Togra
2741
I liked it in singleplayer, just like the original. Once you go into skirmish and multiplayer though… it’s more of a remake in which fighting with the UI limitations is seen as a sign of skill. I’d prefer something that remains fun and accessible to play on all difficulty levels. SCII is polished to the bone and well supported (nice mods) but it doesn’t advance any actual RTS mechanics nor did I see anything really fresh in the new units.
Also, tomorrow probably more info on the actual reason for the Diablo III delay, the developers have been tweaking/reworking some game systems.
The persecution, it’s all around me! Save me, Cleve Blakemore!
On the basis of this post by Jay Wilson on the Diablo III front page, I don’t think we’ll be seeing release for a while yet. A pretty massive list of changes is being evaluated, some fairly minor and others significant. Since I haven’t played the beta, my ability to assess them is minimal. Perhaps some luckier folks can comment.
Was just coming to post the same thing. All in all I don’t see any changes that really worry me. But to be sure, I think Blizzard should let me into the beta so I can see for myself.
Some of those changes (like seeing stats on your inventory UI) I really, really like. Others (the removal of systems like the Stone of Jordan that I’ve never seen) I have no opinion on, and the rest sound like good changes to me, even if I have no context to base that on. The way he explained making more junk drops and diversifying the item sounds great to me, for example.
On the other hand, these changes themselves probably won’t really push the release window back to far, instead what worries me is the Skill and Runestone systems that they are STILL working on. I love the iterative process (especially as he describes it) and I know the more effort and time we let them have, the better the over all game is going to be, but still. FUCK.
I guess I’ll go over and pre-order Jagged Alliance Back in Action after all! :)
So we’ve decided to remove the Cauldron of Jordan and Nephalem Cube. They were implemented to allow for salvaging and selling items when there was no quick and easy way to return to town. Now that the Stone of Recall exists, we found that keeping the Cauldron and Cube in the game detracted from the benefits of returning to town to sell items, salvage, craft, and interact with the townsfolk. It’s a good idea to break up combat so that players have a moment to evaluate their gear and crafting options before venturing back out. In addition, we’ve decided to just call it what it is and the Stone of Recall is now Town Portal, and is integrated directly onto the skill bar UI.
I like that they’re simplifying the Stone of Recall and just moving it straight to the quick bar, but getting rid of the Cauldron and the Cube sounds huge. I liked the Cube because it allowed me just take a few quick seconds and make room in the inventory without heading back to town.
Blizzard still having a ton of stuff to work out is good news for Runic. Come on Torchlight 2!
DeepT
2747
I wonder if this game will come out this year even.
Great read.
It really demonstrates how professional these guys are and the process they have in place. They’re constantly re-assessing whether implementations meet their design specifications (and being rigorous in what those specifications are). If they don’t meet them, they axe them or re-design. Just the example of identification scrolls is illustrative: they evaluate it from the role of the gameplay effect that they want and decided that changing it would still achieve the design goal while streamlining it.
Blizzard polish in action.
Contrasting this to the Elemental thread is like night and day.
That’s just an awesome quote.
I check my inbox every day, but no love. Here’s hoping with the delay I’ll get lucky and get in! But I’m with you guys in hoping Blizzard takes the time to do it right.
Regarding “common” loot: I understand that they like the item explosion (and that is neat), but I’d be fine seeing the items explode but be non-interactive. Or at the very least there should be a way to convert them to coin immediately (a la DS’ transmute capability) without having to waste inventory space and forcing me back to town more often to sell.
Some very interesting changes there. I’ve put many hours into the beta, and I had come to love how easy it was to pop open my inventory in the middle of a dungeon and clear out all the junk with the salvage cube. I also enjoyed how all items, even the crappiest gray ones, were worth picking up for the scrap they would give you. Thus, my knee jerk reaction to the removal of the cube and non-salvageable whites was negative.
However, as Jay Wilson says a little later in the article, the reason they’re doing it is to give the monsters their loot piniata feel back. I like this. In the current beta, even white weapon drops are somewhat rare (relative to D2). I think that change, combined with the revamped stat system will serve to make drops much more interesting in the beta and beyond.
Of course, what I really can’t wait to hear about are the changes to the rune and skill systems.
Piemax2
2752
I guess I should wait and see but my first reaction is negative- I didn’t like the loot pinata, I liked having less junk.
Of course, what I really can’t wait to hear about are the changes to the rune and skill systems.
Likewise :)
Ninyu
2753
Check your Battle.net account not your email. People have gotten beta access and never received an email.
Same, since that and items are both the heart of the game and the avenues to character customization. The most important changes got the least amount of discussion. If Jay’s mission was to tantalize his audience, he accomplished it in spades.
On top of that, the official forums are exploding right now. Between the predictable howls of protest over release being delayed to evaluate the changes (“I’ll never buy your @&$!%* game now Blizz-tard!”) to complaints about the changes themselves, it’s not a happy place.
Just to be sure I’m not missing it, where on the Battle.net account page would I find a notification that I was admitted to the D3 beta?
Ninyu
2756
Account Summary. Should be listed under “Your Game Accounts”: Diablo III beta. The client will also be available for download in “Download Games”.
Thanks, that’s pretty much what I thought it would be. As expected, I don’t have access.
Yeah, I check that every day too (and for some reason, unlike logging into WoW, it always requires me to authenticate). No luck.
Regarding the loot pinata aspect… What is attractive about it? I personally love it as well. For me, however, I think that if the monster corpses just ejected tons of items, along with the satisfying ca-chunk and ker-plink, and only the green+ items were interactive that my loot pinata itch would be scratched. AND it’d streamline the gameplay. It’s kinda like buckets of blood spewing from a corpse – it adds a ton but I don’t need to interact with all the droplets.
RepoMan
2760
The changes Jay described all sound solid and well-justified to me. If the official forums are exploding in rage, that just shows that your most rabid fans are also usually your most insane fans.
