I thought I'd start a diablo 3 discussion thread. I know its not till next year but I can't bloody wait. It better be out in 2011 or there'll be "hell" to pay! :P

Anyhoo. Just read this:

Diablo 3: 700 skills!
http://diablo-3.blogspot.com/2010/10...-3-skills.html

700! does that seem like a quite alot. I had trouble enough deciding which path to take my skills in D2 and that only had about 30 skills per character. I'm sort of hoping that you are able to re assign skill points like in Titan Quest. I hated being stuck with the bad choices I made. But then again not being able to change made the decision making more important and eventually ending in me reseaching which skills to follow before commiting.

Diablo! We shall meet again!

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700 :o wow, hopefully it won't turn into just using 3-5 skills todo the task you need, i am too really looking forwards to this! hopefully some cool stuff will be annouced at blizzcon

I wish I could be excited but I pretty much have put Blizzard on hold until Activations CEO gets the boot.

In the meanwhile Torchlight II is coming out.

Yeah if Diablo does gets delayed it's most likely they haven't thought of a working recurring monetary structure yet. Just kidding

We'll see how these new skill runes work out though. I can't help but think its TONS of work to create a tiered system of damn near a thousand skills and in the end players are only going to end up using 1 of 5 uber skill/rune/item combinations, but we'll see. Watching the witchdoctor a while back enchant his minions with his magic that he uses for damage was pretty interesting and an ingenious way of reducing button use. The class choices overall bugged me though. It really just doesn't feel like diablo and more pandering to the WOW crowd, which just feels like is going to be the slow death of blizzard (from a gameplay sense of course. God Christ almighty are they pulling in the dough).

Paired with Valve and every other company on the planet pumping out straight out rehashes I just don't know what to get excited about any more. But the graphics are pretty damned impressive i have to admit. I really like how they toned down the environments, let the lighting do most of the environmental work and let the particles and gameplay add the "pop" it's like you're painting a canvas with carnage. The whole game just looks more readable and playable, i guess i'll admit i'm still a bit excited about this title even after being a bit dissapointed overall with SC II.

DIABLO III RULES!!1

^ Totally unbiased opinion

Can't wait . i'ma make a male mage probably first

Also 700 skills seems like a bit much, however we shall see how its implemented.

I'll probably be a wizard with healing and ranged attacks. My girlfriend will probs be a barbarian "tank" or D2 Druid type class if we get one. Able to summon. I hope we see the bear again. He was awesome. We made a pretty good team in D2 anyway.

It's easy to inflate numbers to stupid levels using small modifications. Borderlands had billions of guns, yet in practice there was only about 10-20 significant differences.

Example:

Magic bolt.
Magic bolt +5 fire damage (it turns red!)
Magic bolt +5 ice damage (it turns blue!)
Magic bolt -5% mana cost (it stays the same!)

But it's Blizzard so I'm sure there will actually be a shitton of legitimately different skills anyways, when the game actually comes out in 2020

i will play the hell out of that game, also not very unbiased since i loved the first and second ones as well.

Not reading the blog posted in the op, but I gotta say. I've been waiting for this game ever since I saw little teaser image of III and Dragon like demon before they created the official website of D3.

I got soo excited about hearing that D3 was in works that I re-started playing D2 and D2lod.

It is definitely worth a wait and yes I hope they have collectors edition of it.

Originally Posted by oXYnary

I wish I could be excited but I pretty much have put Blizzard on hold until Activations CEO gets the boot.

In the meanwhile Torchlight II is coming out.

What concerns you specifically about the ActiBlizz thing?

Aren't they 'sister companies' rather than Activision straight owning Blizzard?

Since the merger there has certainly been no drop in quality of what Blizzard is putting out. Ok so the decision to drop SC2 in multiple parts is questionable, but it doesn't detract from the fact SC2 is an incredible game which clearly has a massive amount of work put into making it a quality product.

I think if anything, the worst we'll see while Kotick is at the helm is Guitar Hero Warcraft. But I don't think we'll ever see a drop in quality of Blizzard games.

D3 is shaping up to be the same, top of the line game, I personally can't wait for it. I try not to get to excited as I know it's not likely to be out for a long while but it's already looking fantastic.

Originally Posted by creationtwentytwo

What concerns you specifically about the ActiBlizz thing?

Aren't they 'sister companies' rather than Activision straight owning Blizzard?

Since the merger there has certainly been no drop in quality of what Blizzard is putting out. Ok so the decision to drop SC2 in multiple parts is questionable, but it doesn't detract from the fact SC2 is an incredible game which clearly has a massive amount of work put into making it a quality product.

I think if anything, the worst we'll see while Kotick is at the helm is Guitar Hero Warcraft. But I don't think we'll ever see a drop in quality of Blizzard games.

D3 is shaping up to be the same, top of the line game, I personally can't wait for it. I try not to get to excited as I know it's not likely to be out for a long while but it's already looking fantastic.

This isn't addressed at me but I'll bite. First of all the Activision partnership is juts a single biproduct of the larger looming "problem", the ridiculous success of WoW. By any corporate or monetary standard, the millions of dollars WoW brings in a month isn't a "problem", but for fans of the original Blizzard catalog (or PC gaming in general) it is a bit worrisome the direction where blizzard is heading. It's kinda like when your favorite band goes corporate, yes they have more fans but, "they've changed maaaan".

And Blizzard quality HAS dropped, it's readily apparent in the release of Starcraft II. No chatrooms (are they planning console ports at the cost of features?), little to no communication with the community, inability to play with friends in other countries, a horribly broken custom map system that seems to favor future for-pay products from blizzard, a three tiered release, requiring a 60 dollar purchase for each piece of the final product and most importantly the game just wasn't THAT good, not for a blizzard game anyway. Their last RTS Warcraft III thrived on community maps. The editor was easy to use and allowed for the quick setup of very fun matches. The starcraft II engine, though theoretically more powerful is very broken in many areas and hard to use. One only has to try playing a few custom games to see that the custom games community in its current state isn't as vibrant. The most important RTS mod to date DOTA is having its sequel developed by Valve. One has to wonder why it changed hands.

Essentially Blizzard has had to change the way they develope games in order for a title to warrant their developement, they are now in a position where they HAVE to make boatloads of money on it or its a waste of time. Why spend years developing starcraft III when it's total lifetime profit is a fraction of a single WOW expansion? And here lies the major problem facing Blizzard and gaming right now, great games alone are not enough to warrant developent by top companies, there needs to be some form of reccuring profit inherent to the gameplay, whether that makes the core game better or not. Valve has revolutionized gaming with steam in comparison, somehow finding a way to turn ridiculous profits with stupefyingly low cost game sales, and games that have a constant stream of free content. All the while indie developers are able to ride their coat tails and turn a profit, it's pretty awesome.

Anyway, back on topic... Diablo III doesn't look to be as hindered as Starcraft II was, but it certainly isn't unscathed. The obvious change to diablo III from WoW are the similarities, whether this is good or bad is subjective. Personally i played over a year of WoW and I'm not exactly excited to be playing the same stuff over again. PvP arenas, the witch doctor, customizable male and female characters, hand-painted styling, and crafting are things we know are going to be in Diablo that are carried over from WoW. Of course Blizzard is big on branding but this volume of features seem to go beyond that. It's not all doom and gloom though, the gameplay is still very Diablo, just as starcraft II was very starcraft, but it doesn't feel like the same kind of sequal blizzard (or Blizzard North) used to produce. Turning something 3d, adding a few more units/ putting a few skill runes for each skill isn't going to grip us for years on end like the originals were able to. Warcraft III floudered around forever untill they figured out what to do with their radical new gameplay. Diablo II was a huge advancement in action oriented RPGs and likewise had a rediculous developement time not because the team was fractured working on multiple titles, but because they were producing groundbreaking class and item mechanics. Just kinda feels like blizzard are pounding out these titles because they were half-finished anyway, and if you make it look enough like WoW their throng of mindless followers will buy anything, like a 40 dollar e-ticket ticket to watch a lackluster internet stream of Blizzcon to see fellow WoW players pay to kiss blizzard's ass.

Bit of a harsh assessment i know, and i don't mean to criticize blizzard as a whole, just this new side that seems to have its head further up its own ass than usual.

Originally Posted by crazyfingers

Anyway, back on topic... Diablo III doesn't look to be as hindered as Starcraft II was, but it certainly isn't unscathed. The obvious change to diablo III from WoW are the similarities, whether this is good or bad is subjective. Personally i played over a year of WoW and I'm not exactly excited to be playing the same stuff over again. PvP arenas, the witch doctor, customizable male and female characters, hand-painted styling, and crafting are things we know are going to be in Diablo that are carried over from WoW. Of course Blizzard is big on branding but this volume of features seem to go beyond that. It's not all doom and gloom though, the gameplay is still very Diablo, just as starcraft II was very starcraft, but it doesn't feel like the same kind of sequal blizzard (or Blizzard North) used to produce. Turning something 3d, adding a few more units/ putting a few skill runes for each skill isn't going to grip us for years on end like the originals were able to. Warcraft III floudered around forever untill they figured out what to do with their radical new gameplay. Diablo II was a huge advancement in action oriented RPGs and likewise had a rediculous developement time not because the team was fractured working on multiple titles, but because they were producing groundbreaking class and item mechanics. Just kinda feels like blizzard are pounding out these titles because they were half-finished anyway, and if you make it look enough like WoW their throng of mindless followers will buy anything, like a 40 dollar e-ticket ticket to watch a lackluster internet stream of Blizzcon to see fellow WoW players pay to kiss blizzard's ass.

Bit of a harsh assessment i know, and i don't mean to criticize blizzard as a whole, just this new side that seems to have its head further up its own ass than usual.

Reason why I left wow...

Lets hope you are wrong and they come to their sense and compare diablo 3 and WOW to add or modify to make diablo 3 a different game.

I love Blizzard work but you can only stick around until you give up on the fact that, its practically the same thing over and over again, and they might change something in their next development.

If blizzard north was still alive they'd make something like diablo3, oh wait.. torchlight.

Crazyfingers -

That came across to me like you just dislike WoW and are criticizing Blizzard for reusing any WoW-esque features in their other games.

Firstly, I honestly don't think the games have dropped in quality. I mean, I played Orcs & Humans (yes I'm that old) pretty heavily. I missed number 2 but I was back in for 3. I also played StarCraft through before the release of SC2.

Now I definitely think the quality of gameplay and storyline in SC2 was as good, if not better than the 'older' Blizz games. The production quality of it is still way above much of what is being released currently, and further evidence to the fact they haven't seen adverse effects from the merger is that they still release games when they believe they're done. I'm pretty sure if they'd caved to pressure from the higher-ups, then we'd see rushed releases, Diablo 3 would've been out last year and this 'next-gen MMO' would be this holidays big release.

As for the online community, I agree, it's totally different to WC3, and SC. But I think that's more down to a change in times rather than a change in Blizzards direction. If you look at what 'Online Gaming' was back when WC3 was out, and now, it's very different. DLC, Expansion Packs, Paid-Upgrades / Microtransactions are just commonplace in the online gaming world now and it would be silly of Blizzard to ignore all of that just because they want to be faithful to their hardcore fans.

Hardcore fanbase is another thing, the market for gaming is so radically different now compared to the WC / SC times too. The gaming demographic is now largely kids who want a 'pick-up and blast' game with an easy to use online function that they can jump in and play. Back when WC3 was out, the average online player was certainly not a 10 year old with a headset and a dirty mouth. The hardcore from WC3 have grown up, and they're not the mass-market anymore. To aim a game at them would be a bad business move by Blizzard and after all; they are a business. I don't think it's about them making huge profits off of WoW and wanting to do the same with every other game. I mean, WoW is an ongoing subscription based MMO, whereas SC2 is a one off payment, obviously the revenue is not going to be anything minutely like WoW. Taking away the free community DLC from days gone by and adding a paid marketplace is just a natural progression to suit todays online gaming nature, not really an evil business strategy.

Finally, with regard to making things 'WoW-like'. I never played D2, I briefly played the first but I don't remember it at all, so I can't comment. I get the impression though that they intentionally add WoW similarities because they know a large majority of the sales will come from WoW players. If WoW did't exist, I honestly don't think Diablo or Starcraft would sell that well at all. Imagine the premise of those games being released cold into the market. The only interest would be from people who played the previous games, and as I mentioned, that market is a lot smaller than the current focal demographic.

Necromancers choice



Wow gayness




See the darkness coming from this, it's a bit of Khan, a bit of hair metal of the darkest kind, and pure evil



Now this guy is clearly a re-used wow asset:



And crafting in diablo3??, that would never ever have been accepted in diablo2!!

I've only ever played Diablo 1, so the new one looks like an improvement to me.

Diablo 2 is one of my all time favorite games, and almost always finds its way onto my pc, every time I have to reinstall windows, or get a new pc.

I hear the complaints of Diablo 3 isn't as dark as Diablo 2, but for me that's fine. I don't need another Diablo clone, with the Diablo name on it. But I understand the concerns.

I'm hoping for massive lootz, wicked enemies (I'm REALLY liking a lot of the designs I've seen so far), a cool story (as cool as Diablo 2, anyway), and a shit ton of fun. I might not get the cool as Diablo 2 story, but that'll be ok. I trust Blizzard to give me something fun (even though the last Blizzard game I played was Diablo 2 ).

I'm only a tiny bit worried about Diablo3 becoming a bit WOW...ish. Only thing that bothers me is the possibility of paid upgrades n shit. I really hope it doesnt go down that route but I very much doubt it will.

As for the art direction, I think its looking pretty cool. I would have loved to have seen it done with 2D sprites like D2. But that was never going to happen really. And tbh Torchlight is way more WOW than D3 is looking so far. And I like Torchlight.

The new crafting. That might be cool and hopefully easier. I played a shit ton of D2 with various characters above lvl 60, Some in the 90's. And I never really got the hang of creating rune word stuff. I think it was a bit complex. And I never found any of the best runes required.

It's all about trading maaaan. Trading the sojs for the runes you needed.

Originally Posted by ceebee

It's all about trading maaaan. Trading the sojs for the runes you needed.

Yeah. I never traded much. I didnt really liked some random lvl 99er just giving me some sword that does a +1000 fire dmg, etc, etc. kinda took the challenge out of it. I will be trading in D3 though and I hope to find a good community to play in. Maybe Polycount can do something.

Does anyone know how the servers are going to be working this time round. Is it Battle.net with local hosting as in D2? Or will it have dedicated servers?

Personally i'm hella excited for it. I can get it and play it with my younger cousin and my uncle and stuff, because I dunno.
It's a fun game, and I have a lot of friends that love Diablo.
I wanna be the Demon Hunter and go all John Woo on the legions of the damned.
'John Woo, Demon Hunter.'

The bottom line is D3 is a spinoff of WoW, not a sequel. U can bring in all the money considerations u want - that only makes it more understandable, not necessarily acceptable.

When I look at the game I see stuff which r really cool (we're talking pure art here, not gameplay): beautiful scenarios and level designs, gr8 character ideas and so on. But then u've got the toony stuff plastered all over, making it all cute and cuddly like WoW. F* that...

And that's not even mentioning those hideously cheesy cinematics...

The good side is that I *think* I heard a note of music in one of those cinematics that sounded very familiar. Could Matt Uelman be doing the music again? I wish...

:/
Kay