This is taken from Be_the_Rowdy on the official D3 Blizz forums.
I would just like to know what you guys think. I agree with him that using say +str from items to equip other items was pretty stupid and time consuming to figure out. I had to know what I planned to have later on if I didn't have all the items at the moment.
"Or: Stat Requirements and Why I Hate 'Em
They say the developers read these boards sometimes. I'm not sure what to think about that. We generate as much drivel here as we do productive discussion, and I imagine less than a quarter of our productive discussions broach topics that haven't already been covered internally by the developers. Nonetheless, I figured I'd post my all time biggest complaint about Diablo II in hopes of garnering support and seeing the problem corrected in Diablo III.
First, I'd like to say that I'm a long time fan of the Diablo series, and I respect the fact that Diablo II remains a defining piece of the action RPG genre nearly a decade after its release, all because Blizzard did so many things right with the game.
But here's what I think they did wrong.
A freeform stat point system is great for character customization, and challenging endgame content is great for challenging endgame content. But when the one affects the other in such a way that hard stat points can't be spared to meet equipment requirements without assistance from gear, it creates a scenario in which gear is dependent on gear. Reaching that 200 strength requirement for the best piece of armor in the game or maintaining a 75% chance to block with a shield that you may not even have yet simply can't be done without destroying your health bar in the upper difficulty levels. That is, unless you rely on strength and dexterity bonuses from equipment.
Doing this, however, demands that you know what your equipment requirements will ultimately be, and how far your equipment will go to cover them. Essentially, in order to successfully distribute stat points now, you need to know what your ideal gear set will be later. For a new player approaching a new class, this means spending hours researching the entire catalogue of items, perhaps without even knowing what you're looking for.
That's a lot of overhead for a game with such a strong spirit of "pick up and play."
What do you do when you're level 57 and you realize you picked the wrong gear set to focus on? How do you fix your misspent stat points without rerolling the character entirely? What do you do if you only play single player and your odds of actually obtaining even one piece of your ideal armor set are nearly impossible? Are you to be eternally stuck with inadequate stats across the board just because the drop rates were designed around a large-scale trading economy? Or if you do go online, how do you participate in that economy when your character is still too weak to generate any loot worth trading?
These aren't unsolvable problems. Obviously, there are tons of successful Diablo II players who have learned to deal with tough equipment requirements. But it's an important issue of accessibility, one which has kept me personally from enjoying fully half the classes and specs in the game despite years of loyalty. As the Diablo III trailer itself so eloquently put it, nothing should stand between you and whatever it is you want to smash. Stat tweaking and loot hording are half the point of the game, yes, but they should follow basic gameplay in my opinion, not precede it. It's a frustratingly simple problem that could be solved by utilizing a different (perhaps class-based?) system to determine what loot a player can or cannot wear.
I'm excited about Diablo III, but I hope half my time playing the game won't be spent worrying about how to play the game, as it was the last time around."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"The gaming public now has focus on Diablo again, and with it comes the modern-age of trolling and jackassery."
They game can still be played without worrying about this. I for one enjoyed doing this. Added an extra level of depth to items. The game doesnt become broken if you dont do it. Think of it as a metagame, for those who want to spend the time doing it to completely perfect everything. You dont have to do it yourself.
I've always been a fan of the stat requirements. I don't, it makes somethings unattainable. Having to wait, and level up, and drop all of your points into one stat for a couple of levels. It makes you give something up to use that item, making it all that more important too you.
One thing I've posted about though charging money to respec stat points(as well as skill points, horrodric cube services, and expanding your stash), But that is more about making gold more valuable than anything else. I was going to start thred detailing the solution, but I'll wait for the boards to calm down.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Common sense goes a long way...
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I would just like to know what you guys think. I agree with him that using say +str from items to equip other items was pretty stupid and time consuming to figure out. I had to know what I planned to have later on if I didn't have all the items at the moment.
"Or: Stat Requirements and Why I Hate 'Em
They say the developers read these boards sometimes. I'm not sure what to think about that. We generate as much drivel here as we do productive discussion, and I imagine less than a quarter of our productive discussions broach topics that haven't already been covered internally by the developers. Nonetheless, I figured I'd post my all time biggest complaint about Diablo II in hopes of garnering support and seeing the problem corrected in Diablo III.
First, I'd like to say that I'm a long time fan of the Diablo series, and I respect the fact that Diablo II remains a defining piece of the action RPG genre nearly a decade after its release, all because Blizzard did so many things right with the game.
But here's what I think they did wrong.
A freeform stat point system is great for character customization, and challenging endgame content is great for challenging endgame content. But when the one affects the other in such a way that hard stat points can't be spared to meet equipment requirements without assistance from gear, it creates a scenario in which gear is dependent on gear. Reaching that 200 strength requirement for the best piece of armor in the game or maintaining a 75% chance to block with a shield that you may not even have yet simply can't be done without destroying your health bar in the upper difficulty levels. That is, unless you rely on strength and dexterity bonuses from equipment.
Doing this, however, demands that you know what your equipment requirements will ultimately be, and how far your equipment will go to cover them. Essentially, in order to successfully distribute stat points now, you need to know what your ideal gear set will be later. For a new player approaching a new class, this means spending hours researching the entire catalogue of items, perhaps without even knowing what you're looking for.
That's a lot of overhead for a game with such a strong spirit of "pick up and play."
What do you do when you're level 57 and you realize you picked the wrong gear set to focus on? How do you fix your misspent stat points without rerolling the character entirely? What do you do if you only play single player and your odds of actually obtaining even one piece of your ideal armor set are nearly impossible? Are you to be eternally stuck with inadequate stats across the board just because the drop rates were designed around a large-scale trading economy? Or if you do go online, how do you participate in that economy when your character is still too weak to generate any loot worth trading?
These aren't unsolvable problems. Obviously, there are tons of successful Diablo II players who have learned to deal with tough equipment requirements. But it's an important issue of accessibility, one which has kept me personally from enjoying fully half the classes and specs in the game despite years of loyalty. As the Diablo III trailer itself so eloquently put it, nothing should stand between you and whatever it is you want to smash. Stat tweaking and loot hording are half the point of the game, yes, but they should follow basic gameplay in my opinion, not precede it. It's a frustratingly simple problem that could be solved by utilizing a different (perhaps class-based?) system to determine what loot a player can or cannot wear.
I'm excited about Diablo III, but I hope half my time playing the game won't be spent worrying about how to play the game, as it was the last time around."
Bashiok - Blizzard Poster
One thing I've posted about though charging money to respec stat points(as well as skill points, horrodric cube services, and expanding your stash), But that is more about making gold more valuable than anything else. I was going to start thred detailing the solution, but I'll wait for the boards to calm down.