The Queue: Another day in spider hell

It’s just another day (another daily) at the office, unfortunately. But instead of being doom and gloom about today’s responsibilities, let’s talk video games. Let’s Queue.

Pirates have, I don’t know, a certain je ne sais quoi. They have a very clear-cut sense of style and a certain swagger. I imagine they’re easy to design around. All I have to do is type “pirate” and and a certain sort of image probably comes immediately to mind.

If I type “Briefest,” or perhaps “Oktoberfest,” you might imagine a beer stein, but not necessarily something that immediately suggests a particular style.

So I can see why the dramatic swoop of a pirate coat with a quasi-military epaulette might be an appealing design. I’m not sure it works in yellow and gold the same way it worked in red and gold, or whether I’m terribly excited about two colors of pirate crocolisk in the next Trading Post, but either way it’s what we’ve got.

Bravery isn’t not being afraid of spider hell, it’s walking into spider hell even when you are afraid of spider hell. (And come on, we’re all at least a little afraid of spider hell.)

Gotta prove you’ve done the work! They’ll never believe you if you don’t at least come back covered in blood, or offer the head (or other body part) of their enemies, or perhaps some unique piece of jewelry. The modern quest giver is tough, and they’re going to want to know that you really saw their quest through.

Also with Blizzard’s current technology, it’s rare that I’ve had to wait long for respawns, even if someone has come by just before me to clear out an area.

Never forget that the angels in the Diablo universe are bigger jerks than the demons. Even though the game typically focuses on fighting demons, the angels are still out there, and they think humanity is an abomination, a creation that never should have been. Inarius and Malthael both, at various times, sought to act on that and eliminate the people of Sanctuary, and it’s telling that they have both been stymied by mortal hands.

The mistake Inarius made was to assume he could “fix” his sins by destroying Lilith or his children. That would assume the angels were capable of mercy or forgiveness… or even capable of caring. Instead most of the angels we’ve seen are rigid and uncaring — Auriel, Archangel of Hope, being the closest thing to an exception. And even she seems distant from the cares of the world below.

Good and evil in Sanctuary aren’t quite so clear cut. Demons may her our enemies, but that doesn’t necessarily make angels our friends.

I like it! I think it will fit the pace of the game much better: it already feels like you finish leveling around 50 because the power progression system stops and is replaced with the typically less obvious powers of the Paragon system. Going through the next 50 levels, four paragon points at a time, just didn’t feel like progression in the same way.

It felt more like treading water, as threats (higher level Nightmare Dungeons or Pit levels) grew increasingly difficult, while the paragon points you spent intermittently didn’t feel nearly strong enough to bridge the gap. Instead you’re stuck gearing up and changing talents around to find the right combinations of defense and damage. Paragon points add up, but they don’t feel impactful one at a time, and I think that’s part of what makes the post-50 grind feel more tedious.

So breaking post-50 into its own advancement system makes a lot of sense, giving these two leveling systems a clean divide between them. And no more of that lengthy grind to max level (even though you won’t be maxing out your paragon immediately at 50, or 60).

And that’s all for now my friends. I hope you have a good holiday weekend — if you have a holiday to look forward to — or just a good weekend otherwise. Get some rest, pet your dogs and/or cats, and be sure to drink plenty of water. (Maybe not all at the same time though.) I’ll see you back here next week.