Diablo 3 UNLEASHED!!!

Well, Diablo 3 is finally upon us. I went to bed very early yesterday and set an alarm for just after midnight. I was of course greeted by an error trying to log on because too many people were trying to log on at the same time. After about 30 minutes (sporadically as I was reposting WoW auction in the meantime), I was able to get into the game. I rolled a Barbarian first and of course named him Darraxus. Then I rolled on into New Tristram.

Note: Any Magical Items you grab should be saved until you unlock crafting. You will need them.

Spoilers after the break......the first break in the history of this blog.


If you played the beta, you are familiar with the first story involving the Skeleton King. There are some differences in the release version however. Things that I noticed include:

A cutscene after each act withing the larger act.
There are more enemies, and they seem to hit harder.
You will probably die more than in the beta.

I died one time in several playthroughs in the beta.....I have died three times already in the release version.

For those of you who may not be playing, and would like to read some of the story, I will reveal what I have seen below.

You start out on the road to New Tristram. You kill several weak Zombies along the way. You finally come to the gate and speak with the Captain. At that point, the undead ambush in a large group. You demolish them and the Captain complements you on your badassness. He tells you to seek out Leah for more information on the Fallen Star (the one the hit the cathedral).

You go to the Inn where you find Leah. As you are talking to her, some of the injured being kept at the Inn rise as undead and you have to kill them. The Innkeeper quips "This is killing business".

You end up going back to the Captain at the gate who tells you to kill some bitches that spew out other Zombies. Once you kill said bitches, you return to town, and the Captain is trying to talk Leah out of looking for her uncle, Deckard Cain. You agree to help her find him. You first need to go get the key from Adia's Hutt (I believe she is the witch out in the woods in the first Diablo). Leah says that Adia was her mother, but she never really knew her.

When you get to the Hut, you find a hidden cellar and end up killing a former Captain of the Guard for the Key. Leah stay behind to do further research, and you go on looking for the Cathedral.

You go into the Cathedral and face many baddies. Eventually, you find Deckard Cain, who is being attacked by the Skeleton King's minions. You smash said minions into bone dust and Cain comes back to town with you.

Leah and Cain are very happy to see each other. Cain tells you that to defeat the Skeleton King, you need to get his Crown, place it on his head, and then kill him (again). The Blacksmith is the one who knows where to find it.

You talk to the Blacksmith, and before he tells you of the crown, you must help him with a personal matter. His wife is infected and in a cellar full of other infected. He is tasked with killing them, but cannot bring himself to kill his wife. You state that it must be done, and that you will help. You demolish the denizens of the cellar and the Blacksmith tells you that the crown is being held in the tomb of his grandfather, who was the former Chancellor of the King.

You fight your way to the Chancellor's Tomb, finding the Blacksmith's dead apprentice along the way.

Once in the tomb, you make your way down until you find the crown. As you take the crown, you are attacked by the Chancellor who does not want Leoric to return to power. You kill him of course. For his shinies.

You town portal back to he village (which is a spell now, and not a damn scroll).

The Blacksmith fixes the crown for you, and this is where you finally pick up the crafting skills.

Next, Cain send you to take on the Skeleton King Leoric.

After traveling through several levels of catacombs and picking up the Templar followe, you finally make it to the Skeleton King. He is a real bitch, and got dangerously close to killing me a few times, however, I triumphed over evil.

This would be the end of the Beta, but I noticed a passage way behind Leoric. This leads down to where the Falling Star landed. It turns out that the star was actually a man, who does not quite remember what he was doing there. You take him back to Cain.

The mysterious man recalls that his sword broke into three as he fell. You are then tasked with finding the three shard.

I found the first shard in a cave being guarded by the Cult of the Damned. My next step is to head to some Sunken Temple to find the next part.

So far, I have had a lot of fun with the game. As always, the game is incredibly polished and wonderfully fun. Crafting is easy and useful. I am looking forward to playing after I get off of work. I am also looking forward to playing with some friends.