Gotta come clean - I haven't been playing D3V at all for the past couple of weeks. I watch live streams of RoS almost everyday during my lunch break at our studio and am very excited for PTRs and Beta invites (if I am so lucky) but I have no real desire to play D3V at all.
So I've been cheating on the game, by playing Path of Exile.
Hold on, this isn't a post glorifying Path of Exile and flaming Diablo 3. Its more of a statement of what I've found playing Path of Exile for the past couple of weeks and how it has me worried, for the first time, about a hot button issue for the community: trading.
Path of Exile has no currency (for those who don't know) but instead uses an "orb" system. These orbs are consumables that alter your gear in various ways. They have become the currency - similarly to how a SoJ was in the D2 days. Gear in PoE is also trade able at any point - unid or used for months, doesn't matter who you trade with or on what time table.
I've found myself farming for more than just the goal of "finding the next better drop" for my character. I farm for currency, both with the intent of using some of it to enhance/change my character's skill choices and also to use for trading. I've found a few rare items that are pretty nice and traded them for even more nice currency that I, in turn, intend on using to acquire a nice legendary item that will be game changing for me.
This has provided me with excitement and longevity to a game that isn't so bad at all.
So I'm worried and want opinions - is RoS going to provide that same sense of excitement and longevity when, from a general point of view right now - Rifts and Bounties are essentially ways to farm currency to gamble of gear or potentially find good gear for yourself. Sure with enchanting and crafting we can continue to fine tune our character - without the need for trading. But will that be enough?
This may be only one of the solutions Blizzard has implemented to prevent 3rd parties from selling items.
This is occurring on POE as well, as far as I know of. I don't go into general chats at all (too much chatter for me), but in the guild I'm in, I see text from other members complaining about bots advertising their items / sites.
Besides, on a moot point - why trade? Isn't this what people wanted with their so-called "self-found" claims? No trading with others, just in-game merchants for the upgrades and/or using what is found in the wild? At this point, it's pretty much "working as requested." People wanted a "self-found" mode, so Blizzard is simply complying with what people wanted - with the BoA effect.
And you referred to the older D2 days when duped SOJs were rampant. Bots have been going forever in that game, even in passworded sessions. It's way beyond the point of trying to block the bots since they are not officially logged into the Battle.net system and so they can still whisper you their "Hey, go to this so-and-so site" babble.
I have to confess to if I may, recently I've picked up LoD and have been taking a real stab for the first on the HC ladder now that I have a very stable connection. Also, Marvel Heroes has really improved since I played it in the closed beta so I am leveling up my Storm to 60 ATM working on obtaining my legendary and my PvP ring for her it's nice to see what other ARPG's are doing to get some comparison. Don't feel bad lol
Gotta come clean - I haven't been playing D3V at all for the past couple of weeks. I watch live streams of RoS almost everyday during my lunch break at our studio and am very excited for PTRs and Beta invites (if I am so lucky) but I have no real desire to play D3V at all.
So I've been cheating on the game, by playing Path of Exile.
Hold on, this isn't a post glorifying Path of Exile and flaming Diablo 3. Its more of a statement of what I've found playing Path of Exile for the past couple of weeks and how it has me worried, for the first time, about a hot button issue for the community: trading.
Path of Exile has no currency (for those who don't know) but instead uses an "orb" system. These orbs are consumables that alter your gear in various ways. They have become the currency - similarly to how a SoJ was in the D2 days. Gear in PoE is also trade able at any point - unid or used for months, doesn't matter who you trade with or on what time table.
I've found myself farming for more than just the goal of "finding the next better drop" for my character. I farm for currency, both with the intent of using some of it to enhance/change my character's skill choices and also to use for trading. I've found a few rare items that are pretty nice and traded them for even more nice currency that I, in turn, intend on using to acquire a nice legendary item that will be game changing for me.
This has provided me with excitement and longevity to a game that isn't so bad at all.
So I'm worried and want opinions - is RoS going to provide that same sense of excitement and longevity when, from a general point of view right now - Rifts and Bounties are essentially ways to farm currency to gamble of gear or potentially find good gear for yourself. Sure with enchanting and crafting we can continue to fine tune our character - without the need for trading. But will that be enough?
Just wondering, how rare are orbs? In my years of playing D2 I never found an SoJ
Just wondering, how rare are orbs? In my years of playing D2 I never found an SoJ
They are quite plentiful actually - the most valued (has the highest exchange rate for other orbs) are considered a rare drop, sorta. I've found a couple in my travels from 1 to 76 thus far in levels.
Its a good game - exciting to trade and find items that you can amass currency to get better unique items.
Just wondering, how rare are orbs? In my years of playing D2 I never found an SoJ
They are quite plentiful actually - the most valued (has the highest exchange rate for other orbs) are considered a rare drop, sorta. I've found a couple in my travels from 1 to 76 thus far in levels.
Its a good game - exciting to trade and find items that you can amass currency to get better unique items.
The clumsy, antiquated gameplay of PoE and flat, jittery combat was too much of a turn off for me. I do wish Diablo devs would take a look at what GGG got right in terms of itemization and endgame/farming/grinding practices. Not copy them, but maybe use some of that good stuff as inspiration.
I to have started playing POE while D3 RoS is still in development....
I do not like the combat in POE at all!... but I do like the more in depth systems it has outside of the combat.
They took two really good development systems (from my point of view) from the Final Fantasy Series.
1) The Sphere Grid of FFX - a levelling system i liked as it had depth and complexity (in a way) to it. They used this idea in the passive skill system for POE.
HOW I WISH D3 USED A SIMILAR SYSTEM IN PARAGON 2.0!...
2) The Materia System from FFVII. Materia/Gems level up as you fight and you can socket these together in linked items to create new skills/synergies/passive bonuses.
However after playing POE over the last 2-3 weeks... I just do not have the same excitement as I had when I first played the D3 during the first 3 weeks of release.. I actually have no burning desire to go home after work today and login to play POE... I have only played with friends and I could never play this game solo...
I see it like this.
Diablo 3 = Great Engine/Base which has enabled good combat and has nailed the "A" part of the "ARPG" but what it suffers on is the "RPG" part of the equation. I want some more depth to D3 on the RPG side.. and even with some of the features in RoS it doesn't feel like it there is enough yet.
POE = Average Engine.. which has left me with stale combat, dumb AI and leaves me bored with how 'clunky' it feels vs D3. However POE seems to have the "RPG" side of the ARPG equation a little more locked down. There is some complexity there and some real decision making (even though you can reroll) with the Sphere Grid/Passive Skill system.
All in all I believe that it is easier to add more of the RPG side of things in things like expansions. POE will NEVER have good combat in my opinion as they would need a new Engine which would = a new game...
FYI-I am from New Zealand by the way so I should probably be biased with GGG.. I also have the best ping in an online game that I have ever played
I do not like the combat in POE at all!... but I do like the more in depth systems it has outside of the combat.
D3 suffers from a serious lack of depth, mostly in the character customization and end game. These areas in PoE, are superior to D3s, imho. The combat and visual design would have to go to Blizzard, but thats just to be expected when you have a corporation of that magnitude, designing a game.
The lack of depth, in terms of game mechanics though, is baffling. But I have my fingers crossed that someone at Blizzard will wake up and take a long serious look at the core mechanics of the game.
PoE has done a lot of things right, I just wish Blizzard would realize that and start stealing their ideas. 8|
I've dropped in and out of PoE. There's a lot of ideas in there, but a lot of it feels unpolished... like there's still some iteration to do before 'clever' ideas become 'cool'... and I've tried really hard to figure out whether or not the 'sphere grid' is fake depth or actual depth, but the fact that I can't completely redo it means that (surprise, surprise) I find myself heading to 3rd-party sites and build guides to try and figure out whether or not I'll still want to play my character after the first 50 hours. I must have over a dozen ~20 hour characters that are either screwed up or just boring (to me, natch).
There's a lot of good stuff in there, and it's great to see an indie dev staking a claim in a fairly tough genre, but there's stuff in there that feels like it's only there to pander to people who want to feel hardcore. Maybe GGG needs to spend less time trying to be 'Not Diablo' and more time just making the game more fun.... /shrug
The SoJ is a very rare drop which would make it a bad base currency, however it was duped a whole lot which inflated the supply of it.
I guess that is why it became a sort of currency.
Just a fun fact for you, another thing that contributed to the rise of the SoJ as currency was the fact that for a long time, they were really easy to gamble for. Basically, the game would not let you gamble a unique if it was already in the game (i.e., if a player had it somewhere on the character or stash). So you could keep a Naglering and a Manald Heal in your stash, and whenever you gambled a unique ring, it had to be an SoJ. Then you'd mule off the SoJ and go back to gambling for rings.
EDIT:
To comment on the OP, I had the same experience in D2 with p-gems, which were a sort of pauper's currency. I liked it a lot, because in a game like Diablo, any Diablo, it's very hard to farm for one specific item. You kinda just have to keep playing and hope it drops, even if it's D2 and you're running Meph over and over. It could be the first drop, it could be the 500th.
With a currency, you can see yourself building up progress toward that specific item. It feels good because a ) it's visible progress and b ) you have some control over it. I'd really like to see them do more of that in D3.
There's a lot of good stuff in there, and it's great to see an indie dev staking a claim in a fairly tough genre, but there's stuff in there that feels like it's only there to pander to people who want to feel hardcore. Maybe GGG needs to spend less time trying to be 'Not Diablo' and more time just making the game more fun.... /shrug
This is basically how I felt about it, especially the "pandering to hardcore" aspect. There are just a lot of hidden poison pills thrown in that you figure out until they bite you in the ass or you look them up because they feel weird (leveling up individual skills gems was one for me). It's just a lot of stuff. I get a lot of fun out of it, but I have a PoE wiki open most of the time so I don't get stuck in any of the pot-holes.
So I've been cheating on the game, by playing Path of Exile.
Hold on, this isn't a post glorifying Path of Exile and flaming Diablo 3. Its more of a statement of what I've found playing Path of Exile for the past couple of weeks and how it has me worried, for the first time, about a hot button issue for the community: trading.
Path of Exile has no currency (for those who don't know) but instead uses an "orb" system. These orbs are consumables that alter your gear in various ways. They have become the currency - similarly to how a SoJ was in the D2 days. Gear in PoE is also trade able at any point - unid or used for months, doesn't matter who you trade with or on what time table.
I've found myself farming for more than just the goal of "finding the next better drop" for my character. I farm for currency, both with the intent of using some of it to enhance/change my character's skill choices and also to use for trading. I've found a few rare items that are pretty nice and traded them for even more nice currency that I, in turn, intend on using to acquire a nice legendary item that will be game changing for me.
This has provided me with excitement and longevity to a game that isn't so bad at all.
So I'm worried and want opinions - is RoS going to provide that same sense of excitement and longevity when, from a general point of view right now - Rifts and Bounties are essentially ways to farm currency to gamble of gear or potentially find good gear for yourself. Sure with enchanting and crafting we can continue to fine tune our character - without the need for trading. But will that be enough?
Monkalicious: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/OptimusPrime-12194/hero/79139477
This is occurring on POE as well, as far as I know of. I don't go into general chats at all (too much chatter for me), but in the guild I'm in, I see text from other members complaining about bots advertising their items / sites.
Besides, on a moot point - why trade? Isn't this what people wanted with their so-called "self-found" claims? No trading with others, just in-game merchants for the upgrades and/or using what is found in the wild? At this point, it's pretty much "working as requested." People wanted a "self-found" mode, so Blizzard is simply complying with what people wanted - with the BoA effect.
And you referred to the older D2 days when duped SOJs were rampant. Bots have been going forever in that game, even in passworded sessions. It's way beyond the point of trying to block the bots since they are not officially logged into the Battle.net system and so they can still whisper you their "Hey, go to this so-and-so site" babble.
Hey man, don't hate the playa hate the game... Wait...
Good. I'm glad you're going along with me on that one
Monkalicious: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/OptimusPrime-12194/hero/79139477
Just wondering, how rare are orbs? In my years of playing D2 I never found an SoJ
They are quite plentiful actually - the most valued (has the highest exchange rate for other orbs) are considered a rare drop, sorta. I've found a couple in my travels from 1 to 76 thus far in levels.
Its a good game - exciting to trade and find items that you can amass currency to get better unique items.
Monkalicious: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/OptimusPrime-12194/hero/79139477
It is free, I have been meaning to give it a try.
BurningRope#1322 (US~HC) Request an invite to the official (NA) <dfans> Clan
If only Blizzard could take some ideas from them and others RPG's out there...
I do not like the combat in POE at all!... but I do like the more in depth systems it has outside of the combat.
They took two really good development systems (from my point of view) from the Final Fantasy Series.
1) The Sphere Grid of FFX - a levelling system i liked as it had depth and complexity (in a way) to it. They used this idea in the passive skill system for POE.
HOW I WISH D3 USED A SIMILAR SYSTEM IN PARAGON 2.0!...
2) The Materia System from FFVII. Materia/Gems level up as you fight and you can socket these together in linked items to create new skills/synergies/passive bonuses.
However after playing POE over the last 2-3 weeks... I just do not have the same excitement as I had when I first played the D3 during the first 3 weeks of release.. I actually have no burning desire to go home after work today and login to play POE... I have only played with friends and I could never play this game solo...
I see it like this.
Diablo 3 = Great Engine/Base which has enabled good combat and has nailed the "A" part of the "ARPG" but what it suffers on is the "RPG" part of the equation. I want some more depth to D3 on the RPG side.. and even with some of the features in RoS it doesn't feel like it there is enough yet.
POE = Average Engine.. which has left me with stale combat, dumb AI and leaves me bored with how 'clunky' it feels vs D3. However POE seems to have the "RPG" side of the ARPG equation a little more locked down. There is some complexity there and some real decision making (even though you can reroll) with the Sphere Grid/Passive Skill system.
All in all I believe that it is easier to add more of the RPG side of things in things like expansions. POE will NEVER have good combat in my opinion as they would need a new Engine which would = a new game...
FYI-I am from New Zealand by the way so I should probably be biased with GGG.. I also have the best ping in an online game that I have ever played
D3 suffers from a serious lack of depth, mostly in the character customization and end game. These areas in PoE, are superior to D3s, imho. The combat and visual design would have to go to Blizzard, but thats just to be expected when you have a corporation of that magnitude, designing a game.
The lack of depth, in terms of game mechanics though, is baffling. But I have my fingers crossed that someone at Blizzard will wake up and take a long serious look at the core mechanics of the game.
PoE has done a lot of things right, I just wish Blizzard would realize that and start stealing their ideas. 8|
There's a lot of good stuff in there, and it's great to see an indie dev staking a claim in a fairly tough genre, but there's stuff in there that feels like it's only there to pander to people who want to feel hardcore. Maybe GGG needs to spend less time trying to be 'Not Diablo' and more time just making the game more fun.... /shrug
Just a fun fact for you, another thing that contributed to the rise of the SoJ as currency was the fact that for a long time, they were really easy to gamble for. Basically, the game would not let you gamble a unique if it was already in the game (i.e., if a player had it somewhere on the character or stash). So you could keep a Naglering and a Manald Heal in your stash, and whenever you gambled a unique ring, it had to be an SoJ. Then you'd mule off the SoJ and go back to gambling for rings.
EDIT:
To comment on the OP, I had the same experience in D2 with p-gems, which were a sort of pauper's currency. I liked it a lot, because in a game like Diablo, any Diablo, it's very hard to farm for one specific item. You kinda just have to keep playing and hope it drops, even if it's D2 and you're running Meph over and over. It could be the first drop, it could be the 500th.
With a currency, you can see yourself building up progress toward that specific item. It feels good because a ) it's visible progress and b ) you have some control over it. I'd really like to see them do more of that in D3.
This is basically how I felt about it, especially the "pandering to hardcore" aspect. There are just a lot of hidden poison pills thrown in that you figure out until they bite you in the ass or you look them up because they feel weird (leveling up individual skills gems was one for me). It's just a lot of stuff. I get a lot of fun out of it, but I have a PoE wiki open most of the time so I don't get stuck in any of the pot-holes.
Ha. Bagstone.
I blame you guys !
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Twoflower-2131/hero/47336841