Diablo 3 System Changes
The anticipated System Changes have finally come in! Here's a quick summary of the changes:
- Scrolls of Identification are gone - players can now identify rares/legendary items without them.
- Button '5' is now dedicated to potions.
- The Mystic artisan has now been removed from the game.
- The Cauldron of Jordan and Nephalem Cube have been removed.
- The Stone of Recall is now a button at the bottom and has been renamed "Town Portal".
- The Blacksmith is now responsible for salvaging players' items.
- Common (white colored) items are no longer salvageable.
- Character Attributes have been changed. See below for details.
- Character stats are now placed in the same place as the inventory panel and the old dedicated stats panel has been removed.
Official Blizzard Quote:
While working on Diablo III we've been called out for messing around with systems too much, that the game is good as-is and we should just release it. I think that's a fair argument to make, but I also think it's incorrect. Our job isn't just to put out a game, it's to release the next Diablo game. No one will remember if the game is late, only if it's great. We trust in our ability to put out a great game, but we're not quite there yet. In addition to finishing and polishing the content of the game we're continuing to iterate on some of the core game systems. So all that said, I'd like to provide everyone an update on some of the systems we're currently working on.
We’re changing some of the systems we’ve gotten the most feedback on both internally and from the beta test, including crafting, items, core attributes, and inventory. We’ll go over those changes and the reasons for them. In addition we’re working on major changes to the skill and rune systems that we’re not ready to talk about, but I promise you we can’t possibly ship without a finished skill and rune system.
Let’s start off small: Scrolls of Identification are no longer in the game. Unidentified items and the act of identifying them is still very much part of the game, but now when obtaining an unidentified item you'll simply right click it, a short cast timer will occur as your character examines the item, and it will become identified. We love the double-discovery of finding a present and then unwrapping it, but we don't think it requires a physical item you have to find and keep in your bags to get the same effect. From now on you'll just be able to inherently identify all your items, no need to carry scrolls. Your character in Diablo III is just that badass now.
We’re also moving the fifth quick slot button, which is becoming a dedicated potion button. A dedicated potion button is something we went back and forth on throughout development. Recently it became apparent that players need to be aware of their potions for emergency situations. Our combat model doesn’t promote or even allow chugging potions in rapid succession, but they’re certainly useful when you run into a string of bad luck with health globes, or if you just get in over your head. This is one of our newest changes, so the button and mechanics don’t actually function in beta Patch 10, but that’s our intent and you’ll be seeing it supported in future beta updates.
The design team is currently looking at systems and cleaning them up, removing any superfluous system objectives and those that are beyond fixing. Thus, we're removing the Mystic artisan. As we look at the big picture, the Mystic simply wasn’t adding anything to our customization system. Enhancement was really just the socket and gem system with a different name, and it would prolong the release of the game even further to go back to the drawing board and differentiate it, so we’ll revisit the Mystic and enhancements at a later time. Removing her from the game took some time, but it’s nowhere near the efforts that would be required to flesh out a better customization system. We hope she’ll be able to join your caravan in the future, but for now we’re going to focus on the extensive customization options the game already offers.
We're also looking at systems we’ve created and making sure that the rationale that brought us to these designs still makes sense. The Stone of Recall, for instance, has a short cast time and allows you to return to town. Early on we said we wouldn't have town portals, as they introduced too many combat exploits, but we were able to resolve them. Because we have the Stone of Recall, though, we began to evaluate systems that were originally implemented to deal with the exclusion of town portals.
So we've decided to remove the Cauldron of Jordan and Nephalem Cube. They were implemented to allow for salvaging and selling items when there was no quick and easy way to return to town. Now that the Stone of Recall exists, we found that keeping the Cauldron and Cube in the game detracted from the benefits of returning to town to sell items, salvage, craft, and interact with the townsfolk. It’s a good idea to break up combat so that players have a moment to evaluate their gear and crafting options before venturing back out. In addition, we've decided to just call it what it is and the Stone of Recall is now Town Portal, and is integrated directly onto the skill bar UI.
The Blacksmith artisan will now salvage items. With removal of the Cube we needed some mechanic in town that allowed you to salvage your items, and it just makes sense for the Blacksmith to offer it.
One other important change is that common (white) items will no longer be salvageable. We found that it caused a few itemization issues, but mostly this is due to a general philosophy shift on the importance of items. Previously, our thinking was that when an item dropped it should always be useful to you in some way, either the stats could be an improvement for you, or in the case of white items you could break it down and craft something better. Through a lot of play testing we have come full circle to the Diablo II methodology -- a lot of stuff that drops just isn’t worth picking up. Diablo II captured the loot piñata feel by dropping a lot of crap, mostly arrows and bolts, and we of course still very much want that feeling of item-explosions. To do that we need to be able to balance the value of items to how many we’re throwing at you.
This leads us to the last change I'll be detailing today:
We're changing core character attributes to Strength, Dexterity, Intellect, and Vitality, and the benefits each stat provides is being broken down as:
- Strength
- Increases Barbarian damage
- Increases Armor
- Dexterity
- Increases Demon Hunter damage
- Increases Monk damage
- Increases Dodge
- Intellect
- Increases Wizard and Witch Doctor damage
- Increases Health gained from Health Globes
- Vitality
- Increases Max Health
This change makes the stats more intuitive and fixes some of the itemization issues we were running into. We want to make it clear that junk items aren’t worth picking up, and make it easy to identify other items as not for your character. We want to drop a ton of items, but to really pull off a sense of excitement when finding a great item, there needs to be non-optimal items, both for your class, and in general. By specifically targeting stats at classes, we can reduce the amount of item overlap, diversify our item pool, and create a cleaner, more exciting itemization system.
By and large these changes have little impact on which items you’re going to want. The item hunt has always been based on secondary stats and affixes, and we’re working hard to ensure build diversity is as large as possible by getting as many affixes into the game as possible (adding more item affixes is also something we’ve been working on). Simply including affixes that augment specific skills greatly expands the itemization pool and build possibilities.
Moving on, with the removal of the Cauldron of Jordan, Nephalem Cube, and by moving Town Portal to the skill panel, we're now displaying character stats directly on the inventory UI. Now you can see your stats go up and down as you try on different items. All the same info is available; we’re just streamlining the UI, making it more useful. It might seem insignificant but we're pleased with the results.
All of these are changes that will in one way or another be seen in the latest beta patch, and so we hope that those of you with access please try them out and let us know what you think in the Beta Feedback forum.
There’s a lot of work left to be done, though. We’re constantly tuning and making balance changes; it’s a massive task. Some of these changes can be seen in the beta, like changes to item rarity, the levels at which we introduce affixes, and how many affixes enemies can roll up. Some you can’t see in the beta, like balancing the difficulty of the entire game for four different difficulty levels, adding tons of new affixes, creating legendary items, filling out crafting recipes and itemization, working on achievements, and implementing Battle.net features. We’re also working on a number of other large systems changes -- specifically with the skill and rune systems. We're not quite ready to share what those are just yet, but we look forward to being able to do so in the near future.
We want Diablo III to be the best game it can be when it launches. To get there, we're going to be iterating on designs we've had in place for a long time, making changes to systems you've spent a lot of time theorycrafting, and removing features you may have come to associate with the core of the experience. Our hope is that by embracing our iterative design process in which we question ourselves and our decisions, Diablo III won't just live up to our expectations, but will continue to do so a decade after it's released.
Jay Wilson is game director for Diablo III and the Inventor of Meat. He believes that Kate Beckinsale is the greatest actress that’s ever lived.
Blue Posts
Bashiok as responded to acouple of clearifying questions about these system changes.
Official Blizzard Quote:
Keep in mind everything detailed in the article today is already in the game, and most of it is complete. Once you get Patch 10 and see that, I think it may sink in that these aren't theoretical changes we're still working on, they're changes we've completed. Obviously the potion button still needs a little work to hook it up correctly, and the character attribute changes need to be balanced and tested for itemization throughout the game, but overall these are changes we've already made.
I do not intend to impress that we're close to release, or infer any such "we're <-- this --> done" kind of statement, but most of these are fairly straightforward changes that are already complete and implemented. We do have more changes, skills and runes, affixes to add, more items, Battle.net features, testing, testing, and more testing etc. to do so we're obviously still not there yet, but none of the changes detailed today are theoretical or yet to be implemented. (Tracker / Forums)
It looks like these changes have been in the works for awhile now. Will the upcoming patch reflect these changes?
Yes, all of these changes are complete and will be present in beta Patch 10.
But white items still cost gold? Wont that make them worth something, making me to fill my inventory and later sell them in town
They'll sell for very little. It will quickly become apparent they're not worth the inventory space.
Why have items that are useless?
To make seeing a good item drop that much rarer/exciting.
Will the new Salvage method be included in the new patch?
Yup!
What about "upgrading" gems? since u removed the mystic, its not implemented anymore?
That's the Jeweler.
Jay's article says strength affects barbarian damage and dexterity, DH's etc... That's just core, rite? Weapons still add most?
Well there's the basic weapon damage, then if it has +Strength on it you *probably* wouldn't want that item as a wizard.
What if per chance the weapon damage is vastly superior? wouldn't that make sense to take it for secondary attribute?
Very possible! It won't always be an absolute "It has X I don't want it." You'll still need to evaluate.
Town Portal: Instant or cast?
It's the same as the Stone of Recall, just in a different spot with a new (old?) name. It's a 2 second cast I believe.
what? was just getting excited about stone of recall! U guys had me convinced that scrolls suck, and stones rock (no pun intended)
It's the same thing, we just moved it and renamed it.
They are changing:
Skills
Runes
Attributes
That's the core of how charaters behave and relate to the game engine. These are MAJOR changes, and I am justifiably concerned.
Official Blizzard Quote:
After a lot of playing at high levels we realized returning to town and breaking up the action is actually good. There are some more designery reasons that reinforce all of this, but the bottom line is that the action is very important, and being actively engaged in the action. Being able to be out and killing for hours and hours straight was negating the fun elements. Just like a story arc has highs and lows, a game needs to promote those ups and downs through its mechanics.
As far as harming co-op, there's really no difference now. Before you'd say "WAIT UP" and everyone would have to stop while you examined each item and decided to sell, salvage, or keep it. In the best case scenario everyone would agree to stop and do this at the same time. It's no different than everyone agreeing to head back to town, and in fact it provides a more prominent, not to mention safe, pause point where everyone can take care of a few quick tasks, and then head back out.
Say your friend's inventory is full, but yours isn't, well you both decide to TP and while he's going through his bag you have time to craft a few things, or alt+tab free of fear to read reddit or something. Whatever. It's not different to the co-op game because you had to stop before, and the benefits to being in town now are actually pretty substantial.
No this is not incompetence.
This is an example of something not working the way they expected and they acted accordingly. You have to remember for the couple of hundred loud voices on a forum, there are many thousand of silent onres playing the Beta. That data is going back to good ol'Blizzard HQ and are more than likely being compared against targets and benchmarks. The targets and benchmarks will not only be about bugs but also about timeframes (eg: time spent in towns, time to Lvl up, etc.,.) and general ease of use. (other stuff is there I'm sure but I won't speculate further).
This is another way of making the game playable for a wider audience. Like it or not, the people ultimately have a business to run. Like it or not, for every die hard fan boy (like us) there are going to be hundreds of other people who will still buy the game whenever it comes out.
To call the changes incompetent on their part is simply wrong.
As for the stats, I don't mind them being changed to their current standing. However, I don't understand why the creators of the game just recently started to realize that they needed to be changed. For a major system like stats, it should have already been concrete by now. But, at least they're perfecting them and sharing with us what they're doing.
I liked the mystic and enchants and I wish there was a way to make her cooperate with the game instead of removing her entirely. Hopefully she'll be reintroduced in an expansion...
-scrolls for ID and TP are pointless. They're monetary value is negligible and now we don't have to waste inventory space carrying tomes and time going back to town to find out if an item is even worth keeping or not. Hope the door doesn't wrinkle their pages on the way out.
-Thank you for making normal items non-salvagable. Now when I'm feeling OCD I won't have to pick up EVERYTHING to salvage for scraps and hunks of metal. Also, I don't see a problem with crappy items dropping. If you remember back to D2, normal items weren't always worthless due to runewords and "cruel" attributes and stuff. You never know how mechanics like that will play into this game.
-Mystic.... wtf did the mystic even do? I don't remember. Peace, bitch.
-good ole attributes. Welcome home. I agree that it caters to there being "1 right mathematical formula" for each class, but the Blizzard guys have all acknowledged that issue before and I'm SURE they will do something to add depth to the system in that regard.
-Cauldron gone, no sweat. Especially with TPs back in order. Don't under-estimate the need to break up gameplay. This game looks really action-packed, so it will be nice to regroup and sell items in town every once and awhile.
Good job Blizzard. Take as much time as you need and make this game F'ing glorious. We've waited this long, what's another few months. I also agree with people saying these changes are a sign of PROGRESS, not DELAY.
"I, Jay Wilson, have failed to do my job to date. I am charged with designing a game from the ground up and some of the core concepts I committed to early on have turned out to be poor design choices in hindsight in my opinion. Therefore, massive reworking needed to be done to correct my mistakes. Also, other core game mechanics such as runes are still up in the air as a result and can't even be discussed publicly yet. After all, if I discussed them publicly and they are also mistakes, I'll look just as foolish about those choices as the ones I'm apologizing for today. All of this has obviously had a detrimental effect on release of the game. I'm not going to give you any further insight into a release date time frame because I like to have the option of constantly revising my most core beliefs about what the game should be and do so all in the name of delivering the best game to you because that argument's such a convenient one for me to make. I will do my best to finally get it right this time and release to you (someday) the game you should have had months ago."
They have completely changed the direction of the game.
Why have worthless items in the game? "to make good items that much better" !?!? Stupid.
They said in the past that they didn't like that fact that Cow levels in D2 were littered with JUNK, but now there will be junk in D3.
They said in the past that they want to keep you in the action, then why take out "inventory vendors" (cubes), and FORCE us to go back to town.
They said in the past that pretty much all items (except class specific ones (ie handbows)) are viable by all classes... uhm, not anymore, why the hell would a Wizard ever want Strength and Dexterity on an item (unless it's a melee mage)?!
Force us to have potion on the hotbar?! If I'm a ranged character I really shouldn't be getting hit that much, unless I'm a complete noob; the slot could be some other item or skill more useful.
They really have veered off course from what they told us they wanted the game to be in the past; and I'm not liking the new direction.
Likewise. These changes are spot on, and I'd rather Blizz take their time with this product. The fact that this game is going back to some D2 style action, even if a touch different, is fine by me.
The hight of Arrogance in my opinion.
I think the Mystic removal is more about the rune system they are working on.
Overall I'm at the point now where they can sit here all day posting to me about what they are doing behind closed doors but I couldn't care anyless after all these delays and bullshit stories, unless your giving me a release date, i'm over it.
Dont forget items, which blizz has stated itself is the heart of what diablo is all about... Pretty shitty that there are so many huge changes that are going down now in the beta... After blizz keeps stating it is nearly complete and being polished etc. Really these changes dont reflect polishing.... Removing the mystic? Did anyone else go through all the enchants that were there? There were TONS of customization. Only to be completely removed. So maddening that so many changes weren't figured out pre beta/release hype.
Wasn't the idea not to loose past from the combat as much as possible.
Salvage you inventory in 10sec. seems much better then cast TP(2sec) go to BS(6sec) talk to BS(2sec) and then salvage(10sec).
I did hate to go often in town in D2, because the action(game) was outside
No. Health globes are supposed to scale with max life... and Barbs should have TONS of that.
The Int change is there so when a Wizard/Witch Doctor pick them up, they'll have a meaningful impact late-game.
Dex will help a Barb, but only for avoidance. Barb should soak, not avoid, but playstyles will vary.
Monk kit is avoidance, Barb kit is reduction.
The stats make sense, but I feel it's oversimplification. I will miss Precision.
And not only that, how long until they realize that you dont have any reward for leveling 30-60, and implement stat allocation for every level like in D2? That will take even more time => even more delay. This stat change should be done YEARS ago. No way they should go in development so far, and change something so critical for every rpg which is stats...
Someone summed it up perfectly with "New definition of polishing" image few pages ago.
"Everyone will criticize every bug, every glitch, client error, there is no perfection" - Rimka
http://youtu.be/33w99MDBHII
More 1080p Diablo 3 Videos: http://www.youtube.com/rgdiablo3
Yes the Mystic and enchanting IS what Gem/Sockets USED to be, but Gems no longer add useful/fun stats. All they do is add vitality or some other useless stat...
The Mystic had what was the flavor and most important aspect of what Gems/Sockets used to have... +ELEMENTAL DAMAGE, AND LIFESTEAL modifications. Now that those are gone, I shudder to think of the LACK of character customization this game is headed towards... >_<