A lot of people are complaining about the lack of the dark, brooding atmosphere that Diablo II provided. Many are unhappy about only 5 classes and generally how the game looks and feels through the few videos we have been shown. I think that Blizzard has gone a long way to ensure their newest sequels don't look to make any dramatic changes. Look at Starcraft 2: it remained very similar and obviously it needed a graphical overhaul, but for the most part, the buildings and many units are still there with an added element of dimensional movement for strategy. Diablo 3 retains D2's isometric perspective, as well as keeping with the hack'n'slash visceral feel of the game and they made adjustments to ensure some of the cheesier aspects of the game (which kept me personally from playing it very seriously high-end) were solved.
Loot System
The new loot system will determine loot on a character-by-character basis, meaning each person gets "personal loot" generated for him/her and you are only able to see and pick up the loot generated for you. While MANY, including close friends of mine who played the game hardcore (in both senses of the word) are dismayed by this, it is a step in the right direction if Blizzard wants Diablo 3 to retain integrity in the upper echelons of competitive RPG play. A faster computer or a bot that can auto-loot should not determine who receives a rare drop or the prize at the end of a boss fight (and I say boss fight because I hope Diablo 3 strays away from endless "Baal run" types of loot and experience grinds).
Despite the veterans' pleas, I think this is a positive change. I think some skill and reflexes were involved in being the first to grab loot off a dead boss but I think in the end it will benefit the game as a whole and is a creative way in determining loot. Since it is not an MMO, "rolling" for items (meaning people rely on a random number generator to produce a number for each character, the highest number winning the item) is not the correct way to deal with item distribution.
Itemization
Diablo had the best itemization system I had ever seen. WoW's system is hard to compare because both look for different goals in different genres. In Diablo, the inevitable shift towards an economy run by items resulted in the devaluing of gold. Whether or not making gold valuable enough to trade for items is Blizzard's plan or whether or not that plan is a good one I cannot say. It is extremely early to tell. I think that an interesting obstacle will be how to balance these two forces. Gold will definiteily have a much bigger use in the new iteration of Diablo but its entire purpose, for now, will remain speculative at best. I hope to see tons of customization through runewords, gems, and perhaps enchants ala WoW. I saw a gameplay video that featured the Barbarian with (I believe) a frost enchantment on his axe that would freeze enemies. Sockets and enchants are a great way to customize and were my favourite customization options in WoW.
Random Environments
YES! They are doing a lot more with the randomization of the environments and dungeons, going as far as to create random SCRIPTED events. One of the reasons WoW can get EXTREMELY boring is because everything (after the first-tenth time) gets extremely repetitive and boring, and the nature of the game is that you have to do everything a lot (Battlegrounds, Arenas, Instances, etc...). With more randomness, we can see greater variants of environments and therefore the lasting appeal of going thorugh the world of Sanctuary will increase. This will help alleviate the pain of levelling second, third, fourth and even fifth characters to max level without feeling like "Oh God, I've done this a million times already", which I found to be a massive problem in WoW.
Classes
For now, only five. Barbarian is classic and I think we could have all set our watches on the return of the Barbarian but the Witch Doctor comes out of left field. From gameplay, he looks very similar to a Necromancer and many speculate this signals the end of the Necro class in Diablo 3. While Blizzard said during Q&A that it did not NECESSARILY mean a Necro wasn't going to make it, I think two summoning classes in a budget of five classes is a bit much. What can we speculate at this point?
Barbarian - Melee with some magic powers, the blunt force trauma of the five classes.
Witch Doctor - Area Effect as well as Summoning powers
Those two are known. The three we can guess at are:
Sorceror/Sorceress Magic Type: I think this is a lock. Sorcs were a staple in Diablo II and with the advent of both sexes for all classes, it seems fitting we can now have Sorcerors too.
Amazon/Ranger Type: Another very likely possibility. Many people will want to play Legolas and fire arrows to their hearts content, or hurl javelins at their opponents.
Paladin: Iffy. I think it should be present simply because Paladins represent the Holy Warriors that are here to fight the forces of Hell. Not to mention Hammerdins are OP.
Assassin/Druid? Perhaps an expansion awaits their arrival, just like last time.
Conclusion
I like the direction that Blizzard is taking. They are removing the frustrating, cheesy aspects of Diablo II in order to form a successor that improves on Diablo II's pitfalls, provides us with a new visual interpretation of the Diablo World as well as fine-tunes our game experience with technological improvements and removes many of the hurdles that kept their hands tied with Diablo II. Remember that the game was only announced less than 12 hours ago (at the time of this post) and that much remains to be seen about the game and about the concerns we all have.
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Loot System
The new loot system will determine loot on a character-by-character basis, meaning each person gets "personal loot" generated for him/her and you are only able to see and pick up the loot generated for you. While MANY, including close friends of mine who played the game hardcore (in both senses of the word) are dismayed by this, it is a step in the right direction if Blizzard wants Diablo 3 to retain integrity in the upper echelons of competitive RPG play. A faster computer or a bot that can auto-loot should not determine who receives a rare drop or the prize at the end of a boss fight (and I say boss fight because I hope Diablo 3 strays away from endless "Baal run" types of loot and experience grinds).
Despite the veterans' pleas, I think this is a positive change. I think some skill and reflexes were involved in being the first to grab loot off a dead boss but I think in the end it will benefit the game as a whole and is a creative way in determining loot. Since it is not an MMO, "rolling" for items (meaning people rely on a random number generator to produce a number for each character, the highest number winning the item) is not the correct way to deal with item distribution.
Itemization
Diablo had the best itemization system I had ever seen. WoW's system is hard to compare because both look for different goals in different genres. In Diablo, the inevitable shift towards an economy run by items resulted in the devaluing of gold. Whether or not making gold valuable enough to trade for items is Blizzard's plan or whether or not that plan is a good one I cannot say. It is extremely early to tell. I think that an interesting obstacle will be how to balance these two forces. Gold will definiteily have a much bigger use in the new iteration of Diablo but its entire purpose, for now, will remain speculative at best. I hope to see tons of customization through runewords, gems, and perhaps enchants ala WoW. I saw a gameplay video that featured the Barbarian with (I believe) a frost enchantment on his axe that would freeze enemies. Sockets and enchants are a great way to customize and were my favourite customization options in WoW.
Random Environments
YES! They are doing a lot more with the randomization of the environments and dungeons, going as far as to create random SCRIPTED events. One of the reasons WoW can get EXTREMELY boring is because everything (after the first-tenth time) gets extremely repetitive and boring, and the nature of the game is that you have to do everything a lot (Battlegrounds, Arenas, Instances, etc...). With more randomness, we can see greater variants of environments and therefore the lasting appeal of going thorugh the world of Sanctuary will increase. This will help alleviate the pain of levelling second, third, fourth and even fifth characters to max level without feeling like "Oh God, I've done this a million times already", which I found to be a massive problem in WoW.
Classes
For now, only five. Barbarian is classic and I think we could have all set our watches on the return of the Barbarian but the Witch Doctor comes out of left field. From gameplay, he looks very similar to a Necromancer and many speculate this signals the end of the Necro class in Diablo 3. While Blizzard said during Q&A that it did not NECESSARILY mean a Necro wasn't going to make it, I think two summoning classes in a budget of five classes is a bit much. What can we speculate at this point?
Barbarian - Melee with some magic powers, the blunt force trauma of the five classes.
Witch Doctor - Area Effect as well as Summoning powers
Those two are known. The three we can guess at are:
Sorceror/Sorceress Magic Type: I think this is a lock. Sorcs were a staple in Diablo II and with the advent of both sexes for all classes, it seems fitting we can now have Sorcerors too.
Amazon/Ranger Type: Another very likely possibility. Many people will want to play Legolas and fire arrows to their hearts content, or hurl javelins at their opponents.
Paladin: Iffy. I think it should be present simply because Paladins represent the Holy Warriors that are here to fight the forces of Hell. Not to mention Hammerdins are OP.
Assassin/Druid? Perhaps an expansion awaits their arrival, just like last time.
Conclusion
I like the direction that Blizzard is taking. They are removing the frustrating, cheesy aspects of Diablo II in order to form a successor that improves on Diablo II's pitfalls, provides us with a new visual interpretation of the Diablo World as well as fine-tunes our game experience with technological improvements and removes many of the hurdles that kept their hands tied with Diablo II. Remember that the game was only announced less than 12 hours ago (at the time of this post) and that much remains to be seen about the game and about the concerns we all have.