PvP in Diablo 3
Since the first announcement of the PvP interview segment with Jay, and from Sixen's Press Event article. Unfortunately the Beta will be lacking the PvP portion of the game all together. Seeing as this information won't be materialized in game for us until release, following the PvP development is the closest we can get to playing it.
Changes/Additions
In the PvP model at Blizzcon, when you died you were out until the round ended, only able to view the battle from a ghost form which is incapable of interacting with the battle. This caused some gameplay issues seeing as it would always end up being a "last man standing" situation, which Blizzard didn't feel suited their casual approach to PvP. As of now the PvP system supports a team death match style of spawning, where when you die you have X seconds until you respawn into battle. This system bases the winning team off total kills between all players on the team. As team death matches tend to go, the round ends when either team hits the kill cap, or the time limit runs out. Through internal testing they found that players generally enjoyed the PvP experience more seeing as they felt like death didn't remove them from the game. Blizzard also found that this gave players a chance to figure out counters to the opposing team's strategy, which often made for epic come backs.
Official Blizzard Quote:
-Still same arena environment, still kind of feels the same, but when you die, you stay out for a few seconds and then you come back. It bases more on time limit and kill count, which we actually found was a lot more approachable and a lot more fun.
This power purchasing situation is unavoidable, players will find a way to buy items no matter what. The concept of a separate Arena for non-currency traded items only has been brought up among PvP enthusiasts. Problem is this would segregate the PvP community, which is something Blizzard stands firmly against.
Due to the integrated match-making system even if someone spent the money on a leveled character, and all the greatest gear, they would be matched with players with similar character capability. So chances are buying all perfect end game gear for PvP will just pit you against very high caliber players, not some noobs you can smash.
Moving along to PvP player caps, the Blizzcon PvP model only supported 2v2, and 3v3; limiting the player cap to 6. The reasoning behind this low number is not due to technical limitations, but rather clean gameplay, and low visual pollution; same as the 4 player cap in PvE. Many players bring up how Diablo 2 had an 8 player cap. Diablo 3 isn't Diablo 2, both player and monster skills are more visually flashy in D3. Through internal testing they've found the sweet spot for PvP player caps sits between 6 and 8 (3v3 or 4v4). The current 3v3 PvP limitation isn't finalized, as Blizzard is currently testing 4v4 matches in the Arena.
Official Blizzard Quote:
We’re actually playing around with the max being 4 per team, which is 8 players total, but that’s still 4 per party. By the way, that’s not confirmed, we’re just playing around with it. Ideally, we’d love for parties in PvP to be 4 players.
Official Blizzard Quote:
You're gonna die, cause it's hardcore mode. So if you don't want to die don't go into the Arena.
Official Blizzard Quote:
The PvP strike team that focuses on that area, they are pretty nervous about it. Their basic feeling is that if that is what happens, then hardcore characters just won’t PvP. But then there was hardcore dueling in D2 so we may change that. We may allow hardcore PvP players to play without dying. That being said, I still want a way for hardcore players to duel even if not at ship. I am going to push for a way. Even if its basically just a place where you can go in the world where you are flagged for PvP. Even if it is that simple, there is a community, even if it’s a small community that I want to support. Those fuckers are crazy. Part of me is like aww you crazy bastards.
Non-competitive PvP Environment Blizzard has long made games based on close competition. Ranging from the calculated multitasking of StarCraft, to the skill casting hot key tracking ways of World of Warcraft. In both franchises the games have been balanced around PvP; Diablo 3 will be different. Blizzard has chosen to persistently steer clear of heated competition while developing Diablo 3. Determine to base the game around PvE, it seems PvP comes secondary when making development decisions.
Skills in PvP will not be reworked from the ground up, but will instead be tweaked via under-the-hood changes. Things such as stun, freeze, or snare effects will be tuned down for PvP separate from PvE. A main reason for Blizzard not completely overhauling each skill for PvP separately is that it would cause your character to play very differently in PvP than in PvE, thus causing a disconnection of the gametypes. Even further detailing this concept, Force asked Jay Wilson about this during their interview over at Blizzard headquarters.
Official Blizzard Quote:
What we have is within the data of the skill, we have these things called snows that are little containments of data. You can open up the magic missile snow and see everything that magic missile does. We have this other column that is for PvP and it can take any of the attributes for the regular skill and change it. We primarily use it to change how long a stun lasts or… We don’t have any diminishing returns and we are hoping not to. Cooldowns and damage could change but we try not to mess with those because they are really tricky. Crowd control durations; those are the big things that tend to change that are game breaking.
Official Blizzard Quote:
-when people say “BARB IS TOTALLY OP!!!” we’re going to be like “yeah… he probably is.”
Official Blizzard Quote:
You can’t give the people an e-sport set up and then say it’s not an e-sport. If you are going to commit to that, then you have to commit to it. It’s not an e-sport, we are not going to do that high of level of feature set. It’s also one of those things where, from the outside it looks like we have endless time and budget but the truth is we don’t. The truth is we work our butts off to get the game out and we make choices and adding features like that to make it an e-sport when it’s not a goal for us, when we could be spending those dollars making the PvP game better or the PvE game better, we are going to spend the money there.
Instead of a stat based ranking system, players will have a PvP "level" that will be viewable right on your character banner. These levels are progressed through by simply playing the PvP game mode. Winning will progress you faster through the levels, but it is possible to reach the same levels no matter how much you lose. Jay touches on this during an interview with Force. There will also be no win/loss ratio stats being tracked. Your PvP level will represent how much time you've played in the Arena, not at all being based on any sort of ratios.
Rewards, and Wishlist Features.
While understanding Blizzard's firm stance on a casual PvP mode one might ask, what features will PvP be lacking?
One idea currently endangered is the spectator mode. In StarCraft2 this feature is necessary considering the e-sport aspect of the game. In Diablo 3 the feature still has a niche, and surely would be entertaining but due to the time constraints the development team is under, unnecessary features are put on the back burner.
Official Blizzard Quote:
It is actually on a list, but it’s pretty low down on the list because there are a lot of things that would be cooler to do and without it being an e-sport… replay is kind of an e-sport feature.
Official Blizzard Quote:
-We know we are going to have some balance issues, and it’s a lot easier to control if we’re not balancing for different kinds of modes, so right now we’re just focused on the one.
Official Blizzard Quote:
We have definitely talked about some other modes. Not at ship but who knows about the future. I really like the idea of a mode that involves monsters and players of some kind. We have played around with modes like that but the biggest issue was that they didn’t feel like Diablo. I think that was just the design we had but there is a way to do it that feels like Diablo.
As for rewards is seems there will be many achievements to complete in PvP, which could provide some type of reward. There are also titles, which will likely be similar to the Diablo 2 title system.
Official Blizzard Quote:
Right now there is a whole array of PvP oriented achievements and titles and part of the banner, the crest of the banner, is dedicated just for PvP. So as you get to higher and higher ranks, it levels that up.
- PvP Crest (Top of the banner): Where your PvP, "Level" will be showcased on your banner.
- Achievement Tally Marker: Your completed achievements will be showcased on either side of your banner.
- Highest Completed Difficulty Status: Highest difficulty completion is shown.
- Hardcore Identifier: Do you not fear death?
- Party Member Listing: Each player in your party is represented by their unique banner flag.
- Quick Join Listing: Located under the banner, you'll be able to join other players also looking for matches.
- "Social" Button: Presumably all of your friends will be listed, even while playing other Blizzard games.
- Profile (Helm): Where you view your in-game possessions and character details.
- Achievements (Shield): View you achievement progress.
- Auction House (Gavel): Links directly to the AH.
- Drop Listing: (Bottom left) This drop listing hasn't been detailed, though from its location it could have something to do with the chat box.
- Chat Box : Can't have Diablo without one!
- General Menu Listing:
All in all Blizzard has taken a different approach to PvP in Diablo 3. Instead of being the end game jewel it was for Diablo 2, it is now simply another way to test your character with friends. Through extensive PvE development, we can only hope there is a lasting PvE endgame being stowed away beyond our knowledge, since PvP isn't looking to be developed to fill in endgame content. Although PvP is not the main focus of the development team, it is sure to acquire a fan base all its own.
Be sure to check out Sixen's Give Me Options or Give Me DEATH! article where you can vote on your preferred type of auction house, and listen to DiabloCast Episode 20.
Get pumped for the Beta by reading Magistrate's More Beta Buildup article.
Don't forget to update your Beta profile! More details in ScyberDragon's Important Beta Profile Update article.
Good joke.
the arena system is already a huge thing for pvp that no other diablo game has had. the have a matchmaking system which will pit you against players of equal skillXgear. You already have competitive pvp.
Blizzard could do nothing more and there would be more, competitive pvp features than in both of the previous diablo games combined. they even have an alternatve set of balance-able figures so that once pvp gets settled, they can make adjustments to it separately from pve abilities.
what more do you want? leagues? that can be community driven, like it was in d2 (and as mentioned above, it already has more support). I don't know if they've said one way or another, but as long as you can make a custom pvp match against another team, blizzard has already given the tools to the pvp community to do whatever they would like with pvp.
If all you want is custom match-making capability, then petition for that, and stop complaining about how "PVP MAED D@ LAST THIS LONG!!@#!!!" (i haven't read that from you, but its a common argument, that i think doesn't hold water)
d2 pvp was crap. it was an afterthought. d3 has pvp as an actually balancable medium. no pvp will be meaningful until max level anyway. including pvp features at launch will just delay the game.
**incoming hyperbole**
I would rather kill any children or pets you may have than allow pvp features to delay the release of this game by 1 minute more than it already has.
**/end hyperbole**
D2 PvP wasn't crap, you were just ill informed or out of the loop, because most PvP communities were private.
"the arena system is already a huge thing for pvp that no other diablo game has had. the have a matchmaking system which will pit you against players of equal skillXgear. You already have competitive pvp."
Arenas in D3 could be a great idea, but in there current state they are hurting us. They limited to 1 mode of style limited to their matchmaking system.
Last man standing and custom matchmaking are 2 significant things that are required for the sake of the PvP community.
Well LMS is not exaxctly required, but it makes things so much complicated. You can easily confess that once dead during duelling, you may not participate anymore in given "round". And play it like it was LMS.
When I say pvp was crap, i mean that the game was not designed for it, not that there wasn't good gameplay to be had.
Re: the current arena game-type.
There is no real difference between the current system and a series of last man standing matches. If you're better than the other team you will kill them more than they will kill you.
Is football, baseball, or pretty much any other sport not competitive because once one team scores a point (getting a kill) the game keeps going?
Since you are obviously so pro Conax, lets say that we fought in the arena and you killed me 10 times in a match and i got you 2 times. Does that not show you won?
Lets say it were close, and you killed me 6 times and i killed you 5. I'm sure in this case there would be a lot of "oooh, he nailed him" and "i cannot believe he countered that!" in this situation than in the first. This would be a more competitive match than the first.
How does the number of kills needed to determine a victor make the game less competitive? A victor still needs to be decided. You will need to be better than your opponents to kill them (assuming equal power) more often than they kill you.
(the RMAH isn't going to make nubs win at pvp, you need a certain level of gear to expect to compete, there is a cap on the power level of the gear, the RMAH is just going to make the potential pool of adequately geared pvpers larger, which gives you a healthier competitive environment)
It seems like pvp battles might take a bit longer than the ones I saw/rarely participated in back in the day. But I wasn't really aware that it was such a big thing in 2 that people are making a ruckus over now.
I think of it more of a supplement to the actual game than something important?
This comment I don't get, and I think it's implicit in a number of people's complaints. Just how much effort did you think D2 put into PvP? They stuck in a broad damage divider, made players immune to AI curses that had no effect on them anyway, and put a custom scaler on thorns. That's it. No other effort put into balancing D2. Lets see what D3 offers?
- Some kind of matchmaking based on performance, other than "duelz join now"
- Some kind of progression in achivements/titles, other than worthless gold and ears people never see.
- Automatic limits on consumeable use, not "on your honor no pots"
- Support for team games, instead of hostile "team" players killing each other with friendly fire. (Not that people ever seemed to do anything but duels)
- Adjustment of a wide number of skills on CC durations, possibly damage and range also
- Completely equipment-based build making swap between PvP/PvE setups effortless
Other than a convenient way to duel your friends (would be nice) and the ability to PK (not nice), I don't see how anyone can view D3 PvP as lesser than D2. It's not the truly competitive e-sport it might have been, but then D2 never was either, and with D3 they really are at least throwing PvP a bone that D2 never had.
I believe you misunderstood my statement.
I simply meant PvP in Diablo 3 isn't being developed to drive Diablo 3's endgame. The fact stands that through the lack of PvP support in Diablo 2, PvP is a main reason, if not the main reason the game has remained so popular. I understand how you could have thought I was talking about design effort, to which Diablo 2 obviously had almost none regarding PvP. Through this all Diablo 2's PvP was the majority of players endgame, missing feature sets and all. Diablo 3's PvP isn't being developed with this endgame supporting role in mind, (Again, not saying D2's PvP was) but instead to give players another means to use their characters. If players use PvP as their endgame challenge of choice great, but as stated by Blizz they have plans for PvE endgame which should keep players satisfied in the PvE world.
Thank you Cherub, means a lot!
I'm curious as to the numbers of people who played d2 compared to those that "seriously" pvp'd.
D2 wasn't really designed with an "endgame" in mind for pve or pvp. By that I mean, there was only gearing up, nothing to do once geared up.
Between achievements and inferno and banners, D3 will be designed with an endgame in mind for pve certainly.
If the matchmaking system remotely works, there will be an endgame for pvp in constantly fighting opponents of your skill level.
If they made the MMR public, would that satisfy the need for "competition"?
Ok, so I disagree with pretty much everything you said.
I did not find your "2." fun. It was a hassle. I do not want to deal with that shit. If I want to deal with pvp, I'll queue up for a match. I don't want to have my fun (yes, you can have fun pve) impeded upon because someone thinks it would be fun to pick on the low level or non-pvp-geared character.
PKing is not nice. It's not something they agreed to do. If you do that to someone else, you're imposing yourself on them. That is generally considered bad form.
If someone agrees to that playstyle, that's fine. I won't be.
If not being able to PK people makes playing the game pointless for you, I can't help you. And I don't want to.
You don't know that there will be nothing unpredictable or dangerous from the pve game.
You don't need to have to suffer to have fun.
The default game style is my gaming preference. Your preference is accommodated by joining a random arena game, i'm almost certain you won't need to make a team to join the MM queue.
D2 was monotonous as hell. D3 will have more variety in mob behavior and capability, not to mention boss fights.
You want pvp in the pve. I am fairly certain you are not in the majority in that. I think most PvPers want their pvp separate from the pve, and any strict PvEers want no pvp in their pve.
I'm pulling this from the PvP poll, since it's exactly the same discussion going on there.
You think that one of the largest, most successful game companies, that has teams of professional people doing target market analysis and huge amounts of sales data know less about what the people they are selling to want... than someone that randomly posts here? I see.
Edit: Also, that site has preorders for Diablo 3 for 360 and PS3... Yeah, a reliable retailer to be sure. Preorder something that's not even announced.