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    Home Unlabelled Diablo Diablo II is *NOT* some "Holy Grail" of perfect loot itemization

    Diablo Diablo II is *NOT* some "Holy Grail" of perfect loot itemization

    December 04, 2019

    Diablo Diablo II is *NOT* some "Holy Grail" of perfect loot itemization

    Diablo II is *NOT* some "Holy Grail" of perfect loot itemization

    Posted: 04 Dec 2019 09:00 AM PST

    Honestly, this is one of the greatest fears I have with Blizzard listening to the community. Diablo II is obviously a fantastic game, and in many ways, is the father of the loot-based ARPG genre. It defined the genre with gameplay concepts that are still relevant today.

    However, it is also a very old game, and since its release, we have seen many other new, cool ideas enter the genre.

    People here hate on D3 -- and there's no denying, it is a deeply flawed game -- and yes, it is a wildly different kind of game than Diablo II was. I will totally concede that, on the whole, Diablo II is the better game.

    But Diablo II's loot system is, by today's standards, pretty uninspired.

    For one, the idea of "dancing around different equip requirements". How many of you remember playing D2 at launch? You know; before internet access was a widespread commodity, before you could find guides for how to build a character.

    What level were your characters when you realized you had to delete them, because you misspent your attributes and Skill points? When you started discovering you couldn't equip the loot you needed in order to keep up with the increasing difficulty of the game?

    And how many items can you recall, that actually changed HOW you play the game in some way?

    Now I'll be the first to admit, D3 went absolutely bonkers with many of the Legendary powers. When you're dealing with "sets" that increase damage by upwards of 20,000%, you know something is very wrong.

    But D3's loot system was also bold enough to try items that fundamentally augment how you play and approach combat. Gaining movement-speed by destroying items in the environment, getting a damage buff by standing in a ring that randomly appears on the ground after killing an enemy -- those are interesting powers that fundamentally alter how you, as a player, interact with the game.

    I'll take another example; Borderlands 2.

    While the games definitely took a lot of lessons from Diablo II (and applied them to a first-person shooter), Borderlands 2 did some really interesting things. One of those things were "Weapon Manufacturers". Based on which company manufactured your gun, they would each have unique perks exclusive to that Manufacturer.

    Borderlands, if you haven't played those games, embraces absurdity to the point of fun ridiculousness. One of the weapon manufacturers, Torgue, creates guns that fire rockets instead of bullets. Yes, even a Pistol or "Shotgun" would fire rockets instead of regular bullets.

    Those rockets would travel slower than regular bullets, but they dealt splash damage. So if an enemy was hiding behind cover, you might shoot the ground next to them and hit them with splash damage.

    Another manufacturer (I forget the name) made "disposable" guns, so when you reload your gun, you literally throw your existing gun away, which explodes, regenerating an exact clone in your hands with full ammo. This would expend any remaining ammo in the magazine, but the more ammo left upon "reloading", the more damage the explosion would deal. Meaning, you could expend additional ammo to create these explosions, but doing so too often would leave you ammo-starved.

    In both of these instances, it fundamentally changed the way you would approach combat situations. And while you might have a preferred gun manufacturer, you would still rotate between them as you acquired better and better guns. So even if you aren't necessarily keen on "wasting" ammo with those disposable guns, the fact is, you might be using such a gun anyways, simply because it has stats you really like. So although you might not have chosen it for yourself, it would still be something that might shape your approach to combat (because if you're reloading and throwing an explosive "gun" away anyways, you couldn't help but make use of it).

    Meanwhile, Diablo II's loot-system simply "makes certain skills better".

    Again, that's not a bad loot-system. But it is somewhat antiquated now.

    I think everyone has been blinded by this constant Diablo II circle-jerk, and it's leading to everyone perpetually telling Blizzard "just do what Diablo II did", instead of putting any real thought into what would make a better, more fun loot-system.

    Like I said, I loved Diablo II. I would absolutely play it again if they released an HD version of it.

    But please; let's stop pretended it was the "Holy Grail" of loot-systems, that D2's developers were some kind of all-knowing prophets of gaming who made a loot system without flaw.

    submitted by /u/Jcorb
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    Thank You Diablo 4 Team!

    Posted: 04 Dec 2019 05:57 AM PST

    Just wanted to say thanks for all the communication we have received thus far. I was very worried that after Blizzcon we wouldn't hear anything until Blizzcon 2020, much like Diablo Immortal went silent after 2018 Blizzcon. It makes me put more faith in your team and also shows that you have learned from mistakes, and are taking feedback from your excellent and passionate fan base to develop what we all hope is going to be the next big game changer. Keep it up guys and gals!

    submitted by /u/daledo0
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    I hope the devs remember to focus a bit on the runeword system in all this itemization talk, because i think it has potential to be very, very interesting, but in it's current state it feels... untapped.

    Posted: 04 Dec 2019 02:00 PM PST

    At first glance, the new runeword system feels a bit bland. Many hardcore D2 fans (like myself) were surprised that X+Y rune no longer created a "unique" with fixed stats, but instead created an 'effect affix' that triggers when you e.g. drink a potion, cast a certain spell, stands still for X seconds etc.

    I love this new idea, in fact i think its way better than the D2 runeword system, but the fact that the devs has said that they plan to make runewords (triggered effects) only two runes long dissapoints me. It's kind of 'meh' that a runeword is basically only "when you throw a fireball, this happens" when it potentially could be "when you throw a fireball, it does this, that, this and it burns nearby enemies for X damage over 4 seconds"

    The new runeword system has potential to be the 'POE skill gems' of D4, where the triggered effects gets better the longer the runeword is (like a skill gem gets better the more support gems its linked to). If they made runewords longer, it creates an (almost) infinite potential of different build variants. It doesn't have to super intense for each rune, but slowly as you make youre runeword longer, the better the triggered effect gets. And of course the more rare the runes are, the more they potentially melts the screen if combined thoughtfully.

    ​

    Longer runewords of course requires more open sockets in your gear, which imo also opens up for more interesting itimization where you have to consider if a 3 socket rare armor with funky good stats is better than this 4 socketed armor with seemingly worse stats, but potentially better "trigger" effect for your runeword.

    I don't know... I feel like the devs are overlooking the potential in the new runeword system by making it too simple. I think the got an ace in their hands to 'learn/take back' from the POE link/socket system and make runewords the most interesting thing ever in ARPG's.

    submitted by /u/NikoBadman
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    Recognition to David Kim for being fucking amazing

    Posted: 04 Dec 2019 09:11 PM PST

    I'm beyond happy with the latest update. I can't even explain how happy I am to hear the direction they have gone. David Kim exceeded all my expectations. I knew I wanted something like Diablo II but I had nothing else to look at. I didn't even know I wanted Demonic, Angelic, Ancestral reqs until I saw them. Not only does it add so much to the itemization and strategy of the game but it also replaces Str, Dex and Stat points with modernity. Requiring Str to use certain armor or weapons was awesome in D2... BUT it also limited your build having to dump 150 pts in str as a sorc. Now, Well Now we have that system without actually having it in the traditional sense.

    And the new update for Legendaries. Being Able to find rares that are better than Legendary items by adding the Legendary attributes is incredible. I mean truly. This Itemization is brilliant. I am so happy.

    Thank you David!

    submitted by /u/Gunswetta
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    What if your items cosmetics began to slowly change based on how much Angelic/Demonic/Ancestral power you specialized in?

    Posted: 04 Dec 2019 07:25 AM PST

    I think it would be another reason to stack certain power types if it also offered cosmetic changes. Having more Angelic power would give your items a more golden hue, or perhaps you see ornate crafted wings on some peices. For Demonic, perhaps the items would look more crude and brutal. For Ancestral, the items would have a polished "natural" look, like fine human craftsmanship.

    Idk, it would probably be a lot of work to implement, but I think it would add another layer of immersion and customization that would be sought after by a lot of people.

    submitted by /u/aufdie87
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    An example of the crafting system that was in Diablo 2

    Posted: 04 Dec 2019 03:20 PM PST

    https://i.imgur.com/L2puf5l.jpg When I crafted this amulet my jaw dropped. I believe the chance of crafting an item like this is equivalent to the same percentage as winning a big lottery. I was a bit disappointed that after Diablo 2 they scrapped this crafting system. There is a simplified version of how crafting works here http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/crafteditems.shtml they were truly amazing end game items. I really hope they bring some sort of crafting system back into Diablo 4 which could lead to end game items. I really enjoyed the rare and crafting systems of Diablo 2, they were not too complex yet not too simple, just perfect in my opinion

    submitted by /u/hvppy
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    I would like to see deeper Crafting in the Diablo IV

    Posted: 04 Dec 2019 12:26 PM PST

    I'm not a good writer and my native language isn't english. I hope someone would express my wishes for the next diablo game better. And i'm also kind of sad that noone talked much about this yet.

    I would want deeper crafting. But really deep, almost endless mastering of crafting exact items. There would be crafting materials. Many of them. Not the ones you get from destroying whites? yellows? blues? Materials that you can only get if you work for it, do a spesific thing or things to get. it wouldn't just drop from the everyday RG you kill.

    You would even combine crafting materials to get another crafting material or even so on. Basic example would be the present d3 hellfire amulet, but sadly it's a spesific item that does a spesific thing so it wouldn't worth most of the time.

    After seeing today's blog about that even rares can be endgame item. You would craft rares? that you get better rolls as you master them. Like if you grind to master getting better cold resistance rolls on your crafts, you will get better on that exact thing.

    Crafting this endgame items woulnd't be easy. If the trading comes again which i really would like, you would sell your hard earned crafting materials. There would be crafters. Who like to craft items instead of pushing GRs as we know today. Who earn their ingame money by crafting and selling them. You would know them by name, x crafts super rolled amulets.

    Etc.

    This was like a monlogue that i wrote. TY for reading.

    submitted by /u/XErTuX
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    MrLlamaSC's reaction to David Kim's recent post: "d4 itemization update part 2 - the greatest diablo update i've ever read"

    Posted: 03 Dec 2019 10:20 PM PST

    Unpopular Opinion: Have different types of items take up different slot sizes in the inventory

    Posted: 04 Dec 2019 02:06 PM PST

    In Diablo 3 everything is either 1 or 2 slots. In Diablo 4 I believe I saw everything was 1 slot.

    In Diablo 2 different gear took different number of slots. Bigger items took up more slots. I personally like this as it's more realistic, but not only this. It requires me the player to ensure I am managing my inventory as I play, but can also help constraint the development team to not drop as much bad loot since I won't want to pick it up.

    Possibly an unpopular opinion, so let's hear it!

    submitted by /u/Flippi273
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    The new announcements solve all problems I had with itemization in D4.

    Posted: 04 Dec 2019 09:34 PM PST

    In Diablo III, the core problem with items (in my opinion) is that once you found an item that made your stats get green up arrows, you immediately equipped it without much thought. I didn't consider what other gear I had equipped or do many build retweaking moments to work well with the new item. If was just an immediate equip.

    But with the newly announced prequisite stats in the form of Angelic power, Demonic power and Ancestral power, that now becomes a thing. For example, the following two situations can possibly occur when you find an item better than what you had in slot:

    1: The item requires more prequisite stats than what you already have. So you must identify what pieces of gear on your build you can switch out for pieces that give more prequisite stats so you can use this item effectively.

    2: The item doesn't provide as much prequisite stats as your item currently in slot does, possibly dropping you below how much you need. So you must debate whether it is worth it to equip or not, and find another way to get those prequisite stats (or lower how much you need) to use it.

    In both cases, I am doing some build analyzing and reworking to be able to use this new item, rather than just an instant equip. Crafting will likely be the best way to get an item for the exclusive purpose of granting high prequisite attributes, so that encourages me to interact with that mechanic as well, along with figuring out what else to switch out for a prequisite stat dump and now having a piece of gear with A LOT of room to improve.

    Because of all of this and having to make the debate on modifiers that directly make me stronger, this solves all of my concerns with itemization.

    submitted by /u/SMGB_NeonYoshi
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    Easy cosmetic Diablo IV item changes that would make D1/D2 fans happy

    Posted: 04 Dec 2019 03:52 PM PST

    I'm one of those people who was super into Diablo 1 and 2 but never got hooked on Diablo 3. I've got theories on why, but that's not what I wanna discuss here — I won't pretend to be a game designer. Today, I want to discuss some wee cosmetic changes Blizzard could make to Diablo IV's item setup that'd make the game feel a little more Diablo-y to this D1 and D2 fan.

    1) Magic/Rare/Legendary/Set/whatever items should drop unidentified. Dropping items already-identified cuts a whole dopamine release out of the game...for what reason? It feels amazing to see a rare item of your favorite type drop. It also means you actually get familiar with the different item base types. (I don't care how the actual identifying works).

    2) Typeset the labels for items on the ground in Exocet. OMG it would make D4 feel so much more like Diablo if the item names peppering the ground were set in some variant of Exocet.

    3) Make inventory art huge. Make armor take up 6 slots. Make huge swords take up 4 or 8 slots. A ring should be 1. And just give us enough inventory space to make it work. Huge items are fun! Huge art is fun! Y'all are smart enough to make this work. (Also, show the whole freaking sword, not just the hilt...that's weird).

    4) Call Legendary items "Unique" items. That's what they're called in D1 and D2. It'd be a strong nod this game's origin to reinstate "unique" items. Very "Diablo."

    5) Don't literally put bullet points in the item-hover affix lists. Y'all can do better than that. Bullet points are not fun! Am I buying the sword on Amazon? No, I'm trying to relax with a fun game.

    6) Don't show an item's icon inside the item-hover window. We're literally already mousing over the item to view the hover window — you don't need to show the inventory icon again. Let the item's name stand proud!

    submitted by /u/bhantoot
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    [D4 Feedback] What makes a Legendary special is not just its Special Affix

    Posted: 04 Dec 2019 01:53 PM PST

    I had the impulse to write this post after I read David's recent Blog Post, when I read that there shall be consumable items in D4 that adds a single Legendary Affix to Rare Items.

    That all is fine and good, but it also made me worried that the D4 devs may have the idea in their head that what makes a Legendary Items special is just or primarily its Special Affix, but imo it is not just the Special Affix that makes a Legendary Item special, but also the other "normal" affixes and how much and how strong these "normal" affixes are.

    ​

    What I am referring to is this:

    In Diablo 2, Unique Items (D2's Legendaries) always had predetermined affixes (with a few exceptions). When you found a Windforce, you knew the affixes that it was going to have. When you found a Ravenfrost ring, you knew what affix it was going to have, etc

    But what made many of these Unique Items special was not just its "special affix", but also the other"normal" affixes.

    A Ravenfrost ring for example would not just make you immune to be frozen, but it also would add +150-250 to Attack Rating, which is something that could not be found on any other ring. The maximum amount of additional attack rating you could get on rare and magic rings was +120.

    Sometimes Unique Items also had either a lot more affixes than the maximum of what a rare could have and sometimes it could have less than what a rare could get, but therefore, one of its "normal" affixes was significantly higher than what an ordinary rare or magic items could have.

    Some Uniques even had several Special Affixes at once and not just one.

    ​

    That all is what I refer to when I say that it is not just the special affix that makes a Legendary special.

    In D3, Legendaries just had completely random affixes, which made the Legendary a lot less special/unique, which is something that I personally would not like to see again, because it would again lead to a significantly increased drop rate since every legendary could drop with completely random affixes and you had probably had to drop several of them until it has "the right ones".

    I just prefer the "You know what you get" model for legendaries, and I know a lot of other people do as well (not all certainly, but a lot). Knowing what you get makes Legendaries more special and unique instead of just being another RNG slot machine. In this case, less is more. Yeah, some legendary could have one or two random affixes, but I would prefer to keep the complete randomness for rares and magic items.

    As an example: a Legendary Weapon that does not just have a cool Special Affix, but also e.g. by default has a huge, huge chance of Crushing Blow (like 60%), much more than any other weapon in the game, suddenly becomes much more interesting and appealing, even if it might not be the best weapon in the game or has a weakness in form of overall less affixes to it.

    Or for example Legendary Gloves that have very high Defense/Armor, although gloves are not ordinarily the place for being know to have high armor (which ordinarily would be Chest Armor pieces), which would make these specific Legendary Gloves stand out.

    etc, etc.

    ​

    For further references I suggest to look into Diablo 2's itemization and also into the itemization of the popular Diablo 2 mod Median XL and Median XL Sigma.

    ​

    This is just what I wanted to get out. Just remember that it is also the "normal" affixes that make Legendary special.

    Thanks to everyone who read this.

    submitted by /u/clueso87
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    With the return of Diablo 4 going back to D2 roots I would love to see a Diablo 2 inspired Necromancer class added to this game.

    Posted: 04 Dec 2019 08:26 PM PST

    When they added the Necromancer to D3 I was pretty sad.

    submitted by /u/drinkykitten
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    Demonic Power seems less useful and should be changed

    Posted: 04 Dec 2019 04:34 PM PST

    • Angelic Power, which increases the duration of all beneficial effects (like self-buffs or healing)
    • Demonic Power, which increases the duration of all negative effects (like debuffs or damage over time)
    • Ancestral Power, which increases the chance of on-hit effects (aka increased proc chance)

    Angelic and Ancestral power both sound pretty good - Angelic is essentially CDR for buffs and would also increase the duration of self-healing over time spells. Not bad. Ancestral increases proc chance - very exciting and something I don't believe we've ever had in Diablo.

    And then we have Demonic Power which increases the duration of DoT's and debuffs on enemies. Now, for some CC debuffs this does sound useful - increased duration of stun or freeze isn't terrible... except that we'd probably just be able to re-apply it with the same attack we built our character around, yeah? Remember, we don't have diminishing returns on CC in D4. And on the subject of DoTs increased duration is just awful. It would actually be better for DoTs to have DECREASED duration which would increased the damage that they tick for, and would actually help you kill monsters faster.

    Demonic Power should be redesigned to make it potentially more valuable, as the current idea is not very good.

    submitted by /u/skepticones
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    Extra room at the end of diablo 1

    Posted: 04 Dec 2019 03:42 PM PST

    I remember playing the original diablo years ago and after killing diablo and reaching clevel 28 or 30ish there was an extra room to go to with doors all around and monsters would come piling out. It was hard to survive but the item drops were awesome. Does anyone know what that was and how to get to it?

    submitted by /u/CaL69KiD
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    More role playing in diablo 4

    Posted: 04 Dec 2019 07:06 PM PST

    Dont get me wrong I am all for action focused arpg, but it would be nice if we also can get skins for followers or steal/reverse pickpocket npc or just plain screwing around with easter eggs and secret levels, get married and such

    submitted by /u/Screwbreaker
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    Etch - suggested name for affix applying item in Diablo 4

    Posted: 04 Dec 2019 03:02 PM PST

    I'm suggesting that the currently unnamed affix applying item be called an Etch. This is in reference to Blizzard's post, "System Design in Diablo IV (Part II)", and the Ancient Legendary Replacement section.

    You are etching an affix to an item. What does everyone think? It is simple and short.

    submitted by /u/niceslcguy
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    Feedback to Itemisation Part 2. Definitely the good direction. As always, improvements are possible.

    Posted: 04 Dec 2019 02:23 PM PST

    "Easy to learn, difficult to master." -> How easy though? It s an RPG. The game doesn t need to be dumbed down. A proper TUTORIAL would really fix any issues.

    Diablo IV shouldn't just mimic the itemization in our previous Diablo games. -> It should improve upon previous systems. Excellent. Take what is best. If some things are already very good, they could be brought over. Like D2 Runewords. The new system is more like d3 legendary potions. There is no need to change an already good system just to make it different. This clearly didn t work for Runewords in D4.

    Affixes:

    How many affixes will each rarity tier have? Those in the Screenshots are not enough. Swift Fur Lined boots has basically 2 affixes. Those 2 are conflicting situational affixes. You might get them both on one item...but on how many?

    Fiery Amulet has basically 1 affix. There should be 3/4 affixes + Angelic Power affix + 2 different power requirement affixes. Or 2/3 base affixes + power affix + 3 different power req affixes (too much i think 3)

    It seems like there are more affixes overall but they are situational affixes... The issue lies with everything clamped together in ATTACK/DEFENSE/HP. (such a stupid stupid idea) D3 wasn t that dumbed down and casuals loved it. why change it?

    I personally want to see first, base stuff like + health/defense/dodge/armor/defense vs missile/crit chance/crit dmg/ increased ressource etc. Then add +Power and Power Req.

    At least they are powerful stats. But we need base stats too.

    Angelic Power. Demonic Power. Ancestral Power. I hope these are placeholder names. They are stupid and long to simply put it. Please rename them.

    Radiance/Corruption/Holy/Dark/Malevolence/Salvation...whatever. You understand.

    If they are not already...Please make resistances relevant.

    It s 2019. We got Damage Calculators in game. We can put many of them. Please at least ADD THE OPTION TO SEE ALL STATS FACTORED IN ATTACK/DEFENSE/HEALTH.

    Maybe 1500 Attack on something is 20% crit chance 15% crit dmg 30% holy damage. 1500 attack on something else is 10% crit chance 50% crit dmg and 60% holy damage. The attack stat might be similar on both although hidden stats are different. please add an option for us to see these and make better choices. Leave items BY DEFAULT with ATTACK/POWER/HP for all players. Give us the option to actually see the stats. This will make everyone happy. Casuals and non-casuals. Don t make it look like a mobile-level game. Or at least give us the choice to see them as they should be. Hide the option somewhere. But add it.

    Thank you for removing Ancient legendaries. thank you and thank you.

    The New consumable:

    Make it tradeable. Can be used only once. Can not be removed from items. Make these items tradeable. 1000 times or 1 time. Make it not very rare but not very common. The idea is good, don t drop it.

    Question: if you can get all legendary powers on this consumable, and put it on rares...will legendaries not lose their flavour? They could have more affixes though. or higher rolls. or maybe not all legendary powers will be available on the consumable? There needs to be a difference here. A pool of separate powers (which are not on most of the legendaries!) could work. We want blues and rares to be powerful but we don t want to make legendaries worthless or not UNIQUE or RARE. We still want to be amazed and happy when one legendary drops.

    Game is headed in the right way. A few more iterations and it will be awesome.

    submitted by /u/stark33per
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    What if runewords and skills could temporary increase Angelic/Demonic/Ancestral power?

    Posted: 04 Dec 2019 04:59 AM PST

    This would mean that every single item in your gear might have variable stats, which might trigger based on your actions during a fight. This way, certain combinations of skills and runewords would temporary make your existing gear even stronger for a limited time.

    Sounds pretty awesome to me.

    submitted by /u/Ropp_Stark
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    Diablo IV - Story Idea - We fight against Heaven and Hell - Build your character Angelic, Demonic or Balanced

    Posted: 04 Dec 2019 05:26 AM PST

    Just a thought I was kicking around with some buddies. What if we start the game as normal and at a certain point a faction of Heaven sees and opportunity to come in and kill the Nephalem so we have to fight a war on two fronts.

    You could either align and build your character to fight for light or darkness or a combo. I think this tying in with Angelic and Demonic powers would be really interesting and add more depth to the game. A Barb wouldn't just be a Barb. He/She would be either Angelic aligned, Demonic aligned or balanced (not as good at either fight but still could get the job done)

    Now you could have builds and characters designed to take on Demonic dungeons or Angelic dungeons. I could see chat "Looking for 2 more Demonic Aligned for Halls of Truth dungeon".

    You effectively double the classes by adding another layer depth.

    I only think outside of the box because they stated they sisnt want this to be Diablo II pr Diablo III but something new.

    I for one would love this idea!

    Let me know your thoughts!

    submitted by /u/Arcadus164
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    Breakpoints and Itemization

    Posted: 04 Dec 2019 05:31 PM PST

    The past few weeks I've been playing a lot of D2 and D3 and I realized that one of my favourite parts of itemization is breakpoints.

    In D2 the primary breakpoints are Attack, Hit, Cast and Block. Each of these can be improved individually with various gear, but any amount in any of these stats that does not hit a breakpoint is wasted, and the levels are progressively harder to hit (especially at the higher levels.) When achieving a breakpoint, your character is noticeably faster as it will now do one of these things one frame faster than before.

    D3 did away with most breakpointing, but there is one soft breakpoint on a lot of classes being Cooldown Reduction. Many classes seek to reach a point where they can get 100% upkeep on some uber buff.

    While I don't think D2's frame breakpointing makes sense in modern games mostly due to being unintuitive, I do miss the choices it brings to itemization.

    For example, you're running around with 100 of some breakpointed stat, and you find a new item that boosts you to 120, but the next breakpoint is 150. You now have a choice -- do I look at maybe dropping back down to 100 to "buy" other stats? Or maybe I sacrifice something else to hit 150! I love this decision making, since it makes gear a more total look at your character, rather than a straight piece-by-piece upgrade evaluation.

    In a modern game, I'd guess that breakpointing should be straight forward. For example, a Sorcerer with Frost, Fire and Arcane power levels, with clear UI to show bars that require more and more to breakpoint to higher levels. +10 Fire power and you unlock some skill, +25 and you get some boost, +50 and you're now basically a fire demon, that sort of thing.

    Do you enjoy breakpointing? Does it belong in modern games?

    submitted by /u/Malazin
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    is there anybody, who recognizes the cross symbol on the top of the tombstone (at 2:35)? it appears in the cinematic too!

    Posted: 04 Dec 2019 09:59 AM PST

    [Diablo IV] Some feedback on Legendary items and where they stand after the latest blog post.

    Posted: 03 Dec 2019 11:43 PM PST

    So the latest blog post on itemization had several things going for it:

    Removal of the Ancient Legendary gear tier, thematically proper Attack/Defense stats on items, introduction of the concept of opportunity cost via the angelic/demonic/ancestral system and a way for rares to (possibly) always be worthy of a pickup by having legendary powers be craftable onto them.

    This does leave a bit of a hole when it comes to legendaries however, in my opinion. It would seem that legendaries, as of now, are some sort of Rare+ items, with a higher ceiling for stat rolls and a predetermined legendary power, with the rest of their affixes being random, just like rares. Their identity was previously tied to their legendary power but this is weakened by making these powers also available to rare items.

    I do personally like legendary powers being craftable to rares. So I would propose this for legendaries: Make ALL their affixes nonrandom, in the vein of D1, D2 and PoE uniques. Maybe have a few that can roll more randomly for flavor (such items do exist in the other games as well, after all), but the general intention would be that legendaries have very strong identities.

    Thoughts?

    submitted by /u/ngelvy
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