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Blizzard posted an article about themed builds which includes a video of a pretty bad-ass melee wizard (Mo, I'm looking in your general direction). Looks like a very viable build if you have the equipment for it.

Community Commentary: Dressed to Kill

Melee Wizard Gameplay Video on YouTube

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Stoat vs. Cat

Who gets the most points in this spar?

(I think the Stoat scored the most hits, though the cat obviously "killed" it a couple times.)

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Mo was talking about making a fire based wizard similar to my cold based wizard. So, I thought it would be cool to make a thread where people could post (and critique) elemental wizard builds.

For example:

Frostillicus (Cryomancer)
Cold Skills

My suggestion for a fire wizard:

Pyromancer
Fire Skills

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EDIT: Here is Throbble's lightning wizard build:

Electromancer, Dynomancer (?)
Lightning Skills

So, Throbble's computer died last weekend. She was starting up Diablo 3 in the morning and the graphics went all crazy and the computer froze up. Looking at back logs of crashes it was a video problem and apparently had a similar crash once before in February.

The computer was a Dell XPS 630i, one of the first (or the first) computers built using an Alienware case. I had upgraded the video card to a EVGA nVidia GeForce 9800 GTX+ and the sound card to a Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme.

First thing I tried was simply replacing the video card. I bought a EVGA nVidia GeForce GTX 550 Ti (2 gig) and stuck it in but the computer wouldn't start up. Just sat there with a black screen and beeped at me when I tried to turn it on. Next, I pulled an old GeForce 8600 from one of my old computers and the computer booted up fine. (It's worth noting that the 8600 video card doesn't require a 6-pin plug directly from the power supply.) The computer functioned like this for a couple days, Diablo 3 was playable but the graphics sucked.

After a couple days the computer stopped working again. Same issue, tried to turn it on and just got beeping. (I tried the new 550 card in my computer and it worked fine, however the 9800 was definitely toast.)

At this point I figured it must be the 750w power supply and I bought a Corsair TX 850, which is what my computer has been running on since it was built. I hooked up the new power supply with the new video card and everything booted up fine... except, the fan on the power supply wasn't spinning. Suddenly all the other fans (case, video card, CPU) kicked into high gear then the computer died. Black screen and beeping.

I took the power supply back and got another one, same make and model, and tried it. Same problem, it started up the computer but the fan on the power supply wouldn't spin.

Now I was thinking it could be a mother board problem since the motherboard controls the power supply and it seemed unlikely that I would get two bad power supplies, brand new, right out of the box. So I built a new computer from scratch (with help from my 25% raise I got this week!).

Unfortunately, the power supply fan still wouldn't spin so I took it back and got an Antec High Current Pro 850w ($40 more than the Corsair) and everything came up fine! As of last night Throbble has a fully functioning computer again!

Throbble's New Computer
Case: Antec One
Power Supply: Antec High Current Pro 850w
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5Ghz 8MB Cache
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3
Video Card: EVGA nVidia GeForce GTX 550 Ti 2GB GDDR5
Sound Card (from old computer): Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme
Hard Drive (from old computer): Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB

Lessons Learned
1. Never buy a Dell. They skimp on important parts that compromise other hardware components. (ie I'm pretty sure the dying power supply is what killed the video card.) Also, I had to remove the fucking motherboard to switch out the power supply because they strung the power cables under the motherboard!!! (WTF?!)

2. Corsair TX 850 power supplies are fucked. After doing some research I found that I had the first "version" of the power supply and no one has any problems with those. However, "version 2" is apparently based on some other power supply architecture and has an extra big fan that is notoriously faulty.

3. Don't leave a DVD in your old DVD drive. D'oh!

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One of the Diablo 3 developers posted this article yesterday explaining some of the changes they will be making to rare and legendary (and set) items.

The only thing mentioned that's actually slated for 1.0.8 is an "Identify All" button.

Developer Journal: Itemization Update

He may not know what the word "itemization" means but it makes for some interesting reading.

Some quotes:

All Legendary Items Will Scale to Monster Level

We'd like to continue with this line of reasoning and use it to make Legendaries more powerful. In the future, we plan to allow Legendary items to also roll their base stats (weapon DPS and armor value) at the level of the monster that dropped them. So, for example, if you found a Heart of Iron from a level 63 monster, its base armor would be increased to that of Archon Armor and its stat ranges would roll at level 63. This gives us the opportunity to broaden the range of Legendary items, providing players with more diversity. Love Leoric's Signet, but hate wearing a level 17 ring? Me too. Instead of farming Act II Normal to find a Leoric's Signet, let's go farm Inferno and get a level 63 version of the ring!

New Legendary Mods

We want players to feel like entire new builds can open up if they get their hand on the right items. Glimmers of this idea are already in the game with The Three Hundredth Spear and Thing of the Deep. The plan is to embrace the idea and push them to more extremes. Potential future Legendary item ideas include a Voodoo Mask that increases pet damage, a Barbarian set that makes Call of the Ancients last until they die (after we give them full pet survivability), a Wizard Orb that allowed for two Hydras to be active at once, or the "Ethereal" boots idea I posted here.

Fewer Item Drops, Better Items

As an example, suppose items currently roll between 1-100 Intelligence. Now, imagine that we dropped 25% as many items, but the Intelligence range was instead somewhere around 75-100. In the end, you'd find fewer items, but more of the items you find would be worth equipping. That's our goal.

Item Appearance Customization (This sounds like something I've been asking for since release.)

Other avenues we want to explore include providing players with vanity options or potential ways to differentiate themselves from their friends or other characters (i.e. character customization options in terms of gear). We are also exploring ways to make crafting more exciting by adding not just more ways to make appealing items, but also introducing ways to modify existing items.

New Ways to Farm Items

There are a number of ideas for how to address this long term that don't include removing the auction house outright, and most of the ideas are centered around giving players more ways to find items they are excited about:

One idea that we have discussed is "targeted Legendaries," where named NPCs have an increased chance of dropping specific legendary items. For example, The Butcher could have an increased chance of dropping The Butcher's Carver.
Another idea is that we introduce a system that will help alleviate some of the bad randomness players encounter by ensuring that at least some of the Rare and Legendary items you find will be something good for your class.
We've also discussed allowing bosses the first time you kill them in each difficulty to have a guaranteed chance to drop a Legendary.

All interesting stuff. I'd personally like to see an "imbue" option like Diablo 2. So if you find a level 63 non-magic item you can spend some gold/crafting materials to make it a random rare item of the same type.

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Link: Patch 1.0.7 Preview

Patch 1.0.7 is currently under development and many of the changes included in that update will soon be on the PTR. Before we hit you with patch notes, though (and a new client to download), here's a preview of what's coming.

Dueling
Class Updates
Crafting Additions
Monster Power Changes
Monster Affix Changes
Quality of Life Improvements

I haven't read through it yet. (I'll post more after I have.)

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FourTwoZero - Critical Whirlwind Barbarian


Biography
FourTwoZero is as dumb as they come. So much so that other barbarians are actually embarrassed by him. They say he got his name when someone tried to teach him to count so that he could better assess the battlefield. However, all he got out of the lesson was the names of three numbers, 4, 2, and 0, and the strain of learning those numbers caused him to forget his name.

Despite his staggering stupidity Four (as his friends call him) happens to be one of the most deadly barbarians to ever spin through a horde of demons. Some suggest that his lack of intellect is what gives him the ability to continuously spin without ever getting dizzy.

Concept
Originally FourTwoZero was going to be a dual-wielding Frenzy based build but I got over Frenzy pretty quick and decided to go with Whirlwind. In order to keep the build different from my other Whirlwind barb (SuperPsych) I started looking at skills that used a mechanic I hadn't really played with that much: Critical Hits. I found quite a few skills that trigger effects on critical hits and I even got a bit of a critical hit engine going.

Build: Skills

Profile: FourTwoZero


Weapons

Primary: Dual Wield, 1 Handed Axe (primary hand for Weapon Master crit chance bonus) with off-hand weapon (both with high critical damage mods)

Secondary: 1 Handed Axe and Shield


Strategy
The idea here is to keep Wrath of the Berserker (Thrive on Chaos rune) going for as long as possible. Thrive on Chaos adds 1 second to WotB for every 25 Fury gained while in WotB mode. To generate a ton of Fury I use Battle Rage (Into the Fray rune) which has a chance to generate 15 Fury every time I critical hit (I critical hit a TON with Whirlwind). With this simple combination of skills and some decent critical hit chance items I can stay in Wrath of the Berserker mode until the battle is over and there is nothing left to hit.

Passive Skills: Passive skills focus on increasing critical hit chance and elemental damage reduction.

Before Combat: Use War Cry (Impunity rune) and Battle Rage (Into the Fray rune) to boost defense and offense respectively.

Entering Combat: Leap (Death from Above rune) into the thickest group of monsters to stun as many as possible then hit with a Cleave (Scattering Blast rune). This will generate enough to max out your Fury. With Fury at max use Wrath of the Berserker and start attacking with Whirlwind (Blood Funnel rune).
 
Combat: Continue to attack with Whirlwind. The Blood Funnel rune will generate life while the Into the Fray rune generates Fury. Whenever Leap becomes available use it to stun enemies and get a quick boost of Fury.

However, even with a 52% critical hit chance you don't always generate enough Fury to keep Wrath of the Berserker going perpetually but when it does run out the cooldown is almost done allowing you to just go right back into WotB mode. If you find yourself low of Fury, one or two hits with Cleave will max it out.

Preferred Follower
Had to go for the Scoundrel when using a critical hit based build. Though I went with Hysteria instead of Anatomy because it does a lot more damage. My scoundrel currently does 9,753.36 damage.


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GameSpy's New Owners Begin Disabling Multiplayer Without Warning

"Over the last month, both game publishers and gaming communities alike were surprised to find their GameSpy multiplayer support suddenly disabled by GLU Mobile, who purchased GameSpy from IGN this August. Many games, including Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2, Microsoft Flight Simulator X, Swat 4, Sniper Elite, Hidden and Dangerous 2, Wings of War, Star Wars: Battlefront are no longer able to find (and in some cases even host) multiplayer games. While games like Neverwinter Nights are still able to directly connect to servers if players know the IP address, less-fortunate gamers expressed outrage on GLU Mobile's 'Powered by GameSpy' Facebook page. In an open letter to their Sniper Elite gaming community today, UK game developer Rebellion explained it was helpless to change the situation: 'A few weeks ago, the online multiplayer servers for Sniper Elite were suddenly switched off by Glu, the third-party service we had been paying to maintain them. This decision by Glu was not taken in consultation with us and was beyond our control. We have been talking to them since to try and get the servers turned back on. We have been informed that in order to do so would cost us tens of thousands of pounds a year

In case anyone missed it, today Overhaul Games released: Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition

Lot's of interesting improvements including multiplayer enhancements, Baldur's Gate II class kits and interface, new NPCs, new quests, completely remade cinematics, and over 400 bug fixes to the original game.

Could be fun, I'll probably check it out after my current playthrough of Planescape: Torment.

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Throbblefoot were discussing this topic last night and get into a couple lengthy debates so I decided to start a new thread to discuss the current Diablo 3 poll.

From Topic: Diablo 3 Polls

First, we got hung up on what Blizzard means by the "greatest of the Great Evils".

But of the seven demon lords who preside (or have once presided) over the forces of the Burning Hells, which is your favorite? In your mind, who do you believe is the greatest of the Great Evils?

We decided that the term "greatest" is somewhat vague but basically means which one is your favorite. Which means the criteria guiding each individual's decision will be somewhat different. So, for the purpose of the poll, we figured "greatest" can be interpreted as: "the most bad-ass Great Evil in your mind".

For instance, we discussed the difficulty of fighting each boss, keeping in mind the differences between D2 and D3 and the arena in which you fight them. Basically judging the sheer power of each boss. So, Belial may be very difficult to fight because the arena he's in is very small and he can hit anywhere the player is standing, but in a larger area Belial would be very weak as compared to the other Great Evils.

But, we also considered the story line aspect of each Great Evil:

How far-reaching was each Great Evil's plan in the overall scheme of things? How effective was each Great Evil at carrying out their plan? Was Belial, the Lord of Lies, really as bad at deceit as he appears or was his impersonation of Emperor Hakan II supposed to be that transparent? Andariel and Duriel lead the lesser evils to victory over the prime evils, it turns out that was the prime evil's plan all along. And when did the other Great Evils even become aware of Diablo's plans to beat them all?

We got stuck on talking about how much of a douche bag Belial could potentially be so I'm sure I'll have more thoughts to post on the matter this weekend.

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Throbble sent this to me today from work:

From: XKDC





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Jimmy James - Critical Strafe Demon Hunter


Biography
Jimmy James was born possessing a powerful link to the Realm of Shadow. While this link resulted in him being physically weak and sickly, it also granted him the ability to partially shift his physical being into the Realm of Shadow for short periods of time. He found that by shifting into this incorporeal "shadow-state" he could sense, react, and move with supernatural speed, enabling him to avoid hazardous situations and mitigate the damage from potentially lethal wounds. This link also gave him the somewhat sinister ability to leech the life from the physical realm. Talents which he put to by use by ridding the local farms of vermin and thieves (for a small fee of course).

One day, a passing Demon Hunter stopped to admire Jimmy's skill with the bow as Jimmy sped like a dark whirlwind through an orchard harvesting the apples by shooting their stems. When the day's work was done the Demon Hunter approached Jimmy and offered to teach him the ways of the Demon Hunter. The prospect of more challenging targets and greater rewards was enough to convince Jimmy to leave his boring old life behind and hunt some fresh meat for a change.

Currently Jimmy James is working on a personal achievement of killing 100,000 demons. ("Hunter or Hunted" Demon Hunter class achievement.)


Concept
Jimmy James is a critical-hit-based engine which allows him to perpetually attack using Strafe as long as there are enemies to hit. The basic idea is to spend Hatred to attack with Strafe, spend Discipline to refill Hatred with Preparation (Punishment rune), and then critical hits from continued Strafe attack refills Discipline with the Night Stalker passive skill.

Hatred -> Strafe attack/critical hits -> Discipline -> Hatred (repeat)

Defensively, the Demon Hunter class is jacked in my opinion. There are no skills to boost dodge, which, as a defense, was already pretty weak even before they removed the ability to dodge reflect damage in 1.0.5. And the change to the passive skill Perfectionist only gives a meager +10% boost to armor and resists.

So, basically, the only real defense a Demon Hunter has is movement, which is completely negated by cramped areas (like Belial's battle). With this in mind I tried to lean towards offensive skills that I could use while moving.

Build: Skills

Profile: JimmyJames


Weapons

Primary: Preferably 2 Hand Crossbows with 50% or higher Critical Hit Damage mod and socketed emerald or a Hand Crossbow and Quiver with Critical Hit Chance mod (currently using a Crossbow with a socketed emerald)

Secondary: Hand Crossbow/Shield with Critical Hit Chance mod


Strategy
This build requires items with increased Critical Hit Chance to maintain the Strafe engine (detailed above) and boots with increased movement speed since mobility is the primary (only) defense. In addition, items with Life on Hit mods and Critical Hit Damage are extremely effective with this build but not required. Optimally you want to have Sentry, Rain of Vengeance, and Strafe all going at the same time while maneuvering through combat avoiding melee and ranged attacks.

When up against unavoidable damage (such as Reflect Damage elites) this build can switch to "defensive mode" by standing in the Sentry's healing aura and attacking with Hungering Arrow while spamming Shadow Power (Gloom rune) every 5 seconds for damage reduction and life steal.

Passive Skills: The Strafe engine requires Night Stalker to build up Discipline while Archery can provide either increased Critical Hit Chance or Critical Hit Damage depending on the weapon equipped. Perfectionist is used more for the 10% discipline cost reduction (which works with the Punishment rune) than for the paltry 10% increase to armor and resists.

Before Combat: Nothing to do but be on your guard. You always want to attack from as far away as possible so stop advancing as soon as you see an enemy.

Entering Combat: First use Rain of Vengeance (Dark Cloud rune) and put down a Sentry (Aid Station rune). Then Strafe forward and back in a zigzag to kite enemies toward the Sentry while avoiding ranged attacks.
 
Combat: Continue to strafe around/near the Sentry until your Hatred runs low then use Preparation (Punishment rune) to refill Hatred. (NOTE: Make sure to use Preparation before your Hatred runs out completely so you never stop strafing. If you use Preparation when you are not strafing you will have to wait for the cast animation to complete before you can begin strafing.) Whenever you refill your Hatred put a second Sentry down if you only have one out. Recast Rain of Vengeance whenever it becomes available.

Against monsters that can stay in melee range or that have the Reflect Damage affix, use the defensive tactics described under "Strategy".

Preferred Follower
Because of this build's focus on Critical Hit Chance, the Scoundrel follower provides an almost constant 10% boost to damage with the Hysteria skill. Follower equipment has Critical Hit Chance, Critical Hit Damage or both.

(Originally this build used the Enchantress for crowd control, ranged defense (which was a LOT cooler pre-1.0.5), and increased attack speed. However, when I switched to a critical hit build I decided the Scoundrel was a better compliment.)
Link to damage comparison using this build in conjunction with different follower skills.


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A new event was added with the release of the 1.0.5 patch.

New Event: The Infernal Machine

The Components
To craft the Infernal Machine, players will first need to collect four components from powerful Keywardens in each Act of Inferno:

The Key of Destruction will drop from Odeg the Keywarden in Act I - Fields of Misery
The Key of Hate will drop from Sokahr the Keywarden in Act II - Dahlgur Oasis
The Key of Terror will drop from Xah'Rith the Keywarden in Act III - Stonefort
The Infernal Machine Blacksmithing Plans will drop from Nekarat the Keywarden in Act IV - Silver Spire Level 1

Players will be able to encounter the Keywardens in any difficulty, but only in Inferno and with a full five stacks of Nephalem Valor will they have a chance to drop pieces of the Infernal Machine. While Monster Power is not required, each level will increase the drop rate of both the keys and the plans by 10%, all the way up to a guaranteed 100% drop chance at Monster Power 10.

The Device
After all the components have been collected, they can be assembled in town at the Blacksmith. Your Blacksmith will need to be level 10 in order to learn the Legendary plans, and he'll require 12,000 gold to forge the device in his furnaces.

Once assembled, the powers of the Infernal Machine can only be unleashed in one location -- a cellar in New Tristram known simply as the Heretic's Abode. To activate the device, enter the cellar (located just behind Brother Malachi the Healer) and right-click the item in your inventory. This will summon an ominous red portal that will lead you to a demonic realm where you'll be pitted against a pair of Sanctuary's most nefarious villains.

Activating the Infernal Machine will also destroy it, so to open another portal, you must craft the device anew. This process will include recollecting each of the three wardens' keys as well paying another 12,000 gold to the Blacksmith. (Don't worry about the plans -- once you've trained your Blacksmith, they will remain available in your crafting list for use at any time.)

The Bosses
Those brave enough to step through the Infernal Machine's ominous output will be transported to one of three randomly selected Realms of Pure Evil, where a predetermined pair of bosses awaits:

In the Realm of Discord, King Leoric and Maghda guard the Royal Crypts.

In the Realm of Chaos, Ghom and Rakanoth defend the Larder.

Finally, in the Realm of Turmoil, Siege Breaker and Zoltun Kulle protect the Edge of the Abyss.

In terms of difficulty, the encounters will be about as challenging as the Diablo fight in Inferno, and each "uber" boss will retain their full arsenal of base spells and abilities. Many of the abilities are more powerful, and certain bosses have even come up with new tricks to test those who dare to enter their domain.

If you happen to fall while battling one these Infernal foes, don't worry -- as long as you don't leave your game session, you can release and restart the encounter at any time by clicking on the very same portal you created. Similarly, even after both bosses have been slain, your portal will remain active in the Heretic's Abode until your game session has ended, which means that if you're out of inventory space, you're welcome to leave and return without losing your loot.

(Please note that you cannot be sent to the same Realm of Pure Evil twice in a single game session. This means that if you create or have access to four or more Infernal Machine devices, in order to use all of them, you'll need to start up a brand new game once you've opened up three portals.)

The Rewards
For successfully defeating a boss pair, players will be rewarded with extra items and gold. In addition, they will also have a chance to harvest demonic organs from each of their fallen foes, which can be used to create a Legendary item of unique power: the Hellfire Ring.

Three organ pieces will be needed to forge the Hellfire Ring:
The Writhing Spine, which drops from King Leoric or Maghda in the Realm of Discord
The Devil's Fang, which drops from Ghom or Rakanoth in the Realm of Chaos
The Vengeful Eye, which drops from Siegebreaker or Zoltun Kulle in the Realm of Turmoil
Similar to the wardens' keys, a full five stacks of Nephalem Valor will be required for the organ pieces to drop, and each level of Monster Power will increase their drop rate by 10%.

Once all of the organs have been collected, they can be combined at the Jeweler using a new design available for purchase from Squirt the Peddler. This design will teach your level 10 Jeweler four variations of the ring: the Hellfire Ring of Intelligence, the Hellfire Ring of Strength, the Hellfire Ring of Dexterity, and the Hellfire Ring of Vitality. Depending on which variation you choose, your ring will be guaranteed to roll one primary stat with a set value range of 170-200.

In addition to the guaranteed primary stat, each ring will always have the following:

+35% Experience
+4 Random Magical Properties
No Level Requirement
Bind on Account
Chance to launch an explosive Hellfire ball when you attack
The Hellfire Ring will be considered Unique-Equipped, which means that players can only wear one at a time. Your followers will be able to equip the ring, however, and given the boost to experience and absence of a level requirement, the rings make excellent heirlooms to be passed down to each of your alts. If you no longer find the need for one of your rings, simply salvage it for materials at your local Blacksmith. So create one or create more -- the choice is up to you!

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The newest Sound Blaster drivers from Creative, called "ALchemy", includes support for Environmental Audio (EAX) in older games that run under newer operating systems like Windows Vista and Windows 7!

Last week I finally got tired of my new computer's sucktastic on-boar sound card so I bought myself an old Sound Blaster Audigy SE for $29. After I downloaded and installed the newest autoupdater from Creative I started up ALchemy and it listed Diablo 2 and Neverwinter Nights as games I had installed that couldn't use EAX because Windows 7 doesn't support it. So I turned on EAX support for those games in ALchemy and now the options are no longer faded out in those game's sound options and I was able to enable environmental audio.

The drivers can be found on Creative's Sound Blaster web site.

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Homer Simpson votes for Mitt Romney

Watch it and laugh, damn you, laugh!

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