There was quite a bit of talk about PvP in the past and Blizzards official view on the subject is transparent enough. Diablo 3 is primarily supposed to be a PvE game, such that no major effort is going to be put into reworking the PvP experience. However, the bare functionality of so called “Brawling” is already in place. Therefore, in this post (instead of dreaming of improbable scenarios of how something new and different could be created) I am going to stay realistic and try to give Blizzard an idea of how what is already there can easily be made more enjoyable.
First of all, let us take a look at the current state of affairs and determine if the parameters around Brawling are adjusted to maximize the fun factor of the experience or not. Taking a look at a fairly recent review, it becomes quite obvious that things are looking grim at the moment:
This video perfectly demonstrates one essential point. Namely, that legendaries with new unique affixes (which have been a huge success in improving PvE) completely break the PvP experience and make it unbearable. Arguably, legendaries in general have always been an issue in PvP, since they have a greater potential to cause imbalance purely based on their increased stats.
As you might already suspect, the solution I would like to propose is very simple. At its core it is:
Introduce a new rare-items-only Brawling mode!
Let us take a look at a list of effective changes this would bring about and required efforts to implement it:
Clearly, if only rare (and lower rarity) items were usable in the Scorched Chapel, all the overpowered game breaking effects would be gone, making PvP more balanced.
Additionally, this would cause efficient resource management to become more important, such that actual playing skill would matter more (as it should in PvP).
Currently, items of lower rarity are nothing else but crafting fodder. Their stats can never reach those of legendaries or sets, and so they are salvaged in masses without even the slightest consideration. Creating a rare-item-only Brawling mode would introduce new depth to the game and give Rare Items a bit more meaning than a Veiled Crystal.
Finally, the above change is incredibly easy to implement. The functionality of forbidding a certain item class to be equipped is already in the game. So it all comes down to placing a red cross over each equipped legendary or set item and making the game completely ignore their stats while the location reads “Scorched Chapel”. (Alternatively, equipping a legendary or set item in the Scorched Chapel could disable all skills and make the character invulnerable, effectively introducing a “spectator mode” along the way.) Make this choice available in the drop-down menu on the game creation screen (in addition to the regular Brawling), and you are done!
The title of this post is of course not meant completely seriously, but is rather designed to attract attention. Certainly, there always will be problems with PvP, due to class balance and what not. I am not asking you to make it perfect. I am asking you to make it playable. And considering how easily this particular change can be implemented, I hope you will give it a fair amount of consideration. Thank you for your attention.
You're not guaranteed any exposure for your idea here. Even front page featurettes are rare.
Post on the blizzard forums. Especially with the title you have here...even if it is "attention-grabbing" only from your pov, your idea for this particular change is better addressed on a forum with a direct, acknowledged connection to dev eyes and ears. Generating attention here from the community is not the same as garnering attention on the actual forums? Just saying.
First of all, let us take a look at the current state of affairs and determine if the parameters around Brawling are adjusted to maximize the fun factor of the experience or not. Taking a look at a fairly recent review, it becomes quite obvious that things are looking grim at the moment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gN2MG6OOZe4
This video perfectly demonstrates one essential point. Namely, that legendaries with new unique affixes (which have been a huge success in improving PvE) completely break the PvP experience and make it unbearable. Arguably, legendaries in general have always been an issue in PvP, since they have a greater potential to cause imbalance purely based on their increased stats.
As you might already suspect, the solution I would like to propose is very simple. At its core it is:
Let us take a look at a list of effective changes this would bring about and required efforts to implement it:
You're not guaranteed any exposure for your idea here. Even front page featurettes are rare.
Post on the blizzard forums. Especially with the title you have here...even if it is "attention-grabbing" only from your pov, your idea for this particular change is better addressed on a forum with a direct, acknowledged connection to dev eyes and ears. Generating attention here from the community is not the same as garnering attention on the actual forums? Just saying.