Official Blizzard Quote:
That's not a feature or desired feature. I think what was being said was that applying color shades to items and making them a mess of bright purple or bright green is not very visually appealing, and so we'd like to avoid that. And we have, we do have dyes which alter gear color, but it's allowed in very measured and specifically tailored ways so that it doesn't look so garish.
Beyond this matching of armor, people commented on how many varieties of looks there will be, for fear of everyone looking the exact same at high-end levels. Blizzard has mentioned a few times that their plan is to involve multiple types of items at end-game. Uniques, rares, crafted items, and set items will all have their place on high level characters. However, even with the numerous amounts of items in the game, it is only safe to assume that many people will have the same look. After all, with the set amount of item looks, most people will be wearing the highest level armor which means people will look somewhat similar as Bashiok states.
Well, there are a finite number of items, so being able to interact with potentially millions of players and never see two people who look alike unfortunately isn't too realistic. In addition, there are only a certain number of set looks per class, and so eventually there will be points where all the highest end players have the highest end set. That's where dyes, and even runes come in, among other things, to visually distinguish individuals. It would be awesome to have unlimited amounts of art going in to the game, but there has to be a line somewhere. Hopefully we can keep that line moving every once in a while though.
Perhaps the most interesting comment to point out in his statement is the fact that "runes and other things" will help our characters look different. Awhile back, there was mention of certain skill choices changing the look of your character. Not their actual appearance but how they look while fighting the Denizens of Hell. Even the Runestones we place in these skills will change our appearance. As Bashiok points out, even two Wizards with the same skill set will possibly have different runes inserted into these skills and this will change the overall look of these two characters while playing together. Their actual appearance will not change but their skills will look unique to each of them.
Assuming you're not standing around just admiring each other you'll be out and about killing stuff. Since each rune alters each ability in a visual (and usually mechanical) way, even if you and another wizard look exactly alike it's pretty unlikely you'll have the same skills chosen, but if you do, you're even less likely to have the same runes socketed.
Customization of characters in Diablo III appears to be a focus whether it be from skill choice, trait distribution, or armor choice and physical appearance. We can all hopefully look forward to many combinations of characters to play with.
Official Blizzard Quote:
Well, there are a finite number of items, so being able to interact with potentially millions of players and never see two people who look alike unfortunately isn't too realistic. In addition, there are only a certain number of set looks per class, and so eventually there will be points where all the highest end players have the highest end set. That's where dyes, and even runes come in, among other things, to visually distinguish individuals. It would be awesome to have unlimited amounts of art going in to the game, but there has to be a line somewhere. Hopefully we can keep that line moving every once in a while though.
Official Blizzard Quote:
Assuming you're not standing around just admiring each other you'll be out and about killing stuff. Since each rune alters each ability in a visual (and usually mechanical) way, even if you and another wizard look exactly alike it's pretty unlikely you'll have the same skills chosen, but if you do, you're even less likely to have the same runes socketed.
Definitely looking forward to see all the different looks max level players will have.
Makes me grin. Hopefully this Diablo game will be regularly patched and paid attention to.
Pun intended.
Alas 'cept story wise, but that's another aspect which will go off topic.
But yes Diablo III is looking to be a great game
That would require more models, and this is time and resource consuming. Both of which could be spent on improving other, more major aspects of the game. Also, the other armor (low end, etc.) will still look the same, and this is the more commonly used armor, hence variation amongst players is still less. However, perhaps 1 or 2 choices present maybe an ideal solution, rather than having a variety, or none at all.
D3 aint out yet
Bashiok: "..and so eventually there will be points where all the highest end players have the highest end set." That's just flat disappointing. This long in development and the talent of artists you'd think they could move past a gear "set" mentality. I really didn't like that about WoW, and I'm sure not looking forward to it here either. Colors really don't mean much to me, having a unique model is where it's at.
Again, I go back to what they did in Wall-E: create 1000's of robots from around 50-100 different modular elements, or "robot parts." Why can't they have modular 3d textures that are randomly spawned as the gear drops, much the same as stats?
Anyway, meh.
Edit: Nice article Scy, thanks!
In Diablo III, where cheating and duping are eliminated (hopefully), we can expect to see some struggle when it comes to getting all the gear to make you as godly as possible, and on top of that, there will probably be more items introduced via patches that will keep things interesting and different.
I would love to see D3 play out like this: Every day it seems like I'm changing to a better piece of armor - knowing that I'm slowly crawling up the ladder of perfection.