DiabloFans

Woot it worked - however my account is long gone due to more than 90 days off bnet....

so I guess I get to start all over..... I hear that smiters are the best for rune runes, etc - any ideas?

You just made me very happy.....

I started downloading it from bnet a bit ago and am installing now. Hopefully my pally and sorc are still on bnet, but I am slowly starting to accept that they are long gone....

I'm assuming you still have to have the cd to play - even if you DL it from Bnet?

Went to reinstall d2 and see if my old toons were still around and I can't find my damn LoD cd.....

I registered them on Bnet awhile ago, have the cd case, but no cd......


sigh.

ahem.....

WOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!1!!1!1!!!

(pant, pant, pant)

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!O!!O!!!!1111

Now what do ya want to bet it comes out this holiday season since if its this close....

Rumor mill, churn!

They need to do something like this, or regular patched in content to keep the end game fresh, imo. D3 is very re playable, but there are some that like that die hard grind of endless hours with the same toon, perfecting the gear and then using that toon to find more crap for others. If there is some version of a cool, viable, stable economy/trading scene, than only that (OP's original suggestion) would tear me away from farming. Especially if there is the possibility of tradeable loot that is hard to attain....

Me likey - alot. :thumbsup:

I hate to admit this, but I never really did anything with the gambling system in D2. I just read that article from IGN and the section that says the gambling system was great, but no one really knew about it, made me do a double take.

How good was it - could you find yourself with uniques and runes, or just rares?

The BOE issue and random properties could be difficult - but no different than not identifying any uniques for a good solid trade in the old days.

I think a huge part of how the items, economy etc are going to work is how they deal with an Auction House system or trading system. Anyone know of any comments out there about the AH or trading systems?

Thank you for the warm welcome to the site - I do apprecaite it!

I was a little rushed in my first reply - was late for the gym, but I had to respond because I read this article and got really excited because the wait is almost over. I agree with others that they are not necessarily cutting short the content and story of the game to prepare for a release date. If they did, that would suggest they are behind some schedule (not of their making) and for something as well put together as they have shown glimpses of, I can't find that being the case. I feel more than anything that a climatic slowdown of the story is motivated by nothing more than good story telling and a possible setup for expansions and patch content.

When I say that the game is ready to go, I mean its semi-complex and basic "guts" are done. I feel strongly that the fifth class has already been developed and was most likely ready to go when the barb was. There has to be an overall balance to each class and how they work with each other - not a process of "okay, now what can we add". They have the time to refine some content i.e. monsters, dungeon dynamics, etc - but the core of the game is there and complete. If they needed, this game could be put through its paces in the next couple of months for a holiday release, imo. The beta testing, I also feel, will be a short process. The game itself needs to be put through the basics of exploits, bad renders, unforeseen OP issues with either items or classes, but that can also be done through patching. SC2's beta process was long and complex, not necessarily to balance out the game, but to put the new BNet through its shakedown. Now that it is stable and ready to roll, D3 can move along with it.

Other titles, like Torchlight 2, I feel does not make Blizz quake in their boots. However you do have to consider the market share and its saturation. Blizz isn't hurting for money, but they are on the threshold of not only revamping their juggernaut of WoW, but re staking their claim on RTS games (SC2) and hack and slash. If each of these are a success, they will effectively stand yet again at the top of the mountain and look down at the other developers and exclaim "ner, ner, ner noobs." Something like Torchlight can steal that thunder - financially - which can slow down that excitement. People have limited budgets, both of money and time - they blow their wad on Torchlight and a quarter later D3 comes out, they may not have the ability to go for both. To us (die hard D2 fans) Torchlight is a filler until we get the real deal. There are so many others, that are perhaps console folk, who decide to get into the PC action and will go for the first game they can read about that is a hit. If Blizz misses the bus, they won't be hurting, because after all, their games are gold. However it can slow it down, which is never good. Also (as if this isn't long enough) someone else mentioned earlier that after the final class reveal and any other Artisan like surprises, they really have nothing left to keep the momentum going, short of the release date reveal. Imagine if you will, its February 2011 and you get another major update of a new monster they have developed, that is all gorey when it dies, isn't that cool - don't you want to keep waiting for our game? Nah. They've got a limited amount of time left before they start to lose people to other content, not least of all can be other Blizz games.

Last but not least - these are just my opinions. She Who Shall Not Be Named (wife) has a brother pretty high up in the industry and we recently spoke about some of these issues with Blizz and a lot of my opinions come from that conversation. However I still wake up almost each day and check the sites, hoping that they will say that the release date is tomorrow and that they are bringing back Ecto Cooler. Cause that s**t was the, um...s**t.

Here is the one big thing that you have to keep in mind when you speculate about D3 release dates - D3 doesn't stand alone. Blizzard as a whole is trying to decide what comes out first. They have SC2 out of the way and WoW's expac to bring into the mix. That is what this has been for more than a year - what order do they come out and when. Blizzard has the games right now to super-saturate the market for gaming with their titles, but to also make it a little difficult and diverse for their loyal fans. Some will leave WoW for SC2 - but SC2 doesn't have the time commitments that WoW or D3 will have.

I bet all my uniques that the game is done and ready for what limited beta it needs, but they have more time because WoW's expac is going to come out first and then they also need a good time to release it via the market share of holidays and other games that come out soon as well. Torchlight 2 is coming soon and D3 would have to come out before to try and capture more of the dungeon crawler crowd. But the holidays are coming and then theres.....

Get my point. Its not status of game being completed, its when is the appropriate time for it to arrive.

I've been away from the news for D3 as of late and not sure if anything like this was mentioned, but has there been any word about how you go about trading items in D3? I'm wondering if it will be a system that mirrors like WoW's auction house with the economy of gold being the basis for most trades.