Diablo Diablo 4 is much further in development than we originally believed |
- Diablo 4 is much further in development than we originally believed
- Correcting the wrongs in Diablo's history. The original spelling " Trang-Oul" should be back in Diablo 4
- Diablo 2 Barb Art
- Diablo 4 Feedback (MMO-ish elements, Open World & non-linear story, Scaling, Gameplay fluidity, Classes, Class identity, Archetypes, Balance, Items, PvP, Endgame and PvE, Clans, Crafting, Seasons, Respec, Customization, Monetization, Dark Theme, The Future of Diablo 4.)
- My first SOJ dropped on normal from Thresh socket/ HOLY SHIT
- WTF IS GOING ON IN THE LEADERBOARDS
- Going back to Diablo III
- How do I change my power in D3
- [D3] Fresh 70 and gearing faster
- Just got to level 70, torment 1 seems too easy, so I go up to t2, I frag then go up again then I hit a wall. And die a lot. When I go back down I keep getting stomped, now it's like I can't stay alive in t1. Any tips? Also I'm not rolling any legendaries at all. It's really discouraging any tips?
- Day/Night Mechanics - Diablo 4
- How much is D2 LoD Beta CD Worth? (I have one)
- S20 Diablo 3 Challenge Rift #152 Map and Strategy Guide (North America)
- Grim Scythe
- Returning Diablo 3 player - are the xbox 360 servers still running?
- Weekly Challenge Rift Thread - 05/18/20
- Limited internet DH looking for some tips/help
- Diablo 2 Ep 5 | Necromancer | Virgin Play-through | Apprentice Corner
- D2R. D2 Remaster. How though? Another false rumor?
- That moment you develop a new engine... to recreate your previous flop visually. Hopes are not high about Diablo 4 and Diablo 2 remake if blizzard cannot learn from their mistakes.
| Diablo 4 is much further in development than we originally believed Posted: 18 May 2020 08:07 PM PDT I've worked in IT for 20 years and have worked in data centers, networks and systems, and with developers and product managers. I am very familiar with dev ops and typical development processes and product life cycles. Having this experience, I am seeing certain patterns across Blizzard's Diablo builds on the CDN I'd like to share with you. While I have not gained access to the underlying files to datamine I was able to ascertain quite a bit of information.
In Diablo 3 terms, Diablo 3 (Vanilla) was released as version 1.0.1.9558. It is a common dev ops process to flip an internal build, such as 0.0.1.9558 to 1.0.1.9558, when the build is deemed 1.0 ready. This likely means Diablo 3 likely had a build number close to 0.0.1.9558 before being converted to 1.0.1.9558 with a development black out starting to allow for the final build to be sent to manufacturing in order to create distributable media. This is typically referred to as the RTS build or Release to Sales version which is then, back in the day, written to media disk/CDs. I will later reinforce, but if we presume Diablo 3 was at build 0.0.1.9558 before being flipped to 1.0 than Diablo 4 has already seen ~142% more build versions than Diablo 3 had seen prior to launch. Blizzard build numbers typically range from 1-70000 before a major, sub, or patch version # is incremented by one. I very much am suggesting Diablo 4 is much further along than believed and seeing something in 2021 is expected. We know Blizzard can often procrastinate on releasing games, but given the investor calls for more regular release cadences I think something in 2021 is likely. To prove my point, Blizzard are currently performing Diablo 4 RGB product integration testing with Corsair using their CUE SDK. Blizzard are also deploying a very modern version of Vivox SDK which is a voice and chat commonly used for video games, most notably this was used in Overwatch. You can find that point referenced at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivox. If Blizzard was years upon years away from having a 1.0 version of the product would they being participating in RGB lightning kit and 3rd party SDKs tests? I can tell you, as part of the development cycle, products that do not serve any core purpose for a product are typically not a focus until a product is very close to a tangible 1.0 version. That sort of testing would typically be something that would be performed closer to a major release so this cannot simply be CPU testing as originally anticipated / reported when the build hit the CDN. Furthermore, look at all the art and content they have been publishing lately, it reinforces that the game is mostly ready with revisions of certain components or systems being tweaked. The game is probably mile ahead of where we originally thought, and my digging took me deeper. Currently, there are active play test where the Diablo 4 client is being connected to st22.bgs.battle.net. While this login/game server is not reachable over the internet it requires a VPN to Blizzard's network but is actively being used. How do I know? Its NEW and accessible to 3rd party vendors, most notable Corsair who is making RGB PCs.. The game does not allow for multi-boxing, cannot be played offline, is only play able in English / US regions, requires 30 GB of disk space. The game also requires a 64-bit CPU, is only able to be installed on a version of Windows newer than or equal to Windows 6.1 (Windows 7). For a game many years away from release and early in development it is unlikely for the game to 30 GB in size. With all the art, content and game play we have already seen it reinforces the game has be optimized and is likely much more polished than originally thought. By example, Diablo 3's system requirements are very similar and requires 25 GB of disk space while only actually consuming ~16-17 GB. Diablo 4 already requires 5 GB more and while memory requirements are not set within the CDN installer requirements I am expecting a min of 4 GB required with 8 GB of ram being ideal. Almost done.. Rod Fergusson left Gears to come to Blizzard and has a reputation of being a "fixer" getting games over the finish line. We also know Diablo 4 was rebooted at least once and seeing that the current build has ~142% more builds than Diablo 3 had prior to launch of vanilla this why he was brought in. For one, I think Blizzard's procrastination problem is a real issue for revenue streams and Rob being known as a fixer is a good candidate to break glass ceilings and cut red tape. Putting this alongside of product testing with Corsair I think we are closer than we are further away, meaning 2021 might bring something, if not at least a publicly known closed beta. You can skim through the CDNs using a free browser-based tool with the link below. All dates on CDN are in Year-Month-Day-Hour format and Blizzard's CDN / patch history does not exceed five digit numbers before again being converted into a major / sub version / patch number. [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 18 May 2020 01:53 PM PDT It was changed to Trag-Oul in Diablo3 because there has been a typo in the Sin Wars novels and Blizzard being Blizzard instead of acknowledging the mistake, they doubled down and said the previous one was an error and the new one is the correct one You know a 20 years old "mistake"... [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 18 May 2020 09:31 AM PDT Couple of Diablo 2 barb pics I found in a drawer, thought the sub might like! I think they came with a UK PC Gamer issue a good few years ago. Based on the signature I'm assuming they were made by Neil Googe at Com.X, so full credit to him. If anyone knows different I'll correct it. [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 18 May 2020 09:03 AM PDT (I originally posted this on D4 subreddit but I realized this one is much bigger. This post only contains a portion of what I will probably finish in the video / audio form due to its pure length) Warning: Some things you might want to know while reading this: I'm a casual player. And by "casual" I don't mean I'm a bad player. I mean that I play games for fun or out of passion. I don't care to be as efficient as possible. My favourite types of games are RPGs, aRPGs and RTS games. In general the most important things in any video game for me are: Story, Class Identity where possible, Lore, Gameplay, Immersion. All that being said I will try to be as objective as I can. As you can see this is literally my first post on the website. In fact I made my account just to post this. (Tho I have to admit I discovered that Reddit is a great place where you can find every kind of discussion.. and less serious stuff if you need a laugh. So I'll definitely stay.^^) So please excuse me if it gets chaotic at any point and definitely give me your advice if you have any. English is also not my first language so excuse me for any mistakes I likely made. One last important thing: This was originally a YouTube video that I still plan to make but I decided to wait until the next quarterly update on D4. And I also have very little time. The only thing I know is that I will make it at some point, it will probably contain more than this post and it will have visual examples. Ok, let's begin. MMO-ish elements Let's start with the big one. Introducing MMO elements is good as long as they fit the overall theme of a Diablo game and make sense within its world. Great example – world bosses. This idea is great, it's a cool activity and it just always feels awesome to fight a monster so powerful that you wouldn't stand a chance against it if you were alone. Now I'm a 99.99% solo player so you might think I wouldn't want Diablo 4 to have any content that cannot be completed solo. And while I absolutely think it's very important to make the game solo viable, there can be small exceptions here and there especially if they make sense. Diablo Universe is extremely harsh especially during the times of D4. Add to it the fact that we are no longer playing as the all mighty Diablo Ball Z nephalem who can destroy the prime evil.. and Malthael.. and Malthael after he was empowered by all the.. ok you get the idea. Also – world boss encounters seem to work like some form of layering. So normally players will be phased out into different "layers" but the area around the boss seems to be shared between an X amount of layers. So when you approach the world boss you will notice other adventurers doing the same. After the fight you will all go your own way and once you all leave the world boss area you will go back to your separate layers. So that's great! It's even much more immersive in my opinion. Very important thing to say here is – any content that can't be completed solo cannot have exclusive rewards unless they are only cosmetic – trophies, mounts, transmogs etc. Why? Well because it will upset the solo players. Devs will have to find a way to make playing with groups or clans more convenient, easier, more efficient but never required to obtain something that alters your stats or gameplay functionality. There has to be something that encourages grouping up and joining clans that does not take away anything from a solo player. Remember – it's not an MMO. And more importantly – it's a Diablo game. If it was an MMO than I would say having content that is impossible to do solo is an obvious decision. But D4 is simply not an MMO. I think adding content that is impossible to do solo is very against the Diablo spirit unless it's done correctly like world bosses appear to be and as long as that content is not an exclusive way of obtaining anything that influences your stats or gameplay functionality. So what other MMO elements and RPG elements I think should be in the game? I'll get back to it later in the post. Let's talk about the "shared world". There is one issue I have with this idea. From my understanding at first your world is something like a private instance. After you complete the story quests in the zone you will begin to see others around you. Now the developers said that it is important to keep that hostile world vibe and that you will not see others very often (thanks to layering I assume).. From an objective standpoint it is pretty much a great idea. It makes sense that you are not the only one capable of fighting monsters out there. You are no longer the chosen one with the plot armor. So in a perfect world this would actually increase the immersion and it would fit perfectly in the Diablo Universe and especially D4.. except…. Well I don't know if you have maybe.. played like.. uhh.. ANY ONLINE GAME EVER MADE?! Ok. I think it's pretty obvious that there will be a ton of toxic people running around and ruining the experience of especially people like me who enjoy the story and lore, for whom immersion is extremely important and who simply like to play solo. So while the idea in principle fits well within the Diablo Universe – in reality it won't. Not because of the feature itself but because of the players. So what should be done? Well blizzard is not going to change it and to be honest I don't think they should. It's going to be a great factor when it comes to making the world feel alive and it will definitely contribute to the game's longevity. But I think it should be optional. I think there should be a switch that allows you to swap between playing privately and playing in a "shared world" any time you want. Open World & non-linear story As you probably know D4's world will be open. It will of course have dungeons and whatnot. But the main game world will be open and the story will be non-linear. And honestly this is simply a 100% positive. It is much more immersive that way, it will feel more familiar to many MMO players that will surely be attracted to check the game out due to D4's MMOish elements and because Blizzard will undoubtedly offer rewards in other games for playing or buying D4. But most importantly it provides A LOT of space for endgame activities like dungeons, repeatable quests, random events, world bosses and whatever you can think of – which is great for the game's longevity – and obviously Activision Blizzard CEOs and shareholders want the game to live as long as possible and make money as long as possible. And it also works perfectly with the "shared" world idea which is great…. as long as this "shared world" thing will be optional. I think it's pretty obvious that I really like the idea of an open world Diablo game with non-linear story. But I don't have much to say about it in this post. I could go on and on how it's a great thing for the game in every measurable way, especially if it's supposed to live for a long time but Blizzard clearly knows this. Scaling I think monsters should never.. absolutely NEVER scale down. It is important at the beginning and during the leveling process that the player knows they are in a very dark, harsh and messed up world. They need to know they cannot just go anywhere right away because they will be killed. The world should include areas with monsters or bosses that have significantly higher level than most of the monsters in that area and there needs to be some content that is way more difficult than most of the content in that area. The player should get stronger, better equipped and more experienced before they access content that thematically is clearly more dangerous. For example (imagine here with me) let's say that a starting zone is full of wolves, there is a cave full of undead a bit further, there is some camp full of cannibals in the distance and in the middle of the zone there is one ruined fort occupied by demons. You are playing a level 1 character. The wolves and other usual monsters for this area should start at level 1 with maybe some being at level 2 so you can start fighting them right away. The cave full of undead should be a little more difficult but the regular undead are not very dangerous so they should probably start at level 1 but there should be a lot of them so you can go there now but you will die if you get overrun. The cannibals are clearly more organized and dangerous than everything else so they should start at let's say level 7 – you'll deal with them later. The fort occupied by demons should be much more difficult to do – it should be impossible at first. Demons are very obviously more powerful than other enemies of this area and they should start at let's say level 20. So in short – I think enemies should have their minimum level dictated by what they are and I think the devs should put few locations here and there that contain enemies with much higher level than most enemies in the zone. Why? - It would further improve immersion. - It makes sense. - It adds a little more depth and decision making to the leveling process. (Because you could try to kill the high level monsters earlier and maybe through the use of strategy you will succeed – and surely doing so will feel awesome.) And it's a way of directly representing your progress through the gameplay itself. As for scaling monsters up – I think it's more immersive if the don't scale up because if you get more powerful you should clearly feel it. But from a gameplay perspective, monsters will have to scale up because otherwise it might get boring very quickly. Gameplay fluidity During Blizzcon 2019 Luis Barriga basically stated they will be taking what's best from each Diablo game out there. And while for many Diablo 3 was a disappointment – especially its release and art style – many forget that Diablo 3 actually did have the most fluid combat of any aRPG out there. D4's gameplay and combat should be fluid. And from the things we've seen it appears that it is. The only thing I can really add to this is - the devs should avoid adding game mechanics or abilities that do not fit the fluid "feel" of the combat. Using a certain ability should never feel off or clunky compared to everything else. Classes, class identity, archetypes So far we know there will be 5 classes at the game's release. 2 of them are still unannounced. The ones we know about are the Barbarian, the Sorceress and the Druid. We also know that there will be classes added later, most likely through expansions and hopefully never through class packs. Let's start with Class Identity. In a Diablo game class identity is incredibly important. Each class has to capture its own fantasy, feel and theme. They all have to be unique in as many ways as possible, but of course there will be similarities – and that's okay especially after more and more classes are added. And even if some classes functionally work in a similar way they can have a completely different theme. From what we've seen the revealed classes do have a strong class identity.. I mean let's be honest – it' Diablo we are talking about here. Diablo games always did and still hold the crown when it comes to class identity. But let's quickly go over the things that will make classes unique: If possible – class-unique systems, an amazing example of this is the D4 Barbarian with the Arsenal System, being able to carry 2 2-heanded weapons and 2 one-handed weapons, swapping between them during the fight and having effects In the game that work well with it. I think each class should have their own "thing" – their own unique gameplay mechanics. Visuals – well that's kinda obvious but still: Classes need to have their place in the world. A player has to know that a class belongs here just by looking at it. They should be stylized accordingly so that they look distinct, fit their fantasy and clearly have their place in the D4's world while also providing a visual progression – devs will have to strike balance between the 2. Class-unique gear pieces that only this specific class can equip and that work well with that class. There could also be items that can only be equipped by some "type" of class – for example it would make sense if a staff could be equipped by the Sorceress and the Druid but not by the Barbarian. Class-unique properties. Class unique transmogs and other cosmetic stuff. And obviously every single ability should fit the class both from the gameplay perspective and the visual perspective. It's basically very important for all the visuals of Diablo 4's world and it's classes to fit well together. Now Archetypes. Rhykker made an amazing video about this and he truly nailed the explanation of why archetypes are important in a Diablo game while also providing some history and background of how the classes we've seen so far have evolved in each game. But in short: Every player always has their favourite "style" of gameplay. The most obvious archetypes are: A melee damage dealer (Like the Barbarian). A ranged, non-magical damage dealer (Like the Demon Hunter). A ranged magical damage dealer (Like the Sorceress). And in the case of MMOs a ranged healing class – but we don't want that in D4 that stuff is for kids. But seriously – it just doesn't have a place in a Diablo game and the devs confirmed they will not try to make a support class. But as any Diablo player knows, the community will find a way to make support builds even if the devs would actively try to stop it. And that's really cool in my opinion. So those are the main 3 archetypes. Then, each archetype can branch into potentially infinite versions of which all have their unique fantasy and flavor or they are hybrids of other versions. As an example a Melee damage dealer can be a Paladin, Barbarian, Assassin and A magical ranged damage dealer can be the Sorceress – with the Druid and Necromancer both being a mix between 2 archetypes while adding their own theme and fantasy in the for of shapeshifting or summoning. What the developers need to do is to make sure that all of those 3 main archetypes are covered. Than they need to add classes that will cover as many fantasies of those archetypes as possible, starting with the most popular ones like summoning fantasy. And they should also add classes that we have never seen before in any previous title. For example it seems to me that D4 is a great opportunity to introduce a Witch class that would likely focus on blood magic, curses, poison and maybe even some kind of demonic powers or demon summoning. But more on that later. Balance …. Balance. I mean balance is hard and everything from items and abilities to in-game activities should be as balanced as possible in order to avoid one of the worst things that can possibly happen to an aRPG – having a very narrow op meta of gear and behavior. This just renders everything - the itemization, class identity and choice – actually meaningless. But there isn't much more to say about it. D4 devs have a great example of what to avoid based on the D3's meta. And only they know best on what they can do to balance the game. Items Developers already said that legendary items should be as or more powerful than set items. Which is the most important thing. D4's legendary items and item properties in general should avoid D3's giant damage bonuses that in reality just reduce the number of choices you have. And while we are on that topic – I want as many different stats, effects, damage types as possible. If the game is supposed to live as long as possible and make as much money as possible it needs to have enough depth to not become boring as long as possible and it should introduce this depth gradually. This applies to literally every single part of this post. Everything I've talked about, everything I will be talking about and everything that will be in the game that we know nothing about – there should be as many of all those things and possible, they should be as unique as possible and should have as much depth as possible – but they should never be annoying or inconvenient. I think there should be more 2 and 3 piece sets. And while I don't like the full 6-piece sets as they were done in D3, here in D4 they are a great opportunity to introduce a certain specific class fantasies – as long as they won't be more powerful than legendary items. You might think that a full set should be more powerful - it makes sense. And while yes in principle it does – in reality it limits your choice. And again – there needs to be as much choice and variety in itemization as possible. The full sets should capture a specific play style or fantasy and be more powerful than some random legendary items someone put together without any thought. But they should be clearly less powerful than legendary items that work together well. But that being said devs should avoid legendary items, sets and mythic items that buff the damage of one specific ability. There should be some of those as well but most legendary properties should change how the ability works or add a proc chance, add an effect to the ability or increase the damage you deal with a specific type damage. But increasing damage of a specific ability only leads to one thing – a very specific meta. Now.. Mythic items. I really hope I'm misunderstanding this but I think they will have 4 legendary powers and they will all be random? David Kim said In Rhykker's interview that a chance of finding a mythic item with the exact 4 powers you want is pretty low. So that implies they will be random. And I really, really don't like this. At some point RNG becomes purely annoying and frustrating. Not only mythic items are the most unlikely items to drop in D4 but you will also have to find one that has exactly the 4 legendary properties you want. Good luck with that. Unless there are also Unique Mythic items that have let's say 2 legendary properties always the same and 2 random. I was thinking about this one for a while and I think the ideal solution is to have both. To have Mythic items that will have 4 random legendary powers AND to have unique mythic items that will have 2 of their legendary properties set in stone OR even better: they will still be randomized but only from a pool of properties that fit the theme of the item. So for example a Unique Mythic staff of fire will have 4 random legendary properties chosen from the pool of legendary properties that have something to do with fire. PvP Diablo 4 should definitely have PvP activities. Personally I don't understand why you would want to do PvP in a Diablo game but as long as it keeps some people playing – it makes the game more successful and that's what we all want. There are many ways of doing this. There should be a duel option. Major towns could have arenas for both 1v1 and team v team matches and each arena should have leaderboards. There should be cosmetic rewards and titles for let's say winning 1000 duels. I don't think the servers could handle clan v clan battles with like 20-40 players on each side but hey – if Blizzard can do that - then they should. But one thing is crucial and absolutely required when it comes to PvP in a Diablo game – the devs shouldn't try to balance it. The entire game and all its aspects should be balanced around PvE. PvP cannot be a priority. It should be something optional that's just there in case you want have fun – and that's it. Endgame and PvE Diablo 4 should have as many viable endgame activities as possible. There should be many dungeons all around the world and each one of them should have a solo version and a group version as well as at least 3 difficulty levels. The more players enter the more difficult the dungeon enemies are and obviously the higher difficulty level you choose.. the higher difficulty you get. You should have to unlock the difficulty levels through completing the previous difficulty in case it wasn't obvious as well. With greater challenge should come greater rewards in a form of gold and magic find bonuses and cosmetic rewards for completing the highest difficulty. ESO for example gives you a head or a trophy of the boss you kill in a specific dungeon and you can hang it on the wall. Each dungeon should also have a leaderboard – that's just for people who want to compete – I think it would be much more interesting for them (especially to the very best players) to be able to push the leaderboards for each dungeon separately because a) each dungeon is different so it's more interesting and b) they would have a possibility of being the number one in multiple leaderboards which sounds tempting even to someone like me who doesn't normally care about leaderboards. Important thing to say hear is – there should be no items that drop exclusively on some dungeon difficulty. All the players should be able to get every item that affects their stats regardless of the difficulty of the dungeon. That being said – the higher the difficulty the higher the drop chance should be. This way a solo player like myself can still obtain the best items in the game – it will simply probably take much longer. And I think some cosmetic items like trophies, titles or achievements should be only obtainable by completing the highest challenge – just as long as it's cosmetic. I will talk about dungeons more in later segments. Greater Rifts and Nephalem Rifts while maybe not under the same name and probably with a different theme should be in D4 and they should work pretty much the same. Randomized maps with randomized enemies and shrines, with some differences: GR levels from 1-100. You unlock new levels one by one. And instead of GR levels simply increasing the damage and health of your enemies I think something should also happen every X amount of GR levels. Like for example: - from level 40-60: all elite packs have one bonus property. - levels 61-80: all elites get 2 additional properties and you lose 2x more time per death. - levels 81-95: all elites have 2 additional properties, you lose 4x more time per death. - levels 95-99: elites have 2 additional properties and death means failure. The max level should be impossible to reach imo unless the cap will go up with every expansion due to the likelihood of the level cap also being increased with each expansion. There should also be cosmetic rewards given to the player for reaching certain GR levels. But.. I never pushed GRs very far in D3 so I'll admit I might be wrong with this one. Not about the cosmetic rewards tho – those I'm definitely right about =D Bounties Should also return but as a form of repeatable, daily and weekly quests. I think each major city should have a notice board (something like in Witcher 3) and there you could accept randomized bounty-like quests. Each notice board would spawn 5 random bounties that you could accept and complete separately. They should respawn on the notice board after some time, maybe like 20 minutes, to avoid situations in which people would just "abandon the quest" and effectively reroll until they get the "more optimal" bounty. There could also be daily and weekly bounties that have better rewards. Completing the bounties could also earn you a reputation in a given region and after reaching some level of reputation you could unlock a transmog themed after the region, some other form of cosmetic rewards like titles or if there will be a hideout/housing system – unlock a possibility of buying a house/hideout in that region. Clans I think clans should be expanded greatly in Diablo 4. I'm not sure about raids.. I don't know if Blizzard could do it – if they could tho, it would be great. But I'm going to assume it won't happen. Clans themselves should have a clan-wide system similar to Wolcen's city management but limited to very small clan wide bonuses to gold find and magic find that a clan can purchase for gold and to the ability to spend a special type of currency that your clan earns only through completing the dungeons and possibly other activities on other special items. A clan master and those he gives his permission could spend the currency to buy those special items that would give temporary clan-wide bonuses or even ( for a high amount of currency ) special dungeon keys that really "upgrade" the dungeon by making it even more difficult and even more rewarding. Important thing to say here is – dungeon keys and the ability to modify them should also be available a solo player. Again – everything that influences your stats or enhances your experience should be obtainable solo. Clan leaders should have the tools available to create custom ranks with a system of permissions within the clan. And the maximum number of clan members should be as high as possible. Other than this – I think there should also be communities. Communities would have no real functionality other than: a) being able to see all it's members and being able to invite them to group up more easily. B) they should also allow custom ranks If possible. C) They should have a very high member limit, or no limit if possible – this is a priority. Crafting It is important to say that I think crafting should not be required. I think the best gear shouldn't be crafted in an aRPG – it should be looted. But the best potions, poisons, enchants, food and other stuff like that you can see in ESO or the Witcher 3 for example should be obtained through crafting. It would be a way of further improving your gear permanently or temporarily. You should be able to craft different potions, healing potions, mana potions, speed potions, resistance potions and so on. Or poisons and oils that you can apply to your weapons for a temporary effect like slow, damage, poison or apply some other form of debuff to your enemies when they get hit. Enchantments would simply a type of rune that you can apply to your gear to add new effects for example a fire rune would add a chance to ignite your enemies when added to a weapon, fire resistance when added to your armor or resistance to fire related debuffs when applied to jewelry. Or runes that increase your flat health when added to armors, add life per hit when added to weapons and increase your max health by x% when added to jewelry . You get the idea. The list of possible effects and ways they could work is endless. Crafting in ESO is especially cool because you basically have a separate very small passive trees for each type of crafting and you can allocate your skill points there to be better at crafting. You advance your crafting level simply by crafting or dismantling items. The higher your crafting level the better materials you find in the world and the more crafting passives become available. And some of those bonuses are really cool. Let's take blacksmithing for example: first passive allows you to use higher level materials, second one highlights the resource nodes in the world so they are easier to spot, next one basically sends you small amount of blacksmithing materials every day and the last one increases the chances to improve the quality of items. Let's have a look at alchemy now: first one also lets you use higher level materials to make higher level potions and poisons, next one highlights materials, the third one increases the duration of potions you consume by 10% - which is really cool because it impacts the gameplay more directly. The next one makes you produce more potions and poisons each time you craft them, next allows you to make potions that have more effects, and the last one reduced the potentially negative effect of potions you consume. And you can even get "certified" at all the types of crafting by completing a short tutorial quests that introduce you to each type of crafting in order to get access to special daily quests that tell you to create something from each type of crafting and deliver the crafted items for a bunch experience, a little gold and a chest that contains random rewards like crafting materials and rare items that let you improve the quality of an item. They can also contain special surveys that will point you to a random place in the world where you will find A TON of resource nodes. In Diablo 4 this could be done in a form of maps that point you to a dungeon and once you enter the dungeon that map will be destroyed to add a lot of resource nodes to that dungeon or simply add a lot of crafting resources as a reward for completing the dungeon. So doing a lot of crafting would still encourage other activities. And also, the higher your crafting level the better rewards you get and the higher the chance of obtaining very rare items that improve the quality of your gear. Honestly I just love ESO crafting system. And I'm a solo player who usually only cares about the story and singleplayer RPGs. Initially I started playing ESO only because I like The Elder Scrolls games and I wanted to know the story but I hated the fact that it is an MMO. I still play solo but I do a lot of crafting and I genuinely enjoy it. Diablo 4 should have as many different activities as possible, just as long as they are optional and none of them is absolutely OP, and I think when it comes to crafting – ESO and many RPG games like The Witcher 3 are great places for the D4 devs to draw inspiration from. Now I don't think crafting materials should be obtained in the same way as they are in ESO. At least it shouldn't be the only way because running around with a pickaxe and mining rocks is not exactly the kind of activity that most players would fall in love with. I personally wouldn't mind that because crafting is optional anyway but still, most players would probably hate it. So I think crafting materials should be scattered around the world but they should also be obtainable through completing bounties for example. And ideally doing bounties and other activities that involve killing monsters would provide you with enough materials to craft your own gear, but if you want to really focus on crafting you would have to find materials in the world because that way would be faster but wouldn't reward you with anything else other than crafting materials. Seasons Seasons should introduce new items, mechanics and things to do. That's about it. But here is my personal opinion on seasons: I absolutely hate them in their current form. UGH. They are so awful. I absolutely hate the reset. I'd rather have a slow meaningful progression and a ton of endgame activities to the point of seasons not even being really necessary. And on top of that still have seasons but without the reset. If seasons will add new stuff to do, whatever it will be in the end the best way of doing it will be at max level. That's why I would personally prefer if there was no reset and no seasonal characters. I'd rather if the seasonal themes would simply add new endgame mechanics and the "theme" of a season would be applied to everyone – now the problem here would be – what if devs add a seasonal "theme" that people don't like? And that's something I have no answer for. In the end I know seasons will work like they usually work in aRPGs – there will be a reset and separate seasonal characters which will result in leveling being eventually boring and pretty fast and non-seasonal characters having no point at all. That's how I personally feel. But there is a world in which I would be fine with the reset. And in that world the seasonal mechanics and themes would affect the leveling enough to change it a bit and to keep it fresh and fun every time. And there either should be a good reason to still play non-seasonal characters as well or there needs to be some kind of account-wide progression that will reward non-seasonal characters for playing seasonal characters. I just wish this account wide progression won't be anything like paragon levels – paragon levels should not exist unless they have a reasonable cap. Why? Because if this progression system is infinite or has a cap that if way too high will mean that in the end the primary thing that will affect competitive players will be the amount of free time they have to play the game and this should never be the case because competition should reveal the best, most skilled and most knowledgeable players. Respec The possibility of trying out new things, different abilities and play styles based on what cool items you find is very important, especially in a game where legendary items and their properties play such a giant role. Not being able to respect is not a difficulty – it's an annoying inconvenience. Personally I think respec should be free or have a reasonable cost. Customization This is again a big one. Let's start with the transmogs. I think transmogs shouldn't mess with the visual representation of your character's power. What do I mean by this? Well.. you shouldn't be able to look like a level 40 character while being a level 4 character. I think D3's way of unlocking the transmog options is fine – once you loot an item you unlock it as a transmog option. But I don't want it to be account wide. I think whenever you unlock a new transmog it should be unlocked only on the character that looted the item and whenever an item is generated it should only be able to give it's transmog only to the person that first picks it up. That idea aims to make your character look as realistically as possible and it would work well with the visual progression the devs surely have in mind. Transmogs should never mess with the visual representation of who and how powerful your character is at any given moment and I think there is even a good way of making it possible while still having the transmog options being unlocked account-wide in case most players would disagree with me. What if each transmog piece would have a level requirement on it? The same level requirement that the original piece starts to drop at. I think it's a good solution because probably 99% of your playtime will be on a max level character anyway. My idea only impacts the leveling process and aims to make character progression as visible and immersive as possible. All that being said I think there should be A TON of transmogs, as many as possible. I think devs should just be allowed to let their passion loose and add as many unique transmogs and items (or really any kind of content) as possible. To be fair to Blizzard as a company – adding new cosmetic options every now and then makes financial sense because making them (especially simply re-skinning and re-coloring the existing ones) is relatively cheap but it definitely keeps the game fresh. And some of those cosmetic items could be in-game shop exclusive. Customization is extremely important especially for D4's success. So ideally there should be enough transmog options to make everyone happy. I'm not so sure about being able to change the colors of the items. It would be really cool especially if regular colors would drop rarely from regular enemies (like in Wolcen) and other more cool colors like gold for example could drop from a specific boss or dungeon. But.. – D4 is supposed to be dark. And as much as I love to have options I think it's best to not include dyes in D4. But there are many ways of customizing your character. Mounts, trophies, housing system, pets, titles and other things we see in D3 and MMORPGs. I welcome it all – as long as it has it's place in the dark world of D4 and ideally as long as every cosmetic item has it's place in some part of D4's world.. or at least has some lore justification. I also think there should be as many options as possible when it comes to character creation and I think there should be an option to change the appearance later by appearance change token. Yup. I mean pain appearance change token. Monetization I think it's pretty obvious that there will be an in-game shop in D4. I don't like it. Most of us don't like it. But I'm fine with it because it's not really something devs can influence. Remember – the devs do not make decisions. If they will be told to do something that will generate profit they just have to do it. And we all know they were told. So what do I think the monetization should be like in D4? It absolutely cannot be free to play or a subscription based. It should be a one-time purchase with paid BIG content expansions (Like The Witcher 3 expansions) that include at least a new class, story and expand the world of sanctuary to eventually let us explore it in its entirety. And since it will have an in-game shop it should be cosmetic ONLY. And NO there shouldn't be an option to buy stash space. It directly impacts the gameplay. So in order to keep this shop cosmetic only I'm fine with having a lot of cool unique transmog sets, mounts, pets, enchant effects and all kinds of stuff also being added to the shop with each expansion but again – only as long as they stay true to the Diablo 4 style. So no cosmic wings. I am okay with character slots but only if the number of character slots you have for free is at least the same as the number of classes at any given time. So 5 or more free character slots at launch and whenever you buy an expansion that includes a new class or classes it should also include as many bonus character slots as there are new classes. Dark Theme No matter what aspect of the game we are talking about – Diablo 4 should stay true to its theme and to the Diablo spirit. The Future of Diablo 4 I want Diablo 4 to release big expansions that adds new areas, story playable classes to eventually reach the point when we can explore the entire Sanctuary. I am sure Diablo 4 is being developed with longevity in mind and Activision Blizzard CEOs and shareholders want D4 to live as long as possible and thus they will want to add new content as long as possible so that D4 can make money for as long as possible. And that's fine. It's a good thing as long as the expansions will be an actual expansions and as long as the in-game shop will be cosmetic only. I also hope they will introduce entirely new classes. (again – as long as they fit within the Diablo Universe). Some examples would be: previously mentioned Witch. I think since the Sorceress is now focused on elements unlike D3's wizard, there could be a separate class called Wizard at some point in the future that focuses on dealing Arcane damage and has skills like Magic Missile, Arcane Orb, Spectral Blade, Arcane Torrent, Wave of Force, Slow Time, Magic Weapon, Familiar, Teleport, Mirror Image, Black Hole, Archon etc. People have been talking about a Death Knight type of class and I think it's also a great idea I just don't know if it should be a hybrid between the necromancer and paladin. In my opinion it could be some kind of a dark Paladin that broke the oath and is using more dark abilities to fight fire with fire. I also think Witch Doctor should be completely reworked and added at some point because in D3 WD is basically a necromancer that looks goofy. They could for example make Necromancer more focused on bones, disease, corpse mechanics, curses, give him/her more passive summons and make the witch doctor more focused on spirits and weird confusing voodoo magic and more active summons. IMO the most important things out of everything I said: You should not be forced to see other players. Every piece of content (except world bosses and other content that makes sense to be too hard for a one person to complete) should be soloable and every single item that affects your stats or gameplay in any way should be obtainable solo. The End Remember - in the end it's just an opinion of an "old school" player. Thanks, and see You in Hell! [link] [comments] | ||
| My first SOJ dropped on normal from Thresh socket/ HOLY SHIT Posted: 18 May 2020 11:49 AM PDT
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| WTF IS GOING ON IN THE LEADERBOARDS Posted: 18 May 2020 08:22 PM PDT Can anyone explain to me the intense items on the leaderboard characters? The stats are, legitimately, terrifying. [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 18 May 2020 03:52 AM PDT Hey, I finished the story back in 2014. But I didn't really get it I just enjoyed jumping around and killing things. Now I've been enjoying Diablo 2 recently and I'm thinking of going back to Diablo 3. Is it still active? Has it gone any better? Should I buy the battle chest?? Cheers. [link] [comments] | ||
| How do I change my power in D3 Posted: 18 May 2020 09:59 PM PDT I have gavel of judgement slotted but I want ambos there. I'm playing on console any ideas? [link] [comments] | ||
| [D3] Fresh 70 and gearing faster Posted: 18 May 2020 09:58 PM PDT Ive played the game for a couple years now, every season i struggle with the same thing which is gearing a fresh lv 70 character. from what i found online most people say to run GRifts you can do within 3-5 minutes. so ive been doing so, but the only rift i can do in a reasonable time frame is Master. any higher im taking 8-10 minutes. should i stick to Master? ive tried a couple T1 rifts to and the payoff just isnt worth the extra minutes. if im lucky im getting about 1 legendary a run and when i play on master getting legendaries feels rare. another solution ive seen is to get carried on high rifts to get gear. since thats not always an option (and some people [like me] dont like to just sit afk and get rewards every few minutes) what are my options? kadala gives me trash most the times, but im still gambling blood shard and rolling at the cube is expensive so its not something i can really do all the time. is there something im missing here? or do i really just have to get lucky a handful of times to move on also: why is there no Diablo III flair? [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 18 May 2020 09:23 PM PDT Hello I got the game a few weeks back after getting nostalgic after remembering I used to watch my sister and brother play Diablo 1 and 2. (I made a post or two here before.) my only concern is I seem to be allergic legendaries, and difficulty seems random. T1 was easy until pandemonium (just got here), then I move up to t2, it's a little harder, but I still kill quickly, so I move up again and almost immediately I'm either getting one shot (or one shotting myself from thorns maybe?) Combine unable to find a difficulty middle ground, and what feels like I'm not being rewarded for map clearing is killing my drive. While I'm not looking for guaranteed legendaries, am I weird for wanting at least 1 or 2 for around 3-4 hours of playing? All that being said, any tips on how farm efficiently? Any tips on making my build stronger? My first class is the necromancer. I run frenzy skeles, flesh golem, singularity mage summon, frailty curse where minions do extra damage and insta die at low threshold. Corpse explosion and path of bones. My goal for this is to make a strong set around these abilities, and then build a cosmetically pleasing set on top. After that move onto a crusader. I play solo (although my siblings coop back in the day) I haven't had the desire to, could that be the reason for my inefficient playstyle? Help would be very appreciated, and I apologize for being bad in advance. [link] [comments] | ||
| Day/Night Mechanics - Diablo 4 Posted: 18 May 2020 08:09 PM PDT Well we know that blizzard has announced that Diablo 4 will have a day and night system, why not bring some mechanics with it too, for example: monsters, demons and spirits that only appear at night, give more power to demons during the night, etc... How do you guys seeing these interactions and what could we suggest to make this mechanic more attractive? Sorry about my english, my first language is portuguese! [link] [comments] | ||
| How much is D2 LoD Beta CD Worth? (I have one) Posted: 18 May 2020 07:21 PM PDT
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| S20 Diablo 3 Challenge Rift #152 Map and Strategy Guide (North America) Posted: 18 May 2020 06:06 PM PDT
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| Posted: 18 May 2020 06:53 AM PDT Haunted visions replicates grim sycthe instead of skeletal mages. Does this mean can we create grim sycthe builds with leger's disdain? Does this mean we are going to output damage with a primary skill with necro? Because if it is i think it will be fun. [link] [comments] | ||
| Returning Diablo 3 player - are the xbox 360 servers still running? Posted: 18 May 2020 02:15 AM PDT Hi all I'm thinking of getting back into Diablo 3 with some friends over the internet. Are the xbox 360 servers still running and can you still play over the internet with it? Many thanks [link] [comments] | ||
| Weekly Challenge Rift Thread - 05/18/20 Posted: 18 May 2020 07:00 AM PDT Welcome to week 151 of the Challenge Rifts. Please feel free to use this thread to discuss this week's Challenge Rift. Feel free to post guides, tips, and tricks. Make sure you specify your region, as different regions have different Challenge Rifts. [link] [comments] | ||
| Limited internet DH looking for some tips/help Posted: 18 May 2020 09:37 AM PDT | ||
| Diablo 2 Ep 5 | Necromancer | Virgin Play-through | Apprentice Corner Posted: 18 May 2020 01:39 PM PDT
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| D2R. D2 Remaster. How though? Another false rumor? Posted: 18 May 2020 12:16 PM PDT How could they remaster this game and have it out by 2020 if the original game's code and what not are lost? They would need to start from scratch I thought? [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 18 May 2020 09:24 AM PDT Diablo 3 not only failed because of bad mechanics and bad itemization They steared away from the visual theme that made Diablo series:
When D3 got released they went away from that and went Full WoW. I have nothing against wow but themes should stay to their own worlds. They obviously tried to cater to their Wow croud which was depleting " Go WOWked go broke" They pretend they remade a new engine for Diablo 4 but it still looks hella like Diablo 3 textures a cartoony models. There are tons of things we saw so far that keep me from hyping, telling me they haven't learn and they aren't really returning to the source:
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