DiabloFans

Its been said before in other threads and I think it something that the wise, learned folks of Dfans.com could toss around.

Being able to farm for our class set items would be a fun end game activity that I would gladly welcome. Right now I have two pieces of Inna's (helm and belt) and the belt rolled two affixes that I don't like. I took care of one of them, but I'm essentially waiting on sheer luck for another belt to drop with more favorable rolls. While its not the end of the world, I'd like to see a creative way that we could spend our time working toward the goal of getting those specific items and hope that RNG favors the rolls.

Personally, I'd like to see it be a crafting thing with some challenging mats to be able to make the item. For instance:

To make Inna's Favor (belt) you would need:
-The usual crafting items of a white belt, crystals, dust and gold
-A new legendary crafting material that is unique to each act boss - to which you need all five to make the item
-A new legendary crafting material that only drops out of caches - but can drop out of any act's cache
-a sub note on this, the legendary item from the cache could actually be a rune that with smart drops is specific to your character's skills. So if you get a rune for a skill that you do not currently use, you can keep it and continue farming until you get the rune you are looking for. Thus when you create the item it will roll with that specific skill and have a range to its percentage.
This would hopefully make act bosses desirable in an old-school sorta way, but also would give more motivation to do Bounties. Since Rifts have the strongest appeal for loot chances, I found myself not caring about Bounties once I had gotten the ring from Act 1. I would happily farm this process to be able to target craft my class set items. If I get unlucky with the roll, then I wash and repeat.

As I see it now, the three easiest areas for target farming class set items are crafting, Kadala or Caches. Which would you prefer - and if you like the crafting idea, what more could be added to it and why?

If this is too giving to the players, then perhaps it could be restricted to only the original class set items and not those added in RoS.

@Dree,

I do the swap as well. That's just a small example of how a fix to the allowed amount of legendary affix rolls could make gameplay that much more enjoyable. Right now the practice is very similar to MF gear swapping during a fight and it something they worked hard to avoid.

To perhaps address the OP's post and also the folks that are not happy with itemization (myself included) the legendary items could use a buff to how many affixes they could have - similar to D2. They don't necessarily have to be filled with life changing affixes, but more substance would be nice.

Simple problem: bracers. The Nemesis Bracers are awesome - but they only allow for 3 random stats. So you get a main stat, movement speed and then 3 random stats. What if you got 5 or 6 random stats? So you get the cool legendary effect of elite spawns at shrines and you don't feel too bad replacing your rare bracers that give you main stat, vit, crit and skill % damage increase.

The Legendary items could stand to use some buffing - but not in each piece having multiple game chancing/build changing procs. Just more affixes that could be beneficial.

I think the deeper root of the problem is that we were spoiled with MP10 farming. The AH allowed us to get a few pieces of gear, with lifesteal that made it possible for us to somewhat effeciently farm the hardest challenge in the game. I think fundamentaly people are looking for that now. And when they can't survive T6 and they aren't finding easy gear to accomplish this, they get frustrated and want overpowered/bugged gear to give them the chance to go straight to the front of the line.

I've slowly increased in difficulty to T3 solo rifts and to do that, I have to change up my build for survivibility. This was from a starting place of be terrified to go into T1. I'm enjoying the difficulty progression and with each new drop I have a chance to explore a potential change to my gear/build and the advantages it may bring. My hope is that I will get a great combo of gear that makes T6 possible. Time will tell.

Quote from thatFPGAguy

Quote from Polrayne

What amazes me is the standpoint that because I can't prove something, means that it doesn't exist. I wish there were a little more room for diplomacy in some of these discussions. That last sentence was not directed at Shaggy - just a general observation of many standpoints from posters about issues they don't believe in.

There is an invisible flying spaghetti monster that lives above your house. All your bad RNG fortune is due to him. You can't see him or interact with him but he's there. I can't prove that he's there but that doesn't mean he doesn't exist. Now please discuss my theory but I expect you to be only diplomatic.

I'm sorry - I won't participate in your request. We are on a forum talking about a video game. If you have theories, support, evidence and I ideas about this game, then I will be happy to discuss them with you diplomatically.

What you are trying to do seems a lot like (to me at least) to be a little disrespectful and ultimately unfair to the discussion at hand.

Again - I will be happy to discuss Diablo 3 and its content with you though. Thanks!

Quote from shaggy

Quote from Smoke129

I'd still like to hear that argument against what Polyrane is presenting here?

Well obviously the biggest argument is that, all other things aside, anecdotes are just that.

Just because a few faceless lead game designers told some guy about a "mechanic" that clearly sounds more like a tinhat theory than anything else doesn't really verify it. People can make stories up left and right, and I'm not accusing Polyrane of lying, but I'm saying it's naive to believe that everything you hear on the internet is true. And, even more important, it's naive as hell to believe that these people who told him this were being 100% genuine.

And then you have to factor in that this is basically a secondhand story so there's the "whisper down the lane effect" where details become more obfuscated the more times the "story" is retold. I mean he's basically condensing multiple stories from multiple people who presumably told them to him at different points in time and then retelling it to us. There's clearly room for minor details, which often times have major repercussions, to be forgotten and left out. This is why people want to hear things like this directly from Josh's mouth and not from the secretary of the guy who works for the guy who works for the lady who reports to Josh. The closer to the source the more reliable the information. Period.

Lastly, and most importantly, it's just absurd to think that because a few "lead game designers" (faceless people not tied to any products) say that they implemented something like this in their games that it's something Blizzard did. I mean PoE and D3 both have netcode, so they have to be the same... right? That would be a silly assumption to operate under. So to assume that because SOME un-named games allegedly have this system implemented that it justifies an otherwise un-justified theory... is equally as silly.

I mean I was sitting at a stop light today and all the Hondas I could see were grey. That must mean that all Honda vehicles are grey.

And I actually support everything that Shaggy has said. I know that these conversations took place and their evidence to me was presented. I know its true - but I do not expect everyone else to believe me. Which is why (out of respect from the "not true until you link it" threads here on the forums) I do not try to go out of my way and say that this theory is fact. I believe it and I bring it out there for other people to consider it. I'm talking shop about a game like other folks are doing. I personally get a little hot when I hear the tin foil remark, but that's okay; what you believe about me is not the issue. What may or may not be true about the design of one particular game, is what's being considered.

My brother-in-law was the lead designer for a Dungeons & Dragons game a few years back. I played it for a short while ( was addicted to WoW at the time) and obviously we spoke at length about the luck mechanic in his game as well as WoW.

I state facts here: he was not a designer for any of Blizzards games. He was a designer for another company. His game had the luck factor in it. He works in the industry and is friends with other designers of other companies that use this mechanic, just as much as the use the mechanic of the word "sword" to represent a sword in the game. Therefore I'm comfortable in speculating that it probably exists in the Diablo 3 franchise as well.

What amazes me is the standpoint that because I can't prove something, means that it doesn't exist. I wish there were a little more room for diplomacy in some of these discussions. That last sentence was not directed at Shaggy - just a general observation of many standpoints from posters about issues they don't believe in.

Quote from magier556

Quote from Polrayne

I am of the strong opinion (I can't prove it with direct Blue statements, so therefore I won't say it is a fact) that your characters/accounts are seeded with a luck rating upon creation. This lets the RNG system be a little more kind to some "lucky" folks and not so frequently kind to some "unlucky" folks.

However there are just bad streaks of luck. The timer is there to prevent one from going on too long, but it doesn't mean that after a bad streak you will have a good streak. It just means that you get a lego every two hour or so.

For instance - I have given Kadala thousands of shards and in return I have gotten one legendary item that soon transformed itself into a Forgotten Soul of Shame. Other folks have gambled 100 shards in front of me and walked away with 3 legos that were decent.

OP - I know you are frustrated. I don't get amazing drops all the time or very frequently at all. I have two set pieces because the other few I have encountered weren't even for my class. Oh I did get a Blackthorne that had really, really, really bad affix rolls. But its just the way it is.

When you start making theories like characters/accounts with a luck rating , think to yourself : why the hell would the game developer do this ever. There's your answer , they never did it. Notice how very often people who claim they always have bad luck often claim it's across multiple games. Most likely just ineficient farming or being very selective on what being lucky actually means.

Yes , I gambled 14.000 blood shards to try get a witching hour , no I didn't get it. But if I only single out this event than ofcourse I might seem unlucky , but just singling out one event means nothing. There's also the day where I found 3 amazing upgrades that I still use as of today. Try looking a bit more at the actual good drops and focus less on the times you had bad luck.

May I ask you the same question you asked me; why would a developer put a seed/luck rating mechanic into a game? I don't think you considered that for yourself before you responded to my statement. Let me answer your question - in a general sense and then you can tear apart my feelings as to how this general sense applies to the Diablo 3 system.

Seeding a luck rating is actually a part of a lot of games. I know (very personally) a couple of lead game designers who educated me years ago on this mechanic. Its there so that when a game is launched there are players that immediately begin to gain access to the content available. Find the right weapon at the right time, go into the next area of content right away. Get your character to the furthest end point of the content because you are lucky - then make a new class of character and start all over again. This equates to something they call "fun." When people have "fun" they tell their friends about it, they go online and rave about it. People believe other people and they go buy the game for themselves to have "fun."

For games that have an economy (like D3V did) this lets players immediately begin to find quality items (that have been designed on purpose to be of quality) quickly and begin to populate the trading system. Aside from profits that can be made by trading, this fast seeding of an economy also lets other plays (who aren't as lucky) see the items out there and it motivates them to continue to play. A low luck rating actually makes players invest their time longer and longer into the game. They will inevitably complain about the experience, but rest assured there are folks out there that will tell them "RNG is just RNG."

RNG is too random in many cases to be uniformly the same for everyone. And if you actually STOP and consider what I'm saying, you might see another side to this discussion. If it is truly random for everyone, then at some point everyone is going to have a bad streak. If too many players had a bad streak at once, they wouldn't have anything to trade or sell. They would complain on the internet and other people might believe them. The general public would stop liking the game and start to hate it.

And a final, general comparison to real world events that show you mechanics like a seed/luck rating is viable for video games; casinos. Ever hear the statement "the loosest slots around!" This means that by law the Casino has to pay out a certain percentage of their take to their patrons. If all the machines paid out at the same flat percentage then everyone has an equal chance of winning a jackpot or losing. So everyone could win at the same time (theoretically) or everyone could lose their ass at the same time. This would be bad for the Casino. So some machines have a higher pay out percentage and some are at the base. So when you are pumping in dollar after dollar and someone next to you sits down, pops in their first dollar and they win a jackpot and get all excited, the average player might think "my jackpot is just around the corner - better keep putting in these dollars!"

It exists. I just don't say it that way when referencing this game, because unless I can link to a quote from a Blue, people tend to get all wonky on these forums when you state a theory as a fact.

So after that analysis - do you Magier556 have any thoughts about what I've said that might be a little more diplomatic than your first post?

I am of the strong opinion (I can't prove it with direct Blue statements, so therefore I won't say it is a fact) that your characters/accounts are seeded with a luck rating upon creation. This lets the RNG system be a little more kind to some "lucky" folks and not so frequently kind to some "unlucky" folks.

However there are just bad streaks of luck. The timer is there to prevent one from going on too long, but it doesn't mean that after a bad streak you will have a good streak. It just means that you get a lego every two hour or so.

For instance - I have given Kadala thousands of shards and in return I have gotten one legendary item that soon transformed itself into a Forgotten Soul of Shame. Other folks have gambled 100 shards in front of me and walked away with 3 legos that were decent.

OP - I know you are frustrated. I don't get amazing drops all the time or very frequently at all. I have two set pieces because the other few I have encountered weren't even for my class. Oh I did get a Blackthorne that had really, really, really bad affix rolls. But its just the way it is.

Kadala should have an expanded inventory of items that you could buy - i.e. plans. Plans that you could either straight up buy with blood shards (obviously a large amount of shards) or going back to buying a Large Cache as they had during the Beta that will drop random loot and has a higher chance to drop a plan.

Seems to be a good addition to the blood shards usage and lets folks take advantage of doing some lego crafting. I'd save up 500 shards to buy a cache if it gave me a chance for a plan. Beats filling my inventory space with chest pieces with no legos, over and over and over and over.....................

Thoughts?

I think the issue of sockets could be simply resolved with a cap to CHD - as they were discussing during development.

If you hit max or close to it from other gear, than you are less inclined to roll out a primary affix on a weapon for a socket. The extra LoH or thorns damage would be nice, but not as attractive as primary stat/vit/weapon dmg bonus, etc.

Or if you do decide to do that, it isn't a feeling that revolves around the word mandatory - its more a play style choice.

And Ruksak is right; sockets shouldn't be considered a primary affix.

Sorry I should have been a little more clear - I was under the impression or had hoped that the harder of the difficulty you did the bounties in, the "better" the cache would be as far as quantity/quality. I think split farming is okay I guess - but what I don't care for is speed farming on normal as the best way to progress. I just liked that we had a purpose to playing with bounties and now its back to "gimmicks" in order to progress.

I thought split-farming had been fixed, so you had to be on the same screen of the suiject of the bounty when its completed, to get credit?

I'm hearing friends say they are watching streamers do split farming and getting credit for the bounty. Also they are doing it on Normal and getting a cache every five or so minutes. Not to be a jack bag, but I was sorta hoping that the loot in the cache was a little proportionate to the difficulty level....

They have stated there won't be maintenance tomorrow - so you can start playing tonight on through the day on Tuesday.

And not to have kittens or anything - BUT - Amazon.com still shows my CE as being "prepared for shipping"

They better put that fucker on a drone and FLY it to my house....

I've always preferred solo game play in the Diablo series, simply for the ability to put on some playlist and grind for a few hours. However, group gameplay can be a lot of fun - provided the group consists of people you know and can talk to via Skype/Vent, etc.

Public games inevitably have some or most of the group going off in weird directions, wasting time in town - not very efficient.

Sadly I have to agree that it won't arrive today. Amazon surprises me every now and then and I had hoped that I would get it early like so many others. Its a tough situation always with these games - I want the CE, but have to wait until the next day when the brick and mortar store opens or UPS graces me with their truck.

Signed into Amazon this morning and it tells me that my CE is being "prepared" for shipment....

Secret hopes that its on a truck and going to be delivered today?

Or believe the "delivery estimate" of before 8:00 pm on Tuesday..........