1: How will set items be handled? What type of rarity will they be classified, as far as drop reward rarity is concerned? Will there be set bonuses? Will they add a new and unique visual effect if an entire set is equipped similar to Diablo 2? Can we expect multiple tiers of set items as there was in Diablo 2?
2: Legendaries are to have a unique graphic for each of them, separating them even further from tier graphics. Will Legendaries be considered the blue chip items of Diablo 3 based on their statistics or can we expect some novelty Legendaries as well? Can we expect to see a sample Legendary before launch?
3: Resource systems seem like an effort to further individualize character class choices. Were each of the resource mechanics designed with each archetype in mind to further gravitate players that normally play niche classes in RPGs toward a particular class? Can we expect each class to have additional resource generation skills/talents/traits to further alleviate downtime and if so could we possibly get an example or two?
4: Pacing in Diablo 2 was fairly straight forward with an occasional quest that took you out of the way. Can we expect quests or missions to take us into areas of interest that could potentially yield higher rewards than traveling the beaten path? If so, is this going to be used as a way to kind of herd players into alternate end-game options as far as loot farming or experience grinding?
5: Moo moooo mooo moo mooooo! Cows. Yes or no?
6: More and more titles are using achievements as "filler content". Will there be achievements that yield special rewards in-game beyond the achievement points? If so, could we get an example, hypothetical or otherwise?
7: Gambling was always a nice little feature that felt tacked onto Diablo 2. Has this feature been explored and revisited in any degree? Will this be a legitimate option to dump currency into as far as risk - reward ratio is concerned?
8: Respeccing your characters in many RPGs, be it MMO or otherwise, has become an expected feature. How will Diablo 3 handle this? Will there be a grind involved or will it be perhaps a drop?
9: Starcraft 2 has brought to light the new Battle.net. Can you tell us how Diablo 3 will make use of the features that Starcraft 2 has employed with the new online game hub? Can you share with us some features exclusive to Diablo 3 for battle.net?
10: Trading is one of the most valuable features as far as player interaction with one and another. Will this critical social game aspect be diminished as far as player to player interaction goes with a mutual trading hub or should we expect face to face trades to return as the sole means to trading?
11: With the Diablo universe, there has always been a much darker tone than that of any other Blizzard title. Graphically, the game looks absolutely amazing. Can we expect Diablo 3 to maintain the mature rating many long-time fans expect or will we see a shift in content? Can you give us an example of a particularly dark moment in the game?
12: End-game has always been a subject of interest and speculation to many long-time fans. What approach has been taken in Diablo 3? Can we expect to do boss runs similar to Diablo 2, or is there an alternative method to loot farming or experience grinding?
13 The follower system seems like a nice evolution from hirelings in Diablo 2. Will the followers be as viable in the harder difficulties as they are in normal? If so, will players have to compensate for them in the same ways that a player would if they suffer a penalty for being in the harder difficulties?
14: Magic find has always been a valuable statistic on items in Diablo 2. Will magic find influence other players' drops in your party or will it only affect your drops? Can we expect to see items that are seemingly dedicated to helping players find better loot? Could you delve into the basic function of the Magic Find system as it is in Diablo 3?
That's all I have. Thanks for considering my questions for Jay and the fellas!
I have an addendum to these questions, as you consider them:
15: In Diablo 2, players had to beat Normal difficulty to be able to make a Hardcore character. Later, this restriction was removed. Will there be limitations to when a player can create a Hardcore character? If so, what would that be?
16: There's an item trading site that takes advantage of the Diablo 2 player base by allowing players to purchase currency on the forum and trade that currency to other players for items. This has become a huge problem for in-game trading. How will the trading system help alleviate this issue and can we expect Blizzard to crackdown moreso on sites like those with Diablo 3?
17: Quests in Diablo 2 offered a few very nice permanent character boosts. Can we expect these to return and if so can we get an example of what one reward may be?
18: Traits are in the game to allow for much deeper customization in the wake of manual statistic placement. Can we expect traits to affect the core gameplay of individual classes?
19: There was mention of potential paid services for Diablo 3 that would not affect gameplay. Care to share the thoughts on those?
20: In Diablo 2, there were class specific items. Will these make a return and if so will there be class specific sets or legendaries?
21: One nice feature that came later in Diablo 2's lifespan was items that allowed players to use some cross-class skills such as Wolfhowl. Items like those serve a couple of different purposes such as allowing for further specialized character builds and replayability. Can we expect something similar with the release or in the future? If so, will runestones be able to augment those skills?
22: Given that the Diablo franchise has largely been a trading oriented game, will there be a way to help lessen the influx of items in the economy?
23: In act V of Diablo 2, Anya could personalize an item for you. While this customization was a pretty nifty idea, it diminished the value of a personalized item. Will there be a way to further customize items visually or otherwise, beyond socketables and dyes, and if so, can we get an example or two?
24: Some items were said to move while equipped on characters. Is this still in the game and if so, will this be the case for just specific pieces of gear?
25: Given the fact that much of the replayability in Diablo 2 was due to the lack of respeccing, is there a feature that would, beyond just magic find, promote players to sink more time into the game?
26: There was mention of craftable items. If this feature is still in the game, how will players obtain new recipes and what type of rarity of items will players be able to craft?
27: Dye has been confirmed to help players with more customization. How will we obtain dyes? Will some colors be much harder to obtain?
28: We know from an interview that the cube is returning, with a new name. What will its functionality be beyond possibly combining gems?
29: I remember an interview stating, using the Windforce as an example, that items may make a return but in a different capacity. Can we expect the return of some familiar items in Diablo 3? Will these items be altered to match better with the new classes and lore?
30: How has the lore influenced character class design? Without giving much away, can we expect the lore from Diablo 3 to influence the expansions' features?
31: Ladder seasons were a method to help reset the market for Diablo 2. While this feature accomplished its purpose, it devalued much of the players' time. In an interview I recall reading this was an antiquated feature and would not be returning. With that in mind, will there be a ladder in Diablo 3 and if so, will it be based on the PvP arena system?
The 2012 crowd base their opinions off more than just facts. I think it is also based off of the old addage: Hope for the best, expect the worst. So, with that in mind, even if they're wrong they are happy to be wrong. Let us all hope the game is in a condition to come out sooner than later.
There won't be content patches (like those in WoW), huge support teams, and relatively high server costs. They have no reason to give it a monthly fee, and it is confirmed that they won't.
I'm pretty sure that they mentioned they'll add new gear once in a while to make the BiS list more flexible and the hardcores occupied, but don't know how that will workout without patches!
The only mention of adding content has been talked about, in brevity, was with expansions. There may be content patches in the same fashion as the content patches were in Diablo 2: few and far between and free. Expect content to come in the form of expansions.
Of course Diablo 3 will not be pay-to-play as this title has been developed to be funded in its entirety with sales, ad revenue from battle.net, and expansion sales. There has never been a mention of even an option of paying for anything in-game, other than one time: it was mentioned that it would be considered (considered, and that's it) to provide optional, non-gameplay affecting services to players such as possible character name changes. There's a lot of nonsense going around that people think a Battle.net title will be p2p. This is not the case and will likely never be the case, due to the fact that MMO titles are the only titles Blizzard develops that requires continual income to maintain and provide content and those titles tend to be so massive they require their own server farms.
In summation: Do not expect, ever, to pay for ANY content for a Battle.net title, beyond expansions. Anyone that tells you differently is furthering an agenda, and I'm sure you already knew that.
1: How will set items be handled? What type of rarity will they be classified, as far as drop reward rarity is concerned? Will there be set bonuses? Will they add a new and unique visual effect if an entire set is equipped similar to Diablo 2? Can we expect multiple tiers of set items as there was in Diablo 2?
2: Legendaries are to have a unique graphic for each of them, separating them even further from tier graphics. Will Legendaries be considered the blue chip items of Diablo 3 based on their statistics or can we expect some novelty Legendaries as well? Can we expect to see a sample Legendary before launch?
3: Resource systems seem like an effort to further individualize character class choices. Were each of the resource mechanics designed with each archetype in mind to further gravitate players that normally play niche classes in RPGs toward a particular class? Can we expect each class to have additional resource generation skills/talents/traits to further alleviate downtime and if so could we possibly get an example or two?
4: Pacing in Diablo 2 was fairly straight forward with an occasional quest that took you out of the way. Can we expect quests or missions to take us into areas of interest that could potentially yield higher rewards than traveling the beaten path? If so, is this going to be used as a way to kind of herd players into alternate end-game options as far as loot farming or experience grinding?
5: Moo moooo mooo moo mooooo! Cows. Yes or no?
6: More and more titles are using achievements as "filler content". Will there be achievements that yield special rewards in-game beyond the achievement points? If so, could we get an example, hypothetical or otherwise?
7: Gambling was always a nice little feature that felt tacked onto Diablo 2. Has this feature been explored and revisited in any degree? Will this be a legitimate option to dump currency into as far as risk - reward ratio is concerned?
8: Respeccing your characters in many RPGs, be it MMO or otherwise, has become an expected feature. How will Diablo 3 handle this? Will there be a grind involved or will it be perhaps a drop?
9: Starcraft 2 has brought to light the new Battle.net. Can you tell us how Diablo 3 will make use of the features that Starcraft 2 has employed with the new online game hub? Can you share with us some features exclusive to Diablo 3 for battle.net?
10: Trading is one of the most valuable features as far as player interaction with one and another. Will this critical social game aspect be diminished as far as player to player interaction goes with a mutual trading hub or should we expect face to face trades to return as the sole means to trading?
11: With the Diablo universe, there has always been a much darker tone than that of any other Blizzard title. Graphically, the game looks absolutely amazing. Can we expect Diablo 3 to maintain the mature rating many long-time fans expect or will we see a shift in content? Can you give us an example of a particularly dark moment in the game?
12: End-game has always been a subject of interest and speculation to many long-time fans. What approach has been taken in Diablo 3? Can we expect to do boss runs similar to Diablo 2, or is there an alternative method to loot farming or experience grinding?
13 The follower system seems like a nice evolution from hirelings in Diablo 2. Will the followers be as viable in the harder difficulties as they are in normal? If so, will players have to compensate for them in the same ways that a player would if they suffer a penalty for being in the harder difficulties?
14: Magic find has always been a valuable statistic on items in Diablo 2. Will magic find influence other players' drops in your party or will it only affect your drops? Can we expect to see items that are seemingly dedicated to helping players find better loot? Could you delve into the basic function of the Magic Find system as it is in Diablo 3?
That's all I have. Thanks for considering my questions for Jay and the fellas!
0
0
15: In Diablo 2, players had to beat Normal difficulty to be able to make a Hardcore character. Later, this restriction was removed. Will there be limitations to when a player can create a Hardcore character? If so, what would that be?
16: There's an item trading site that takes advantage of the Diablo 2 player base by allowing players to purchase currency on the forum and trade that currency to other players for items. This has become a huge problem for in-game trading. How will the trading system help alleviate this issue and can we expect Blizzard to crackdown moreso on sites like those with Diablo 3?
17: Quests in Diablo 2 offered a few very nice permanent character boosts. Can we expect these to return and if so can we get an example of what one reward may be?
18: Traits are in the game to allow for much deeper customization in the wake of manual statistic placement. Can we expect traits to affect the core gameplay of individual classes?
19: There was mention of potential paid services for Diablo 3 that would not affect gameplay. Care to share the thoughts on those?
20: In Diablo 2, there were class specific items. Will these make a return and if so will there be class specific sets or legendaries?
21: One nice feature that came later in Diablo 2's lifespan was items that allowed players to use some cross-class skills such as Wolfhowl. Items like those serve a couple of different purposes such as allowing for further specialized character builds and replayability. Can we expect something similar with the release or in the future? If so, will runestones be able to augment those skills?
22: Given that the Diablo franchise has largely been a trading oriented game, will there be a way to help lessen the influx of items in the economy?
23: In act V of Diablo 2, Anya could personalize an item for you. While this customization was a pretty nifty idea, it diminished the value of a personalized item. Will there be a way to further customize items visually or otherwise, beyond socketables and dyes, and if so, can we get an example or two?
24: Some items were said to move while equipped on characters. Is this still in the game and if so, will this be the case for just specific pieces of gear?
25: Given the fact that much of the replayability in Diablo 2 was due to the lack of respeccing, is there a feature that would, beyond just magic find, promote players to sink more time into the game?
26: There was mention of craftable items. If this feature is still in the game, how will players obtain new recipes and what type of rarity of items will players be able to craft?
27: Dye has been confirmed to help players with more customization. How will we obtain dyes? Will some colors be much harder to obtain?
28: We know from an interview that the cube is returning, with a new name. What will its functionality be beyond possibly combining gems?
29: I remember an interview stating, using the Windforce as an example, that items may make a return but in a different capacity. Can we expect the return of some familiar items in Diablo 3? Will these items be altered to match better with the new classes and lore?
30: How has the lore influenced character class design? Without giving much away, can we expect the lore from Diablo 3 to influence the expansions' features?
31: Ladder seasons were a method to help reset the market for Diablo 2. While this feature accomplished its purpose, it devalued much of the players' time. In an interview I recall reading this was an antiquated feature and would not be returning. With that in mind, will there be a ladder in Diablo 3 and if so, will it be based on the PvP arena system?
0
0
0
The only mention of adding content has been talked about, in brevity, was with expansions. There may be content patches in the same fashion as the content patches were in Diablo 2: few and far between and free. Expect content to come in the form of expansions.
Of course Diablo 3 will not be pay-to-play as this title has been developed to be funded in its entirety with sales, ad revenue from battle.net, and expansion sales. There has never been a mention of even an option of paying for anything in-game, other than one time: it was mentioned that it would be considered (considered, and that's it) to provide optional, non-gameplay affecting services to players such as possible character name changes. There's a lot of nonsense going around that people think a Battle.net title will be p2p. This is not the case and will likely never be the case, due to the fact that MMO titles are the only titles Blizzard develops that requires continual income to maintain and provide content and those titles tend to be so massive they require their own server farms.
In summation: Do not expect, ever, to pay for ANY content for a Battle.net title, beyond expansions. Anyone that tells you differently is furthering an agenda, and I'm sure you already knew that.
0
2: Legendaries are to have a unique graphic for each of them, separating them even further from tier graphics. Will Legendaries be considered the blue chip items of Diablo 3 based on their statistics or can we expect some novelty Legendaries as well? Can we expect to see a sample Legendary before launch?
3: Resource systems seem like an effort to further individualize character class choices. Were each of the resource mechanics designed with each archetype in mind to further gravitate players that normally play niche classes in RPGs toward a particular class? Can we expect each class to have additional resource generation skills/talents/traits to further alleviate downtime and if so could we possibly get an example or two?
4: Pacing in Diablo 2 was fairly straight forward with an occasional quest that took you out of the way. Can we expect quests or missions to take us into areas of interest that could potentially yield higher rewards than traveling the beaten path? If so, is this going to be used as a way to kind of herd players into alternate end-game options as far as loot farming or experience grinding?
5: Moo moooo mooo moo mooooo! Cows. Yes or no?
6: More and more titles are using achievements as "filler content". Will there be achievements that yield special rewards in-game beyond the achievement points? If so, could we get an example, hypothetical or otherwise?
7: Gambling was always a nice little feature that felt tacked onto Diablo 2. Has this feature been explored and revisited in any degree? Will this be a legitimate option to dump currency into as far as risk - reward ratio is concerned?
8: Respeccing your characters in many RPGs, be it MMO or otherwise, has become an expected feature. How will Diablo 3 handle this? Will there be a grind involved or will it be perhaps a drop?
9: Starcraft 2 has brought to light the new Battle.net. Can you tell us how Diablo 3 will make use of the features that Starcraft 2 has employed with the new online game hub? Can you share with us some features exclusive to Diablo 3 for battle.net?
10: Trading is one of the most valuable features as far as player interaction with one and another. Will this critical social game aspect be diminished as far as player to player interaction goes with a mutual trading hub or should we expect face to face trades to return as the sole means to trading?
11: With the Diablo universe, there has always been a much darker tone than that of any other Blizzard title. Graphically, the game looks absolutely amazing. Can we expect Diablo 3 to maintain the mature rating many long-time fans expect or will we see a shift in content? Can you give us an example of a particularly dark moment in the game?
12: End-game has always been a subject of interest and speculation to many long-time fans. What approach has been taken in Diablo 3? Can we expect to do boss runs similar to Diablo 2, or is there an alternative method to loot farming or experience grinding?
13 The follower system seems like a nice evolution from hirelings in Diablo 2. Will the followers be as viable in the harder difficulties as they are in normal? If so, will players have to compensate for them in the same ways that a player would if they suffer a penalty for being in the harder difficulties?
14: Magic find has always been a valuable statistic on items in Diablo 2. Will magic find influence other players' drops in your party or will it only affect your drops? Can we expect to see items that are seemingly dedicated to helping players find better loot? Could you delve into the basic function of the Magic Find system as it is in Diablo 3?
That's all I have. Thanks for considering my questions for Jay and the fellas!