I'm fine with TPs, but I really didn't like having to carry around scrolls and books of them just to go back to town. It also seemed really silly to open one when you're about to die and run back to town, while the monsters will just wait for you right where you left them.
I have faith that overall, the returning systems from Diablo 2 will be better in Diablo 3 though. Just look at the difference from Diablo to the second game. If anything, I think they are putting more time and effort into improving the third installment.
My guess is just like the Followers that will pop in and out of battle when your friends come into and out of your games. You'll see an NPC or multiple NPC's that are just mobile merchants wandering the lands. They'll come by every so often and you'll be able to trade with them if you want.
As far as TP's, I was happy to see them go. If any of you ever played Hell Unleashed (From Soulmancer), TP's were removed and it created a whole new level of combat. It actually created a challenge and there was no escaping. However, this might be problematic for all the new or casual players, but I still think it adds to the game. But, as long as they create a way to sell items while out of town, that takes care of about 90% of the reasons I used TP's in D2 (other than buying back my merc who just got pwned by iron maiden)...
Lets just hope its not something that can be exploited...
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~ Some people are still alive only because it is illegal to kill them ~
So in a few words. We will only go back to town to hand out quests? Or are there new things to remplace the pot and selling trips back to town? I mean we now know we wont go back to sell but what about buying and improving our crafters?
So in a few words. We will only go back to town to hand out quests? Or are there new things to remplace the pot and selling trips back to town? I mean we now know we wont go back to sell but what about buying and improving our crafters?
If you are talking about replacing potions, yes, they have replaced potions with health globes that will drop randomly from monsters as you kill them; thus, preventing the need to go back to town to stock up...
They did say in the post that there will still be a way to sell items along the way without having to go back to town, so we will just have to see what that is...
So really, the only reason to go back to town is to get quests, buy items, upgrade/trade with crafters, etc....
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~ Some people are still alive only because it is illegal to kill them ~
yes, they have replaced potions with health globes that will drop randomly from monsters as you kill them; thus, preventing the need to go back to town to stock up...
I wouldn't be so sure about that after the news on TPs.
Right, doomscream, what I'm saying is that I wouldn't be surprised if the health globes were out soon. Bliz likes to cultivate the image of independent designers and leads, but the reality is that they'll make changes from the top when they want to, and everyone on the team is disposable.
The one-way trip part is about the way other players use to quickly join you on the battlefield.
Yes he mentioned that later in his post, but what I'm saying is it will be one-way to town if you're playing solo, and if you are playing co-op your friends can offer you a one-way back.
You really can't gimp portals (outside of limiting them in boss rooms, Torchlight-style, which just means people leave them outside the door). Any one of the solutions will just frustrate casual players.
I think d3 was being designed for more advanced players, and now management is dialing that back and making it more casual-friendly. Not that much more to it.
But if you mean that the TPs, which I manually open up, when there are no people joining the game, will be just one-way, I don't agree with that.
I would accept walking back from the waypoint as a resonable penalty for escaping or dying in a fight. Add respawns to that too if they want. If you have the ability to return right where you left off fully replenished and restocked with potions doesn't that trivialize the encounter?
I'd think you wouldn't open a portal, you would just teleport back to town (via a magical stone or something). It would be uncastable during combat, and it would interrupt itself if you take damage.
I agree with the big CD and cannot cast TP when combat, but another big issue with portal as I said already is the rush.
If you still able to rush some low lvl through act 1 with TP to the '' main '' waypoint then you kill the game IMO. When they annonced that they removed the TP, that kind of rush wasn't possible, but now they open a door to exploit the TP again depending of the restrictions.
I don't think it should have a cool down though. Especially since that would probably just lead to it being unused in favor of just waiting for a waypoint.
I think as long as you cant use the town portals in combat the mechanic should be fine.
If you are worried about rushing, blizzard should make some sort of exp restrictions.
Example: If a level 45 groups with a level 15, don't let the 15 get exp unless he is responsible for the majority of the damage on the kill.
This is just an example and might not work but I don't think that town portals should be responsible for fixing rushing.
Blizz has said they are fine with rushing as long as it doesn't involve skipping content. So that seems to point to some kind of way of preventing lower level players from going to places they haven't been through TPs. It wouldn't be that hard to just not allow them to enter areas they haven't discovered on their own beforehand. Not to mention that quests will most likely be the most effective way to get xp and gear, so you won't really want to skip entire areas anyways.
I have a few points that came to mind regarding the tp's/pots etc.
Potions I feel are a slow regeneration mechanic that is useful in between battles, but too slow for when in the middle of a battle. In combat healing will be done by Orbs. That just seems like how it will work as of right now.
TP's are an interesting mechanic to toy with though. It seems to me that the major problem was that people would high-tail out of battle if it wasn't going well. to solve this they could make you face the boss (either by letting it chase you or confining you to the arena) and then have the TP be a channeled action. It does not need to be interrupted, although that was a good idea. :Thumbs Up: Imagine channeling a spell while fighting Durial. If you are not doing well already you will die before you make it home! This would certainly prevent people from escaping dire situations weather it was a boss battle or just a normal mob. Notably, this does not require a cool-down or arbitrary location restrictions. Add the 'only the caster' idea and it sounds like a great solution.
As for skipping content, I get the impression that they don't like it, but they are not fundamentally against it either. The way to reduce content skipping that I think they will go for is making the content both interesting and rewarding. Remember Bash posted that there was already a separate mechanic for joining allies in the field one-way so, even without TP's, rushing is possible.
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If that made sense to you, Bravo! I think I even confused myself...
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I have faith that overall, the returning systems from Diablo 2 will be better in Diablo 3 though. Just look at the difference from Diablo to the second game. If anything, I think they are putting more time and effort into improving the third installment.
As far as TP's, I was happy to see them go. If any of you ever played Hell Unleashed (From Soulmancer), TP's were removed and it created a whole new level of combat. It actually created a challenge and there was no escaping. However, this might be problematic for all the new or casual players, but I still think it adds to the game. But, as long as they create a way to sell items while out of town, that takes care of about 90% of the reasons I used TP's in D2 (other than buying back my merc who just got pwned by iron maiden)...
Lets just hope its not something that can be exploited...
So in a few words. We will only go back to town to hand out quests? Or are there new things to remplace the pot and selling trips back to town? I mean we now know we wont go back to sell but what about buying and improving our crafters?
If you are talking about replacing potions, yes, they have replaced potions with health globes that will drop randomly from monsters as you kill them; thus, preventing the need to go back to town to stock up...
They did say in the post that there will still be a way to sell items along the way without having to go back to town, so we will just have to see what that is...
So really, the only reason to go back to town is to get quests, buy items, upgrade/trade with crafters, etc....
I wouldn't be so sure about that after the news on TPs.
Unfortunately without some restrictions, this is basically the same mechanic.
After reading Bashiok's post, here's how I see portals being implemented: one way trip to town, only castable out of combat.
Yes he mentioned that later in his post, but what I'm saying is it will be one-way to town if you're playing solo, and if you are playing co-op your friends can offer you a one-way back.
I think d3 was being designed for more advanced players, and now management is dialing that back and making it more casual-friendly. Not that much more to it.
I would accept walking back from the waypoint as a resonable penalty for escaping or dying in a fight. Add respawns to that too if they want. If you have the ability to return right where you left off fully replenished and restocked with potions doesn't that trivialize the encounter?
If you still able to rush some low lvl through act 1 with TP to the '' main '' waypoint then you kill the game IMO. When they annonced that they removed the TP, that kind of rush wasn't possible, but now they open a door to exploit the TP again depending of the restrictions.
I agree with you exactly, I was thinking of possibly a hearthstone type deal or a spell.
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If you are worried about rushing, blizzard should make some sort of exp restrictions.
Example: If a level 45 groups with a level 15, don't let the 15 get exp unless he is responsible for the majority of the damage on the kill.
This is just an example and might not work but I don't think that town portals should be responsible for fixing rushing.
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Potions I feel are a slow regeneration mechanic that is useful in between battles, but too slow for when in the middle of a battle. In combat healing will be done by Orbs. That just seems like how it will work as of right now.
TP's are an interesting mechanic to toy with though. It seems to me that the major problem was that people would high-tail out of battle if it wasn't going well. to solve this they could make you face the boss (either by letting it chase you or confining you to the arena) and then have the TP be a channeled action. It does not need to be interrupted, although that was a good idea. :Thumbs Up: Imagine channeling a spell while fighting Durial. If you are not doing well already you will die before you make it home! This would certainly prevent people from escaping dire situations weather it was a boss battle or just a normal mob. Notably, this does not require a cool-down or arbitrary location restrictions. Add the 'only the caster' idea and it sounds like a great solution.
As for skipping content, I get the impression that they don't like it, but they are not fundamentally against it either. The way to reduce content skipping that I think they will go for is making the content both interesting and rewarding. Remember Bash posted that there was already a separate mechanic for joining allies in the field one-way so, even without TP's, rushing is possible.