Official Blizzard Quote:
Jay Wilson: We understand the problems with item sets. We want to solve them. Set items are under work now, if we cant’ find a way to solve the problem it won’t be in the game. But we’ve got a couple of ideas on the table and we think it’ll work out.
With Diablo III's development nearing 2011, Bashiok posted one of the ways that the team is trying to get around some of the drawbacks of set items as faced in prior games and their own experience with Diablo III:
Official Blizzard Quote:
It's looking more and more likely that set items will simply be something you chase in the end-game. And realistically that's really where they simply work the best.
We have a few ideas still that could allow them to be available while leveling, but each of them have sticking points that would require their own solutions. One is expanding sets out so that it isn't just one item in each slot, but a group of items all separated by level requirement. So there could be, say, five pairs of pants that all work as part of the set and are each better than the last. While leveling you could be wearing the first pair of pants and then find a new and better pair that still work to benefit your set bonus. That isn't without its problems though.
We of course like and intend to keep partial set bonuses, by the way.
Anyway, sets are actually in the game right now in very limited forms, there's a bit of design left on them yet, but as I said they work very well at end-game and that's where we're leaning toward them appearing.
With any luck, we won't be completing Sigon's Complete Steel in Nightmare mode this time around, and the nearly impossible to find sets won't be useless in Hell. But will tuning set items to work in the end-game only replace the old conundrum of mass Runeword abuse in Diablo II? As is just about everything concerning the third installment, we wait on the question of balance.
but moving on more to D3, i like the idea that alot of sets will be late game, cuz they're gonna have all the coolest special effects! im interested to see if it will be legit to have a full set and not sacrifice parts for legendary and other items
Take example of Sigon set in D2:
Sigon's Boots (collectible in normal and higher, wearable)
Sigon's Bootstrap (collectible in Nightmare and higher)
Sigon's toecap (collectible in Hell)
Sigon's Boots + Sigon's Bootstrap = Sigon's tightened Boots
Sigon's Boots + Sigon's Bootstrap + Sigon's toecap = Sigon's Sabot
And same formula for collecting other body parts. as Sigon's set comes with 6 body parts, you need 6 * 3 = 18 fragments to complete the whole set. Set bonus is easy part too, you don't get bonus base on what you collected like D2 anymore, you get them base on how many fragments you collected and wearing.
Knowing that set item may comes in random stats, therefore if player completed Sigon's Sabot, they can still decompose it but they will lose the highest level fragment, Sigon's toecap in this case. And player has to find another toecap and roll for better stats again.
And if blizzard is mad enuf, they can design some alternative fragments, by choosing different fragment, you get a different full set title with different enhancement.
Knowing also maybe too hard to collect 18 fragments, they can consider most of normal/nightmare act collectible are created by blacksmith, using purchasable recipe and common ingredient. When i say "most", I mean there are still some of them are only drop-able, but with very high drop rate, as players won't stick around too long in normal/nightmare act. Ofcuz, hell class fragment is very rare drop. In addition to all above, they can also make some of the fragment shared among few sets.
Really hopes that Blizzard can see this and works on it. :biggrin:
In D2 it was really annoying trying to complete low level sets. Almost every time you would only complete it with a higher level char to pass it to your low level. But maybe if there was a stable economy and something like the Auction House the same system would work really well.
Imagine you just got clegaw's claw and think the set is interesting. Then make an auction on clegaw's pincers for low money and tadaaa, there you have it.
It would seem though that Blizzard is well aware of this, and if there are a lot of different end-game weapons viable for any one build, then a set weapon could just as easily fit in there. The important thing will be to make sure that all items have modifiers that are viable. This would make the core item always useful, regardless of any random modifiers on it.
I think that's precisely what Bashiok is thinking of when he mentioned the possible problems associated with this approach. I think it's a valid concern, and it would probably be preferable to leave them out of the early game entirely.
I suspect you're one of the few. At least of the still-active crowd.
I like that way too myself. The game is far more fun with low levels, brand-new skills all the time, almost every piece of equipment have a big chance of being useful, all the planning and hacking with lots of people playing to have fun. In end-game everything comes to a repetition of the same equipment and skills trying to find a 1 in a million equipment that could be better than the current, blaming others for picking up a good item quicker and saving it for another char when it could be useful to a player in the room, calling everyone who makes a mistake a noob, and things like that.
I started over my bnet account like 9 times with no characters each time and it is really fun. But when the character gets around lvl 80 I find the game somewhat boring.
EDIT
Damn, those nice memories make me think I'm probably going to start playing it over again tonight after work...
Powerful sets as rewards for end-game stuff sounds good to me. Also the solution of tiered set items within each difficulty (when leveling) is decent too, as long as each tier has a (at least slightly) different model. Phrozen is right that it would be boring to walk around the whole game looking exactly the same way.
I actually quite like this suggestion
The key here I think is to make sure that any given set is good at something, but to also have legendary items with similar purposes. If properly balanced, you'll hopefully see some people with the set and some with the legendary, depending on their specific build and needs.
With the set items. I would like to have set items be end game. Not the best items but more like unique items that when combined are really powerful.
Kinda like they are reallllly good! but there not the best.
I wouldnt mind lore behind them too.
First diablo book i read was Legacy of blood, and I loved how they portrade the armor there.
Im hoping they do something like that with d3
As a possible solution, although not as fun, couldn't they do only partial bonuses? Let's say there are 4 items in one set, but there's no complete set bonus, only bonus for using three of them. But you can take any combination of three items for the final bonuses. That way, you could mix a set and change one equipment slot to better fit your build, while at the same time not looking the same as another player using the same set. And with dyes in the game, you can probably still make your setup look homogenous. Doesn't that work?
I personally just see no need for set items really. To me, the only thing I liked about sets was the slight lore aspect they had. However, I would just prefer uniques to have this same quality and their names could imply a set like Tyreal's boots and Tyreal's gloves although there would be no bonus to wearing both.
This would have the added benefit that any set balanced for Act I would continue to be balanced for Act I in every difficulty level.
This concept would allow those players who enjoy set hunting to do so right from the beginning of the game without feeling that they have “wasted their time”.
Black Dawn
It's exactly the same solution as having several item versions of one slot, only with the difference that you don't actually have to collect the higher pieces. It does not solve the problem of running around with the same items for your entire characters life.
That being said, that's why I like Sets. They cause the player to think. Item A is more powerful than Item B, but with this set bonus it's better... but I have to equip these crappy boots that don't help me much
That, and I also would like to maintain the diversity of types of items. Normal (White), Magic (Blue), Rare (Yellow), Set (Green), Unique (Gold). Maybe throw in a designation to the vendor fodder items (Grey) and go that way.
Speaking of colors....
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I don't know how I feel about the Diablo color scheme. Didn't they say something about the colors reflecting that similar to WoW's? Epics being Purple (or at least Uniques being called Epics). I.... don't know how I really feel about it. I like the naming convention from WoW's item database (Worthless, Normal, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary), but I enjoy the color scheme from Diablo (being that there's a true differentiation in colors because Yellow and Gold are too damned close, and that there is a seperate color for Sets). I don't think this'll solve itself overnight in my head.