It just felt wrong. It didn't feel right to be progressing through the game and have it stay pretty much the same difficulty the whole time. It felt like a letdown to get to the final boss of the game and it be no more difficult than the first.
There’s a wide variety of players out there and we wanted to make sure everybody had something to sink their teeth into. We expect that anybody with enough time and dedication will reach level 60. But the jump in difficulty to Inferno needed to be different amounts for different people. For the crazy people they need a HUGE ramp in difficulty, for a more “casual but still hardcore” audience you want an obvious but milder increase in difficulty. So for the crazy people who play non-stop they’ll hit Act I and get a challenge, but 1 month later they’ll still have something to work on (Acts II, III and IV). For the “hardcore-casual” they will reach level 60 later and not get brick walled when they reach Inferno. They can experience some “small victories” working on Act I with the dream of maybe someday reaching the later acts.
Longevity. We know people really want goals to work towards and challenges to overcome. We made Act III and Act IV really, really brutally hard, for the most elite players only. It felt wrong to make ALL of Inferno that brutally hard.
Now, you may be saying “I thought you wanted us to be able to farm anywhere we wanted. Now we only have half as much area in the game to farm in? What gives?” Our goal is to make the loot mathematically better in the later acts without making the earlier gear completely obsolete. We feel Diablo II actually did a very good job with this and we expect Diablo III to perform similarly.
Specifically, people in D2 did Diablo runs, Mephisto runs, Pindleskin runs, Pit runs, Baal runs, etc. because the loot in Diablo is extremely random. Even though the theoretical best items might come from the later Acts, well-rolled items from earlier acts will still be better. Internally we find sometimes after an intense session of brutally hard Inferno it can be really fun to cruise through Hell Act III or IV and it’s not too uncommon surprise when an upgrade drops. We expect this to carry through to Inferno difficulty where somebody who can theoretically farm Act IV will likely still enjoy romping through Act I simply because the drop potential is still there. It’s all because of the highly random items having lots of overlap in their power distribution curves.
" class="blizzsource">
This is may be a good a time as any to REVEAL TEH SEKRITS! that Inferno monster levels aren't linear any longer. They get progressively more difficult. This was really a reaction to Inferno playtesting. Our original intent was to have a flat difficulty level where you could go wherever you want, farm for items, and it'd be no more or less difficult than any other area in Inferno. This caused a few inherent issues for us, though:
It just felt wrong. It didn't feel right to be progressing through the game and have it stay pretty much the same difficulty the whole time. It felt like a letdown to get to the final boss of the game and it be no more difficult than the first.
There’s a wide variety of players out there and we wanted to make sure everybody had something to sink their teeth into. We expect that anybody with enough time and dedication will reach level 60. But the jump in difficulty to Inferno needed to be different amounts for different people. For the crazy people they need a HUGE ramp in difficulty, for a more “casual but still hardcore” audience you want an obvious but milder increase in difficulty. So for the crazy people who play non-stop they’ll hit Act I and get a challenge, but 1 month later they’ll still have something to work on (Acts II, III and IV). For the “hardcore-casual” they will reach level 60 later and not get brick walled when they reach Inferno. They can experience some “small victories” working on Act I with the dream of maybe someday reaching the later acts.
Longevity. We know people really want goals to work towards and challenges to overcome. We made Act III and Act IV really, really brutally hard, for the most elite players only. It felt wrong to make ALL of Inferno that brutally hard.
Now, you may be saying “I thought you wanted us to be able to farm anywhere we wanted. Now we only have half as much area in the game to farm in? What gives?” Our goal is to make the loot mathematically better in the later acts without making the earlier gear completely obsolete. We feel Diablo II actually did a very good job with this and we expect Diablo III to perform similarly.
Specifically, people in D2 did Diablo runs, Mephisto runs, Pindleskin runs, Pit runs, Baal runs, etc. because the loot in Diablo is extremely random. Even though the theoretical best items might come from the later Acts, well-rolled items from earlier acts will still be better. Internally we find sometimes after an intense session of brutally hard Inferno it can be really fun to cruise through Hell Act III or IV and it’s not too uncommon surprise when an upgrade drops. We expect this to carry through to Inferno difficulty where somebody who can theoretically farm Act IV will likely still enjoy romping through Act I simply because the drop potential is still there. It’s all because of the highly random items having lots of overlap in their power distribution curves.
Mostly because it "feels" like they're just turning Inferno into another difficulty, and the concept of flat difficulty was amazing to me. I could be dead wrong, and I understand the counter-arguments, but this is my first impression.
Linear progression feels good, and as long as they know that being pigeon-holed into farming a tiny area of the final acts of the final difficulty is sucky (which they do), and still keep all of inferno valuable for farming (which Bashiok subtly stated in the last few sentences of TEH SEKRIT) then it should be all fine and dandy, so - Like!
I feel like having a flat difficulty would give high level characters so much less to try to accomplish. Once we beat Hell, then Inferno just becomes 100% farming mode. I'm really looking forward to seeing just HOW hard it will be--the more difficult the better for me.
Blizzard knows best, the backseat developers that lurk diablofans and diablo3.com have no idea what's best for the game. In Blizzard I trust. :Thumbs Up:
Blizzard knows best, the backseat developers that lurk diablofans and diablo3.com have no idea what's best for the game. In Blizzard I trust. :Thumbs Up:
I beg to differ, sir! While I agree with you to the extend of this particular topic, I think the general community is a gold mine of gaming related know-how and experience, and Blizz would be mental not to tap into that.
These are paid professionals with over a decade of top tier titles under their belt. What makes you think the community has any comparative insight? Just from the reactions to the Inferno change, I can see how ignorant and stubborn the community is to change.
These are paid professionals with over a decade of top tier titles under their belt. What makes you think the community has any comparative insight? Just from the reactions to the Inferno change, I can see how ignorant and stubborn the community is to change.
I don't know if I'd say the community knows 'better' but the community's feedback and insight is always valuable feedback. Even negative criticism can be made positive. Sometimes the community can also come up with great ideas collectively that are better than what the devs might have considered. This has happened and Blizzard has made changes before if they thought the ideas were clever and well thought out enough to include.
Sometimes, however, Blizzard has to make a stand even against community outcries when they have a vision they want to hold onto. While you want to please as many people as you can, you should never sacrifice your goal, your vision, to do so.
Ummmm no?
This isn't WoW. You won't be paying monthly fees.
While I do not doubt in the least that there will be more content coming at some point, it will almost certainly come in the form of a bigger, paid expansion (like LoD was for D2).
And it matters that this isn't WoW? (glad we got the clarification though, for anyone in doubt)
Blizzard released new content for Diablo 2 - quite rarely, but they did.
They are a much bigger company these days, and have secured themselves some income from RMAH.
Not releasing any content in patches would be rather disappointing.
Expansions are great and everything, but considering how long time Blizzard takes getting new expansions out these days, they had better support their game in between as well.
Making a game in disregard of the community opinion is like painting someone's house without asking if they like the colour first. Blizzard may have the experience and all that, but the fact is that as the people who are going to be playing when it comes out, our feedback and opinions matter.
Now I'm not saying that Blizz is completely disregarding the lot of us - I'm saying that doing so would be daft.
It's more like painting a house you own that you're letting someone stay in. If you want a dark color and they say brown, great. If they say yellow, well, in that case you're going to ignore what they want because it's the completely opposite direction.
In the end, Diablo III is a piece of art the company is making. It's their game, and while they can take feedback from us that they feel will improve it, they should ultimately not change the game to what their customers want to play if it's different from what they want to make. It's up to them to make their game, and us to buy it if we want to play the game they made. If we want a different game, we can either take our money elsewhere or make our own game.
Edit:
Sorry, feel like that's gotten a little far from the original topic.
I love the new direction. It definitely would have felt anti-climactic to get to D3.IV and face a Diablo that's relatively easier than the SK because of being more geared by the time you get to him. This isn't WoW where higher level monsters automatically drop purplez every time you kill them and you're guaranteed to be getting the best gear from them all the time by going to the higher level area. You can kill Act IV Inferno mobs very slowly and get almost nothing for a couple hours investment, or go to Act I and kill some zombies much more quickly with a bunch of near max level legendaries dropping.
It's not about getting the best gear as drops, it's about getting the highest quality items you can get efficiently so you can either trade for the best gear or sell on the GAH/RMAH and buy the best gear. Think of it in terms of value gained. If you can trade 3 Act I legendaries for an Act IV legendary and know you can farm the Act I legendaries five times faster, you gain value by being in Act I.
I'm suprised there are so few dislikes. I guess i'm in the minority in wishing inferno would have been hard for at least a few months before they started nerfing it. It will still be a fun game, just not near as long lasting since they started nerfing challenge away before we even got to try it.
I'm suprised there are so few dislikes. I guess i'm in the minority in wishing inferno would have been hard for at least a few months before they started nerfing it. It will still be a fun game, just not near as long lasting since they started nerfing challenge away before we even got to try it.
Before, it couldn't be incredibly hard either, the whole difficulty was flat and you still come into it after hell mode. The monsters need therefore to be doable with hell gear, the whole four acts.
With a flat difficulty it means once you can clear 1 act, you can clear everything. Know they have the possibility to make it so you are required to clean each act successively climbing your way up and having the difficulty either consistant or increasing. Before this change the difficulty would be decreasing as you go through, this sucks imo and doesn't scream challenge at all.
There is no reason to see this as a nerf nor as a reduction to the game longevity.
I'm suprised there are so few dislikes. I guess i'm in the minority in wishing inferno would have been hard for at least a few months before they started nerfing it. It will still be a fun game, just not near as long lasting since they started nerfing challenge away before we even got to try it.
I actually don't think many people at all are considering the change a nerf. All they said was they made it progress just like other difficulties. So it's very possible they kept inferno at the same difficulty, or just under, that it was before the change, and made the rest even harder. Either way they say it should take a long time for a lot of people to clear it, and we will be dying a lot. Can't wait =D
I'm suprised there are so few dislikes. I guess i'm in the minority in wishing inferno would have been hard for at least a few months before they started nerfing it. It will still be a fun game, just not near as long lasting since they started nerfing challenge away before we even got to try it.
I actually don't think many people at all are considering the change a nerf. All they said was they made it progress just like other difficulties. So it's very possible they kept inferno at the same difficulty, or just under, that it was before the change, and made the rest even harder. Either way they say it should take a long time for a lot of people to clear it, and we will be dying a lot. Can't wait =D
I guarantee you inferno will be cleared by someone within the first week of release. probably 2-3 days. Definately not by most, and certainly not me. but it will happen. I dont expect it to take more than a month.
I'm suprised there are so few dislikes. I guess i'm in the minority in wishing inferno would have been hard for at least a few months before they started nerfing it. It will still be a fun game, just not near as long lasting since they started nerfing challenge away before we even got to try it.
I actually don't think many people at all are considering the change a nerf. All they said was they made it progress just like other difficulties. So it's very possible they kept inferno at the same difficulty, or just under, that it was before the change, and made the rest even harder. Either way they say it should take a long time for a lot of people to clear it, and we will be dying a lot. Can't wait =D
I guarantee you inferno will be cleared by someone within the first week of release. probably 2-3 days. Definately not by most, and certainly not me. but it will happen. I dont expect it to take more than a month.
WTF are you smoking.
Diablo is by design an extremely gear dependent game.
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One is never hurt by being given additional choices, only by taking them away. A QUADRILLION MAGIC FIND is worthless if you can't kill shit!
I'm suprised there are so few dislikes. I guess i'm in the minority in wishing inferno would have been hard for at least a few months before they started nerfing it. It will still be a fun game, just not near as long lasting since they started nerfing challenge away before we even got to try it.
I actually don't think many people at all are considering the change a nerf. All they said was they made it progress just like other difficulties. So it's very possible they kept inferno at the same difficulty, or just under, that it was before the change, and made the rest even harder. Either way they say it should take a long time for a lot of people to clear it, and we will be dying a lot. Can't wait =D
I guarantee you inferno will be cleared by someone within the first week of release. probably 2-3 days. Definately not by most, and certainly not me. but it will happen. I dont expect it to take more than a month.
WTF are you smoking.
I don't know....I am going to completely attempt to clear Inferno within 7 days of launch and have it on farm...
Now, attempting is different from succeeding :P.
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Official Blizzard Quote:
">This is may be a good a time as any to REVEAL TEH SEKRITS! that Inferno monster levels aren't linear any longer. They get progressively more difficult. This was really a reaction to Inferno playtesting. Our original intent was to have a flat difficulty level where you could go wherever you want, farm for items, and it'd be no more or less difficult than any other area in Inferno. This caused a few inherent issues for us, though:Mostly because it "feels" like they're just turning Inferno into another difficulty, and the concept of flat difficulty was amazing to me. I could be dead wrong, and I understand the counter-arguments, but this is my first impression.
-Kevin Martens
These are paid professionals with over a decade of top tier titles under their belt. What makes you think the community has any comparative insight? Just from the reactions to the Inferno change, I can see how ignorant and stubborn the community is to change.
I don't know if I'd say the community knows 'better' but the community's feedback and insight is always valuable feedback. Even negative criticism can be made positive. Sometimes the community can also come up with great ideas collectively that are better than what the devs might have considered. This has happened and Blizzard has made changes before if they thought the ideas were clever and well thought out enough to include.
Sometimes, however, Blizzard has to make a stand even against community outcries when they have a vision they want to hold onto. While you want to please as many people as you can, you should never sacrifice your goal, your vision, to do so.
I dislike the negative aspect: Reducing the amount of "end-game" content (as in areas you can choose to run for the best items).
On the other hand it is positive if they can balance the difficulty better by having a broader spectrum from act 1 to 4.
In the end, as long as Inferno is only meant as temporary end-game, and they keep adding new end-game content after launch, then it is fine.
Blizzard released new content for Diablo 2 - quite rarely, but they did.
They are a much bigger company these days, and have secured themselves some income from RMAH.
Not releasing any content in patches would be rather disappointing.
Expansions are great and everything, but considering how long time Blizzard takes getting new expansions out these days, they had better support their game in between as well.
It's more like painting a house you own that you're letting someone stay in. If you want a dark color and they say brown, great. If they say yellow, well, in that case you're going to ignore what they want because it's the completely opposite direction.
In the end, Diablo III is a piece of art the company is making. It's their game, and while they can take feedback from us that they feel will improve it, they should ultimately not change the game to what their customers want to play if it's different from what they want to make. It's up to them to make their game, and us to buy it if we want to play the game they made. If we want a different game, we can either take our money elsewhere or make our own game.
Edit:
Sorry, feel like that's gotten a little far from the original topic.
I love the new direction. It definitely would have felt anti-climactic to get to D3.IV and face a Diablo that's relatively easier than the SK because of being more geared by the time you get to him. This isn't WoW where higher level monsters automatically drop purplez every time you kill them and you're guaranteed to be getting the best gear from them all the time by going to the higher level area. You can kill Act IV Inferno mobs very slowly and get almost nothing for a couple hours investment, or go to Act I and kill some zombies much more quickly with a bunch of near max level legendaries dropping.
It's not about getting the best gear as drops, it's about getting the highest quality items you can get efficiently so you can either trade for the best gear or sell on the GAH/RMAH and buy the best gear. Think of it in terms of value gained. If you can trade 3 Act I legendaries for an Act IV legendary and know you can farm the Act I legendaries five times faster, you gain value by being in Act I.
Before, it couldn't be incredibly hard either, the whole difficulty was flat and you still come into it after hell mode. The monsters need therefore to be doable with hell gear, the whole four acts.
With a flat difficulty it means once you can clear 1 act, you can clear everything. Know they have the possibility to make it so you are required to clean each act successively climbing your way up and having the difficulty either consistant or increasing. Before this change the difficulty would be decreasing as you go through, this sucks imo and doesn't scream challenge at all.
There is no reason to see this as a nerf nor as a reduction to the game longevity.
I actually don't think many people at all are considering the change a nerf. All they said was they made it progress just like other difficulties. So it's very possible they kept inferno at the same difficulty, or just under, that it was before the change, and made the rest even harder. Either way they say it should take a long time for a lot of people to clear it, and we will be dying a lot. Can't wait =D
I guarantee you inferno will be cleared by someone within the first week of release. probably 2-3 days. Definately not by most, and certainly not me. but it will happen. I dont expect it to take more than a month.
WTF are you smoking.
Diablo is by design an extremely gear dependent game.
A QUADRILLION MAGIC FIND is worthless if you can't kill shit!
I don't know....I am going to completely attempt to clear Inferno within 7 days of launch and have it on farm...
Now, attempting is different from succeeding :P.