DiabloFans

So much tension and all this before we have any confirmation on how this issue will be handled in game. I read about 65% of this thread which I think was enough to conclude that Equinox is against people being able to examine another player's gear without their permission (not trying to call you out, or flame you, just noting that it appears that you are championing the side of hidden gear).

Among the points raised for being opposed to gear visibility is the concept of players with non-cookie-cutter/-mainstream/-uber gear having their game experience negatively affected. This is a bunch of worry and stress over nothing. Allow me to ramble.

Some people act like assholes in life and in online games. Diablo III is supposed to have cooperative online PvE. If the people you are playing with don't have any interest in cooperating with and helping you and the team move forward in the game and/or as characters, simply don't play with them! If someone joins a game, sees that another player has what is in their opinion sub-optimal gear and then leaves: that's great, now nobody has to play with that jerk! Also, trolls will give everyone shit for nothing; it's just something to expect when one enters the interwebs. I don't advocate putting up with them, instead, avoid them.

Lots of fuckwits play online games. Blizzard appears to have already taken away a number of ways that they can be obnoxious (separating PvE from PvP, for example). I really think that hiding gear for the sake of avoiding discrimination, rudeness, etc. is bizarre especially in a "mature" game for adults. If someone is so shallow, stupid, and close-minded that they wouldn't try to participate in cooperative play with someone because the person had "bad gear," I would so much rather figure that out before I started playing with them. Why not let those who aren't going to be fun people to play with naturally select themselves? Hiding one's gear so that one has the opportunity to spend more time playing with dicks is kinda silly...


It appears that in playing through normal and maybe nightmare, the difficulty will be such that suboptimal or even crappy gear will be just fine. Even if one is forced to play with random strangers, it shouldn't be impossible to then make friends with the people who are there to have fun and treat people nicely. With millions of players and good fansites like diablofans with genuine people who are there to enjoy the game and help everyone out, a normal person shouldn't find it impossible to find up to 3 others who can act and treat others like adults and enjoy playing a video game together...

To summarize, something which could potentially allow assholes to reveal themselves earlier than they otherwise would is not necessarily bad on the basis of that trait.

Quote from Markco_Polo

Actually, these secrets are just parlor tricks used to bring the masses to my website. There, I admitted it. I use fantastic "secrets" to increase interest in auctioneering among the masses. You know what I do next however? Instead of attempting to bottle these secrets and sell them as miracle cures, I take the person aside and explain the error of their ways.

This section confuses me. You pull them aside to teach them the "error of their ways", which... they learned from your site?

That tactic seems a bit disingenouous. And it seems weird that you're freelly admitting that the tricks you advertise to pull people into your site probably won't work long term.

I don't think there will ever be potential to make a first world living wage in the Diablo 3 RMAH. The 5$ per week estimate is probably a lot closer.

It comes down to this. There is no way to farm enough things with one account to make good money. That means you are stuck with variations on "buy low-sell high", and making all your profit off the difference between an ideal sell, and a poor sell. But in an economy where most prices will be fairly low, that difference will be mostly small and it's going to take a huge volume of sells. There will be major competition to get those sells, because there's real money involved.

I'm in the beta test. We volunteered for it and, in some cases people even actively competed in competitions for a chance to test. I really feel priveldged that I am getting to test the game. I definitely don't feel like Blizzard owes me anything.

In a way, I wish there would be a sygil or something to recognize beta testers in the game. It was nice getting to participate and having someting permanent in game as a souvenir would be cool. But in the end, I think I'm selfish for wanting even that. There are tons people who wish they could test this game, and the ones of us who are testing are mainly jsut distinguisehed by luck and geography. We shouldn't need bonuses. The chance to participate in the beta is a bonus.

I gotta say that Torchlight was a shitty game. Yes, that game was shit. I admit that i played it and was somewhat excited about it but only for 2 days really. To me it was really obvious how TL copied everything from Diablo but thats not the point because if you start saying who copied who this arguement will never end.

What matters is, that TL provided us something that D3 will have. It was good while it lasted. Something to quench our thirst for a decent Diablo game.

First, let me begin by saying that you will not get too many positive responses from a post like this. This is, afterall, a Diablo Fan site. This is not to say that your points are not valid but don't be surprised when many people here argue against you on those points. Many people here like the way the game is going and not everyone wants the game to come out how you have envisioned it. With that said, I will go point by point and discuss your ideas. Please take the time to read them as I took reading your points.

Quote from Shelledfade_4967505

1. My link This is a link to the dark cultist. Copy and paste undead WoW. They could have been a bit more original on this. Yes doing things like this saves time but... it just cuts the originality of Diablo and its sequel #3 like a hot knife through butter. And let's be honest with each other, if they are going to do something as obvious as this WHO KNOWS how many more of these there could be in the game that were just copy and pasted?

I am not seeing how the cultist from D3 is a copy/paste of the undead from WoW. The undead from WoW were treated more as anrachist type characters with their mohawk hair-dos and bondage straps across their faces. Their bones often showed and their faces rarely complete. The cultist is a semi-living creature with his mouth sewn shut. His flesh is still intact and their eyes glow green. If you want to narrow it down precisely to and undead mage/priest wearing a robe, then the comparison is easy because it is two people standing in full robes. Is it their clothing choice you have a problem with. I really like the specific look of the robes of the cultist with the pointy hat and cool arm thingy. Either way, yes, no both you have a human type character but someone who shows signs of death. However, each one is stylized for their intended purposes.

Quote from Shelledfade_4967505

2. Diablo 3 items when they first released information about them were originally going to be in a unique- then -epic order with epic items being purple colored and the best you could get until the community outraged and it was changed (at least I think it was changed?). Even if it wasn't changed the point stands on an originality basis.

Ok, when item colors are chosen, their are a limit of colors to choose from. Basically your regular colors red-purple, white, grey. Black and red however will not be used because black would not show up and there is too much red normally on the screen. White is for normal, blue for magic, green for set, yellow for rare. This leaves orange and purple. Gold was originally used and it was too similar to yellow. Orange would probably be the same. Therefore, the only choice left is purple. It really remains to be the only color that is different enough but has not been used. Do you have a different suggestion? Each item color has to be distinguishable and there are just no other colors to use. Do you just want them change the colors around. Most of them were already iconic of D2.

Quote from Shelledfade_4967505

3. The original U.I that can be seen in the original gameplay trailer found on the D3 website. Basically copy and pasted from world of warcraft. Again, it isn't WoW being the problem, its the unoriginal eye being scoured into D3 like some hot twisted piece of metal. Yes it was changed for the better, but what kind of product would we have got if we never said anything about their work??

How is the diablo ui anything like the wow ui. Other than both use a hotkeys, Diablo 1-5 and wow uses 1-+ plus a possible three more rows. as far as health and energy, diablo's bookend the hotbar and wows is at top. I am just not seeing the similarity. Please point out some specifics to me. Oh, other than the map being in the top right corner which 95% of all games do.

Quote from Shelledfade_4967505

4. The stylized art style. I know its a hot topic and we all know it isn't going to change because it would basically be resetting everything they have done. That isn't the point though and I'm not asking them to change it I'm just dropping it into the melting pot of my overall concerns.

When I first envisioned diablo 3 I envisioned something like this.
My link

I really have to admit that I did not envision anything like this..
My link

With the art style. First off, everyone is only comparing it to the one area from the first gameplay vid.I have yet to hear any complaints from the Act 2. The area is stylized in a particular way to express a particular environment. Nobody has seen the vast amounts of areas and dungeons that they have created. With that said, there is a lot that goes into art style in a videogame then most people know. Making an awesome area for a screenshot is easy. Having that same area be playable both hardware wise and gameplay wise is completely different. With hardward, Blizzard tries to lower their graphic needs so more people can play their games. If you have a problem with this, then bring it up with the hundreds of thousands of diablo fans who cannot afford a new computer but still want to play the game. Secondly, in the screen shot you presented, it looks nice for a screen shot but actually playing in an area where everything is the same color does not work too well. But what it mostly comes down to is hardware restrictions. you might want to look at some of the blood-soaked desert screen shots from the last demo and see if that seems more like what you pictured.



I like this one with the "realistic" cliffs and the monsters in the foreground coming at you.

Quote from Shelledfade_4967505

5. Health orbs. Yes they feel very arcade like and everyone knows they could do a better job on it rather than putting floating red globes everywhere for health. We all know there can't be any more potion spamming because that just doesn't work but floating red balls that pop out of enemies? Come on, we all know they can do better than this.

The debate about the look of the health orbs have gone on for awhile now. While I think that they could do more, again, keep in mind that there are hardware limitations that they are trying to work with. Some awesome graphic of the persons soul leaving their body and misting their way towards you and then you absorbing it with every enemy would be way too taxing on the system. Also again, remember, what works in a screen shot does not work for gameplay and vice versa. While in a single still shot they look out of place, remember that they have to create something that will stick out amongst dozens of enemies that are big and bright enough for you to recognize at a moments glance. If you have a better way of creating a drop that is clearly always visible yet doesnt require too much graphics, please let me know.

Quote from Shelledfade_4967505

6. 60 level limit now. I think this speaks for itself. Nothing really wrong with it but it isn't original for diablo 3, it isn't a good idea in my opinion and it kind of ruins skill tree's based on the fact that you wont have the amount of points to play around with that you did in D2. Once you finish hell you should be level 60. I'm just wondering if there's going to be mounts at 40 now based on this unoriginality thumb print that I can't seem to watch out of my eyes for diablo 3. Just because something works in another game doesn't mean its the best solution and the best idea.

I think Bashiok did a pretty good job of explaining how it is not wow in his post. Wow is not the only game to use sixty. As for lowering the level. I personally like it because it seems more rewarding hitting that level. Getting a level every ten minutes does not feel rewarding. I think leveling through 30 on normal, 20 on nightmare, and 10 on hell is very similar to D2. maybe shy about ten levels but who knows how this game plays out. There is also a lot they have planned for end-game content so you wont be grinding baal for no reason other than to hit 99. AS for reasoning the idea with skills, nobody has any idea how the new skill system works. Lowering the level may have no affect on the system at all. It might not even be a point per level system.

Quote from Shelledfade_4967505

7. The glowing aspects of the game that just look ugly and dumbs the game down. Take the original gameplay trailer as example. The skeletons have glowing shields, the entire area under the dungeon is glowing. There's virtually no realistic firelight radius at all. The glowing weapons on the barbarian that deal extra lightning/ice damage is way to excessive. It's just all too pretty for diablo 3. Just refer to this picture again.
My link This is what it's all about. Not ridiculous amounts of glowing objects/areas however that seems to be the theme on what diablo 3 is based around.

Again, you are not taking into account pciture vs gameplay. With all of the glowing, this is to help signify and help particular components stand out at a quick glance. Also again, you are not taking into account the toll perfect/realistic lighting requires from your computer. If lowering the lighting quality means a couple thousand more people can play, I'm ok with that. As far as the barbs weapons, those were said to be the high end of each of those elements looks. The first will be something like a slight shading, the next mayeb a glow, and finally the full blown graphics we saw. Again, this is also to help them standout against everything else.

Quote from Shelledfade_4967505

8. Only 4 characters per game based on how intense the visuals are. Here's an idea... tone the visuals down? The combat doesn't have to be a giant glowing rainbow bomb unless they want it to be.

The four player limit is not only due to graphical strain. It has a lot to do with gameplay. Blizzard tests their games daily and I am sure they decided what was best based upon actual playing experience. There is also the point that many people did not play with more than four in a room, at least not all within close proximity. this is just proof that this number will work. Of course, some people will be upset because they wanted to play with their seven friends but the same argument could be used for a 20 player cap.

Quote from Shelledfade_4967505

9. None-changing area's. Only dungeons are randomly changed. The outside world is static. I find this completely boring if the level cap will be 60 and if we will finish hell by level 60 I see a very boring game that will be a lot less repetitive than D2.

This is not correct. Borders and major cities are static, but a lot of the map is randomized. In fact, they have a whole new system that will randomly put in events and quests so that everytime you play the game, it will be different. Oddly, the reason for the static map is the very argument you have been making. With a static map, graphics can improve because they dont have to worry about creating all sorts of pieces that will fit together. They can create better looks based upon this which is exactly what you want. Again, this comes to gameplay and hardware demand. To lower the hardware demand but keep graphics looking good, they decided to make it static. If they didnt and the graphics were worse, many people would complain about this.

Overall, I think you and all of us know way to little to pass such judgment on the game. However, it is also important to remember that they are making a game and not pictures. What works well in a fast paced action packed scene does not always look best in a still.

It was for that very reason the overworld in Diablo II was boring and the vast majority of people just skipped it and got rushed. Now that it's semi-static (not "static," like everyone is saying still), they can actually focus more on interesting, beautiful, or terrifying environments since they don't have to worry about how x square plugs in to y square. The outside environments they've shown so far look absolutely stellar by comparison, and that stuff isn't even final. It's aesthetically interesting to see all the different little bits they can put in now, all the intricate details, that they couldn't in Diablo II. In Diablo II, you have a bunch of completely flat, 10x10 mile grass plots, maybe a house with nothing of interest in or around it, and then a fence lining the area. The only area that I really considered an exception to this was the Dark Wood and Act III. I think most of your memories are either clouded with nostalgia or just really, really bad.

Matt Uelmen, composer of the Diablo series, is currently working on Torchlight by Runic Games, and recently sat down with Original Sound Version to talk about his work on the soundtrack:

http://www.originalsoundversion.com/?p=5278

He includes lots of references to his work on Diablo, and even discusses where instruments used on Torchlight were used throughout the Diablo series. Torchlight is out at the end of the month, and has 40 minutes of new music by him.