The game's direction since launch has been good, and I hope Jay's removal lets the same team that made the game and the post-launch improvements continue to iterate on the game with less animosity from the community.
What good is a direction when the pace is abysmally slow?
Honestly I really hope all this time and money blizz has been spending on "Titan" is really worth it, if it is a MMO FPS I really hope the take their time and balance the game and not turn in into a clusterf*ck and Bi&ch fest that is Planet Side 2.
Why doesn't Wyatt Cheng take over? Why do they need to bring in a new guy?
Well apart from their desperate need of new ideas...
I wouldn't be surprised if Wyatt applies for the job. They tend to open major positions like this to full applications to throw a net out and see who it attracts. Then they pick what they think is best for the game.
Regarding your earlier statement on the turn based story. Do you happen to recall where you read/heard that? I know of Diablo being turn based at first since they wanted a D&D-dungeon style game. But that they fought against Blizzard when asked to make it a real time action game is something I don't recall (although I do not doubt it one bit The stories probably differ based on who you ask).
There ya go:
Blizzard South suggested we make it real-time after we sent them the first build that was this turn-based version. We argued, "No, we're making this game." But they finally wore us down—it probably only took an hour or so over the phone—to the point where we said, "Okay, we'll give it a try, but it's going to be really hard work to do. It's going to take a lot of time, and we're going to need some more money for the project."
Any future diablo game (if there will ever be one) will suffer from that, because let's face it - d3 made all it's profits from the backs of the giants d1 and d2. Whoever is making d4 will need to do some hellova good job to bring back the trust and hearts of the people.
There's a bigger issue than that from what I see. People very often forget Diablo 2 offered the same endgame as Diablo 3, but this is no longer enough for them. Now they want infinite dungeons, random maps (like in TL2 and PoE) and all other things, that I personally like as well. Those were not part of Diablo 2, yet they say the endgame sucks, while saying D2 was "better" in that department. In my opinion in the far future, when Diablo 4 gets out people will be very far from what they remember 2 and 3 were. Very far. And it's gonna be bad.
I disagree with you on the random maps, D2 maps were much more random than what we have in D3. In D3 i feel there is no random generation, it feels like a linear trip from point A to point B. No thrill of the unknown. The only random generation i experience are the caves and tunnels but the scenery is always the same with no varied art. Even't don't help either when the core of the map is the same shell. But that's just me...
Yet i agree with you that the franchise may face very dark future. Considering the way things turned for d3... ah a pity really.
I absolutely agree that some areas are not random at all, but others, like the Barracks and Arreat in A3 are as random as they get. Sure there aren't many doodads involved, but then there weren't many in D2 as well. The games are very comparable.
Do I want more randomization? Of course. Is what we have much different from D2? Not "much".
What good is a direction when the pace is abysmally slow?
was convincing the world he didn't exist.
I wouldn't be surprised if Wyatt applies for the job. They tend to open major positions like this to full applications to throw a net out and see who it attracts. Then they pick what they think is best for the game.
There ya go:
http://www.shacknews...rns-over-diablo
edit: And yeah I've read Wyatt's blog. He has some great info on all things Blizzard.
Ha. Bagstone.
There's a bigger issue than that from what I see. People very often forget Diablo 2 offered the same endgame as Diablo 3, but this is no longer enough for them. Now they want infinite dungeons, random maps (like in TL2 and PoE) and all other things, that I personally like as well. Those were not part of Diablo 2, yet they say the endgame sucks, while saying D2 was "better" in that department. In my opinion in the far future, when Diablo 4 gets out people will be very far from what they remember 2 and 3 were. Very far. And it's gonna be bad.
Ha. Bagstone.
I absolutely agree that some areas are not random at all, but others, like the Barracks and Arreat in A3 are as random as they get. Sure there aren't many doodads involved, but then there weren't many in D2 as well. The games are very comparable.
Do I want more randomization? Of course. Is what we have much different from D2? Not "much".
Ha. Bagstone.
So you say to Jay: "You are bad guy, but this does not mean you are bad guy."