So I posted this on the official forums but thought it might also help generate some discussion here. Enjoy.
Let me preface this by saying that there are many aspects of D3 that I really enjoy (animations, art design, class abilities) but I find myself having less fun and enjoying my experience far less then I hoped for at launch.
I'm going to outline some of the specific features which I have issue with and try to explain why I believe they negatively impact my experience. I'll also try to provide some alternatives or possible solutions to these issues. I should also make clear that many of the points I discuss have already been raised by others.
I don't necessary agree with every issue in these posts but all provide thorough, thoughtful feedback on current game issues. I highly encourage everyone to explore these posts when they have time.
With that... let's begin.
The three issues I'm going to discuss here are as follows:
Methods of player reward - the primacy of the Auction House over the possible benefits of item drops
Lack of exploration - Reliance on the quest system after the completion of an act
Lack of community
Methods of Player Reward
Perhaps my largest grievance with the current state of D3 is how dominate and necessary the use of the Auction House is. As a disclaimer, I use the auction house and have no issue with those who also use it (you'd be crazy not to in the games current state) but I do believe that the system is poorly designed.
The current method of thought is that as you progress through Inferno you farm previous areas for upgrades before continuing on. I completely agree with the thought but it doesn't play out this way. Instead of farming Act 1 for upgrades before proceeding to Act 2, you currently farm Act 1 for items to sell on the AH in order to build up enough capital to buy your own character upgrades so you can progress. Some in the community may not hold issue with this process but I certainly do. For myself, the greatest enjoyment of the game is slaying monsters and hoping for drops, not searching the thousands of posted items for a deal and juggling my own sales. Unfortunately the AH, designed as a peripheral support system, has taken precedence over actually playing through the game. Now I admit that statement has elements of exaggeration but I do believe that currently the AH provides the best, most efficient means of improving your character and progressing through the game. When the micromanagement of this economic system supplants actually playing the game as the most beneficial means of progression, something is wrong.
Unfortunately drop rates for items are inherently bound of the existence of the AH. Particularly good items must drop at a lower rate because they will available for purchase for gold. Without lowering the rates, the inflation in number of legendary/set items will remove the scarcity which makes them so valuable. Which circles right back into the AH as the best method for obtaining items. The chances of obtaining the item you want/need is so low that you're better off playing the AH where you can buy that item.
To use an anecdotal example: I've been farming Act 1 (Inferno) on my barb for awhile now so I can gear up for Act 2. Unfortunately, despite all of my Jailer/Butcher runs, I've only managed to find one minor upgrade for myself. Which isn't to say I haven't upgraded. On the contrary, I have to sell items I find on the AH in order to purchase upgrades for my barb. While this works (to a degree) I shouldn't have to rely on the AH to provide upgrades.
Changes need to be implemented to increase the viability of farming you own upgrades while decreasing the incentive to use the AH. (I'll discuss possible changes later)
Lack of exploration
Compared to the last topic, this issue is rather straight forward. I fail to see why it is necessary to cling to the quest system even after an Act is finished. In Diablo 2, you could create a game and openly explore any completed Act. Using waypoints, it was easy to navigate between acts and between areas, allowing players to find and kill bosses in whichever order they chose. Now, if I want to kill the Jailer and Butcher, I have to create a game in which those quests have yet to be competed and replay the the quests every time. Not only does it get annoying to endless scroll through quest dialogue but it also completely destroys the role of waypoints. Currently waypoints only work retroactively, by which I mean you only use them if you happen to be backtracking. If I create a game to kill the Butcher, I can't use the waypoint closest to him, I have to use the waypoint tied to the current quest that I have to complete and eventually rediscover that last waypoint. What purpose then does that last waypoint ever fulfill? When matched with the unlimited town portal ability, when, if ever, do waypoints get used?
I'll jump ahead of myself and attempt to propose a solution. There needs to be an exploration game mode, some option that lets you revisit an act you've already completed. All monsters and bosses will be spawned and all way points unlocked, allowing you the freedom to move around the act in any fashion you choose. The fear of fast, endless boss runs is unnecessary considering the introduction of neph. valor stacks. The open mode would simply give players more freedom to play without being hampered by quests which they've already completed hundreds of times.
Lack of community
My last point is short and sweet. There needs to be a lobby or an alternative method of interacting with the community in-game. The introduction of the General chat was a step in the right direction, but (as anyone who's ever played WoW knows) a single chat channel for all communication including social, trade, LFG becomes a tangled mess. The Diablo 2 community worked because it was easy to jump in and out of specific channels in order to satisfy particular needs. If you want to trade go here, if you want to find a group for Diablo go here. It's a simple enough thing but makes a huge difference in not only improving people's experiences but also developing a thriving community.
Possible solutions
I realize I've already presented some alternatives for the lack of exploratory freedom and the lack of community but let me revisit the AH.
I stated earlier that my main contention with the AH is that it has supplanted personal farming as the best means of gearing and progression. This can be countered with two general strategies:
Improve the likelihood and quality of drops
Decrease the incentive to use the AH as a primary means of obtaining gear
To the first point, Blizzard has taken a step in the right direction in promising to improve the quality of legendary items. However, if the second step is taken, the drop rates for these items must also be increased to make up the decrease in availability on the AH.
In terms of decreasing the incentive for people to use the AH, I'll refer to Yamahoko's original proposal.
5 - change) Huge surcharge on the gold AH. Like 50%. Add a cost to list an item equal to the vendor price of the item.
5 - expected change) This will cause prices to rise (because profits will be cut in half) and reduce the effectiveness of the AH from being the single best place to acquire loot upgrades. It is still a place to go, but since it becomes less effective as a place to sell - the prices go up, and the quantity of items goes down. This also creates a nice gold sink, and actively sends players to the more fun parts of the game to experience content. This would effectively double all reasonable pricing on the AH. As because there is a cost to list, the amount of redundant gear and content irrelevant gear will be reduced. It will also cause more salvaging (due to a lack of return on AH sales for subpar gear), which will indirectly make the blacksmith a more attractive option for gear upgrades.
While this may seem extreme to some, the increase in an AH surcharge provides an excellent solution. It pushes people to return to farming as a means to gear their characters while retaining the AH as an option (be it a less appealing one) to acquire a specific piece of gear. When matched with an increase in the drop rate and quality of rare and legendary items, it would help return gameplay to the forefront of modes for progression.
I've presented a lot here, and I completely expect a lot of people to disagree with my views. However, I encourage everyone to be constructive in their responses. There are enough trolls and complaints on the forums to keep Blizzard busy. If we keep this thread constructive, it'll have a better chance of being taken seriously.
- Eisen
Also, please read the links provided at the top. Yamahoko provides perhaps the best insight to current game issues I've read on the forums so far.
Disagree completely. How is this different from actually trading in D2? The ease of use is a much needed boost. With this new method, many more people will now have access to Hell and Inferno. I'll be perfectly honest and say that I would have eventually made it to Hell, but it would have taken weeks upon weeks.
You don't have to use the AH if you crave a challenge just like in D2. You can farm and farm and farm till you get better loot. But that's a slow painful method and reduces the number of people making it to the higher difficulity modes.
Lack of exploration
Good point. And I do agree on this.
Lack of community
The community in D2 was the absolute pits. People joining in and going hostile on you, spammers/bots jumping in spamming then leaving. etc. Joining a group in D3 is so much easier and smooth. At least till end of nightmare.
Once you get into Hell/Inferno, it really helps to have a regular group to with because random players seem to join games and do nothing or are under geared.
Being able to create and name your games in D2 was nice in theory but I'll take the current matching system D3 has and join an external group to get a D3 play group going.
You make some good points. I would say the main difference between the AH and the D2 trading system is the use of gold or RM as currency for items. While D2 used runes and SOJs as currency for awhile, they behaved differently then gold. Because they were drops (or admittedly dupes) there was still more cause for personal farming. Currently because gold is used as currency there is a greater tie between farming for items and then either vendoring them or putting them on the AH for gold. Gold becomes too difficult to balance. To take from fr0st's post:
When you limit the amount of currency in the economy, trading becomes much more prevalent. Trading an item for an item was actually something that happened in diablo 2 for a time. It was fun. You can not limit the amount of gold that drops. It will continue to inflate indefinitely over the course of the games life. Two things; Yes you would need sinks for an item-currency, and yes there would be hoarders. But the rate of inflation again could be more easily controlled, and hoarders would do little to affect the overall economy.
Because not everyone is finding SOJS(item-dropped currency), it won't create my most feared effect. Gold will create a hoarding mentality. If there is a specific price for the BEST FARMING ITEM IN THE GAME, and it sits at 100,000 gold, and you have 80,000 gold....why would you stop farming? You have farmed 80k already, at a rate of ~5k per hour. So you know almost to a T that you will have another 20k in 4 more hours of farming. Psychologically, this makes the player not care about any other item in the game but the best ones. With an SOJ/item based currency, you never know when you might find your next piece of currency. This in turn makes you scrounge and trade whatever you do find, putting more items into the mix of the economy.
Using something besides gold as currency created a very difference environment in D2 and allowed for more bartering. Trading items for items, or a dropped currency item (SoJ) for an item is more engaging then simply transactions on the AH.
The other point I would make is that while it's easy to say "if you don't like the AH, don't use it", it's a bit more complicated. Because drop rates for excellent items have to be tuned because of the existence of the AH (ie better items drop less because they're readily available on the AH), everyone becomes affected. Even if I decide to not use the AH, my drop rates and progression are penalized because of the existence of the AH.
I don't understand... I get just as excited when I get a good drop (even if it's not an upgrade for me) because I know I can sell it and turn it INTO an upgrade for me.
Is your brain incapable of making that connection?
Fun and excitement are subjective. I find it more fun to be able to use items that drop for me, rather then play the AH. Everyone has different opinions though, the one above is just mine.
Wow, this is pretty much a complete and detailed post but personnally, it's normal for every game to have errors and problems. It just launched, let blizzard fix everything as they always do...
Perhaps my largest grievance with the current state of D3 is how dominate and necessary the use of the Auction House is. As a disclaimer, I use the auction house and have no issue with those who also use it (you'd be crazy not to in the games current state) but I do believe that the system is poorly designed.
The current method of thought is that as you progress through Inferno you farm previous areas for upgrades before continuing on. I completely agree with the thought but it doesn't play out this way. Instead of farming Act 1 for upgrades before proceeding to Act 2, you currently farm Act 1 for items to sell on the AH in order to build up enough capital to buy your own character upgrades so you can progress.
How do you suppose the people who didn't get to farm with glitched skills get those items to put up on the AH?
Some in the community may not hold issue with this process but I certainly do. For myself, the greatest enjoyment of the game is slaying monsters and hoping for drops, not searching the thousands of posted items for a deal and juggling my own sales.
Then why don't you go slay some monsters and hope for drops instead of using the AH?
Unfortunately the AH, designed as a peripheral support system, has taken precedence over actually playing through the game. Now I admit that statement has elements of exaggeration but I do believe that currently the AH provides the best, most efficient means of improving your character and progressing through the game. When the micromanagement of this economic system supplants actually playing the game as the most beneficial means of progression, something is wrong.
You are making it out to supplant YOUR gameplay. Not everyone is. Personally, I like to go through all of Act 1 Inferno. If I find something I can use, cool. If not, that's fine too. If I can put it up for auction, great. Then, I take what money I have, and go buy an upgrade or two, rinse and repeat. The auction house is a very small part of my gameplay.
There is no such thing as "BiS" in Diablo. The term in Diablo 2 was "godly" or "gg". Very few items slots actually had a best item for every spec, and that's in the expansion.
Did you ever play D2 classic? If you did, you would know D3 classic is a huge improvement.
Unfortunately drop rates for items are inherently bound of the existence of the AH. Particularly good items must drop at a lower rate because they will available for purchase for gold. Without lowering the rates, the inflation in number of legendary/set items will remove the scarcity which makes them so valuable. Which circles right back into the AH as the best method for obtaining items. The chances of obtaining the item you want/need is so low that you're better off playing the AH where you can buy that item.
It has always been that way. In all the years of playing D2, I found TWO SoJs, yes 2. I never found one single Zod. And yes, that's running around farming constantly with 500+ MF. Low drop rates are a part of the Diablo game. If you don't like it, then maybe this game is not for you.
Also, your auction house hate should stop. If you had any idea how many times I took full mules into trade games for hours not to sell a thing, or made an "ISO" game and completely cleared it slowly without one hit from a potential buyer, or found an awesome item and tried to sell it without a hit from a potential buyer, only to have the item go to a mule and be forgotten, you would understand. Sites like D2JSP exist because of the fact that items were so hard to get and trade in D2, even with dupes.
If you ever played D2 classic, you would be thankful for an AH.
While we're at it, in D2 classic currency was based on PSkulls and SoJ. It would be the equivalent of Rank 14 gems and well... SoJ. At least you have a gold currency where you know for sure your form of currency is valid, and aren't caught staring at the one person who has the item you need (who you have been searching for for days) only to have him say your currency is not what he was looking for.
To use an anecdotal example: I've been farming Act 1 (Inferno) on my barb for awhile now so I can gear up for Act 2. Unfortunately, despite all of my Jailer/Butcher runs, I've only managed to find one minor upgrade for myself. Which isn't to say I haven't upgraded. On the contrary, I have to sell items I find on the AH in order to purchase upgrades for my barb. While this works (to a degree) I shouldn't have to rely on the AH to provide upgrades.
Changes need to be implemented to increase the viability of farming you own upgrades while decreasing the incentive to use the AH. (I'll discuss possible changes later)
The games is TWO WEEKS OLD. If you think two weeks of farming is a long time farming for an upgrade in a Diablo game, you might want to just go ahead and quit, especially if you hate the AH so much.
Compared to the last topic, this issue is rather straight forward. I fail to see why it is necessary to cling to the quest system even after an Act is finished. In Diablo 2, you could create a game and openly explore any completed Act. Using waypoints, it was easy to navigate between acts and between areas, allowing players to find and kill bosses in whichever order they chose. Now, if I want to kill the Jailer and Butcher, I have to create a game in which those quests have yet to be competed and replay the the quests every time. Not only does it get annoying to endless scroll through quest dialogue but it also completely destroys the role of waypoints. Currently waypoints only work retroactively, by which I mean you only use them if you happen to be backtracking. If I create a game to kill the Butcher, I can't use the waypoint closest to him, I have to use the waypoint tied to the current quest that I have to complete and eventually rediscover that last waypoint. What purpose then does that last waypoint ever fulfill? When matched with the unlimited town portal ability, when, if ever, do waypoints get used?
I'll jump ahead of myself and attempt to propose a solution. There needs to be an exploration game mode, some option that lets you revisit an act you've already completed. All monsters and bosses will be spawned and all way points unlocked, allowing you the freedom to move around the act in any fashion you choose. The fear of fast, endless boss runs is unnecessary considering the introduction of neph. valor stacks. The open mode would simply give players more freedom to play without being hampered by quests which they've already completed hundreds of times.
I see the issue you have, and I agree that for some its a viable issue. I personally don't have an issue with it. I have my little runs set up to where I get my 5 stacks kills and do my mfing, and it works just fine. I see no reason to have the old waypoint system back. You could go to any act back then too. It honestly made the game feel a lot smaller than it was, and I like the current implementation.
Oh, instead of scrollthing through the quest text (clicking X), just hit Escape. It cancels the entire dialogue.
My last point is short and sweet. There needs to be a lobby or an alternative method of interacting with the community in-game. The introduction of the General chat was a step in the right direction, but (as anyone who's ever played WoW knows) a single chat channel for all communication including social, trade, LFG becomes a tangled mess. The Diablo 2 community worked because it was easy to jump in and out of specific channels in order to satisfy particular needs. If you want to trade go here, if you want to find a group for Diablo go here. It's a simple enough thing but makes a huge difference in not only improving people's experiences but also developing a thriving community.
There are specific channels. There is a general channel, a trade channel, a hardcore channel, and one for each class.
You don't need a "Let's go kill Diablo" channel, because the people who want to do that publicly will just join the appropriate quest, and probably even a few quests back to get a 5 stack before getting to him.
Do you have an idea how much time of my life has been wasted sitting in "Kill Diablo", "Kill Baal", "Kill Andy", "Kill Izzy", "Kill Duriel", "Kill Ancients", "Save Anya" games, and the like? Countless. Trust me, you do not want that old system back.
I'm not going to address your "solutions" because I don't see any legitimate problems. If there is any problem, it's that you don't want to work for your gear, in which case you might want to try a different game.
I'm pleased that this discussion has progressed well and it's very interesting to see some other points of view. Obviously developing a game like this has to cater to a wide audience and different people enjoy different things.
The one thing that I'll mention again is that I believe the "just don't use the AH" argument falls a bit flat.
EDIT: @Telsak (post under this one): what Bashiok said is that item drops aren't linked to what items are currently for sale at the AH. But he confirmed that global item drops were 'nerfed' due to the mere existence of the AH
Unfortunately personal farming has taken a direct hit because of the existence of the AH. Without the AH inflating the number of items, drop rates would be higher and easier to farm individually. For better or worse everyone in D3 is intrinsically linked to the AH.
The intent of the AH was that if you got say, a great helm for a Wizard on your Barb, you'd put it up on the AH and use the money to get a great Barb helm. This is a big improvement on D2, where you had to find a game someone made where they were trading items and trade directly.
If you use gold to buy items from Acts that you can't clear yet, well sure you can do that, but you can't complain that you don't like the way the game works. That was a choice you made.
As for drops, I'm not convinced drop rates would be a lot different if the AH didn't exist. Rares with perfect affixes were extremely scarce and uniques... well let me put it this way: I had something like 5 accounts full of characters and I played for years. For a long time the Stone of Jordan was the unit of currency among traders. In all that time on all those characters I NEVER ONCE SAW A SINGLE SOJ DROP.
Of course since the economy was flooded with dupes most people got the most powerful runewords/uniques/sets in the game with no effort so memories are probably a little fogged by that
That change is obviously designed to stop you doing exactly what you want to do. D2 was one giant string of Baal runs, it was horrible. It's not just about the NV buff, you're supposed to have to work your way through the randomly generated levels with randomly generated mobs, unique or otherwise. It's a roguelike, that's the game.
There may be an argument for shortening specific quest chains, but I agree with the basic design.
On community I agree that there is room for a fair bit of improvement in the in-game chat/community/etc functions, but really it's the community's fault. So many people I know are online and playing their own games instead of teaming up with people in their social tab or making an effort to play with others in random games. And when random games get proposed in general I see stuff like "only if you're already at Skeleton King" or other antisocial crap, sheesh. Just play the damn game properly with other people, it's fun. The number of people I see in forums QQing and calling it a single player game... you. are. doing. it. wrong.
I am so very disappointed in Diablo 3, and I've been a member here since 2007. I haven't played the game in almost 2 weeks now, mostly because I am so bored.
Methods of Player Reward
I do agree that a increase in the surcharge would be a good idea. 50% is too high, as stated before me it would discourage the use of the AH and people would resort back to trading on forums or trade channels which imo is more time consuming then juggling your auctions. i think something more around 25% would be good. The only portion of this section i agree with is that the game needs more item/gold sinks to prevent inflation.
I want to talk a bit about your thoughts on the AH being the best way to upgrade your character. I think this point is actually kind of silly because if you compare what you state in that section and just trade out AH for trade channel/game that's exactly what we did in D2. You farmed for items to go trade for SoJs so you could buy upgrades for your characters. The design wasn't that you farmed act 1 for upgrades for your own character. You farm act 1 so you can OBTAIN upgrades for your character. Either by actually getting lucky and finding items or by selling them on the AH and using the money you make to buy items for your character. I don't want to discourage you from coming up with useful feed back or to offend you. But your nit picking many things in the game and misconstrueing your memories of D2. Many of the systems are different but they work almost exactly the same as D2. The trade system/currency/farming it's all the same just we're doing it slightly different and more streamlined to make it easier to access. If you were new to D2 learning to trade in that game was much harder to break into then simply going to the AH and spending the gold you earned. I think increasing the drop rate on rares/legendaries is probably the most ridiculous suggestion i've ever heard. Mainly because you think it'll help but you've already talked about gold sinks...why would you want to increase a drop rate thereby increasing inflation? Even if there was no AH people would still trade. With a higher drop rate there'll just be that much more items/gold in the economy.
Lack of exploration
a part of me agrees with this section. The quest system was great for grinding levels out once i completed the act but at max level where exp is pointless it feels unneccessary. I also agree with what you said about waypoints. Since you can't really skip around anymore waypoints don't provide as much function as they used to. however, i think i pretty much stop there. When i'm farming the levels are actually relatively large, act 4 being the exception. Exploring every map to break urns or open all the chests and finding all the dungeons and champions on the map takes a long time. There's also the possiblity of finding a random dungeon that wasn't in one of your other runs.
Lack of Community
I don't really remember having a community in D2. I remember doing cow runs and all that stuff but i don't ever remember that promoting community. It forced us to play together because it increased exp, but no one ever stopped to chat to one another in the game. I never saw D2 as a "community" game. It's not really a mmorpg where people join clans/guilds so they can raid. If people want community there are chat channels in the game where they can talk to random players or read forums like this where they can meet people and friend player to play in game. If players want a community they'll form their own in some way or another.
I am so very disappointed in Diablo 3, and I've been a member here since 2007. I haven't played the game in almost 2 weeks now, mostly because I am so bored.
I am with you, I try to sit down and play so I can say I have gotten my money's worth, yet it is very boring, I may go back to pvp on D2.
OP, I completely agree with all your points.
On the auction house
Firstly, I must point out that it was indeed D2jsp that ruined the Diablo 2 economy. Item for item trading was one of highlights (imo) of the game.
Duping of sojs this was never really that big of a deal (imho) for a few reasons. 1.) People still traded items for items. 2.) Unless you were trading for good gear you weren't trading for sojs. 3.) By the time you had "good gear" you were either aware of duping and cautious or just dumb. Also they created an awesome fix for duped sojs a.k.a Diablo Clone.
Anyway, point is D2jsp ruined the whol fun side to trading items. Instead of Blizzard making it a legal loop-hole to where websites would be sued, shutdown, etc... (and yes there are loop-holes they could have used to make sure sites like jsp could not exist). They implemented the very thing that ruined the fun of the previous system.
The trade system could have been easily expanded on, and made more convenient. But it's all about business, and good ole Activision/Blizz wanted a piece of the cut.
While I would much rather have the auction house than a outside web-site, I think it takes a lot away from the game.
Also, to everyone saying well just dont use it. It is forced upon you, Bash-i-cock let the snake out of the bag when he opened his smartass mouth and openly told the world that drops are directly effected by the auction house, therefore I cant get great items because there are to many on the auction house (pretty much). I should mention he also tried to cover his ass but failed miserably.
And since we are comparing to D2... Diablo 3 took away stat allocation and also added a item system that is a lot more class specific than diablo 2. Yes the item grind in diablo 2 was just as tedious but when you found something good it (most of the time) improved your character. Meanwhile back in Diablo 3 land if you find something good, it goes "damn thats good for a wizard," and (for the sake of argument) if you are choosing to play by yourself (not use the auction house) you have a few options 1.) Sell it to a vendor. (whats the point here, unless you're using the auction house?) 2.) Salvage it. 3.) make a wizard and give it to him/her. But none of these options allow you to improve your current character and progress thus you are stuck farming that same area until you find a stonger weapon or w/e, which most likely isn't going to drop for you.
I understand farming is part (most) of the game, but I strongly consider hard farming an end game feature.
The last point to be made is that the entire game is based off gold being currency... Lets hope the 100'000 I just spent on these 3 items at the blacksmith pay off... Nope
On Exploration
I think the OP about sums it up with this one.
But, I noticed people commenting on boss runs. People are already doing boss runs anyway skipping past the "(not so) unique" monsters. So what the hell is the point? I dont like when someone tells me what is supposed to be fun, in this case Blizz.
In Diablo 2 I did boss runs a lot sure, but when I got tired of it I did something else... Either way its the same shit. ok you dont do boss runs. Now what you do unique monster runs... and since the best gear (per. difficulty) drops in act 4 you're going to be doing act 4 unique monster runs.... big damn difference, more time, more monotonous, less rewarding, less fun. Oh I forgot you can always hope for a resplendent chest...
The game being completely linear do to the checkpoint/quest system is really dumb, and leads to more monotonous gameplay.
I really hope the open the game up as this is one of my more major gripes.
On Community
I really dont think lack of is the right terminology. Non-existent about sums it up. While Diablo 2 was not perfect in anyway, aspects of it were a lot better than what there is now. It was fun once in awhile to just go talk shit in the general chats. You could also make your own "chat room" for you and friends. Those 2 things to me were loads better than this general chat shit. People dont even talk in public games...WTH.
The general chat was quite annoying when I got on yesterday, I didn't look for how to shut it off but I will today. All it is, is a bunch of kids saying "im bout to smoke some weed man, yeah" etc... And I really feel bad for people whom haven't got through the game yet. I counted 5 times yesterday people saying thanks for spoiling the story, this is in like an hour and a half.
Other
I really like the stash and the size of the items. I think the art is pretty cool, although it could have been "darker."
The boss fights suck nothing in the game should have been harder than the bosses and mini-bosses whether the drops are better or not, I think thats a serious design flaw, and frankly an easy fix that should be made.
The lack of stat allocation has led to problems already and I think I should have an option to assign my own stat points as I see fit. Frankly they made this decision for bad reasons.
The lack of reward when you level is a major disheartening factor for me. No skill point to add no stats to allocate. The skills dont even gain any power... All I get is my pre-determined stat points added, because Blizz said thats the funnest way.
Skill runes are cool, but there should be more, or they should have sub runes in themselves. Also why are they called runes and how does that work? How, theoretically does a barbarian put a rune into his skill? does he stick it up his...? I think skill traits would have been a better option.
which leads me to my next point.
Lack of socketables, give me more, 4 different gems really?
Rainbow unicorn land is really stupid as fuc* as well... Give me a real cow level again please.
Cooldowns suck as well. They really dont fit into a Diablo game (IMO) and for how long a lot of them are, the skill is not really worth waiting for. I think the resource system cost should be sufficient.
I could go on and on but I will leave it at that...
I also wanted to add a few points about my perceived reasons for all of this:
Diablo3 has been in production for a very long time. Usually Blizzard games receive the Blizzard finish, called "when it's done". D3 didn't receive this treatment.
Major design decisions were completely changed weeks/months before launch:
- damage comes from weapon damage for all classes (balance implications - never tested)
- inferno difficulty ramps up after each act (this is why inferno act 1 is fine, and the other acts are not - never tested)
- better items drop in hgiher inferno acts, instead of just different looks (this is why blue weapons from later acts are so much better than anything before that - in conjunction with the other 2 points above it destroys all balance - never tested)
- leveling artisans, crafting things - in relation to finding things/buying them on AH - never tested
And probably there are other things that I have missed/don't know about. If you ask me, after changes of this magnitude they would have needed another year of beta to get things right, instead the game was shoved out of the door.
Now the cat is out of the bag and this game cannot be saved. Imo they should cancel the RMAH for now, balance everything and then wipe the gold AH completely.
I agree with all your points, except I think they should just completely cancel the RMAH as it will just come full circle and completely ruin the game. However, I could see a class action suit being filed if they did that.
Thanks for your responses everyone, they've been really interesting to read.
I have to say I haven't given up on the game, hopefully nothing I wrote came off too disheartened. I'm enjoying the gameplay despite my reservations and I think that one thing that was particularly well done was class definition. Every class has a very different but focused feel to it and I'm getting a lot of enjoyment from leveling alts.
The only thing I worry I about is the longevity of my enjoyment. Hopefully the introduction of PvP will provide a stimulus to continue progressing.
They should add an option when you make a character, "Solo mode" or something like that. You get no access to the Auction House, no access to the shared stash, no access to the shared artisans, no multiplayer. To compensate, they up the drop chance. It wouldn't really be a good idea, but I know I'd use it.
Lack of Exploration:
I never thought about that. That's actually a great idea.
That change is obviously designed to stop you doing exactly what you want to do. D2 was one giant string of Baal runs, it was horrible. It's not just about the NV buff, you're supposed to have to work your way through the randomly generated levels with randomly generated mobs, unique or otherwise. It's a roguelike, that's the game.
You can start a quest *right at Diablo*. Absolutely zero trash or dungeons to fight through, just pick the right sub-heading. Blizzard really is leaning on NV buff to stop this. (So far, it seems to be working.)
As for drops, I'm not convinced drop rates would be a lot different if the AH didn't exist.
If you don't believe Blizzard themselves, who would you believe?
While LoD was definitely made with trading and bragging rights "ooh I'm the only one in a million that has a windforce" in mind, ad hoc bartering is not anywhere near the same level of sheer efficiency as an auction house with a liquid currency. Heck if anything, it sounds like the auction house has ended up more efficient than anticipated, meaning they'd have made drops even more crap if they knew what was in store. Another big difference is you don't need top end gear to eek by a kill of the hardest bosses in the game (although this might be a downer in some people's eyes.)
I have to think something like bind on equip lvl 60 items like they talked about originally, probably should've been implemented. The blacksmith was supposed to drain these items out but we can see how well that isn't working. This would allow them to up the drop rates a little without sending prices quite as low, and make it more likely that more items would be used as personal upgrades than trade fodder.
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Let me preface this by saying that there are many aspects of D3 that I really enjoy (animations, art design, class abilities) but I find myself having less fun and enjoying my experience far less then I hoped for at launch.
I'm going to outline some of the specific features which I have issue with and try to explain why I believe they negatively impact my experience. I'll also try to provide some alternatives or possible solutions to these issues. I should also make clear that many of the points I discuss have already been raised by others.
Game Designer's Take Diablo 3's loot system - Yamahako
http://us.battle.net...70834615?page=1
Discussion of currency in D3 - fr0st
http://us.battle.net...34615?page=2#23
Issues with G-AH - Jayos
http://us.battle.net...4615?page=6#119
I don't necessary agree with every issue in these posts but all provide thorough, thoughtful feedback on current game issues. I highly encourage everyone to explore these posts when they have time.
With that... let's begin.
The three issues I'm going to discuss here are as follows:
Methods of player reward - the primacy of the Auction House over the possible benefits of item drops
Lack of exploration - Reliance on the quest system after the completion of an act
Lack of community
Methods of Player Reward
Perhaps my largest grievance with the current state of D3 is how dominate and necessary the use of the Auction House is. As a disclaimer, I use the auction house and have no issue with those who also use it (you'd be crazy not to in the games current state) but I do believe that the system is poorly designed.
The current method of thought is that as you progress through Inferno you farm previous areas for upgrades before continuing on. I completely agree with the thought but it doesn't play out this way. Instead of farming Act 1 for upgrades before proceeding to Act 2, you currently farm Act 1 for items to sell on the AH in order to build up enough capital to buy your own character upgrades so you can progress. Some in the community may not hold issue with this process but I certainly do. For myself, the greatest enjoyment of the game is slaying monsters and hoping for drops, not searching the thousands of posted items for a deal and juggling my own sales. Unfortunately the AH, designed as a peripheral support system, has taken precedence over actually playing through the game. Now I admit that statement has elements of exaggeration but I do believe that currently the AH provides the best, most efficient means of improving your character and progressing through the game. When the micromanagement of this economic system supplants actually playing the game as the most beneficial means of progression, something is wrong.
To use Jayos' explanation:
Unfortunately drop rates for items are inherently bound of the existence of the AH. Particularly good items must drop at a lower rate because they will available for purchase for gold. Without lowering the rates, the inflation in number of legendary/set items will remove the scarcity which makes them so valuable. Which circles right back into the AH as the best method for obtaining items. The chances of obtaining the item you want/need is so low that you're better off playing the AH where you can buy that item.
To use an anecdotal example: I've been farming Act 1 (Inferno) on my barb for awhile now so I can gear up for Act 2. Unfortunately, despite all of my Jailer/Butcher runs, I've only managed to find one minor upgrade for myself. Which isn't to say I haven't upgraded. On the contrary, I have to sell items I find on the AH in order to purchase upgrades for my barb. While this works (to a degree) I shouldn't have to rely on the AH to provide upgrades.
Changes need to be implemented to increase the viability of farming you own upgrades while decreasing the incentive to use the AH. (I'll discuss possible changes later)
Lack of exploration
Compared to the last topic, this issue is rather straight forward. I fail to see why it is necessary to cling to the quest system even after an Act is finished. In Diablo 2, you could create a game and openly explore any completed Act. Using waypoints, it was easy to navigate between acts and between areas, allowing players to find and kill bosses in whichever order they chose. Now, if I want to kill the Jailer and Butcher, I have to create a game in which those quests have yet to be competed and replay the the quests every time. Not only does it get annoying to endless scroll through quest dialogue but it also completely destroys the role of waypoints. Currently waypoints only work retroactively, by which I mean you only use them if you happen to be backtracking. If I create a game to kill the Butcher, I can't use the waypoint closest to him, I have to use the waypoint tied to the current quest that I have to complete and eventually rediscover that last waypoint. What purpose then does that last waypoint ever fulfill? When matched with the unlimited town portal ability, when, if ever, do waypoints get used?
I'll jump ahead of myself and attempt to propose a solution. There needs to be an exploration game mode, some option that lets you revisit an act you've already completed. All monsters and bosses will be spawned and all way points unlocked, allowing you the freedom to move around the act in any fashion you choose. The fear of fast, endless boss runs is unnecessary considering the introduction of neph. valor stacks. The open mode would simply give players more freedom to play without being hampered by quests which they've already completed hundreds of times.
Lack of community
My last point is short and sweet. There needs to be a lobby or an alternative method of interacting with the community in-game. The introduction of the General chat was a step in the right direction, but (as anyone who's ever played WoW knows) a single chat channel for all communication including social, trade, LFG becomes a tangled mess. The Diablo 2 community worked because it was easy to jump in and out of specific channels in order to satisfy particular needs. If you want to trade go here, if you want to find a group for Diablo go here. It's a simple enough thing but makes a huge difference in not only improving people's experiences but also developing a thriving community.
Possible solutions
I realize I've already presented some alternatives for the lack of exploratory freedom and the lack of community but let me revisit the AH.
I stated earlier that my main contention with the AH is that it has supplanted personal farming as the best means of gearing and progression. This can be countered with two general strategies:
Improve the likelihood and quality of drops Decrease the incentive to use the AH as a primary means of obtaining gear
To the first point, Blizzard has taken a step in the right direction in promising to improve the quality of legendary items. However, if the second step is taken, the drop rates for these items must also be increased to make up the decrease in availability on the AH.
In terms of decreasing the incentive for people to use the AH, I'll refer to Yamahoko's original proposal.
While this may seem extreme to some, the increase in an AH surcharge provides an excellent solution. It pushes people to return to farming as a means to gear their characters while retaining the AH as an option (be it a less appealing one) to acquire a specific piece of gear. When matched with an increase in the drop rate and quality of rare and legendary items, it would help return gameplay to the forefront of modes for progression.
I've presented a lot here, and I completely expect a lot of people to disagree with my views. However, I encourage everyone to be constructive in their responses. There are enough trolls and complaints on the forums to keep Blizzard busy. If we keep this thread constructive, it'll have a better chance of being taken seriously.
- Eisen
Also, please read the links provided at the top. Yamahoko provides perhaps the best insight to current game issues I've read on the forums so far.
And no, I'm not including a TL;DR.
Disagree completely. How is this different from actually trading in D2? The ease of use is a much needed boost. With this new method, many more people will now have access to Hell and Inferno. I'll be perfectly honest and say that I would have eventually made it to Hell, but it would have taken weeks upon weeks.
You don't have to use the AH if you crave a challenge just like in D2. You can farm and farm and farm till you get better loot. But that's a slow painful method and reduces the number of people making it to the higher difficulity modes.
Lack of exploration
Good point. And I do agree on this.
Lack of community
The community in D2 was the absolute pits. People joining in and going hostile on you, spammers/bots jumping in spamming then leaving. etc. Joining a group in D3 is so much easier and smooth. At least till end of nightmare.
Once you get into Hell/Inferno, it really helps to have a regular group to with because random players seem to join games and do nothing or are under geared.
Being able to create and name your games in D2 was nice in theory but I'll take the current matching system D3 has and join an external group to get a D3 play group going.
Using something besides gold as currency created a very difference environment in D2 and allowed for more bartering. Trading items for items, or a dropped currency item (SoJ) for an item is more engaging then simply transactions on the AH.
The other point I would make is that while it's easy to say "if you don't like the AH, don't use it", it's a bit more complicated. Because drop rates for excellent items have to be tuned because of the existence of the AH (ie better items drop less because they're readily available on the AH), everyone becomes affected. Even if I decide to not use the AH, my drop rates and progression are penalized because of the existence of the AH.
Is your brain incapable of making that connection?
You don't have to use the AH.
How do you suppose the people who didn't get to farm with glitched skills get those items to put up on the AH?
Then why don't you go slay some monsters and hope for drops instead of using the AH?
You are making it out to supplant YOUR gameplay. Not everyone is. Personally, I like to go through all of Act 1 Inferno. If I find something I can use, cool. If not, that's fine too. If I can put it up for auction, great. Then, I take what money I have, and go buy an upgrade or two, rinse and repeat. The auction house is a very small part of my gameplay.
There is no such thing as "BiS" in Diablo. The term in Diablo 2 was "godly" or "gg". Very few items slots actually had a best item for every spec, and that's in the expansion.
Did you ever play D2 classic? If you did, you would know D3 classic is a huge improvement.
It has always been that way. In all the years of playing D2, I found TWO SoJs, yes 2. I never found one single Zod. And yes, that's running around farming constantly with 500+ MF. Low drop rates are a part of the Diablo game. If you don't like it, then maybe this game is not for you.
Also, your auction house hate should stop. If you had any idea how many times I took full mules into trade games for hours not to sell a thing, or made an "ISO" game and completely cleared it slowly without one hit from a potential buyer, or found an awesome item and tried to sell it without a hit from a potential buyer, only to have the item go to a mule and be forgotten, you would understand. Sites like D2JSP exist because of the fact that items were so hard to get and trade in D2, even with dupes.
If you ever played D2 classic, you would be thankful for an AH.
While we're at it, in D2 classic currency was based on PSkulls and SoJ. It would be the equivalent of Rank 14 gems and well... SoJ. At least you have a gold currency where you know for sure your form of currency is valid, and aren't caught staring at the one person who has the item you need (who you have been searching for for days) only to have him say your currency is not what he was looking for.
Trust me, you've got it made with the AH.
The games is TWO WEEKS OLD. If you think two weeks of farming is a long time farming for an upgrade in a Diablo game, you might want to just go ahead and quit, especially if you hate the AH so much.
I see the issue you have, and I agree that for some its a viable issue. I personally don't have an issue with it. I have my little runs set up to where I get my 5 stacks kills and do my mfing, and it works just fine. I see no reason to have the old waypoint system back. You could go to any act back then too. It honestly made the game feel a lot smaller than it was, and I like the current implementation.
Oh, instead of scrollthing through the quest text (clicking X), just hit Escape. It cancels the entire dialogue.
There are specific channels. There is a general channel, a trade channel, a hardcore channel, and one for each class.
You don't need a "Let's go kill Diablo" channel, because the people who want to do that publicly will just join the appropriate quest, and probably even a few quests back to get a 5 stack before getting to him.
Do you have an idea how much time of my life has been wasted sitting in "Kill Diablo", "Kill Baal", "Kill Andy", "Kill Izzy", "Kill Duriel", "Kill Ancients", "Save Anya" games, and the like? Countless. Trust me, you do not want that old system back.
I'm not going to address your "solutions" because I don't see any legitimate problems. If there is any problem, it's that you don't want to work for your gear, in which case you might want to try a different game.
The one thing that I'll mention again is that I believe the "just don't use the AH" argument falls a bit flat.
Unfortunately personal farming has taken a direct hit because of the existence of the AH. Without the AH inflating the number of items, drop rates would be higher and easier to farm individually. For better or worse everyone in D3 is intrinsically linked to the AH.
Keep the thoughts coming.
The intent of the AH was that if you got say, a great helm for a Wizard on your Barb, you'd put it up on the AH and use the money to get a great Barb helm. This is a big improvement on D2, where you had to find a game someone made where they were trading items and trade directly.
If you use gold to buy items from Acts that you can't clear yet, well sure you can do that, but you can't complain that you don't like the way the game works. That was a choice you made.
As for drops, I'm not convinced drop rates would be a lot different if the AH didn't exist. Rares with perfect affixes were extremely scarce and uniques... well let me put it this way: I had something like 5 accounts full of characters and I played for years. For a long time the Stone of Jordan was the unit of currency among traders. In all that time on all those characters I NEVER ONCE SAW A SINGLE SOJ DROP.
Of course since the economy was flooded with dupes most people got the most powerful runewords/uniques/sets in the game with no effort so memories are probably a little fogged by that
That change is obviously designed to stop you doing exactly what you want to do. D2 was one giant string of Baal runs, it was horrible. It's not just about the NV buff, you're supposed to have to work your way through the randomly generated levels with randomly generated mobs, unique or otherwise. It's a roguelike, that's the game.
There may be an argument for shortening specific quest chains, but I agree with the basic design.
On community I agree that there is room for a fair bit of improvement in the in-game chat/community/etc functions, but really it's the community's fault. So many people I know are online and playing their own games instead of teaming up with people in their social tab or making an effort to play with others in random games. And when random games get proposed in general I see stuff like "only if you're already at Skeleton King" or other antisocial crap, sheesh. Just play the damn game properly with other people, it's fun. The number of people I see in forums QQing and calling it a single player game... you. are. doing. it. wrong.
I do agree that a increase in the surcharge would be a good idea. 50% is too high, as stated before me it would discourage the use of the AH and people would resort back to trading on forums or trade channels which imo is more time consuming then juggling your auctions. i think something more around 25% would be good. The only portion of this section i agree with is that the game needs more item/gold sinks to prevent inflation.
I want to talk a bit about your thoughts on the AH being the best way to upgrade your character. I think this point is actually kind of silly because if you compare what you state in that section and just trade out AH for trade channel/game that's exactly what we did in D2. You farmed for items to go trade for SoJs so you could buy upgrades for your characters. The design wasn't that you farmed act 1 for upgrades for your own character. You farm act 1 so you can OBTAIN upgrades for your character. Either by actually getting lucky and finding items or by selling them on the AH and using the money you make to buy items for your character. I don't want to discourage you from coming up with useful feed back or to offend you. But your nit picking many things in the game and misconstrueing your memories of D2. Many of the systems are different but they work almost exactly the same as D2. The trade system/currency/farming it's all the same just we're doing it slightly different and more streamlined to make it easier to access. If you were new to D2 learning to trade in that game was much harder to break into then simply going to the AH and spending the gold you earned. I think increasing the drop rate on rares/legendaries is probably the most ridiculous suggestion i've ever heard. Mainly because you think it'll help but you've already talked about gold sinks...why would you want to increase a drop rate thereby increasing inflation? Even if there was no AH people would still trade. With a higher drop rate there'll just be that much more items/gold in the economy.
Lack of exploration
a part of me agrees with this section. The quest system was great for grinding levels out once i completed the act but at max level where exp is pointless it feels unneccessary. I also agree with what you said about waypoints. Since you can't really skip around anymore waypoints don't provide as much function as they used to. however, i think i pretty much stop there. When i'm farming the levels are actually relatively large, act 4 being the exception. Exploring every map to break urns or open all the chests and finding all the dungeons and champions on the map takes a long time. There's also the possiblity of finding a random dungeon that wasn't in one of your other runs.
Lack of Community
I don't really remember having a community in D2. I remember doing cow runs and all that stuff but i don't ever remember that promoting community. It forced us to play together because it increased exp, but no one ever stopped to chat to one another in the game. I never saw D2 as a "community" game. It's not really a mmorpg where people join clans/guilds so they can raid. If people want community there are chat channels in the game where they can talk to random players or read forums like this where they can meet people and friend player to play in game. If players want a community they'll form their own in some way or another.
I am with you, I try to sit down and play so I can say I have gotten my money's worth, yet it is very boring, I may go back to pvp on D2.
OP, I completely agree with all your points.
On the auction house
Firstly, I must point out that it was indeed D2jsp that ruined the Diablo 2 economy. Item for item trading was one of highlights (imo) of the game.
Duping of sojs this was never really that big of a deal (imho) for a few reasons. 1.) People still traded items for items. 2.) Unless you were trading for good gear you weren't trading for sojs. 3.) By the time you had "good gear" you were either aware of duping and cautious or just dumb. Also they created an awesome fix for duped sojs a.k.a Diablo Clone.
Anyway, point is D2jsp ruined the whol fun side to trading items. Instead of Blizzard making it a legal loop-hole to where websites would be sued, shutdown, etc... (and yes there are loop-holes they could have used to make sure sites like jsp could not exist). They implemented the very thing that ruined the fun of the previous system.
The trade system could have been easily expanded on, and made more convenient. But it's all about business, and good ole Activision/Blizz wanted a piece of the cut.
While I would much rather have the auction house than a outside web-site, I think it takes a lot away from the game.
Also, to everyone saying well just dont use it. It is forced upon you, Bash-i-cock let the snake out of the bag when he opened his smartass mouth and openly told the world that drops are directly effected by the auction house, therefore I cant get great items because there are to many on the auction house (pretty much). I should mention he also tried to cover his ass but failed miserably.
And since we are comparing to D2... Diablo 3 took away stat allocation and also added a item system that is a lot more class specific than diablo 2. Yes the item grind in diablo 2 was just as tedious but when you found something good it (most of the time) improved your character. Meanwhile back in Diablo 3 land if you find something good, it goes "damn thats good for a wizard," and (for the sake of argument) if you are choosing to play by yourself (not use the auction house) you have a few options 1.) Sell it to a vendor. (whats the point here, unless you're using the auction house?) 2.) Salvage it. 3.) make a wizard and give it to him/her. But none of these options allow you to improve your current character and progress thus you are stuck farming that same area until you find a stonger weapon or w/e, which most likely isn't going to drop for you.
I understand farming is part (most) of the game, but I strongly consider hard farming an end game feature.
The last point to be made is that the entire game is based off gold being currency... Lets hope the 100'000 I just spent on these 3 items at the blacksmith pay off... Nope
On Exploration
I think the OP about sums it up with this one.
But, I noticed people commenting on boss runs. People are already doing boss runs anyway skipping past the "(not so) unique" monsters. So what the hell is the point? I dont like when someone tells me what is supposed to be fun, in this case Blizz.
In Diablo 2 I did boss runs a lot sure, but when I got tired of it I did something else... Either way its the same shit. ok you dont do boss runs. Now what you do unique monster runs... and since the best gear (per. difficulty) drops in act 4 you're going to be doing act 4 unique monster runs.... big damn difference, more time, more monotonous, less rewarding, less fun. Oh I forgot you can always hope for a resplendent chest...
The game being completely linear do to the checkpoint/quest system is really dumb, and leads to more monotonous gameplay.
I really hope the open the game up as this is one of my more major gripes.
On Community
I really dont think lack of is the right terminology. Non-existent about sums it up. While Diablo 2 was not perfect in anyway, aspects of it were a lot better than what there is now. It was fun once in awhile to just go talk shit in the general chats. You could also make your own "chat room" for you and friends. Those 2 things to me were loads better than this general chat shit. People dont even talk in public games...WTH.
The general chat was quite annoying when I got on yesterday, I didn't look for how to shut it off but I will today. All it is, is a bunch of kids saying "im bout to smoke some weed man, yeah" etc... And I really feel bad for people whom haven't got through the game yet. I counted 5 times yesterday people saying thanks for spoiling the story, this is in like an hour and a half.
Other
I really like the stash and the size of the items. I think the art is pretty cool, although it could have been "darker."
The boss fights suck nothing in the game should have been harder than the bosses and mini-bosses whether the drops are better or not, I think thats a serious design flaw, and frankly an easy fix that should be made.
The lack of stat allocation has led to problems already and I think I should have an option to assign my own stat points as I see fit. Frankly they made this decision for bad reasons.
The lack of reward when you level is a major disheartening factor for me. No skill point to add no stats to allocate. The skills dont even gain any power... All I get is my pre-determined stat points added, because Blizz said thats the funnest way.
Skill runes are cool, but there should be more, or they should have sub runes in themselves. Also why are they called runes and how does that work? How, theoretically does a barbarian put a rune into his skill? does he stick it up his...? I think skill traits would have been a better option.
which leads me to my next point.
Lack of socketables, give me more, 4 different gems really?
Rainbow unicorn land is really stupid as fuc* as well... Give me a real cow level again please.
Cooldowns suck as well. They really dont fit into a Diablo game (IMO) and for how long a lot of them are, the skill is not really worth waiting for. I think the resource system cost should be sufficient.
I could go on and on but I will leave it at that...
Nice post
I agree with all your points, except I think they should just completely cancel the RMAH as it will just come full circle and completely ruin the game. However, I could see a class action suit being filed if they did that.
Just for the record, how many hours did you play?
I have to say I haven't given up on the game, hopefully nothing I wrote came off too disheartened. I'm enjoying the gameplay despite my reservations and I think that one thing that was particularly well done was class definition. Every class has a very different but focused feel to it and I'm getting a lot of enjoyment from leveling alts.
The only thing I worry I about is the longevity of my enjoyment. Hopefully the introduction of PvP will provide a stimulus to continue progressing.
They should add an option when you make a character, "Solo mode" or something like that. You get no access to the Auction House, no access to the shared stash, no access to the shared artisans, no multiplayer. To compensate, they up the drop chance. It wouldn't really be a good idea, but I know I'd use it.
Lack of Exploration:
I never thought about that. That's actually a great idea.
You can start a quest *right at Diablo*. Absolutely zero trash or dungeons to fight through, just pick the right sub-heading. Blizzard really is leaning on NV buff to stop this. (So far, it seems to be working.)
If you don't believe Blizzard themselves, who would you believe?
While LoD was definitely made with trading and bragging rights "ooh I'm the only one in a million that has a windforce" in mind, ad hoc bartering is not anywhere near the same level of sheer efficiency as an auction house with a liquid currency. Heck if anything, it sounds like the auction house has ended up more efficient than anticipated, meaning they'd have made drops even more crap if they knew what was in store. Another big difference is you don't need top end gear to eek by a kill of the hardest bosses in the game (although this might be a downer in some people's eyes.)
I have to think something like bind on equip lvl 60 items like they talked about originally, probably should've been implemented. The blacksmith was supposed to drain these items out but we can see how well that isn't working. This would allow them to up the drop rates a little without sending prices quite as low, and make it more likely that more items would be used as personal upgrades than trade fodder.