Heroes of the Storm: Recruit a Friend

I've been playing Heroes of the Storm for just short of a month now. I'm a big fan of Blizzard Entertainment's various gaming worlds, and a 'world' where those dimensions crash into one to form an awesome multiplayer battle arena is well worth checking out for any one who is a fan of Diablo, StarCraft, WarCraft, League of Legends, and even DotA.

If you're new to Heroes, then click on the following link, and you'll unlock a hero for free (Raynor), as well as a 5 day stimpack to help you gain experience. As an added bonus, ranking up to level 10 will earn you a second free hero, Sylvanas.

If you're playing on the European servers please consider using my recruitment link so that I may unlock the awesome vulture hover bike mount for my StarCraft heroes.

It has begun...

I finally got around to finishing Diablo II: Lord of Destruction last week, more than a decade after its original release. To be honest, I don't really remember what the outcome of the game was. Other than the fact that the loot dropped by Baal was pretty useless, I barely remember the closing cinematic. Come to think of it, was there even one?

So this weekend I decided to get started on Diablo III. I'd watched the opening cinematic for Diablo III when I installed the system updated, but I decided to watch it again for inspiration before creating my character. It's mind-blowing how much more realistic the Diablo III characters, Leah and Deckard Cain are drawn, when compared to Marius and The Dark Wanderer of Diablo II. Even more amazing is just how good the controls for Diablo III are mapped to the PlayStation 3's DualShock controller. It feels as though the game was developed specifically to be played on a current generation console. Initially I was a little sceptical of how the mouse and keyboard controls would recreated for console controllers, and I'm relieved to say that this was actually done exceptionally well.

For now the only advantage of using a mouse comes in the form of being able to left-click (or right-click, depending on what action you've assigned) on the monster I wish to attack, and by holding the mouse button, my character would continue to attack the enemy until it died. I find selecting which monster I want to attack with the controller a little more hap-hazard, and continually having to mash 'X' to attack is beginning to get a little frustrating. That said, I haven't tried holding 'X' while attacking, so that could be easily solved. But while attacking with the mouse in Diablo II, I never accidentally looted chests, used shrines, or opened doors. All of which have happened to me so far while playing Diablo III on a console. While no biggie, I have also unintentionally dropped chandeliers while fighting one monster, and waiting for another to step under said chandelier. Perhaps the 'loot/ use/ break/ open' action button is the one thing I would change, and have it assigned to another button. Since I've only played a few hours, maybe I'm doing it wrong.

Based partly on the results from the Diablo III character class poll (thanks to the person who voted), the fact that Act V of Diablo II: Lord of Destruction is set on the foothills of Mount Arreat, in the heart of the Barbarian homeland, and that I have never played using the Barbarian, I created a Barbarian class character.

Despite not having spent much time playing Diablo III, and apart from the few quibbles above, I've enjoyed every other aspect of the game so far, and am looking forward to spending many more hours exploring the world of Sanctuary, slaying beats and monster, while searching for better loot, and levelling up my character.

Lastly, here's a link to a cool infographic that Blizzard put together for the one year anniversary since the release of Diablo III.

Diablo III character class poll

I have a copy of Diablo III sitting in my gaming drawer, waiting for me to pay my proper respect, and load the disc into my PlayStation 3. Before I do though, I want to complete Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, and perhaps even try complete the main storyline in Borderlands. While I work on completing those two games, and before I set about creating a Diablo III, I thought I'd get your opinion on which Diablo III character class was your favourite. 

From left to right: Barbarian, Demon Hunter, Monk, Witch Doctor, and Wizard

The poll on the right will allow you to vote for either the Barbarian, Demon Hunter, Monk, Witch Doctor, or the Wizard. The poll will close on September 27, or 24 hours after I've completed both Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, and Borderlands, depending on which comes first.

The poll is obviously open to every one. If you haven't played any of the games from the Diablo franchise, or are unfamiliar with the different class abilities, then cast your vote according to which character you think has the best appearance.

I'm leaning towards playing as the Demon Hunter but since I've recently been playing Diablo II as the Assassin, perhaps I should change strategy and try one of the more magic dependent classes. That said I've never really played as a Barbarian much either, so maybe that's the route I should use during my first play through of Diablo III.