Category Archives: Games

Rogue, my main character (currently level 73).

Necromancer, my alt.

Been playing Diablo IV a LOT. The game has a pretty aggressive scaling system where each time you level up and get more powerful, the monsters do too (this takes away the power fantasy of gearing up to overpower your enemies). A LOT of people have been talking about it, mostly negative feedback too. I was one of the people against it earlier, but I was wrong.

I’m at level 73 now, and I’ve spent the time to find the right pieces with the right stats, then added the right affixes to upgrade them all into Legendaries (such a good system!), and I have to say, where I struggled in Tier 4 Helltides and solo dungeon runs before (had to use potions) I now melt everything and never once have to use a potion to heal.

I get that in a few more levels time I’ll have to probably get rid of my current min-maxed gear and find upgrades, but that’s the loop, right?! You sometimes feel too weak, but then you get to a stage where you feel like it’s challenging but fun, then you get to a stage where you feel like a God. Rinse and repeat.

Maybe the scaling will be an issue as I progress more levels (people at 80+ seem to think so), but the more I play the game the more I love it. Still feels very much like a solo game, but the Helltide events are awesome fun. I hate countdown mechanics in most games, but farming enough cinders to open 2 mystery chests and 2 normal chests as the timer runs down is addicting. A true hour of power. Love the world bosses too.

Today I stepped down as leader of Australia Clan. I’ve been playing a lot of Diablo IV and trying to keep up with Diablo Immortal, but I’ve never been able to play more than one game at the same time. I figure I might still be able to play Diablo Immortal as a casual, especially if I step down from a leadership role.

Here’s the announcement I shared with the clan:

Hi all! Just wanted to let everyone know that I’ve decided to step down as co-lead of Australia Clan.

Initialy I was hesitant to step up to the role, but thankfully Tazzly was willing to co-lead with me. I couldn’t have done it without him. Special thanks to our officers Lunate, Sausage and DarkSader too for the hard work, support and voice of reason when I needed it.

Much thanks to all of you. Especially those who have been with us from the start, and stayed with us when there was a change in leadership. I love you guys!

It’s been a wild ride! I’m very much looking forward to enjoying Diablo Immortal as an Australia Clan member without the added responsibilities of running a clan.

Much gratitude X.

Mummy!

Just my initial thoughts on Diablo 4 (D4), specifically in comparison to Diablo Immortal (DI).

1. Diablo Immortal feels a lot faster (both movement and combat). I’m sure my build in D4 will get faster in the end game when I unlock more movement abilities, but straight off the bat, DI is faster (both movement and combat). DI is also more ‘zoomed in’ (field of view) than D4 which also makes it feel faster.

2. DI is a lot easier than D4. DI is just so much more casual. You can literally just stand there and kill mobs. D4 involves a lot more work, placement and timing, all in all it’s just more involved. D4 unfortunatly makes it so enemies scale to your level, so even if you go back to a starting area, those enemies scale to your level. I’m not sure this is a good thing as you never quite feel radically more powerful despite getting better gear and levelling up.

3. The D4 story is dark, real dark! Great character development so far (your character speaks too and appears in all cut scenes which is awesome). I’m only at the start of Act II, but I’ve already found that the dungeons all look and feel a bit sameish (whereas DI’s dungeons all look and play so different to each other).

4. The skill tree in D4 is HUGE. The game allows for so much build diversity it’s actually insane and no 2 players would ever have the exact same build in the game. Anyone who loves build crafting and min-maxing will love this system (that’s me!).

5. DI feels like an MMO, D4 does not. In-game chat just doesn’t work or feel the same and right now the clan system is a skeleton in D4 (no benefits to joining a clan at all), and PVP is not a mode, but instead just 2 areas on the map (no leaderboards, nothing).

SO far, so good. I wouldn’t say I’m hooked just yet, but I’ll at the very least finish off the main story quest before putting it down.

PS: Cross posted this to reddit and it’s gotten pretty good upvotes and engagement: https://www.reddit.com/r/DiabloImmortal/comments/13ysmom/my_initial_thoughts_on_diablo_4_vs_diablo_immortal

MVP with zero deaths!

Been a while since I’ve done a game update: I got tired of being slayed by Monks with way less resonance than me in Diablo Immortal PVP Battlegrounds matches. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em?! Necro for life, but I finally decided to class change to Monk.

The game forces you to grind for new gear for your new class, so I’ve been playing the game quite a lot lately in order to get my build right. The first few days were miserable as I not only didn’t have the gear, I also had no idea what I was doing as the Monk playstyle is so different to the Necromancer, but I’m happy to say that I stuck with it, and a week in I’m starting to do really well!

PS: One essential Monk skill is called “Shield of Zen”. Maybe it was meant to be?!

It’s been challenging co-leading my gaming clan (Australia in Diablo Immortal) over the past few months. Lots of ups and downs, but as of this morning we’re the Immortals of our server! I wrote up this announcement on our clan discord to thank all 100 of our members.

Hey all, this morning we woke up as Immortals!

Just wanted to say thanks to all who stuck with us through the leadership change, and to all members both new and old who put in the energy to push Shadow Wars over the past few weeks, we did it!

Special thanks to all our officers for morale support, especially Lunate for being our rock through our climb to the top. Thanks to Tazz for pushing me to be a better co-leader. Tazz and I are different people, with different values. We’ve butt heads, but we’ve worked through our differences and come out stronger each and every time.

In the past, in multiple IRL businesses I’ve run, I’ve found myself walking away from it all when shit hits the fan with my business partners. I think that was immaturity on my behalf. Working through stuff with Tazz. Listening to his ideas, thoughts and values in relation to the clan has been both challenging and highly rewarding.

The proof is in the pudding!

Loving the vibe in-game today. It feels like a reward for all the hard work and also a fresh start. Sure, not all of you will enjoy being an Immortal, but let’s just enjoy it whilst we can, and be happy for those who have never tried the Immortal experience in Diablo Immortal.

Have a great week all!

We won all our wars this week and we’re back in the top 10 clans on the server. SO GOOD! Very proud of my clan!

A post I made on reddit gets read out in it’s entirety in this video.

I’ve read through a LOT of complaints people have with DI since launch, but there’s one problem which I believe is greater than all, and that’s the Shadow vs Immortal mechanic.

Our clan was once super competitive and we became Immortals on our server. At some stage, due to politics, our leader crumbled under the stress involved in running our clan. The same thing happened to our next leader. I now find myself as the leader and I’m trying my best to not let the politics ruin the fun, but it’s not been easy.

At this stage of the game (especially since the server merges) it’s quite clear that only the strongest clans will become Immortal, and the Immortals will only align with the 2 strongest Shadow Clans. This means that it’s now probably impossible for many players to experience what it’s like to be Immortals in the game.

Since launch, after each rite we lose our strongest players who leave us to join the new Immortals. Never mind how much we’ve gotten to know each other (we have a very active discord and in-game chat, some of us have even met up IRL), and all those hours helping each other get our characters stronger. For some, the desire to become Immortal is above all.

The devs have created a game that pits us against each other and it’s obvious that this is by design, but in reality we’re more like minded than people may realise. Most of us in our clan live in the same country and we love playing Diablo, yet the mechanics of the game creates tension, much of it negative.

When you’re an Immortal you sometimes feel like many players on the server despise you. When you’re competitive you’ve got to have spies to manipulate and collect information on potential alliances which need to be made in order to become the next Immortals.

You can get lost in all the politics of the game, or you could simply choose to have fun and ignore it (and potentially lose a lot of clan members who desire to become Immortals). Personally I’ve tried to focus on what my clan does have, and that’s a great community of great people, but I’m also facing the reality that we’re probably not going to be Immortals again any time soon (or ever) as most of our clan are low spenders (I’m now the only one left with 3K res in the clan).

Whilst I understand that this is the nature of the game. I’m not 100% sure if the devs truly meant for it to get to where it’s at right now. IE: That in order to be Immortal you’re going to need a clan full spenders, and if you’re a F2P player, you might never get the chance to experience what being an Immortal is all about.

Would especially like to hear thoughts from other clan leaders, and whether or not you guys and gals might have suggestions on dealing with the politics.

/rant.

PS: Happy New Years!

I made this post on reddit, it’s getting some great responses! Check: https://www.reddit.com/r/DiabloImmortal/comments/1006yl2/the_one_true_biggest_problem_with_this_game/