Diablo Stop infinitely romanticizing Diablo 2 and calling Diablo 3 shit. Both games have their strengths and weaknesses. |
- Stop infinitely romanticizing Diablo 2 and calling Diablo 3 shit. Both games have their strengths and weaknesses.
- Diablo 4 Community Q&A with Lead Game Designer Joe Shely & Senior Game Producer Tiffany Wat
- I feel like nobody's talking about the new "Arsenal" System for the barb...
- David Brevik on Twitch: If Blizzard was willing to hire me for D4, I would be on board. Let's make Blizz see this!
- Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction deserves a worthy successor. Top controversial reasons why I believe it was and remains the standard by which all others are measured.
- Dear Blizzard, alongside the world and lore, let players EXPLORE itemization too! - A, not so small, feedback letter.
- They should remove the red highlight from enemies and yellow flashing effect on bigger monster
- MrLLamaSc take on Diablo 4 experience from blizzcon
- Diablo Lilith 24.5" Premium Statue
- I do NOT want infinite progression in Diablo 4
- David Brevik's (from Blizzard North, D1, D2) thought's on Diablo 4
- 24 minutes of new Barbarian gameplay from Gameinformer
- Diablo 4 Cinematic - 5 Frames That Flashed By
- Blizzard released 36 HQ images and artwork of Diablo IV
- The Scales of Hell: Pleasing opposing playerbases
- MrLLamaSC: Diablo 4 Q&A with Twitch Chat - Gathering Community feedback
- With D4 reveal out, let us not forget the much more humble days of Diablo cinematics
- I would still like to be able to step on small critters as I walk over them. It's small, but satisfying.
- A more complex itemization is a type of end game!
- Subtle but extremely important artistic/atmospheric aspects that should be included in D4
- All I hope is that damage doesn't scale exponentially like in Diablo 3.
- My take on criticizing the itemization as seen in the D4 demo and as experienced in D3
- Stop having an opinion other than my own on Diablo 2 and 3, and stop expressing your wishes for Diablo 4 that don't agree with my own.
- I wasn't as excited about a game (like with D4 now) in a long time
| Posted: 04 Nov 2019 02:41 AM PST With the announcement of D4 there is too many "diablo 4 is just reskinned diablo 2" and "diablo 4 is just reskinned diablo 3" posts. Just let it be its own game. Hell, the release isn't set yet. It could be 4 years before we see it! Let's talk about D2 and D3. I played both for years. A few notable pillars of each game: LEVELING Diablo 2 - leveling was literally there throughout your game. Max lvl was 99 but you could almost literally never reach it. That's fine. There is a feel of constant progression of some kind. A benchmark to chase. Diablo 3 - max lvl was 60 for a while, and that was it. Then paragon 100 was introduced and that took weeks to get. Having a roster of multiple para 100 chars was the goal. Then we went infinite. There is a feel of constant progression. A benchmark to chase. The difference is that leveling to max lvl is just a thing you gotta do to get to the real game. It's not relevant and people just get boosted to max lvl in 5 mins. Both games have seemingly "infinite" progression. Whether it's through Paratons or steep leveling curves. I do hope D4 will have multiple benchmarks to reach post-max lvl ENDGAME Diablo 2 - Baal runs, Mephisto runs, Uber Diablo. Do the same thing over and over for loot and xp. Diablo 3 - 150 levels of difficulty of time limited rifts, competing server-wide to get the fastest time on the maxt lvl rift. Both games have something that's "the best" to do over and over again for max benefit. I do hope D4 will have more endgame options where multiple things are viable. ITEM DROPS Diablo 2 - I recall something like 1-2 Windfury bows per server per season? Do correct me if I got that wrong. Most items can be found, easiest through Mephisto and Baal runs. Diablo 3 - More powerful legendaries are more rare, but there are a lot of drops, and finding them at endgame becomes easier. You find a ton of the same item till you find a perfect one. Rarity is different in these 2 games. Rarity trough drop rates vs rarity through a good roll. I do hope that D4 will have rarer legendary items with a massive pool of legendary items, and have them all be useful though skill changing abilities and rolls unique to specific items. SKILLS Diablo 2 - Skill trees. Skills you invest more in will be stronger, encouraging different skill builds. Skills are flat damage. Respeccing is not possible, with exception of an NPC reward. Diablo 3 - Skills are just given, and are enhanced through items. Respeccing is easy and done on the fly. Totally different systems here. Both with pros and cons. I'd prefer a mixture of some kind. ITEM EFFECTS Diablo 2 - a ton of effects, none changing how your abilities work. Chance to x is prevalent. Utility effects are important. Diablo 3 - damage is king. Primary stat, CHC, CHD, Cooldown reduction. Damage increasing and slightly skill-altering item abilities. I hope D4 takes a page from both. I'd like to see a hybrid. COMBAT Diablo 2 - I'd call it "realistic". A few enemies at the time, using fitting abilities to take them out. Dodging and other ways of damage reduction and evasion are encouraged. Skills don't feel impactful though. Diablo 3 - pull hordes of enemies on a pile and blow them up. Highly unrealistic, but that's the game rn. You're basically untouchable due to all the damage reductions. No incentive to dodge, move out of the way, or block in some way, even as a wiz, who is meant to be a squishball. However the combat is dynamic and exciting, the skills look amazing, and they look, feel, and sound really impactful. I hope that Diablo 4 takes after Diablo 2 in terms of combat. A few at the time instead of hordes of 200 enemies on top of you and blowing them all up. The combat so far looks and feels great, the skills look and feel impactful and great. Enemies come and have to be slain in a reasonable amount, time, and effort. END WORD Yes. Voice acting, story, dialogue, and villains were horrible in D3. But that makes it a bad story, and right now, it's a solid game for what it's supposed to be. A slasher monster slayer game. Diablo 4 looks promising as I saw it so far, and as long as it stays away from the bad parts of each of the games, it is to be a great game, and better than all the previous ones. But first and foremost, let's judge Diablo 4 as Diablo 4. Not as Diablo 2 or Diablo 3 but new. It's its own game, and should be treated and judged as such. Thank you. [link] [comments] | ||
| Diablo 4 Community Q&A with Lead Game Designer Joe Shely & Senior Game Producer Tiffany Wat Posted: 04 Nov 2019 06:04 PM PST This was in the reddit live thread, but for those who didn't catch it, here's a basic transcript by /u/Thunderclaww and myself. Q: Is each zone going to have it's own boss and then we go into hell? A: All roads in Sanctuary lead to Hell Q: Difficulty and scaling? Will zones be different or more like normal/nightmare/hell A: Scaling is important, they want monsters to get tougher as you level but they want players to feel the power of new upgrades. It's tough to balance. Q: D2 was more hardcore, D3 was more casual, what is D4 going to be more like? A: It's important for them to get players from both sets of people. Since the world is so large, there's a lot of different areas of difficulty. Q: With D4 coming out on consoles and PC, will there be cross play on all platforms? A: Nothing to announce, but they're interested. Q: Will you be able to use controllers on PC and a keyboard on a console? A: They will be supporting controller on PC Q: Offline play? A: No, online all the time Q: What will end game be like in D4? A: More on that tomorrow at the Diablo IV: Systems & Features Panel, One thing is Keyed Dungeons, inspired by greater rifts. You can obtain keys in end game, that you can upgrade. They add affixes to the dungeons. More detail from the Diablo IV: Systems & Features Panel: End game as of Blizzcon is will be instanced keyed dungeons that only you/your group can access. Keys will add affixes (on top of dungeons having objectives). An example affix being a KD where a lightning orb chases you throughout the dungeon so you have to kill fast or die. Objectives are in every dungeon and were in the D4 demo, an example is where you would have to find and kill 3 monster pits (I forget the exact name) and then kill them each. When you attacked it, it spawned monsters. Q: Itemization, we know there will be legendaries and rune words, how are they going to be different? A: D4 refines D3 itemization. Legendaries are equal or greater to power in D3. Sets are at a lower level, that help give you a launching pad into the class. Q: Trading? Ah? Rmah? A: Still figuring out trading. They want you to get items by playing the game, so no Auction house. Crafting components are freely tradable. Loot drops will be like D3 where it's individual but if you drop an item from your inventory everyone will be able to see it. Note: at the Diablo IV: Systems & Features Panel we were told as of right now there are 3 types of items, those that can be traded freely, those that can only be traded 1 time, and those that can never be traded. This is not set in stone and has the possibility to change so they asked for feed back on this as well. Q: Crafting? A: Crafting is still early in it's development Q: How will PvP be balanced, what changed from D3 to make you want to balance PvP? A: PvP was decided on from the start, so the philosophy on skills has changed. Q: Skill bound to classes or can each class can use any skill? A: Skills are bound to classes, but legendaries can borrow from other classes. Q: Respecing, how is it approached? A: You can level up skills, which are permanent choices. You can get skill points from levels and tomes in the game. Talents are in a tree, and are respec-able. Q: *What are some things you've learned from d3 that you want to do or don't want to do in d4* A: Legacy is important to D4. Gothic Horror from D1, Gameplay pace not as slow as D2 but not as fast as D3. Getting the best of everything. Q: Have you worked on chaining abilities either with the same class/ or different party members to care combo effects? Meaning will cross class skill interactions be a thing? A: Interesting idea, nothing to announce. But they want to have game play that synergizes. Bosses have a stagger system, that fills up with CC. Once it fills up, they're stunned and have other things that occur during that phase. E.g. you can break off monster parts, and they'll be weaker later. Note: In the demo when the world event boss's CC bar filled up it lost one if it's wings and wasn't able to sweep in as big of a cone effect, which was nice as a squishy sorc. Q: Looking back on Diablo 3, each class could kill very quickly, the demo was much slower and there was a Dodge mechanic, will d4 get that fast or no. A: Slightly slower pacing is by design. But you can ride around on a horse! Q: World events? Could you give more information? How is it decided who's in the group to fight the world event boss? A: When a world event occurs, you get notified and travel to the place. It's seamless transitioning to it. Currently no cap on how many can participate in a world event, still testing. Q: What are the plans for local coop? A: Can group with 3 other people, consoles will have 2 player local coop Q: What are plans for playing with lower or higher level players? A: World will match the level of the party leader Q: What is your philosophy on items that buff one specific skill to hell like in d3? A: There are tons of legendaries that modify skills, more of modifications than pure power up. Q: Treasure goblins? Secret levels? A: Yes, and yes! The treasure goblin is called Gary internally Q: Ray tracing planned for the game? A: Nothing to announce Q: Are rares going to be useful or are they not going to be relevant in end game in d4? A: They like the idea of the different tiers of Magic -> Rare, legendaries. Q: Do you look at other arpgs for insperation? Which ones? A: They play a ton of arpgs. But also other games. Q: What happened to the black soul stone? A: Find out at the lore panel. Note: At the lore panel we were told that the black soulstone was destroyed and the souls inside were freed. So every evil is free, and so are the countless humans that were trapped as well. Q: We saw Duriel is back anyone else coming? A: Duriel is back, so we may see some others too. Q: Will the leveling process be more like D3 or D2? A: Current level cap is 40, but may change. You probably still want to reach max level, and then keep playing. Leveling will be in between D3 and D2, and it was insinuated that the lvl 40 cap was just a place holder, not official by any means Q: In relation to game play what is the engine going to push forward? Is the engine new? How is lighting important? A: It is a brand new engine. Physically based render (not an engineer, sorry, may be misunderstanding). There's increased performance. Lots of new animation tech. Weather effects, vertically of the world, and plenty more. Walking while finishing a swing. Day night cycles too. Druid's Cataclysm changes the weather. Q: Will we need to uncheck the Elective mode like we did in D3 to put skills anywhere on our skill bar? A: No elective mode needed. Skills can be changed around right away. Less hand holding. No support for UI mods are planned, Q: End game rewards for d4? Will we have a system that guarantees some type of small incremental reward like paragon levels? A: Nothing to announce, but it is important to make progress every time. Q: Can you expand on runes? A: There are conditions and effects. They can unlock new abilities. Note: Condition being, "whenever you drink a potion" effect being "gain 50% crit hit chance for 7 seconds" Q: Have you talked about monetization, micro transactions? A: Nothing to announce yet, but the plan is for a base game, then expansions later. Will not sell "power" Q: Character customization set in stone or can you change after you create your character? A: Not sure. Though right now when you create a character you can modify face type, hair, skin, eyes, scars, tattoos, and more will be available. They want it to be similar to the WoW character creator. Q: Will there be gems/jewels? A: Gems and jewels go into those same sockets as runes. Q:What's the philosophy on social features? A: There will be clans, and you can trade via guild bank. Q: Potions how are those going to work? No health globes in demo A: Still evolving on the potion systems, they don't like how waiting 30-sec for your potion feels. Q: What quality of life improvements are coming to D4 from D3? A: You can make a pin point and you'll get a suggested path. If you want any clarification on something feel free to ask in the comments. [link] [comments] | ||
| I feel like nobody's talking about the new "Arsenal" System for the barb... Posted: 04 Nov 2019 04:26 PM PST .. and I think its kind of an underappreciated innovation! It's such a flavorful and fitting mechanic for the barb. It makes barb skills "real attacks" using his weapons again (instead of spells like in d3), while giving him a similar mechanic to the druid shapeshifting and cementing the class as the "weapon master". We've already seen a talent giving bonus damage when changing weapons, and I think the mechanic could be the basis for some interesting bonuses. Imagine a set of four different weapons, proccing pull or stun or other situational effects based on the order you use them in... Maybe help make combat a little more tactical I think Arsenal is my favorite new thing so far [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 04 Nov 2019 12:09 AM PST He's one of the original creators of Diablo 1/2 and a co-founder of Blizzard North. He's also currently an adviser on the Chinese release of Path of Exile. He's been answering all of the Diablo/Path of Exile questions that have been thrown at him lately in twitch chat (twitch handle for him and his wife is thejunglequeen) I asked him what he thought about some of the things proposed in this thread and he agreed completely. What do you guys think? Do we want Brevik back? [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 04 Nov 2019 03:43 PM PST Before we get started, I would like to say, that there are, I'm sure... many features of D3, PoE, Grim Dawn, etc. that would be considered good ideas worthy of inclusion in Diablo 4. However the focal point of this post is Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction which is, I believe, the litmus test of the genre. Top Controversial Reasons D2:LOD Reigns Supreme...and what Diablo 4 can learn from it. Shared Loot
PvP & Hostile
Runewords & Teleportation
Trading
Classes
Gear, Levels, Stats, Skills, & Talents
Let me know your thoughts and feelings on the matter in the comments below. [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 04 Nov 2019 08:15 AM PST IntroductionI'd like to start of by saying that I'm an absolute nobody here, except a long term fan of the franchise. A fan that have been grasping for straws within this franchise ever since Diablo 3 turned out to be less than I hoped it would be. (which was more like Diablo 2). Diablo 2 was and is my favorite game of all time. It is the game that connected me with friends that I still have to this day. Naturally, when I heard you were paying homage to Diablo 2 and all previous Diablo games in how you're approaching Diablo IV, I was ecstatic and overly thrilled. As the huge Diablo 2 fan I am, this sadly turned out to be more of an insult, and I don't mean that in an offensive way.I'm afraid that you're doing yourself and the player base a massive disservice in not paying well-placed respect to your own legacy. However! I'm now convinced and positive that you're heavily invested in listening to people's feedback in how to approach Diablo IV and this is the greatest news we could ever get, granted you hold true to your words. This post serves as my entry in voicing my concern and feedback with the hope of making clear to you, that your players (I can only speak for my self in this particular case, obviously) can handle and comprehend more complex mechanics and itemization. The following is my initial impressions from what I've seen and noticed over the course of the weekend, followed by some alternative suggestions to either reconsider changing or building upon these systems. These will be very controversial and I am by no means speaking for everyone with these, if you do or do not share my viewpoints, feel free to discuss these in a constructive manner. While i see some great things, I'm sadly also seeing some red flags going into Diablo IV, but there is still hope and time! There is A LOT of potential here. Apologies in advance, this is going to be a big one, but I highly recommend to read through it all, at least if you're a Blizzard employee :D. I don't expect everyone to read through this in its entirety, so I will be making a "short" TL:DR at the end as an Edit eventually. This has been exhausting :P Note: English isn't my native language, expect typos. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of contents: - The Game & Cinematics --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Game & Cinematics To kick things off, since this post is going to have its fair share of critical viewpoints, I'd like to balance things out complimenting how visually stunning the game looks as well as the cinematics. You guys should start making movies. Massive kudos and respect to the art team for finally capturing the dark horror vibe we've grown to love over the course of Diablo 1 through 2. With that said however, based on what have been shown thus far, it's a little shame that it seems that the majority of gore, horror and darkness comes from the cinematics which can be conveniently disabled. Please don't be afraid of introducing more darkness, horror, gore, death and blood in the game itself. I want to be scared walking deep into a dungeon, hearing screams of tortured people with ominous music playing!!. I want to feel like a nobody battling forces out of my league and realm of existence, I don't want to be a hero by default. It seems to be the approach you're going with this and this is great! The game reminds me a whole lot of Diablo 3 though, from the map and minimap, to how the loot physically drop and sound dropping from monsters as well as some of the dungeon objectives and lest not kid ourselves these are basically just Bounty Events from Diablo 3 with new textures. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The User Interface I like the artwork but, and this is a minor one really, moving all the important information onto one side of the screen, having boss health on top in the middle of the screen could prove to be a larger strain on the eyes for some people and could cause issues with motion sickness, since the eyes would be moving much further on the screen diagonally and horizontally in conjunction. Having your key information in the middle portion of the screen, only having to pan your eyes vertically in the heat of combat just seems much more natural. Thus making sure people can spend more hours in game! To add reference to this, I noticed during some Druid gameplay, that his entire Spirit Globe got depleted and I jumped as if my character was about to die. This is a muscle memory thing however. But alas, having the action bars and health / power globes the same place as in Diablo 3 would just yet again make it look more like Diablo 3 I guess. Perhaps, consider allowing players to move these UI elements around to their liking via in-game settings? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Highlight System The current way in how you're highlighting doors and monsters could benefit from being toned down a notch. It's immersion breaking to have the entire monster turn a glowing red or a door become a big white square. Perhaps, consider allowing players to toggle this feature on and off via in-game settings? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss Mechanics & Animations While I wasn't able to gather much from the demo, I was able to get a glimpse of how these work from Ashava and the big drowned lady. I like that there are mechanical challenges in boss fights, this is a great leap of faith to the genre, especially combined with the stagger mechanic. However there are some concerns about these: - Please try not to introduce immunity phases as well as forced phases to prolong a boss encounter unnecessarily. These are one of the biggest frustrators with Diablo 3 for me and recently in Path of Exile as well. (read; Diablo Fight in Diablo 3 and some select boss fights in PoE) - When the boss dies loot should explode instantly, don't let us sit through a 5 second death animation before we can reap our rewards, just look at the Malthael fight in D3 in how he drops his loot (this seemed to be the case both for the drowned lady and Ashava). Let players be able to zerg bosses down in 10 seconds if they're powerful enough to do so, this helps build upon a feel of power progression making item upgrades more impactful. I'm not sure how and if this would need balancing, but I'm certain you'd be able to figure it out. - Additionally, please avoid how you implemented dialogues in Diablo 3. They served as a detriment to the integrity of the key bosses and NPC's. Sort of made everything a sitcom in some points. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Talent & Skill Trees THEY'RE BACK! GREAT! Skill ranks, CHECK. Skill Tree I overheard one of the developers mention that you would be able to gather skill tomes in the game, does this mean that you're able to get all your skills at max rank eventually by playing the game? - If so, please reconsider. Let there be permanent or even semi-permanent consequences to our decision making. Having to chose between powerful skills helps make the build your own entirely. Allowing people to get to the same spot through a matter of how long they spend grinding the game, still doesn't change a homogenization of the classes and thus further fails to improve on class & build diversity. Passive Tree This needs way more work, don't be afraid to branch out more, be more creative with the bonuses rather than just having +dmg or +crit chance/damage and very simplistic Damage Reduction bonuses. Additionally, perhaps consider allowing players interconnect these branches them selves? or create new sub-trees e.g: If a player has put 5/5 in a passive node, that passive node creates a new branch to the opposing side of the tree or if a player, via an item, possibly an actual Runeword is able to connect two passive nodes even if they aren't physically connected on the tree it self? Or, having certain thresholds, if met (like having 10 points in the fire branch and 10 points in the cold branch on the Sorceress tree), the remaining part of it gets transformed into a new Frostfire tree, or access to a new sub-tree with a whole new set of nodes to pick from are created. and can be explored. This creates the opportunity of even more player agency in pathing their passive trees. Additionally, please consider adding or utilizing synergies as they were used in Diablo 2, for either or both the passive and skill tree. The current iteration is too simplistic and linear. I can't stress this enough, we have faith in you creating this game and getting it right, please return the favor of having faith in us, to trust that we're able to comprehend more complex mechanics and features. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loot & Drop Conditions Please let the loot, especially legendaries, be way more scarce than what they are in Diablo 3 and don't make white, blue and yellow items irrelevant outside of just salvaged goods. (Proposing ideas in how to make them more relevant below in the Rune & Runewords section, it's very easy, since you already laid the ground work for it). Perhaps reconsider your implementation of ancient items, either remove or allow some of them to be traded, they're a chore in Diablo 3, and they will become a chore in Diablo IV if left untouched. It's basically Titanforging from WoW and people don't like it one bit, it's just frustration. Mythic items, this is basically just a droppable random Kanais Cube, I like it, this has potential to be the BIG TICKET CHASE item drops which players can hunt and aim for. Please don't gate all of these behind Bind on Pickup. This one change could help build upon a VERY HEALTHY item and trade economy. A healthy trade market / economy is an essential thing for game and player longevity beyond just seasonal meta shifts. Additionally, having different drop tables on different bosses is also an interesting idea. (remember farming Andy for SoJ anyone?) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Runes & Runewords Oh boy. This was the biggest disappointment to me. The first thought that ran into my head when i heard you say Runewords, i had literal chills and butterflies, waiting for the opportunity to craft my first "Spirit". The way you presented and are implementing runes currently felt like a HUGE bait n switch and it was slightly insulting to the Diablo 2 legacy if this is how you're paying homage. This is, and lets not kid our selves, just legendary gems, split into an effect and trigger, disguised in a rune skin. It surprises me to see so many people openly accept these as Runewords, did we even play the same Diablo 2?. The only reason why this is getting any merit is due to the nostalgia factor. I'm afraid it will get old and boring quick. This has SO MUCH MORE POTENTIAL. Basically you could've just copied the runewords from Diablo 2 and added new ones in future patches and, while I can only speak for my self, i would've been SO STOKED if that were the case! (Still can be though!) I'm not saying the system is bad, it just has miles to go to get even close to why I and many of my friends had a special place in our hearts for Runewords. A better term currently would be Runecombos or Runechains, It's almost disrespectful to Diablo 2, in calling them Runewords. People are going to be interacting in the following manner: - Player 1: Im using DolMal in my chest, what about you? When they could be asking: - Player 1: Wow, what a cool build you have, do you have any Runewords that allows you to do what you do? The magic of a runeword was making rune combinations in hopes of seeing that white item being transformed into a new one (for me at least, feel free to agree or disagree in the comments). Effectively letting us EXPLORE a part of the itemization system within the game. Which brings me to the next topic about this, making white blues and yellow items relevant beyond just salvaged goods. Allowing players to be able to CRAFT these Runewords, not only creates the opportunity for the meta end game crafting Diablo 3 was missing and which Diablo IV is going to miss if nothing is done. It is making sure white item bases have value, further improving and adding to the economy. Blue items could via some in game measure or crafting pattern, be downgraded to a white or upgraded to a yellow item effectively rolling a set of new affixes too. - To add to this too, I was unable to notice any form of durability in the gameplays of Diablo IV, please consider adding Durability back and possibly even Ethereal items. Runewords currently as I said, have SO MUCH POTENTIAL. They can act as build enabling items or build enhancing items. One might grant Rank 5 Upheaval from the Barbarian, while another one may interconnect specific passive tree nodes to create new branches (i spoke about this in the Talent & Skill Tree section) Example of a Runeword |Echoes of The Ancients| This last line can be a vanity wordplay, or this line could also be used to let them be able to show them selves and cast their warcries once in a new moon during combat, adding even more flavor to an item. Imagine swopping this badboy on a Sorceress, obviously the Rage cost for Upheaval is converted into Mana Cost. A player would then be able to create a Melee Sorceress killing monsters with Upheaval and since Sorceress is able to scale quite a bit of cold, fire and lightning damage, this ability could also Chill and Freeze enemies, should you chose to go the cold route. I've noticed there is also Crushing Blows in the game, currently only on the Druid IIRC, this would also make sure this particular build would benefit of these too (if allowed) It also goes without saying, but I'll mention it anyway, please bring back 6 socket items! This sort of itemization and exploration hereof, is not difficult, it isn't insanely complex. This is FUN! MrLlama alongside Zizaran even proposed during his Blizzcon stream that runes should be more interesting. For example If you combined a +30 Lightning Res rune with a +30 Cold res rune, you would get +1 to All Skills. Maybe even add a third condition rune? Runewords are your golden goose in making this game truely amazing and interesting Blizzard. Stop trying to make origami with it, just polish it. This is one core element that didn't need to be reinvented. Lastly for this section, I'm not certain this is the case since only Vex and Dol dropped in the beta, but runes should have different drop rates, possibly even be put into a tier hierarchy. I fondly remember getting big ticket rune drops from Diablo 2. This was a good and fun feeling. Getting an Eth or Eld however.. well, things needs a balance :D --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jewels & Gems & Charms This goes without saying, these should always have a home in any Diablo game. Throw them in there! (if they aren't already planned) How do I make a magic find build without topazes to socket into my gear?, how do i cap my resistances without Diamonds etc. Jewels could make a new touch to the game, perhaps... here's a wild idea: - Allow players to socket jewels into their talent trees to grant, remove, enhance nearby or a select few passives nodes, or create new branches? Charms... You already have a specific Utility slot in the inventory screen. Be creative :D --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Item Affixes When i read this comment from your homepage:
This sort of hurt. I for one, am not a toddler running around a Diablo kintergarden, learning the ropes of putting squares into square holes and balls into circular holes. I truly believe that the Diablo player base is capable of more complex mechanics than this. This is effectively doing the opposite of what you want. It's removing the need to actually think about what item you're getting and how you want to use it. People will start tunnel visioning onto "does this item give me 2 green up arrows or not, if yes, equip". I'm happy to see that Attack Speed is still here, but please allow for more secondary affixes such as: Faster Hit Recovery, Faster Cast Rate, Stun Resistance, Chill Duration etc etc. The suggestions can be miles long. Speaking of additional affixes, what about tertiary stats such as:Life gain On Hit, Chance to Freeze, Chance to Deal a Crushing Blow, %Life Steal etc etc. Question: Do you plan to add damage type conditionals further than just cold dmg being able to chill and freeze?.Will I be able to get a two handed slashing weapon that deals cold damage, and thus can proc these conditionals by default, within a balance reasoning of course? Additionally, please be extremely careful of how you're implementing Cooldown Reduction. While i really do not enjoy seeing cooldowns in ANY hack n slash game, i dislike the cooldown reduction stat even more. This will be the go to affix people will chase and severely limit item and build creativity. I don't like adding caps in any shade or form, but this one stat could benefit from being capped at a very low threshold OR be removed entirely. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Item Relevancy & Longevity Having players explore a healthy mix of item affixes, whether it be primary, secondary and even tertiary, healthy loot drops and droprates and relevant items regardless of their rarity as well as actual Runewords only improves item relevancy and item longevity. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Trading I touched this slightly in the Loot & Drop Conditions section above. I like that you want to introduce a mix of always tradable, some times tradable and never tradable items, but please have in mind that having a healthy trade market in these types of games are essential to the games longevity. While I'd prefer a trade system where no items were subject to being bound from any means what so ever, I can understand that you want players to play the game for upgrades, not snipe the auction house or whatever the equivalent of poe-trade will be for Diablo IV. It is healthy though, to be able to get an item, quite possibly an item one may consider as the best possible item ever (for a certain specific build / class) and be able to cash in on that find. It would be so frustrating to get a mythic item drop, with the 4 perfect legendary affixes for a weird particular build, but not to be able to trade it and thus it becomes salvaged goods :/ Maybe, consider restricting Ancient Items behind Bind on Pickup entirely, since this would allow players to be able to only reach their best potential via actively playing the game them selves, but being able to purchase these legendaries in their non-ancient state, would allow players to be extremely creative with their builds. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Party Sizes This may be a minor one, but I've been dreaming of a Diablo game with room for more than 6 people. The party size of Diablo 3 (4) split my friends into 2 groups, this was awful and I know this is the case for many others too. Please, consider increasing the party size to 6 at least --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Key Dungeon System This is a great idea and I like it, but as with most of the other topics touched in this post, this system has A LOT OF POTENTIAL. Because right now, this is just the Mythic+ system taken from World of Warcraft. Please, consider allowing players to be able to upgrade, downgrade the key stones via some sort of in-game measure. Heck, why not allow people to make or drop blue rare and maybe even legendary Keys? (Some may think of Path of Exiles map system now, and this is perfectly fine. It's an amazing system, but this wouldn't be a direct copy) Oh and please avoid infinite scaling difficulties, which ties me into my next point below. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Level cap & Infinite Scaling Content While the idea of infinite scaling content seems pretty good on paper, in practicality it's just postponing a problem rather than solving it. All the difficulties in the game, whether it be the easiest to the most difficult should be individually relevant. Please reconsider this idea, try to make all difficulties relevant and lucrative in their own individual ways. Gating the BEST loot behind the hardest content looks fine on paper, but I should be able to get a Mythic drop from a chest in the highest difficulty as well as from a Key Dungeon 500. A thing like this should be down to drop chance and not drop conditionals. Paragon levels.. Yikes. Please don't ever put this into the game. Let there be a level cap and let us aim toward this as a means to complete our characters in some way or another. This promotes healthy character building in the form of alts and wanting to try out new classes / builds even further. If your current plan is to have 40 as maximum level and allow paragon levels further, why not just go back to the level cap that worked and was hard to, but yet extremely fulfilling to achieve, the 99 levels of Diablo 2?. You could have a soft cap of level 60 or 70 and let players grind the remaining levels to reach the actual hard cap over a period of time equivalent of grinding to paragon 2000? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alpha & Beta You need to, and I can't voice this enough, you simply need to involve people in this process. Please consider allowing multiple closed / open and LONG Alpha/Beta periods over the course of the next couple of years during your development of Diablo IV. If you are truly listening to player feedback, please give us more options in how to voice our feedback. Anything else would be hypocritical. Should you decide to do allow this, please don't gate the access to these to streamers exclusively. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In closing: Please reconsider your current approach with Diablo IV's itemization. Trust that players can handle and comprehend more complex mechanics and items, let us fail in finding out the best rune combinations and hopefully crafting actual Runewords. Heck to sum up this entire post: Let us be able to create a Slashing Weapon type Melee Sorceress scaling Rank 5 Upheaval(Barbarian Skill via Runeword) with Cold Damage for chills and freezes but which also may or may not benefit from Crushing Blows. I'm not asking for a Path of Exile clone, but a middle ground between Diablo 2 and Path of Exile with Diablo 3's combat and fluidity would be absolutely fantastic and that would probably be the game I'd play forever. Let us explore itemization, please! Kindest Regards A long time fan. [link] [comments] | ||
| They should remove the red highlight from enemies and yellow flashing effect on bigger monster Posted: 04 Nov 2019 10:02 AM PST I never liked this. There are subtle ways of showing the player which enemy he or she is targeting. The light flash when you hit enemy. Take that away too. [link] [comments] | ||
| MrLLamaSc take on Diablo 4 experience from blizzcon Posted: 04 Nov 2019 03:55 AM PST
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| Diablo Lilith 24.5" Premium Statue Posted: 04 Nov 2019 04:27 PM PST
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| I do NOT want infinite progression in Diablo 4 Posted: 04 Nov 2019 07:08 AM PST I'm sure every one is going to have differing opinions, but I feel as if the GR and Paragon system hurts build variety. I feel like when there's a cap on how hard something can be, all that matters is being able to complete it. As D3 currently stands, you really cant make less "Optimal", fun builds because you wont be getting anywhere. It's one of the reasons I think people enjoy D2's itemization more than D3. D3 requires you to follow a guide/build to progress, and it's not fun. There's always going to be a best build, but it shouldn't be necessary. [link] [comments] | ||
| David Brevik's (from Blizzard North, D1, D2) thought's on Diablo 4 Posted: 04 Nov 2019 08:15 AM PST
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| 24 minutes of new Barbarian gameplay from Gameinformer Posted: 04 Nov 2019 05:10 PM PST
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| Diablo 4 Cinematic - 5 Frames That Flashed By Posted: 04 Nov 2019 11:35 AM PST I noticed there were a few frames that flashed by too quickly to comprehend, so here they are: I guess that's Inarius all chained up? [link] [comments] | ||
| Blizzard released 36 HQ images and artwork of Diablo IV Posted: 04 Nov 2019 05:27 AM PST While the revelation and gameplay trailers of both titles were used to make players easier with these new games, Blizzard President J. Allan Brack commented released several HQ images\! Some make really good Wallpapers: [link] [comments] | ||
| The Scales of Hell: Pleasing opposing playerbases Posted: 04 Nov 2019 07:29 PM PST There has been a lot of discussion lately about various topics, especially itemization, that in most cases ultimately come to Diablo 2 vs Diablo 3, or simple vs complex. Opposing views of what the direction the game should take. This is going to be a pretty extensive post with a lot of different topics, but the ultimate point of it is: you do not need to completely alienate one playerbase to make the other happy. I'm also going to touch on some of the reasons Diablo 3 failed to reach that balance, and some philosophies that in my view would make for a healthier version of Diablo 4. This is not going to be a "copy and paste Diablo 2 and make the casuals git gud" post though, as the argument is equally valid for both sides. But before we start, a brief explanation on two terms I will use a lot during this post. Complexity and depth. I don't think this is the only valid meaning for the terms, but I will explicitly state what I mean when using them so no one gets lost in pointless semantic discussions. Complexity vs Depth Complexity as in: the amount of different factors someone has to weigh before making a decision or learning a mechanic in the game. Depth as in: the amount of substantially different and unique gameplay aspects that result from the decisions someone makes. Complexity is the means, not the end To explain this I will go to the godfather of the Diablo series: Tabletop RPGs. It might sound like a stretch, but hear me out. I promise not to extend too much on the topic. I followed the development of the second edition of the Pathfinder RPG pretty closely and they were in a very interesting situation. On one side, the roots of the game and the ones who originated it were extremely complex, attracting a not so large but very dedicated playerbase of hardcore players. On the other, there was a big pressure from a market that was shifting to simpler games and where streamlining became kind of a necessity for financial success. Sounds familiar? Yeah. They had to find some balance. I do think they achieved their goal pretty well, but that's irrelevant here. The point is: Mark Seifter, one of the lead designers, said one thing about their main philosophy for the new game that stuck with me a lot. Before, they were treating complexity as the end goal. A complex game brings more options to the players, right? Well... not exactly. The new philosophy is treating complexity not as an inherently good thing (and not inherently bad either), but as a currency you use to buy, or in this case create, depth. The end goal should be not to simply have a simple game or a complex game, but a game that "minmaxes" complexity, achieving the maximum amount of depth with the minimum amount of complexity necessary. And that brings us to the next point. Why vs why not Something I've been seeing from a lot of D2 diehards (not all of them, of course) is approaching the design of Diablo 4 with a "why not" perspective. As in "This worked on Diablo 2 20 years ago, didn't it? Why would you change it?". I also see the same, although to a lesser extent, in Diablo 3 fans that say "The game sold very well, so why should they change those things?". I truly think this is the wrong way to approach game design, especially for a game that isn't the sole ruler of its genre anymore, like it was not so long ago. When you design a game, even a sequel, you should think about why things are and aren't there. Complexity that doesn't add depth is just background noise and gatekeeping. Simplicity at the cost of a big reduction in depth reduces the longevity of a game by a lot. Is really every single thing about Diablo 2 perfect? Do we really need stats that do exact same thing with marginally different math in the game? Or is that complexity that adds no depth? What Diablo 3 sacrificed that pissed off old fans so much (other than obviously the visuals)? These seem a little random but they are only examples of the kinds of questions that people should ask themselves. The last one isn't so random though, because I want to go more in-depth about it. The underestimation of casual players I don't consider myself the biggest Diablo 2 fan in the world. I do like the game, yes. More than 3, yes. But I don't think it's the ultimate game in the entire universe, and it could definitely use some streamlining and modernization in some of its mechanics. It does have a lot of "background noise". And it needs better explanations about the mechanics too, because jeez. But the point here is, I don't think Diablo 3's big sin with the community was trying to streamline the game. Or even changing it too much from Diablo 2. It's that some of the philosophies behind the game are just... terribly flawed. I'm not saying any of D3's designers explicitly said these things, but I do think they show a lot in the final result of what the game ended up being. The first one is that the game treats casual players as children. Or being less crude, it really underestimates them in a lot of ways. I'm not talking about things like the UI calculating DPS gains for you here. That's just something to reduce the spreadsheet factor and I think it's pretty valid. I'm talking about things like Elective Mode and how it's been handled for about 5 years. I am aware it has been changed to be the default in 2017, but why wasn't it the default mode or the other one even existed in the first place? The game has a pretty average to low amount of skills, and you unlock them at a nice and steady pace. Instead of letting the player learn by experimenting (show instead of telling, pretty basic principle of writing and game design here), possibly messing up but slowly getting more interested in the game mechanics, it locked them into a protective bubble that made things easier but also never incentivized anyone to learn. It's like giving someone training wheels but never taking them away, considering the poor to nonexistant job the game did at even saying that was a thing. Why am I using this as an example if it's not the case anymore? Because it shows a bigger issue. And now it's time to talk about the big derivative of that issue. Legendaries and late game itemization. Simply put, Diablo 3 has a very Modern Bethesda style of rewarding players. Constantly pumping out shiny things to make you feel rewarded, even if you didn't really do anything to accomplish that. Legendaries drop like flies, and you gain half of the necessary gear for a build by doing some simple missions. I'm not gonna pretend I'm some kind of psychic and I'm not affected by this. Yes, it constantly generates dopamine into your brain and makes you feel good. But the problem is... that has diminishing returns. If you get rewarded constantly by doing almost nothing, if you get a legendary every 2 minutes, the feeling of accomplishment doesn't last very long. *I have to give a shoutout to Blizzard here because they already mentioned reducing the power of sets, making seasons more unique in ways other than giving you free gear and making legendary drops rates not scale with difficulty, so here are some brownie points for them. What you usually see (good) games doing when it comes to a situation like this is giving the players increased challenges for better and more exciting rewards, so they can feel accomplished again. The problem is... that never happened. I'm not that much of a hardcore player myself and I had most of my D3 experience playing with friends that, until then, had the same experience with ARPGs that I have with building space rockets. But they really liked the game, and despite not being very incentivized to do so, they started to want to go just a tiny bit deeper. What happened? Well... we leveled up new, season characters, finished the season rewards and played the game when we had free time together. For three weeks. By that point, everyone had all of their necessary gear and the only thing left to do was farm better statted, maybe ancient versions of the same gear. I don't have to say their enthusiasm for the end game didn't last last very long. That might seem a little contradictory with everything I just said, but I think the main reason for this is my next point. Not the entire game needs to be for everyone "But didn't you just say streamlining the game to be accessible for everyone is good and treating casual players as dumb dumbs is bad? What the heck?". Yes, I did. And that is true. Having a game that different publics can enjoy is a good thing and basically a necessity for AAA games in today's market. But the point is that not every single part and mechanic of the game needs to be made for everyone. What I see a lot in Diablo 3 (and other current Blizzard titles like BFA WoW) and that causes many of the aforementioned problems is that the game is afraid to create any very high-end content with a high amount of effort necessary to enter. A goal that players who do want more depth strive to achieve. By design, there is no item in the game is desirable but extremely rare. There is no ultra hard dungeon you can strive to complete and feel like an ultimate accomplishment. What invested players gain is simply scaled versions of what everyone else gets with a lot of ease. The feeling I have is that they're afraid more casual players might feel wronged or that they're buying an incomplete game if there is actual content with actual separate mechanics that have a high barrier of entry. But I totally disagree with that philosophy. Another thing Mark Seifter said in the same forum is that depth should be opt-in. A game needs to have depth to have longevity, but not every player wants depth. And that is fine. It's not a problem you need to solve. Back to Diablo, some people just want to click demons and kill them to pass their time, and they will not feel bad because they don't have the Ultimate Helmet of Supreme Awesomeness. Unless that's what you condition them to feel by making everything in the game extremely easy to achieve. Diablo is not a competitive game (not in its core, at least, that's not what the series is about). If you make every single part of the game so easy to access that invested players don't feel rewarded, then no one has an end goal anymore. The game's life and activity will be short, no matter what else you do. If everyone's super, no one is. When I was a 12 year old who barely knew how to read English, I can assure you I wasn't a hardcore player. But when I finally got a godly rolled rare item or an unique so rare that no one even heard about it before and I told this to my friends at school, they didn't say "Aw man, that sucks. Why can't I have one of those?". They said "Damn, that's so cool! I wonder if this game has more stuff like this.". I think that's one of the feelings people are so nostalgic of when they talk about Diablo 2. The game didn't reward you with flashy things all the time, but you had that feeling deep inside that if you played just enough, you might get something extremely cool and unique at any time. Something that maybe no one you know even has or ever had. I honestly hope Mythic items achieve that on Diablo 4, because they are a great idea on paper. And honestly, I don't think the hardcore player is the most affected by this bad philosophy. Not saying they aren't, but there is another type of player that is even more. The player who wants to make the transition between casual and hardcore. That's what my friends were in the earlier example, and that's when the game failed them. They wanted to explore more of the game and go deeper, but the game ran out of cool things to do because everything was so frontloaded and thrown in their faces all the time. Okay, you do know how to complain a lot. But what can be done? While proposing ultra-specific, direct solutions is not the purpose of this post, I have some suggestions about the general mentality around the game. I think the Diablo devs can learn a lot from other games. But not only Path of Exile, Grim Dawn and other ARPGs. Diablo is Diablo, but it's still a game. The Pathfinder 2 case I mentioned earlier is interesting, but I think there is an even better example of good game design and how to make a game that makes people feel rewarded for what they achieve: Dark Souls. Okay, okay, calm your keyboards, please. This is not a "Diablo 4 will be the Dark Souls of Diablo" meme. Dark Souls is a difficult game on its core, while Diablo isn't. They have completely different core gameplay loops. I know all of that. But if there's are things Dark Souls knows how to do, they are teaching mechanics via experimentation without overwhelming the player, having opt-in depth and especially, making you feel really accomplished for what you achieve. I know people who barely play videogames at all and, with much effort, finished the game. And for most of them it's one of their favorite games of all time. Every single small step was an accomplishment, not because one of every three enemies sparked orange and dropped a Legendary Sword of Cutting Things, but because they learned something. And how can that be translated to a game about clicking demons and colecting colored, glowing pieces of metal? If I knew the exact answer I would be making my own ARPG, but thinking about these principles can lead to some ideas. Can't we have a Diablo game that has deep mechanics, but slowly presents them to the player, teaches them and makes them learn by experimentation? Without any unnecessary, meaningless complexity? Can't we have a Diablo game with a Talent/Skill system that lets people just put points into "I want to blow up things" and have fun without having a big chance of permanently fucking up their character, but also rewards someone who deeply thinks about what they're doing? Can't we have a Diablo game with itemization that can be easily understood by casual players, but also leaves people with a taste that if they invest enough in the game, they can get something super exciting and unique at any moment? I don't think any of those things are unachievable, or that either Diablo 2 or Diablo 3 is the answer for everything. If you had the patience to read all of this and you still don't hate me for anything I said about your favorite game, thank you. And see you all on Sanctuary. [link] [comments] | ||
| MrLLamaSC: Diablo 4 Q&A with Twitch Chat - Gathering Community feedback Posted: 04 Nov 2019 02:00 PM PST Past his initial thoughts on D4, Llama was taking questions. Lots of interesting points discussed. [link] [comments] | ||
| With D4 reveal out, let us not forget the much more humble days of Diablo cinematics Posted: 04 Nov 2019 10:29 AM PST
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| Posted: 04 Nov 2019 06:20 AM PST Didn't notice it in the gameplay demos and it was so satisfying in D3. Seems like you guys have the larger issues covered. I just want this, please! [link] [comments] | ||
| A more complex itemization is a type of end game! Posted: 04 Nov 2019 11:09 AM PST I like d2 and d3 but for different reasons. The main thing I miss in d3 is the itemization from d2. I want proper runewords. I really want them to copy-paste it from d2 where you create items by combining the runes. This "condition" / "effect" thingy they have in the demo is not d2 runewords, it's just a skimmed socket system if I'm brutally honest. Add extremely rare runes for us die hard nerds. And don't make rare items roll lesser attack/defense than legendaries. Rare items must be a realistic viable end game piece of gear! Preferably remove attack/defense and replace with +skill rolls or make rare and magic items have HIGHER ranges than legendaries to make them relevant in some way. You can't put superior amount of stats AND a unique effect on the same item without making the other completely irrelevant. D3 team had no idea what they were doing with their itemization, so I'm very skeptical and cynical about d4 because I don't like the itemization I've seen so far. Itemization is more than tiers and cool legendary effects! [link] [comments] | ||
| Subtle but extremely important artistic/atmospheric aspects that should be included in D4 Posted: 04 Nov 2019 09:18 PM PST
Anyone who plays through D2 will understand that light radius plays an extremely important role in terms of the gothic horror experience. It is fear of the unknown, the light radius allows monsters to scare you, it allows you to be truly ambushed, darkness coupled with proper, appropriate environment design (claustrophobic spaces, thick wilderness, gothic and medieval architecture, etc) allows the Diablo mood to set in, without paying attention to lighting, that mood can easily be lost.
Somebody else brought this up earlier, when you hit a monster in D3, they light up slightly, in the D4 demo this also exists but it's not as obvious. It's very important that monsters not be well lit, unless they are carrying candles or if it is an important part of their design. Monsters should be visible and readable, but when a monster is dark and not completely in the light, they appear more imposing and scary then they are otherwise. Make sure that the light generated from skills dosen't illuminate monsters too well, and be sure to strike the balance between realistic lighting physics and enough darkness that the mind of the player can add onto the monster design because they
In D3, townsfolk are almost COMPLETELY inept compared to the player and the monsters they face, while this isn't as true in D2. When townsfolk and regular humans are worthless, the world honestly feels surreal and it takes away from the fact that the player in D4 should feel mortal and not godlike. There should be a clear gap between the player and most humans, but regular humans should be at least a little competent even if they are getting owned by demons.
In D3, even your first abilities like the Barbarian's bash the Wizard's magic missile, Demon Hunter's rapid fire, etc feel overwhelmingly strong, they don't feel like they were designed for being the first few abilities you get. In D2, it's sort of the opposite. You start of with a valuable but basic spell, sorceresses get firebolt, Necromancers get raise skeleton, Barbarians and Paladins just melee. It's not until you start to really level up that you can put skill points into better spells and really get strong. This reinforces the sense of being mortal and the RPG sense of starting off weak and earning your way to strength. In a Diablo game (and all Blizzard games) these things are inextricably linked.
In Diablo 3, the UI has a lot of light in it. When you click on the ground you see a yellow/orange pulse. The mini map, time, chat, and objectives all feel a little too modern and it almost feels sci-fi at times, it feels too obvious you're playing a game and take away from immersion. I think it's good in a close up MMORPG like WoW but in an isometric RPG like Diablo, I think it's the wrong approach. In D2 the AI is much more gothic, minimally invasive and fits the theme of the game. The screen isn't taken up by the mini map or other elements. To the contrary, everything but the bottom of the screen is free, and the UI is artistic but not an excessive source of brightness and distraction.
In D2 it was pretty common that you would find those lore books that had that epic dark narration, it was a major tone setter, you felt like you had a glimpse into the larger story but it still felt distant and vague, it left you food for thought. In D3, you get a lot of monster journals and stuff like that, I do like these, as much as Abd Al Hazir is an awesome character and is my boy, I think that for D4 the narrations can't be light hearted as some in vanilla D3 were. They need to be be dark and foreboding, like you're finding an ancient tome of demonic lore. They should have a sense of mysteriousness surrounding them. Bottom line, narrations need to follow the same gothic theme as everything else, and should weave a larger story behind theme, they need to be scary, they need to serve to make you afraid of hell and the foes the game throw at you. They need to play up to Diablo's atmosphere. What else do you guys think are critical artistic, atmospheric things to be included? [link] [comments] | ||
| All I hope is that damage doesn't scale exponentially like in Diablo 3. Posted: 04 Nov 2019 05:16 PM PST I saw these affixes already and it kinda scare me: x% Attack Speed, x% Critical Strike Chance, x% Critical Strike Damage, x% Damage. Diablo 3 itemization was a huge mess because of these imo, you could literally double your damage with a single ring, making pretty much ALL other stats useless. In Diablo 2, a 1000 hours character was just slightly more powerful than a 100 hours character, once you got your build set, it was pretty good, yes you could pay triple to get a perfect defense shako and perfect charms but in the end, the difference was negligible, in Diablo 3, a 1000 hours character straight up have 10 times more damage, twice the defenses than a 100 hours character and I'm not even talking about paragon levels. The biggest change in your character power should be in the first 100 hours then become progressively slower the more you play, like the right graph in this picture unlike diablo 3 which is like the left graph: https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-0a71ef66128aca828f1c8bbab6d58c14.webp Also screw paragon levels, bring back the endless 95-99 grind that give a small bonus, not triple your character power and most importantly, has a cap. [link] [comments] | ||
| My take on criticizing the itemization as seen in the D4 demo and as experienced in D3 Posted: 04 Nov 2019 11:19 AM PST Guys, I'm all for streamlining, it's a really great idea, but I think it is going into a direction that not a lot of your (Blizzard's) core audience will enjoy. I can't speak for everyone, but I'd like to give my take on what I personally like with itemization. Yes, I understand that it's possibly just a placeholder at the moment, but I still have worries. First off: Let me kick off with saying this: Offense, Defense, Life. The unholy triumvirate. These need to go. This is neither here, nor there. Why not just fully go with the Vermintide 2 route, and just make every item have a "power" stat only? Here's a little D2 thought experiment, which boots to take on your character? Aldur's boots, sandstorm treks or waterwalks? Well, heck I don't know, I like all three of them, so I have a choice, I can decide which boots to pick! When I see a new item and the game even tells me "HEY THESE BOOTS ARE BETTER, SWITCH THEM OUT", and has only such generic stats to compare, you have robbed me from the joy of making a strategic decision. If you guys want to streamline stats, I have a suggestion: Take a piece of paper, and draw 3 circles on it. These circles represent, say your fire resistance. An item drops with the stat "fire resistance" on it. You equip it. Fill in one circle. Now you have one tick of fire resistance, that translates to, say 25% fire damage reduction. Another item drops with fire resistance, you equip it, and now have two ticks, getting your fire resistance up to 50%. You go up a difficulty, take one tick away as resistance penalty. You're back at 25%. This gives a simple, elegant way of dealing with resistances rather than having quadratic functions with "ratings" and other nonsense in the game. This is easy to understand for the player, but leaves space for gear optimization! I love optimizing my gear, just sitting down, staring at my equipment screen in town and trying to figure out what item to get next. This sets a goal for me, that I can pursue. My second point: My items have a soul of their own. I like to keep my old characters and just checking out their stuff, swimming in the memories of finding them, "Oh I remember getting this ring from a chest I kicked open at the end of a run after getting so frustrated that I found nothing for days that I just started messing around, and it was right in there!", Do you remember finding that cool charm on the way to baal? That random shield you identified last year just for the heck of it, that turned out to be a jmod? You knew the chances of that were next to nothing, and you didn't even hope for anything, but it did turn out to be a jmod! The point to take is not that gambler's dopamine rush is a cool thing, but the fact that I'd love to give value to items I find, stash them after finding a replacement, and check back on them time to time, remembering all those moments that tie me to that item, and the character along with it. D2 even had an option to personalize my items by adding my name on them! That's great, we need more of that! Third: Let's just not call them legendaries. Unique sounds better. It's a shorter word, and it's more tied to the diablo jargon. I always found it dumb to just put these big buzzwords into things, to make them sound cooler, but after a point, even that inflates. When your LEGENDARY item is not legendary enough because it's not an ANCIENT LEGENDARY, and heck, not even a PRIMAL LEGENDARY, the word just loses meaning. Please don't go with this route. Sometimes, simple is better, just call them unique items. To be perfectly honest though, I always enjoyed the diablo franchise even if things won't go the direction I would've taken them. I know the saying of "players think they know what they want, but they actually don't" well. I just hope itemization won't be the cow level theme in D4, where only items with "+1 to light radius" and "-1 damage taken" and various other junk mods drop. [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 04 Nov 2019 08:48 AM PST | ||
| I wasn't as excited about a game (like with D4 now) in a long time Posted: 04 Nov 2019 12:38 PM PST Just wanted to share this thought because feedback and critics aside, I really like the direction of the game and how awesome it already looks. I'm hooked and super excited to play D4 [link] [comments] |
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