Joe_M
4361
I find what I’ve seen of D3 to be underwhelming but I don’t quite understand where you’re coming from. What, there’s only one proper way to build a game or the developer is being “lazy”? I mean he says flat out they had all that stuff in game and found it unsatisfying. It seems to me Blizzard did their due diligence and decided to go in another direction. You don’t have to like it, I just find calling them lazy – after several years of development – a bit odd.
Skill points are actually my only real “problem” with the TL2 beta right now ;) Fantastic game, but it made me appreciate being able to play with ALL the toys of my class.
I didn’t call them lazy, I said they took the lazy way out in this particular instance. Like Bioware did with Mass Effect 2 and removing inventory and their loot system. It didn’t work well in Mass Effect - so they removed it.
I’m suggesting it CAN work, and that you don’t HAVE to re-implement D2 - because THAT implementation was fundamentally flawed.
I find that having everything available at once, diminishes the joy of each available toy.
Never felt like having too many games to play at once, or having too many options? ;)
Btw, what took you so long!?!
Took me so long to what???
Also I think I would be a little more OK with skill points if developers stopped wanting me to dump them in passive skills. There’s nothing quite so deflating as getting a new skill point, and having the best way to use it be to dump it into a +0.5% increase on some effect instead of a shiny new active skill.
Damn, should have looked before I clicked. Been working very hard on not giving pageviews to Gawker for a couple of years now. Not trying to out-douche or hipster you all, I just dislike the company and don’t want to give them my business anymore than I want to give it to Chik Fil A or Cracker Barrel.
Nonetheless, it is nice to see my views elucidated in the press, even if the entire world still thinks I’m an idiot dickhead for espousing them in the light of Jay Wilson’s Super Game Design powers. I mean, that guy’s only working for the single most successful game developer in the world, and I’m a fat slob barely making ends meet in a shit apartment. I think it’s clear which of us knows what’s going on.
BTW, the rumors (and it shouldn’t be surprising) are that black hats all over the world are gearing up to go all out to grab Battle.net accounts. The RMAH is just too tempting. If you don’t have an authenticator on your account, now would be the time to get one.
Take a wild guess.
Also I think I would be a little more OK with skill points if developers stopped wanting me to dump them in passive skills. There’s nothing quite so deflating as getting a new skill point, and having the best way to use it be to dump it into a +0.5% increase on some effect instead of a shiny new active skill.
Actually, I think a reasonable alternative would be to implement a talent point system. Something akin to WoW - where you boost a certain kind of skill to a limited degree (entirely separate from the skills, so you wouldn’t miss a single toy). As in, your “build” wouldn’t have to be optimal - but it would just help you to facilitate what you’re trying to do. That way, you get to retain character distinction - and the min/max’ers will want to replay to get that final edge to their chars. People without that particular inclination would still be fine no matter what, except perhaps for the final difficulty - where people would have to invest heavily into learning their character anyway.
You mean, like people developing McDonald’s recipes must be better cooks than most people in the world? ;)
IMHO, Blizzard are kings of core gameplay - not game design, which they’re merely good at. They basically don’t design much - they just test ideas… A LOT.
How about this?
If I can play a melee wizard, even if it’s fuck-all awful, the game is great. Otherwise, it’s at best good :)
And DKD, I’d argue that the suits at McD’s corporate headquarters who determine pricing/distribution/corporate policy are far better business people than the owners of high-end restaurants, at the very least. So long as we agree that “better business people” is determined by “business people who make fuckloads of money.”
I’m not even sure what we’re discussing anymore at this point, though.
But one thing we DO know form wow is that your build would have to be optimal ;)
Although less so without any group raiding or competitive PvP to bring peer pressure to bear.
But I think some implementation of that type would be fantastic, IF it was restricted to passive boosts only. So every time you level up you get a few points to click on, to satisfy that “spend some points” urge, and it goes towards passive boosts that are not skill specific. And meanwhile you get all the active skills for your class. I think a system like that would be what I would want to try out.
I’d tend to agree that Bliz are spoiling their audience, and that it’s not necessarily best for the long-term experience to do that.
And DKD, I’d argue that the suits at McD’s corporate headquarters who determine pricing/distribution/corporate policy are far better business people than the owners of high-end restaurants, at the very least. So long as we agree that “better business people” is determined by “business people who make fuckloads of money.”
I’m not even sure what we’re discussing anymore at this point, though.
I think I was agreeing with you, and as such - there is no discussion :)
McDonald’s also succeeds on price and availability. That is, the decision to buy McDonald’s is not all about desire for the food, in a vacuum.
Blizzard’s games aren’t bargain basement (if anything it’s the reverse). They’re mass appeal and it would be fair to argue about the tastes of the masses, but the analogy to McDonalds is a bit off- Blizzard ain’t the McD of the gaming world, in a lot of ways.
I’m glad the idea has appeal :)
Oh, and while optimal builds matter a lot in WoW - I’d argue that player performance matters more.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to inform bossy raid leaders that they didn’t know shit about rogue mechanics. The “cookie cutter” builds were definitely very functional, but they weren’t required - and were often only optimal on paper or pointless simulations of dealing damage in a static and ideal situation.
It was just an example to demonstrate that because you’re part of a very successful company, it doesn’t mean you’re better at what you do - than some dude off the street. Not at all.
Not that it really matters since any of the official authenticators will work for any of the Blizzard games, but if you’ve been waiting for a Diablo III themed unit, it’s coming.
I would say not necessarily. Saying “not at all” is bit much, in my view. The professional is presumptively more knowledgeable. The professional isn’t necessarily right, of course, but their profession is highly relevant when weighing opinions on the subject.
I’d say “necessarily” is redundant - but whatever. When I say “not at all” - it’s merely based on the amount of people I’ve encountered who were clearly more suited for tasks delegated to “experts”. It’s just personal experience. I’m not speaking about Blizzard specifically, because I really don’t know Wilson well enough.
I can’t say I think much of their design process in terms of the skill-set it seems to require.
It seems to me they basically take most of what’s good in their games from others, and then they improve upon it through an absurd amount of iteration and re-iteration.
Beyond the “craft” - which I must say they’re INCREDIBLE at - their strength lies in their capacity and willingness to spend the time on something until it’s as polished as it can be.
But what they lack, in my opinion, is creative/design vision. They’re very conservative given their position and what they COULD do, and they’re very obsessed with mass appeal. Nothing wrong with that, it’s just not what I would call particularly artistic.
Heh, DKD you’re starting to sound rather vengeful. Like “I should’ve had that job but they gave it to that other less qualified hack because he knew someone in management!” No offense intended, it’s just mildly amusing that I can read your posts like that.
