DiabloFans

Quote from CritterCutter

The thing is if you achieve these things you haven't solved the problem, just the cause. As soon as something bad happens in life it will all just come back. Also yes anger is a good outlet for depression, but love and forgiveness is a better outlet for me. When I love the people that care for me I feel much better than if I were to snap at them every time they annoyed me. If I did that I would just feel guilty and depressed.

Spouting things you read in some silly book. I believe you mean well, so I will tell you something, maybe you'll stop spouting these things:
most people in society, when they see something that's different from others, such as depressed people, perceive it as a personality fault. They are afraid depression will happen to them, so they convince themselves that it won't. They convince themselves that depression only happens to lazy, weak, emo people, so that they can consider these people inferior to them. This even happens to people who used to be depressed, just like people who used to be poor stop caring about the poor once they become rich.
Most books about depression are written with this idea in mind, I found. It's not there directly, sometimes it's even subconscious. At the end of the day, they all try to convince us that the only ways out are paths we cannot take, and all others do not owrk, therefore saying there's no way out. Like you right now, telling me something won't work, like you know SHIT, like you know ANYTHING except some rubbish you read in a book.

I'm not a book.

I'm real. I know how I work.

And I don't need your 'help' if all you can tell me is that I will fail.

I seriously doubt it has anything to do with "fun", guys. I'm pretty sure it's a more solid measurement than that, such as screen clutter or balance, both of which can be measured pretty objectively.

Quote from maka

No, they don't know "it won't be fun". It's not fun for them. But most of them didn't even play D2, so what do they really know?

They have to make some kind of a choice irregardless. They can't leave it open ended, that's just bad game design.
I'm not sure what playing DII has to do with this. DII was fun in some aspects, zerging mobs isn't one of them.

Quote from Doomscream

Why all the hate, Equinox?

Don't like my games ruined by thoughtless suggestions. Open inspection would be horrible for Diablo III.

@maka
I have not used the term noob anywhere in this thread. That was attached to me. If wanting some privacy in regards to my character is being conceited, then so be it. If wanting people to make their own builds instead of copy those of others is being conceited, so be it. All I said was that I don't want people having an easy way to see what I have or what anyone else has. Discussions, questions, inquiries are still open. If you look at my earlier posts none of them are angry and they're rather neutral. I only get angry when someone tries to shove a bad feature down my throat pretending it's a good feature.

@deliciousgook
If you want me to be more friendly you may want to adapt the rules of proper division of paragraphs, since reading the mess of a post that you have there is very frustrating for me, especially with the occasional missing capital letter. But, I guess you can call me an "angry" person, since I generally talk like this but it doesn't really mean anything except that I type like this and that I'm arrogant to some vague degree. Don't mind me.

I don't have an issue sharing what I know. But when people share, they make a choice. If someone just inspects me, I didn't have a choice in the matter. If I'm going to share something I did, I'm not going to do it like that. I'll go to a website and write a proper guide with all the details and explanations of how to use it. I don't want my builds presented in any other way. (I doubt I will devise any good builds tbh, though) This means people will have to talk to me directly and go to a website (like Diablofans) to see what I have to say. It's not just an empty, cold, mechanical "inspect" button that instantly tells you nearly everything.

Please tell me: what does the feature add that voluntary sharing doesn't? Nothing except people copying unfinished and undeveloped builds or people copying builds some may want to keep to themselves. I'd imagine PvPers would want to keep their builds very, very private, but I'm not a PvPer so I wouldn't know.

People try things LESS when there are builds out there. What happens is you have a set of cookie cutter builds and everyone flocks to them. This will happen in Diablo III inevitably, but giving an inspect feature will compound the issue since people would inspect every time they see someone being effective.

If there are options to not show it then I am not arguing against it (default option being the closed option). I am arguing specifically against the involuntary sharing of my character's information.

Quote from Hpnot1Q

Once its done amme start selling it to people

lol good luck selling something that uploaders will give away for free.

This stuff isn't sold anymore, get back to reality.

Besides, that could get you into significantly better trouble.

Quote from Azriel

I don't get this whole thing with spears and crossbows. I mean, in my opinion, they're just weapons that don't add more depth than swords and normal draw-bows do.

I really don't know how to reply to this.
It's like why give people different locations to go to or more than 1 quest NPC or... seriously I don't know what you're smoking if you don't see how this adds depth, I really don't.

Quote from Azriel

It just seems like fluff

Video games, by definition, ARE fluff, so saying it's fluff in fluff is kinda wut?

Quote from Azriel

in a game that, otherwise, has so much going for it

The game honestly doesn't have that much going for it, at least, Oblivion definitely didn't. The game suffers very strongly in the customization department as it is. The limitations on character building due to auto-leveling and the overall leveling system are staggering. And you can't even explore properly because the game doesn't come with a map.

Risen had Bows, Swords, Axes, Spears/Staves (with a separate combat system) and crossbows (again separate from bows). Despite the fact that Risen was developed in a down-time for Piranha and is basically a beta test. It's a freaking teenish game for a bit of money yet they still took the time to implement staves combat in there. It's seriously not that hard. There's no excuse, none, null, zero, for a huge wealthy company like Bethesda to not implement more than 2 systems.

And that's what Oblivion had.
2 combat systems for melee.
Slash, slash with shield. Swords don't even thrust. Axes and maces are not really different and are in the same category. Swords and hammers have same animation trajectory. I'm sorry you don't notice this but maybe you should play more games with melee combat before saying Oblivion offers anything.

I want slash, thrust, shield, dagger, long draw systems (heavy weapons), yes I do. Granted, Oblivion didn't even have proper dodging, what am I even talking about...

The reason Bethesda doesn't want to implement spears is because they don't want to devise proper combat systems, and spears require a bit more than your usual sword and board, which is WHY I like spears. I was hoping in TES V they would improve their combat system, but their fear of complex weapons like spears says otherwise IMO.

If you're going to make real time combat do it properly or come back to stats and percentages and don't pretend it's an MMORPGFPS please. I believe everyone was happy with Morrowind's system so I don't see why try to expand combat if you're not going to expand it really but keep it the same thing with illusion of motor skills involved BUT CUT CONTENT FROM THE GAME.

Quote from Azriel

that crossbows and spears would go unnoticed to those who don't necessarily care.

Again, this statement doesn't really have any value. These games, RPG's, strive on things like variety and customization. Even when you don't use a particular thing doesn't mean it shouldn't be there. For instance, I'm entirely indifferent to magic, doesn't mean I don't like having it in the game.

Quote from Azriel

if there was a place for spears and crossbows in Skyrim, they would be in there.

Spears were present in, correct me if I'm wrong, Arena, Daggerfall, and Morrowind. Please explain to me where did a whole weapon category magically disappear or what kind of ban removes them from Cyrrodill and w/e Skyrim is set in. At least they should offer some contraband spears or something.

Seriously, spear is a classic weapon of medieval times and it's a classic weapon for the TES series, any attempt to excuse the absence of a pretty mundane weapon is just dumb. Imagine if the game didn't have swords. It's about as stupid, except spears are an older and more fundamental weapon than even swords, especially in a universe without mounted combat.

Quote from Azriel

Really, it's not that big of a deal.

I think people like myself can decide for ourselves whether it's a big deal or not.

Saying it's not a big deal just because it's not a big deal for YOU is just plain arrogant. I am aware of quite a few people who loved spears in Morrowind or in general and were very disappointed Oblivion didn't have them. Not have an essential weapon 2 games in a row? Really Bethesda? Really? You are THAT lazy?

Quote from Mazuli

They were aiming for a 1998 release of Diablo 2. Then a 1999 release of Diablo 2.

That was also 10 years ago with very different management and a different company, with a different title in a different situation. /thread

Quote from Azriel

But his death does signify something greater than what it may be on the surface; his death sends a message that we can achieve peace and defeat terror.

*facepalm*

Quote from Azriel

The people who cheered at the death of innocent people in the name of their beliefs are below us, by far.

They're not "below" you, they just weren't born and grown in the comfort of your political correctness and air conditioning.

No. Unjustified.

They will not mitigate the cost with content. Won't happen. Don't hope for it. Forget about it. DIII's only DII's size, for instance, and that's pathetic for the amount of money Blizz has. Most of the money you pay will go into Blizz's pockets and nowhere else.
DIII's MP system doesn't require the expensive servers that MMO's need.

Not exactly sure what you mean by "production started and stopped 12 years ago". Graphically, it's quite fine.
FPS have only been degenerating for the past 12 years. Can't say they'd miss anything.

Actually the quality of the game depends almost 100% on these two factors:

- level design;
- gameplay pace.

That is what old FPS were all about.
Neither of which will you be able to get from a trailer tbh.

I hope the male dude is not like Van Helsing personally...

If D3 doesn't have rushing like D2 did, it will a hundred times more hardcore just because of that fact. Respecs or not.

If they don't implement respecs but implement rushing, then you are whining for no reason because that is the same thing. In fact I don't hear you whine about how easy it is to remake a character in D2.

And if they don't implement either respecs OR rushing, then you don't even know what you are asking for (a game that would have died as soon as people have played through it a couple of times).

If anything, respecs will be great for replayability (versus rushing), because you will not have rushed through the whole game 184795 times in order to respec, so when you actually do replay the game to enjoy it, it will be fresh. I'd rather play the game five times meaningfully (to experience all five classes, their specific quests, and random quests), than having a game that forces me to rush it all the time in order to experience its "replayability" to the fullest. Seriously? Is that what you call "replayability"?

If it takes two to three months to level up a single character, playing through all classes will take around a year of active playing. Then comes an expansion with two more classes which is another five-six months. Then comes another expansion. And so on. I'm just talking about leveling up, and not actually enjoying the endgame content.

What you are asking for is that they:

- implement rushing but no respecs and let you grind one character a day like in Diablo 2
- implement neither rushing or respecs making a game that nobody will bother replaying after the second imperfect build that they attempt (and after wasting months and months of playing) like in.... no game actually worth mentioning in the same context as D2 and D3

Which leads me to conclude that what you are saying is nothing more but baseless, unintelligent, unsubstantiated, sentimental whining, and shows that you just like to whine for the sheer purpose of doing it, and pretending to know what you are talking about.

Quote from "Dauroth" »

I actually like the idea! We never saw the other domains of Hell, except for Diablo's! Although I guess they should look pretty similar, do you think there's a possibility that they are in fact, like the Daedric realms of Oblivion in the Elder Scrolls, each representing the ruling Daedric Prince! Andariel's thematic would be Anguish, Duriel's Pain etc. What do you think?

I guess they could be a bit diffrent of course !
The hell from d1 and d2 are very different actually.

Maybe Andariel's hell would be very dark, filled with webs and acid pits... Duriel could be a ''organic hell'' like D1's hell... baal could be something similar to a psicodelic vercion of arcane sanctuary... I think give different look to different places in hell would be cool.

Quote from "SoloSebo" »

I will keep myself calm cool and collective. i just would like to put my 2 cents about the HEALTH BLOBS that fall out of monsters butts.. Blizzard Choosing this over health pots makes me disgusted, laugh and cry. laugh why? Kill a female monster and VOILA *** ALL YOU CAN GULP??? ( i lost my CCC)

Please someone explain to me how this is better than potting?

Lets keep some sense of realism to the game where an AXE actually does damage you and we really on the great potions to heal us. instead of blood blobs that come outta God knows where....

In Diablo II a group of 15 monsters could do some serious damage pots being your only way out.


There may have been posts on this, this is my personal point of view.

PS: I will still get this game even though i am utterly ashamed of the *** blobs.. What will they do for HELL difficulty give ******* to the monsters??

I would like your feedback i apologize for my typing style and thank you all for taking the time to read.

You know, I am ok with people expressing their opinion whether they are correct, wrong, or got half-a-reasoning there. But I am very tempted to hit the flush-button after reading such a disregard for what could be offensive or bother women players in this forum board. There is no need to use the PMS and tampon vocabulary in your speech.

Quote from "Creepsville" »

I just made a post above that was trying to end this crap from you and here you are posting another tired forum insult. "This concept is above your understanding. Try to get better arguments and expand your vocabulary."

Try NOT to be a forum cliche.

I made the post above, not as an argument (I don't know what exactly I would argue with you), but to point out how if we met face to face you wouldn't be saying stupid shit like "This concept is above your understanding", as it would be laughable. It sounds like a kid trying to sound superior rather than an actual point.

Just drop the BS and deal with the fact that I made light of your primitive beliefs and move on.

You do realize your being hypocritical right? You talk about my insults but yet you insult what i believe in.

And now I'll address your points on how I speak.

Do I talk like that ALL the time? Of course not.

But still in person do i speak with very precise word choice in any situation where I am arguing, discussing, or doing anything else where my choice of words could be called into play? Yes, when in discussion I always speak with intelligence, and when I do nobody laughs because everyone speaks the same way as they understand the importance of it in discussion.

Here let me insult you with a generalization.

People that believe the concept of intelligent design and a higher intelligence to be primitive have undeveloped brains. It's not that the idea of a god is a primitive idea, it is merely too abstract for some tiny brains to understand.

It's abstract in that it reaches past our understanding of existence. But people like you never question your own understanding of existence and go through life thinking everyone around you are absolute morons when really the joke is on you.

The idea of RELIGION even is not bad, although the name in association brings up bad thoughts. Itis supposed to be the cause of a lot of death and suffering. But is it religions fault? Thats silly, how can something be the fault of the concept?

IT CAN'T. Its the misconception of people with undeveloped brains, a concept can't make you kill someone. It's PEOPLE that do this. PEOPLE cause the wars. PEOPLE just dont wanna admit it so they use religion as a crutch to blame their shortcomings. There are a lot of people with bad intentions in religion, but there are also a lot of bad atheists. Also, there are a lot of good people that folow religion however misguided or not, and there are good atheists that are decent people. It all depends on the people, not the concept.

Quote from "DGLG" »

I just saw the video...

There is only one thing I'm afraid of

What if it turns out to be just like Titan Quest?

You have only one road u follow and kill a lot of bad guys...u follow one path and that's all. No exploring and stuff.

This is why this is Bs, Hellgate London was NoN-Linear with all randomly generated maps, yet I quit that pile of garbage in 2 weeks. Titan Quest: Immortal Throne on the other hand, I've completed well over 6 times over the past few months, over a year now, and still enjoying the game. Your wrong to a certain extent about the no exploring, Titan Quest had exploring in their maps, just not as open as Diablo. I like Linear Hack N Slashes, when a game is wide open like Sacred 1 it feels to overwhelming, you don't really know where to go or start without spoiling any parts of the story or going against enemies out of level. I like knowing where I'm supposed to go to keep the pace going. Titan Quest has good randomization of mobs and items, that's all I really want for terms of randomization. I'm glad the outside areas of Diablo 3 will be static. 1. It makes everything look more graphically appealing 2. It gives you more immersion in the environments. I really could care less if Diablo 3 was very similar to Titan Quest, since it's about the only Hack N Slash I'd recommend fully Excluding the PvP which was not a focus in the game I guess. But yeah, I actually happen to like Linear Hack N Slashes that have good environments. Hades in the expansion of Titan Quest is a perfect example.

I know the title may be slightly misleading as this thread isn't that big, but I digress.

Greetings forum goers of Diablo Fans. My name is Viosear, and I'm addicted to scented markers.

That aside, I recently registered to this site after the confirmation of Diablo III and have been reading the threads on and off for a few days. In the incredibly off-chance that any Blizzard representative reads these forums I'd like to add my thoughts on things that I'd like to see in Diablo III, or not see as the case may be.
Many of these ideas may already have a champion for their implimentation and in that case just see my reitteration of them as support for the cause.

Interface:

• One slot per item in the inventory.

One slot to rule them all. This seems to have already been implimented, and I love it. Having to play "backpack tetris" to maxamize your holding space (especially when a member of fast moving group) was a cumbersome mechanic in DII.

Items:

• I'd enjoy less of a gamble.

By that I mean less useless rare items and uniques with little variation, if any at all. Currently I can find a Death's Web Unearthed Wand in DII which, after identification, can have 1 or 2 to poison and bone skills and 40-50% poison resistance penetration. That is a huge variance in it's abilities. To the point that having one on the lower end of the spectrum is essentially worth less than half of one at the higher end. Any Death's Web should do, no one should ever finally find that unique item they've been looking for only to end up with a subpar version.

• Resistances should be slathered much more liberally over gear.

It should be an innate modification on all armor akin to defense.

• Runes need to drop more often!

Ok, let's face it. Runes are far too rare in DII and cubing them takes far too long. And by far too long, I mean holy fuck too long. In fact, if you combined all of the el runes that the game has ever come across you wouldn't have enough to create one zod rune. Don't believe me? Do the math.

It takes 3 el runes to make one eld. So we start with 3 and with have 1 eld. Now it takes 3 eld runes to make 1 tir, so for 1 tir we need 3 eld runes, and for 3 eld runes we need 3*3 el runes. Continue this trend and you end up with this equation from el to zod.

3*3*3*3*3*3*3*3*3*3*3*3*3*3*3*3*2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2 el = 1 zod

And what does the above equation turn out to be?

58773123072

In word form.

fifty-eight trillion, seven hundred and seventy-three million, one hundred and twenty-three thousand, and seventy-two

That's how many el runes it would take to cube your way up to one zod rune.

Now let's say DII has been out for ten years exactly. That's 3650 days. Now there are 24 hours in each day so that's a total of 87600 hours. Each hour contains 60 minutes, which equates to 5256000 minutes in those ten years. Break it down once more and you have 315360000 seconds in ten years. Now divide that many seconds into that many el runes required to get one zod rune and you get the real clincher.

In order to cube up to a zod rune through the exclusive use of el runes (and the gems required once you hit the higher level runes) there would have needed to have been an average of 186 el runes dropped per second over ten years.

• Lower level base items need to get out of my nightmare and hell difficulties.

Anyone that's MF'd extensively knows the pain of coming across just as many if not more low level uniques than high level versions while doing Mephisto or other various runs. There is zero reason to have a Crushflange Mace drop off of Mephisto. These items just get vendored or not picked up at all. The fact that MF does not affect what base item drops from a boss means you're stuck with them no matter what your gear is like. The fix is simple. Make it so items don't just have a starting level at which they drop but also an ending level. Once I'm out of normal diffuclty I never want to see another buckler drop again.

Customization:

• Option to turn the helm graphic on or off.

I've come to realize there is a niche group that hates any idea that may resemble something from World of Warcraft (it's a mystery to me how they can stand that Diablo is made by Blizzard). However, I'd be beside myself with pleasure if the option to turn off the helmet graphic was added in. I thoroughly enjoy the fact that your characters are not so much yours as their own person with their own histroy and wants. I've always liked that. The fact that the armor looks unique per class is amazing. The helmets do not fit most often, however. Aside from the barbarian and druid helmets there is none that fit with each class, which makes for an often out of place feeling.

Currency:

• There needs to be a base currency.

Plain and simple, there needs to be some sort of base currency (gold comes to mind for obvious reasons) so that even new players can easily integrate into the high level trading system. I started dabbling in DII recently after a considerable break and I have to say that without some base currency to relate every item to (ok, this item is worth this much of XXX, and this item is worth this much of XXX, so this is how they are relative to one another) it was trying to get back into the trading game. I have been laughed out of multiple games even, for trying to make what I genuinely thought was a decent trade. With a base currency new players would also be able to eventually work their way into the system, with a clear cut path right off the bat.

Progression(This catagory will span many different ideas as I believe they all primarily would serve to enhance the progression from 1-99 and beyond of each character):

• Statistic and Talent reallocation

There needs to be the ability to reallocate talent points as you see fit. While making a new character isn't that much of a chore it is most unpleasent to be required to remake one just to change your talent build slightly or because you accidentally put your statistic points in incorrectly. What's more is that you literally have to know the exact set of gear you're going to have if you wish to maxamize your statistic points. That is absurd as it basically requires you to play through the game at least once (as a new player) and survey the potential items, then remake what character you actually wish to create.

What's more, on the talent front, is that it makes leveling very hard for certain builds. I was someone who dabbled in single player quite extensively, taking most every class through hell, and some builds just don't come into their own until at least 45-50. Synergies helped slightly with certain builds but they are not enough. Without changing the talent infastructure around this is the only way I can see to make the leveling experience more enjoyable in this facet. Try making a poison nova necro in single player and tell me how much fun you have while leveling from 1 to 60.

There is no possible argument against this. Uniqueness is not a factor when weighed against the negatives that a system without reallocation brings. The increase to fun while leveling and then the ability to not have to recreate an entire character if you make a mistake, or simply do not enjoy your build, would be phenominal. If you actually oppose this idea then I'd have to believe you are a massochist.

• Higher unique/set/rare conversion chance for lower level items.

Items are generally top heavy in relation to leveling. With very few items coming at lower levels and many items coming at the higher tiers of the leveling spectrum. This should not be the case. The conversion of lower level uniques, sets, and rares, should be much higher than at the higher levels. If you do not understand that last sentence, read up on how MF works. When you kill a monster, MF does not affect what items actually drop, but rather what chance the items that do drop have at turning into a unique, rare, or set version of that item. If lower level items had a higher base chance to convert this would more evenly allocate good items across all levels, instead of making it so no low level will see a unique item they would actually want to use at that level.

• Class specific quests with class specific (powerful) rewards.

This is an additional or alternate route to powering up lower level players on average. Having each class with a quest in each act that grants a new item or upgrades one item (a necro gets a shrunken head in act 1, turns into a higher tier version in act 2, etc.) throughout the game. This item would be powerful and at least ensure that each character is toting one decent item with them.

Gameplay:

• There needs to be an ability all classes possess that automatically summons any controlled NPC's to you as if you just teleported.

Very straightforward here. It's excruciatingly annoying to have your summons (specifically revives) fall behind and unleash or get stuck behind a wall while you're trying to fight a boss (think radament or the maggot lair as a summoner necro without the ability to teleport).


So, these are my current suggestions. I will be adding to this post as I see fit. You can comment and/or flame but I won't be responding to any post, positive or negative.

Quote from "Technique" »

samuri would just overlap the barbiran class.

Not necessary. The paladin didn't overlap the Barb in D2. Samurai of D3 can be an entirely different type of melee class.

I'm so tired of keeping my mouth shut, I just thought I'd spew my nonsensical crap all over this forum for you to enjoy.

You see, my problem is with the current art and gameplay direction of Diablo 2.

When I first played the game, my reaction was pure joy. As I got a little more time to move around in the environments, though, I began to notice some things that I really do not enjoy. I know we all love Blizzard very much, but they are human just like the rest of us, and they are bound to make mistakes too.

Listed below are some of my ideas that I think Blizzard should change while there is still a chance.

• The environments are too bright. Remember D1? Everything was black and red and brown? Go back to that. In fact, go back to that and DARKEN IT AGAIN. My character should be barely (if at all) visible, I shouldn't be able to know there are monsters around until I hear them beating their fists (or weapons, or talons) against my shields and armor.

• Gold doesn't take up enough space. I want to be so overwhelmed by my wealth that my inventory simply cannot hold it all. I want the town to glimmer with the piles of my gold that overflow from my pockets. For best effect, let's try one gold piece per inventory slot.

• Too many potions. In fact, let's get rid of potions altogether. If we want to regain health, we'd either have to drink the life force from the veins of our slain enemies, or hope there's a well nearby.

• Too cartoony. You may think it looks just like D1 but better graphically, but you are WRONG Blizzard. The fact remains that you're starting to make it look an awful lot like Warcraft 3. I want no respite from the burning demons of hell. Everything should look like something out of the deepest pits of my nightmares. From the smallest imps to the biggest boss, I want to shit my pants at least 50 times per hour while playing this game.

• Too many numbers. I don't want to have to whip out a calculator every time I play Diablo 2. Just let me guess how much chance-to-block or life-steal something has. It'll make the game more interesting and exciting.

• Too many terms to remember. I don't care about DoT, IAS, Stamina, Vitality, or any of that. Just have "Damage", "Health", "Mana", and "Experience".

• Too many skills. Really, who has the time to write down every possible skill set one character could come up with? Just have two skills that we pump up the whole game. One would be "hit", our normal attack, and the other would be "badass demon-killer", our mana-heavy skill that we would use to clear a room or just look cool.

In conclusion, if you could go ahead and take care of these things, I'm sure Diablo 2 will be a huge success. But if you don't do anything, I'm sure you'll alienate your whole fanbase and wont sell over 500,000 copies. And that's being generous.


/sarcasm

Ok, before anyone says I’m beating the dead horse and/or is intimidated by the length of this post, I urge you to take your time to read what I have to say. I think this post will provide valuable insight to both parties regarding the artistic direction. I’m gathering points thrown across on both sides of the argument and I will give my objective opinion and analysis about them.



Those who’ve signed the petition:

D3’s graphics look too WoW’ish.

If the graphical resemblance to another game was merely a linear function with one end being Diablo and the other end being World of Warcraft then Diablo 3 would not reside exactly on the point where Diablo is. In this function, D3 would be somewhere half and half (afterall, both D3 and WoW are 3D games with more than 256 color). Some will argue it’s closer to World of Warcraft, but that debate is inconsequential. The point is that if you consider many other games, I’d say this game looks more like the Lord of the Rings universe (think of the greenish/blue hue in the movies) with some God of War influences (look at the barbarian’s normal attack) and less like WoW (unless you’re going to compare that greenish/blue hue to places in Razorfen Downs).

The shoulder armor looks too big and cartoonish. Looks like it’s pasted from WoW.

I’d rather my character look buff and awesome than normal and mundane. Big armor insinuates the look of coolness and gives the artists a better opportunity

I want the light radius from Diablo back.

If I’m going to be playing this game on a bigass LED backlit monitor, I want it to utilize all the screen space I have, not just a small portion in the center of the screen. Get with the times people.

Have you seen the altered visuals? Especially the ones that Corwyn made.

I commend Corwyn on such a valiant effort. Some screenshots are silly as hell such as altering the image of the overworld daylight to night, but Corwyn successfully puts his point across. But don’t be swayed by these visuals. A lot of you haven’t realize that you’re judging the game by a bunch of still screenshots and are failing to realize how this artistic direction fits in the game as a whole (including animation, music, etc.). And since we don’t have a playable demo, I’m not expecting you guys to vividly imagine you as playing the game thru the gameplay video. I did, and guess what? It works. I imagine myself playing through these dungeons again and again and I realize the ambient color invites me to keep playing the game. I also imagined if the game was mostly of dark, orange, and brown color scheme, and it seemed a little less inviting.

If Blizzard North were to make this game, they wouldn’t have butchered D3 the way it is now.

Most of you here know that some of the key players from Blizzard North left and formed their own company, one of which was Flagship Studios who’ve made the spiritual successor of Diablo 2 called Hellgate: London. Some stayed at Blizzard North until its closure and moved down to the Irvine offices and of them was the notable music composer of Diablo and Diablo 2, Matt Uelman (who actually left Blizzard after WoW: BC). But anyway, I’ll base my argument on the failure of Hellgate: London, since it is the only notable work of some Blizzard North employees after the company’s closure. The game was less fun than Diablo 2. D3 as of now, does not look like it’s butchered and I think having more of the old Blizzard North team back would make much of a difference. One of the reasons that many of them left was because they wanted to do something new, so them returning to work on Diablo 3 does not seem likely to happen.

Hellgate London would’ve been good if they had enough time to complete it and the financial resources. It has a lot of potential.

Sure it has a lot of potential, I don’t deny that. But aside from the plethora of bugs, poor business model, and online issues following the opening of the game, there are also some poor game design choices made to the game that will probably still be there if it were “completed.”

1. 3rd person perspective: I’m sorry, this perspective was poorly executed for a hack’n’slash game. If I want a Diablo type hack’n’slash game where my attacks are mainly governed by weapon statistics and not aiming at specific body parts, then I want to be able to do flashy stuff and be able to see a lot of monsters I’m killing. If I want a one on one duel and to aim at specific body parts, I’d have a third person or first person perspective. Mish mashing them altogether just doesn’t work well.

2. Redundant gothic environments: Ok, this part is debatable but I’m sure many of you agree that the game looked really repetitive and monotonous. Oh look another dark alleyway. Ah, another gothic cathedral. Is this how post-apocalyptic London look everywhere? I know that this is supposed to be fitting to the lore, but it can use a little variety and be slightly better executed. A good example is Resident Evil 4. It looks dark and morbid but with enough variety to also look very interesting.

3. Inventory tetris: Oh c’mon, haven’t they playtested this game to realize how annoying this is? At least put an auto-sort button. Just because it was like this in Diablo 2, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t innovate and improve on some gameplay features.

And look what Flagship Studios did now. Mythos was supposed to be a small and simple game merely to test the multiplayer capabilities of Hellgate: London. After they hear of the disappointment of Hellgate: London, they went to bank on Mythos and it became more than a simple project into something that competes against other MMOG’s. And guess what? It’s intentionally more colorful because they felt that the color in the game is more inviting to new players. A lesson was learned, if you ask me.

Quote from "XxL2PxX" »

How do you know that Blizzard Nroth can't make Diablo 3 better? If you read the part that I explaiend why Blizzard North was disbanded in the first palce was their direction of an upcoming game they were producing which is widely believed to be Diablo 3. Their past direction is only known between them and Blizzard, who's to say that it was too good to be in the hands of Blizzard and the feared what would happen to their other franchises? Who's to say that it was poor descision to begin with and decided to scrap it. No, that descision doesn't lie within any of our opinions, the best we can do is guess what happened in the fateful 2003

You're right. I really don't know. But it still stands that some the developers in Flagship Studios have made some poor design choices as I've pointed out, and so did Blizzard fucking up on Starcraft: Ghost. I think you've successfully argued my point.

The new art direction is swaying too much from the true vision of the Diablo series.

If the art direction was like that of Ragnarok Online, Maple Story, or Fly for Fun, then you would be right. But it’s not and Blizzard won’t be that stupid to do that. It is a fitting improvement over the 8-bit graphics of the previous games. The true vision of the Diablo series is a combination of addictive gameplay, dark story, blood and gore, and deep item loot and it seems D3 is going to have tons of that.

There should be an official poll regarding the art direction. But only those who have past Diablo accounts should be able to vote, not the WoW players who’ve never played Diablo.

So do you think you’re an almighty fan whose voice matters more than any other consumer who is interested in this game? If so, then my voice should matter just as much since I’m a hardcore fan of the Diablo series. And don’t think there’s a lot of you that want the art direction changed and that you have a bigger say. 47k signatures? I’ll assume they’re all legitimate signatures. It can go up to 100,000 or 200,000 for all I care. That just means that they’re many more of us who support this new art direction. Recall how many people have played the past Diablo games. All you have is a small disgruntled population who are stuck with the past, some people who are easily swayed by some still photoshopped screenshots, and the backup of the media. “Players support the new art direction”? That’s not news, because sounds pretty ordinary and logical. “Players are angry at the new art direction”? Oh yeah, that’s news because it deviates from the norm that the players are happy that their beloved sequel is finally announced. Just because you guys speak loudly and boldly does not mean your voice should matter more than the person next to you. I can speak loudly and boldly, and that’s via this post.

Blizzard is just trying to appease WoW players so they can stuff more money in their already fat wallet.

And how is this a bad thing? You seem to be acknowledging that more people will be playing this game if it has more colorful graphics and act defensively of your minority population. Again, I go back to the previous comments about speaking loudly.

Don’t be influenced by Blizzard PR bullshit. Or maybe you’re just a Blizzard fanboy.

Who the hell are you to tell me where my opinions lie? This is what I think and I have the vision to see that Blizzard headed towards the right direction. Can you match my detail in analysis to project the significance of your own opinions?

Then you think your voice should matter more?

No, I never said that. You may think that when you read between my lines. But I assure you, I don’t think that. I’ll let anyone who reads this post to think for himself/herself. I’m merely providing my own insights.

Smiling gargoyle? Gaaaaaaaaaayyyy!11!1!!

Dude, are you going to be playing the game on 1000% zoom and notice these little details? Inconsequential.

WTF? A rainbow in Diablo universe? WTF is Blizzard thinking?

So first you complain about unrealistic and stylized environments and then you complain about the existence of a rainbow? Rainbows are a natural phenomenon buddy. It’s not like it’s blaring in front of the screen with a carebear stare. Move along.

I signed the petition. I don’t like the way the new art direction is going.

Ok, you signed the petition. So what? Why don’t you like the way the new art direction is going? Please give me a meaningful argument. Just merely saying that you’ve signed the petition is the easy way out.






Those who support the artistic direction:

Petitioners will buy the game anyway.

That’s not the point. The petitioners give a shit about the true successor of Diablo and want it changed to their liking.

Just be happy that they’ve announced Diablo 3, something many people are excited to hear.

See above.

We’ve only seen a very small portion of the game, how can you judge that the game is going to look like that everywhere?

It’s true that we’ve seen only a small portion but most of the sanctuary dungeon that was shown to us has that greenish/blue hue that many people have a problem with it. But I personally like that hue because it contrasts very well with hellfire aura when the thousand pounder was summoned from 5 cultists.

Also, it is possible to change and improve the game in its early stages so this is the best time to critique the game in its every detail. This argument is slightly flawed.

It’s Blizzard’s game, they can do whatever the hell they want.

Again, that’s not the point. Blizzard cares a lot about fan criticisms. They’ll listen and do what’s best for the game based on the feedback, not listen and do whatever the hell they want.

If you want the old dark and bland look, go back to playing Diablo or Diablo 2.

They’re not complaining just to play back the previous games, they want the new game to look more like the old game they know and love.

If you don’t like the colors, change your saturation/gamma/brightness settings.

That doesn’t satisfy their needs. I know if I play Ragnarok Online or a similar colorful game, it will still be a colorful and kiddy game no matter how I change the saturation/gamma/brightness settings.

If you want to specifically remove that greenish/blue hue, there are graphics card settings to reduce the green hue when you play the game.

Then what about when you get poisoned? I still want to see that green. They just don’t want to see it in the surrounding environment.

The game looks fine to me. To those who bitch about the colors, STFU ALREADY!!

This is an unintelligent response. It’s easy to tell someone to shut up. All it does is create pointless flaming without a meaningful and substantial debate and discussion.






In conclusion:

It’s easy to say that you’ve signed the petition, or to tell a dissenter to STFU. It’s also easy to just say that you’re neutral and you’ll accept whatever Blizzard brings you and that you trust them. However, it’s a lot more to say you have a strong opinion on something, listen (or in this case, read) what the other side has to say, and provide your own detailed analysis of many points thrown around that are buried deep within heaps of trolling and flaming posts. If any of you who advocate a change in the artistic direction can match me, in detail, on all the things that I’ve mentioned, then be my guest. I’ll be reading.



Edits:

July 13th, 2008 10pm PST: Added some missing words in the point about shoulder armor and added XxL2PxX's post.

Quote from "Timaah" »

Point of the matter, that the Anti-PK camp is just not understanding, is that PKing/PvP was as much a part of diablo as PvE was.

Except that while informally-structured PvP (since there was no 'official' system in D2) and PvE involved competition and cooperation respectively, griefing (a term I prefer because it's more descriptive and less confusing--technically all PvP involves "PKing" since players die when you duel) involves enjoying the game at the cost of directly interfering with others' enjoyment of the game.

For those players who like the 'thrill' of being at risk of being griefed, they can leave 'free'/'open' PvP on in games they create. Others shouldn't have to subject themselves to griefing just because a griefer enjoys screwing with them.

Maybe not eveyone utilized this... but it was there and intricatly part of the game. That was the uniqueness of the Diablo game play. By listening to the complaints of people who didn't utilize it and removing this system you are effectivly removing a HUGE part of the game play experience from this series.

If it's such a "HUGE" part, why is the solution of allowing people to toggle it in their games such an issue? If it's such a "HUGE" part, few would opt out of it, right?

Now, this was always one of the best series... there really is no reason to change it because some people... even if it is a majority... don't like to be PKd and ONLY want the PvE experience.

1. I find it funny that you would consider even a majority to be "some people"--nice try at being misleading. Now, let's see how your sentence would sound if written accurately:

"there really is no reason to change it [just] because most people don't like to be PKd"

Now you read that to yourself and tell me if you think it makes sense.

Also, you made a straw man. Who says that everyone who doesn't like the concept of griefing "ONLY want[s] the PvE experience"? What if they enjoy structured PvP instead, or also? There's probably a good number of players who focus on PvP, but are interested only in honorable fights, as opposed to griefer's sneaky ambushes. They could very well argue that it takes more skill to beat a player who's ready and willing to take you on, and that griefing doesn't attract them for that reason.

To that i say, too bad! its part of the game and always has been wether you like it or not.

Two-dimensional graphics have also always been a part of the game. This is the is-ought fallacy--just because something is (or was) a certain way doesn't mean it ought to be/stay that way.

(thatll change tho because blizzard will listen to you guys and press the destruct button on one of their greatest games)

Like I said, if there is a system where you can toggle 'open' PvP (allowing griefing) when you make a game:

1. If most people opt into it, then there's no problem--griefers will have plenty of places to 'do their thing', while the minority can also do their thing, enjoying the game their way.

2. If most people opt OUT of it, then there's no argument that removing griefing would 'destruct' Diablo 3, since that would be proof positive that griefers are a small minority that wouldn't have any significant effect on the success of the game.

You're just being a doomsayer. Claiming that removing griefing will completely wreck the game is absurd, especially with the addition of structured PvP, something that Diablo 2 never had to begin with.