I've stated before that letting people use WSAD would give us an edge which would make a game more simple. Avoidance of mobs' spells would be much more easy with that. They would have to rebalance everything and change mobs AI. It won't happen. On consoles you may be able to have it but you will loose possibility to aim as well as with mouse so cons and pros will probably balance itself. And anyway console version may be easier to play than PC one as it is for consoles and it would be nothing wrong with it being more easy there.
Your argument is very valid, but I don't think it's quite as bad as you might think regarding monster AI or even as some have argued in PvP. Any good Starcraft player knows that movement like this can be made by simple micromanagement. Click to move, click to attack, click to move. Fast mouse movements and precise clicking can be just as lethal.
The only thing that would really be needed to make it happen is mapping movement to the 4 directions which has been proven to work in many different games. At that point it comes down to how the game play would possibly change.
Even if you could move with an arrow key and still click on an enemy, you would still have to stop and perform your spell animation. The time it takes for this to happen would be the same if I clicked on a movement destination, quickly clicked on a monster, then back to my final destination. As long as the same rules apply for movement when a skill is activated, it wouldn't really matter if it was with a mouse or a keyboard/joystick.
The game already compensates for lag and melee hits can actually reach over what looks like a large gap in distance, as long as the game agrees you were roughly where you needed to be to strike. Additionally, melee classes have movement skills like sprint, leap, and dashing strike which will help close these gaps.
So I suppose, if you could see that the movement isn't a problem (assuming a perfect world, no bugs and no reasonable difference between movement styles could be detected) would the argument be that it takes away skill from the game? Fast mouse movers and clickers can easily show an advantage against those that do not. Maybe this could be something that helps even out a battlefield that lets those that might not click as fast be able to employ tactics and strategy without having to worry about moving their pointer all across the screen. I present this as food for thought.
My thoughts: Do I think it would offset the game too much?
No, not really, not if it's done right. It's not about being able to "move and shoot" like Alien Swarm, it's just another movement type. Do I think they'll do something like this?
No, not really. They've talked about exploring, but Blizzard does see this interface as being one of the systems that makes Diablo different and unique. Do I think they should?
Should? Nah, Diablo is a great game either way, but it would be kind of cool if they would. Final thoughts?
I think Blizzard knows how passionate everyone here is. They're going to do right by the game and make sure that no matter what systems they change, add, or remove that they do it with just cause and for making the game fun. I've enjoyed seeing this debate play out, even if some arguments are anger fueled, many are still well thought out. I think it's good to consider the pros and cons of things like this as it's these kinds of debates that also help Blizzard to decide what to do with the next game or expansion pack.
Ever notice on these topics the people who think that WASD is way too good never argue against the people who think WASD is way too limiting and just an inferior control scheme.
Your argument is very valid, but I don't think it's quite as bad as you might think regarding monster AI or even as some have argued in PvP. Any good Starcraft player knows that movement like this can be made by simple micromanagement. Click to move, click to attack, click to move. Fast mouse movements and precise clicking can be just as lethal.
The only thing that would really be needed to make it happen is mapping movement to the 4 directions which has been proven to work in many different games. At that point it comes down to how the game play would possibly change.
Even if you could move with an arrow key and still click on an enemy, you would still have to stop and perform your spell animation. The time it takes for this to happen would be the same if I clicked on a movement destination, quickly clicked on a monster, then back to my final destination. As long as the same rules apply for movement when a skill is activated, it wouldn't really matter if it was with a mouse or a keyboard/joystick.
The game already compensates for lag and melee hits can actually reach over what looks like a large gap in distance, as long as the game agrees you were roughly where you needed to be to strike. Additionally, melee classes have movement skills like sprint, leap, and dashing strike which will help close these gaps.
So I suppose, if you could see that the movement isn't a problem (assuming a perfect world, no bugs and no reasonable difference between movement styles could be detected) would the argument be that it takes away skill from the game? Fast mouse movers and clickers can easily show an advantage against those that do not. Maybe this could be something that helps even out a battlefield that lets those that might not click as fast be able to employ tactics and strategy without having to worry about moving their pointer all across the screen. I present this as food for thought.
My thoughts:
Do I think it would offset the game too much?
No, not really, not if it's done right. It's not about being able to "move and shoot" like Alien Swarm, it's just another movement type.
Do I think they'll do something like this?
No, not really. They've talked about exploring, but Blizzard does see this interface as being one of the systems that makes Diablo different and unique.
Do I think they should?
Should? Nah, Diablo is a great game either way, but it would be kind of cool if they would.
Final thoughts?
I think Blizzard knows how passionate everyone here is. They're going to do right by the game and make sure that no matter what systems they change, add, or remove that they do it with just cause and for making the game fun. I've enjoyed seeing this debate play out, even if some arguments are anger fueled, many are still well thought out. I think it's good to consider the pros and cons of things like this as it's these kinds of debates that also help Blizzard to decide what to do with the next game or expansion pack.
Game on, DiabloFans! :Thumbs Up: