Providing an environment where all players can enjoy Diablo III in the spirit of fair play is extremely important to us, which is why we monitor the game for exploitative activity. Through applying hotfixes and patches, we aim to improve the game and keep it as bug-free as possible; however, sometimes bugs will occur and some players will be eager to reproduce them for different reasons.
We would like to remind you that using bugs for personal gain is viewed as exploitative activity. Accounts found to be participating in dishonest behaviour, such as exploiting bugs, may be investigated and subjected to disciplinary actions in line with our Diablo III exploitation policy.
Ideas for an Expansion
A great list of interesting ideas was posted on the official forums by user POSEIDON. So great in fact that Vaneras decided to "tag" it blue, letting other users know that this is a good thread for discussion on the topic of a potential Diablo 3 expansion. Check the whole threat right here.
Update: It seems the original thread was actually posted on these forums by Astion! Check it out through this link.
A lot of effort has been put into this, so I am just blue-tagging this thread to acknowledge that effort :-)
Blizzard ... do it, just do it. That will just make all happy. Thanks.
No thanks I do not like these changes.
What I am about to say is not targeted at Tear or Shadowhand in particular, but at people posting on these forums in general; When you take the time to post that you like or dislike something, it would be really great if you would also add a few lines about why you think that something is good or bad. I say this because it is really helpful to us when we are gathering player feedback that we can read why you guys have the opinions you have :-)
Builds, Skill Positioning and Difficulty
Another good post on the official forums, this time by user coodav. He points out that Diablo 3 lacks a bit of strategy when it comes to several aspects of the game. Check out his whole post here.
Thats alot of text but some good points. I wish blizz would read some of these posts that gamers actually put time and thought into writing.
Read or respond to? We read a lot, we just don't respond to everything. We also don't necessarily agree with everything players suggest, but the discussions in and of themselves are super meaningful.
Diablo 3 challenges me on all fronts:
1. The most popular builds do not account for position. Barb WW builds, monk TR builds, and DH strafe builds are unaffected by pathing, and there are no environmental effects to consider, anywhere. 2. The key builds do not significantly consider the placement of skills. There is typically only one skill utilized, and that skill typically does massive AOE damage centered on the path of the player. 3. Complexity and speed do not change. The game does not alter fundamental mechanics between Normal and Inferno. Speed does not change. There is ONLY the scaling of damage and health, with the exception of a few monster affixes, most of which are not particularly strategic, but instant and automatic.
All solid points, and we agree on most fronts. Popular builds don't account for position or placement of skills, and we could do more to scale difficulty better. The conclusions you came to in terms of how we might address those pain points are different than the solutions we've considered, but it's totally understandable to see how you arrived at them.
Either way, this is a great discussion. I'm curious to see what other players think and have them weigh in on two points: 1) whether or not they agree with your premises and how they'd personally like to see the game evolve to improve on those areas.
Interested to see where this dialogue goes from here, so I'll be keeping an eye on the thread. (May not post much, but I'll definitely be reading along.)
Edit: Typos
Imperius Fan Art
Another great piece of Imperius fan art was posted by Blizzard - MadVoske's Imperius. Check out his gallery on Deviant Art for a good collection of game-related drawings.
Largely agree with coodav, but I don't think speed, necessarily, needs to be a part of difficulty progression but complexity definately should be.
The game does reward high-damage AOE slaughter builds greatly compared to play-style or strategic oriented builds - for exactly the reason he stated - no strength/weakness analysis of units required (if even present) when one-size-fits-all tools are placed on the belt. Boss encounters are the only times when strategic play is required, but that only lasts until those mechanics are learned.
Without changing the dynamic of the game, they should try to take those strategic aspects that make boss encounters interesting and apply it to more units, and take some of the random aspects of elites/rares and apply those to boss encounters in a suitable fashion - maybe an equivilent of assigning "runes" to the abilities of bosses randomly with each encounter.
It is bland when, with a few exceptions, most types of units are engaged in exactly the same way as all the others. Skill selection is bland in much the same way - 4 skills & 3 passives to maximize damage & uptime, 1 skill for mobility, 1 skill for "Oh *#@!".
Expansion feature list has been written and posted by me a couple months back. Blizzard deleted it on their official forums, and now they blue tagged it... ....
An official statement was made regarding the usage of exploits in Diablo 3.
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
We would like to remind you that using bugs for personal gain is viewed as exploitative activity. Accounts found to be participating in dishonest behaviour, such as exploiting bugs, may be investigated and subjected to disciplinary actions in line with our Diablo III exploitation policy.
Ideas for an Expansion
A great list of interesting ideas was posted on the official forums by user POSEIDON. So great in fact that Vaneras decided to "tag" it blue, letting other users know that this is a good thread for discussion on the topic of a potential Diablo 3 expansion. Check the whole threat right here.
Update: It seems the original thread was actually posted on these forums by Astion! Check it out through this link.
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Blizzard ... do it, just do it. That will just make all happy. Thanks.
No thanks I do not like these changes.
What I am about to say is not targeted at Tear or Shadowhand in particular, but at people posting on these forums in general; When you take the time to post that you like or dislike something, it would be really great if you would also add a few lines about why you think that something is good or bad. I say this because it is really helpful to us when we are gathering player feedback that we can read why you guys have the opinions you have :-)
Builds, Skill Positioning and Difficulty
Another good post on the official forums, this time by user coodav. He points out that Diablo 3 lacks a bit of strategy when it comes to several aspects of the game. Check out his whole post here.
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Read or respond to? We read a lot, we just don't respond to everything. We also don't necessarily agree with everything players suggest, but the discussions in and of themselves are super meaningful.
Diablo 3 challenges me on all fronts:
1. The most popular builds do not account for position. Barb WW builds, monk TR builds, and DH strafe builds are unaffected by pathing, and there are no environmental effects to consider, anywhere.
2. The key builds do not significantly consider the placement of skills. There is typically only one skill utilized, and that skill typically does massive AOE damage centered on the path of the player.
3. Complexity and speed do not change. The game does not alter fundamental mechanics between Normal and Inferno. Speed does not change. There is ONLY the scaling of damage and health, with the exception of a few monster affixes, most of which are not particularly strategic, but instant and automatic.
All solid points, and we agree on most fronts. Popular builds don't account for position or placement of skills, and we could do more to scale difficulty better. The conclusions you came to in terms of how we might address those pain points are different than the solutions we've considered, but it's totally understandable to see how you arrived at them.
Either way, this is a great discussion. I'm curious to see what other players think and have them weigh in on two points: 1) whether or not they agree with your premises and how they'd personally like to see the game evolve to improve on those areas.
Interested to see where this dialogue goes from here, so I'll be keeping an eye on the thread. (May not post much, but I'll definitely be reading along.)
Edit: Typos
Imperius Fan Art
Another great piece of Imperius fan art was posted by Blizzard - MadVoske's Imperius. Check out his gallery on Deviant Art for a good collection of game-related drawings.
Ha. Bagstone.
The game does reward high-damage AOE slaughter builds greatly compared to play-style or strategic oriented builds - for exactly the reason he stated - no strength/weakness analysis of units required (if even present) when one-size-fits-all tools are placed on the belt. Boss encounters are the only times when strategic play is required, but that only lasts until those mechanics are learned.
Without changing the dynamic of the game, they should try to take those strategic aspects that make boss encounters interesting and apply it to more units, and take some of the random aspects of elites/rares and apply those to boss encounters in a suitable fashion - maybe an equivilent of assigning "runes" to the abilities of bosses randomly with each encounter.
It is bland when, with a few exceptions, most types of units are engaged in exactly the same way as all the others. Skill selection is bland in much the same way - 4 skills & 3 passives to maximize damage & uptime, 1 skill for mobility, 1 skill for "Oh *#@!".
http://www.diablofans.com/topic/85341-expansion-key-notes/page__p__1123737#entry1123737
They should name it.
Diablo 3: The Land of Wizards and Barbs