DiabloFans

Claymation video was great for sure...love the improvements as well as well the funny sound effects chosen.

AS for the blue response...typical soon reply, and typical me saying big fat whoop.

Quote from Haylel

Quote from Tanakeah

but after playing WoW for 5 years and watching how poorly the devs handled the Hunter class and seeing how poorly handled Diablo III is after only two months...yeah.

pfffft hunters...
go to mmo-champ, press ctrl+F and type in rogue, see how many pages you can get through with 0 results.
it's always like this. for 7 years it's been like this.

Oh I'm not saying other classes haven't had it bad either. Believe me, I feel for Rogues as well...how much they were messing around with abilities and trees because of their refusal to balance PvP and PvE separately from each other as much as possible. And I have a bad feeling when PvP is introduced into Diablo III they're going to make the same mistake, but that's discussion for another topic.

I know that these devs and what not have been workign hard on their blog and what they want to say. Now, the more cynical side of me will certainly say that they're making sure to check their PR VERY CAREFULLY so they don't screw up, or perhaps they just don't care anymore and like playing damage control over and over again. However, with that said, the more down to Earth side of me says, "Great...dev blog...big...freakin'...deal. Oh look, once again, they are keeping so tight lipped about everything...no joy, don't care...move along."

...Ok, maybe that was still my cynical side speaking, but I don't think my attitude is too far gone for what others feel as well, and I'll go out on a limb and say that many others feel this way. I mean, it's great that there's going to be a dev blog, but at the same time I have a VERY hard time believing that there aren't a few things the devs can't share with us now. Or at the very least give us an ETA on the dev blog. Better yet, how about them actually getting on the forums and communicating with their fans and answering questions and sharing their ideas with the obvious caveat of 'WIP...NOT FINAL...BUT WE WANT TO TALK IT OUT SOME' to the community. And if they have to put up with hostility...well, at this point they've earned a lot of that with their silence.

I really don't have any hopes for this blog and I doubt there will be anything that good in it. I don't want to sound like a huge Negative Nancy, but after playing WoW for 5 years and watching how poorly the devs handled the Hunter class and seeing how poorly handled Diablo III is after only two months...yeah.

The profiles will certainly bring about their fair share of trolling to say the least...pretty much on par with WoW armory bashing. Still, nice to have them, and it seems for now they will only be updated once a day but might get updated more frequently as said by the blue CMs. Some 1.04 patch notes or tidbits would've been nice, but this isn't too bad either. If anything...makes it a little easier to see one's stats without having to constantly be in game.

Quote from Doomscream

Quote from Honch

No wonder the game was so poorly balanced at launch....

The level 59 barb has 2700 health LOL WTF...and is gemmed for Dex....

LMAO the guys who made the game didn't know how to gear their own characters.....That speaks volumes.

Did you know that at one point the stats were Attack, Precision, Vitality and Defense? So I guess the green gems gave bonus Precision in the prior builds at some point.

Quote from Molster

Quote from nightwolf

Quote from Molster

Quote from nightwolf

Maybe this has been pointed out already, but on the Armory mockup page the Barb has weapons with multiple sockets. Anyone think this is a sign of things to come? I sure hope so.

no

notice the date at the bottom of that page.

so, did multiple weapon sockets go the way of the pet system and item respec scrolls from the development of the game?

Thats one possibility. or there may have never been such a thing. (I mean its a level 59 with like a 35 dps weapon. It could have just been made up for testing... or something that was removed)

but regardless its definitely not a hint of something to come =)

The Blacksmith was intended to have the ability to add sockets to items, later this feature was given to the Jeweler and ultimately screpped.

Originally Posted by (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Artisans cannot add sockets to items. That information about the jeweler in the game guide of our website is erroneous and we're in the process of updating it.

Socketing was a feature that was in the game very early on, but ultimately it didn't end up enhancing the play experience as we had hoped. Instead it just kind of felt like a chore. It's a really good feeling to see an upgrade drop, equip it, and keep moving on. When adding sockets to items was inserted into that equation, it made it feel mandatory to return to town every time an upgrade dropped to pull the gem from your current item, add a socket to the new one, and carry your gem forward. There's already a little bit of this in Diablo III with gems, but the fact that you can make a choice in most situations on whether or not to use a socketed item makes a big difference. As another consequence, the ability to add sockets made the random rolling of a socket as an item affix feel kind of crappy. And given the way items and stats are generated in this game anyway–you’ll virtually never get the same item with the same stats twice–we don’t currently feel there’s a major lack of customization depth.

Adding complexity to systems isn't a problem for us, but it has to enhance the gameplay, not add to it an element of tedium just for the sake of intricacy. Ultimately this is why adding sockets was pulled. Now, if we feel down the road that the item game needs some new flair, we'll absolutely consider additional customization features (such as enchanting or socketing). But we have to make sure they're designed in such a way that the game is enriched through the added complexity, without creating a convoluted item system that detracts from the initial excitement you feel when you get an epic new weapon or piece of gear.

I was reading that quote when it was posted and it really, REALLY made me scratch my head. "It became a chore" and "element of tedium just for the sake of intricacy" are - in my eyes - some of the lamest excuses I've ever heard. With the way items are now, ESPECIALLY weapons, if it doesn't have a socket in it, then most people don't even want to bother with it whether it's trading or the AH selling. Granted, there are items that do spawn with Critical Hit Damage or Life on Hit (the two most popular socket choices) and are perfectly fine, but then you can't help but think of how much BETTER they would be with a socket added on to it. I can't tell you how many one-handed weapons I've found that were 800-900 DPS, and had other good stats on them, but again, because of no socket, they are considered 'trash'. What's worse, is that I myself don't even want to use them because I know just how good a socket is in a weapon.

The same could be said about armor as well. I crafted a helm that had Strength, Vitality, Crit chance, All Resist, and even some MF on it, but it's barely worth anything because NO SOCKET was spawned. Granted, it IS a nice spread of stats, but that socket is worth so much it's kinda sad when you think about it. Doesn't help that the gem choices are utterly boring and stale, but that's a rant for another topic and time. Point is, is that being able to SOCKET A WEAPON OR VIABLE ARMOR would be a good thing because that can enhance items you find and make them even better. Find a 1,200 DPS Hellion Crossbow that has Dex and Vit on it? Throw a socket in there and now you've got an even more powerful, better weapon. Of course, adding a socket should cost a decent amount, and I know there would be more to think about with the long-term and short term happenings with game balance, blah, blah, blah, but really...

With loot as boring and stagnant as it is right now, it could do with as many booster shots in the arm to make it more fun and to give people a way to make those nice finds truly nice finds, especially if they're going to be as few and far between as they are now.

*sighs* I mean, I guess the armory profile is something, but...really? You've got customers/players who want actual information regarding the supposed buffed Legendary/Unique items, whether or not the horrendous rubberbanding and graphical stuttering will be getting fixed, and a lot more useful things that could be talked about...and we get this?

...Typical Blizzard. :\

"They are adding a whole bunch of new loot technology so they can do some "crazy stuff" with legendaries"

This sounds so eerily familiar to what has been said more than a few times on the WoW front with this 'new technology that allows us to do stuff we never could do before in the game!' spiel that it makes me yawn. Again, so much vagueness being used that it's getting very old Mr. Wilson. At this point, either start giving the playerbase some specific examples of what this 'new technology' is and examples of the Legendary items it allows you to 'create', or don't say anything at all and stop trying to PR spin. I think at this point we've gotten past that stage and this continued vagueness is just going to be pushing more and more people away from the game.

As far as 'legitimizing PvP in Diablo III'...well...all I can say to this is: "Hello homogenization, class nerfs for all, items to continue to be crappy in terms of stats, and more staleness that plagues the game." ...I'm sorry to sound like such a huge Negative Nancy, but given the past track record of this game and others (specifically WoW) in Blizzard's lineup of examples to draw from...it's not looking good for Diablo III.

Hehehehhee...well, if anything, at least I can enjoy my Red Robin take-out food and Arizona Iced Tea while I wait.

Quote from Molster

also, make sure you read what those pics are called. its pretty clear all the effects arnt showing =)

Indeed, I was going to come in here and mention the fact that every picture has the word 'tentacle' in it. I mean...now THAT'S a pedobear...nay...that's a HENTAI bear in the making!

If I didn't have to sleep I'd try and work on the affix list stuff. Maybe I'll take a crack at it tomorrow and see if I can't help out here.

ayWilson: It's not a bug, it is supposed to be displayed in game. We felt showing the Battle Tag was an essential element to identifying your friends and didn't want players displayed with different names in different situations. The purpose of character names is to help the player identify their characters in the case they have multiple of the same class and for extended presence.

You know...I really tried to understand this...I really, honestly did, but I just can't. Multiples of the same class to help with 'identifying' their characters? ...Wouldn't having your CHARACTER'S NAME ABOVE HIS/HER HEAD ACCOMPLISH THE SAME THING? I mean, I don't get it...friends could simply invite me via my Battletag being shown normally on the Real ID list or whatever, along with my current character name I have selected in parentheses. However, once we transition into the game, what's wrong with just having my character name being the one shown? Why does my Battletag need to be there? As far as random public games...how about having your character's main name be shown above your head and then in small brackets below it has your Battletag?

Honestly, I think this whole issue is just absolutely ridiculous and Blizzard has this obsession with Battletags and wanting RealID to be in your face with everything that has to do with their games. Yeah, I know I am ranting, but really...some of their explanations, especially by the lead developer, are getting absolutely stupid.

Difficulties - Normal to Hell

• Majority of Diablo players just play through normal, have a great time, and then are done.
• For the more core players, nightmare is where it starts, thought most might feel inferno is where it will truly starts.
• Jay says he can get through nightmare in less than 10 deaths.
• Hell depends on his current character build.

I am probably reading way, WAY too much into this, but the comment Jay made about Hell Mode could be a little...concerning. I know Blizzard was saying that they want a lot of viable builds and for skills to be used equally, but in saying that it depends on his current build whether he can get through Hell or not (or at least implies it)...well, it sorta confirms what I was thinking. I know, I know...again, I am probably reading into this way too much, but I can't help but think that this could lead to difficulty tuning adjustments in terms of nerfs, and other things. That, and there could be potential for some skills to just not be used at all and more 'cookie cutter' style popping up. Not that it wasn't going to, but...yeah...just rambling now.

Suffice to say, I am hoping that if Blizzard does get a lot of complaining (which they inevitably will), that they stick to their guns and don't nerf Hell/Inferno and instead balance and tune potential skills and abilities that might be too underperforming and allow for more build diversity. Especially since Bashiok and others in the PR department have been really pushing those 'billons of builds' lately, even if in the end there will definitely not be that many that make it through. Here's hoping there are

*End incoherent rambling*

Quote from duckwilliamson

Quote from Masterjun

so much for HC inferno players if you can't avoid that 170k hit minus armor and etc

not to mention assuming you can reach inferno mode without dying on the others

I am curious about this, as they did say "no spikey damage" from enemies.

I'm going to guess that attack will be for his "Slam" attack mentioned in the description. It has wind-up time so it's fair warning to get out of the way. Otherwise, if that is for regular damaging hits, then even with melee's extra 30% damage reduction, armor, and what not, I don't think they'd survive normal hits like that unless you get godly blocks or blow a lot of cooldowns. I think the monster will hit for a more 'reasonable' amount in regular melee.

Quote from Bogatog

Edit: Read through the large post above and will offer this. My understanding of what Jay said is that before they had all the seemingly pointless sub-categories, they were receiving feedback from testers that it wasn't clear enough. While I agree with you that the majority of us that are familiar with diablo at all, and even the larger group of just gamers that hasn't ever touched a diablo game before will probably figure it out eventually, I can only assume that the changes were made with respect to results Blizzard got during testing. I know its a flimsy excuse and is borderline "fanboy", I just can't really believe that these things which are pretty obvious to us outsiders weren't considered by the people making the game for 6.5 years.

Even the best of developers can make mistakes and can sometimes have their own vision clouded by what they see as being right, when in fact it may very well not be. Also, I don't see your comment as being 'fanboyish' at all, as it is a fair point, and I would hope that Blizzard devs did consider that. However, part of me just can't believe that testers found the basic ideas of 'spenders', 'generators', and 'defensive/whatever' combos that hard to understand, or whatever other categories they have for the classes like Witch Doctor and Wizard. If indeed these 'hardcore testers' had such problems then I would want to question Blizzard's use of the word 'hardcore' (which I might add I hate because it is such an overused word), and I would love to see exactly what these testers were testing and what skill UI they were using, etc, etc.

What I also cannot understand is that with the closed Beta they had a HUGE amount of feedback, far more feedback that, IMHO, was a much better sampling than what their internal testing groups could ever offer. Many people were fine with earlier patch UIs and I rarely saw any topics about people 'not getting' the divided, more simplified categories I mentioned. Heck, it was like that on Blizzard's Skill Calculator page and it wasn't hard to understand at all. The only real thing you had to do was read the tooltips for a few seconds, analyze what the text told you, and BOOM...you could tell what the ability was, whether it was offensive, defensive, enhancement skill, whatever. But I didn't hear any real complaints from the masses that were in the Beta...people were fine with it because IT WORKED.

When it changed...THAT'S when people started raising the roof, and rightfully so IMHO. ...You know, I honestly hate thinking like this, and I hate wanting to go this route, but I firmly believe that the Blizzard devs reworked the skill UI because - whether by their decision or someone higher up - HEAVEN FORBID SOMEONE HAS TO USE A FEW NEURONS AND THINK A BIT...they sub-divided it even FURTHER to cater to the lowest common denominator of gamers. Again, I REALLY hate thinking this, but from what I have seen with WoW and other developers doing this at times...it's like they HAVE to put as much hand-holding and 'simplification' into games as possible because again, heaven forbid someone be a little unsure for a few seconds and have to stop and THINK LOGICALLY about something. I know this is REALLY getting close to ranting, if it isn't already, but I just can't help but think it...instead of encouraging thinking and what not, Blizzard attempted to make it more simple. In an ironic twist they made it MORE convoluted, needlessly complex, and just plain ol' NOT user-friendly, which HURTS new and 'hardcore' gamer alike, and methinks Blizzard is getting just a bit too prideful to admit that they could have potentially made a mistake and might need to go back and fix it.

The interface has been changed so players can understand the combat system more. One of the things, or criticisms, that we had on the skills system from our more dedicated players really comes from the fact that they ARE more dedicated, or more savvy, players; they've really learnt a lot about the game's structure. What we found time and time again, internally, when we put even very hardcore players in front of the game, was they would not know how to interact with all the systems. They'd say 'It feels like there's a way that you want us to play, but you're not giving me any hints as to what that is.' It's almost like they're saying 'If I could put the skills in categories I'd be able to understand them.'

**WARNING! THIS POST IS GOING TO BE EXTREMELY LONG**


This...really irks me. The interface changes - and I'm going to focus mostly on the skill UI and even the skill hotbar a bit - that Blizzard has made ARE NOT helping gamers understand combat or making it easier for them to get into it. I decided to put aside my 'hardcore, dedicated side' and tried to look at this game from someone who has a much more limited understanding of all the little nuances and things of classes. For this example, I put myself into the shoes of a gamer who's had a little experience with games, so not totally in the dark, and is looking at Diablo III for the first time and checking it out. So, to do that I figured...let me pick one class and go at it 'blind' and see what I can learn from what information Blizzard has given me before I jump into the game proper just to get a few pointers or get some basic core concepts of the class to see if it's 'right' for me.

For this, I went with the Demon Hunter since I like ranged classes and I see the Demon Hunter uses bows and ranged weapons...ok, cool, so there's my starting point. Now, as a new gamer I want to know what the Demon Hunter class is all about and how she generally works and what to expect in game, obviously learning all the smaller, finer details as I go, but at least I can get some general concepts. So for that I go to the official Diablo III website and check out the Demon Hunter class page under the Game Guide section....simple enough so far. I learn a bit about the backstory, the weapons that DH's use, blah, blah, blah, BUT then I come across something that I deem VERY IMPORTANT...THE RESOURCES! I learn that the Demon Hunter uses both Hatred and Discipline to fuel her attacks with Hatred being a constant regenerating source for offensive power and Discipline which is used for more defensive measures and that to succeed I should use both of them hand-in-hand and not just focus on one. ...Ok, that seems fine and now I am starting to think, "I need to strike a good balance with the DH and manage my resources, but while that's all well and good, I want to see what skills she has to offer."

So from there I go to the Skill Calculator since it seems to make sense...if I want to see the skills, I should follow that link and check them out. I do and start playing around with the Calculator, reading the skills and seeing what they do, etc, etc. That's when I notice something else as I'm scrolling through the skills...I see some have a yellow background, some an organish-red background, and others a purple one. *gasp* WHAT DOES THIS MEAN!?! I read a little closer and see that the yellow background skills have a "Generate: X Hatred", the orangish-red ones have a "Cost: X Hatred" and the purple ones have a "Cost: X Discipline" note attached to the descriptions RIGHT AT THE VERY TOP. Remembering from the previous DH page I was on, and the movie presented I realize that the yellow and orangish-red skills are obviously tied to my Hatred resource, and the purple ones are tied to Discipline, but why are the Hatred ones split into 'Generate' and 'Cost'?

So, I look at the skills a bit more and once again draw upon what I learned from the previous page I realize that as a DH I have skills that I use to GENERATE Hatred and other skills to SPEND it, and notice the SPENDERS are generally more powerful, and some might say more interesting skills. AHA! I GOT IT! To be an effective Demon Hunter, I not only have to balance Hatred and Discipline, BUT I need to make sure I balance my Hatred skills so I can regenerate my main attacking resource to fuel my stronger attacks and still put out a little damage. Ahhhhhhh, NOW we are getting somewhere, and thusfar it's all making sense to me with just a little bit of thought. With that in mind, I begin to happily look at the skills in the calculator and start messing around with potential ideas, along with dabbling in the Passive Skills to see if any of those can be helpful, too. However, the more I play around with the calculator the more I am starting to notice one thing that has me scratching my head.

From what I can see, the skills of the DH are already categorized into the three things I found out: Hatred Generators, Hatred Spenders, Discipline Skills. Why then, are these skills further sub-categorized into things like: Primary, Secondary, Defensive, Archery, etc? It seems rather excessive and why does it need to be done? Why can't it just be the three categories mentioned before and let me look them over and see what each skill is and let me make a judgment call? I mean, why do I as the player have to be told that 'Caltrops' is a Defensive skill when I can read the description and see that it's a trap that slows enemies down, which would then tell me that "Oh. Caltrops is a defensive tool, so I'll keep that in mind"? I notice this is done for many of the other skills and some categories like 'Devices' are mixing HG, HS, and Discipline moves all into one sub-category that, again, seems rather silly to me. It's starting to look like (to me) there is too much sub-dividing for the sake of doing so, and it's not helping me...it's beginning to confuse me.

Not only that, but let's take it a bit further and let's say that I've played the Beta and got a chance to play around with the skill selection tabs. I find myself getting a bit annoyed that I have to cycle through so many tabs to look at skills and I start to wonder, "Why didn't Blizzard just separate the DH skills into the three categories they've already assigned them and let me look at them with minimal amounts of hassle and having to juggle through so many seemingly silly subcategories?" Let's go one step further and say that as a newer player who read the DH stuff on Blizzard's website, got a lucky chance to try the stuff out in the Beta, and now I am reading that last sentence in the Jay Wilson quote. As this player, I am left scratching my head and saying, "Wait...WHAT? You HAD the Demon Hunter skills already categorized (and other classes as well) and made it quite clear what they do. They are ALREADY easy to understand. Your subcategories and subsequently the UI that is going along with them TURNS THEM INTO SOMETHING THAT IS MORE CONFUSING THAN IF YOU HAD JUST LEFT THEM ALONE." (capped for emphasis, not yelling)

After putting myself through this scenario and putting myself into a 'new player's shoes' so to speak (as best I could, heaven knows it ain't perfect) I cannot understand where Jay is coming from. Perhaps in the internal testing these 'hardcore players' didn't understand how to interact with your systems isn't because of their lack of knowledge. Maybe it's because the skill UI and systems are just so overly-complicated and convoluted and poorly thought out that maybe the word 'KISS' should've been used a bit more generously? Maybe when they were saying "If I could put the skills into categories THAT I CAN UNDERSTAND AND NOT INTO EXCESSIVE SUB-DIVIDED CATEGORIES THAT ARE JUST THAT...EXCESSIVE...MAYBE I'D GET THOSE 'HINTS' ABOUT HOW YOU WANT US AS GAMERS TO PLAY YOUR GAME." (Again, not shouting, just capped for emphasis.)