The first part of Ask the Devs is here!
Originally Posted by Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
(The developers participating in this Q&A round include:
Travis: Yes, our plan is to handle Legendary items in a similar fashion to how we handle Rare items. Legendary items will roll at a level equal to the creature that dropped it. This means that, in addition to a Legendary’s stats rolling at the monster level, the base item stats will also roll at the monster's level. Right now, Rares don't work this way. Instead, their affixes roll at the level of the monster, but their base armor and weapon damage remain unchanged.
Travis: Yes, Legendary and Set items will be valid drops from monsters at whatever point in the level range they are first introduced.
I have seen some people speculate over whether or not this means the experience bonus on Leoric's Signet will increase, and the answer to that specific question is "yes," but how each bonus on a Legendary or Set items scales will ultimately depend on the bonus itself. Some bonuses (such as the +EXP bonus on Leoric’s Signet) scale equally well from level 1 to level 60. On the other hand, some bonuses like procs that generate pets, or procs that deal damage effects, don’t always scale well as you get to the higher levels, but those will be changed wherever possible to scale with the level that they drop at.
Ultimately, we want to make sure the things that make Legendary and set items interesting continue to make them interesting at the end game, and in some cases they already do, so we just need to fix the other stats on the item.
Don: Giving players more control and customization of their item stats is something we talk about a lot in our office. There have been a lot of ideas thrown around here and some great suggestions from the community, but we have not finalized any systems yet.
To give you an idea of what direction we're heading toward, though, here are just a few ideas that we're considering right now:
As far as the Mystic goes, she's a cunning lady. I’m sure we haven't seen the last of her.
Wyatt: When the game was in development, we actually the Blacksmith had the ability to add a socket to an item. Adding a socket makes the item better, so you pretty much always wanted to do it, and we found adding the socket felt like a small chore that didn’t actually increase the gameplay depth. You already need to insert gems to a socketed item, and felt having to add a socket as well would be a step too many.
With that in mind, there are still some gameplay benefits to adding a socket that we’d still like to capture. Although having to add a socket every time can feel like a chore, if there was a mechanic that made it a legitimate decision, that is something we could explore. Additionally, there’s something to be said for feeling more invested in an item—taking steps to improve an item increases your emotional bond with that it, which is something we could definitely do better at.
So, to answer your question, it’s something that’s definitely on the table for the future, but it likely won’t be identical to the system that was in Diablo II or the early iterations of Diablo III.
Wyatt: It’s hard to say for sure, but I don’t see any reason why not. As we revisit items in general, we’ll be looking at how crafting fits into the big picture, and it’s certainly possible that we’ll add more recipes at that time.
Don: Yes, we plan to take all of our future changes into consideration when balancing the amount of reagents needed for crafting recipes. We haven't decided on a number to reduce the number of drops by yet, so we can't go into specifics on how or if existing and future crafting recipes are going to change.
Along those same lines, we’ll also be looking at the cost at which items sell back to vendors, since the reducing the drop rate of items can/will impact a player's revenue of gold.
To be continued in part 2. . .
- Wyatt Cheng, Senior Technical Game Designer
- Travis Day, Game Designer
- Don Vu, Associate Game Designer
Q. Will all legendaries found on Inferno roll level 63 base stat values (armor and dps values) and level 63 "non-base" (affixes) stat values?
- Zoth#2543 (Americas [English]), Koric#1513 (Americas [English]), Hardhat#2565 (Europe [German]), sergeix #2204 (Europe [Spanish])
Travis: Yes, our plan is to handle Legendary items in a similar fashion to how we handle Rare items. Legendary items will roll at a level equal to the creature that dropped it. This means that, in addition to a Legendary’s stats rolling at the monster level, the base item stats will also roll at the monster's level. Right now, Rares don't work this way. Instead, their affixes roll at the level of the monster, but their base armor and weapon damage remain unchanged.
Q. "Love Leoric's Signet, but hate wearing a level 17 ring? Me too. Instead of farming Act II Normal to find a Leoric's Signet, let's go farm Inferno and get a level 63 version of the ring!"
Does this mean that every set and legendary item will have a chance of dropping in Inferno?
- Rowechelon#1918 (Americas [English])
Travis: Yes, Legendary and Set items will be valid drops from monsters at whatever point in the level range they are first introduced.
I have seen some people speculate over whether or not this means the experience bonus on Leoric's Signet will increase, and the answer to that specific question is "yes," but how each bonus on a Legendary or Set items scales will ultimately depend on the bonus itself. Some bonuses (such as the +EXP bonus on Leoric’s Signet) scale equally well from level 1 to level 60. On the other hand, some bonuses like procs that generate pets, or procs that deal damage effects, don’t always scale well as you get to the higher levels, but those will be changed wherever possible to scale with the level that they drop at.
Ultimately, we want to make sure the things that make Legendary and set items interesting continue to make them interesting at the end game, and in some cases they already do, so we just need to fix the other stats on the item.
Q. Will there any way for the players to have some control over the item stats. Such as implementing the mystic?
- Malkieri#1456 (Americas [English]), oraulo#2320 (Europe [German]), Goudru #1130 (Europe [French]), Djinn #2133 (Europe [French]), Blaine #2750 (Europe [Italian])
Don: Giving players more control and customization of their item stats is something we talk about a lot in our office. There have been a lot of ideas thrown around here and some great suggestions from the community, but we have not finalized any systems yet.
To give you an idea of what direction we're heading toward, though, here are just a few ideas that we're considering right now:
- The ability to change a portion of a particular stat on an item to another stat of your choice
- The ability to augment an existing item with a stat bonus of your choice
- The ability to create an item with one or several fixed affixes—similar to the Rare recipes introduced in 1.0.7
- We've also discussed adding other types of "socketables" with a wide variety of possible affixes that you can put in your socketed items instead of gems
As far as the Mystic goes, she's a cunning lady. I’m sure we haven't seen the last of her.
Q. Where is my add socket?
- TwoCoins#1776 (enUS), Graupel#2865 (Europe [English])
Wyatt: When the game was in development, we actually the Blacksmith had the ability to add a socket to an item. Adding a socket makes the item better, so you pretty much always wanted to do it, and we found adding the socket felt like a small chore that didn’t actually increase the gameplay depth. You already need to insert gems to a socketed item, and felt having to add a socket as well would be a step too many.
With that in mind, there are still some gameplay benefits to adding a socket that we’d still like to capture. Although having to add a socket every time can feel like a chore, if there was a mechanic that made it a legitimate decision, that is something we could explore. Additionally, there’s something to be said for feeling more invested in an item—taking steps to improve an item increases your emotional bond with that it, which is something we could definitely do better at.
So, to answer your question, it’s something that’s definitely on the table for the future, but it likely won’t be identical to the system that was in Diablo II or the early iterations of Diablo III.
Q. Will there be new craft-able items added in the future? I'm thinking weapons and/or legendary items...
- Cee#2572 (Europe [English]), Kiwi #2165 (Europe [Polish])
Wyatt: It’s hard to say for sure, but I don’t see any reason why not. As we revisit items in general, we’ll be looking at how crafting fits into the big picture, and it’s certainly possible that we’ll add more recipes at that time.
Q. So you have a plan to reduce the number of dropping items but increasing their quality. This will result in a smaller amount of items that can be salvaged into crafting materials for the Blaksmith, With this in mind – do you plan balance the amount of crafting materials gained from salvaging against the material requirements of blacksmith’s formulas?
- Agetriu #2991(Europe [Polish])
Don: Yes, we plan to take all of our future changes into consideration when balancing the amount of reagents needed for crafting recipes. We haven't decided on a number to reduce the number of drops by yet, so we can't go into specifics on how or if existing and future crafting recipes are going to change.
Along those same lines, we’ll also be looking at the cost at which items sell back to vendors, since the reducing the drop rate of items can/will impact a player's revenue of gold.
To be continued in part 2. . .
I think his point was that the current gems need to be redesigned (away from primary stats, and the like) before we simply go about adding more.
If you're a Wiz/WD there is no point to ever socketing a ruby/emerald in your non-helm armor.
If you're a DH/Monk there is no point to ever socketing a ruby/topaz in your non-helm armor.
If you're a Barb there is no point to ever socketing a topaz/emerald in your non-helm armor.
Regardless of class there is almost zero point to socketing a topaz/amethyst in your weapon.
Regardless of class there is almost zero point to socketing a topaz/amethyst/ruby in your helm once you're max pLvl, and when you're under pLvl 100 the only real choice is a ruby.
Can't we fix those major issues with the current gems before we start lobbying for throwing more spaghetti at the wall? The current gems leave a LOT of room to be desired. That needs to be fixed before we start expanding on a system that just isn't living up to expectations.
You're asking for quantity over quality. Bagstone is asking for quality over quantity. I can't really support quantity over quality in this particular situation. We don't need 40000000 gem options. We need a handful of INTERESTING options.
Who's to say an add socket feature won't come with the revamp of most gems?
That is exactly my point. First you need to come up with a good reason to add the feature at all. They never said they don't want to add it at all. They just need the right idea to help create a new incentive for gems and socketing in general.
Sorry guys, we know you want her, but the higher ups want her in the paid expansion.
we're still in the first month of 1.0.7
.
are you expecting major patches every week or something?
have some patience man
I kind of considered that to be a given.
They would obviously have to rework the system/gems if they are ever to add new socketable affixes.