strange... everyone got internet connection speed in their profile, i dont , i even redownloaded the program, sent the new info and still dont have the criteria...
did you refresh the page? mine wasnt there, but appeared after refreshing.
Out of all the hundreds of hours spent in D2, and new Barbarians, Amazons and Sorceresses I rolled (my preferred classes), the skill system NEVER, EVER made me think "gosh, I really like how much I can customize my character with this system!"
In D2, it was always a choice from a handful templates per class. Like I'm going to spend weeks playing a character to explore a potentially crappy build all on my own? Then repeat? No. This does not fall within most gamers' definitions of "fun." I'm either going to load up a hacked character offline and test it out, or spend hours sifting through forum posts. (The latter of which is akin wading through raw sewage to find lost jewelry.) The fact that this was the best way for players to go about discovering what good choices they had available speaks LOUDLY about how bad D2's skill system was.
Now take that handful of templates, throw away the PvP centric (carebear hugs!), throw away the ones I didn't have the gear or runewords for (if i hacked gear, what was the point?), and pick among what I knew I'd find fun to play? Honestly, that left me with 2 choices per class.
The minor variances within a templated build brought no sense of meaningful customization to me, and were usually the result of impatience (screw it I'm spending these points!) or a mistake.
Beyond choosing between two templates, I rerolled for the fun of playing through again, and to over-gear new characters, not because I felt like I was exploring any meaningful or enjoyable customization out of the statpoint and skillpoint system.
Good riddance.
PS - I really hated stockpiling points and always felt it meant the system was poorly designed.
I thought the loot drops would be focused toward character anyways? or is that not true.
I don't think I've seen any official comments suggesting it... Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a small bias put in place (nor would I complain about that), but I was suggesting something drastic, like 90% of loot drops are focused towards your character, which I'm not sure I'd be happy with.
Less loot drops, with vast majority of loot drops weighted towards being something useful to your character class. (I can see this being a possibility to appeal to a broader audience, but also obviously pissing off a lot of the "core gamers.")
Worst implausible news:
D3 goes Free-To-Play with optional micro-transactions on crafting materials, runestones, gems, character slots and shared stash space. ($_$)
There were two public tests:
- a closed beta that included all of act 1 and all 5 (original) classes
- an open stress test that included the first 2 quests of act 1 (and only the zones required to do them) and only allowed people to play the barbarian
I don't recall a level cap for either of them. Of course each level became significantly more difficult than the last without access to higher level monsters.
Ah, yes I played the open-stress-test thing. I couldn't do anything beyond Blood Raven, and obviously wasn't a very accurate snapshot of what D2 was at release! =)
I don't think it was ever possible for D2, nor for D3, to capture D1 completely. D1 was a fairly singular game in that you felt like you were irrevocably tied to this lone, cursed and lost town. There was no outside beyond the small town's confines, and nothing else really mattered. It gave it this almost dreamlike quality, stuck in something you knew would become a nightmare. Your only path was down. Down, deeper into a tomb and then even deeper underneath it to find new horrors. It was your inexorable fate to go deeper into the darkness until you died or discovered what lay at the bottom--if there even was a bottom. The whole game just oozed inescapable dread.
D2's atmosphere --
In my opinion, it's impossible for D2 to have replicated this, because conceptually, D1 was a wholly contained experience. Either D2 would have to clone the setting outright, and suffer greatly as a salable product for doing so, or answer the question of "what might happen next?" which, sadly, immediately demands the curtains be drawn back from our singular town and show us what's outside.
I think Blizzard North still knew what they were doing, because the cinematics with Marius keep true to D1's essence: trapped in a nightmare, being drawn inexorably on, knowing it can't possibly end well. However, the player is cast into an entirely new role--you're chasing down evil, always two steps behind, in a race against global disaster. An excellent approach in its own right! Blizzard, being good game designers, needed to take us into new areas with their own atmosphere. If they had kept a majority of color palette brown, grey and black, I would have been sorely disappointed that they hired Quake's art director. and it really wouldn't have worked for the adventure D2 took us on. The game kept pockets of D1 in it-- delving into ruined temples, tombs, cathedrals, etc. and it worked fairly well.
D3's potential --
Similarly, D3 can deliver those concentrated pockets of D1. There are screenshots that lead me to hope (no proof) there's an entire Act in D3 that captures D1's trapped in a focused, inescapable nightmare feel. (But, it still won't be as impactful as D1 since you will have come from somewhere else, and know you have somewhere further beyond to go.)
Share your thoughts/hopes for D3's setting and atmopshere! Or something like that.
Note: I'm not one who thinks D3 needs a all the color sucked out of it. I'm very, very excited about the rich, oil-painting-like feel D3's settings have. I think this approach goes a long way to giving the whole game a unique and gothic feel without making everything black & brown. That being said, I can respect people's preferences, I would just really prefer the art the way it is, and add a de-saturation slider or something for those who don't like it.
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Not only will I run the same acts 4 times, I plan to run them several hundred times.
I'm pretty sure adding a 4th difficulty doesn't create any repetition I wasn't already chomping-at-the-bit for.
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Naming debate: If not Inferno, then what? My vote goes to: "Burnination Mode!"
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In D2, it was always a choice from a handful templates per class. Like I'm going to spend weeks playing a character to explore a potentially crappy build all on my own? Then repeat? No. This does not fall within most gamers' definitions of "fun." I'm either going to load up a hacked character offline and test it out, or spend hours sifting through forum posts. (The latter of which is akin wading through raw sewage to find lost jewelry.) The fact that this was the best way for players to go about discovering what good choices they had available speaks LOUDLY about how bad D2's skill system was.
Now take that handful of templates, throw away the PvP centric (carebear hugs!), throw away the ones I didn't have the gear or runewords for (if i hacked gear, what was the point?), and pick among what I knew I'd find fun to play? Honestly, that left me with 2 choices per class.
The minor variances within a templated build brought no sense of meaningful customization to me, and were usually the result of impatience (screw it I'm spending these points!) or a mistake.
Beyond choosing between two templates, I rerolled for the fun of playing through again, and to over-gear new characters, not because I felt like I was exploring any meaningful or enjoyable customization out of the statpoint and skillpoint system.
Good riddance.
PS - I really hated stockpiling points and always felt it meant the system was poorly designed.
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I don't think I've seen any official comments suggesting it... Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a small bias put in place (nor would I complain about that), but I was suggesting something drastic, like 90% of loot drops are focused towards your character, which I'm not sure I'd be happy with.
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Worst implausible news:
Edit: edited in "vast" majority
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Ah, yes I played the open-stress-test thing. I couldn't do anything beyond Blood Raven, and obviously wasn't a very accurate snapshot of what D2 was at release! =)
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Also, I'm sorry, but I love the skeletons cackling.
3
I don't think it was ever possible for D2, nor for D3, to capture D1 completely. D1 was a fairly singular game in that you felt like you were irrevocably tied to this lone, cursed and lost town. There was no outside beyond the small town's confines, and nothing else really mattered. It gave it this almost dreamlike quality, stuck in something you knew would become a nightmare. Your only path was down. Down, deeper into a tomb and then even deeper underneath it to find new horrors. It was your inexorable fate to go deeper into the darkness until you died or discovered what lay at the bottom--if there even was a bottom. The whole game just oozed inescapable dread.
D2's atmosphere --
In my opinion, it's impossible for D2 to have replicated this, because conceptually, D1 was a wholly contained experience. Either D2 would have to clone the setting outright, and suffer greatly as a salable product for doing so, or answer the question of "what might happen next?" which, sadly, immediately demands the curtains be drawn back from our singular town and show us what's outside.
I think Blizzard North still knew what they were doing, because the cinematics with Marius keep true to D1's essence: trapped in a nightmare, being drawn inexorably on, knowing it can't possibly end well. However, the player is cast into an entirely new role--you're chasing down evil, always two steps behind, in a race against global disaster. An excellent approach in its own right! Blizzard, being good game designers, needed to take us into new areas with their own atmosphere. If they had kept a majority of color palette brown, grey and black, I would have been sorely disappointed
that they hired Quake's art director.and it really wouldn't have worked for the adventure D2 took us on. The game kept pockets of D1 in it-- delving into ruined temples, tombs, cathedrals, etc. and it worked fairly well.D3's potential --
Similarly, D3 can deliver those concentrated pockets of D1. There are screenshots that lead me to hope (no proof) there's an entire Act in D3 that captures D1's trapped in a focused, inescapable nightmare feel. (But, it still won't be as impactful as D1 since you will have come from somewhere else, and know you have somewhere further beyond to go.)
D1-vibe screenshots:
http://us.blizzard.com/diablo3/_images/screenshots/ss86-hires.jpg -- http://us.blizzard.com/diablo3/_images/screenshots/ss63-hires.jpg
http://us.blizzard.com/diablo3/_images/screenshots/ss57-hires.jpg -- http://us.blizzard.com/diablo3/_images/screenshots/ss53-hires.jpg
Share your thoughts/hopes for D3's setting and atmopshere! Or something like that.
Note: I'm not one who thinks D3 needs a all the color sucked out of it. I'm very, very excited about the rich, oil-painting-like feel D3's settings have. I think this approach goes a long way to giving the whole game a unique and gothic feel without making everything black & brown. That being said, I can respect people's preferences, I would just really prefer the art the way it is, and add a de-saturation slider or something for those who don't like it.
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Agreed 10000x over. Sadly, tons of games are guilty of this mistake in various ways--often for skill-choices!
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http://www.diablofans.com/topic/26120-d1-d2-and-d3-atmosphere-thoughts/
(It didn't really belong in this thread.)