Bashiok Discusses Inventory Systems

By Sol_Invictus Sep 25, 2008
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Diablo III's community manager Bashiok has posted a response to the suggestion that a weight system be implemented in Diablo III in the Official Forums.

A weight system is simply a different approach to inventory restrictions, and it's actually fairly similar to a grid based system except that weight systems are generally augmented by a character stat instead of being item based upgrades.

The main issue with these systems as they relate to Diablo III is they add an additional value to items. That secondary value works to complicate and thus slow down the inventory management of a player, drawing their attention away from the action, which is of course the main focus for us with Diablo III.

I've played a few RPGs with weight systems, and they're among my favorite games of all time, but it's a case of choosing which systems works best for each game.

Reading his response, it seems unlikely that they will be implementing weight, as these would add an additional value to items, which bogs down inventory management almost as much as the 'tetris inventory'.

I wouldn't be surprised if they used World of Warcraft's system, perhaps with a few interface tweaks that allow for simpler management of equipment, as some player-created mods for World of Warcraft offer.

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thecowking
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#1 thecowking

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Posted Sep 25, 2008
/agree

I have played games with weight counters on inventory, but they are usually slower paced RPG games like Baldur's Gate.

For a really fast paced, action packed game like the Diablo series, you don't want to slowdown gameplay by having the user constantly worrying about how much weight they have left vs. only worrying about inventory space.

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Zkid
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Posted Sep 25, 2008
eh i dont like weight always hated in oblivion wow inventory system aint bad tetris i like though always sorting if they do that hope they have auto sort like it titan quest

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ZharTheMad
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Posted Sep 25, 2008
Quote from "Zkid" »
eh i dont like weight always hated in oblivion wow inventory system aint bad tetris i like though always sorting if they do that hope they have auto sort like it titan quest

Hurrah for punctuation marks!

Just kiddin'!

The WoW inventory system ain't so bad... Better than the old tetris system, that is. Weight system is kinda nice too... I just hope that whatever Blizzard decides to implement, no whining occurs.

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Thrasher
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Posted Sep 25, 2008
Yes, less inventory managing more blood-spraying!:evil:

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kefka666333abc123
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#5 kefka666333abc123

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Posted Sep 25, 2008
Quote from "Thrasher" »
Yes, less inventory managing more blood-spraying!:evil:

This sums it all up quite well i believe :P.....I agree with most people above a maximum allowed weight(based on strength most likely) has no place in a fast paced game like diablo. So far what weve seen in terms of inventory its a lot like wow and thats a very good thing.....assuming we have a lot more stash space...

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DesmondTiny
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Posted Sep 25, 2008
EWWW NO WEIGHT NO OBISETY NO HEAVY BACKPACKS NO KILLING YOUR BACK NO TRIPPING FORWARD OVER A LOG AND FALLING BACKWARDS! WE WANT D3!!!!!!!!!

Did I mention d3?

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Decay
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Posted Sep 25, 2008
I was never a fan of weight based systems, if only because they never seem to get it right. They always either give the warrior/barby massive bonuses, since their main "stat" tends to be strength, which also tends to be the most suitable to attach weight restrictions to. This tends to nuke poor mr mage since they tend to have NO point in strength. Although they don't tend to carry as heavy stuff, so its not so bad, but it just means that tank-mage becomes the best player, hands down

my o.o2c

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tenaciousg
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Posted Sep 25, 2008
he had a great idea on that but i would have gone something like... as you level your carrying weight increases, backpacks you can buy to provide more space for that added space. every 10 levels your weight ability would beable to hold more and at 90 it would be max. but the problem is you could max out your inventory(rings, light items) and still have weight to carry And another problem is you wont beable to max out your inventory(heavier items, armor/weps) but your weight gage will max out thus you wont beable to carry anymore.

ill keep it to blizzard they will figure out something i like what they had already i see no problem.

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Vadoff
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#12 Vadoff

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Posted Sep 25, 2008
I wouldn't appreciate a weight system, glad that the development team hasn't lost it yet.

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sammas232
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Posted Sep 25, 2008
I think that the current system works well. There is a reason a potion takes up only 1 space as opposed to the 8 of a longbow or maul. The larger or more akward the item the more space it takes up. THERES your weight system

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syruplord
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Posted Sep 26, 2008
personally I just wish they'd keep the tetris system. Saying it takes away from the action is bull. Some of the most stressful times are when you're trying to clear out room for a giant unique item that just dropped while you're still fighting off tons of monsters. The tetris system is kind of fun by itself anyway, trying to organize everything the most efficient way possible.

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Threeve
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#18 Threeve

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Posted Sep 26, 2008
I liked the weight system in Oblivion, but that really incentivizes the player toward certain enchantments. It wouldn't really work in Diablo III.

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Zeyphon
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#19 Zeyphon

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Posted Sep 26, 2008
Doesn't seem applicable to Diablo III, I'd rather have inventory Tetris.

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Cureingangel
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#20 Cureingangel

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Posted Sep 27, 2008
personally i find it very annoying with the constantly playing with the inventory over and over in diablo 2. manly because of the dam charms!!! ugh i am glad about their idea of having more action and less time click click click move // drop drop drop click again identify then drop click click....u get the point

i don't care much about the tetris system or of the wow system or anyother rpg loot system w/e its just loot anyway.
give me a good sword and i'll be happy
good decision. now work out the AI and i'll be very pleased

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Morken
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Posted Sep 28, 2008
NO WEIGHT SYSTEM PLEASE :mad:
Ok so giving items weight subtly makes the world a bit more “solid” which to some degree is a bit “Diabloish” and may help fill in the gap of grittiness that D3 has left behind, so it’s not all bad. However, weight opens up a can of worms too. It clogs the player’s mind, and makes it possible for a fleeing character to accidently pick up something which encumbers him and causes his hardcore death.
Unlike the simple backpack grid, it won’t be clear how much you can carry and players will be constantly flicking to the character sheet to see if they went over weight into the dreaded yellow or red state of burden. Also, the mid/higher level strength classes will totally transcend weight concerns, and their game will go back to just tetris anway:P
The current system already imposes carrying limits which is the main objective.

I’m in favour of retaining the clean tetris setup with the addition of this option:
Autosort: small inventory items will automatically move to make room for larger items or to be placed near other backpack items or identical nature

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LarryNC
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#25 LarryNC

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Posted Sep 28, 2008
greta post, weight stuff sucks

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VegasRage
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#27 VegasRage

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Posted Sep 28, 2008
I think a weight system would add an element of realism to the game. It seems to me ridiculous you can carry a ton of stuff and not have it impact your movement. Take just gold for instance in D2 was crazy being able to carry around million pieces of gold. Assuming they were one troy ounce like most real gold or silver coins are it would be physically impossible to carry a million troy ounces (ah but you would be wealthy indeed). Even 500 hundred ounces would start to encumber even a strong person.

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avanent
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#28 avanent

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Posted Sep 30, 2008
Hmmm... I can either carry 60 amulets, or 60 full plate body armors....

no tetris, no weight, no happy.

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Arturo_Haus
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#29 Arturo_Haus

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Posted Sep 30, 2008
A good system IMO would be;

Tetris-style inventory with auto-sort option, however, the amount you can carry (ie the size of your inventory) is directly related to strength or something. Adds a hint of realism without bogging the game down too much.

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Okibum
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#30 Okibum

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Posted Sep 30, 2008
If they are worried about us managing our inventory more than paying attention to the action in the game does anyone else feel kinda like that means we will be having a crap load of inventory? Bc even if you go with a tetris style you are still thinking about how much room you have and what not.

Here's hoping the game is interesting enough so that inventory isn't a big distraction.

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