Jay Wilson: “When you have a player who has more mobility, more health and endless power, essentially the only thing you can really do to challenge [the players] is to kill them.”
Bashiok answered a QQ-rampage from fan bobydole concerning this very MTV interview about Health Potions. His answer makes sense. There is a mix between nostalgia, and how gaming experience, game mechanics and systems have evolved eight years later. Sometimes you can't appeal to everyone, but gotta balance games somewhere in the middle. Personally, I have been one of those players who go into Duriel with a full stack of healing potions, do hit and run, and spam healing potions. Same with Diablo at the Chaos Sanctuary. Teleport, stack more healing potions, then return to continue tackling Diablo. Playing Diablo 3 differently would surely put a dent on the healing pot spamming nostalgia. However, shooting down the new healing concept laid by the Diablo 3 team before even getting our hands on a playable demo, or beta is a bit too early.
Bobydole: They keep touting potiopn dropping as if it's a new dynamic that's going to make the game more interesting. It's been around for decades as a game mechanic.
What made diablo interesting was the lifetap ability of most classes, it wasn't so much the potion popping, though that was important for casters.
What gets me is these guys claim they're fixing this that, putting in potion drops rather than potions, then they say some BS like this...
"We want diablo III to be beatable by just pushing one button."
No $%ing *(, genious. Diablo I and II both got that right for lower difficulties.
How about we stop trying to fix what isn't broken and refine it. Rather than, oh i don't know...
DEVOLVING ONE OF THE GREATEST GAMES OF ALL TIME TO MIMIC THE BASIC PLAY MECHANICS OF PREVIOUS BULL(*$ TITLES.
Are we making a blizzard game here or an SOE title? Quit making bull*(&$, water-down, vanilla gameplay descisions.
Blizzard doesn't cater to massive audiences, they create them.
Refine lifetap, Refine player run speeds, make synergies work better. Make some skills powerful damage-wise, but weaken a players speed/ defense over time. Make more dynamic buff abilities like berserk.
Go ahead, kill the messenger. Blizzard can do no wrong, right?, Empires never fall..
Bashiok: Hrmmm, I was really confused at first but I think you make a very valid point. However, game development and design just doesn't tend to work the same as it used to, and I'm not talking about Blizzard games, but just in general.
The days of design-by-luck are by no means gone, but far less accepting are players of flaws as valid rules. It requires a more methodical and player-serving approach. I actually think it may have to do somewhat with the increase in expectations of customer service and consumer rights... possibly the ever-shrinking attention span, regardless though, players have higher expectations from their games, and systems/rules that may have worked or were at least accepted as part of the game even a few years ago rarely fly these days. It's not the same market, and you're not applying to the same small group of core gamers anymore. Aside from that I don't think most still enjoy the masochistic, obscure, and often overly-complex or undefined game design of yore. Nostalgia blinds though.
Anyway... I don't know, I'm just a player myself, but I think I get where you're coming from and the best we can do is play games and enjoy ourselves. Maybe more than we ever have before, but nostalgia is such a powerful lie it makes it difficult to properly weigh the experiences.
I'm reading a bit between the lines of your posts though I think, and getting way too far from discussing health regeneration in Diablo games.
I know at this point I probably can't really allay your concerns in this specific case until you try it out, except to say that I believe you're wrong in regards to health globes. The overuse of potions was a path of least resistance, and I don't feel removing it detracts anything from the game except to say that it's something that was in a previous title in the series.
Those who have expressed concern that the screenshots show a difference from what was shown at the Gameplay video in WWI Paris seem to be wrong. Bashiok , Diablo 3 Community Manager, has answered fans the following:
Is it just me or does this recent pic indeed show a darker dungeon then in the previous screen shots?
Bashiok: All of the screenshots being posted were taken pre-announcement, the same time the video was shot. So no, there isn't any difference. There are darker parts, and lighter parts, and while there are certain to be lighting tweaks as we go it isn't expected to change dramatically.
Well at least one thing I noticed new in the screen shots was the barbarian has gotten new battle scars from killing demons in this picture, but in the game play video when they zoom in he didn't have as many on him..
Bashiok: Those are actually fading crit blood sprays. When you get a crit death on a monster (that isn't an elemental crit death) it sprays the hero with blood (decals) and those then slowly fade over time. The screenshot shows them pretty much faded all the way out which gave them the appearance of scars. Maybe we can get some screenshots out that show the blood sprays a bit more effectively.
I just hope they get it so I'm not dieing becuase the randomizer didn't drop a globe in time and i get over ran by a horde of monsters. :mad:
For once, something I can agree with you on. Yea yea, these "orbs" will test your skills, but in actuality, these "orbs" are just instant forms of health potions. Instead of pressing buttons 1-4 to activate a health potion, now all u do is walk on this large floating red orb (pretty unrealistic even for a game based of fantasy) and your health is restored. How is simplifying something adding more of a test of skill?
except you haven't played the game and don't know how it works so
stfu
if blizzard saw it as a problem they would go back to potion spamming, but I for one am glad I can focus on hitting left and right mouse button w/o tapping 1 2 3 4
if you are a sorc you shouldn't be in the middle of people, you should be behind the barb that is tanking
it isn't going to be a grindfest where you just tap buttons and move on
you are going to have to use strats so that you aren't low on health and mana
and if you get to the point where you are low, get better at the game noob
I think the combination of orbs and potions will make combat even better as it will test your skills but you have a potion handy in case things get a bit hard.
I don't care how gg your gear is, or how skilled you are, SHIT HAPPENS, Iron maiden kills your merc and all of a sudden your getting surrounded by mobs of enemies and you cant tele away becuase your locked but oh noes no pots and bam you die. That doesn't sound fun to me at all in the least bit, but who knows, we haven't played the game so we cant really say anything just yet.:D
And if your magic finding by yourself and you accidentally teleport (assuming there are still sorceresses) into a large group of enemies that stun you when they attack?
My idea where you can either choose to use potions or "orbs" will make everyone happy. People more used to the old way will stick with potions, and people who are new or want to try something different, might want to try the "orb" method.
suffering doesn't sound fun:confused::D
no he is talking about you making retarded accusations of something you have 0 grounds for speaking
does your fingers have tourettes?
your opinions are invalid because they are based on assumptions
until those assumptions have weight and thus become more than an assumption, they are STILL invalid
you can assume all you want, but speculation rarely turns out to be beneficial
people speculated that blizzard would not be announcing d3 at WWI, then they QQ'd about art direction, now you QQ about globes
it has done no good, nor will it ever
They would take up room if u where to get items and you had a full inventory of potions you wouldn't be able to pick up and if u drank potions to get room your wasting money correct? D:
i'm just afraid that they don't make it like u need another player to help your caster get through the game. The game should be solo able with any char! i would rather have to change skills then rather have a extra player to be with me. or better yet change gear to cast charges from certain classes like in diablo 2. it wouldn't matter to me about cross casting skills. i always like cross class skills it makes it more enjoyable for those who mastered the game so they have a chance to play with the mechanics and show off.
I don't mind going with something new but make sure it works thats the important thing. Sure pots are a simple way to solve that problem but thats not skill come on.:mad:
Scrolls at least have to be casted which can cancel the spell.:D
Orbs have to be obtained which makes u have to move to it.:D
ect..:cool: