After getting my Crusader to level 35, I did a 16 hour Reaper of Souls marathon on my Demon Hunter, completing Act V in a single sitting. If you’ve yet to tackle this monster, prepare for a long haul; Act V is longer than the dreaded Act II. There are so many events squeezed in to single maps.
Game Play:
Act V drops you right back into the action. It takes a bit to get a town hub though, but there aren’t many item drops before that. There isn’t a lot to mention in the way of game play, it’s no different from Diablo 3‘s game play before Reaper of Souls. The only thing of note is the increased amount of telegraphs.
Telegraphs:
Reaper of Souls added a lot of telegraphs into the game. Whether it’s just exploring areas, fighting massive waves of enemies, or a single boss there are a lot of warning signs for dangerous things. Some of these I’ve not learned how to dodge myself, just be prepared to move a lot.
Here’s an example of a telegraph we’re all familiar with from the original game. We all hate Frozen.
New Content:
I won’t go too in-depth with this as I don’t wish to spoil anything, but the amount of content is amazing. I’ll break this down into three sections; Campaign, Adventure, and Crusader.
Campaign:
This is the meat and potatoes of Reaper of Souls. Act V to me feels longer than the dreaded Act II. I literally spent 16 hours of uninterrupted game time completing the new story. It’s very rewarding to those who, like me, have to search every nook and cranny. There are a lot of dungeons and events placed in far out places.
The hidden gems from the Lore Books really caught my interest. Also, make sure you talk to your NPCs in town. That’s all I’ll say on that, but believe me it’s worth it.
The only negative I found within the campaign mode is the difficulty. In some places it feels like the developers over compensated the difficulty to make the game take longer. For example, there is a monster that does a charge attack; this attack kills my Demon Hunter in one hit. That’s fine, but it can be done at point-blank range after just finishing the attack once. It’s little nuances like this that caused me to rate RoS at 9 instead of a 10.
Adventure Mode:
Adventure Mode is basically a free-for-all mode. Go where you want, and do what you want. The catch is that completing the suggested bounties opens up special dungeons.
Completing bounties also gives you Bloodshards that are exchanged for gear. I haven’t gone too in-depth into Adventure Mode yet, so I’ve yet to reap the full benefits. It’s a really interesting concept for those that have completed the game multiple times. Now you get to mix it up and do things your way.
Crusader:
Crusader is the first true tank released. Unlike the Monk, the Crusader also has a taunt to hold monsters so that other people can wreak havoc on them. It really synergizes with multiplayer. I’d recommend making friends with a Crusader to farm Torment 6 for Paragon levels.
I’m happy with how versatile the Crusader is. With an option to go full tank, CC, ranged, or straight DPS, it’s all in how you want to play it. I really like the fact that there is no WIN build for the Crusader. Thanks to having a Hellfire Ring of Strength, I’ve been able to solo Torment 2-3 on my Crusader. I dropped to Torment 2 for the Skeleton King just to make sure I could kill him.
I recommend giving the Crusader a play if you’ve picked up Reaper of Souls. Overall I gave the expansion a 9 out of 10 for the minor difficulty overcompensation in Act V. I left out details on the Mystic due to the fact that I have yet to use the feature. I’d like to see what you think in the comments below, whether you agree or disagree.
