Diablo III / 3

[Bhowie]

Ice orb so you could run through hell cows and other exp farming methods

 

[nerdykarim]

C'mon guys...for mephy, you had to teleport to his side and then teleport back across the river and then meteor/blizz him from across the screen. He didn't have enough range to attack you so you killed him with full HP every time.


In 1.08 and 1.09 I used a nova sorc for cows. Cows got nerfed pretty hard after 1.09, though; after that, everyone ran Baal or the Ubers.
edit: oh man, I loved iron maiden/blood golem/corpse explode necros for cows in 1.08, too.

 

[Bhowie]

I had it an autobot program running my meph runs. Bump that human controlled noise.

 

[nerdykarim]



I had it an autobot program running my meph runs. Bump that human controlled noise.

Cheater! :foo:

 

[Kajak]



I end school 2 days before d3 is out, ye!
You basically had to grind in WoW. In D2 it was really optional; you didn't need uber items for many common builds (**** you could finish the game naked with a summoning necromancer) or insanely high levels to make progress in the game.

Exactly. In D2 to reach the end game you might need to re-clear a zone or two per act per difficulty to level enough to get to the next one - and here I'm really thinking re-clearing out the Valley of the Kings so you can kill Duriel (I hated that giant bug)

Did you do any end game raids or dungeons? If not, you didn't really experience what WoW has to offer. End game 25 man heoric is a completely different world than leveling up a toon.

I only got up to mid 20s? maybe 30? I got sick of it pretty quick - unlike D2 there wasn't really the same linear, story based plot to keep me going. Personally I'm a more casual gamer, and don't want to have to spend a long time leveling up a character to get to the good content. I also enjoy games which require more attention and action than WOW seemed to give me at the lower levels. (I know that might not compute)

 

[Bhowie]



Cheater! :foo:

A playa' gotta get those rune stacks somehow. I did enjoy D2 for the less steep playing curve compared to other MMO's. Eve Online was the most frustrating game I ever played, but really great. UO was my first MMO and was really solid, I stopped playing after they introduced power scrolls. Getting drunk in high school took over my free time.

 

[whiteslashasian]



Exactly. In D2 to reach the end game you might need to re-clear a zone or two per act per difficulty to level enough to get to the next one - and here I'm really thinking re-clearing out the Valley of the Kings so you can kill Duriel (I hated that giant bug)
I only got up to mid 20s? maybe 30? I got sick of it pretty quick - unlike D2 there wasn't really the same linear, story based plot to keep me going. Personally I'm a more casual gamer, and don't want to have to spend a long time leveling up a character to get to the good content. I also enjoy games which require more attention and action than WOW seemed to give me at the lower levels. (I know that might not compute)

I think they re-tweaked 0-60 levelling in WoW (maybe even to 70) to make it much, MUCH faster and easier. Gotta get the people to high level dungeons and raids! I used to love running friends through low level instances for gear and gold.

 

[GreenFrog]

Hey w/a, there's a MicroCenter nearby my house and I'm going to check it out later today. Can you help me build a PC? I just want something that's good enough to play D3, modern warfare, battle field 3, etc on full specs. I'm assuming the gtx 680 is way way overkill for those games?

Sound is just as important, too. I want a virtually silent desktop.

For now, I'm going to do some research on my own and see what's out there, but considering a budget of around $1500, what would you recommend? That includes a monitor, and I'm leaning towards a 24" LED monitor. I'd also like to stick to Intel, but am unsure as to whether I'd need the i7 or i5 processors.

Thanks!

 

[Imhoff]



Hey w/a, there's a MicroCenter nearby my house and I'm going to check it out later today. Can you help me build a PC? I just want something that's good enough to play D3, modern warfare, battle field 3, etc on full specs. I'm assuming the gtx 680 is way way overkill for those games?
Sound is just as important, too. I want a virtually silent desktop.
For now, I'm going to do some research on my own and see what's out there, but considering a budget of around $1500, what would you recommend? That includes a monitor, and I'm leaning towards a 24" LED monitor. I'd also like to stick to Intel, but am unsure as to whether I'd need the i7 or i5 processors.
Thanks!

Will see what w/a has to say, as I will be building one as well. Silent and compact is my goal while retaining some good performance.

 

[GreenFrog]

Good stuff. Just narrowed down my CPU to the core i5 2500k processor. Now I'm looking for a good aftermarket heatsink that's SILENT.. but they all have fans attached!

edit: I have my cpu, motherboard, ram, SSD, and HDD for movies picked out, but I'm having the most trouble with the graphics card.

I'm aware of passively-cooled GPUs, but I'm getting the sense that these are of lower-performance.. any recommendations?

 

[whiteslashasian]



Good stuff. Just narrowed down my CPU to the core i5 2500k processor. Now I'm looking for a good aftermarket heatsink that's SILENT.. but they all have fans attached!
edit: I have my cpu, motherboard, ram, SSD, and HDD for movies picked out, but I'm having the most trouble with the graphics card.
I'm aware of passively-cooled GPUs, but I'm getting the sense that these are of lower-performance.. any recommendations?

You can get really quiet heatsinks with fans (you need it with a quad core). I suggest a Noctua for QUIET cooling (expensive, but it really is the best for performance and quiet): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608014

The i5 2500k is perfect for gaming.

Micro Center is still running the z68 mobo for $50 off with the 2500k promotion. Hard to go wrong with either Gigabyte or Asus (I've mostly used either in the past), but this Asrock is enticing at the price: http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0384988

The reviews seem on par with those of major board players. Most are very happy, a few have problems.

If you want to play BF3 then you're actually going to want a fairly beefy GPU. I run a HD 6950 2gb and it runs the game fine. The GTX 680 and HD 7950 are both overkill but are better for future proofing. Depends on what you want. If you don't care about future games, then wait for the prices on the GTX 5xx and HD69xx prices to drop even more.

You want a case with built in sound dampening and/or quiet fans. Usually a front door will help reduce sound output from leaving the case too. For budget conscious builds I'd go with the Fractal Define R3 (larger version is the XL). If you have more money to spend and want a case that will last FOREVER, then get the Silverstone Fortress FT-2.

Get an SSD drive (or two). They absolutely make the biggest difference in day to day computer use over a mechanical HDD. Still need an HDD to store stuff like movies, music, data etc.

DO NOT skimp on the powersupply. You want at least 650 watts and ideally 750+ with at least a bronze certification and MODULAR wiring. Reduces the rats nest of extra power cables from becoming a nuisance. I like Corsair, some of the newer OCZ models, Enermax, higher end Antec, and surprisingly Rosewill out of left field (not modular, but a surprisingly good PSU for the money). I absolutely trust the johnnyguru reviews of PSU's.

*edit* if you read the reviews, the GTX 680 is one of the quietest high end cards out there. The thing is, if you're gaming away, you either have your speakers blasting or headset on. You won't hear your GPU spin up. At idle, they're all pretty much quiet.

 

[nerdykarim]



A playa' gotta get those rune stacks somehow. I did enjoy D2 for the less steep playing curve compared to other MMO's. Eve Online was the most frustrating game I ever played, but really great. UO was my first MMO and was really solid, I stopped playing after they introduced power scrolls. Getting drunk in high school took over my free time.

I never had full runeword gear on any of my d2x heros. The newest patch increased rune drops significantly, though; I found a Zod and a Vex within about a week of each other, both in Act 1 hell. Prior to the patch, the best I ever got were a few Guls.

Good stuff. Just narrowed down my CPU to the core i5 2500k processor. Now I'm looking for a good aftermarket heatsink that's SILENT.. but they all have fans attached!
edit: I have my cpu, motherboard, ram, SSD, and HDD for movies picked out, but I'm having the most trouble with the graphics card.
I'm aware of passively-cooled GPUs, but I'm getting the sense that these are of lower-performance.. any recommendations?

2500K is a great processor if you have a microcenter nearby. If you're going to go the watercooling route, the Corsair H50 is on sale fairly frequently.

If I were in your place, I'd probably buy a Radeon 6850. Should run you about $120 and will probably be overkill for everything you play.
If Sapphire is still making vapor-x cards, check those out; they have an enclosed water vapor cooling system, which reduces fan reliance. If you want more than two monitors, pick up an eyefinity model.

 

[GreenFrog]



I never had full runeword gear on any of my d2x heros. The newest patch increased rune drops significantly, though; I found a Zod and a Vex within about a week of each other, both in Act 1 hell. Prior to the patch, the best I ever got were a few Guls.
2500K is a great processor if you have a microcenter nearby. If you're going to go the watercooling route, the Corsair H50 is on sale fairly frequently.
If I were in your place, I'd probably buy a Radeon 6850. Should run you about $120 and will probably be overkill for everything you play.
If Sapphire is still making vapor-x cards, check those out; they have an enclosed water vapor cooling system, which reduces fan reliance. If you want more than two monitors, pick up an eyefinity model.

Thanks for the suggestions. Will I be able to play D3, BF3 on full settings with those graphics cards? They're over a year old..

 

[nerdykarim]



Thanks for the suggestions. Will I be able to play D3, BF3 on full settings with those graphics cards? They're over a year old..

Truthfully, I have never played BF3 so I don't know what FPS you'd get if you maxed out all the settings. Looks like 6950 is recommended for that game, so W/A's recommendation is better there.

I can probably guarantee you that you can max everything in D3 with the 6850, though (assuming there are no graphical changes from the beta to the retail release)--the card is substantially better than my vapor-x 6750 and I have no trouble at all with D3.

 

[GreenFrog]



Truthfully, I have never played BF3 so I don't know what FPS you'd get if you maxed out all the settings. Looks like 6950 is recommended for that game, so W/A's recommendation is better there.
I can probably guarantee you that you can max everything in D3 with the 6850, though (assuming there are no graphical changes from the beta to the retail release)--the card is substantially better than my vapor-x 6750 and I have no trouble at all with D3.

Ahh.. gotcha. Thanks. God I feel like such a computer noob now haha.

How does this look?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131442