Friday, March 30, 2012

I'm in the Wrong Beta

I got my beta invite yesterday.  To Diablo 3.  I would have jumped at the chance to look at the artwork in mists, I was even looking forward to it.  I figure this weekend would be as good as any to check it out as I have nothing planned so I have some free time.

I guess that means, if I decide to, I can check out Diablo 3 this weekend.  There is one problem with that.  I know nothing about Diablo.  I've never played it.  I've never looked into playing it.  I've never had any desire to play it.  I never even signed up for the opt in for it.

I am thinking this is a way for blizzard to try to make amends for me not being in the mists beta yet.  I would have to say that it is at least an attempt even if it is a bad one.

I would not be a good beta tester for Diablo for various reasons and the top one is that I do not play the game.  If I know nothing about the game, not even the basics, how exactly can I test it?

I play warcraft, I know it and I know how things are supposed to work.  I would be a solid tester for mists because when something is wrong I would know it needs fixing.  I would not know that with Diablo.

Wouldn't blizzard be better served giving my invite to someone that might actually be able to help them?  Wouldn't blizzard be better served with me being in the mists beta where I could actually help?

I am not sure why they think giving me the Diablo beta is a good way to make up for not being in mists yet but it would not surprise me if there are tens of thousands, if not more, people that should have not gotten a mists beta invite that are looking in the mail and noticing they have a Diablo 3 beta invite in place of the one that should have been there.

I'll probably check it out this weekend.  It won't hurt to take a look I guess but I am not sure how I can help with the beta.

I guess I will look around online today a little to see if I can get an idea what the game is about and how it plays.  I hate going into anything completely blind and I am not really impressed that blizzard is trying to make amends with giving out beta invite to things I did not even sign up for.
Give someone that plays Diablo my invite and let me get in mists.  That would make more sense.

Hey, look at the bright side, at least they gave me some beta and who knows, I might end up liking the game.

3 comments:

  1. Anon, Grumpy' GL:

    Basic coverage of Diablo: there is a really tough bad demon lord beneath the town of Sanctuary, fight your way down and kill it. There is a tiny bit of storyline about why the monster is there but it really doesn't matter much. The cliffhanger ending is that your successful hero picks up the soul shard thingy and rams it into his or her's own skull, planting the seed for D2.

    Diablo 2 and the expansion Lord of Destruction: pick up on the story with your previous character becoming the wanderer and you new character chases him across the world where Sanctuary is located. The pursuit goes on for a number of levels, with your new character eventually facing big D's "brother" Demon Lord and with that a trip to hell to face down Diablo again, followed by the expansion where you take on the third "Brother" Demon Lord.

    The storyline really matters almost not at all. Diablo was in both previous renditions a masterful "hack and slash" game, the storyline was there as a rational, but really what was the purpose of that? Your character is the hero, there is a big bad that needs killing and to get to him you first must destroy several legions' worth of hell's endless tools.

    Maybe there will be a more complex variation on the story in D3 but the type of game it is doesn't really need one much more complex than building on the limited stories from D1 and D2. And I just summed up the real value of the storyline in the previous paragraph's last sentence.

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  2. Honestly, not being an expert at the game is just as valuable a Beta experience as any, since they want the game to make sense and flow to new players as well! If you can't figure out how to (making up an example) socket a gem into your weapon, for example, then it doesn't really matter if every player who's played since Diablo 1 DOES know how to do it - the fact that you, a new player, can't figure it out, is still important info for Blizzard to know.

    All that aside, I hope you end up liking the Beta and end up wanting to play the game, too!

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  3. "I'm in the Wrong Beta I got my beta invite yesterday. To Diablo 3."

    LOL, this was exactly my thought last night.

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