I get that they need to make money somehow, but I really hope that they'll stay true to their word and NOT introduce any kind of MTX that allows for faster progression, increased drops, better access to key aspects of the gameplay, etc. There's a fine line. In my opinion they're balancing well with that in a game like World of Warcraft and they always have. I've played WoW (and the Diablo series) since forever and I've never felt that I 'need' to spend extra money on 'pay to win elements' in WoW. There's a right way of doing things and there's a wrong way of doing things.
Let's hope that we don't see another Diablo Immoral disaster - the greediest game ever made. - And it saddens me to think that some actually 'enjoy' that sorry excuse for a game and 'don't mind' that kind of monetization scheme - that stuff must NOT be allowed to be 'the new normal'. Those who speak well of that game have, to put it frankly, been brainwashed. Anyway, have a nice day.
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'Wilderness' from Diablo II is a Masterpiece
The Diablo II Soundtrack has no equal. When I decided to do this I wanted to do it right and not just copy/paste a cover image with some music. I wanted it to look and feel right. I wanted to make it something that I could enjoy again and again. The tracks are all absolutely fantastic. I went out of my way to find the highest quality sound files that I could find, I used lossless FLAC whenever possible. I scoured through many websites, digging in deep to find good concept art. I ended up spending a lot of time piecing this thing together, I had to start all over many times with some segments but I think that in the end it was well worth the effort.
Credit to Matt Uelmen for this unprecedented muscial legacy. This is real art. There's nothing like it. This will never happen again. I sometimes play D2 or D3 muting the in-game music and I keep this one playing on my second screen. Call me a narcissist. And now we have Diablo II Resurrected incoming .. what can I say .. good things come to those that wait. † † †
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Report: ‘Diablo 2: Resurrected’ Remaster Coming This Year, Built By Former ‘Destiny 2’ Support Studio
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I'm not speaking up against you but it's funny how "the classic team doesn't have enough resources" when Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Activision made $28m the same year that the company fired 800 employees.
For even $1 million of that sum they could:
- Pay 50 people working on a potential remake/remaster 20,000 dollars each
- Pay 25 people working on a potential remake/remaster 40,000 dollars each
Or let's say we leave the "honorable" Bobby Kotick with a "measly" $25m:
- Pay 50 people working on a potential remake/remaster 60,000 dollars each
- Pay 25 people working on a potential remake/remaster 120,000 dollars each
Can you imagine if even a small part of that money was earmarked towards the literal legion of modders out there?
Surely their business model at this point is all about greed and not about wanting the best for the franchise.
More precisely; It's about not taking any chances. They've got a working business model and they're not straying away from that.
I'm only glad if indeed they've got enough of the source code on their hands to make something happen though.
Alas I fear that even if they do endeavor to go for a remake/remaster they would fall way short of the actual potential.
It'd probably be FAR better at this point in time if they simply released the source code to the internet and left things in the hands of all the amazing, dedicated people out there that still love the Diablo series. - There are so many great modders out there still that have literally spent over a decade of their lives creating good Diablo II mods simply because they love the game to bits and they would be ecstatic for the opportunity to contribute. - They're so passionate about it that they even leave their careers behind. I've spent a lot of time modding D2 myself (to the point where I could do just about any change that I wanted to make within the limitations (not having access to the source code)); there are some things (many things) that one simply can't do without the source code at hand. These guys would if given the opportunity completely take Diablo II to a whole new level - with reverence!
Blizzard would ONLY gain from doing such a thing. Diablo II is one of the best computer games ever created and it could be taken to new heights for sure. Blizzard could for example set up a community program where they themselves host the mods, the servers, provide the tools (not that there aren't many good ones out there anyway) and they (rightfully so) could take a piece of the pie in return. Even a 10% return to the mod makers would make the internet boil over. The interest would skyrocket and they would probably make far more money taking this approach than they could ever hope to do releasing a half-effort remake/remaster by themselves. Interest = money. They could release some so-so new version of the game and reap some short term benefits but I'd say that their profits (and popularity for doing such a thing) would far outweigh what they could ever hope to do in house simply because of the fact that people out there love their games and are willing to spend a lot of time improving upon every single detail.
They best thing that they can do at this time is to work with the community and certainly not against it. It seems like they are shooting themselves in their own leg by ignoring the massive fanbase that they have accumulated over the years. It could be said that profit might be king but they (Blizzard) are simultaneously completely oblivious to what is actually going on here; they already had a gold mine on their hands but by embracing the vast modder community out there the sky is the limit. The day that they open up the flood gates to the modder community they might as well be mining asteroids for diamonds. Question is, do they even have the capability to think along these lines .. hopefully they may come to their senses.
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Well, there's another twist to the plot to be considered:
‘Diablo II’ Creators Reveal Original Source Code And Assets Were Lost, Making a Remaster Difficult
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Greetings
It's good to see that this site is up and running again, it was looking kinda grim for some time until Magic Find apparently came to the rescue at the last minute. The posting activity here isn't what it used to after all the posts went *poof* but hopefully this'll gradually change for the better. Diablofans could surely use your expertise once again in some capacity. Like you I joined up while the site was still Diablo3.com. I've been more or less active ever since, at least reading regularly even in periods of not gaming so much D3. Playing some D2 at PoD now and of course logging on to D3 every now and then to whirl around a bit with the Barbarian. Still waiting for the Wiz to be playable yet again (by that I mean that they unfortunately made Archon too powerful at some point and then just stuck with it ..and I don't like that at all).
I suppose diablofans' "downtime" contributed to it being a bit less active nowadays but this site is surely worth being involved with, can you imagine if they actually released a good D2 remake? - The interest would soar in an instant. And as long as D3 keeps going strong surely the activity will pick up as well. I believe many old members aren't actually aware that the site is up and running again because a notice was sent out IIRC informing that the site was going down however I can't recall having seen any actual notice indicating that it was up and running yet again. It's high on the search results but perhaps the old members could use a reminder .. might be something to consider for the mods/admins.
Anyway, had some time on my hands and just started typing I guess. Welcome back, have a great saturday
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Can only hope that any D2 remake would be just perfect and exceed all expectations. Because it's very possible and it's certainly what the player community expects. They'd do well to talk to the modding community before doing anything for instance. By that I mean that those who kept modding the game for years are the real experts on what would make for a good remake. I don't mean that they should incorporate new mods or anything but these are the guys that have spent a lot of time with what's left of the game code and know how to do numerous little fixes and adjustments that makes sense such as making experience gain at higher levels more accessible in other areas than Throne of Destruction only.
QoL changes such as auto-pickup of gold and potions (until belt is full) would probably make sense also, they could even make such things optional for the more purist players. Higher FPS would be great - the game has always been capped at 25 FPS (no matter what typing /fps tells you). There's a million things they could improve upon, I think all veteran D2 players know what kinds of things could use some touches so I won't go into all of it right now - but what they must NOT do is take away anything, change it too much or make things worse in any way, shape or form.
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True, I've dabbled with with the "HD Edition" a bit, still haven't tried the "Definitive Edition". Here's an article:
https://www.pcworld.com/article/3402536/age-of-empires-ii-definitive-edition-preview.html
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Age of Empires II Definitive Edition apparently gets an "Very Positive" on all accounts:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/813780/Age_of_Empires_II_Definitive_Edition/
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https://www.gamesradar.com/activision-blizzard-has-several-more-remakes-and-remasters-planned-for-2020/
Let's hope for the very best and that they learn from the Warcraft III: Reforged fiasco .. would love to see a Diablo II remake (who wouldn't?) but if they manage to mess that one up in any way, shape or form I think both I and half the internet with me would probably cry. Could you imagine if they somehow made even classic D2 online only or something equally ridiculous?
Update, May 11, 2020:
Report: ‘Diablo 2: Resurrected’ Remaster Coming This Year, Built By Former ‘Destiny 2’ Support Studio
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Can you imagine the day when game companies are able to use real AI to track cheating behavior?
The status quo is that a lot of botting goes unnoticed because a lot of manual checking is required.
The day that AIs perform this task without having to pay hordes of people is the day that "their time is coming".
Imagine a Quantum Computer set to the task of "manually observing" players ..
Or for the time being even a very smart AI program running on somewhat of a super computer ..
At some point there will be a revolution in this regard. Mark my word.
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Seems like an interesting thought. Could use some work perhaps but the general idea is not bad. Sort of reminds me of the days of Diablo II PvP actually. You would have PvP leagues with referees in game making sure everything was in order. There were strict rules on what you could and not do, what items and skills you could and could not use, etc. It all worked out somehow. You'd have to be able to actually "police" it though. Many were caught trying to work around the rules but I imagine that if someone bothered to set up the framework for it, even "brawling" could attract some interest.
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HC is fun, it provokes feelings SC could not. Too bad about server issues though. I'd recommend firing up a HC Diablo II char on single player for anyone wanting to play HC but doesn't feel that there's any point in it because of a poor internet connection/server issues. It's good fun as well. Too bad this poor playing experience (HC deaths due to server issues that is) could've been avoided from Blizzard's side by allowing offline play for D3. I don't keep my hopes up for D4 offline play either unfortunately unless they find a way to encrypt everything. There are many reasons why they wanted D3 "online only", most of them had to do with money.
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I agree, it's too much. It'd probably be better to just not hand out any additional points at all for Paragon levels. Even if they did only +1 we'd still see people grinding to Paragon 10,000 just for that extra power. It's absolutely unnecessary. They could perhaps keep the Paragon system for cosmetic rewards/bragging rights only but with no additional power gains. Again, there are (many) other ways to ensure replayability while at the same time not leaving casual/semi-hardcore players lagging behind. Infinite leveling really takes the fun right out of the game for those who can't play 24/7/365.
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Really hope that for D4 we will have none of that "infinite leveling" or that if it's still there in some sense the effects of leveling up will be miniscule after a certain point. Right now with D3 no casual/semi-hardcore gamers can keep up with those playing 16 hours per day (make that 24 actually, there is plenty of account-sharing going around). Really miss being able to actually complete a character like in D2. Replayability could be ensured via other avenues than simple endless power creep. People play D2 over 20 years later for good reasons.