So many impatient ones. At least the level of stupidity on this site is no where near the official forums/comments on the subject...
I like the changes. Makes it more diablo1/2esque, which is nice. Before I kinda felt they were distancing D3 a bit too much. Not that I have tried the cube and couldron and such, but I am the kind of masochist that enjoy having to chose which items to bring along in my inventory or go back to town every now and then (Read: often).
This is sucky sucky fucky fucky...I like most of these changes, except the removal of the CoJ...
Now that the Stone of Recall exists, we found that keeping the Cauldron and Cube in the game detracted from the benefits of returning to town to sell items, salvage, craft, and interact with the townsfolk. It’s a good idea to break up combat so that players have a moment to evaluate their gear and crafting options before venturing back out.
This is 100% the opposite of what they said earlier!!! FFS. "We would like to keep the "action" in "action roleplying" when we designed Diablo 3. You will always be in the action." Hence the fucking reason they added the CoJ and Nethelam or what ever it's called into the game...to keep the players busy "slaying demons" and not having to go back to town!
This can't possibly have delayed the game! I'm certain Trombone was kinda exaggerating the "5min" stuff. BUT even if each of those changes (7 or 8 I think) took 1 month each to change, it should've been finished by now anyways!! And don't just add the number of changes and say it's 7 or 8 months JaundiceBunny, they have different teams for some of those stuff, it probably just the programmers that is gonna have a hard time with the changes...still not even 7 or 8 months worth of dev time.
And still no news about the runes-system? That's not cool. Not even a simple outlay?
Jay Wilson is game director for Diablo III and the Inventor of Meat. He believes that Kate Beckinsale is the greatest actress that’s ever lived.
Just trying to add a bit of comic relief? That's not even funny...
Fuck WoW, fuck Korea. Just release Diablo 3. JUST Diablo 3. Not Diablo 3 with added agendas with WoW. It's sad that Blizz know that everybody complaining/QQing about this and D3 as a whole will buy the game no matter when they release. They could've made and released at least 2 games with all the changes from 2008 till now.
I'm 100% for the fact that they want to release a bug free game no matter how long it takes, but this...fuck.
//rant off
//happy face initialized! :Thumbs Up:
So who will be playing Torchlight 2 and Grim Dawn before Diablo 3!!!
How strange it is to me that a game in beta, with a website showing everything from the rune/skill system to itemization is getting such a huge overhaul. Not only is more money involved, but it seems disingenuous as an informative website and beta testing imply that a game will be with us soon. It's almost as if at the last minute that he questioned himself and the game instead of just releasing what I've been told by many is a smoothly working, amazing game even in beta.
I don't want to bitch and moan like I know many will, but I do have some qualms with what Jay told us. I understand that Blizzard reiterates and reiterates and polishes until the chrome nearly comes off its games. That's why they're so good - no good, isn't the right word. Classic, works. Classic pop-culture monstrosities works too. But such an overhaul this late in the game can only mean that there is doubt in Blizzard in living up to the now super inflated expectations of outdoing Diablo 2.
Now on to my problems:
I liked the cauldron and cube and I loved the stone of recall. Each one of these items was special and found on your journey. They were satisfying steps towards making your character more bad ass. They can be seen in your inventory and more importantly, they helped you salvage anything. Which extends a great feeling of constant progression in the game. They were the equivalent to John Mclaine finding his first walkie talkie or machine gun in Die Hard. They were steps of our hero's progression.
In D2 I grabbed everything I could. I hated even leaving white items behind. Now that there was a way to collect them, salvage them on the fly to keep my inventory open, and later make a new weapon for my character, I was stoked. Let's face it: Sometimes the rapid clicking leads to grabbing some junk here and there. And being able to salvage it right away would be fun and build anticipation of the better items ahead.
Instant gold or useful materials from junk? That was everything I ever wanted from D2 instead of having to go back to town and stand there spending time doing errands. In D3 I could keep adventuring and go back of my own accord - not at the command of an overloaded backpack. Now that option is gone.
Then scroll of town portal. Gone. Instead just hit the portal button! Um, now wait a sec. A signature in Diablo and immersion is giving us actual items to work with - not just hitting the yummy super button and moving on. I'm not saying that having town scrolls in our inventory is needed, but the stone of recall seemed to do the job already and it was an item we had to find early on in the game which was exciting. Again, immersion is leaving the playing field.
Secondly, no more scroll of identify...because you're character is a bad ass? What about our character being the bad ass warrior who needs help from wise supporting characters along the way? What about using mystical items to help us discover what is hidden in our christmas package? Now we just have a time bar...which seems useless if you ask me. Just let us see what the item is already if you're going to remove scrolls. You could have easily invented an "Eye of X" item that we find on a quest in order to identify items in order to bypass the scrolls. With this change we lose another important "Diablo Signature": The important game element where the character has a connection with the elders and townsfolk around them. I'd have Cain or Leah or an "Eye of X" identify my items any day and not feel any less of a bad ass for it. In fact, I contend that identifying my own items isn't even a little bad ass.
The Mystic. Well, removing her means a little less customization and to think of how the maps and programming had to change is mind boggling. The art people made, the voice acting - perhaps the mystic's back story as well - all gone. I can live with it, but it definitely shows that the game won't come out soon when things this large are being removed. I liked the idea of a mystic enchanting my items with attributes which enhanced my gameplay style. I wonder why tweaking current enchants to have different abilities than the socket system couldn't happen. According to Jay a whole new system would take too much time. But redesigning the entire character attributes system and rebalancing and itemizing the game is okay? I supposed they don't have time for both, but I can't help but wonder if simply changing the enchants of the mystic to more simple things like "Chance to X" or simply an aesthetic quality "Makes your weapon glow X color" or "Enhances X ability by X%" couldn't happen. I feel like there is a clever way to make her contribution relevant and they just didn't want to explore it right now.
By the end of the article, I felt like some traits that had me excited for the game were gone, but more importantly signature traits of a Diablo game that worked in today's gaming experience were gone. I felt that D3 was improving over D2 in significant ways only to discover that we are reverting to D2 - basically going back to town and standing around in our awesome armor instead of getting out there into the muck. The action. The real badassery.
I could be completely wrong. These changes may improve and not hinder the experience at all and they certainly don't change my mind about purchasing the game. I'm just putting in my 2 cents on this one. I should stop following this game for another 6 months though as these huge changes will take some time to implement and balance.
It does seem like it's becoming more like D2 now. But I feel like there's some ambivalence about streamlining the gameplay. The thing that people criticize D2 for, the fact that some of the gameplay was arduous and unnecessary is valid for sure, but being able to do everything in the game with the touch of a button degrades the gaming experience in my opinion. I suppose it's done this way to make it more appealing to a general audience? There comes a point where convienience goes too far though and the game you create is really homogenized.
The best thing about D2 was the complexity in the combinations of items (etc). I think many people would agree. But if you're trying to make the game more simple and streamlined, it's difficult to retain that level of complexity with the items, skills, stats, etc. Of course there were areas where D2 failed to create this level of customization.
My point being that the developers have a difficult task of making the game "simple" enough to appeal to a wide audience, and complex enough create an enjoyable experience that feels more intricate than an iphone game. Even a basic change like moving Town Portal to the skill bar has a downside in that you no longer have to manage inventory space with Town Portals in mind (compared to D2). And it removes the possibility that you could end up in a bad situation with no TPs on you. Which to some people makes the game more fun because you're forced to keep track of how many TPs you have instead of having everything handed to you.
TLDR: Keeping the game interesting while making it appeal to a wider audience is a big dilemma with D3. And it really seems like they've gone back and forth with how they're going to do things. Some of the "unnecessary" things about D2 made the game more interesting imo, and more so if they had been implemented better... like having 99 levels, so many skill points, etc.
Oh yeah... and I hope they make Arcane and Holy resistances two different things, looks pretty silly as one resistance type.
Scrolls of Identification are no longer in the game.
Not a problem, I guess, but the 'short' casting time has me wondering just how short is 'short'. I do think the game may benefit from this, especially in light of some other changes.
moving thefifth quick slot button, which is becoming a dedicated potion button.
Makes sense. I'm sure everyone would have had a potion on their quick bar anyway.
we're removing the Mystic artisan.
This makes me a little sad. I was really looking forward to that extra bit of customization. I know we have gems, but 4 variations aren't exactly what I'd call a wide variety of options. Especially with the attribute changes, certain classes will find specific gems more favorable than others. I'm just hoping they bring the mystic back in some for in the future, because, like the talisman, I'm sorry to see it go.
we've decided to remove the Cauldron of Jordan and Nephalem Cube.
This is actually fine. With the town portal so readily available, it won't be a problem. And now that you can't salvage whites, I'll personally not be picking them up when I've equiped full blues and rares, which I also didn't do in D2 (except for armors and skill items, off course). Since the inventory is larger than D2, you still can carry a lot more items.
The Blacksmith artisan will now salvage items.
Well, they are actually giving us more reasons to come to town now. This will be more in line with D1 and 2, which isn't really a problem at all.
common (white) items will no longer be salvageable.
Yes, this lends the other changes more sense. Less crafting materials to clutter your inventory and stash, less reason to carry whites so less need to get rid of items, and gives the NC (not really CoJ) less purpose. With less whites and crafting materials to worry about, it means running back to town is less of a hassle, possibly the reason they removed CoJ.
We're changing core character attributes to Strength, Dexterity, Intellect, and Vitality,
The most unexpected change of all. I'm a bit sad to see interesting options like Precision and Defense go, but arguably this is a change that harkens back to the older Diablo games than any of the other changes. A good thing though is that Classes will have more difference between them now. The inclusion od intelligence probably eliminates the 'wizards spells functioning off of weapons' now, since wands will more like come with int than two handed axes.
What I really like is the fact that it means you're a bit more dependant on minor attributes now for things like crit.
I will stop following updates for this game now. Blizzard has handled this so badly. I'm not bummed by the enormous delay of the game per se, but instead how they handled it. You shouldn't go out with a bang late august stating that you are aiming for 2011 when you have huge parts of the game mechanic unfinished. Then in the end of the year, still with huge game mechanics missing/malfunctioning, you say that you are aiming for a release early 2012.
I'm thinking may-june right now. I'm not following the news until a release date is communicated everywhere. Cya!
I think they are basically certain that no matter what they do with the game, and how long it takes to come out, it can't be worse than DNF, so they just aren't worried about it.
No identity scroll:
Yeah ok whatever, like we care for this.
Potion on button 5:
Yeah if you want, people would have kept it this way
TP on bottom bar:
I don't care
Remove of cauldron and cube:
Meh. You were the one saying it was to avoid going back to town. STOP CHANGING YOUR MIND EVERY 6 MONTHS. Stop being so indecisive. In the end, it really isn't important...
Change in stats, replaced by str dex int vit:
Ha, this I like. Attack was so much overpowered for everyone, this change makes more sense and I like it. Good job.
Removal of mystic:
How can you think we like this ? Makes game less complex, remove of options = BAD. I hate this. Ok right I'll take your words it would have taken a lot of time (like it already isn't taking a lot of time)... maybe you would have got the time if you wouldn't spend useless time on identity scroll and buttons...
Removal of mystic:
How can you think we like this ? Makes game less complex, remove of options = BAD. I hate this. Ok right I'll take your words it would have taken a lot of time (like it already isn't taking a lot of time)... maybe you would have got the time if you wouldn't spend useless time on identity scroll and buttons...
I'm really struggling to understand this one. It added so much to the game, and it seemed like a done deal. Why would they take it away. The mystic was a feature that really excited me, it added such interesting options to the game, more than gems.
Why...?
I don't really see how this game has that much customization now. It only has like four types of gems already and now with the removal of being able to enchant your stuff even further with the Mystic... This sucks.
So having the Mystic was going to delay the game? How is that any worse than what we have now... a delayed game that has no end in sight because you CHANGE the game every second.
Diablo 3 is just full of fail and all the hype is going to be it's downfall on release date.
Might not care as much if I had a taste of the beta, but alas I don't have it.
Blizzard has huge profits and you would think would be able to hire a huge talented team. I didn't know just removing features already in the game would take MONTHS of programming time... Huge fail.
I'm not sure why people think that making the game more like D1/D2 is better. The design is getting worse the more they duplicate those archaic systems.
Removal of mystic:
How can you think we like this ? Makes game less complex, remove of options = BAD. I hate this. Ok right I'll take your words it would have taken a lot of time (like it already isn't taking a lot of time)... maybe you would have got the time if you wouldn't spend useless time on identity scroll and buttons...
I'm really struggling to understand this one. It added so much to the game, and it seemed like a done deal. Why would they take it away. The mystic was a feature that really excited me, it added such interesting options to the game, more than gems.
Why...?
It will come back in an expansion.
It feels like how other games have DLC that was supposed to be in release.
FINALY just this very second, got to read the damn thing haha... anyway my thoughts.
Scrolls of Identification are gone - players can now identify rares/legendary items without them.
This makes me a little sad, I always loved these. However blizzard knows this is part of the game, and the system they have now is the EXACT same, now I just dont have to take up inventory space... so in the end
VERDICT: Good
Button '5' is now dedicated to potions.
Well Button 5 was already a dedicated potions button to anyone that knows about D3... So this helps the new people that might not understand this.
VERDICT: Good
The Mystic artisan has now been removed from the game.
Okay, I fully understand what they were saying.. but still, I like the idea of being able to add effects to my weapons, mainly for the looks (being able to choose the look of the weapon by its effect enchant) im very sad to see this go tbh. I have faith they will make it come back in an EXP with a very neat feature... I also have to point out WE didnt get to play with this, so they VERY WELL could know this sucks... I really cant comment on it other than what I -think-. However what I think is...
VERDICT: Bad
The Cauldron of Jordan and Nephalem Cube have been removed.
Oh wow...not sure what I think about this at all. They had a logic, which i agreed and defended. "Keep the Action Going" What happend to this? Now when we are in inferno, where it is going to be HARD. If there are 4 players in the game (aka monsters tuned to 4 players) 3 manning is going to be HARD (if not impossible? ok maybe just hard) but.. now if someones inventory gets full (which it will happen) we have to wait for them... I DONT like this
HOWEVER, I love the idea of making the town more towny... Though it may sound dumb.. I liked hanging out in the town in d2..and this brings that back a bit..so...
VERDICT: Neutral
The Stone of Recall is now a button at the bottom and has been renamed "Town Portal".
I like this, It looks like it goes there, easier to see, dont have to open a menu, and hell its called "town portal" fk yes!
VERDICT: Good
Common (white colored) items are no longer salvageable.
hmm... problem is we have only played beta... when it comes to the full game, I dont think this will even effect us you know?
though im not sure what point white items have now? ohwell, dont care either way on this one.
VERDICT: Neutral
Character Attributes have been changed. See below for details.
Hmm... I liked that everyone had ONE stat... it made things simple, easy. You only had to worry about the FUN, the get in there AND KILL CRAP. I like that style... now with this..there is more thought into it... but you know what... thought is good at the same time!
VERDICT: Good
Character stats are now placed in the same place as the inventory panel and the old dedicated stats panel has been removed.
Hmm... It depends, if it shares the same info, GOOD, if not...then CRAPY... Ill wait till I see this live
Sweetheart, you are doing a great job of making it crystal clear to everyone reading your posts just who the moron is. <3
Yeah that's great you closet homo, I think anyone with a common sense can deduct who's able to think for themselves and who isn't. Again, you can't counter argue so you resort to the debating skills of a 13 year old. Provocation, very nice dude.
By the way, for anyone thinking this article actually means a delay, I wouldn't be so quick to draw that conclusion.
Jay Wilson's post shouldn't scare you at all.. this is just a stall for time to ease player frustration and to give the impression that some "real work" has been done (because it has nothing to do with the SK delays.)
To me, this does not mean a delay at all. Mark my words: all of these changes are DONE and they were probably completed weeks or months ago. Everything Jay detailed will very likely be in the next beta patch or patches. This IS and WAS NOT a lot of work and it should not worry you at all. This is all minor stuff that has been completed and they do NOT have a lot of work ahead of them.
Jay's post does not mean a delay. So, don't panic.
Post from Bashiok:
Keep in mind everything detailed in the article today is already in the game, and most of it is complete. Once you get Patch 10 and see that, I think it may sink in that these aren't theoretical changes we're still working on, they're changes we've completed.
Read Bashiok's entire post; he just echoes what I've been saying. Most of this was probably completed a long time ago.. the Jay Wilson post is just to show that "something is being done". But it's all just minor stuff, meaning that there's something else delaying the game.
Well at least they're not inherently screwing anything up. None of the changes announced in his post are actually that game changing. But I'm inclined to agree with the pessimists in that Jay's post is hinting at further delays. =[ Oh well, I maintain my mentality that it will be worth the wait... I've been eagerly waiting since the Summer '08 trailer.
Worst post ever, such shitty news and stupid regressive changes. Now we have to wait for them to re-balance the entire game and we know for sure they still haven't made a decision on runes/skills. At least tell us about it not oh it's not done and we're waiting for it to finish so it'll be ready for you, fuck that! I want to see how the runes are coming along now, If they're that afraid to show us the runesystem clearly they haven't decided yet and that means a huge delay because it hasn't even started to be programmed for yet, not to mention implemented, reiterated, implemented and tested for weeks or even months and balanced then finally set in stone. It's obnoxious to think this will hold us over, for those of us who have been waiting for longer than this games been announced it just pisses us off that they aren't open with us, and that they aren't good at making decisions. This stuff should've been decided months ago before beta even came to mind.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Not even Death will save you from Diablo Bunny's Cuteness!
Yes, it's a good change for item diversity between classes, but at what cost?
-Tying defense and barbarian damage in the same stat is really dangerous. The hardest hitting Barbarians will be harder to kill. There is no trade off between damage reduction and attack power. Same goes for Hunters and Monks, as well (dodge being a great defensive stat currently). Doctors and Wizards got the short end of that stick; health globe bonus is nice, but not nearly as helpful as preventing the damage up front.
-There were much better ways to force class/item diversity than this. More/varied resource related affixes, especially weird ones (gain health per Fury spent was a great example). Class only stat bonuses, "+13 Attack (Wizard only)," which I admit is inelegant, but similar to what they're doing anyway.
-On that same track, it sounds like they're going to do this anyway, but here goes. They introduce skill modifier affixes. "+5% additional weapon damage Cleave, Barbarian only." Not only that, they can target specific aspects of the skills, so a single skill might have multiple affixes available. "+4% additional weapon damage Grasp of the Dead, Witch Doctor only." "+0.4 seconds additional duration Grasp of the Dead, Witch Doctor only." These would have to be handcrafted and tightly regulated, to avoid weird stacking exploits. This REALLY makes gear class diverse, but does so in a much more interesting way. And it makes the choices less boring than "+ all skills" from D2.
-This also leads to a way to save the Mystic. Take away all +stat enchants. They're boring. Give her weird enchants, like the resource enchants, proc effects (on hit/crit/etc), skill enchants (from above), etc. Maybe that's what they wanted to do, but tabled it for an expansion. Okay, I can live w/ that. But they started out of the gate shaky (having so many boring gems/enchants which overlapped) that I honestly wonder.
-On Precision. They could have fixed this easily by A) adding more +critical damage sources in the game, readjusting the point Precision to % chance critical hit formula, and C) readjusting the power of the Attack stat. It's not very clear whether critical strike chance is a flat % or the usual rating system (meaning you need more as you gain in levels to get the same % critical strike chance). Hopefully they keep the rating system in, otherwise we have the weird "obsolete gear is best in slot" problem from before.
Conclusion: They need to separate damage from defensive stats, especially if some defensive stats (Armor/Dodge) are way better than others (Health Globes). There needs to be a choice between defense and offense. They could have promoted class/item diversity through other, more clever, and frankly better ways. The system they had in place was a great foundation to build from. This adds more problems than it solves, and is inelegant and cluttered compared to what they had. Also, the skill/rune overhaul seems ominous as well. I'm worried they'll screw up a really good thing.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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I like the changes. Makes it more diablo1/2esque, which is nice. Before I kinda felt they were distancing D3 a bit too much. Not that I have tried the cube and couldron and such, but I am the kind of masochist that enjoy having to chose which items to bring along in my inventory or go back to town every now and then (Read: often).
Can't wait! (But will have too T.T)
Official Blizzard Quote:
I do not intend to impress that we're close to release, or infer any such "we're <-- this --> done" kind of statement
Just saw this from Bashiok. Basically we're no where near release, there's the proof.
This is 100% the opposite of what they said earlier!!! FFS. "We would like to keep the "action" in "action roleplying" when we designed Diablo 3. You will always be in the action." Hence the fucking reason they added the CoJ and Nethelam or what ever it's called into the game...to keep the players busy "slaying demons" and not having to go back to town!
This can't possibly have delayed the game! I'm certain Trombone was kinda exaggerating the "5min" stuff. BUT even if each of those changes (7 or 8 I think) took 1 month each to change, it should've been finished by now anyways!! And don't just add the number of changes and say it's 7 or 8 months JaundiceBunny, they have different teams for some of those stuff, it probably just the programmers that is gonna have a hard time with the changes...still not even 7 or 8 months worth of dev time.
And still no news about the runes-system? That's not cool. Not even a simple outlay?
Just trying to add a bit of comic relief? That's not even funny...
Fuck WoW, fuck Korea. Just release Diablo 3. JUST Diablo 3. Not Diablo 3 with added agendas with WoW. It's sad that Blizz know that everybody complaining/QQing about this and D3 as a whole will buy the game no matter when they release. They could've made and released at least 2 games with all the changes from 2008 till now.
I'm 100% for the fact that they want to release a bug free game no matter how long it takes, but this...fuck.
//rant off
//happy face initialized! :Thumbs Up:
So who will be playing Torchlight 2 and Grim Dawn before Diablo 3!!!
How strange it is to me that a game in beta, with a website showing everything from the rune/skill system to itemization is getting such a huge overhaul. Not only is more money involved, but it seems disingenuous as an informative website and beta testing imply that a game will be with us soon. It's almost as if at the last minute that he questioned himself and the game instead of just releasing what I've been told by many is a smoothly working, amazing game even in beta.
I don't want to bitch and moan like I know many will, but I do have some qualms with what Jay told us. I understand that Blizzard reiterates and reiterates and polishes until the chrome nearly comes off its games. That's why they're so good - no good, isn't the right word. Classic, works. Classic pop-culture monstrosities works too. But such an overhaul this late in the game can only mean that there is doubt in Blizzard in living up to the now super inflated expectations of outdoing Diablo 2.
Now on to my problems:
I liked the cauldron and cube and I loved the stone of recall. Each one of these items was special and found on your journey. They were satisfying steps towards making your character more bad ass. They can be seen in your inventory and more importantly, they helped you salvage anything. Which extends a great feeling of constant progression in the game. They were the equivalent to John Mclaine finding his first walkie talkie or machine gun in Die Hard. They were steps of our hero's progression.
In D2 I grabbed everything I could. I hated even leaving white items behind. Now that there was a way to collect them, salvage them on the fly to keep my inventory open, and later make a new weapon for my character, I was stoked. Let's face it: Sometimes the rapid clicking leads to grabbing some junk here and there. And being able to salvage it right away would be fun and build anticipation of the better items ahead.
Instant gold or useful materials from junk? That was everything I ever wanted from D2 instead of having to go back to town and stand there spending time doing errands. In D3 I could keep adventuring and go back of my own accord - not at the command of an overloaded backpack. Now that option is gone.
Then scroll of town portal. Gone. Instead just hit the portal button! Um, now wait a sec. A signature in Diablo and immersion is giving us actual items to work with - not just hitting the yummy super button and moving on. I'm not saying that having town scrolls in our inventory is needed, but the stone of recall seemed to do the job already and it was an item we had to find early on in the game which was exciting. Again, immersion is leaving the playing field.
Secondly, no more scroll of identify...because you're character is a bad ass? What about our character being the bad ass warrior who needs help from wise supporting characters along the way? What about using mystical items to help us discover what is hidden in our christmas package? Now we just have a time bar...which seems useless if you ask me. Just let us see what the item is already if you're going to remove scrolls. You could have easily invented an "Eye of X" item that we find on a quest in order to identify items in order to bypass the scrolls. With this change we lose another important "Diablo Signature": The important game element where the character has a connection with the elders and townsfolk around them. I'd have Cain or Leah or an "Eye of X" identify my items any day and not feel any less of a bad ass for it. In fact, I contend that identifying my own items isn't even a little bad ass.
The Mystic. Well, removing her means a little less customization and to think of how the maps and programming had to change is mind boggling. The art people made, the voice acting - perhaps the mystic's back story as well - all gone. I can live with it, but it definitely shows that the game won't come out soon when things this large are being removed. I liked the idea of a mystic enchanting my items with attributes which enhanced my gameplay style. I wonder why tweaking current enchants to have different abilities than the socket system couldn't happen. According to Jay a whole new system would take too much time. But redesigning the entire character attributes system and rebalancing and itemizing the game is okay? I supposed they don't have time for both, but I can't help but wonder if simply changing the enchants of the mystic to more simple things like "Chance to X" or simply an aesthetic quality "Makes your weapon glow X color" or "Enhances X ability by X%" couldn't happen. I feel like there is a clever way to make her contribution relevant and they just didn't want to explore it right now.
By the end of the article, I felt like some traits that had me excited for the game were gone, but more importantly signature traits of a Diablo game that worked in today's gaming experience were gone. I felt that D3 was improving over D2 in significant ways only to discover that we are reverting to D2 - basically going back to town and standing around in our awesome armor instead of getting out there into the muck. The action. The real badassery.
I could be completely wrong. These changes may improve and not hinder the experience at all and they certainly don't change my mind about purchasing the game. I'm just putting in my 2 cents on this one. I should stop following this game for another 6 months though as these huge changes will take some time to implement and balance.
The best thing about D2 was the complexity in the combinations of items (etc). I think many people would agree. But if you're trying to make the game more simple and streamlined, it's difficult to retain that level of complexity with the items, skills, stats, etc. Of course there were areas where D2 failed to create this level of customization.
My point being that the developers have a difficult task of making the game "simple" enough to appeal to a wide audience, and complex enough create an enjoyable experience that feels more intricate than an iphone game. Even a basic change like moving Town Portal to the skill bar has a downside in that you no longer have to manage inventory space with Town Portals in mind (compared to D2). And it removes the possibility that you could end up in a bad situation with no TPs on you. Which to some people makes the game more fun because you're forced to keep track of how many TPs you have instead of having everything handed to you.
TLDR: Keeping the game interesting while making it appeal to a wider audience is a big dilemma with D3. And it really seems like they've gone back and forth with how they're going to do things. Some of the "unnecessary" things about D2 made the game more interesting imo, and more so if they had been implemented better... like having 99 levels, so many skill points, etc.
Oh yeah... and I hope they make Arcane and Holy resistances two different things, looks pretty silly as one resistance type.
Not a problem, I guess, but the 'short' casting time has me wondering just how short is 'short'. I do think the game may benefit from this, especially in light of some other changes.
Makes sense. I'm sure everyone would have had a potion on their quick bar anyway.
This makes me a little sad. I was really looking forward to that extra bit of customization. I know we have gems, but 4 variations aren't exactly what I'd call a wide variety of options. Especially with the attribute changes, certain classes will find specific gems more favorable than others. I'm just hoping they bring the mystic back in some for in the future, because, like the talisman, I'm sorry to see it go.
This is actually fine. With the town portal so readily available, it won't be a problem. And now that you can't salvage whites, I'll personally not be picking them up when I've equiped full blues and rares, which I also didn't do in D2 (except for armors and skill items, off course). Since the inventory is larger than D2, you still can carry a lot more items.
Well, they are actually giving us more reasons to come to town now. This will be more in line with D1 and 2, which isn't really a problem at all.
Yes, this lends the other changes more sense. Less crafting materials to clutter your inventory and stash, less reason to carry whites so less need to get rid of items, and gives the NC (not really CoJ) less purpose. With less whites and crafting materials to worry about, it means running back to town is less of a hassle, possibly the reason they removed CoJ.
The most unexpected change of all. I'm a bit sad to see interesting options like Precision and Defense go, but arguably this is a change that harkens back to the older Diablo games than any of the other changes. A good thing though is that Classes will have more difference between them now. The inclusion od intelligence probably eliminates the 'wizards spells functioning off of weapons' now, since wands will more like come with int than two handed axes.
What I really like is the fact that it means you're a bit more dependant on minor attributes now for things like crit.
I'm thinking may-june right now. I'm not following the news until a release date is communicated everywhere. Cya!
No identity scroll:
Yeah ok whatever, like we care for this.
Potion on button 5:
Yeah if you want, people would have kept it this way
TP on bottom bar:
I don't care
Remove of cauldron and cube:
Meh. You were the one saying it was to avoid going back to town. STOP CHANGING YOUR MIND EVERY 6 MONTHS. Stop being so indecisive. In the end, it really isn't important...
Change in stats, replaced by str dex int vit:
Ha, this I like. Attack was so much overpowered for everyone, this change makes more sense and I like it. Good job.
Removal of mystic:
How can you think we like this ? Makes game less complex, remove of options = BAD. I hate this. Ok right I'll take your words it would have taken a lot of time (like it already isn't taking a lot of time)... maybe you would have got the time if you wouldn't spend useless time on identity scroll and buttons...
Why...?
So having the Mystic was going to delay the game? How is that any worse than what we have now... a delayed game that has no end in sight because you CHANGE the game every second.
Diablo 3 is just full of fail and all the hype is going to be it's downfall on release date.
Might not care as much if I had a taste of the beta, but alas I don't have it.
Blizzard has huge profits and you would think would be able to hire a huge talented team. I didn't know just removing features already in the game would take MONTHS of programming time... Huge fail.
Battle.net Profile / Diablo Progress Profile
It will come back in an expansion.
It feels like how other games have DLC that was supposed to be in release.
Scrolls of Identification are gone - players can now identify rares/legendary items without them.
This makes me a little sad, I always loved these. However blizzard knows this is part of the game, and the system they have now is the EXACT same, now I just dont have to take up inventory space... so in the end
VERDICT: Good
Button '5' is now dedicated to potions.
Well Button 5 was already a dedicated potions button to anyone that knows about D3... So this helps the new people that might not understand this.
VERDICT: Good
The Mystic artisan has now been removed from the game.
Okay, I fully understand what they were saying.. but still, I like the idea of being able to add effects to my weapons, mainly for the looks (being able to choose the look of the weapon by its effect enchant) im very sad to see this go tbh. I have faith they will make it come back in an EXP with a very neat feature... I also have to point out WE didnt get to play with this, so they VERY WELL could know this sucks... I really cant comment on it other than what I -think-. However what I think is...
VERDICT: Bad
The Cauldron of Jordan and Nephalem Cube have been removed.
Oh wow...not sure what I think about this at all. They had a logic, which i agreed and defended. "Keep the Action Going" What happend to this? Now when we are in inferno, where it is going to be HARD. If there are 4 players in the game (aka monsters tuned to 4 players) 3 manning is going to be HARD (if not impossible? ok maybe just hard) but.. now if someones inventory gets full (which it will happen) we have to wait for them... I DONT like this
HOWEVER, I love the idea of making the town more towny... Though it may sound dumb.. I liked hanging out in the town in d2..and this brings that back a bit..so...
VERDICT: Neutral
The Stone of Recall is now a button at the bottom and has been renamed "Town Portal".
I like this, It looks like it goes there, easier to see, dont have to open a menu, and hell its called "town portal" fk yes!
VERDICT: Good
Common (white colored) items are no longer salvageable.
hmm... problem is we have only played beta... when it comes to the full game, I dont think this will even effect us you know?
though im not sure what point white items have now? ohwell, dont care either way on this one.
VERDICT: Neutral
Character Attributes have been changed. See below for details.
Hmm... I liked that everyone had ONE stat... it made things simple, easy. You only had to worry about the FUN, the get in there AND KILL CRAP. I like that style... now with this..there is more thought into it... but you know what... thought is good at the same time!
VERDICT: Good
Character stats are now placed in the same place as the inventory panel and the old dedicated stats panel has been removed.
Hmm... It depends, if it shares the same info, GOOD, if not...then CRAPY... Ill wait till I see this live
VERDICT: Waiting to see in-game fully
Stop copy pasting someone elses comments please.
http://huntersc.tv
-Tying defense and barbarian damage in the same stat is really dangerous. The hardest hitting Barbarians will be harder to kill. There is no trade off between damage reduction and attack power. Same goes for Hunters and Monks, as well (dodge being a great defensive stat currently). Doctors and Wizards got the short end of that stick; health globe bonus is nice, but not nearly as helpful as preventing the damage up front.
-There were much better ways to force class/item diversity than this. More/varied resource related affixes, especially weird ones (gain health per Fury spent was a great example). Class only stat bonuses, "+13 Attack (Wizard only)," which I admit is inelegant, but similar to what they're doing anyway.
-On that same track, it sounds like they're going to do this anyway, but here goes. They introduce skill modifier affixes. "+5% additional weapon damage Cleave, Barbarian only." Not only that, they can target specific aspects of the skills, so a single skill might have multiple affixes available. "+4% additional weapon damage Grasp of the Dead, Witch Doctor only." "+0.4 seconds additional duration Grasp of the Dead, Witch Doctor only." These would have to be handcrafted and tightly regulated, to avoid weird stacking exploits. This REALLY makes gear class diverse, but does so in a much more interesting way. And it makes the choices less boring than "+ all skills" from D2.
-This also leads to a way to save the Mystic. Take away all +stat enchants. They're boring. Give her weird enchants, like the resource enchants, proc effects (on hit/crit/etc), skill enchants (from above), etc. Maybe that's what they wanted to do, but tabled it for an expansion. Okay, I can live w/ that. But they started out of the gate shaky (having so many boring gems/enchants which overlapped) that I honestly wonder.
-On Precision. They could have fixed this easily by A) adding more +critical damage sources in the game, readjusting the point Precision to % chance critical hit formula, and C) readjusting the power of the Attack stat. It's not very clear whether critical strike chance is a flat % or the usual rating system (meaning you need more as you gain in levels to get the same % critical strike chance). Hopefully they keep the rating system in, otherwise we have the weird "obsolete gear is best in slot" problem from before.
Conclusion: They need to separate damage from defensive stats, especially if some defensive stats (Armor/Dodge) are way better than others (Health Globes). There needs to be a choice between defense and offense. They could have promoted class/item diversity through other, more clever, and frankly better ways. The system they had in place was a great foundation to build from. This adds more problems than it solves, and is inelegant and cluttered compared to what they had. Also, the skill/rune overhaul seems ominous as well. I'm worried they'll screw up a really good thing.