everything will be alright

I've really been enjoying the game so far, after the nightmare of a time I had trying to get it to install. So far I've only made the one character, a Demon Hunter, and she's now level 28. I'm really enjoying the class; I've always played ranged classes in the previous installments of the series and this class is no exception. The whole skill system is pretty neat, I like it better than the skill trees from before, and I'm also glad there's no need for training - MMOs have me so used to having to do that, so not having to is refreshing - and no need for managing your stats, which are automatically increased. The focus is pretty much just on the gear, which some may not like, but I don't mind.

I'm in the middle of Act III right now and enjoying the story as I play through. By my own fault I got spoiled for the ending by reading the forums, d'oh, but even so I'm enjoying it. There's a prequel novel of sorts out now too that I was tempted to buy this past weekend but I already have so much to read I just couldn't justify it, but some day I will give it a read. It hasn't been too hard, just challenging enough for me on the past few boss fights, so that's been nice too. I've yet to play with anyone because I'm not at the same level as the few people I've seen online but I'd like to try that sometime too.

The fact that there's achievements to unlock is both good and bad - good in that I love getting them, and bad in that omg I love getting them and get kinda obsessed. >.> Which can sometimes suck the fun out of it, I guess, but thankfully that hasn't happened so far. I did roll my eyes at some of them - apparently for each class there's one achievement for having gotten two characters of that class to level 60 which, well. Kind of a pain because with the new skill system you don't need two separate builds, you can easily change things around on one character, so that's a bit annoying, but oh well.

The only other thing that annoys me is how huge everything is. That's not really a bad thing, because more game = more value for your dollar, but it makes it hard for me to enjoy the game in small doses. I'm pretty OCD about exploring every nook and cranny of the map, and some of them are so huge it means I can't just sit down and play for 10-15m over lunch, for example, because I'll start something I need to finish and I have to see it all omg. Putting those random satchels of tomes and lore everywhere only makes me that more committed to exploring too, heh. For example, last night I wanted to just play for 30-45m or so and got a quest to destroy three ballistae on this battlefield. I went out and started exploring and found not one but two caves on the way, and each of those had two floors. Long story short, after two hours of playing I had only done those two caves and a small part of the larger area, not having done a single part of the quest I had. Which gives you lots of value but I'll have to start that over again today, if I have the time anyway. I had fun playing it, of course, don't get me wrong, but it's sometimes a little frustrating that to play it the way I want requires more of a time commitment than I sometimes want to give. I know that that's 100% my own fault and not Blizzard's but there you have it.

So yes, two thumbs up for it, I just need to set aside more time to play, I think. :)