@Equinox
Sounds good man. In the future, I'll space out my paragraphs so it's easier to read. I agree that involuntary sharing of your stuff isn't optimal and that having a choice to share was my initial thought at the get-go. I was just saying that I didn't mind if it was free knowledge to everyone and that I didn't think it would be so horrible. But clearly, it would be best to have the option to choose, like you, others and I have said.
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"let the good times roll, in case God doesn't show"
Many players "need" this ability even though you do not.
And while the economy is more "needed" than an armory, it is still something that can be done inside or outside the game/Blizzard. Because Blizzard knows there will be sites that offer this info, they may as well do it themselves.
When it comes down to it, since it is in WoW, I do not see how it will not be used in Diablo. Especially since PvP, where gear/build secrecy is needed the most is not as important in Diablo as it is in WoW.
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Not exactly. Need is relative to a goal you're trying to achieve. The goals I can imagine in Diablo III are as follows:
- You need it to survive in Hell.
Definitely not. As I said, there will be guides, and websites, which will tell you what to do if you can't figure it out yourself. Diablo II is proof of that, and so is EVE.
- You need it to beat someone in PvP.
EVE is very good proof otherwise.
- You need it to maximize your character.
Invalid because there's no way to know what is maximized, and especially if you find that great build and start making new ones, you may never find the best build out there.
And while the economy is more "needed" than an armory, it is still something that can be done inside or outside the game/Blizzard.
The economy is needed in any game that offers trade in any way, shape, or form. If Diablo II had no trade function I would agree with you. But giving a trade function to players means you need an economy. This directly affects the game, and economy is needed to decrease any negative impacts it may have, such as players outside the game having extensive control (d2jsp).
hen it comes down to it, since it is in WoW, I do not see how it will not be used in Diablo.
Considering that Blizzard didn't put a lot of features that would fit well into WoW into DIII, I have some faith that they realize WoW and Diablo III are two different games, and therefore will examine such features separately. I don't approve of the armory in WoW but it actually makes more sense in WoW since builds are irrelevant and all gear is the same - WoW armory is mostly used to see how "cool" someone is, and to judge players. Not anything I support but WoW isn't really a game about building and itemizing.
Especially since PvP, where gear/build knowledge is needed the most is not as important in Diablo as it is in WoW.
WoW's PvP is on a pretty low level. Diablo III has a lot more potential for an effective PvP platform, and for them to ignore that would be foolish, so I can't agree with you here.
I need it when I play with another character and I want to see what his build/gear choice was. This is a need of mine for playing D3. Therefore, it has a need, it just isn't yours.
Again, if other websites offer info on build choices, why wouldn't Blizzard include the armory.
So, because only Blizzard can access character info, that means there will be no sites where players can share their own info. And would they want to keep this a secret from their players.
As for PvP, it is not as important as wow because it is impossible to balance. In a game where PvP is impossible to balance, it will never be as big as balanced PvP. therefore, it is much more important in wow, I mean Blizzard even holds tournaments.
The fact that all builds and gear are not the same, like they are in wow, just means that this is even more needed. You can't just look at an item in D3, excluding elites and sets, and know what stats are on the item. People who want to know this info will need somewhere to find it.
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I need it when I play with another character and I want to see what his build/gear choice was. This is a need of mine for playing D3. Therefore, it has a need, it just isn't yours.
Want. Want. Not need. I'm gonna drop this one as I believe it's pretty self-explanatory and others will agree.
Again, if other websites offer info on build choices, why wouldn't Blizzard include the armory.
Because first of all Blizzard currently doesn't do this. None of the pertinent info on WoW is provided by Blizzard. It's provided by WoWhead and other websites like EJ. Can you stop ignoring my posts, please?
Second of all, providing a database of current players is very different from providing a database of submitted guides. Again, I'm not going to explain why because that serves no purpose.
But I will repeat: Blizzard does not provide any pertinent information on WoW nor does it have anything against the 3rd party websites that do. Armory for Diablo III is not the same as for WoW since WoW is not a building game.
As for PvP, it is not as important as wow because it is impossible to balance. In a game where PvP is impossible to balance, it will never be as big as balanced PvP. therefore, it is much more important in wow, I mean Blizzard even holds tournaments.
WoW's PvP is not balanced.
There have been tournaments on all sorts of balanced and unbalanced games. Tournaments are generally held for popular games and for games that provide for it (maps, mechanics) rather than balanced ones.
Diablo III is actually better off in that regard. Too many variables mean it's difficult for something to be unbeatable, because the maximized state is never reached. As long as there are no insane imbalances DIII's PvP should be very fun and exciting, especially with expanded maps.
You can't just look at an item in D3, excluding elites and sets, and know what stats are on the item. People who want to know this info will need somewhere to find it.
The Armory doesn't even provide such info. I don't know who provides such info for WoW, but it's not Blizzard. In fact, Blizzard's item stats (which are the same as in-game item stats, e.g., providing only the base info, although I don't know what other info is out there) page HAS LINKS to WoWhead. http://us.battle.net/wow/en/item/2245
See those links at the bottom right corner?
Stop spouting this idea that Blizzard is against third party sites, it's pure nonsense and I have disproved it all discussion long.
I'm not against such information (items) being provided, and I'd prefer for it to be provided in game. LIKE IT IS IN WOW.
I don't know what this has to do with inspections. You should have all tools needed to theorycraft. But you should be responsible for your theorycrafting, not just find an inventive player and copy what he has.
Syber – I think that what you say is a “need” is actually more of a “want”
A need would be something that is a critical requirement of Blizzards design for D3.
A stable economy would be a need or a must have requirement.
An armoury would not be a critical requirement for D3. Thus it is not a need. It is more of a Could have feature than a must have feature
Why these ‘could have’ features should not be implemented are because it may conflict with other critical requirements/needs
• An armoury or inspection feature may reduce replay ability
Don't like my games ruined by thoughtless suggestions. Open inspection would be horrible for Diablo III.
The suggestions may be thoughtless but the people who decide to implement them or not are not thoughtless. With that though I'm sure there is going to an inspect feature just to keep people from doing WUG trade window. If someone wants to see my gear I do not want to place all of my items in a damn trade window every time.
As far as inspecting traits/skills, I understand how that would not be as necessary as seeing someones else's gear, therefor I would not care either way if they exclude this feature in the inspect window, and not have it show every detail about ones character. There are those times though that you really need to know the specs of the players in your party for strategy sake for instance if you are taking down a hard boss.
And as far as people copying builds, I'm sure one easy google search will find many different viable builds for that persons class, so copying from one person without knowing if that build would really work for you is dumb and sort of ruins the fun for yourself. Also remember this IS NOT WoW, and it is a very fast pace game with max parties of 4 players. Yes some things will feel like they were taken from wow, but that is because they solve the problem without it the best way possible. They are not WoW mechanics, they are Blizzard mechanics, just because the interface may function in a slightly similar way does not make the game a clone of WoW.
WoW haters will hate, but all the dumbass players aside and easy game mechanics, the interface is VERY polished and a example of good game design.
With that though I'm sure there is going to an inspect feature just to keep people from doing WUG trade window. If someone wants to see my gear I do not want to place all of my items in a damn trade window every time.
I'm sure we would benefit from some sort of build/gear blueprint presentation interface, like what EVE has for fittings. It doesn't have to be a at-player inspect feature rather than a from-player present feature.
There are those times though that you really need to know the specs of the players in your party for strategy sake for instance if you are taking down a hard boss.
Can't you just communicate normally about that one?
I don't know if Diablo III will feature any specific bosses of that kind, though, + I never understood why people needed to know the spec. In my experience, you would just watch now the player plays and go from there. In the end, specs won't compensate for the player's lack of skill either way.
Do you know what Blizzard's armory for WoW is Equinox. It's not a guide on how to build characters, it simply shows the gear ans talent builds of each character. I am not talking about the community site, I am talking about the armory.
With gear, yes, it shows all of the stats of the item. You can click on it, see the stats, find out where it was dropped, and even items that are considered improvements.
As far as the other sites you are talking about linked on the community site. It is only two sites, wowhead and wowiki. That is because Blizzard has connections with them and know that they can guarantee quality info. (We hope to do the same with the Diablo site). There are strict guidelines with these sites and therefore, Blizzard has some control there. What Blizzard is oppose to are sites that profit off of their hard work. Sites that can pull info and then use this info to offer services to players is something Blizzard is against.
As for PvP, yes every PvP is unbalanced, however, Blizzard claims WoW is balanced yet claims that D3 will never be and they will never try to.
Either way, whether you want it or not, I wil bet $100 American dollars that says the Diablo 3 community site includes an armory type service that will show characters' skills, runes, traits, and gear. feel free to save this quote for after its release.
An armoury would not be a critical requirement for D3. Thus it is not a need. It is more of a Could have feature than a must have feature
I disagree. Again, in a game where 90,000,000,000 build combination are possible, this becomes a necessity. Players will need to know this info on not only their own characters but those of others to find out just which 1 of these 90 billions builds this person is using.
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Do you know what Blizzard's armory for WoW is Equinox. It's not a guide on how to build characters, it simply shows the gear ans talent builds of each character.
With gear, yes, it shows all of the stats of the item. You can click on it, see the stats, find out where it was dropped, and even items that are considered improvements.
And? I never had anything against an ITEM database.
That is because Blizzard has connections with them and know that they can guarantee quality info. (We hope to do the same with the Diablo site). There are strict guidelines with these sites and therefore, Blizzard has some control there. What Blizzard is oppose to are sites that profit off of their hard work. Sites that can pull info and then use this info to offer services to players is something Blizzard is against.
That's fine and pretty normal. But before WoWhead had Blizzard's approval it started off as a completely independent site. Same for Battleclinic. Your point is still not present. I never said 3rd party sides in question have to be illegal or profiteering.
I think the difference is that Blizzard has moved on from what they used to be to a company that wants to offer any services you need, by them.
Blizzard has complete 100% knowledge of what every player has. It's just not a proper comparison. A player-made compilation of all players will always be significantly more limited, and that is the point.
Nor is this service "needed".
It may not be "needed" to finish the game. But it can very well be "wanted" by a good number of users.
Things like d2jsp being replaced by an in-game trade system.
This comparison is completely invalid. d2jsp is a faulty system that was present simply because Diablo II did not have an economy. Diablo III doesn't need an economy to replace d2jsp, Diablo III needs an economy period. It's a rather essential feature, unlike the armory, which is NOT needed at all.
Agreed, Diablo II had a hard time establishing an economy because it had no real currency. Let's hope they change that.
Blizzard doesn't want people going to some random site to get info on their game.
This is not true. Blizzard supports various websites providing information about WoW, such as ElitistJerks. The pitiful amount of information about the game in-game in the case of WoW proves that. In fact, Blizzard expects you to go to all these websites, EJ, WoWhead, youtube, that's why they do not provide anything in game. I'm sorry but that statement is clearly false.
That's a false statement right there. Blizzard is taking steps to change that. Thottbot/WoWhead are needed for info on boss abilities/mechanics, quests and loots. That's being changed with the new dungeon maps that include boss abilities and loots (sub-categories between normal/heroic and 10/25 players for raids).
They also try to include "essential" add-ons to the core game, as combat text, boss mods (maybe not as much, but they make the UI different for a good amount of the Cataclysm bosses) etc.
Blizzard set their goal towards keeping players in the game instead in the browser trying to find what they need and how to get it.
You had said that the armory does not show gear stats which it does. This is important for Diablo because of the random attributes. If you want to know what gear someone is choosing, you need to know the stats of the gear. The armory would provide this. In wow, you can see an item, look it up in a non-blizzard database and know the stats. This is not possible in Diablo. Most gear has random attributes and people want to know what stats the player is choosing.
My point about the other sites is the information these other sites offer, that are officialized by blizzard, encompass the info that blizzard does not share. Between these three sites, blizzard, wowhead, and wowiki, all of the info of the game is possible to see. For Diablo, even with a wiki like ours and database site someone else has, it still cannot offer the ability to see other people's builds. Which WoW does. People will want this info, even though you do not, and Blizzard will make sure that the people who do want it can get it.
As for PvP, it is only to prove that Blizzard themselves sees Diablo's pvp as less significant than WoW's. build secrecy is really only important in PvP as it can give you an advantage. If Blizzard feels it is ok to share this info on WoW, then why would they not with Diablo?
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That's a false statement right there. Blizzard is taking steps to change that. Thottbot/WoWhead are needed for info on boss abilities/mechanics, quests and loots. That's being changed with the new dungeon maps that include boss abilities and loots (sub-categories between normal/heroic and 10/25 players for raids).
As much as I appreciate that (I like in-game info), WoW has been out for how many years? If it's taking them that long to change that it's clearly not a problem.
I doubt that has anything to do with WoWhead. It's most probably done for casuals and PuGers who want to do raids but don't get around to getting to a website.
They also try to include "essential" add-ons to the core game, as combat text, boss mods (maybe not as much, but they make the UI different for a good amount of the Cataclysm bosses) etc.
Yeah, again, game has been out for how many years now?
Their rate of modifications is extremely slow and Blizzard otherwise fully supports third party addons.
Blizzard set their goal towards keeping players in the game instead in the browser trying to find what they need and how to get it.
You realize the armory is an out-of-game feature?
You realize that inspect feature won't replace builds?
I am all for providing as much information as possible inside the game. But knowing what other people are building is not that kind of information.
Maps, items, detailed descriptions of what items do, detailed descriptions of monsters and their abilities, equations for random stuff even. You can setup a page for approved builds and have it all in-game for a collective encyclopedia or something.
But not what another player has done. That's cheating, stalking, evesdropping, it's like you know what I had for breakfast today, it's none of your business nor do you need it. You don't need to know what every person eats to setup a diet.
You had said that the armory does not show gear stats which it does.
I didn't say that.
What I did say is that IF WoW had any hidden attributes (I am not aware of any), they are not provided at the armory, and otherwise the armory does not provide any ADDITIONAL gear information compared to in-game information.
This is important for Diablo because of the random attributes. If you want to know what gear someone is choosing, you need to know the stats of the gear. The armory would provide this. In wow, you can see an item, look it up in a non-blizzard database and know the stats. This is not possible in Diablo. Most gear has random attributes and people want to know what stats the player is choosing.
Please explain to me why anyone needs to know what stats a player is choosing.
People will want this info, even though you do not, and Blizzard will make sure that the people who do want it can get it.
People will want a cheat code that gives them 1 million damage. Blizzard will give it to them, too?
This IS cheating in a way you realize that right?
It's a pretty important gameplay and marketing decision for Blizzard to include this or not, it's a bit more complicated than "people want it". How many people? Do they really want it or do they think they want it? How many people will end up shafted because of this decision?
It doesn't matter how many years the game is out. What matters is the direction Blizzard took. Cause it seems they follow that for every game.
What i mean is that for WoW, the inspect feature was there all along (later they added the spec in the inspect feature).
Armory isn't in game, sure. But it's on the new battle.net. The one they're promoting ever since StarCraft II (that also has player profile on battle.net with achievements etc) launched for "uniting their franchises".
Either way, i think the game will be too much fun to experiment with. Copying from an existing "good" spec seems like a waste. I doubt many people will do that. Unless we're talking PvP that the options will be more limited that is.
PS. As for third party add-on support, they may accept that for WoW but they already mentioned nothing like that will be supported (or allowed on battle.net) for Diablo III, so it can be quite the difference.
Wow, is this debate necessary? It's the difference between whether we have an armory or not... yes? Who would be opposed to that and why? And why would anyone be opposed to an "inspect" option?
An "inspect" option is far too complicated for the average player to understand. You have to find a person, then right click them? Most Diablo players do not have the mental capacities to pull this off (in Blizzard's opinion anyways).
Beyond that, inpecting a player requires thought and the ability to read; two traits that Blizzard does not think we posses (if this were implemented, it would scare off the casual croud amirite Blizz).
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Bashiok - "How are the tests on feature XXX going?"
D3 Dev - "Well, our test chimpanzee was not able to understand feature XXX, but he is not a smart chimp."
Jay W - "WHAT?! Have it incinerated! Them simplify, no, REMOVE feature XXX!"
Players - "Wow that was close! I could not understand XXX feature, as I am legally retarded/in the Diablo 3 target audience!"
I really don't want people to know what gear I have unless they go to great lengths to find out. Same goes for builds and everything else. If the person didn't write a guide for it, you shouldn't know about it.
I am a genius and my builds will kill everyone. OMFG A NOOB STOLE MY BUILD MY SECRETS ARE OUT AND NOW EVERYONE WON'T THINK I'M A GENIUS. My e-peen is small now.
Reality:
No one cares about your build.
The handful of people who come up with the best builds will share them and won't care. Why? Because they know they're good players, and they don't give a shit if someone else uses their items. It doesn't mean anything.
The thing about Diablo is that unless someone tells you there gear, there is no way of knowing what gear they have excluding a few legendarys with unique graphics.
Again, random attributes make it impossible for someone to research on a database site to find out what you are wearing.
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Sounds good man. In the future, I'll space out my paragraphs so it's easier to read. I agree that involuntary sharing of your stuff isn't optimal and that having a choice to share was my initial thought at the get-go. I was just saying that I didn't mind if it was free knowledge to everyone and that I didn't think it would be so horrible. But clearly, it would be best to have the option to choose, like you, others and I have said.
Many players "need" this ability even though you do not.
And while the economy is more "needed" than an armory, it is still something that can be done inside or outside the game/Blizzard. Because Blizzard knows there will be sites that offer this info, they may as well do it themselves.
When it comes down to it, since it is in WoW, I do not see how it will not be used in Diablo. Especially since PvP, where gear/build secrecy is needed the most is not as important in Diablo as it is in WoW.
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- You need it to survive in Hell.
Definitely not. As I said, there will be guides, and websites, which will tell you what to do if you can't figure it out yourself. Diablo II is proof of that, and so is EVE.
- You need it to beat someone in PvP.
EVE is very good proof otherwise.
- You need it to maximize your character.
Invalid because there's no way to know what is maximized, and especially if you find that great build and start making new ones, you may never find the best build out there.
No. Nobody needs this at all.
The economy is needed in any game that offers trade in any way, shape, or form. If Diablo II had no trade function I would agree with you. But giving a trade function to players means you need an economy. This directly affects the game, and economy is needed to decrease any negative impacts it may have, such as players outside the game having extensive control (d2jsp).
There will be no such site. There's no way to know what every single player has, ONLY Blizzard has that information, didn't you read what I said?
Considering that Blizzard didn't put a lot of features that would fit well into WoW into DIII, I have some faith that they realize WoW and Diablo III are two different games, and therefore will examine such features separately. I don't approve of the armory in WoW but it actually makes more sense in WoW since builds are irrelevant and all gear is the same - WoW armory is mostly used to see how "cool" someone is, and to judge players. Not anything I support but WoW isn't really a game about building and itemizing.
WoW's PvP is on a pretty low level. Diablo III has a lot more potential for an effective PvP platform, and for them to ignore that would be foolish, so I can't agree with you here.
Again, if other websites offer info on build choices, why wouldn't Blizzard include the armory.
So, because only Blizzard can access character info, that means there will be no sites where players can share their own info. And would they want to keep this a secret from their players.
As for PvP, it is not as important as wow because it is impossible to balance. In a game where PvP is impossible to balance, it will never be as big as balanced PvP. therefore, it is much more important in wow, I mean Blizzard even holds tournaments.
The fact that all builds and gear are not the same, like they are in wow, just means that this is even more needed. You can't just look at an item in D3, excluding elites and sets, and know what stats are on the item. People who want to know this info will need somewhere to find it.
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Because first of all Blizzard currently doesn't do this. None of the pertinent info on WoW is provided by Blizzard. It's provided by WoWhead and other websites like EJ. Can you stop ignoring my posts, please?
Second of all, providing a database of current players is very different from providing a database of submitted guides. Again, I'm not going to explain why because that serves no purpose.
But I will repeat: Blizzard does not provide any pertinent information on WoW nor does it have anything against the 3rd party websites that do. Armory for Diablo III is not the same as for WoW since WoW is not a building game.
WoW's PvP is not balanced.
There have been tournaments on all sorts of balanced and unbalanced games. Tournaments are generally held for popular games and for games that provide for it (maps, mechanics) rather than balanced ones.
Diablo III is actually better off in that regard. Too many variables mean it's difficult for something to be unbeatable, because the maximized state is never reached. As long as there are no insane imbalances DIII's PvP should be very fun and exciting, especially with expanded maps.
The Armory doesn't even provide such info. I don't know who provides such info for WoW, but it's not Blizzard. In fact, Blizzard's item stats (which are the same as in-game item stats, e.g., providing only the base info, although I don't know what other info is out there) page HAS LINKS to WoWhead.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/item/2245
See those links at the bottom right corner?
Stop spouting this idea that Blizzard is against third party sites, it's pure nonsense and I have disproved it all discussion long.
I'm not against such information (items) being provided, and I'd prefer for it to be provided in game. LIKE IT IS IN WOW.
I don't know what this has to do with inspections. You should have all tools needed to theorycraft. But you should be responsible for your theorycrafting, not just find an inventive player and copy what he has.
A need would be something that is a critical requirement of Blizzards design for D3.
A stable economy would be a need or a must have requirement.
An armoury would not be a critical requirement for D3. Thus it is not a need. It is more of a Could have feature than a must have feature
Why these ‘could have’ features should not be implemented are because it may conflict with other critical requirements/needs
• An armoury or inspection feature may reduce replay ability
The suggestions may be thoughtless but the people who decide to implement them or not are not thoughtless. With that though I'm sure there is going to an inspect feature just to keep people from doing WUG trade window. If someone wants to see my gear I do not want to place all of my items in a damn trade window every time.
As far as inspecting traits/skills, I understand how that would not be as necessary as seeing someones else's gear, therefor I would not care either way if they exclude this feature in the inspect window, and not have it show every detail about ones character. There are those times though that you really need to know the specs of the players in your party for strategy sake for instance if you are taking down a hard boss.
And as far as people copying builds, I'm sure one easy google search will find many different viable builds for that persons class, so copying from one person without knowing if that build would really work for you is dumb and sort of ruins the fun for yourself. Also remember this IS NOT WoW, and it is a very fast pace game with max parties of 4 players. Yes some things will feel like they were taken from wow, but that is because they solve the problem without it the best way possible. They are not WoW mechanics, they are Blizzard mechanics, just because the interface may function in a slightly similar way does not make the game a clone of WoW.
WoW haters will hate, but all the dumbass players aside and easy game mechanics, the interface is VERY polished and a example of good game design.
Can't you just communicate normally about that one?
I don't know if Diablo III will feature any specific bosses of that kind, though, + I never understood why people needed to know the spec. In my experience, you would just watch now the player plays and go from there. In the end, specs won't compensate for the player's lack of skill either way.
Pretty much (hence my comment about unfinished unpolished builds being copied).
With gear, yes, it shows all of the stats of the item. You can click on it, see the stats, find out where it was dropped, and even items that are considered improvements.
As far as the other sites you are talking about linked on the community site. It is only two sites, wowhead and wowiki. That is because Blizzard has connections with them and know that they can guarantee quality info. (We hope to do the same with the Diablo site). There are strict guidelines with these sites and therefore, Blizzard has some control there. What Blizzard is oppose to are sites that profit off of their hard work. Sites that can pull info and then use this info to offer services to players is something Blizzard is against.
As for PvP, yes every PvP is unbalanced, however, Blizzard claims WoW is balanced yet claims that D3 will never be and they will never try to.
Either way, whether you want it or not, I wil bet $100 American dollars that says the Diablo 3 community site includes an armory type service that will show characters' skills, runes, traits, and gear. feel free to save this quote for after its release.
I disagree. Again, in a game where 90,000,000,000 build combination are possible, this becomes a necessity. Players will need to know this info on not only their own characters but those of others to find out just which 1 of these 90 billions builds this person is using.
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And? I never had anything against an ITEM database.
That's fine and pretty normal. But before WoWhead had Blizzard's approval it started off as a completely independent site. Same for Battleclinic. Your point is still not present. I never said 3rd party sides in question have to be illegal or profiteering.
I don't know what this is supposed to indicate. Nobody cares what the company says, it's either playable or it isn't.
It may not be "needed" to finish the game. But it can very well be "wanted" by a good number of users.
Agreed, Diablo II had a hard time establishing an economy because it had no real currency. Let's hope they change that.
That's a false statement right there. Blizzard is taking steps to change that. Thottbot/WoWhead are needed for info on boss abilities/mechanics, quests and loots. That's being changed with the new dungeon maps that include boss abilities and loots (sub-categories between normal/heroic and 10/25 players for raids).
They also try to include "essential" add-ons to the core game, as combat text, boss mods (maybe not as much, but they make the UI different for a good amount of the Cataclysm bosses) etc.
Blizzard set their goal towards keeping players in the game instead in the browser trying to find what they need and how to get it.
My point about the other sites is the information these other sites offer, that are officialized by blizzard, encompass the info that blizzard does not share. Between these three sites, blizzard, wowhead, and wowiki, all of the info of the game is possible to see. For Diablo, even with a wiki like ours and database site someone else has, it still cannot offer the ability to see other people's builds. Which WoW does. People will want this info, even though you do not, and Blizzard will make sure that the people who do want it can get it.
As for PvP, it is only to prove that Blizzard themselves sees Diablo's pvp as less significant than WoW's. build secrecy is really only important in PvP as it can give you an advantage. If Blizzard feels it is ok to share this info on WoW, then why would they not with Diablo?
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I doubt that has anything to do with WoWhead. It's most probably done for casuals and PuGers who want to do raids but don't get around to getting to a website.
Yeah, again, game has been out for how many years now?
Their rate of modifications is extremely slow and Blizzard otherwise fully supports third party addons.
You realize the armory is an out-of-game feature?
You realize that inspect feature won't replace builds?
I am all for providing as much information as possible inside the game. But knowing what other people are building is not that kind of information.
Maps, items, detailed descriptions of what items do, detailed descriptions of monsters and their abilities, equations for random stuff even. You can setup a page for approved builds and have it all in-game for a collective encyclopedia or something.
But not what another player has done. That's cheating, stalking, evesdropping, it's like you know what I had for breakfast today, it's none of your business nor do you need it. You don't need to know what every person eats to setup a diet.
I didn't say that.
What I did say is that IF WoW had any hidden attributes (I am not aware of any), they are not provided at the armory, and otherwise the armory does not provide any ADDITIONAL gear information compared to in-game information.
Please explain to me why anyone needs to know what stats a player is choosing.
People will want a cheat code that gives them 1 million damage. Blizzard will give it to them, too?
This IS cheating in a way you realize that right?
It's a pretty important gameplay and marketing decision for Blizzard to include this or not, it's a bit more complicated than "people want it". How many people? Do they really want it or do they think they want it? How many people will end up shafted because of this decision?
The company is completely irrelevant in deciding whether a game is PvP capable or not.
I don't agree with that.
Because WoW has about 0 customization while Diablo III has plenty.
What i mean is that for WoW, the inspect feature was there all along (later they added the spec in the inspect feature).
Armory isn't in game, sure. But it's on the new battle.net. The one they're promoting ever since StarCraft II (that also has player profile on battle.net with achievements etc) launched for "uniting their franchises".
Either way, i think the game will be too much fun to experiment with. Copying from an existing "good" spec seems like a waste. I doubt many people will do that. Unless we're talking PvP that the options will be more limited that is.
PS. As for third party add-on support, they may accept that for WoW but they already mentioned nothing like that will be supported (or allowed on battle.net) for Diablo III, so it can be quite the difference.
Beyond that, inpecting a player requires thought and the ability to read; two traits that Blizzard does not think we posses (if this were implemented, it would scare off the casual croud amirite Blizz).
D3 Dev - "Well, our test chimpanzee was not able to understand feature XXX, but he is not a smart chimp."
Jay W - "WHAT?! Have it incinerated! Them simplify, no, REMOVE feature XXX!"
Players - "Wow that was close! I could not understand XXX feature, as I am legally retarded/in the Diablo 3 target audience!"
I want an armory. I really hope this feature is in D3.
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totally agree..
I am a genius and my builds will kill everyone. OMFG A NOOB STOLE MY BUILD MY SECRETS ARE OUT AND NOW EVERYONE WON'T THINK I'M A GENIUS. My e-peen is small now.
Reality:
No one cares about your build.
The handful of people who come up with the best builds will share them and won't care. Why? Because they know they're good players, and they don't give a shit if someone else uses their items. It doesn't mean anything.
Again, random attributes make it impossible for someone to research on a database site to find out what you are wearing.
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