However, I don't see Blizzard ever making a remake. Those guys generally don't do ports, they develop from the ground up. So they'd spend a lot of times on a game with a pretty basic storyline, no franchise progression and slightly smaller than usual audience.
Think of it like, the time they'd spend on a D1 remake they could spend on D4. Because that's how they work, they won't make it half arsed and release it.
But a mod could indeed be fun (but again, would fall in the "half arsed" category).
Maybe a SC2 mod?
I actually was thinking about a SC2 mod. After all, someone made that ridiculously well done WC3 mod simulating the demo from 2008. I can imagine it would work a lot better using SC2.
But ya, I know what you mean, Blizzard goes forward, not backwards. Unfortunately I don't think there will be a "Diablo 4." I think this'll be the last time we get to kill Diablo in this story arch. However, I don't see any reason why they wouldn't rewind time and shoot us back to play as Horadrim chasing the Prime Evils with Tyrael or visit other story archs started in the novels. It's hard to imagine what direction they'll go with the game seeing as there's not much more you can do and it's not really a "Diablo game" if you aren't killing Diablo =\
Hey all. Here's an idea that's bounced around in my head for years. Since Diablo 3 is getting closer to an actual release, I thought I'd share the thought.
For me, Diablo 1 was my first gaming love. There is really no comparison. Diablo 1 is the best Diablo and a timeless classic. I fire it up every year and beat it at least once. There are many people who feel the same way. Those people eventually went on to stretch their creative muscles and create amazing Diablo 2 mods such as Back To Hellfire in order to bring back the fun of Diablo 1 using a slightly more modern (for the time) engine.
I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this. With the advent of Diablo 3, we have a chance to see a rebuilt and retooled Diablo 1. However, Blizzard has thrown down the ban hammer and forbid any modding of Diablo 3 (we'll see how long it'll take for someone to work around said restrictions). So here's the question: what about a Blizzard remake of Diablo 1? I would be thrilled to see Blizzard come in and make an "Anniversary Edition" of Diablo 1. I will admit, it doesn't make a lot of sense to make it back to back with Diablo 3 but perhaps it could find a place to fit in as it would probably take a few years to make.
Maybe I'm a little too nostalgic for the good old days but it's fun to dream. Perhaps it could find life as a single player expansion campaign for Diablo 3 or maybe it's best left as is.
This brings in another question: modding. I understand Blizzard's mentality for locking down Diablo 3. They want to eliminate the chance of people cheating and upsetting their cash cow. I hear it is very temperamental when it doesn't get fed large denomination bills at regular intervals. Joking aside, there are ways Blizzard can be creative about this to where people can still mod the game, yet keep Blizzard happy by leaving the primary game untouched. Diablo 3 could be broken down into two installs: a primary, and a mod-friendly install. The primary cannot be tampered with (at least not without getting you banned) and the mod-friendly install is for those few brave souls who wish to code into the wee hours of the night to bring forth a custom Diablo experience.
It could be a lot like Diablo 2 is organized now. Regular B.net and a "modded" B.net. Just like a first person shooter game that has custom maps, you download the game files and fire up your mod to play with your friends. Blizzard could even take advantage of this concept themselves. They could create special game modes for Diablo 3 or mini-levels that explore various aspects of Diablo's lore all without messing with the primary Diablo 3 experience.
I doubt rather highly that Blizzard is going to budge on the whole "no modding" thing though. They seem very adamant in throwing in things we don't like or won't want into a game we all are hoping very much that we'll love. Though to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if the average Diablo player doesn't care one way or the other if you can mod the game. I, for one, am disappointed that you can't mod the game, however, I can live without it.
What do you guys think? Would you pay for a remake of the original game? Would you like to see special modding privileges? Or is it better to simply lock down Diablo 3 and forge ahead without a glance back?
ya...that's kinda the first thing I thought of when I saw that skill...its cool and looks like it'll be effective, far more effective than inferno ever was but still...there's no way they can get away from the DBZ reference with that...
Although I'm scathing mad about the new developments I'm hearing about other aspects of this game, I will say I do like the look of "The Wizard."
The name kind of makes you cringe, much like "The Witch Doctor" but as I can now see, Blizzard is pretty much beating multiple dead horses because they're running low on creative ideas
The class looks like an overall improvement over the classic Sorc. I do really like the animation for teleport and the renamed chain lightning. I really like that lightning actually fires like lightning should in that it is very fast moving unlike it was in Diablo 2.
It looks like the Wizard will be a decent class. Hopefully Blizzard can be a wee bit more creative when they announce the Archer/Spear class, and the replacement Paladin class.
Honestly though, "All new classes" doesn't mean you take a preexisting class, rename it, and give it a few new spells to make it "new"
wow...blizzard I congratulate you on taking a great game franchise and now completely sending it down the shit-hole.
I've warmed up to the art direction for the game
I've gone from against your stupid health orbs to be indifferent to them
I've praised you for for the conceptual art, the death animations, the named monsters, the destructable backgrounds, the regular monsters, as well as other areas of the new game
I was gladdened to hear you were looking into improving the inventory system including the stash
I was instantly against the idea of checkpoints and the exclusion of the classic Town Portal
I was initially skeptical about the sudden overblown aspect of skills and their seeming necessity to be absolutely overpowered in order to hold our attention
and now I have you guys go and COMPLETELY turn D3 from a PC title that would help reinvent PC Platform gaming into a piece of shit console port by eliminating the last dregs of RPG element: the stat line. Strength, Dex, Vitality, Energy being completely controllable by the user is an absolute must in a true RPG. This isn't a freaking MMO where everything has to be balanced to a T (which Blizzard failed and continues to fail to do in WoW). If anything, all this does is completely eliminate what made Diablo so good: being able to go and create your own unique build on character classes.
Now every character is going to be the same with a bunch of bullshit overpowered spells because you seem to think we're a bunch of ADD ridden kids who can't be pleased unless we are on the very edge of having a built in God Mode. Why don't you just eliminate dieing as well? That way I can just plow though the game using flashing ADD button mash spells in just a couple of hours
I said months ago: to get Diablo 3 right, they need to make the Stats worth something so then people can do more than put max stats to Vit like in Diablo 2 and make it more like Diablo 1 where stats actually meant something. What I meant by this was PUT SOME FUCKING EFFORT INTO THE GODDAMNED GAME MECHANICS AND NOT COP OUT AND MAKE EVERYTHING AUTOMATIC!!!!! ACTUALLY FIX THE GODDAMN PROBLEM INSTEAD OF PUT A PATCH OVER IT!!!
I thought I would have purchased Diablo 3 no matter what Blizzard managed to do to screw it up but I didn't anticipate that Blizzard would be so fucking mindless as to automate the majority of the game including the character building aspect just to appease the people who can't sit down and take the time to plan out their own stat points. Whoopteedo, I get to choose between putting a point between Spell A and Spell B both of which are equally powerful and do relitively the same thing.
Oh I'm sure the Demo was fun enough to play for a while until a Blizzard rep jabbed you in the kidneys and said, "Back of the line buddy." However from what I've read so far of Diablo 3, it's going the opposite direction of what I want it to be. Yes, I'll be so arrogant as to say I want it a certain way. *Humph* I guess I was right years ago before I ever had a clue D3 was even being made when I said the only way a new Diablo is going to be made is if I do it myself. Well, with the way this game is progressing, it's going to be Diablo 3 in name only.
Unless something happens to change my mind, I'm probably not going to buy this game. As a note, I would have previously bought this game no matter what state of suckage it was in...until I realized there is a certain level of suckage that even I cannot ignore no matter how much I want a Diablo 3
Diablo 1: absolute perfect classic
Diablo 2: a decent game that pails in comparison to the original
Just shooting this out there but Diablo 3 is looking more and more like a Console game than a PC game. From the demo to what we've been told so far, it looks like it wouldn't be hard at all now to turn D3 into an easy to play 7 button console game. I wouldn't be surprised if Blizzard is trying to go that path assuming Microsoft pays them a good amount of dough to bring D3 to Xbox live. Though the whole B.net thing does discount that from happening.
Honestly, I find this to take away from the meaning of "death." In D2, I didn't want to die because it was such a pain in the ass to get my corpse back because I either didn't have a town portal, or my corpse was going to be camped by monsters. Obviously, in D1 you didn't want to die PERIOD cuz you were done if you died, you had to start back from where you saved last (or in multiplayer, hope you can pick your gear up off the dungeon floor). With checkpoints, it sounds too easy. No "dammit moment" if you forget to cast a TP, you just start back at the beginning of the dungeon level. Granted they didn't say whether or not you had to go retrieve your corpse but this sounds like it was taken straight out of Titan Quest where you just reappear back at a respawn well with full gear.
I don't like it. I'm all for trying new things and ideas but the TP/Town combo was unique to Diablo. Sure the whole corpse thing in D2 really sucked, but there have to be better more creative ways than to cop-out and use a checkpoint system from another game...
I played it on PC first then got it for the Playstation mainly for the 2 player support. Lets just say it wasn't worth it although I trudged through the entire single player just to get my money's worth.
The graphics on the PSX version were subpar. The music and sound effects were horribly compressed, it ran slow, the interface was horrible, and the only really playable class was the Warrior because it was so hard to play as a Rogue or Sorc.
It and Hellfire are examples of why Blizzard no longer licences their products out to other companies.
Im glad i saw ur post this way i dont have to type all that stuff.
I agree fully and in d2 the stats were fuckin pointless:thumbsup:
glad to have saved your fingers my friend
You know, I never really thought of it but an Auction House wouldn't exactly be a bad addition to Diablo. Granted it's a WoW thing so it somehow must automatically be a bad idea but think about it for a second. What is the absolute HARDEST thing to do in Diablo? Trade. Why is that? You have to deal with assholes, dupers, scammers, overcharged crap, and people leeching off your trade game. It gets very tiring after a while. Some sort of Auction House could help facilitate trading consideribly as well as eliminate trade spam games "Shako 4 Mal Um." (honestly...a shako is barely worth an um...how is it now worth an additional Mal?) How it would work out, I'm not sure, possibly make it something along the lines of a Realm Wide trading post where people post their items on the trading block and people offer up their own items for it. You place an item bid and the person "selling" the item checks in and accepts the offer they like. Either that or make gold actually important and do the WoW method, although I believe it is flawed and makes Gold a little too important.
So basically make a special trading zone either in the main cities of each act, or make a completely seperate area that you join off of B.net to that is not directly a part of the base game but a virtual auction block that your character can go to and interact with other players (instead of just logging into a part of B.net and interfacing with just an impersonal inventory screen).
honestly, i think it looks like crap. The only thing that I saw that I kinda liked was that he had the edges of the screen darkened. I would like it if Blizzard implemented something like that for when you are in a dungeon only not have it as extreme as this guy made it. Just a light shadowy haze around the edges of the screen and I think it would really set the tone.
Cutting back on the Greens and Blues did nothing but make me sit there thinking "Ok, I've seen enough of this, lets move on now."
Also one thing I want to reiterate is that I think Blizzard needs to add some more contrast to the backgrounds. As nice as it looks now, it would look better if they had things like pillars, railings, and statues give off a shadow. Right now, they have it as if the lighting point is directly above the building as if it were noon time outside. However, unlike noon time, the light is soft and thus doesn't give off a hard shadow but instead a diffused shadow. This is contrary to the inside of a building that is lit by torches. Now I don't mean go crazy with the light source and make the shadows go nuts, I'm only saying you don't get a diffused shadow from a fire, you get a hard shadow and the dungeon wouldn't be as brightly lit.
I've finally decided that the colors are fine. It keeps things from being so absolutely dull. However, they can take it to the next level by doing some simple tweaks like adding environmental shadows and maybe that little shadow border around the edges of the screen and it'll be great.
Also please please please allow me to turn off the stupid floating text...I don't have WoW ADD where I have to see the damage I do to my enemy in the form of floating text...
#1: More graphic death animations for monsters and players (D2 death animations were pretty weak) (D3 appears to already be on the right track...Barb getting his head bit off...brutal )
#2: Less grinding the same area 5 million times to level to 99. Basically more variety to make leveling a little lest like drudgery
#3: Give me a reason to care about NPCs and what they have to say. Just about the only NPC I cared about in D2 was Cain just cuz he was from D1. Most of the other NPCs were simply forgettable.
#4: Really badass monsters. It has been said ad nosium that some D2 monsters were just plain stupid and senseless. I mean comeon...a Skeleton Archer that shoots Fire Arrows and somehow freezes me on hit? Bring back some baddies from D1 like the Dark Knights, the Poison Spitters, Consulars, Charging Demons, Red Death, Hidden, and make up some guys that really give me a reason to fear fighting them.
#5: Make the gameplay more challenging. D2=too easy. The learning curve on it is pretty quick and at no point are you really challenged to find unique ways to beat a monster beyond spam your strongest skill. So far it looks like Blizzard is trying to fix this as we saw in the Demo so it's probably going to happen.
#6: Make sure stats are actually important. In Diablo 1, if you didn't have the right stats, you were screwed because it was impossible to beat Diablo or his minions. In Diablo 2, all you do is max out Vitality, get your base strength, and get the rest of your stats from items. Just about the only class that doesn't follow this model is Amazons who need as much Dex as they can get. Other than that, the other stats might as well not exist. Bring us back to Diablo 1 where stats mattered for all classes.
#7: one thing I'd like to see that wont happen is bring back skill books. Instead of just learning class specific skills when you level up, have another "skill book tree" that is seperate from your class skills that all character classes share that you can boost throught he use of dropped skill books. Basic skills like "repair armor" or "disarm trap" or maybe as exotic as some of the old skills from D1 like "stone curse","phasing","heal other", or other useful skills that can be tied into being learned by all classes through dropped books. Granted the Barb is supposed to use "Stamina" instead of mana but I'm sure Blizzard could figure some way to get this to work without changing too much.
I hope they make an "evil" character. Not in the sense of the Necromancer who grayed the lines between good and evil, but a pure antithesis to the Paladin. It would be cool to have a Knight-like character that uses a mixture of melee, heavy armor, and demonic powers to fight with. Kinda like Bartuc the Warlord of Blood only where you are not allied to hell but to your own thirst for power and destruction. I have no idea how they would tie a character like that into the story, but it would be interesting
Creatures don't even stay on the ground after you kill them now either, according to blizzard. Which is odd because in Titan Quest, all creatures you killed stood on the ground for the whole duration of the game with no slow downs, as well as the items. :rolleyes:
Hmmm...I dont remember that in Titan quest. Probably because I took it for granted and didn't notice. I'm going to have to re-install it and take a look (though i doubt I'll see a performance hit)
Blizzard commented that they are looking into keeping corpses around longer when asked about the disappearing corpses. Hopefully they allow a "Set Corpse Degrade to X seconds" in the graphics menu.
REALLY, WHAT'S CROSSFIRE?!?! Durrrr. Alright... So why are you comparing a $400 card to a $600 card? Then you're comparing a $800 card (Two 280's) to a $1200 card (Two 4870 X2's) what's your point - oh I see what your point is... Two 4870 X2's, yeah a WASTE OF MONEY. Agreed, it does come down to drivers but not in this case because your comparison is bogus, on the plus SLI drivers > Crossfire drivers. I find it absolutely hilarious that you try to act smart by comparing two completely different cards and proving that one is better. Really sir, shucks, I didn't know a DUAL GPU card was better then a single GPU card, jee thanks!!
CORRECT, you're absolutely right but the 4870 X2 is about $230 more expensive here than a 280 - quite the far comparison? I don't think so. You're comparing a single card that has one GPU to another card that has two. You SERIOUSLY think the reason why the X2 is superior to the 280GTX is because of a RAM bottleneck? I thnk you're forgetting those 1600 SHADERS. Again an unfair comparison and again, pointless.
Hope that wasn't directed at me because tl;dr.
Great... It's a shame that I look at gaming benchmarks and don't give a rats ass about 3dmark garbage. I really hope you weren't directing that at me either, because for one, I don't care I'm aware how computer hardware functions and two it's irrelevant, almost a tl;dr.
Oh and why would you need high amounts of AA and AF on high resolutions? Here's a little tip, at 1920x1200, the most you'd need is 2x because the image has already been scaled so high, the jagged edges that need to be smoothed are well, not apparent. Anything higher than that doesn't need AA, you're just adding an extra layer of fail and slowness. Read up on it. How come Mr "I do this shit for a living" didn't know that? Oh Snape.
Why would I waste my time on something so trivial? As long as both GPUs use the same components which I check, minus the motherboards for SLI/Crossfire, I really don't care because it won't make a difference. Either way, you wont get a single shred of extra frames on a $300 motherboard vs. a $150 motherboard. If for some reason it does make a difference, the difference will be TRIVIAL.
I do this for a hobby, it's easier to get by in life when you have a REAL job and do this sort of thing on the side. Working at a computer store doesn't make you smarticus.
Are you on crack kid? You're comparing a DUAL GPU card to a single GPU card, who the hell did you expect would take the crown and you want an apology? You weren't talking about SLI or Crossfire, but I was, two 8800 GT's perform similar to one 4870 X2. Two 8800 GT's cost $200 total, one 4870 X2 costs over $600. Not only that, I was implying that you were incorrect in the terms of one 4870 X2 vs. 280GTX being double the performance at 1920x1200+, it clearly is not - it clearly does NOT get smoked as you put it, at $230 cheaper I would EXPECT it to get beat not smoked - which stands true. Seriously, don't you have a better comparison? You're just a fanboy trying to make Nvidia look bad. If those benchmarks look like DOUBLE to you, or even close to DOUBLE, you should get your eyes checked and/or go back to school. I'd also like an apology for having to read through all of your rubbish, please and thank you,
EDIT:
You bought a 9800GTX at full price right when it first came out? Even though the trend was obvious right in your face that the video card market was going to tumble? Surely someone with your experience and sheer cunning could have thwarted such a mistake. Shame, I picked up my 4870 at such a discount, see I KNEW how the market worked so a week BEFORE the 4870 was planned to be released, I sold my 8800GTX while the prices were still inflated and pretty much got my 4870 FREE with cash to spare.
Wow you're being a complete ass. How bout you show some respect in your argument instead of insulting me at every turn?
First off, I don't work at a computer store. I'm a graphic artist and cartoonist and I have a computer business on the side.
I live in the US where computer components aren't nearly as inflated as in Canada or Europe so ALL my price comparisons are based on US prices and are ment for US consumers.
As for the cheap shot against my 9800 GTX, I "technically" bought it at full price because I used the EVGA step-up program to get it from an 8800 GTS 320 version that I had purchased for 200 dollars at the time for a budget build (which was marked down from the original 300 at newegg). When the 9800 GTX came out for a then unbelievable price of approximately 300 dollars, it was a no brainer to go for it considering the 8800 GTX was STILL selling for over 400 dollars and the 9800GX2 was going to retail for over 600 dollars. You think that was a bad buy now since you actually know the backstory behind it?
HERE WE GO AGAIN! The common complaint of "You can't compare a dual-gpu card to a single gpu card." Here's the deal: You've got two different designs. You have the massive Monolithic GPU design and you have the Dual GPU design. One uses brute force, the other uses two GPUs in tandom to perform Alternate Frame Rendering to in theory double performance (which isn't truely the case thanks to drivers). This is the same BS excuse that people made when Intel was stuck with Single Core P4's and AMD had the Athlon X2. "You can't compare performance because it's got an extra processor." Well I'm sorry, but you can. The GTX280 is registured as the "High End Nvidia Product" and the 4870 X2 is registured as the "High End ATI Product" so OF COURSE they are going to be compared because they are supposed to be in the same "high end" price bracket. They both are dual slot cards designed to utilize ONE PCI-Express slot to interface with a computer motherboard. One uses one design and the other uses another design so you can't complain that one design works better than the other, you can only ligitimately complain about the price (which everyone, myself included, does)
People made the same BS remarks about the prototype dual 6800, the flawed 7950GX2, the underperforming 1950X2 and 2600X2, and the 3870X2 and the 9800GX2. Now comes the 4870X2. Only thing is, there's more complaints and moaning because for the FIRST time, the dual gpu design is actually paying off whereas before, performance over a single GPU wasn't as spectacular as promised.
BELIEVE ME if nVidia could made a dual GTX280 card, they would in a heartbeat however, their flawed oversized GPU produces too much heat and has too low of yields for them to even attempt it. Even when they switch the card to 55nm manufacturing, it'll still be too hot and too power consuming for a dual GPU card.
ATi processors are vastly different from nVidia processors. The most basic way I can explain this is 120 ATi shaders are roughly less than half as powerful as the same amount of nVidia shader processors. Why is that? Because they are achetectually different from the other. If you want to know the details, go google it but there is a reason why the 800 shaders of the 4870 do not outperform the 240 shaders of the GTX280 at resolutions that eliminate the extra ram advantage of the GTX280.
As for "AA being useless at those resolutions" I dont know what monitor you're using, but I'm working with the good stuff here. I'm not talking about your standard NT 6-bit monitors, I'm talking about 8-bit S-IPS monitors. Again, go google it and research it because I'm not going to waste my time going into depth. I'll just say this: It displays a vastly superior picture
Saying a 350 dollar board doesn't perform any better than a 150 dollar board is bullshit. Wait, I'll amend that, saying a 350 dollar board performs better than a 250 dollar board is valid, but comparing either of those to a "budget" 150 dollar board has no barring. You've probably never even researched this because there is a decent difference between the two. Granted I'll never buy a 350 dollar motherboard but the high end boards perform about 10% or more better than a cheaper board in MORE than just framerates. They provide more stable overclocks, they have better RAID performance, they have better communication with RAM and graphics/PCI slots. In about all areas, the more expensive boards tend to deliver about 10% better performance along a large range of parts. Hell, just look at Skulltrail. For 650 dollars, you can have a beast of a board that LITERALLY leaves every other high-end board in the dust.
Myself, I'm a budget buyer. I don't need the highest frames on the block. I laugh at the people who spend 8 grand on a PC and my computer can still perform to high expectations in the same games and applications. But to ignorantly say that extra money doesn't bring any performance benifits well you sir, you're just not doing your homework.
Dual GPU boards are the wave of the future. I assure you nVidia will do their damnedest to get an effecient Dual GPU board out there as fast as they can. I'm no fanboy for ATi. I've gone through the MX440, the FX5600, the 6800, 7800 GS, 8600, 8800 GTS, and the 9800 GTX. The only ATi card I ever owned was the 2600 and it sucked so I returned it. The only card I ever regretted was the FX5600 because guess what? I bought the nVidia hype behind it. I ate their shit when I shoulda got a Radeon 9800 Pro or better. After that I learned to be objective and ignore hype. So I look for the best deals out there and I also educate myself on what is the best performer sans pricetag.
Right now, the 4870X2 has a pricetag of 550 in America. If it's too expensive in Canada, too bad you'll have to wait for the price to drop just like everyone here does. The 4870X2 is almosdt the exact price of two 4870's in the US and honestly, with the performance it delivers, it has earned that price (to a degree). If nVidia's GTX280 was still king, it will demand an exorbinat price as well. It's how it goes. And no two 8800GT's in SLI do NOT perform the same as a 4870 X2...I dont know where you read that but that is not even close...
If you direct your attention to the right of your charts, you'll notice that the numbers for the 30" monitors are available where a single 4870X2 is beating a pair of GTX280's in SLi. And also if you notice on the 1920x1200, the 4870X2 crossfire isn't working. Everyone knows that the drivers for the 4870X2 are not mature, especially in Crysis. Just like with nVidia cards earlier, Crysis does not like Crossfire but give it a few more months and you'll see improvements for both cards in Sli and Crossfire across the board.
Lastly, if you want to argue, be respectible. I'm not even going to ingratiate you with a response if you continue being immature with the way you represent your argument here.
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I actually was thinking about a SC2 mod. After all, someone made that ridiculously well done WC3 mod simulating the demo from 2008. I can imagine it would work a lot better using SC2.
But ya, I know what you mean, Blizzard goes forward, not backwards. Unfortunately I don't think there will be a "Diablo 4." I think this'll be the last time we get to kill Diablo in this story arch. However, I don't see any reason why they wouldn't rewind time and shoot us back to play as Horadrim chasing the Prime Evils with Tyrael or visit other story archs started in the novels. It's hard to imagine what direction they'll go with the game seeing as there's not much more you can do and it's not really a "Diablo game" if you aren't killing Diablo =\
For me, Diablo 1 was my first gaming love. There is really no comparison. Diablo 1 is the best Diablo and a timeless classic. I fire it up every year and beat it at least once. There are many people who feel the same way. Those people eventually went on to stretch their creative muscles and create amazing Diablo 2 mods such as Back To Hellfire in order to bring back the fun of Diablo 1 using a slightly more modern (for the time) engine.
I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this. With the advent of Diablo 3, we have a chance to see a rebuilt and retooled Diablo 1. However, Blizzard has thrown down the ban hammer and forbid any modding of Diablo 3 (we'll see how long it'll take for someone to work around said restrictions). So here's the question: what about a Blizzard remake of Diablo 1? I would be thrilled to see Blizzard come in and make an "Anniversary Edition" of Diablo 1. I will admit, it doesn't make a lot of sense to make it back to back with Diablo 3 but perhaps it could find a place to fit in as it would probably take a few years to make.
Maybe I'm a little too nostalgic for the good old days but it's fun to dream. Perhaps it could find life as a single player expansion campaign for Diablo 3 or maybe it's best left as is.
This brings in another question: modding. I understand Blizzard's mentality for locking down Diablo 3. They want to eliminate the chance of people cheating and upsetting their cash cow. I hear it is very temperamental when it doesn't get fed large denomination bills at regular intervals. Joking aside, there are ways Blizzard can be creative about this to where people can still mod the game, yet keep Blizzard happy by leaving the primary game untouched. Diablo 3 could be broken down into two installs: a primary, and a mod-friendly install. The primary cannot be tampered with (at least not without getting you banned) and the mod-friendly install is for those few brave souls who wish to code into the wee hours of the night to bring forth a custom Diablo experience.
It could be a lot like Diablo 2 is organized now. Regular B.net and a "modded" B.net. Just like a first person shooter game that has custom maps, you download the game files and fire up your mod to play with your friends. Blizzard could even take advantage of this concept themselves. They could create special game modes for Diablo 3 or mini-levels that explore various aspects of Diablo's lore all without messing with the primary Diablo 3 experience.
I doubt rather highly that Blizzard is going to budge on the whole "no modding" thing though. They seem very adamant in throwing in things we don't like or won't want into a game we all are hoping very much that we'll love. Though to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if the average Diablo player doesn't care one way or the other if you can mod the game. I, for one, am disappointed that you can't mod the game, however, I can live without it.
What do you guys think? Would you pay for a remake of the original game? Would you like to see special modding privileges? Or is it better to simply lock down Diablo 3 and forge ahead without a glance back?
All I gotta say is...DON'T CROSS THE BEAMS!!!
ya...that's kinda the first thing I thought of when I saw that skill...its cool and looks like it'll be effective, far more effective than inferno ever was but still...there's no way they can get away from the DBZ reference with that...
The name kind of makes you cringe, much like "The Witch Doctor" but as I can now see, Blizzard is pretty much beating multiple dead horses because they're running low on creative ideas
The class looks like an overall improvement over the classic Sorc. I do really like the animation for teleport and the renamed chain lightning. I really like that lightning actually fires like lightning should in that it is very fast moving unlike it was in Diablo 2.
It looks like the Wizard will be a decent class. Hopefully Blizzard can be a wee bit more creative when they announce the Archer/Spear class, and the replacement Paladin class.
Honestly though, "All new classes" doesn't mean you take a preexisting class, rename it, and give it a few new spells to make it "new"
I've warmed up to the art direction for the game
I've gone from against your stupid health orbs to be indifferent to them
I've praised you for for the conceptual art, the death animations, the named monsters, the destructable backgrounds, the regular monsters, as well as other areas of the new game
I was gladdened to hear you were looking into improving the inventory system including the stash
I was instantly against the idea of checkpoints and the exclusion of the classic Town Portal
I was initially skeptical about the sudden overblown aspect of skills and their seeming necessity to be absolutely overpowered in order to hold our attention
and now I have you guys go and COMPLETELY turn D3 from a PC title that would help reinvent PC Platform gaming into a piece of shit console port by eliminating the last dregs of RPG element: the stat line. Strength, Dex, Vitality, Energy being completely controllable by the user is an absolute must in a true RPG. This isn't a freaking MMO where everything has to be balanced to a T (which Blizzard failed and continues to fail to do in WoW). If anything, all this does is completely eliminate what made Diablo so good: being able to go and create your own unique build on character classes.
Now every character is going to be the same with a bunch of bullshit overpowered spells because you seem to think we're a bunch of ADD ridden kids who can't be pleased unless we are on the very edge of having a built in God Mode. Why don't you just eliminate dieing as well? That way I can just plow though the game using flashing ADD button mash spells in just a couple of hours
I said months ago: to get Diablo 3 right, they need to make the Stats worth something so then people can do more than put max stats to Vit like in Diablo 2 and make it more like Diablo 1 where stats actually meant something. What I meant by this was PUT SOME FUCKING EFFORT INTO THE GODDAMNED GAME MECHANICS AND NOT COP OUT AND MAKE EVERYTHING AUTOMATIC!!!!! ACTUALLY FIX THE GODDAMN PROBLEM INSTEAD OF PUT A PATCH OVER IT!!!
I thought I would have purchased Diablo 3 no matter what Blizzard managed to do to screw it up but I didn't anticipate that Blizzard would be so fucking mindless as to automate the majority of the game including the character building aspect just to appease the people who can't sit down and take the time to plan out their own stat points. Whoopteedo, I get to choose between putting a point between Spell A and Spell B both of which are equally powerful and do relitively the same thing.
Oh I'm sure the Demo was fun enough to play for a while until a Blizzard rep jabbed you in the kidneys and said, "Back of the line buddy." However from what I've read so far of Diablo 3, it's going the opposite direction of what I want it to be. Yes, I'll be so arrogant as to say I want it a certain way. *Humph* I guess I was right years ago before I ever had a clue D3 was even being made when I said the only way a new Diablo is going to be made is if I do it myself. Well, with the way this game is progressing, it's going to be Diablo 3 in name only.
Unless something happens to change my mind, I'm probably not going to buy this game. As a note, I would have previously bought this game no matter what state of suckage it was in...until I realized there is a certain level of suckage that even I cannot ignore no matter how much I want a Diablo 3
Diablo 1: absolute perfect classic
Diablo 2: a decent game that pails in comparison to the original
Diablo 3: off to a horrendious start...
I don't like it. I'm all for trying new things and ideas but the TP/Town combo was unique to Diablo. Sure the whole corpse thing in D2 really sucked, but there have to be better more creative ways than to cop-out and use a checkpoint system from another game...
The graphics on the PSX version were subpar. The music and sound effects were horribly compressed, it ran slow, the interface was horrible, and the only really playable class was the Warrior because it was so hard to play as a Rogue or Sorc.
It and Hellfire are examples of why Blizzard no longer licences their products out to other companies.
glad to have saved your fingers my friend
You know, I never really thought of it but an Auction House wouldn't exactly be a bad addition to Diablo. Granted it's a WoW thing so it somehow must automatically be a bad idea but think about it for a second. What is the absolute HARDEST thing to do in Diablo? Trade. Why is that? You have to deal with assholes, dupers, scammers, overcharged crap, and people leeching off your trade game. It gets very tiring after a while. Some sort of Auction House could help facilitate trading consideribly as well as eliminate trade spam games "Shako 4 Mal Um." (honestly...a shako is barely worth an um...how is it now worth an additional Mal?) How it would work out, I'm not sure, possibly make it something along the lines of a Realm Wide trading post where people post their items on the trading block and people offer up their own items for it. You place an item bid and the person "selling" the item checks in and accepts the offer they like. Either that or make gold actually important and do the WoW method, although I believe it is flawed and makes Gold a little too important.
So basically make a special trading zone either in the main cities of each act, or make a completely seperate area that you join off of B.net to that is not directly a part of the base game but a virtual auction block that your character can go to and interact with other players (instead of just logging into a part of B.net and interfacing with just an impersonal inventory screen).
Cutting back on the Greens and Blues did nothing but make me sit there thinking "Ok, I've seen enough of this, lets move on now."
Also one thing I want to reiterate is that I think Blizzard needs to add some more contrast to the backgrounds. As nice as it looks now, it would look better if they had things like pillars, railings, and statues give off a shadow. Right now, they have it as if the lighting point is directly above the building as if it were noon time outside. However, unlike noon time, the light is soft and thus doesn't give off a hard shadow but instead a diffused shadow. This is contrary to the inside of a building that is lit by torches. Now I don't mean go crazy with the light source and make the shadows go nuts, I'm only saying you don't get a diffused shadow from a fire, you get a hard shadow and the dungeon wouldn't be as brightly lit.
I've finally decided that the colors are fine. It keeps things from being so absolutely dull. However, they can take it to the next level by doing some simple tweaks like adding environmental shadows and maybe that little shadow border around the edges of the screen and it'll be great.
Also please please please allow me to turn off the stupid floating text...I don't have WoW ADD where I have to see the damage I do to my enemy in the form of floating text...
#2: Less grinding the same area 5 million times to level to 99. Basically more variety to make leveling a little lest like drudgery
#3: Give me a reason to care about NPCs and what they have to say. Just about the only NPC I cared about in D2 was Cain just cuz he was from D1. Most of the other NPCs were simply forgettable.
#4: Really badass monsters. It has been said ad nosium that some D2 monsters were just plain stupid and senseless. I mean comeon...a Skeleton Archer that shoots Fire Arrows and somehow freezes me on hit? Bring back some baddies from D1 like the Dark Knights, the Poison Spitters, Consulars, Charging Demons, Red Death, Hidden, and make up some guys that really give me a reason to fear fighting them.
#5: Make the gameplay more challenging. D2=too easy. The learning curve on it is pretty quick and at no point are you really challenged to find unique ways to beat a monster beyond spam your strongest skill. So far it looks like Blizzard is trying to fix this as we saw in the Demo so it's probably going to happen.
#6: Make sure stats are actually important. In Diablo 1, if you didn't have the right stats, you were screwed because it was impossible to beat Diablo or his minions. In Diablo 2, all you do is max out Vitality, get your base strength, and get the rest of your stats from items. Just about the only class that doesn't follow this model is Amazons who need as much Dex as they can get. Other than that, the other stats might as well not exist. Bring us back to Diablo 1 where stats mattered for all classes.
#7: one thing I'd like to see that wont happen is bring back skill books. Instead of just learning class specific skills when you level up, have another "skill book tree" that is seperate from your class skills that all character classes share that you can boost throught he use of dropped skill books. Basic skills like "repair armor" or "disarm trap" or maybe as exotic as some of the old skills from D1 like "stone curse","phasing","heal other", or other useful skills that can be tied into being learned by all classes through dropped books. Granted the Barb is supposed to use "Stamina" instead of mana but I'm sure Blizzard could figure some way to get this to work without changing too much.
Hmmm...I dont remember that in Titan quest. Probably because I took it for granted and didn't notice. I'm going to have to re-install it and take a look (though i doubt I'll see a performance hit)
Blizzard commented that they are looking into keeping corpses around longer when asked about the disappearing corpses. Hopefully they allow a "Set Corpse Degrade to X seconds" in the graphics menu.
Wow you're being a complete ass. How bout you show some respect in your argument instead of insulting me at every turn?
First off, I don't work at a computer store. I'm a graphic artist and cartoonist and I have a computer business on the side.
I live in the US where computer components aren't nearly as inflated as in Canada or Europe so ALL my price comparisons are based on US prices and are ment for US consumers.
As for the cheap shot against my 9800 GTX, I "technically" bought it at full price because I used the EVGA step-up program to get it from an 8800 GTS 320 version that I had purchased for 200 dollars at the time for a budget build (which was marked down from the original 300 at newegg). When the 9800 GTX came out for a then unbelievable price of approximately 300 dollars, it was a no brainer to go for it considering the 8800 GTX was STILL selling for over 400 dollars and the 9800GX2 was going to retail for over 600 dollars. You think that was a bad buy now since you actually know the backstory behind it?
HERE WE GO AGAIN! The common complaint of "You can't compare a dual-gpu card to a single gpu card." Here's the deal: You've got two different designs. You have the massive Monolithic GPU design and you have the Dual GPU design. One uses brute force, the other uses two GPUs in tandom to perform Alternate Frame Rendering to in theory double performance (which isn't truely the case thanks to drivers). This is the same BS excuse that people made when Intel was stuck with Single Core P4's and AMD had the Athlon X2. "You can't compare performance because it's got an extra processor." Well I'm sorry, but you can. The GTX280 is registured as the "High End Nvidia Product" and the 4870 X2 is registured as the "High End ATI Product" so OF COURSE they are going to be compared because they are supposed to be in the same "high end" price bracket. They both are dual slot cards designed to utilize ONE PCI-Express slot to interface with a computer motherboard. One uses one design and the other uses another design so you can't complain that one design works better than the other, you can only ligitimately complain about the price (which everyone, myself included, does)
People made the same BS remarks about the prototype dual 6800, the flawed 7950GX2, the underperforming 1950X2 and 2600X2, and the 3870X2 and the 9800GX2. Now comes the 4870X2. Only thing is, there's more complaints and moaning because for the FIRST time, the dual gpu design is actually paying off whereas before, performance over a single GPU wasn't as spectacular as promised.
BELIEVE ME if nVidia could made a dual GTX280 card, they would in a heartbeat however, their flawed oversized GPU produces too much heat and has too low of yields for them to even attempt it. Even when they switch the card to 55nm manufacturing, it'll still be too hot and too power consuming for a dual GPU card.
ATi processors are vastly different from nVidia processors. The most basic way I can explain this is 120 ATi shaders are roughly less than half as powerful as the same amount of nVidia shader processors. Why is that? Because they are achetectually different from the other. If you want to know the details, go google it but there is a reason why the 800 shaders of the 4870 do not outperform the 240 shaders of the GTX280 at resolutions that eliminate the extra ram advantage of the GTX280.
As for "AA being useless at those resolutions" I dont know what monitor you're using, but I'm working with the good stuff here. I'm not talking about your standard NT 6-bit monitors, I'm talking about 8-bit S-IPS monitors. Again, go google it and research it because I'm not going to waste my time going into depth. I'll just say this: It displays a vastly superior picture
Saying a 350 dollar board doesn't perform any better than a 150 dollar board is bullshit. Wait, I'll amend that, saying a 350 dollar board performs better than a 250 dollar board is valid, but comparing either of those to a "budget" 150 dollar board has no barring. You've probably never even researched this because there is a decent difference between the two. Granted I'll never buy a 350 dollar motherboard but the high end boards perform about 10% or more better than a cheaper board in MORE than just framerates. They provide more stable overclocks, they have better RAID performance, they have better communication with RAM and graphics/PCI slots. In about all areas, the more expensive boards tend to deliver about 10% better performance along a large range of parts. Hell, just look at Skulltrail. For 650 dollars, you can have a beast of a board that LITERALLY leaves every other high-end board in the dust.
Myself, I'm a budget buyer. I don't need the highest frames on the block. I laugh at the people who spend 8 grand on a PC and my computer can still perform to high expectations in the same games and applications. But to ignorantly say that extra money doesn't bring any performance benifits well you sir, you're just not doing your homework.
Dual GPU boards are the wave of the future. I assure you nVidia will do their damnedest to get an effecient Dual GPU board out there as fast as they can. I'm no fanboy for ATi. I've gone through the MX440, the FX5600, the 6800, 7800 GS, 8600, 8800 GTS, and the 9800 GTX. The only ATi card I ever owned was the 2600 and it sucked so I returned it. The only card I ever regretted was the FX5600 because guess what? I bought the nVidia hype behind it. I ate their shit when I shoulda got a Radeon 9800 Pro or better. After that I learned to be objective and ignore hype. So I look for the best deals out there and I also educate myself on what is the best performer sans pricetag.
Right now, the 4870X2 has a pricetag of 550 in America. If it's too expensive in Canada, too bad you'll have to wait for the price to drop just like everyone here does. The 4870X2 is almosdt the exact price of two 4870's in the US and honestly, with the performance it delivers, it has earned that price (to a degree). If nVidia's GTX280 was still king, it will demand an exorbinat price as well. It's how it goes. And no two 8800GT's in SLI do NOT perform the same as a 4870 X2...I dont know where you read that but that is not even close...
If you direct your attention to the right of your charts, you'll notice that the numbers for the 30" monitors are available where a single 4870X2 is beating a pair of GTX280's in SLi. And also if you notice on the 1920x1200, the 4870X2 crossfire isn't working. Everyone knows that the drivers for the 4870X2 are not mature, especially in Crysis. Just like with nVidia cards earlier, Crysis does not like Crossfire but give it a few more months and you'll see improvements for both cards in Sli and Crossfire across the board.
Lastly, if you want to argue, be respectible. I'm not even going to ingratiate you with a response if you continue being immature with the way you represent your argument here.