I ask anyone who can answer... Why is this game taking sooooooooooooo long to be finished?
I just don't understand. Just take a look at these other games:
1. Skyrim is much bigger than Diablo 3 and its only taken the development team approximately 4 years.
2. Borderlands 2 is probably the same size as Diablo 3 and its development team is only taking approximately 3 years.
3. Guild Wars 2 has a far smaller development team than Diablo 3 does, its much bigger than Diablo 3 and its development time is barely over the 6 year mark.
So, these are just a few examples. I'm pretty sure Diablo 3 has a pretty massive development team, so why are they taking so long to make and release it?
NOTE: I am not making any direct comparisons between Diablo 3 and these games, just the development process length.
Blizz has small development teams, which are better for quality but bad for time. This, coupled with their high standards means their dev cycle is long as all hell.
Size doesn't factor in as much as you might think, since generally bigger games have farther spread content. Depends on the game.
Because realistically, this game just started development like 2 years or so ago, before that there were only 1 to 2 people actually working on the game most likely, as Bizzard diverted "all" their resources to their cash cow(sigh as if they don't have enough people to develop multiple games at the same time).
I hear ya! I'm pretty much over this game now, was so stoked back in 2008 when it was announced - thinking at tops we will at least see a beta by 2010 at the latest, my interest has waned considerably.
Surely they can open up the floodgates and open up the beta to everyone or at the very least to those who opted in, surely they have the infrastructure in place to handle the server stress, never have I seen any game so drawn out in my life and I've been gaming for 30 years. I'm really just getting annoyed now and just want to try the damn thing.
I hear ya! I'm pretty much over this game now, was so stoked back in 2008 when it was announced - thinking at tops we will at least see a beta by 2010 at the latest, my interest has waned considerably.
Surely they can open up the floodgates and open up the beta to everyone or at the very least to those who opted in, surely they have the infrastructure in place to handle the server stress, never have I seen any game so drawn out in my life and I've been gaming for 30 years. I'm really just getting annoyed now and just want to try the damn thing.
Hehe... exactly right. Development of this game actually started in 2001 (according to wiki). That's 11 years on making one game! Yeah there may have been a few power shifts. The original development team may have retired and the current development team replaced them... But still - 11 freaking years!
Honestly. If Blizzard fails horribly like this ever again... They will most probably go broke from furious fans.
I hear ya! I'm pretty much over this game now, was so stoked back in 2008 when it was announced - thinking at tops we will at least see a beta by 2010 at the latest, my interest has waned considerably.
Surely they can open up the floodgates and open up the beta to everyone or at the very least to those who opted in, surely they have the infrastructure in place to handle the server stress, never have I seen any game so drawn out in my life and I've been gaming for 30 years. I'm really just getting annoyed now and just want to try the damn thing.
Hehe... exactly right. Development of this game actually started in 2001 (according to wiki). That's 11 years on making one game! Yeah there may have been a few power shifts. The original development team may have retired and the current development team replaced them... But still - 11 freaking years!
Honestly. If Blizzard fails horribly like this ever again... They will most probably go broke from furious fans.
I'm pretty sure that wiki is wrong, wasn't it suppose to have started in 2004?
Also 2001 was before D2 hit rock bottom(that happened in Q1 2002), so I find it hard to believe it started back that far, besides they were developing WoW at the time.
Don't kid yourself it will still sell a ton of copies ~ you and me included
I just don't like the way they are doing things, back in the day I had no problem getting access to the diablo 2 beta - I'm pretty much sure everyone got a chance from the start to test it. Now all this family and friends & press beta crap, now all these bullshit beta key contests popping as well as another Blizzcon coming up so they can milk the D3 teet dry, I'm guessing the average Joe won't get a go on the beta until at least late November and that's being optimistic.
Don't kid yourself it will still sell a ton of copies ~ you and me included
I just don't like the way they are doing things, back in the day I had no problem getting access to the diablo 2 beta - I'm pretty much sure everyone got a chance from the start to test it. Now all this family and friends & press beta crap, now all these bullshit beta key contests popping as well as another Blizzcon coming up so they can milk the D3 teet dry, I'm guessing the average Joe won't get a go on the beta until at least late November and that's being optimistic.
Yea, Blizzard no longer has what anyone would call a beta(except perhaps closed, behind the scenes, no mention whatsoever that it even exists, internal testing). This stupid crap they hold now(F&F, press, exc), is all about building hype sigh, and It's a very dirty way to do such.
It's an insult to the people who actually cares about testing a game, and hammering out all the issues.
The reason for such a long development is because they closed Blizzard North in 2005. They were working on D3 originally. Assuming you take a year for hiring new blood, shifting of assets and restructuring...you're looking at Q3/Q4 2006. Combine this with the fact that Blizzard probably started parallel development on the engine that would power D3 and SC2, you get 2007. I'm seeing around 4 years of real development time so far.
The reason for such a long development is because they closed Blizzard North in 2005. They were working on D3 originally. Assuming you take a year for hiring new blood, shifting of assets and restructuring...you're looking at Q3/Q4 2006. Combine this with the fact that Blizzard probably started parallel development on the engine that would power D3 and SC2, you get 2007. I'm seeing around 4 years of real development time so far.
If that is true than everything is good. Though I really wouldn't mind some evidence... Also Blizzard should be more prepared lol.
I think 11 years is a long time, but D3 wasn't being "made" that whole time. It was under Development, meaning they were debating the basics in meetings all day deciding if they ready to move forward with full production. There is a lot of groundwork to do in pre-production, like picking a new line up of classes, defining the look and feel in concept art, and researching new game technology and game markets that will effect the long term release, just to barely scratch the surface.
I'd have to assume picking the next game to make is a lot like putting together a business plan and trying to pitch it to someone, there are quality standards that need to be met and plans that need to be laid out before the real game production even begins. They need to figure out who their competition will be to the best of their ability, including not stepping on their own games. If they turned around and made D3 4 years after D2:LoD I don't think it would get nearly the hype it currently has which includes all new fans being drawn in by the anticipation. Part of their market research would include the success of Free to play MMOs with real money item shops, they would be crazy to ignore that market's existence, combine that will their own ideas of circumventing the sale of virtual items and gold on the "black market" and you get the RMAH. D3 is and will be a great game, but don't kid yourself they were not making the textures you'll see in release 10 years ago, they might have been tinkering on some concept art though but that's different.
The number one reason for lengthy development, right now, in my opinion is the console version of the game. They brought the console team on board late in development and it turns out they liked the feel of the game with a controller. Because of the console release they need to broker deals with Sony (PS3) and Microsoft (Xbox) to make sure they will accept the Real Money Auction House into their ecosystem of micro-transactions. I can imagine Microsoft not liking it due to their normal use of "points" rather then dollars, that needs to get sorted out etc for a full console release of D3. Finally though their can be patches on consoles now they are fair from ideal so I think that it really puts the pressure on them to make sure the release is smooth.
Anyway, in short, the game is almost here as it is and I think everyone is happy about that!
The reason for such a long development is because they closed Blizzard North in 2005. They were working on D3 originally. Assuming you take a year for hiring new blood, shifting of assets and restructuring...you're looking at Q3/Q4 2006. Combine this with the fact that Blizzard probably started parallel development on the engine that would power D3 and SC2, you get 2007. I'm seeing around 4 years of real development time so far.
They're 2 seperate engines.
But other than that you're right, there's probably also been some moments in developement where they couldn't work on D3 due to SC2 or WoW.
The number one reason for lengthy development, right now, in my opinion is the console version of the game. They brought the console team on board late in development and it turns out they liked the feel of the game with a controller. Because of the console release they need to broker deals with Sony (PS3) and Microsoft (Xbox) to make sure they will accept the Real Money Auction House into their ecosystem of micro-transactions. I can imagine Microsoft not liking it due to their normal use of "points" rather then dollars, that needs to get sorted out etc for a full console release of D3. Finally though their can be patches on consoles now they are fair from ideal so I think that it really puts the pressure on them to make sure the release is smooth.
Anyway, in short, the game is almost here as it is and I think everyone is happy about that!
The rumoured console version has nothing to do with the delay and push back to early 2012. A console version (if one ever gets released, i have my doubts) will NOT come at the same time as the PC version. They aren't working on a console version now. They are full at work getting the PC copy out the door and shipped.
Just take a look, they don't know for sure how runes will work, they haven't implemented affixes to items, they are still unsure how to handle the skill swapping. This is why it's been delayed.
My only problem with Blizzard now with their development process is the above. It's THIS late in the game and you still don't know these core features that should have been decided ages ago? When is iterative process too much? seems like they just can't stop changing things to get this thing shipped.
The reason for such a long development is because they closed Blizzard North in 2005. They were working on D3 originally. Assuming you take a year for hiring new blood, shifting of assets and restructuring...you're looking at Q3/Q4 2006. Combine this with the fact that Blizzard probably started parallel development on the engine that would power D3 and SC2, you get 2007. I'm seeing around 4 years of real development time so far.
They're 2 seperate engines.
But other than that you're right, there's probably also been some moments in developement where they couldn't work on D3 due to SC2 or WoW.
I haven't played D3 Beta but judging from screenshots and videos, D3 was built on a custom SC2 based engine. Considering that both projects were on the table and getting started at the same time; Blizzard would've developed a single engine that was flexible enough for both applications. It makes sense from a developer point of view and it lowers the costs.
D3 should of been a Q4 2010 release though. They had plenty of time for engine customization, content creation and "polish". I'm thinking they fumbled about the game's direction and decided to play the "wait and see" card in regards with SC2. Since SC2 had a good reaction, they decided to take the same route with D3 (update and expand existing formula). That's my best guess.
My best guess is what Blizzard has stated themselves. In 04 they started game production, 06 there was a huge shift from Blizzard north to Blizzard in Irvine aka Blizzard south. They revamped the whole game because it was going more MMO. The screenies show its outdated engine and its poor artwork and poor camera angles. At this time they went back to the drawing board with some story and all the game's engine/details out of the window. from 06-08 they started to work on the Barb and DH, DH didn't fit well so they threw in the WD instead. They finished the tristram cathedral and that set the stage for the 08 release video. In this time they also got finished with the first cinematic, so far this is literally all we've seen. By 09 they have started new ideas changed the GUI a little to make it nicer and less Wowish, they've showcased a new class or two and are working hard on the game. 2010 rolls along with the final class announcement and the showcasing of different runestones on certain skills, showing this may be the first finished skill from each class. By this time they are well underway with the finishing of most of the acts. 2011 rolls in and by now they are probably in Overtime mode. They work longer to test and play the game over and over to check for bugs/glitches and have started integrating battle.net with the game and all of the Diablo 3 websites new features. By this time today they are probably still testing internally finding lots of bugs and sayiog shit we need more time to fix all these, thus the push back to 2012 although that should've been suspected because well let's face it every blizzard game gets pushed back at some point. So really it has been 5 years and it's nearing 6 if you count the under wraps development.
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I just don't understand. Just take a look at these other games:
1. Skyrim is much bigger than Diablo 3 and its only taken the development team approximately 4 years.
2. Borderlands 2 is probably the same size as Diablo 3 and its development team is only taking approximately 3 years.
3. Guild Wars 2 has a far smaller development team than Diablo 3 does, its much bigger than Diablo 3 and its development time is barely over the 6 year mark.
So, these are just a few examples. I'm pretty sure Diablo 3 has a pretty massive development team, so why are they taking so long to make and release it?
NOTE: I am not making any direct comparisons between Diablo 3 and these games, just the development process length.
Blizz has small development teams, which are better for quality but bad for time. This, coupled with their high standards means their dev cycle is long as all hell.
Size doesn't factor in as much as you might think, since generally bigger games have farther spread content. Depends on the game.
/thread
I can't express how annoyed I was at that BS.
Korea has not banned D3 btw.
A QUADRILLION MAGIC FIND is worthless if you can't kill shit!
... sure.
Surely they can open up the floodgates and open up the beta to everyone or at the very least to those who opted in, surely they have the infrastructure in place to handle the server stress, never have I seen any game so drawn out in my life and I've been gaming for 30 years. I'm really just getting annoyed now and just want to try the damn thing.
Hehe... exactly right. Development of this game actually started in 2001 (according to wiki). That's 11 years on making one game! Yeah there may have been a few power shifts. The original development team may have retired and the current development team replaced them... But still - 11 freaking years!
Honestly. If Blizzard fails horribly like this ever again... They will most probably go broke from furious fans.
I'm pretty sure that wiki is wrong, wasn't it suppose to have started in 2004?
Also 2001 was before D2 hit rock bottom(that happened in Q1 2002), so I find it hard to believe it started back that far, besides they were developing WoW at the time.
I just don't like the way they are doing things, back in the day I had no problem getting access to the diablo 2 beta - I'm pretty much sure everyone got a chance from the start to test it. Now all this family and friends & press beta crap, now all these bullshit beta key contests popping as well as another Blizzcon coming up so they can milk the D3 teet dry, I'm guessing the average Joe won't get a go on the beta until at least late November and that's being optimistic.
Yea, Blizzard no longer has what anyone would call a beta(except perhaps closed, behind the scenes, no mention whatsoever that it even exists, internal testing). This stupid crap they hold now(F&F, press, exc), is all about building hype sigh, and It's a very dirty way to do such.
It's an insult to the people who actually cares about testing a game, and hammering out all the issues.
If that is true than everything is good. Though I really wouldn't mind some evidence... Also Blizzard should be more prepared lol.
I'd have to assume picking the next game to make is a lot like putting together a business plan and trying to pitch it to someone, there are quality standards that need to be met and plans that need to be laid out before the real game production even begins. They need to figure out who their competition will be to the best of their ability, including not stepping on their own games. If they turned around and made D3 4 years after D2:LoD I don't think it would get nearly the hype it currently has which includes all new fans being drawn in by the anticipation. Part of their market research would include the success of Free to play MMOs with real money item shops, they would be crazy to ignore that market's existence, combine that will their own ideas of circumventing the sale of virtual items and gold on the "black market" and you get the RMAH. D3 is and will be a great game, but don't kid yourself they were not making the textures you'll see in release 10 years ago, they might have been tinkering on some concept art though but that's different.
The number one reason for lengthy development, right now, in my opinion is the console version of the game. They brought the console team on board late in development and it turns out they liked the feel of the game with a controller. Because of the console release they need to broker deals with Sony (PS3) and Microsoft (Xbox) to make sure they will accept the Real Money Auction House into their ecosystem of micro-transactions. I can imagine Microsoft not liking it due to their normal use of "points" rather then dollars, that needs to get sorted out etc for a full console release of D3. Finally though their can be patches on consoles now they are fair from ideal so I think that it really puts the pressure on them to make sure the release is smooth.
Anyway, in short, the game is almost here as it is and I think everyone is happy about that!
They're 2 seperate engines.
But other than that you're right, there's probably also been some moments in developement where they couldn't work on D3 due to SC2 or WoW.
The rumoured console version has nothing to do with the delay and push back to early 2012. A console version (if one ever gets released, i have my doubts) will NOT come at the same time as the PC version. They aren't working on a console version now. They are full at work getting the PC copy out the door and shipped.
Just take a look, they don't know for sure how runes will work, they haven't implemented affixes to items, they are still unsure how to handle the skill swapping. This is why it's been delayed.
My only problem with Blizzard now with their development process is the above. It's THIS late in the game and you still don't know these core features that should have been decided ages ago? When is iterative process too much? seems like they just can't stop changing things to get this thing shipped.
I haven't played D3 Beta but judging from screenshots and videos, D3 was built on a custom SC2 based engine. Considering that both projects were on the table and getting started at the same time; Blizzard would've developed a single engine that was flexible enough for both applications. It makes sense from a developer point of view and it lowers the costs.
D3 should of been a Q4 2010 release though. They had plenty of time for engine customization, content creation and "polish". I'm thinking they fumbled about the game's direction and decided to play the "wait and see" card in regards with SC2. Since SC2 had a good reaction, they decided to take the same route with D3 (update and expand existing formula). That's my best guess.