Official Blizzard Quote:
Followers were originally going to be available during co-op, and actually are right now because of a bug in the current build we're playing. And it's crazy. If you're unfortunate enough to also have a witch doctor, it's insanity. Eight characters running around plus all of the potential pets. It's complete chaos. That's the biggest reason they aren't going to be available outside of single player.
Not wanting the game to be chaotic is completely understandable and is likely one of the contributing factors behind why they initially decreased the maximum party size from eight players [in D2] to four this time around. Going back and doubling the party size would be the last thing they want to do if things truly do become chaotic. However, this begs the question, how will the game feel with a full party of Witch Doctors'? If adding four more potential "summons" turns the game into chaos, how apocalyptic will the game feel with a full set of summons from each of the four WD's? Regardless, if we do want to take advantage of these Followers, we won't be able to with a full party anyway.
Official Blizzard Quote:
It encourages co-op by giving people that are going to be playing the game alone from the start many of the thoughts and process that go into playing with another person. Seeing someone else on screen. Thinking about their items and skills. Hearing them talk. That all sounds silly from a lot of our perspectives, because, we all play co-op and who needs a primer? Well, a lot of people, and that's where this encourages co-op. More people playing co-op means more people in a mindset of an online community, and that has many far reaching benefits for all players.
It seems to me like we have to drop the Mercenary line of thinking from D2 in order to understand this decision. Essentially, Bashiok makes it sound like Followers aren't really supposed to be Mercenaries, but they are supposed to act as party members that replace other real players for those users who refuse to play multiplayer. When you look at the system in that perspective, it makes this functionality great, as it adds some form of cooperation for those who would rather play by themselves, and could even persuade said user to jump online and play with other users, for some real co-op play. This is simply because once you complete Normal by yourself, or rather with the [fake player] Follower, the Follower will become useless.
Official Blizzard Quote:
Followers will not stay alive easily past Normal, and if they're not alive you aren't going to be getting their bonuses. I'm sure people will try to game this, and ideally they will fail. If not we will ensure followers are not part of the end-game MF equation. They are not intended to be, and we will take whatever steps are necessary to ensure they cannot be.
Now you'll be yearning for that co-op play and your only choice will be to jump on Battle.net and find some peers to game with. Blizzard is doing some real funky reverse psychology to promote the social experience, but in the end, they are still promoting the social experience.
"Hey guy's we got some awesome news for you about one of our systems. It's super cool followers that give you storyline and some more things to customize to keep you busy. There's one limitation though: It's only for normal difficulty and only for single-player."
Paraphrasing of course, but we finally get a shred of new information since Blizzcon about one of the upcoming systems, and then it's a slap in the face to find that you won't even be able to use it unless you play single-player and ONLY on normal difficulty. I don't understand this whole "screen real-estate" thing either. Blizzard really is catering to the lowest common denominator when it comes to people with pcs. Don't really understand why they feel the need to neuter such a potentially awesome system before the game even comes out.
Coudn't have said it better myself
You don't have to roll a Follower. So, your point is moot.
Seems like a waste of development time. They already had NPC's that would follow you like this and make remarks and attack. We've seen them in gameplay footage. So, they've basically just given us the same thing and named it--no, put new wrapping paper on an old gift? A cheap gift? If you're going to call it a new gameplay mechanic, at least make it new. At least make it a mechanic.
I don't even
You have a follower for the easiest difficulty- the one place where you actually don't need them.
100% certain this is going to be changed/scrapped before game release or in patches/expansions.
I don't think it is necessary for mp because it does what multiplayer does in sp mode, gives a friend to help you out. If anything I prefer to use mp anyway, usually player controlled characters are just plain better than NPCs anyway (think of the difficulty difference between PvP and PvE in any game).
And just for those times when I'm not online or not in the mood to be online (or with other people) I can still have a 'co-op' function and still help me out in the game. So technically they just made it a mp game even in sp, and if you don't want the extra help I am sure you can just not hire the follower.
Though the biggest issue is it not being useful in later difficulties, from a developing standpoint it would be wasteful on creating a whole mechanic that would be trashed soon after and from a playing standpoint just when the going gets tough and extra help would actually be useful my help just dies....
(Followers will not stay alive easily past Normal, and if they're not alive you aren't going to be getting their bonuses. I'm sure people will try to game this, and ideally they will fail. If not we will ensure followers are not part of the end-game MF equation. They are not intended to be, and we will take whatever steps are necessary to ensure they cannot be. )
Fine, remove their MF bonuses for all I care but put the damn followers to some use in higher difficulties. If the sole problem of Followers is MF, then remove it...DUH! What's so difficult for them to understand? How could anybody in their right mind think that removing the system's effectiveness in higher difficulties is the solution?
Isn't this the best outcome? (trying to look at this positively :P)
I think they would've tried to develop this system to work through the whole game initially but couldn't get something that they were happy with and had to scale it back.
And that's probably the system they're least proud of, which is why it was the first of the unannounced systems to be revealed.
thats basically what this is
and its incentive for them to pass the game multiple times, for story
remember, hardcore gamers like us are a minority
as long as they find a way to tell these people not to expect followers to do well past normal, and tie it in with coop recommendation somehow
eg tips in the loading areas
Not only that but... It's only Single player also...
Follower system that only works for Single player and only works in Normal. To try to promote co-op play from the people that only play single player.
I think just to play it safe, a manual of how to open the game box should be provided and also how to insert the disc in the computer.
Of course, the manual should be attached on the box and not be inside it, otherwise it will be a complete disaster.
Seriously though, it is not a question of being hardcore or not. Gamers are not dumb.
Anybody playing the game even casually would want a consistent and rewarding experience. Mercs as one of those features could essentially add a lot in that aspect.
When considering those new to the game, this 'mechanic' as it is could cause a lot of frustration where when difficulty increases, their ally essentially becomes crap. So yes, they will now ditch the game and resume COD. What's left now are those casual/hardcore gamers who would have wanted a more in-depth and better thought-out merc system.
With the proposed normal-only restriction, single player looks more like an undesirable compromise by the developers. They want you to play MP- they are just going on in an extremely bad way about it.
It is painfully obvious that this feature is useless in its current form.
you obviously don't work in customer service, some gamers are dumb and/or ill-informed of mechanics to the point where the follower system will be a great crash course type tutorial. Imagine convincing your grandma to try it out, and watching over her shoulder. Think of the pain watching her struggle alone in normal, this is where the mercenary is useful. If you can't imagine your grandma doing it, maybe think of a small child.
if the people are informed that it's supposed to not be effective outside of normal, this won't be a problem, and using the same system to warn people mercenaries aren't designed for other difficulties they could say try teaming up with another person.
people can open a box, they do it every birthday/present giving occasion, so they can open the box.
besides, manuals?! what is wrong with you, even suggesting that? nobody reads manuals and, really, having to read a manual would detract from the experience
I'm not being sarcastic or anything here. Seriously.
Sounds like a good solution.
Chill Cheese. Not all children know how to open boxes and the manual can contain descriptive pictures you know, not necessarily words.
See, this way everybody is happy.
sorry, that was supposed to sound more sarcastic, i forgot about the limitations of text
unless of course the same opinions have been discussed a thousand times over
I forgive you, son.
I hereby declare that I fully agree with Blizzard's proposed follower system after becoming a member of the Society for the Protection of Gamer Grandmas and Children(PGGC).
Cast away your doubts and join us.
Amen.