68 replies to this topic

[ScyberDragon]

It was during Gamescom last year that we officially learned that town portals were being completely removed from Diablo III. Now, this was something that was being tossed about for some time since Diablo III's development. As it has been mentioned, there was one main reason that the development was looking for a way to remove them. They had decided that town portals just made it too easy for the game's action to be avoided. At any time in Diablo II, minus the Rite of Passage quest,  a player could simply click on a scroll and instantly remove themselves from any present danger. They could restock their potions and continue their attempt to defeat whatever foe was giving them problems. Because of this mechanic, many monsters had to be scaled up to compensate for this retreat by being able to kill players within one to a few hits. Overall, this one simple mechanic caused many more issues through other various systems.

With Diablo III, many new systems have been put into place to keep the action in ARPG, Waypoint locations have been significantly increased to help minimize any walk time between areas and towns when you needed a quick portal. Checkpoints were also added for a player to respawn at after death. Along with these quick ways of transportation, Health Globes were also added, removing the necessity to constantly go to town to restock on potions. With these three mechanics in place, it appeared as though most of the town portal's uses were covered without any of the disadvantages they caused. However, it appears through Blizzard's constant iteration process, it seems like this still is not enough for the loot heavy, quick-pace game that is Diablo.

Official Blizzard Quote:

We've always been trying to see if we can create a better system than town portals, making waypoints the main travel back to town mechanic. But, it's looking like it's just simply more fun and a quality-of-life-nicety to be able to jump back to town from anywhere even if waypoints are all over the place. Plus it's not really that hard to avoid the few pitfalls that TPs in Diablo II had.

Also I never said you can just use them anywhere anytime as much as you want.

As mentioned, they have added yet one more way for players to come in and out of a town and back to action. Although, Bashiok did not specifically say that this system was town portals. In fact, he even adds that this other system still avoids the problems that they created in Diablo II. All we know right now about this system is that it is still limited as Bashiok noted. You will not be able to spam them or even possibly use them to escape danger. So just how does this system work?

On a related note, it was also mentioned, by a user, about the ability to quickly join others without town portals. In Diablo II, any person joining a game could instantly join their friends in the fight by one of the players opening a portal for them. Without this system, even the closely placed waypoints still seemed to be too much of a hassle for players to go through. In Diablo III, players will still be able to group up instantly when wanting to join the fight.

Official Blizzard Quote:

There is actually a mechanic that allows you to jump from town (one-way) to any other player in the game.

The last bit of news we got included just one more piece of the puzzle that town portals have created. With their official removal, Blizzard also added a new item to the game. The scroll of wealth was an item a player could carry around in their inventory. This scroll could be used on an item and give the player gold in exchange. This helped alleviate the need for players to go  back to town to dump off loot without missing out on any potential gold. However, it seems that this item was short lived.

Official Blizzard Quote:

We haven't had those for a while, although we do have another mechanic to sell items while out and about.

While the actual scroll is no longer in the game, players will still have the ability to sell items while deep in a dungeon without having to go back to town. Will it require another item, a trait, an NPC, or some other device to allow players to do such?

With all of these changes still going, it is clear to see that the Diablo III team is still hard at work perfecting the game. However, do not let this trick you into thinking that our coveted Diablo III will never be released or that it is doomed to continuous push-backs. Blizzard always continues progress on their games up until release and then after.

Official Blizzard Quote:

We'll be developing the game up until release, and then likely well after.

[CherubDown]

Like a BOSS!

[Pit Stains]

This is awesome!

Take out the few flaws of TP's from D2, like Bashiok said, and there's really nothing wrong with having TP's.

My guess is that there will be some type of cooldown (5 minutes or so), only be usable out of combat, and not in a boss areas (similar to Ancients from D2).

Good post

[Winged]

Great news, great write-up

It could be the lack of news lately, and or my ever worsening system news withdrawals, but this is all really fantastic news. A TP replacement system of sorts, a way to jump into a game and join your friends, and the ability to trade items for wealth outside of town.

Good, Good.

[jazman1318]

Im so happy!!      <---- See?

[Knucker]

Winged, on 28 June 2011 - 01:54 AM, said:

Great news, great write-up

It could be the lack of news lately, and or my ever worsening system news withdrawals, but this is all really fantastic news. A TP replacement system of sorts, a way to jump into a game and join your friends, and the ability to trade items for wealth outside of town.

Good, Good.

I prefer: YES! YES!

[Cyber_Cheese]

And the game grows even more similar to titan quest

[rendolphe]

They have to be carefull to put back TP. I was happy when I knew they removed the TP.

Why ?

Because player use them to pass act in a few minutes with a high lvl friend. I think the simple thing to do is to block the access of the TP if the player don't have the waypoint of that region or/and any other restriction that will break the rush of low lvl.

Exemple of restriction:

- lvl restriction for the area
- Reference to main quest to localise where the player should be
- ...

Finally good article !

[OmniNom]

Cyber_Cheese, on 28 June 2011 - 04:14 AM, said:

And the game grows even more similar to titan quest

Blasphemy!

[Pit Stains]

Cyber_Cheese, on 28 June 2011 - 04:14 AM, said:

And the game grows even more similar to titan quest

Hmm... because Titan Quest isn't anything like D2?

[Nekrodrac]

Was inevitable.

[pikke]

Nice article.  
That's something else to report about after beta announcement/release.

[Lorgarn]

Not bad, I'm intriuged to say the least.

Me want..

[Don_guillotine]

Intrigued as well.

TPs will probably need following restrictions:

• usable by the original caster only (or level limits or an other way to prevent rushing)
  
• cooldown
  
• not usable in combat

[Doomscream]

It was said quite a while that there is a method in-game which will allow players who have entered your game (room) to be able to easily join you on the battlefield, so I guess that graphically it look like a town portal, but it's only a one way teleport.

Official Blizzard Quote:

Also I never said you can just use them anywhere anytime as much as you want.

As common sense and logic suggest, there will be some restrictions on TPs, we don't want the same cheap mechanic from D2 again. Maybe it will require the usual jazz like - not usable in combat, not usable during a special quest, not usable when there is a rainbow on the screen, so that you can marvel it it's beauty etc.

Edited by Doomscream, 28 June 2011 - 08:49 AM.

[Soul]

Don_guillotine, on 28 June 2011 - 08:37 AM, said:

Intrigued as well.

TPs will probably need following restrictions:

• usable by the original caster only (or level limits or an other way to prevent rushing)
  
• cooldown
  
• not usable in combat

I understand that tps may need to have restrictions,  however, not being able to use them "in combat" brings with it a whole crapload of problems... What is considered combat, when are you "in" combat or "out" of combat... If you are "in" combat how long till your "out" of combat...

Heck getting out of combat in WoW takes a good 2-5 sec sometimes longer...

If they want me to stay in the game, it would have to be usable in combat otherwise... -Save And Exit-

Very interesting bits here I must say =)

[Don_guillotine]

Soul, on 28 June 2011 - 08:58 AM, said:

I understand that tps may need to have restrictions,  however, not being able to use them "in combat" brings with it a whole crapload of problems... What is considered combat, when are you "in" combat or "out" of combat... If you are "in" combat how long till your "out" of combat...

Heck getting out of combat in WoW takes a good 2-5 sec sometimes longer...

If they want me to stay in the game, it would have to be usable in combat otherwise... -Save And Exit-

Very interesting bits here I must say =)

Well, I'm not sure monsters in Diablo III will de-aggro. They didn't in Diablo II, and I'm not sure whether running should be a viable option. Therefore the state of being in combat or out of it is easy enough to separate. If there are any monsters alive with an aggroed "combat" state, then you can't cast a TP. So you are out of combat instantly when all monsters are dead .

Also, as far as I've understood, you can't exit the game in combat either.

[Kuduro]

Maybe (and I'm already feeling the rage) they will implement it like in WoW where (I think, never really played it other then the ten day trial) you are able to summon a player in a ritual.
You would have to be out of combat and it would be easy to implement a cooldown...

That's what came to my mind when I saw the restrictions Don proposed...

Edit: This is for summoning a new player to your party, caster only TP's would take care of getting to town

Edited by cas89_6080271, 28 June 2011 - 09:21 AM.

[pikke]

They can put restrictions on TP in many ways.
- cooldown;
- restricted areas (likely when you are fighting a boss);
- out of combat (no monsters inside a set radius);
- reset enemy HP if you use TP (like ancients)
- more

they can also adopt "caster-only" approach but that would make sense only in multiplaying, otherwise it would be the same as in D2.

Maybe they'll go for a combo: they can apply a cooldown which affect all party members + no monsters nearby + no TP when you are fighting bosses.

But from the info blizzard gave us seems to me they don't want to give you the chance to run whenever you are in trouble. They seem to be considering it an utility system, not an escape route.

[Baracuda]

cas89_6080271, on 28 June 2011 - 09:19 AM, said:

Maybe (and I'm already feeling the rage) they will implement it like in WoW where (I think, never really played it other then the ten day trial) you are able to summon a player in a ritual.
You would have to be out of combat and it would be easy to implement a cooldown...

That's what came to my mind when I saw the restrictions Don proposed...

Edit: This is for summoning a new player to your party, caster only TP's would take care of getting to town

Don't hate the game(WoW),  hate the players(WoW players)

OT: Good... good.