DISCLAIMER!!: This is just some ideas I thought would be interesting to talk to people about while I wait for the juicy new info. I don't know anything about D3 expansion and I know no one does. It's just some stuff to enjoy thinking / talking about.
I was looking at the blue posts and it triggered an idea about how they might deal with D3 expansions. My idea revolves around the idea that for D2 the expansion added another act that for a person that completed the game may have seem tacked on. So I was thinking why not a post hell difficulty where there is content only available in this difficulty. Now I'm not saying go through all the content again I'm saying have some post hell only acts/content. I also had a side idea of the reincarnation concept I've seen in games were there would be almost a hole new game experience for reincarnated characters. I don't have any sold ideas I'd put down for the second idea but it seems workable.
I don't think they would add an entire new difficulty in an expansion simply because it would require playing through the entire 'classic' content again before you'd see anything new. If they added something new to all areas of the game, this would almost surpass the scope of a single expansion.. so it'd be interesting and perhaps possible, but I'd say very unlikely.
What they did with LoD is quite decent for an expansion if you ask me. New characters, a new Act (that's more interesting and has more content than the previous ones in the case of LoD imho - 3-4 different graphical themes/habitats in it) and overhauling of systems that need some work is pretty good.
But I firmly believe they'll add new levels (which LoD didn't have) to compliment all of that.
Also, adding new possible random quests to the first acts and a ton of "secrets" (Easter eggs) would be really cool to me, and definitely make me revisit the normal content.
The problems with a new difficulty have been highlighted by previous posts - namely forcing you to go through all th 3 difficulties before seeing anything "new".
This might alienate the casual players, you know the ones that expect to experience the full content on normal and forget about the game for quite a bit of time. Now when these guys hear for a hell only content expansion they'll prolly turn away from it, witch will equal less $ for blizzard with will totally ruin the idea of an expansion in their minds [after all they are after all the buck they can get].
Now don't get me wrong, for me it's all game - i'll like this hell only content, i'll like new chars and areas, new bosses, boss monsters and loot and that's what expansions are all about really.
Reincarnated chars i dunno what that means you need to clear that a bit for me
OK there seems to have been a miss understanding about what I put for my idea I'd like to clear up first. I don't mean for this new difficulty level to to have the old content in it. But a unique difficulty level with "end game" extending content. I do under stand that people want all their new content available from normal but, at the same time I think this limits what you can do with new content in some ways. Look at what they added to D2 the uber bosses. You can't do anything with them in normal or nightmare. Mind you those weren't expansions. But at the same time I'm looking for ideas that don't have you playing the same story 3 times. The first time is good because it's new but with multiple characters the main story tends to loose it's oooo and ahhh and turn into a chore. Example: D2 act 3 jungle. I got to the point I would refused to play through it because it was a huge pain in the ass for a ton of story I knew and I got almost nothing out of after so long.
To nadenitza why is new content added to the end of old content a problem? Your not able to get to max level or the best gear in the game from normal mode. That in it's self is keeping you from content. Also I don't think this will mean that there will be only end game content. There could be new classes, item types or any number of ideas. I'm trying to think of ideas that have less of a tacked on feel like a currently maxed out character getting a new act in all difficulty levels. I'm looking at exteneding the game with more content less that refreshing old content.
The reincarnation thing is very confusing, please elaborate on that.
The first suggestion sounds like an expansion from WoW. New end content only available after completing the entire un-expansioned game, with new levels for it. That's not very like diablo. The new act per difficulty with an increased level cap seems like it would work alright, adjusting from lvl 30norm-50nm-60hell to say, 40norm-60nm-70hell. This has it's own problems in leading you into nm at 10 lvls higher than it's balanced for, which would have to be rebalanced.
I can't think of a good way to expand diablo's content
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"Never judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes, because then you're a mile away, and you have his shoes." - Douglas Adams
I think LOD was a great exspansion look at what we got 2 brand new classes to play with an entire act and some game systems/features(runewords and weapon swaps)and a ton more new items and don't for get I'm pretty sure LOD added the feature of equipping ur merc. So in the grand scheme of things that exspansion added a ton of new stuff if we get a D3 Xpak like that I will be totally happy. I personally would really like there to atleast be some new classes.
The reincarnation thing is very confusing, please elaborate on that.
The first suggestion sounds like an expansion from WoW. New end content only available after completing the entire un-expansioned game, with new levels for it. That's not very like diablo. The new act per difficulty with an increased level cap seems like it would work alright, adjusting from lvl 30norm-50nm-60hell to say, 40norm-60nm-70hell. This has it's own problems in leading you into nm at 10 lvls higher than it's balanced for, which would have to be rebalanced.
I can't think of a good way to expand diablo's content
The reincarnation idea is were, once you reach max level you have a way to "reincarnate" you character as a level 1 with some type of bonus only applied to a reincarnated character. There are tons of ways to make this beneficial but, has the drawback of having possible "god mode" characters that just roll over everything. But the reincarnation is usually only from a difficult quest or some feat and not just a basic option just to keep it from being a free power boost.
Example of reincarnated bonuses I've seen are: boosted base stats, damage boost, better loot drop chance, and other ideas that escape me at the moment.
Reason behind it, is that they are casual players and most of the time you wont see `em grinding for weapons or reaching max level. It's like you putted it - they are keeping them self from content! Either they are too busy with IRL problems or don't have enough time, whatever... They only beat the final boss (sometimes not even that far) on the first difficulty and "casually" go back to the game or not in a long time. Blizzard loves this kind of guys, couse they are many and they are easy $ for them. Releasing an expansion that only involves content in hell difficulty won't appeal to many of this folks, it will appeal to me and you, but it won't appeal to them. Blizzard knows that and won't risk it loosing massive amount of cash
In my opinion the painful autostat mechanic was implemented specially for those kind of people, witch in the other hand upset us who wish to experiment with different build mechanics that are stat base related (titan barb, all vita barb, all str sorc?, etc)...
Not to bring down the rest of the posters but, I'm glad you seem to understand where I'm going with this. Also I have to agree with you on them appealing to the sub hell difficulty players for "casual". But the easy money part may disapear with accounts being linked to the game key codes so you can really download and play the games you have the codes for anywhere now. This will mean you won't have people buying the game again because they lost the disk or key codes.
Note #1: Thanks for all the feed back made for great conversation and I learned a little about what people seem to want from D3 expansions.
Note #2: Sorry about the double post I just thought both cases deserved their own attention.
i agree that adding content on hell only content alienates casual players who only play the game through on normal, they get to kill all the bosses on normal and they are happy with that, they don't feel the need to get strong and competitive characters for that, if you were a casual player why would you buy an expansion if you didn't get to the act it was at because it was hell only?
then the other alternative is screwing with the levels but this will suck royally for anyone who is midway through an act because they will suddenly become say 10 levels behind the monsters and have to grind the content they already beat to catch up
the other bad alternative would be nightmare and hell becoming a cakewalk because you enter a few levels higher and just go around 1 hitting everything
i think its best in the big picture is expansions adding an act and adjusting the levels and adding to the level cap, this way content is still fun and challenging
i know if i get the time to (probably unlikely due to real life), i will have a level 60 of every character before blizzard can claim the expansion is coming out "SOON(TM)" :-)
I want them to add more characters and Act's in the expansions
I want them to add more PALADINS and Acts in the expansion LOL
Oh my god, thank you.
Yes, more Paladins (or at least a "knight" class) and, maybe, a couple more acts.
If anything, I think it'd be cool if they added in a separate story apart from the main storyline of D3 (base) and let us play with that. Or a new game mode.
Shit, I dunno. Something cool at least.
EDIT: And MOAR RAINBOWS
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I hate the way you cling to ignorance and pass it off as innocence
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I was looking at the blue posts and it triggered an idea about how they might deal with D3 expansions. My idea revolves around the idea that for D2 the expansion added another act that for a person that completed the game may have seem tacked on. So I was thinking why not a post hell difficulty where there is content only available in this difficulty. Now I'm not saying go through all the content again I'm saying have some post hell only acts/content. I also had a side idea of the reincarnation concept I've seen in games were there would be almost a hole new game experience for reincarnated characters. I don't have any sold ideas I'd put down for the second idea but it seems workable.
So... what do you guys think?
But I firmly believe they'll add new levels (which LoD didn't have) to compliment all of that.
Also, adding new possible random quests to the first acts and a ton of "secrets" (Easter eggs) would be really cool to me, and definitely make me revisit the normal content.
The problems with a new difficulty have been highlighted by previous posts - namely forcing you to go through all th 3 difficulties before seeing anything "new".
To nadenitza why is new content added to the end of old content a problem? Your not able to get to max level or the best gear in the game from normal mode. That in it's self is keeping you from content. Also I don't think this will mean that there will be only end game content. There could be new classes, item types or any number of ideas. I'm trying to think of ideas that have less of a tacked on feel like a currently maxed out character getting a new act in all difficulty levels. I'm looking at exteneding the game with more content less that refreshing old content.
The first suggestion sounds like an expansion from WoW. New end content only available after completing the entire un-expansioned game, with new levels for it. That's not very like diablo. The new act per difficulty with an increased level cap seems like it would work alright, adjusting from lvl 30norm-50nm-60hell to say, 40norm-60nm-70hell. This has it's own problems in leading you into nm at 10 lvls higher than it's balanced for, which would have to be rebalanced.
I can't think of a good way to expand diablo's content
The reincarnation idea is were, once you reach max level you have a way to "reincarnate" you character as a level 1 with some type of bonus only applied to a reincarnated character. There are tons of ways to make this beneficial but, has the drawback of having possible "god mode" characters that just roll over everything. But the reincarnation is usually only from a difficult quest or some feat and not just a basic option just to keep it from being a free power boost.
Example of reincarnated bonuses I've seen are: boosted base stats, damage boost, better loot drop chance, and other ideas that escape me at the moment.
Not to bring down the rest of the posters but, I'm glad you seem to understand where I'm going with this. Also I have to agree with you on them appealing to the sub hell difficulty players for "casual". But the easy money part may disapear with accounts being linked to the game key codes so you can really download and play the games you have the codes for anywhere now. This will mean you won't have people buying the game again because they lost the disk or key codes.
Note #1: Thanks for all the feed back made for great conversation and I learned a little about what people seem to want from D3 expansions.
Note #2: Sorry about the double post I just thought both cases deserved their own attention.
then the other alternative is screwing with the levels but this will suck royally for anyone who is midway through an act because they will suddenly become say 10 levels behind the monsters and have to grind the content they already beat to catch up
the other bad alternative would be nightmare and hell becoming a cakewalk because you enter a few levels higher and just go around 1 hitting everything
i think its best in the big picture is expansions adding an act and adjusting the levels and adding to the level cap, this way content is still fun and challenging
i know if i get the time to (probably unlikely due to real life), i will have a level 60 of every character before blizzard can claim the expansion is coming out "SOON(TM)" :-)
Oh my god, thank you.
Yes, more Paladins (or at least a "knight" class) and, maybe, a couple more acts.
If anything, I think it'd be cool if they added in a separate story apart from the main storyline of D3 (base) and let us play with that. Or a new game mode.
Shit, I dunno. Something cool at least.
EDIT: And MOAR RAINBOWS
I hate the way you cling to ignorance and pass it off as innocence