WD.

WD has not been my favorite class.  Feels very passive, at least with the skills you get in the beta.  Summon your dogs, let them tank for you, throw down grasp of the dead on packs of monsters that want to eat your face, and then just shoot poison darts at people because your dogs' DPS sucks.  It works, but it doesn't have any of the flair offered by the other classes, and is perhaps a little underpowered until you get Soul Harvest.  Soul Harvest is completely overpowered.  140 extra Int at level 10?  That more than doubles your DPS.  And its got a short cooldown, low mana cost, and easy to fill requirements, so you can have it up all the time.  After the skeleton king summoned the first pack of 8 skellies, I did Soul Harvest on them and just burned him down in about 20 seconds with Poison Dart [Splinters].  With Soul Harvest, grasp of the dead also becomes a usable AoE and more than just a snare with a little damage on it.

In case anyone gives a damn (you probably don't), I can also give my opinions on other classes!

Barbarian: Boring for the first few levels (left click to victory!).  You really need to unlock the extra skill slots and some skills to go in them, and then it becomes a lot more fun.  With a good variety of skills to use, cooldowns to manage, etc, the class becomes much more satisfying.  They cranked up the physics on all of his attacks, so you basically are a freight train running through these zombies, sending their bodies flying as you cut them down.  It turns what might otherwise be kind of mediocre melee into something that feels like it has a lot more power behind it.  You get Leap Attack fairly early, along with Ancient Spear, which provide you with enough mobility/snare to deal with summoners/ranged monsters.  Ground Stomp gives you an AoE stun, so if you get surrounded you can buy yourself time to become less surrounded.

Demon Hunter: Favorite class so far.  Having two resources to manage and use is a cool change from the other classes.  Great mix of crowd control, multi-target damage (wouldn't exactly call it AoE), single target DPS, and kiting/mobility skills.  The visual styling is also pretty cool.  Did I mention the DPS?  There's a lot of it.  There really isn't too much to say here, it's a very straightforward ranged DPS class in the same line as the Rogue and Amazon that preceded it.

Monk: Meh.  Of the two melee characters this one seems like the poorer.  You don't actually use your weapons for your attacks, you just punch everything while sometimes holding (otherwise just wearing) whatever weapon you happen to have.  The attacks don't have the cranked up physics that the barbarian has, so it feels less satisfying to cleave a crowd of monsters and send the front line flying across the room (because they don't, they just kind of fall over).  While it seems to have more utility, mobility, and possibly damage than the barbarian, the combat just doesn't feel as visceral.  But it will probably appeal to anyone that played a Paladin or Assassin in D2, as the class's mechanics are like the 18 year reminder of their torrid and ill-considered affair.

Wizard: Very wizardy.  I'll actually probably make a melee wizard, using Spectal Blade/Energy Armor/Arcane Nova/Wave of Force/Teleport/Blur/etc.  It's not actually melee per se, but the synergy between all the PBAoE and defensive spells seems hard to ignore (and very fun).  Using Arcane Power instead of Mana makes the Wizard very burst-y, as you can toss a few high damage spells before running out, then wait a few seconds for your AP to regenerate.  No early mobility skills like the other characters (have to wait to get teleport) and no pets like the WD make you slightly vulnerable, but judicious use of your defensive spells will keep you in one piece.  Also burning down all enemies with your massive DPS.  Wave of Force is particularly amusing in the few encounters where you do run into a lot of skeletons (like Jar of Souls), because you can land some impressive 20+ kill Mighty Blows.  Class seems more cooldown limited than the others, so you need to make sure to be using the right spells at the right time.

I agree. With the little I've played it just doesn't seem as interactive as the other classes, but I was thinking it might get better as you progress.  Sounds like I was wrong lol.



I haven't gotten that far along with a Barbarian (level 8), but I agree.  It's awesomely fun just smashing everything and watching the bodies fly.



Again , I agree completely.  All the jumping around with Vault, dropping traps, and mowing everything down from range is just awesome.



The Monk was the opposite of the Barbarian for me.  All of the kung fu was fun at first, but it seemed repitive after a while.  I can't imagine playing all the way through all 4 difficulty levels with a Monk.  Luckily one of my friends really likes it, so my Demon Hunter will get to take advantage of the mantras and stuff lol.

I haven't played the Wizard yet.  It's next on my list after the Witch Doctor.

Well then!

Looks like Diablo 3 is going into open beta for this weekend.  Starting at 12:01PM PST today, April 20th and continuing till 10:00AM PST April 23rd, anyone with a battlenet account can play.  Here's a link to what you need to know about downloading the beta client and logging in once the servers open up (and then promptly crash when half of everyone tries to log in).

Thanks for the update!! I would of been pissed if I missed out on this.

I don't understand why anyone would want to play the beta the way they have it set up. The first half of the first difficulty of ARPG's are the most boring thing on the planet. Hell, the first half of almost all RPG's in general are boring snooze fests.

Tempting but I think I'll just wait for the release of the final game.

Sounds fun though

Been trying to get in.  Keep getting errors about the server being too busy, or my account doesn't have access.  Well, it is a stress test beta, so....good thing I had the day off already and nothing planned.

Almost in! At character creation, but that keeps timing out...

So, you only get to pick a name for character customization?  Huh...

And, still haven't got to play, kept timing out trying to make a single player game.  

Oh well.  Maybe they'll smooth it out and I'll at least get some time in this weekend.

Yep,I can't get in either,keep getting 3003 errors.....AARRRRRRRGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!

Well, I did say this would happen.

Found this and thought it'd be useful for you in particular.

Just going to put it out there that I fucking hate Bashiok.

not overly impressed. Am I seeing this right that there really arent build or allocated stat or skill points now, so other then gear all characters of a class will basically be the same?

If you were much into Diablo 2 beyond a casual level, you'd find that all Diablo 2 characters were basically the same as well.  You put enough points into strength to use the gear you needed, then basically the rest into vitality.  Skill tree points were basically the same, as well.  You were either optimal, or you were a noob.  If you fucked up and spent stats or skill points wrong, you were fucked and had to start the character over (till the later patches, when they added some limited respeccing).  There was also some really limited gear choices, regarding what was optimal vs everything else.

So, yes, stat-wise, two naked characters will have the same attributes.  However, with how they've done the skill and rune system, I think it should be much harder to find a 100% optimal/cookie cutter build, which should hopefully lead to more variety, customization, and experimentation (as you don't have to waste a respec or take a big risk with leveling up a character to see if an idea will work).

I think it's fine, but then, I'm obviously already excited about the game.

Well, on the advice of this thread, I download the beta.

Its been pretty damn good. I'll end up buying this one!

Finally got in late this evening. Made a Demon Hunter, got her up to 5th in a bit over an hour.  I just rescued Cain.

It's Diablo. A lot of the loot sounds are straight out of the old games. I recognized many old NPCs referenced in quests. Everything is voice acted, so far. Although a bit overly-dramatic. Graphics are pretty good, but not 'zomg!' good like I was expecting. No zoom or panning of the camera, but so far that hasn't been a hindrance. I'll try out each class if I can this weekend.

So far, it's not striking me as a Must Buy on Launch Day game though. But, I'll try some other classes, maybe co-op if that is working.  It's fun, don't get me wrong.  It's just....I dunno, it's Diablo, and I've been playing Diablo and the various clones for over 10 years now....

it's been down for maintainance all morning.  I just tried, and there was a note that it would be back up in '30 minutes'.  But of course, no time stamp for that note....

Got back in a bit after noon.  Played for a couple hours, ran downstairs to get the mail, and came back to find Game Terminated.  Huh.  

Anyway, after I got into the dungeons, my opinion of the game has risen considerably!  The graphics, especially the lighting, are pretty freaking awesome.  Lots of subtle things going on, water dripping, fog drifting through the air, etc.

As a Demon Hunter, there seems to be a lot of kiting and snaring going on.  I'm having fun with it, but I am curious to see how other classes play.

I got to play for about an hour earlier before I had to go work in the yard some.  Now it's "The server is busy.  Please try again later."  There is a note on the right side of the screen that they have dramatically lowered the player cap on the server and are slowing raising it, though.

Played through as a Wizard. The D3 is a lot better than I expected. I didn't think it was going to be anywhere near as good as D2. May have to get the game when it comes out.

Played a bit of it so far and been pretty happy with it. Its about what I expect from Blizzard and that is more of a complement than a criticism.

That being said: the server issues worry me. I haven't been able to log on for the majority of the weekend. I know its a stress test and a beta. But it does highlight just how shitty it can be to have a game that can only be played online even if you just want to play by yourself. It makes me a hell of a lot more hesitant to drop 60 bucks on the game.

played for about 90 mins last night with a monk, got up to level 8 or 9. Really like it. can't wait to play more later.

The server issues aren't too big of an issue in my eyes.  I expect them to be completely ironed out by release.  The beta will be closed for two weeks before release, which I fully expect to be the time where they bring their entire server farm online and make sure it's ready for the heavy launch loads.  Right now, I don't expect that they have many servers dedicated to D3.  These issues weren't really there in the closed beta, even when they brought in 275k testers.  Bringing in a few hundred thousand (a few million?) more players when their infrastructure may not have been upgraded at all from the closed beta?  Well, we get the now-familiar Error 37.

The issues I would be more concerned about aren't so much accessibility but the server doing funny things.  I've seen some small amounts of rubberbanding and lag while playing in the closed beta.  I've seen some much bigger issues in some videos of others playing the game, like chunks of the world not loading, or massive lag spikes that nearly (or do) get them killed, but those are more the exception than the rule.  That is what I would be hoping to see completely eliminated at launch.  Were I you (or anyone else on the fence about buying the game due to the server thing), I'd wait to see how the launch goes and see if they have that kind of trouble in their full production environment/not on test servers.  Those of us with pre-orders shall forge boldly ahead, securing all the sweet loot before you get any of it (and possibly dying to an unslayable lag monster here and there).

yeah, I was having trouble with the screen being offset to the right of my monitor, but only on certain resolutions

Beat it as a demon hunter, got to level 11.  Pretty fun, but I don't think I'll buy it.
 

Sadly, you don't.

There isn't much point in using a basic attack.  Magic Missile already does your weapon damage plus some extra, and it costs nothing to use.  Which is a bit of a disappointment, because I want to make a melee wizard.  The closest I can get is using Spectral Blade, which is a melee range attack... but you still aren't hitting with your weapon.  You summon magic blades that slice up everything in front of you.  Sure, looks cool, but why can't I be some two-handed sword using, spell-slinging, wizard hat wearing badass?  At best I can kinda just carry the two-handed sword around and menace the skeletons with it before I blow them up with a spell.

its a stat stick. wizards are a ranged magic class. you buy or find a staff that boosts the stats or skills that you want to be using, and blast from afar.

No I agree with you; i really don't think they will have the same server issues - at least not for long. I would probably play 90% of the time online anyway. It just sucks to know that if I'm doing something like traveling (lots of downtime in hotels in the middle of BFE) or the net is down for awhile that I wouldn't have the absolute best time sink available to play. Or hell, on the rare international trips, the flight would seem a whole lot shorter getting to play some D3. It was those types of things than always made me dust off D2 occasionally. Just sad D3 can't take its place.

But servers or not, looks like I will be getting it on release date. Convinced the gf to give it a try and she is hooked already. So my 60 bucks is spoken for.

Lastly, after playing it for awhile longer, the lack of RPG character decisions is really puzzling to me and a bit disappointing.

when you run out of mana you use it to melee

Because the people that created Diablo 3 were not Diablo 2 fans nor did they play much Diablo 2. The majority of the developers for Diablo 3 developed World of Warcraft.



Ironically, WoW has more customization possibilities in your character than Diablo 3 does.

 

Awesome, just awesome game.

Oh and if your having problems playing the game with stuttering, it is a beta, don't freak out.

The beta is not fully optimized for all hardware and does not have much in the way of changeable quality settings (for the most part, it's locked on high).  Still, you should have more than enough power to run it.  The recommended system requirements are only an Athlon X64 X2 5600+, 2gb of RAM, and a GTX 260.  Seems odd that you're having that kind of trouble.

Mine has been running really smoothly today, other than the occasional lag-induced rubber banding, and once I got disco'ed.


Have completed it twice now with a Demon Hunter and a Witch Doctor.  I kind of like the Witch Doctor, just the zombie dogs alone make it a bit more fun with those kiting instances.  Of course, she had some good equipment from the DH in the stash to use, so I mowed through my second play through in less than 2 hrs.

GF is downloading it now so we can try out some co-op.  I am assuming htat is the only way to get above level 9?

Nah.  You can do more playthroughs with characters after you finish.  Just leave game, make sure you select the first quest with the select quest button at the lobby screen (it normally does this automatically after you finish and then log out), and then start it up for a second run through.

Are you trying to run it maxed out?  I'm running it on a lower resolution just fine, and my computer's specs are literally about HALF what yours are.

I'm really not impressed with the lack of character customization.  Yeah, you'll do it through gear later, but you could always do that.  And no, I don't buy the argument that in D2 you either played optimum or you sucked;  after the synergy patch every skill tree was viable, and most had multiple viable builds.





There's a lot of World of Warcraft style hand-holding going on in this game, and it just doesn't feel like Diablo.  Hell, some of the barbarian passive skills in Diablo are taken verbatim from warrior skills in WOW.



At least the shared stash is nice.  




 

You can at least disable some of the hand-holding with the skills, though it's not exactly obvious.  In the Gameplay Options tab, enabled Advanced Tooltips and Elective Mode.  So, you can see exactly how much damage each of your abilities does and use any ability in any skill slot.

this i cant believe they didn't make a bunch of character models, its 2012 at least give us a shit load of portraits.



 

My only complaint is the lack of a Paladin, yeah I know monk but come on peoples!!!!!!!!

Agreed