Ok change I guess... But honestly it seems like the Diablo team is becoming somewhat out of touch with reality.
The game needs several major overhauls. Loot system needs to be overhauled completely, not just legendary drops, the items are just boring and generic and do not contribute to unique builds. Skill/leveling needs to be completely redone, character building and permanence need to come back, people need a reason to keep rerolling same class. Diverse, challenging, interesting endgame needs to be introduced, including but in no way limited to PvP.
Writing a giant post about CC seems kind of silly at this point. You read the forums, you read user reviews on Amazon, nobody cares about CC, people want major changes to the game.
I find it absolutely amazing that the majority vote was "have no played" yet they're checking Diablo fans and putting their time in to actually vote on a poll.. I can pretty much guarantee 75% of the people that voted for that option are lying, grow up and admit you like the game still It's an amazing game, most people just get their pitch forks and torches and join the mob!! Just enjoy the game, if you don't like it, don't waste your time talking about it
I think people are telling the truth. I think many people have a tremendous loyalty and respect for the Diablo name and the Blizzard brand, they keep involved because they hope that Blizzard will fix the game piece by piece.
What I'm surprised about is how many aren't playing, considering the poll is indeed on MMO-C's front page as well. That tells a lot. A lot indeed.
People are waiting for the rest of the game systems to get tuned. Particularly the return of character customization with an overhaul of skill and leveling system, and change of drop rates to provide steady stream of uniques and quality rares to people who do not use auction house. Looking at player review of the game, the removal of the RPG character creation element, and the auction house tuned drop rates are the biggest gripes.
Just picked up game again after patch 1.04 was thinking about the repeated complaints about lack of endgame and how it could be remedied. Diablo 2 had no endgame beyond grinding to level 99 which was not fun or practical for many people, so why did people play for a decade?
Simple, Diablo 2 had character customization. The REAL endgame was starting a new toon and creating a different build, since the game allowed for a variety of specialized builds, this provided an endless well of motivation for players to keep playing. Diablo 3 completely removed character building and customization from the equation, any build can become another build in a few seconds. The itemization fails to replace this system since virtually all items are equally good for any build of a particular class, chances are that my Inferno item set will serve your barbarian as well as it served mine. There no reason on earth why anyone would ever create more than one softcore monk, the end result would be two identical characters competing for endgame loot.
The solution is to bring back permanent character choices on level up, and to greatly diversify skills and passives to allow for weird, wacky builds that completely alter the way characters are played. When this is done it should be supported by the creation of items that cater to unique styles of play. The charm of creating some really unorthodox unarmed barbarian build will keep people busy for years just like with D2.
The other path the team can follow is to try and constantly create new content for players to tackle, like an MMO releasing new dungeons/areas for endgame players. I believe this is the wrong path since the team will never be able to produce meaningful content faster than players play through it. They would need to release a new act every few months for players to not grow bored, and it is just an unreasonable expectation for a non-subscription based game. Character creation and customization was fundamental for Diablo, and its removal is the reason why people struggle to find new content, if it is brought back it will ultimately give the game more replayability than even the best implemented endgame content.
I'm sorry but have none of you ever played an online game before? When updates are offered, new content added there are usually patches that have to go out the first week. The level of entitlement from this community really surprises me, most of the time probably more then it should. Its 5AM est, 2AM pst, the majority of the community isn't playing right now, making this an ideal time to patch and update.
Diablo is not an online game. Its a game that is played almost exclusively single player, there is absolutely no player demand to have the game online only, its just an obnoxious form of copyright protection. Patches are in no way an excuse to make the game stop working, I should be given the option to download or not download patches at my leizure, there is 0 reason why anyone should not be able to play a single player game at any time. This is not entitelement, its common sense, I buy a toaster I expect it to work 24/7.
And all of this bashing and ranting about unethical in game money transactions. Blizzard has put in a system that allows you to get paid for pixel items. You are getting MONEY to play a video game. It might not be often, and it might not be a lot... but you are getting real money... for playing a game. Lets all think about this. Blizzard takes a cut (maybe a little to large) but again... you are getting paid... for gaming.
If I had interest in working for 5c an hour I would move to China. I want nothing to do with this scam and I do not wish to have it effect my game in any way. I do not understand why the entire game is tuned to allow for this business model at expense of the actual game. Blizzard's job was to make an online game, not to create an opportunity for people to work for one tenth of minimum wage while giving the company a giant cut of the profits. With the years of discussion prior to Diablo 3 release, I do not remember a single person requesting this feature to be ingame.
Unbelievable. Also please before you flame me with it has driven game design, and that the game was ruined because of it blah blah blah. I've heard it all. If you don't like it, then play something else. You don't pay monthly fees, just move on and find something that you do enjoy.
Until Blizzard fixes everything, inluding the obnoxious, unneccesary, and just laughably ridiculous requirement that players be logged on to play, I as a paying customer can complain all I want. As do millions of other, just look at the Amazon reviews.
This should never ever ever ever happened, under any circumstance for any reason. Blizzard should be forced to provide financial compensation for every failed login, its the only language these people understand.
Why are login, passwords, and internet required to play a game that 90% of people play single player?
1. Something to do past level 60, makes even the most unrewarding trip into sanctuary still seem worthwhile.
2. Solves the whole magic find vs damage dilema. I hate having to wear suboptimal gear as an investment into the distant future, I want to have the best character possible and still find alot of good items. I am glad magic find is being phased out.
3. A good moral boost for a community, show developers care, listen to criticism, and are committed to the long term viability of game.
The Bad:
1. Feels tacked on, like they wanted to make one kind of game but were forced to make something else. Having normal leveling, paragon leveling, and the valor system on top of each other seems kind of redundant. They wanted to make a simpler game and oddly enough made it more complex.
2. This is not endgame content. Its a cool feature, and will make end game content more fun, but it is not end game content by itself. There needs to be some meat and potato end game play such as endless dungeon, a monster arena, or a Path of Exile type map system, as well as PvP. Paragon level will make each of these systems more fun, but it cannot replace real end game content.
Overall its a good change, and hopefully developers will keep building on it.
"There was talk, back during the Reddit AMA, about bosses dropping rares on the first kill past normal difficulty. Did this make it into 1.0.4?"
"That did not make it into 1.0.4, but it is still something we want to add to the game."
I could swear patch notes said this change was made. Did Jay Wilson misspeak or am I having a senior moment?
The original interview was pretty tame and polite, not sure what provoked such angry response, everything he said was already stated a million times by fans.
Its amazing how the QQ about the QQ'ers, is more rude and stupid than the actual QQ about the game.
Are you talking about this thread, and in particular the original poster? Are you saying that the posts by the OP in this thread are "rude and stupid"?
If that is not what you are talking about, then I have to suggest that your comments are not applicable to this thread.
I do think that this thread is rude, basically trying to shut people up. The game has many problems including alot of missing content, no end game, broken leveling/skill system resulting in no character pernamence or uniqueness, and broken item game which forces people to use auction house. These are just the problems with game mechanics, many people think the story is awful and hate the art design but these things are more subjective. Fixing these system would require several major overhauls like patch 1.04 Its not just a couple of trolls trolling, it is a popular opinion if not an outright consensus. Many "famous" players commented on this inluding Kripperian, the Force Strategy guys, and the guy who designed the original Diablo (see latest diablo inc news).
I understand that threads discussing all this are frustrating to some, and some of the threads are less than constructive. The way to make them go away is to fix Diablo 3. Item game will hopefully be fixed 1.04, after this they can patch PvP and hopefully more missing content, after they can create a viable endgame, and lastly overhaul character creation to allow for character pernamence and uniqueness. When all this is finished we will have the game that should have been 1.00 and will be ready for an expansion pack. Until all this is done, the threads will not go away.
Why? Path of Exile has this type of customization and it is basically a Diablo 2 clone made on a shoe string budget by a tiny indie studio....
So what is stopping you from playing PoE and being happy enough about it?
Because PoE doesn't have the polish, good graphics/physics, and fast smooth combat of Diablo. I want both in one game. I do not see how a game can ever hope for longetivity with a skill system that stiffles player creativity and actively discourages players from ever rerolling a character. How would YOU change the skill system? Or do you think its just fine with only little balance changes neccesary?
I think you're playing the wrong game if you are expecting any of this from D3.
Why? Path of Exile has this type of customization and it is basically a Diablo 2 clone made on a shoe string budget by a tiny indie studio. Blizzard spends more $ on Blizzcon each year than PoE designers earned in their lifetime. Why shouldn't I expect something great from a giant game company that spent tens of millions, hundreds of thousands of work hours, and almost a decade of time, to develop one game? After all these years I expect a game that has better customization than your average first person shooter.
Classes should be the springboards from which you build your character, not the limitations on what you can do. It should be easier to make witch doctor pet build, but a monk pet build should still be viable.
By now it is more or less accepted by Blizzard fans that Diablo III is seriously lacking in many areas. The two greatest complaints are the item hunt and the skills/leveling system. If these two are fixed, the game would be on solid ground for further improvement and expansion. The items are being fixed in the next patch that will introduce better legenderies, and hopefully increase the drop rate of good items enough to make the auction houses optional, not mandatory like now.
But the other great problem is yet to be addressed. The skill/leveling system is extremely simplified, generic, and eliminates character uniqueness and player choice.
I want to make a pet based demon hunter with no attacks but a wide range of curses at my disposal to aid my army of minions.
I want to create a ranged monk that uses traps and turrets.
I want a melee wizard that "casts" melee attacks using her health instead of her mana.
I want a barbarian battle mage that shoots fireballs and meteors at range before closing in for melee.
I want a witch doctor healer that mostly provides healing, buffs, and auras for coop party members.
The words "you cannot do that" should simply not be part of a game designer’s vocabulary. Their job is not to make up some fun skills for me to play with, it is to create a skill system where I can play anyway I want, including some really creative builds that neither they nor I are yet aware of. I want both a unique character that is different from my other characters of same class, and the ability to discover a completely new build no person on earth is using.
The Path of Exile skill tree should be nailed to the wall of every Blizzard designer’s office, to show them the kind of thing we are looking for. By no means is it perfect, a mega company like Blizzard can create something even better allowing for exponentially greater customization without making it too complex. The limit on character customization should be my imagination, not the designers. I sincerely hope that the skills system is next in line for a total overhaul.
A friend and I were having a conversation about including some high end hardcore exclusive gear in Diablo III. Nothing that will totally outclass the softcore gear and make game easy, just slightly better items, maybe one extra tier of armor, or one extra quality grade on the gems, or a couple of unique items with interesting modifiers not found in softcore. Something to reward the hardcore players who are crazy enough to venture into inferno mode, and provide a very slight incentive for the uninitiated to try hardcore.
On the other hand I can see the negatives: "you are forcing people to play hardcore", "you are pandering to a minority of players", "I do not want any extra crutches when playing hardcore" etc. What do you think?
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The game needs several major overhauls. Loot system needs to be overhauled completely, not just legendary drops, the items are just boring and generic and do not contribute to unique builds. Skill/leveling needs to be completely redone, character building and permanence need to come back, people need a reason to keep rerolling same class. Diverse, challenging, interesting endgame needs to be introduced, including but in no way limited to PvP.
Writing a giant post about CC seems kind of silly at this point. You read the forums, you read user reviews on Amazon, nobody cares about CC, people want major changes to the game.
I think people are telling the truth. I think many people have a tremendous loyalty and respect for the Diablo name and the Blizzard brand, they keep involved because they hope that Blizzard will fix the game piece by piece.
People are waiting for the rest of the game systems to get tuned. Particularly the return of character customization with an overhaul of skill and leveling system, and change of drop rates to provide steady stream of uniques and quality rares to people who do not use auction house. Looking at player review of the game, the removal of the RPG character creation element, and the auction house tuned drop rates are the biggest gripes.
Simple, Diablo 2 had character customization. The REAL endgame was starting a new toon and creating a different build, since the game allowed for a variety of specialized builds, this provided an endless well of motivation for players to keep playing. Diablo 3 completely removed character building and customization from the equation, any build can become another build in a few seconds. The itemization fails to replace this system since virtually all items are equally good for any build of a particular class, chances are that my Inferno item set will serve your barbarian as well as it served mine. There no reason on earth why anyone would ever create more than one softcore monk, the end result would be two identical characters competing for endgame loot.
The solution is to bring back permanent character choices on level up, and to greatly diversify skills and passives to allow for weird, wacky builds that completely alter the way characters are played. When this is done it should be supported by the creation of items that cater to unique styles of play. The charm of creating some really unorthodox unarmed barbarian build will keep people busy for years just like with D2.
The other path the team can follow is to try and constantly create new content for players to tackle, like an MMO releasing new dungeons/areas for endgame players. I believe this is the wrong path since the team will never be able to produce meaningful content faster than players play through it. They would need to release a new act every few months for players to not grow bored, and it is just an unreasonable expectation for a non-subscription based game. Character creation and customization was fundamental for Diablo, and its removal is the reason why people struggle to find new content, if it is brought back it will ultimately give the game more replayability than even the best implemented endgame content.
Diablo is not an online game. Its a game that is played almost exclusively single player, there is absolutely no player demand to have the game online only, its just an obnoxious form of copyright protection. Patches are in no way an excuse to make the game stop working, I should be given the option to download or not download patches at my leizure, there is 0 reason why anyone should not be able to play a single player game at any time. This is not entitelement, its common sense, I buy a toaster I expect it to work 24/7.
If I had interest in working for 5c an hour I would move to China. I want nothing to do with this scam and I do not wish to have it effect my game in any way. I do not understand why the entire game is tuned to allow for this business model at expense of the actual game. Blizzard's job was to make an online game, not to create an opportunity for people to work for one tenth of minimum wage while giving the company a giant cut of the profits. With the years of discussion prior to Diablo 3 release, I do not remember a single person requesting this feature to be ingame.
Until Blizzard fixes everything, inluding the obnoxious, unneccesary, and just laughably ridiculous requirement that players be logged on to play, I as a paying customer can complain all I want. As do millions of other, just look at the Amazon reviews.
Why can't they have backup servers or something? Like, you know, any normal company...
Why are login, passwords, and internet required to play a game that 90% of people play single player?
The Good:
1. Something to do past level 60, makes even the most unrewarding trip into sanctuary still seem worthwhile.
2. Solves the whole magic find vs damage dilema. I hate having to wear suboptimal gear as an investment into the distant future, I want to have the best character possible and still find alot of good items. I am glad magic find is being phased out.
3. A good moral boost for a community, show developers care, listen to criticism, and are committed to the long term viability of game.
The Bad:
1. Feels tacked on, like they wanted to make one kind of game but were forced to make something else. Having normal leveling, paragon leveling, and the valor system on top of each other seems kind of redundant. They wanted to make a simpler game and oddly enough made it more complex.
2. This is not endgame content. Its a cool feature, and will make end game content more fun, but it is not end game content by itself. There needs to be some meat and potato end game play such as endless dungeon, a monster arena, or a Path of Exile type map system, as well as PvP. Paragon level will make each of these systems more fun, but it cannot replace real end game content.
Overall its a good change, and hopefully developers will keep building on it.
"There was talk, back during the Reddit AMA, about bosses dropping rares on the first kill past normal difficulty. Did this make it into 1.0.4?"
"That did not make it into 1.0.4, but it is still something we want to add to the game."
I could swear patch notes said this change was made. Did Jay Wilson misspeak or am I having a senior moment?
I do think that this thread is rude, basically trying to shut people up. The game has many problems including alot of missing content, no end game, broken leveling/skill system resulting in no character pernamence or uniqueness, and broken item game which forces people to use auction house. These are just the problems with game mechanics, many people think the story is awful and hate the art design but these things are more subjective. Fixing these system would require several major overhauls like patch 1.04 Its not just a couple of trolls trolling, it is a popular opinion if not an outright consensus. Many "famous" players commented on this inluding Kripperian, the Force Strategy guys, and the guy who designed the original Diablo (see latest diablo inc news).
I understand that threads discussing all this are frustrating to some, and some of the threads are less than constructive. The way to make them go away is to fix Diablo 3. Item game will hopefully be fixed 1.04, after this they can patch PvP and hopefully more missing content, after they can create a viable endgame, and lastly overhaul character creation to allow for character pernamence and uniqueness. When all this is finished we will have the game that should have been 1.00 and will be ready for an expansion pack. Until all this is done, the threads will not go away.
Because PoE doesn't have the polish, good graphics/physics, and fast smooth combat of Diablo. I want both in one game. I do not see how a game can ever hope for longetivity with a skill system that stiffles player creativity and actively discourages players from ever rerolling a character. How would YOU change the skill system? Or do you think its just fine with only little balance changes neccesary?
Why? Path of Exile has this type of customization and it is basically a Diablo 2 clone made on a shoe string budget by a tiny indie studio. Blizzard spends more $ on Blizzcon each year than PoE designers earned in their lifetime. Why shouldn't I expect something great from a giant game company that spent tens of millions, hundreds of thousands of work hours, and almost a decade of time, to develop one game? After all these years I expect a game that has better customization than your average first person shooter.
Classes should be the springboards from which you build your character, not the limitations on what you can do. It should be easier to make witch doctor pet build, but a monk pet build should still be viable.
But the other great problem is yet to be addressed. The skill/leveling system is extremely simplified, generic, and eliminates character uniqueness and player choice.
I want to make a pet based demon hunter with no attacks but a wide range of curses at my disposal to aid my army of minions.
I want to create a ranged monk that uses traps and turrets.
I want a melee wizard that "casts" melee attacks using her health instead of her mana.
I want a barbarian battle mage that shoots fireballs and meteors at range before closing in for melee.
I want a witch doctor healer that mostly provides healing, buffs, and auras for coop party members.
The words "you cannot do that" should simply not be part of a game designer’s vocabulary. Their job is not to make up some fun skills for me to play with, it is to create a skill system where I can play anyway I want, including some really creative builds that neither they nor I are yet aware of. I want both a unique character that is different from my other characters of same class, and the ability to discover a completely new build no person on earth is using.
The Path of Exile skill tree should be nailed to the wall of every Blizzard designer’s office, to show them the kind of thing we are looking for. By no means is it perfect, a mega company like Blizzard can create something even better allowing for exponentially greater customization without making it too complex. The limit on character customization should be my imagination, not the designers. I sincerely hope that the skills system is next in line for a total overhaul.
On the other hand I can see the negatives: "you are forcing people to play hardcore", "you are pandering to a minority of players", "I do not want any extra crutches when playing hardcore" etc. What do you think?