TBH a lot of your points are very narrow minded/backwards thinking.
1) Firstly 4 players per game
-Easier to get a full game Same as entering Max 4 players in D2
-Makes balancing difficulties on no. of players easier Yes, considering all that happened in D2 was the enemies scaled with any number of players in game
-limits spam/add bots effectiveness (hopefully remove them all together)Nope, just means that there will be fewer slots in each game since ad bots don't have human reaction times
-Reduced Lagmost lag is client side due to video cards or client side issues, server side all that is recorded is position, so this is a false assertion
-With the massive graphics upgrade on a lot of abilities it would make for some intense system requirements with 8 players. As I've said before this logic would require that games STILL be developed for the C64
Depends how it plays out, but atm it looks like win, win, win, WIN. or lose, lose, lose, LOSE.
2) No stat allocation.
I'm personally for as much customisability as possible and at first this sounded like a downer... but seriously think about how stat allocation went in Diablo 2...
Strength: - Enough to wear the "best" gear Now only Barbs can do that, apparently physical exercise for other classes is anathema
Dexterity: - None, or enough to wear gear/max block Differed entirely depending on class and build, such as Druids choosing to max dex for attack, Paladins choosing between a lot for Zeal or none for Charge, Barbs needing Dex for Wizardspike in singing builds, etc., etc.
Vitality: - Every point that wasn't needed in Strength/Dexterity Which varied greatly depending on build.
Energy: - None ever.... as long as you only EVER played the cookie cutter builds and never EVER tried builds like the all energy Sorc...
And don't try to say otherwise because most serious players this was exactly how the points were spent, and because of this, hell difficulty was tuned based on the assumption that all players there had a similar stat distribution. This is not customisation, this is pigeon holing.
I never liked the stat allocation system in D2 except for the one class where it mattered, the dragon tail Kick Assassin.
The one positive thing was that it allowed for creative random builds like melee casters etc.... but even some of those (such as energy shield sorcs) were over powered.
Overall it just makes balancing easier, and is less harsh on beginners. I WILL say otherwise because your assertion is false and disregards entire sites dedicated to MULTIPLE builds with wildly varying stat placement. It IS customization because you're making a customized choice, whether you choose to be a sheep or unique is up to you. Let us not forget the Naked Sorc who made it through Hell Difficulty Act 5...
3) Potions/Life Leech.
Again Blizzard have stated multiple times why they wanted these two things to go, basically you get anout potions and life leech and you are invincible... you gain life faster than you lose it and it's a never ending resource. THEREFORE the only way to challenge you is to make monsters/bosses that can one shot you... and how fun is being invincible 90% of the time and then killed in one hit?
This also adds strategy to how you move in combat, if you need a heal and there are multiple zombies in between you and the orb you have to get around them (or kill them) some how instead of mindlesly charging to the next area.
Right, there were never lance babas with 33% or more life leech that died all the time in Chaos Sanctuary. Or the fact to get high enough Life Leech to make you "invincible" sacrificed gear in other areas that still made you vulnerable. Or the fact that unless its softcore, NONE of those concerns matter. And exactly how do kill a bunch of enemies when your continued killing hangs on the balance of getting to a life orb? This is a dumb way of doing things, if I want Legend of Zelda I'll go play that.
4) Runewords
Subject to personal opinion, however these were the single worst thing to happen to Diablo 2.
They started out rediculously underpowered, or average, but requiring expensive/rare runes, and ended up being completely over powered, to the point where everyone had teleport, 5 aura's, and multiple rediculous runewords....
Once again the game became balanced around this and makes it impossible for the casual gamer to enjoy, because the game is set to "runeword difficulty"
So you're blaming the tool for the problem? That's like saying its the hammer's fault you hit your thumb. Its simply a matter of Blizzard not playbalancing the Runewords, and towards the end of LoD and the latest patches, there was a distinct lack of thought going into any item balance, runeword or otherwise. The problem wasn't the runewords themselves, but the way Blizzard balanced them. Had they had more concern for their game, it would have been a simple matter to tweak stats. But, just like in D1, once the game is old enough they quit worrying about it and cease support.
5) In regards to the "suspense/horror" being taken away because characters are too powerful....
There was a post from a D3 dev mentioning that normal mode would be very easy and nightmare/hell would be the challenging area's. This is so that the new players are not immediately put off by a steep learning curve, it also makes leveling multiple alternate characters less painful (at least in the early stage)
I also don't recall Diablo 2 ever being that challenging in normal unless you got rushed...
Go back and try to beat Duriel at level 18-20 without twink gear. Or fighting Mephisto, Diablo, the Ancients or Baal without some highlevel coming in to do the dirty work for you. D2 was VERY challenging if played as intended, as any will be.
Massive conclusion... I've seen far too many posts, bagging something they haven't tried, something that isn't finished and claiming "they are never going to play D3 now". Please stop with the ignorant/narrow minded postings and if the game that is far from completion upsets you that much... go for a bike ride, listen to some music... do something else and don't worry about it.
Massive conclusion, I've seen far too many posts, defending something they haven't tried, something that isn't finished and claiming "they're going to pay and play regardless of the finished product". Please stop with the ass-kissing defensive postings, and if the concerns of hardcore gamers upsets you that much... go for a bike ride, listen to some emo music... do something else and stop infringing upon other's right to voice their opinions.
It isn't even in Alpha and people are treating it as if it's about to be released tomorrow and is finalised.
It will be too late to change anything once it IS finalized. Might want to consider that.
I saw a lot of posts where u guys complain about having to epic classes, but if u recall the suggestions of a few months ago there where some who suggested to have nephalems or angel classes or demon classes... if u are an angel of course u'll be epic... so ok, it's a wizard or a WD with swarms... they're what we requested
I'm personally for as much customisability as possible and at first this sounded like a downer... but seriously think about how stat allocation went in Diablo 2...
Strength: - Enough to wear the "best" gear
Dexterity: - None, or enough to wear gear/max block
Vitality: - Every point that wasn't needed in Strength/Dexterity
Energy: - None ever....
And don't try to say otherwise because most serious players this was exactly how the points were spent, and because of this, hell difficulty was tuned based on the assumption that all players there had a similar stat distribution. This is not customisation, this is pigeon holing.
I never liked the stat allocation system in D2 except for the one class where it mattered, the dragon tail Kick Assassin.
The one positive thing was that it allowed for creative random builds like melee casters etc.... but even some of those (such as energy shield sorcs) were over powered.
No one (sane) is saying the D2 system worked out the way it was supposed to, but D3 was a chance for them to perfect a deepening element to the RPG aspect to Diablo. Instead they completely removed it, which does, as you said, remove the possibility of wacky class types, like a Wizard who stops time, then runs in slashing with an axe, or a Witch Doctor who uses bows from behind his zombie wall.
Also, the removal of runewords really reduces the effectiveness of pumping only vit, because with rune words you always knew how much str you needed to use them. With rare items becoming a focus again, people will (oops, would have been) reluctant to skimp on str or dex incase they found a powerful weapon or strong armor/shield.
As for the 4 player thing, some people like chaotic, frantic gameplay. Think of the huge fan base for games like Starcraft, Marvel vs. Capcom, Super Smash Bros. Melee – games where if you looked away for a second, oops, you're dead!
Of course some people don't like super fast games, so they can (oops, could have) set the player limit to what they want.
What I'm getting at is this: All of these things could have been options, but Blizzard is forcing people to play one way only; it's their way or the high way now, and less options is always less fun.
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D3 Pros: Outdoors environment, night time environment, female Barbarian, rune spell system, the Wizard class
D3 Cons: Fantasy architecture, fantasy armor, fanstasy weapons, no shaders.
For starters you are using a lot of anecdotal evidence, and a lot of your "counter points" are based off your opinion, where as mine are based of comments by blizzard employees and the Diablo 3 Dev team...
Who's more likely to have a better understanding of the game and where it's heading... someone who hasn't even played it, or the people making it?
All I see is people looking for a new thing to bitch about, "waahh it's too colourful", "waahhh no potions", "waahhh new inventory system", "waahh it's just like wow", "waahh no runewords", "waahh auto stat allocation".
You're allowed your opinion and you're allowed to disagree/complain, but the fact is you are being completely biased in these opinions and anyone elses opinion that doesn't agree with yours is invalid, because they are "fan boys" or "brown nosers"... It reeks of hypocracy and is quite frankly pathetic.
Anyway, enjoy stressing out over a game, that has years of development ahead of it, that you will have no real impact upon it's design process....
I hope those extra years taken off your life are worth it.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"If we're actually making the game worse with no other reason than to be different from WoW, then it's a bad choice." - Jay Wilson (D3 lead designer)
It will be too late to change anything once it IS finalized. Might want to consider that.
No one (sane) is saying the D2 system worked out the way it was supposed to, but D3 was a chance for them to perfect a deepening element to the RPG aspect to Diablo. Instead they completely removed it, which does, as you said, remove the possibility of wacky class types, like a Wizard who stops time, then runs in slashing with an axe, or a Witch Doctor who uses bows from behind his zombie wall.
Also, the removal of runewords really reduces the effectiveness of pumping only vit, because with rune words you always knew how much str you needed to use them. With rare items becoming a focus again, people will (oops, would have been) reluctant to skimp on str or dex incase they found a powerful weapon or strong armor/shield.
As for the 4 player thing, some people like chaotic, frantic gameplay. Think of the huge fan base for games like Starcraft, Marvel vs. Capcom, Super Smash Bros. Melee – games where if you looked away for a second, oops, you're dead!
Of course some people don't like super fast games, so they can (oops, could have) set the player limit to what they want.
What I'm getting at is this: All of these things could have been options, but Blizzard is forcing people to play one way only; it's their way or the high way now, and less options is always less fun.
D3 Pros: Outdoors environment, night time environment, female Barbarian, rune spell system, the Wizard class
D3 Cons: Fantasy architecture, fantasy armor, fanstasy weapons, no shaders.
For starters you are using a lot of anecdotal evidence, and a lot of your "counter points" are based off your opinion, where as mine are based of comments by blizzard employees and the Diablo 3 Dev team...
Who's more likely to have a better understanding of the game and where it's heading... someone who hasn't even played it, or the people making it?
All I see is people looking for a new thing to bitch about, "waahh it's too colourful", "waahhh no potions", "waahhh new inventory system", "waahh it's just like wow", "waahh no runewords", "waahh auto stat allocation".
You're allowed your opinion and you're allowed to disagree/complain, but the fact is you are being completely biased in these opinions and anyone elses opinion that doesn't agree with yours is invalid, because they are "fan boys" or "brown nosers"... It reeks of hypocracy and is quite frankly pathetic.
Anyway, enjoy stressing out over a game, that has years of development ahead of it, that you will have no real impact upon it's design process....
I hope those extra years taken off your life are worth it.
In WOTLK, the new Profession allows you to customize your spells/skills, probably to do the exact same thing that Diablo3 is doing with their runes.
Haha, yeah. I forget what the exact profession is called, but. I dunno. I think it works a lot better with Diablo than with WoW.