Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Review

The Reaper has come

Diablo III has returned and this time it's out to reap all of your time.

So how does the expansion, RoS, shape up and is it worth it?

[insert the usual "Stay a while and listen" gag]


As you all know I was not a fan of DiabloIII. There were many issues with it at launch, I hated the always online requirements (I still actually do, however the issues are far less than they were) and I felt extremely limited with the gameplay.

So, let's git this review started and for this one I am going to do things the other way around. Instead of pointing out the good stuff and then the flaws, I will start with the flaws and work up to the good.

So first things first, skills haven't changed much. This is still my biggest gripe with Diablo III. While a lot of work has been placed on skills to balance them out and allow a more diverse set of skill usage one still feels a little done in when compared to the rest of the Diablo franchise. You still can't really specialise in a skill by adding extra points in to it. You have your set skills that each class can use, you get to use all of them and you can mix and match. But that's it. No crazy builds like one could in Diablo II for example. No strength build wizards or ultra rapid fire Amazons called stapler. Seriously I hated this build my friend created. Knockback + super high rate of fire pretty much pinned you to any wall until you died, had your ear disgracefully taken from your body and him laughing all the way to his stash...

Then there is the always online thing. Enough has been said about my view of always on line and it's still not
something I see any real use for in Diablo III. Especially now that the Auction House has been removed (yay!). I reckon they need to patch it up and allow offline play like the Playstation allows.

Annnnnd that concludes the bad of the game. Now for the good and oh boy is there a lot of it.

Let's first talk about the global changes. Right off the bat without even needing to buy RoS you get some cool new features. First of attribute points. Yes you heard right. Attribute points. An answer to the very broken and boring skill setup Diablo III had going. Now this isn't your standard attribute point system we are used to. This one is far more useful. You get 4 sections of attributes. Core, Offence, Defense and Utility. Each with a set of attributes that you can dump points in to. These range from adding to your primary attributes such as dexterity, vitality etc; all the way through to increased attack speed or increased AoE damage. So you can really play around with these to augment some of your builds to be just that little more effective.
The points are gained by leveling up your paragon levels, which are all the same for each character now. So if you start the game with a new level 1 character you will have points to spend from level 1 as the paragon level of that level 1 character is the same as the highest paragon leveled character at the time you start.
While not a perfect solution to the skill limitations it is a huge step in the right direction and allows a little more freedom and most of all some uniqueness between players. No longer are we set apart solely by who has the strongest gear.

Which brings me to the second point which has been included in the patch for everyone. The revamped loot system lovingly called Loot2.0.

The loot system has been completely redone and has resulted in far more quality items being dropped. Drops are also aimed more specific at the class you are playing. What this means is that while playing a Monk, for example, you won't get a fist weapon with Intel stats on it anymore. It will have an almost guarenteed dex stats on it and often secondary stats that boost a specific skill (further allowing some more specialisation and build diversity dependent on your gear and attribute point distribution).

My one problem I have with this however is that this is a global change for all items. So if you happen to drop an awesome Legendary Staff for your Wizard while playing as a Monk, you are unfortunately going to have a staff with dexterity instead of intel. It also doesn't help identifying the item with your wizard afterwards because stats are set at drop and not on identifying (I have tested and confirmed this). However it's easy to replace that stat with the new Mystic that allows you to replace 1 stat on an item with a random stat that fits in that slot (The mystic however is only available when buying RoS). Once you have replaced a stat you can continuously replace that stat until you are happy with the random stat it generates or you run out of materials.

Oh, one other notable bad thing that I need to mention (I didn't put it in earlier as it just didn't seem to fit there and the point of whether this is bad or good is debatable)  is that legendary items as well as items that have had their stats re-rolled become account bound. This pretty much kills the trade in the game. There is none now. You can still trade stock standard rares I guess but to me it removes that essence of, I have a legendary you want. Either trade me for it or fight me for it.
I am not going in to this as that is a rant that requires a separate post. They have done this because they got rid of the Auction House however I feel it was unnecessary and shouldn't have been done.. But I digress.

Now the changes that require RoS:
This is where the real magic happens.

The level cap has been raised (YES!) to level 70. While still not quite as cool as having a level 100 to grind for it is nice to see that we get some additional levels and some new skills to go with it. Besides we now have paragon levels that are actually worth something to grind for.

At first glance the extra 10 levels seem mediocre. Each class only gets one extra active skill along with the obligatory 5 runes and 3 passive skills, with an additional passive skill slot at level 70. But as you play you will find these skills very refreshing and can completely change the way you play the game. Also having that fourth passive skill slot allows for some extra oomf and trust me you need all the oomf you can get for act 5.

Act V has been toned down in color and increased in atmosphere. It is closer to the original Diablo feel than any of the other acts. It's dark, foreboding and feels tense all the time. They've completely done away with the colorful world of the rest of the acts. It is a really enjoyable act and is tough as nails (I had to drop my level down to expert to finish the game once I hit level 65+). Even the story line of Act V was more enjoyable than the entire game from Act I to IV.

Also introduced in to RoS, once you have finished the game, is Adventure mode.
No longer do you need to play the story line over and over to gain those paragon levels. You get access to the entire world map between the acts and get special quests or "bounties" to complete (such as killing a certain Act Boss or special elite) where your rewards are XP, Gold, Bloodshards and Nephalim Rift Keystones.
Bloodshards allow you to buy items of random quality and stats. Much like gambling with Gheed in Diablo II. I have yet to get a good item this way but I will carry on trying! Trust me I will get my awesome items one way or another!

Yeah, this all can drop from a Horadric Cache

Nephalim keystones, when combined, open up specialised nephalim rifts. In short these are "special realms" where any monster can spawn, is packed with elites and gives you special rewards for defeating the rift guardian at the end. Tough as nails but very rewarding. They are pretty much loot runs like the Cow Level of old and the Unicorn level(Sigh) except only far more enjoyable.

If you complete all bounties in an act in one sitting you get a special Horadric Cache that acts pretty much like a radiant chest with items, items and more items. Just obviously better.


Of course I also need to make a mention here of the Crusader. The new class of the expansion. I have yet to

play as a Crusader but I have spent some time playing with others in group runs. They look enjoyable and are great for buffing a party yet they are still capable of dishing out huge amounts of damage even if they are using a shield instead of the standard dual wielding which was pretty much required for damage pre-RoS.

All in all Diablo III: RoS feels more like the game I was expecting when Diablo III first launched. Blizzard have done well to fix many of the broken systems and seem to have really listened to their player base. While the game is still fundamentally nothing like the previous installments it is still a great game now and definitely worth it to buy.

If I had to score Diablo III alone, pre 2.0 patch I would have scored it at around 6/10. But now with RoS the game is truly fantastic. It feels rewarding to play and replayability has been taken care of. It no longer feels like a drag to get through the game.




RoS, in my books, scores a solid:

9/10

Now if you'll excuse me I have some loot grinding to go do... *click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click ..........................*