ZehDon ZehDon

Diablo III

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Diablo III

Hack 'n Slash 3.0

from Elemental Forums

With Blizzcon right around the corner, the Diablo III community is gearing up for what they are hoping is a release of new information, and hopefully a release window.  A lot about Diablo III is still unknown, with only vague details given to the community via the offical Battle.net forums.  The fifth and final class is yet to be anounced, the 'End Game' content - said to justify the lowered level cap of 60 - hasn't been discussed at all and of course the widespread concern for the general direction of the game has yet to be really addressed in any meaningful way.

I myself am a massive Diablo II fan; I still play it to this day.  While Torchlight kicked the original Diablo out of the picture entirely, and it's sequel hoping to finally kick Diablo II off of it's throne, Diablo II is still the best Hack 'n Slash money can buy.  World of Warcraft used it's item and 'drip feeding' loot system to great effect, and with eight years worth of development time, Diablo III is set to claim Diablo II's title with some innovative gameplay changes.  Unlike Blizzard's recent Starcraft II, which changed so little about the game, Diablo III is really changing a lot.  Gone is the 'Potion Dependancy' of nearly all Hack 'n Slash titles, and in it's place a new focus on the WoW-esque 'Ability Bar', promising to deliver varied and interesting combat.

Is anyone else looking forward to the Diablo III?  What annoucements, if any, are you hoping to see arrive out of Blizzcon?

Unfortunately, it's difficult to talk about Diablo III without mentioning the shift in tone from the previous games, as the die-hard fans - and they are legion - are rather upset about it.  Instead of going into great detail, I'll simply show it in pictures:

Diablo II




Torchlight



Diablo III



Fan Reaction:

Note: The bottom of these two is the final art direction for Diablo III.

Thoughts?

553,312 views 183 replies
Reply #51 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting SinVraal, reply 49
Please take a look at the upcoming DLC for CiV. An extra leaderhead and two unique units for "just" 5 $? Buy four (nations) more and you're up to the price for an expansion pack just without extra content.
End of SinVraal's quote

I said I was okay with "DLC", not with being ripped off. That's something entirely different. =P

Reply #52 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Gazz_, reply 51

I said I was okay with "DLC", not with being ripped off. That's something entirely different. =P
End of Gazz_'s quote

There is a fine line between luck and misfortune. :grin: (I don't know how mother-tongue speakers from this forums would put it)

Anyway....just my worries.

Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #53 from Sins Forums Top

BTW I used a macro to switch skills on hotkeys in D2 so I played it like Warcraft anyway so its good they are getting with the program there.

Anyway the whole 'dark vs blue' screen shot...

The top one is like sooo EMO, its not cool and dark like Diablo 2 its just "black and white emo drawing from some emo girl".

Its a totaly different team of course but I think I prefer the new art style (I can always go to deviantart to see that emo girl's artwork). Especially after seeing what they did in Catacylsm. Yeah. (Also warlocks are purple and green and they own necros).

Reply #54 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting FutileEmotion, reply 50

One thing that bugs me about Blizzard, though, is that despite their ridiculous levels of success, they still have a hard time supporting and releasing titles in the Diablo franchise in any semblance of time.  Not only is every patch late, some have been over a year late.  From what I can tell, they only had one or two people working on these announced patches.
End of FutileEmotion's quote

Well in all fairness, the amount of support that Diablo 2 got was way beyond the call of duty for a game that you weren't paying a fee to play. I mean the game was extremely popular and succesful right out of the box and but yet they were still releasing patches with major gameplay changes years after release.

Reply #55 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Aractain, reply 53
The top one is like sooo EMO, its not cool and dark like Diablo 2 its just "black and white emo drawing from some emo girl".
End of Aractain's quote

D2 had the advantage of having crappy resolution so you would imagine the graphics to look the way you want. =P
Me, I'd rather take the emo goth look over Teletubby World.

Besides, the true test of emo will be if the demons sparkle in sunlight or not.

Reply #56 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Quoting Gazz_, reply 55



Besides, the true test of emo will be if the demons sparkle in sunlight or not.
End of Gazz_'s quote

 

I though if was if the Demons all have those haf hair-in-the-face 2-tone haircut and like My Chemical Romance

Reply #57 from Elemental Forums Top

See the bright side! (omg I'm so bad)

If they do sparkle, we can kill them. Blow them up, hack them to pieces, then blow up the pieces. All of them. Won't that be grand?

Gawd I'll have to head over to the Blizzard forums to campaign for sparkling vampire opponents. Anyone else coming? =P

Important edit: My glass is empty but I'm still entirely too sober. Mo' rum!

Reply #58 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting UmbralAngel, reply 48
I have no opinion on the game... except being able to play each class as female is awesome : D

End of UmbralAngel's quote

Yeah this is pretty awesome. In this date and age, it should also just be standard to offer everyting with a male/female choice. Good for Blizzard for doing it on a big title.

Reply #59 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting FadedC, reply 54

Quoting FutileEmotion, reply 50
One thing that bugs me about Blizzard, though, is that despite their ridiculous levels of success, they still have a hard time supporting and releasing titles in the Diablo franchise in any semblance of time.  Not only is every patch late, some have been over a year late.  From what I can tell, they only had one or two people working on these announced patches.


Well in all fairness, the amount of support that Diablo 2 got was way beyond the call of duty for a game that you weren't paying a fee to play. I mean the game was extremely popular and succesful right out of the box and but yet they were still releasing patches with major gameplay changes years after release.
End of FadedC's quote

They did give it a lot of support, but my problem was that they couldn't meet their own deadlines.

I wonder what they're doing about cheating in Diablo 3.  In Diablo 2, it has always been a major issue, between duplicated items and bots running, or that you can (or at least could earlier this year) buy stolen/generated CD keys for $5-10.

Reply #60 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting FutileEmotion, reply 59


I wonder what they're doing about cheating in Diablo 3.  In Diablo 2, it has always been a major issue, between duplicated items and bots running, or that you can (or at least could earlier this year) buy stolen/generated CD keys for $5-10.
End of FutileEmotion's quote

Well they are forcing battle.net on everyone whic his supposed to be improved, but my solution for something like that had always been to play with people I know.

Reply #61 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Nesrie, reply 60



Quoting FutileEmotion,
reply 59


I wonder what they're doing about cheating in Diablo 3.  In Diablo 2, it has always been a major issue, between duplicated items and bots running, or that you can (or at least could earlier this year) buy stolen/generated CD keys for $5-10.



Well they are forcing battle.net on everyone whic his supposed to be improved, but my solution for something like that had always been to play with people I know.
End of Nesrie's quote

Hmm....but weren't we forced to play on battlenet in D2 as well? Though I don't remember cheating being as much of a problem when I played it other then early on.

Reply #62 from Elemental Forums Top

Diablo III will require an internet connection and, like Starcraft II, users accept tht Blizzard will run Warden behind-the-scenes to monitor what applications are running on their machine.  As Custom Maps for Starcraft II are stored on Blizzard's servers, it's entirely possible that Multiplayer Characters will also be stored on Blizzard's servers to further reduce cheating.

Reply #63 from Elemental Forums Top

I wonder if the Cows level this time will say "Eat mor chikn".

 

Reply #64 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting FadedC, reply 61



Quoting Nesrie,
reply 60



Quoting FutileEmotion,
reply 59


I wonder what they're doing about cheating in Diablo 3.  In Diablo 2, it has always been a major issue, between duplicated items and bots running, or that you can (or at least could earlier this year) buy stolen/generated CD keys for $5-10.



Well they are forcing battle.net on everyone whic his supposed to be improved, but my solution for something like that had always been to play with people I know.



Hmm....but weren't we forced to play on battlenet in D2 as well? Though I don't remember cheating being as much of a problem when I played it other then early on.
End of FadedC's quote

No. D2 shipped with directip. I played D2 online all the time and never used battle.net.

Reply #65 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting ZehDon, reply 6

Quoting Darvin3, reply 5...Class-wise, I'm hoping for a "Knight in Shining Armour" for the fifth class.  The barbarian is nice and all, but the dual-weilding savage with spiked armour doesn't have the same appeal as a glistening knight in platemail with a trusty sword and shield.
The common belief is that we'll see a generic "Archer" class, as there isn't a class at current that is Bow-focused.  After the excitment-killing reveals of the "Wizard", "Witch Doctor" and "Monk" most people are expecting the class to simply be called "Archer".
Another belief, due to the changes so far, is that the final class will be a "Cleric" or "Priest" with a focus on Healing and Holy Magic.  This comes from the games shift in fighting mechanics; as the game now closely resembles World of Warcraft, a healing class fits into the Holy Trinity; Tank, DPS and Healer.

Quoting Dhraconus, reply 2...Diablo 3 has yet to make me care even a little bit.  To be fair part of my apathy is caused by "Hey we're making this game that will probably be released sometime before you die."  Maybe I'm not following it closely enough (really not following it much) but it all just seems like 'Diablo 2.5: Easy Mode'...
The major features of Diablo III are as follows:


The main-world is static and no longer randomised; Dungeons are still randomly generated.
Five Classes, with only the Barbarian returning.  This was explained as "the Barbarian was the only class we thought we could improve".
Combat is now focused around abilities.  Demo-players have commented that the gameplay is similar to a sped-up version of World of Warcraft.
Players will have a multitude of customisation options centered around the Artisan; an upgradable NPC who can craft, imbue and alter weapons and Armour.
Classes now have class-specific 'Sets' that others cannot use; the best items in the game are all Set items.  Items also use the World of Warcraft "Soulbound" system, to prevent players from trading used Gear.
The game will feature 'End Game' content which will be accessable to players once they have reached the level cap of 60.  Little is known about this content.  It is speculated that this will be a set of Dungeons that contain the best Sets of Gear, mimicking World of Warcraft's progessions system.
The game has no Health or Mana potions.  Enemies now drop Health and Mana orbs, which regenerate a set amount of Health and Mana.  Demo-players have commented that this introduces "down time", as players wait for their Health and Mana to regenerate to a point before being able to continue in combat.
Dungeons now contain 'Boss Fights'.  Instead of simple click and potion spamming, Bosses have set behaviour pattens that need to be learnt and overcome to defeat the bosses.  This has been described as "similar to World of Warcrafts".
The game sees the return of the three difficulty level system from the previous games.
The game is designed so that at the end of the final difficulty level, players will have achieved the level cap and be elligible for 'End Game' content.
Battle.net 2.0 is seeing new features added to "meet the unique demands of Diablo III".  No additional information on these features has been released.
Diablo III has been described as the same size as Diablo II.
Diablo III will feature several areas, including Tristram, from the previous games.
End of ZehDon's quote

 

Wow thanks for killing my last trickle of excitement for this game. 

Some random thoughts.

 

1. Blizzard are the most overated developer in the history of games. They are riding on the laurels of their past successes.

2. Titan Quest (with expansion) is better than diablo. Only thing holding it back is lack of online servers

3. I hate the class selection, could you be any more generic and boring. It's either going to be a priest or an archer for the final reveal. (yawn)

4. Lets hope the remnants of the TQ team can bring something special with their new entry.

5. The art style is not Diablo, it's WOW. Dark colors and a gritty setting is not EMO, it's what Diablo is supposed to be, it is a dark and brutal world. (this also isn't emo) I wish people would stop throwing that term around so loosely. Emo stands for Emotional. Not dark and brutal.

Reply #66 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Ravenstrike, reply 65




2. Titan Quest (with expansion) is better than diablo. Only thing holding it back is lack of online servers
End of Ravenstrike's quote

Titan Quest was not better at release, and a large chunk of the "expansion" should have been in the original game. I completely disagree with you. Not only that, are you seriously comparing games that are over 6 years apart. Last I heard, there were a number of games "better" then pac-man too, six years later.

Reply #67 from Elemental Forums Top

The art looks great. "Oh no, color! The game is ruined." Please... if you want to see a world in shades of gray, change your monitor settings or wear sunglasses or something.

Reply #68 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Nesrie, reply 66

Quoting Ravenstrike, reply 65



2. Titan Quest (with expansion) is better than diablo. Only thing holding it back is lack of online servers


Titan Quest was not better at release, and a large chunk of the "expansion" should have been in the original game. I completely disagree with you. Not only that, are you seriously comparing games that are over 6 years apart. Last I heard, there were a number of games "better" then pac-man too, six years later.
End of Nesrie's quote

 

Wasn't talking about release TQ, Immortal throne only. TQ at release was very lackluster.

My comments about TQ being better simply stem from the fact some were saying there was nothing in the genre to top Diablo, and I disagree. I have also put more hours than I can count into both titles.

Reply #69 from Sins Forums Top

1. Blizzard are the most overated developer in the history of games. They are riding on the laurels of their past successes.

2. Titan Quest (with expansion) is better than diablo. Only thing holding it back is lack of online servers

3. I hate the class selection, could you be any more generic and boring. It's either going to be a priest or an archer for the final reveal. (yawn)

4. Lets hope the remnants of the TQ team can bring something special with their new entry.

5. The art style is not Diablo, it's WOW. Dark colors and a gritty setting is not EMO, it's what Diablo is supposed to be, it is a dark and brutal world. (this also isn't emo) I wish people would stop throwing that term around so loosely. Emo stands for Emotional. Not dark and brutal.
End of quote

 

u mad bro

1. When Cata releases, show me a better MMO.

2. What Nesrie said. I got pretty bored with it (a lot of the skills were just meh visualy and 'damage' wise etc) but the cat girls were nice I guess.

3. cool story bro, what else are they going to have? Ken from first of the north star and a couple of dragon ballzzzzzz characters?

4. Sure.

5. Its called a stereotype. WoW can do dark and brutal but not like that with tortured women all over the place. Someone made the joke when we werer going through the clositer that "This must be how it is in the middle east" refering to multilated women sitting at tables and ripped in half in various devices etc. I always get sad in the first act (which is the point).

6. I like list as well.

Reply #70 from Elemental Forums Top

So it sounds like you guys are big fans of the titanquest expansion? I had mentioned that I felt the game was lacking, but I never tried the expansion.

As for blizzard riding on the laurels of their successes, well they've only had major criticial successes so far. Once they produce a game that's not a giant hit then we can start to think about calling them overrated.

Reply #71 from Elemental Forums Top

I didn't play Immortal Throne, but Titan Quest was downright boring and formulaic. The only thing it did marginally well was the skill trees. The rest was a pure knock off of Diablo in a boooooorrrrrriiiiiinnnngggg setting. Nothing like walking through golden fields for the first 2 hours of the game.

I'm not wild about the Wow-ification of Diablo 3, but I played WoW so I can stand it. And it's coming with a lot of other perks, like stuff that definitely does not look like wow, and looks pretty bad ass. I'm not quite as happy that dungeon design hasn't really changed in D3...but at least there's the illusion of a 3rd axis is at work now.

Reply #72 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Ravenstrike, reply 65

5. The art style is not Diablo, it's WOW. Dark colors and a gritty setting is not EMO, it's what Diablo is supposed to be, it is a dark and brutal world. (this also isn't emo) I wish people would stop throwing that term around so loosely. Emo stands for Emotional. Not dark and brutal.
End of Ravenstrike's quote

Dark and gritty, like the outdoor plains in the first act of Diablo 2... or the bright desert in the second act. Or the tropical forest in the third act...

Did you actually PLAY Diablo 2? :P

Reply #73 from Elemental Forums Top

There was more to Diablo II's Gothic Horror atmosphere and style than it's use of colour or in-game brightness.  The Art Style for Diablo III more closely resembles World of Warcraft than it does Diablo II.  This is an observable fact.  This carried through to everything; Armour Sets and Weapon Design in particular.

For example, take a look at this Picture, twitted to show off some of the Armour Designs of Diablo III.  The Fan reaction for what has been dubbed the "Star Fish Helm" across all Diablo community sites has been almost entirely negative.  While there are some supporters, they usually justify it's design by quoting the Blizzard Community Manager who stated it was a "lower tier" item rather than out-right defending the design.  The issue, then, is that the Armour Designs now more closely resemble the down-right-obscure Armour designs of World of Warcraft rather than medival-inspired Armour designs of the previous games.  This is a fairly major shift, and one fans are not liking.

Compounding all of this was the reaction from Blizzard itself, with it's Community Managers locking the threads created to express the Fans dislike, and stating that the Armour Designs were final, completed and included in the game and Blizzard were not interested in feedback.  This has only fueled concerns.

Reply #74 from Elemental Forums Top

So high sense of entitlement from so many, eh?

It's a new game, it's a different game, if it's better or not - well, let's leave that for when we play it, yeah?

Edit: I love the phrase "fueled concerns". Like I'm watching the news on TV.

Reply #75 from Elemental Forums Top

Playing a public game in Diablo 2, on their closed servers where characters are stored online, has three main issues as of current:

1.  The fastest way to level is to follow a max level bot around, doing Baal run after Baal run.

2.  Playing in any public game will cause you to be slammed with spamming bots 24/7, who join the game, say their recorded text, and leave.

3.  People use bots to play for them to grind for items, made worse by these people selling these items online.  Being able to spend $10 or less to get a great item set for your character is ridiculous.