Ladders don't really matter a whole lot to me. Loot, yes, but ladders... no.

There are some bad ideas in that video too. Like that giant cinematic window for conversations. It'd really get annoying, especially considering how much simple text boxes upset us now. The rest of the game looks the same, just less polished. Especially the sound effects, which are non-existent, but of course that's to be expected.

Cutting Talisman and Mystic were the biggest blows to this game. The game could have used more stuff upon release. It's tough to go from runes/charms/runewords to... rares. Even if it is a brand new game, Blizz should know from WoW, and everyone who competes with their game, any MMO is always at an immediate disadvantage due to how much less content it provides than the reigning champion.

Now that I've had some time to think it over, I imagine internally this change just made a lot of sense. Jay was being vilified and obviously didn't enjoy it. Rob was happy with his work but didn't like seeing his director act as a punching bag. They had a project that more fit his specialty (RTS) so they moved him over, and are looking to put someone in who is more attuned to addressing things like itemization and the like.

Which isn't to say Jay failed. The skills are amazing and the combat is the best yet, so if only for that reason, I think Jay has contributed more than enough to the project, but I don't think the RPG side of things is quite in his repertoire, so hopefully they can find someone who can come up with all kinds of nifty garbage for us to collect in the same vein as runes/charms/etc. while also expanding on itemization.

Of course, mistakes have been made and they both probably deep down realize that, but to say the game is a failure is nothing more than hyperbole. This new director is more a closer than anything. Jay pitched a good game, but it's the bottom of the ninth and he's just given up a few too many runs.

Or maybe it's just getting hard to pitch with everyone throwing beer cups at him.

Bittersweet. I'm excited to see what the next person brings, but also seeing someone leave like this is always a bit tough. Then again, seven years on one game... yeesh.

Great post, Catalept. Particularly, this:

I think you could also make a case that the more popular your product, the worse the signal-to-noise gets on your customer feedback channels.

So true. Plus, the more people play your games, the more varying wants for that game, which leads to a lot more dissatisfied people insisting that Blizz doesn't care because their personal desires were ignored.

So many baby steps... but, we'll get there.

Quote from vioche

woha blizzard starting to defend themselfs instead of making the game better? rly?

CMs aren't developers.

Quote from MaddogBG012788

Well lets hope they add something else than just the dual option... I mean i will be happy for the PVP crowd but for me if it is only PVP/Dual I could care less lol

Well, based on hints CMs have been dropping word on the street for 1.07 is this:

-looking at followers (set items actually working on them)
-reflect damage change via both from pets not causing damage to you and indicator of RD (Possibly like Invulnerable shielding but with Reflect Damage instead) so it's not constantly on.
-commented on making banner drops more interesting.
-profile update more frequent
-Longer and farther ping on legendary drops?
-looking at life on kill affix
-looking at thorns affix
-looking at wizard archon ability
-looking at one with Everything reworked
-looking at DH grenade rework

That's a few sort of interesting things, but considering how long this patch has taken, I would hope we get more, at least in terms of class balance.

Quote from Benegesserit

LOL, no.

Garbage in, garbage out. The community was diverse and enjoyable when the game first came out but shortly after everyone discovered what D3 ended up being, those with sense left and all you had left were rabid fanboys furious that people didn't think this was another great entry in the Diablo franchise.

I disagree and think that some people genuinely enjoy playing this game, regardless of what anyone else thinks about it. Well, at least I know I do, which is really the only person I can speak for anyway.

The only thing they can be blamed for is trying too hard.

I quit for four months. And I quit hard. I actually thought I was done with the game for good when I did quit. But lo and behold I recently came back and with fresh eyes I'm enjoying it immensely. The game play in D3 is on another level of satisfying. I'm not even talking about item drops, just roaming around killing stuff has an incredibly addicting flow to it. Like a nice rising and falling action, where nothing feels too easy or too hard, but just right. It's got a groove, really. I think I came to realize that after playing Torchlight 2, where you are always on one gear, and always using the same skills more or less the same way, with little regard for anything but the items that drop.

Of course, I'm not concerned with mowing through the game with a max efficiency build like the WW barb (though nothing against that if that's your taste), but instead I'm just creating my own builds and treating the game like a demon killing playground where I can be whatever sounds good to me on any given day/hour/minute. For example, just recently I've come to discover the power of the Frostburn Gauntlets (don't laugh) and I've got a bad ass ice melee wizard that puts out some great DPS but also with some serious survivability.

This is my current build/character: http://us.battle.net...0/hero/20918879

And it's great, because I've gone through like 10 builds over the last week. And just as I'm growing attached, I think... what if I did this?

I guess taking a long break does wonders. So if you're feeling burnt out, then take a break, by all means. And play a ton of Infinity Engine games and maybe some Wizardry too. Well, at least that's what I did.

Anyway, I voted option 2. It's good but it definitely could be better! Looking forward to it.

So the sum up your post:

1) The graphic design team should be fired and their salaries used to fund number crunchers.

2) Obvious bugs which make some items twice as powerfull should be ignored.

3) The only gold sink left in the game should be removed.

4) You want everyone to get showered in legendaries within the first 5 minutes of logging in.

Might I also mention the interesting contradiction of you claiming to not have had any decent drops for 21 days yet still playing Torment 5-6 :)?

I know we're not really supposed to discuss moderation in public, but I'd really like to see some kind of action with all the QQ threads about how Blizzard kicked someone's dog and their account got flagged for bad loot.

It's not that discussing drop rates is a bad thing. It's more that individual threads for each person who hits a dry streak and needs to rage on the forums is annoying. I did a quick glance at the first page in General and there are at least four threads about someone's bad luck. Two of the threads are started by the same person.

Is there any way to make the whine threads disappear and attempt to at least condense stuff into productive discussion? I know that having productive discussion about drop rates is difficult because people who aren't experiencing bad drop rates surely aren't running to the forums to whine. So really what you have is a bunch of people with bad luck re-affirming each other in what amounts to a giant circle-jerk, but still there's got to be some way to cut the QQ spam and at least be semi-intelligent, scientific, and productive about the discussion.

15% of the first page on General doesn't need to be the SAME thread with a different author basically saying the same thing. Whether or not it's true, it's exhausting and overbearing.

EDIT
As a suggestion, maybe don't infract people, but just lock the threads (or outright delete them so they DISAPPEAR), and point people to a singular thread? IDK, I'm just spitballing.

Quote from Optio82

Bullshit - the loot drop rate sucks now period. It was fine before that first 25% bump up to Rifts. Now even after the 100% bump - it still sucks. I go DAYS of playing 3-4 hours at a time without seeing a SINGLE damn Green drop. None. Its the same crappy trash 2handers over and over.

Its not all Random. This isn't gaming in early 2000s.

They can fix it if they want. Gaming Technology today can assure its NOT random and instead drops follow a consistent flow rate -- there is no reason for the drops to not be consistent for everyone, PERIOD. Why the F*&K do you deserve 5-10 Legendaries during your play, but the next guy/gal doesn't?? It can be corrected if they want too.

Calm down and have a tampon, guy.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/3354739/ is the place for whine posts.

Quote from muffinman5423

There is nothing in the game that is forcing you to just farm Chests so I don't get why people are bent out of shape.

Well it's a hack-and-slash ARPG. Chests and breakables should be fun when they are in ADDITION to killing monsters. The problem is when they become a complete replacement... the game stops being an ARPG. It becomes a game where you just find the best path to open chests. So, like I said, this game isn't called "Chest Hunt 3." The FOCUS of the game is not opening chests. When people make opening chests the FOCUS of the game then they change it up because that was never the intended focus of ANY game in the genre... ever.

I'm not sure how that's a complex concept. There is a general framework upon which the game is built. One of the pieces of that framework is that the focus of the game is killing monsters. Opening chests is not killing monsters. Complicated, right?

God forbid they put in an achievement that might take the average player two or three years of casual playing to get.

FUCKING BLASPHEMERS.

All achievements should be gained within 5 minutes of logging in and running one lap around New Tristram.

^ This post here reminded me of time spent in the late nineties playing final fantasy 3(6), marching back and forth in that goddamn dinosaur forest for at least 60 hours.....wow...them memories........

Quote from BigEd781

DIII wants to steer you down a specific path at all times.

It's funny that you say that because this change, and many others (scorpion runs pre-2.0, Mira runs, cursed chest runs, etc.) have all been nerfed because, if left unaddressed, they become the defacto "right" way to play the game.

These things get nerfed because the way they "want" you to play the game is just to go out and kill monsters and feel relatively safe that if you choose Gardens of Hope Tier 1 and I choose the Weeping Hollow that neither of us has a massive advantage. Their "way" to play the game is that there shouldn't be a "right" way to play it, at least as it pertains to the question "Where should I farm?"

These things get nerfed because, if they don't, they LIMIT choices. If you're not doing CotA you may be having fun, but you're probably imposing a 50% XP penalty on yourself. If they did nothing they'd silently be endorsing, as Ruksak put it, Baal runs 2.0. Which, oddly enough, would be forcing us all down the same path. They're actually fighting for our ability to choose whatever path we want because all paths are (close to) the same.

That's kinda the opposite of trying to steer us down a specific path, isn't it?