I think it's fair to say that one of the greatest issues with Diablo 3: RoS is the ease to which players find massive amounts of legendary loot, that 99% of is salvaged and used as coins to feed Kanai's Cube. The loot grind, in too many ways, has become the pursuit of Death's Breath and bounty materials to spend at the casino back in town.
In the second video of my Diablo 4 theorycrafting series, I explore how crafting and the materials needed, can help you earn the loot you are seeking, rather than gambling for it.
I would love to hear the community feedback on these ideas and excited to share the third video in the series, War Effort, on Thursday, October 31st of 2019 - one day before the world discovers what's next for the world of Sanctuary and this franchise at Blizzcon 2019.
Hi there!
Good topic I think, but it is really a thing of perspective.
Blizzard, in the last few years took up the model of games that support casual gameplay. If you play, you get rewarded, the game won't really punish you for any mistakes and the loot / rewards come easy and frequently so you won't "ragequit" after 2 failed attemts at a boss/level/dungeon.
Also...these games have an end content, you can play there if you invest a gooood amount of time and have some basic understanding of the mechanics + maybe a team on the same level.
It is really hard to set a balance, but getting people to grind more -in one way or another- is just reverting the game to the state where it was before 'RoS'.
Getting the items in 1 day is also boring...but to someone who has got 0 experience, can still be an experience - and in a short amount of time, as I stated.
Ofcourse with this, the excitement goes away, but hey! they at least he/she experienced the "content".
So to sum it up: there's always at least 2 perspectives,
A, when you a beginner and its still exciting to get 5-6 legendaries
B, you are a veteran and you know its gonna take 3 days to gear up fully, then grind paragon.
Both of these option is leading to one thing: lack of excitement, commitment, any kind of challange.
What you ephasize in your video is that the reforge system is faulty, and the material farming is a mistake too, but I think they are just a by-product of the gameplay. You get more power (paragon) and then you have an option to do some other stuff...paragon has so much more priority atm, that i wouldn't even consider blaming the reforge system :). Imagine if regorging and crafting would benefit you more...in any way. Then you would be forced to just grind that, efficiently. (like bounties > paragon)
So what i would really change, is not the core of the loot system, or upgrade system, but the ITEMS themselves.
One way or another, a player will end up at a wall after grinding for X amount of time.. The key -for me- in a game that keeps me interested is the design... i want to WANT something.
In my case specially its always a good team that i enjoy playing with for a common goal. If we reach it = win, satisfaction.
So my suggestions for the topic:
-Introduce common goals for teams, clans
-Introduce items that are more challanging to obtain, and not via some 1000 hour grind, or RNG, but with an actual BOSS mechanic, or dungeon like set dungeons.
-Balance it in solo / group play and there you have it. (sarcasm initiated) Mixing it up a few pathces also works...as it worked with DIII. (end sarcasm)
That's why the old normal nightmare hell system is the best.
Normal people, casuals ,those who are not very much into grinding and masochist arpg loot hunting should finish the normal game for the story and move on.
For the rest you would have nightmare and hell. It's been successfully implemented in numerous arpgs ever since to great succes. If You are a casual and complain that you want to be able to complete nightmare and hell and see the end game content just because you have "rights" and no free time to grind then , sorry but it's true, you are a moron. It's like saying you don't drink alcohol but want to experience drunkenness.
I wouldn't have phrased this as "morons" but still...yeah. If a dev team tries to share end content with casual, for the sake of good marketing...it will just ruin the game for everyone else. A solution is needed to adress both factions, casuals and dedicated players... not a +100000% buff.
Crafting is neat, but maybe placing too much reliance on it as a gameplay system using mats from broken-down high quality gear is what really contributed to this. It required making sets/legendaries even more abysmally accessible, and not even to use them. It's like lots of gear was created not to be used as gear.
It's almost like they should just have made it so the mats we break them down for are instead what the loot table would drop.
So to sum it up: there's always at least 2 perspectives,
A, when you a beginner and its still exciting to get 5-6 legendaries
B, you are a veteran and you know its gonna take 3 days to gear up fully, then grind paragon.
Both of these option is leading to one thing: lack of excitement, commitment, any kind of challange.
What you ephasize in your video is that the reforge system is faulty, and the material farming is a mistake too, but I think they are just a by-product of the gameplay. You get more power (paragon) and then you have an option to do some other stuff...paragon has so much more priority atm, that i wouldn't even consider blaming the reforge system :). Imagine if regorging and crafting would benefit you more...in any way. Then you would be forced to just grind that, efficiently. (like bounties > paragon)
So what i would really change, is not the core of the loot system, or upgrade system, but the ITEMS themselves.
One way or another, a player will end up at a wall after grinding for X amount of time.. The key -for me- in a game that keeps me interested is the design... i want to WANT something.
In my case specially its always a good team that i enjoy playing with for a common goal. If we reach it = win, satisfaction.
So my suggestions for the topic:
-Introduce common goals for teams, clans
-Introduce items that are more challanging to obtain, and not via some 1000 hour grind, or RNG, but with an actual BOSS mechanic, or dungeon like set dungeons.
-Balance it in solo / group play and there you have it. (sarcasm initiated) Mixing it up a few pathces also works...as it worked with DIII. (end sarcasm)
I totally hear you and the Loot 3.0 system was just the beginning. I've just posted the third video in the series, The War Effort and it provides some of what you are looking for, in regard to content that provides a goal for the solo player or the team and makes loot tied to challenges that get progressively harder as you move through the system. Let me know what you think!!
That's why the old normal nightmare hell system is the best.
Normal people, casuals ,those who are not very much into grinding and masochist arpg loot hunting should finish the normal game for the story and move on.
For the rest you would have nightmare and hell. It's been successfully implemented in numerous arpgs ever since to great succes. If You are a casual and complain that you want to be able to complete nightmare and hell and see the end game content just because you have "rights" and no free time to grind then , sorry but it's true, you are a moron. It's like saying you don't drink alcohol but want to experience drunkenness.
I can NOT agree with you more on this. I do not care for the t1-16 system as it just becomes a system of "hit buttons faster and hope you don't take a one-shot of 40gajabillion damage in less than a second and RIP. When Inferno was announced for Vanilla, I was so excited, because I knew the casual player would farm Hell mode for a great while and only when your gear was the best of the best for that mode, would you step into Inferno and seek higher achievement. Sadly...that was not the case - at all.
Crafting is neat, but maybe placing too much reliance on it as a gameplay system using mats from broken-down high quality gear is what really contributed to this. It required making sets/legendaries even more abysmally accessible, and not even to use them. It's like lots of gear was created not to be used as gear.
It's almost like they should just have made it so the mats we break them down for are instead what the loot table would drop.
I hear where you are coming from, for sure - but I like to challenge it The excess of legendary items was the issue. They couldn't just let you sell them for gold, since gold was relatively meaningless in RoS. Giving you materials to quickly and relatively easily "craft" more useless gear (because RNG is out of control in RoS) was just a lame by-product of the over-saturated drop rate of the "rarest" gear in the game.
If players have to go out and find various forms of crafting materials - not just easy ones of Death's Breath or Souls, then they are spending more time out slaying and potentially getting the drop they are looking for. If they don't, they gain materials (over-time) to create the item they need and then need more materials to alter it.
Think about it - the materials we need to gamble with Kadala, up rares into Legendary or reforge - all come from the same potential sources. Bounties are the only thing that is different, yet still in bounties, you are getting shards, normal crafting materials and DBs. If you had other places to play the game that only dropped materials for one specific aspect of crafting an item or augmenting it, you should be spending more time out in the game playing Thoughts?
I've had some major contention with the way loot works in D3 for years now. So, here's a quick wish list of things I want Blizzard to avoid in a D4;
1) Rares being useless. The philosophy that rares *can* be as good in a slot as a unique I originally hated before D3 launched. Having been 7 years, and having played poe for a couple years now, I realize it's actually a very smart idea. Getting that perfect stat-ed, perfect rolled rare can actually be in itself a chase item, leaving something to look forward to dropping.
2) Main stat + Vit on every unique. Why even have these stats exist if they're on EVERYTHING. There's a good way to balance uniques, and that is to make a unique item be rolled around it's unique effect, while missing stats that something like a rare item could offer. This chest is amazing because of XYZ unique effect, but it's missing vitality, or resistance, so now I have a choice and a trade off.
3) Uniques 'power' being an absolute mandatory buff to a skill. This actually creates SO many problems. Firstly, you now HAVE to have this unique if you want to use a certain skill. Oh you really like this skill? Well unless you've obtained the power bracelet of 900% damage to that skill, why even try to use it? Secondly, now you don't get a choice of anything else in that slot. Thirdly, this is actually one of the root problems of having uniques rain all day long in D3, because players NEED that item to even enjoy using a skill.
4) Set bonuses in general. Really just read #3 on why these have been badly implemented in D3, the issues are the same; mandatory items that eat up slots that you HAVE to have to be effective. While I'll only miss them if they aren't in D4 on a nostalgic level, there IS a way to balance their power. The amount of pieces would have to be lowered in my opinion, probably 3 in total such as jewelry / armor / weapon. But the real balancing would be the set bonus. Take Tal Rasha set. You *could* have the set bonus be something that players can form their own builds around, such as taking the convention of elements buff and putting that on the Tal Rasha set; "you gain 30% damage to an element until you use a skill that matches that element, and then it rotates to the next element. These elements are Fire, Cold, and Lightning." Doesn't lock you into a skill, doesn't force you to 'wait for a window'. Just a suggestion.
5) Current Crafting. D3's crafting is just... not engaging. It's far too simple. Honestly just copy + pasting the way POE handles crafting would work. That system, while complicated at first, works VERY well to balance the line between deterministic crafting and RNG. You could change the currency orb system to where you have the same options, but at the bench and they would just cost different amounts of dropped mats.
6) Stats. D3 uses main stats to tell players who gets to wear what items. Vitality is also on everything, making both of these just a shoulder shrug when you see them. There's also a huge problem with resistances. Why on earth it was decided to add complication to resistances is beyond me. Not only does it create something that's harder to balance since the max resistances can vary so wildly, it's also confusing without a good reason. Is 97 to all resis good? I don't know, I have 19,000 resis!
'Main' stats need to instead provide the same bonus to every class, which in turn makes them sought after depending on what build you're trying to make. Instead of 'oh I'm a Demon Hunter, I have to stack dex', the player could instead say 'I want to play my Demon Hunter differently, so I'll stack strength for armor', without wrecking their damage because they didn't use the stat they 'have to'.
7) Gold pieces as currency. D3's currency is gold, and that system just flat out does not work. First off, in an effort to balance the fact that the only currency drops from the very first act of the game in the same form as the end game, you start off with 1-3 gold pieces dropping, and end up with millions in the end game. Second problem, it's easily farmed by bots, because it always drops. It's also not 'taken out of the economy' with any great rate. People just accrue more and more.
A quick suggestion would be to replace gold as it currently is, with a variety of single drop items that are fairly rare. A gold bar could drop (hypothetically a rare occurrence even at the end game) that would actually have value. It could have multiple uses; using it on an item could re-roll the stats. It could be used in crafting for the highest end crafts. It could be used to augment whatever rift / map style end game we get to make it more difficult / give better rewards. Anyone who's played POE might notice I just essentially suggested chaos orbs or exalted orbs, and for good reason; that system kicks ass. Not only would something like this be constantly pulled out of the economy because of it's multiple uses, it also introduces a very badly needed item in the form of a currency to trade with.
8) Dropped items that are just armor / weapons. There needs to be more then *just* armor and weapons to drop. The above mentioned currency item is a start. I'd also add even rarer types of the gold bar I suggested, such as say Crystal Orbs, Unobtainium Chunks, you name it.
We can actually take a look back at D2 for this category; Gems dropped, Runes, Charms, and Jewels. This all adds to the ever important part of a loot based ARPG; 'what could drop next'. POE has a dropped item, the divination card. They're essentially pieces to a whole item, with varying rarity. Sure the chances of that awesome giant 2 handed greatsword dropping are very low, but hey you've found 3/7 of the cards that'l turn into it. Maybe you could trade some players for the other cards? Adding a system of 'pieces' of an item could be another fun thing to add to this category.
9) D3's Gambling. A fun side mechanic from D2, but it's my opinion that it's FAR too prevalent in D3. That of course is just another symptom of D3 HAVING to drown you in uniques because otherwise builds won't work. It could be kept in D4 for sure, but I would make it pretty expensive to do so, so it's not spammable, keeping it leaning towards it's use from D2.
10) Ancient uniques. The idea that 'yay omg this awesome weapon dropped..... buuuuuut it's not its super mega rad elder void touched sun forged ancient version' just sucks. There's no good reason to carry this system over, because there shouldn't be a situation where we NEED to introduce power creep.
11) Not having Runewords. I, let it be known, LOVE runewords. It adds SO MUCH to the game! Hear me out. First, runes introduce chase items. Those highest end runes are what we dreamed of dropping back in D2 days. Secondly it's a pseudo deterministic system of getting an item since you get to choose which runeword to make, and what base item to use it in. Runes themselves are a form of trading currency. Runes also act on their own to augment gear, so there's a choice between gaining that stat or waiting for that 3 socket shield to drop so you can make that runeword, as an example. It also is an untapped potential for adding actual mystery to the game. Every season could see the introduction of say 1-3 runewords, but the players would have to find out what they are. And if runes cannot be unsocketed then it would be fun seeing if people are willing use their highest runes to try and find out the new runeword.
12) Uniques raining down. I honest to god forgot until this point that they're called legendaries in D3, it's been a quick minute for sure. Either way, I think it can be agreed upon that they need to drop far, far less. For a really, really bad example of what good drop rate would be, lets say it's Friday night and we sit down for a good 5 hours of playing some D4. I'd like to think somewhere in the realm of finding 4-5 during that time would be ideal. That's not accounting for people who will sit by their stash for 3 out of those 5 hours, and also not for the super speed clear people on the other end of that spectrum. I'm sure others would want double or triple that, it's just how I feel on that matter.
There's even more topics to cover, but this a good summery of what I'd personally like to see in that hypothetical D4.
I think there's wayyy to many things to try to touch on so i'll just talk about the main things i dislike in D3 or even PoE that I don't want to see in D4
1. Set items and powerful legendaries. I don't necessarily feel that Rares should or could be better than legendaries should be the way to go. However, I think that they should not be mandatory like they are now. The increase to specific skill damages is just dumb. I think it's fine that legendaries rain from the sky. However, I think that they should just have interesting affects on them that could change how certain mechanics work. Instead of a huge stat boost that makes them a mandatory item. I think that every unique/legendary should be useful and not just junk. That's what the lower tier rarities are for. Seeing a legendary or unique drop should be really exciting.
2. I think that one thing PoE really got right was how they balance of power that affects your character's overall damage and survivability. I'd like to see more of this in D4 however I'd like to see an expansion on this idea. I think that Diablo attempted this with legendary gems and paragons. However, these are very 2 dimensional. There's very little choice when it comes to which legendary gems to use due to some being completely useless and do we even need to talk about choice with paragons?
3. Economy. I don't want to say PoE has the right idea but neither does D3. For veteran ARPG players poe's trading system is not complicated but can feel complicated to new players. Trading shouldn't be complicated. Trade should only take up a small portion of your time in the game. we should be out killing stuff and finding loot. Not sitting in trade chat or staring at an Auction house all day. I think an auction house could work however, the useable currency needs to be controlled better. It can't be so easily obtained like it is in diablo 3. It also needs multiple gold sinks in the game that prevents inflation. Also, markets can easily get saturated with people constantly finding gear. Having a system that also reduces the number of items on the market is good too. Something like Bind on Equip mechanic or even a crafting system that allows you to upgrade your item but every time you upgrade it has a chance to break.
4. Replayability - D3 has some terrible replayability. It if wasn't for seasons I probably wouldn't go back and play much. Even when the season comes out I don't play for very long. Same with PoE. I go back for every league but get burned out eventually. I like the diverse character building in PoE this is what causes me to come back and play multiple characters a league. I get the character to the level I'm happy with. do maps for a bit and if I really like the build I did then I push further. However, eventually I get burned out and leveling another character can seem annoying since you have to go through every act all over again. I think going through the story again to level should be optional, because if i could just level characters in PoE without going through the story again I'd probably play it a lot more. Because I do find making new characters fun for the sake of trying out different builds. In regards to D3, The whole being able to just switch gear and skils and now your'e doing a new build is dumb. This completely removed a whole level of replayability for many players (obviously me included). It's not even about being burned out. you just get bored because you've tried every build there is in the game and not everyone finds pushing GRIFT 130 fun. Every season they slightly buff a few builds. We come back and play a build we've already played before but maybe now we can push slightly higher in Greater rifts with it. In this PoE wins hands down, every time i go back to play the new league i make atleast 2-3 characters and have yet to make the same build twice. However, it's not perfect since I really only go back for the leagues.
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I think it's fair to say that one of the greatest issues with Diablo 3: RoS is the ease to which players find massive amounts of legendary loot, that 99% of is salvaged and used as coins to feed Kanai's Cube. The loot grind, in too many ways, has become the pursuit of Death's Breath and bounty materials to spend at the casino back in town.
In the second video of my Diablo 4 theorycrafting series, I explore how crafting and the materials needed, can help you earn the loot you are seeking, rather than gambling for it.
I would love to hear the community feedback on these ideas and excited to share the third video in the series, War Effort, on Thursday, October 31st of 2019 - one day before the world discovers what's next for the world of Sanctuary and this franchise at Blizzcon 2019.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWfIGqKyOPQ
Hi there!
Good topic I think, but it is really a thing of perspective.
Blizzard, in the last few years took up the model of games that support casual gameplay. If you play, you get rewarded, the game won't really punish you for any mistakes and the loot / rewards come easy and frequently so you won't "ragequit" after 2 failed attemts at a boss/level/dungeon.
Also...these games have an end content, you can play there if you invest a gooood amount of time and have some basic understanding of the mechanics + maybe a team on the same level.
It is really hard to set a balance, but getting people to grind more -in one way or another- is just reverting the game to the state where it was before 'RoS'.
Getting the items in 1 day is also boring...but to someone who has got 0 experience, can still be an experience - and in a short amount of time, as I stated.
Ofcourse with this, the excitement goes away, but hey! they at least he/she experienced the "content".
So to sum it up: there's always at least 2 perspectives,
A, when you a beginner and its still exciting to get 5-6 legendaries
B, you are a veteran and you know its gonna take 3 days to gear up fully, then grind paragon.
Both of these option is leading to one thing: lack of excitement, commitment, any kind of challange.
What you ephasize in your video is that the reforge system is faulty, and the material farming is a mistake too, but I think they are just a by-product of the gameplay. You get more power (paragon) and then you have an option to do some other stuff...paragon has so much more priority atm, that i wouldn't even consider blaming the reforge system :). Imagine if regorging and crafting would benefit you more...in any way. Then you would be forced to just grind that, efficiently. (like bounties > paragon)
So what i would really change, is not the core of the loot system, or upgrade system, but the ITEMS themselves.
One way or another, a player will end up at a wall after grinding for X amount of time.. The key -for me- in a game that keeps me interested is the design... i want to WANT something.
In my case specially its always a good team that i enjoy playing with for a common goal. If we reach it = win, satisfaction.
So my suggestions for the topic:
-Introduce common goals for teams, clans
-Introduce items that are more challanging to obtain, and not via some 1000 hour grind, or RNG, but with an actual BOSS mechanic, or dungeon like set dungeons.
-Balance it in solo / group play and there you have it. (sarcasm initiated) Mixing it up a few pathces also works...as it worked with DIII. (end sarcasm)
That's why the old normal nightmare hell system is the best.
Normal people, casuals ,those who are not very much into grinding and masochist arpg loot hunting should finish the normal game for the story and move on.
For the rest you would have nightmare and hell. It's been successfully implemented in numerous arpgs ever since to great succes. If You are a casual and complain that you want to be able to complete nightmare and hell and see the end game content just because you have "rights" and no free time to grind then , sorry but it's true, you are a moron. It's like saying you don't drink alcohol but want to experience drunkenness.
I wouldn't have phrased this as "morons" but still...yeah. If a dev team tries to share end content with casual, for the sake of good marketing...it will just ruin the game for everyone else. A solution is needed to adress both factions, casuals and dedicated players... not a +100000% buff.
Crafting is neat, but maybe placing too much reliance on it as a gameplay system using mats from broken-down high quality gear is what really contributed to this. It required making sets/legendaries even more abysmally accessible, and not even to use them. It's like lots of gear was created not to be used as gear.
It's almost like they should just have made it so the mats we break them down for are instead what the loot table would drop.
I can NOT agree with you more on this. I do not care for the t1-16 system as it just becomes a system of "hit buttons faster and hope you don't take a one-shot of 40gajabillion damage in less than a second and RIP. When Inferno was announced for Vanilla, I was so excited, because I knew the casual player would farm Hell mode for a great while and only when your gear was the best of the best for that mode, would you step into Inferno and seek higher achievement. Sadly...that was not the case - at all.
I hear where you are coming from, for sure - but I like to challenge it The excess of legendary items was the issue. They couldn't just let you sell them for gold, since gold was relatively meaningless in RoS. Giving you materials to quickly and relatively easily "craft" more useless gear (because RNG is out of control in RoS) was just a lame by-product of the over-saturated drop rate of the "rarest" gear in the game.
If players have to go out and find various forms of crafting materials - not just easy ones of Death's Breath or Souls, then they are spending more time out slaying and potentially getting the drop they are looking for. If they don't, they gain materials (over-time) to create the item they need and then need more materials to alter it.
Think about it - the materials we need to gamble with Kadala, up rares into Legendary or reforge - all come from the same potential sources. Bounties are the only thing that is different, yet still in bounties, you are getting shards, normal crafting materials and DBs. If you had other places to play the game that only dropped materials for one specific aspect of crafting an item or augmenting it, you should be spending more time out in the game playing Thoughts?
I've had some major contention with the way loot works in D3 for years now. So, here's a quick wish list of things I want Blizzard to avoid in a D4;
1) Rares being useless. The philosophy that rares *can* be as good in a slot as a unique I originally hated before D3 launched. Having been 7 years, and having played poe for a couple years now, I realize it's actually a very smart idea. Getting that perfect stat-ed, perfect rolled rare can actually be in itself a chase item, leaving something to look forward to dropping.
2) Main stat + Vit on every unique. Why even have these stats exist if they're on EVERYTHING. There's a good way to balance uniques, and that is to make a unique item be rolled around it's unique effect, while missing stats that something like a rare item could offer. This chest is amazing because of XYZ unique effect, but it's missing vitality, or resistance, so now I have a choice and a trade off.
3) Uniques 'power' being an absolute mandatory buff to a skill. This actually creates SO many problems. Firstly, you now HAVE to have this unique if you want to use a certain skill. Oh you really like this skill? Well unless you've obtained the power bracelet of 900% damage to that skill, why even try to use it? Secondly, now you don't get a choice of anything else in that slot. Thirdly, this is actually one of the root problems of having uniques rain all day long in D3, because players NEED that item to even enjoy using a skill.
4) Set bonuses in general. Really just read #3 on why these have been badly implemented in D3, the issues are the same; mandatory items that eat up slots that you HAVE to have to be effective. While I'll only miss them if they aren't in D4 on a nostalgic level, there IS a way to balance their power. The amount of pieces would have to be lowered in my opinion, probably 3 in total such as jewelry / armor / weapon. But the real balancing would be the set bonus. Take Tal Rasha set. You *could* have the set bonus be something that players can form their own builds around, such as taking the convention of elements buff and putting that on the Tal Rasha set; "you gain 30% damage to an element until you use a skill that matches that element, and then it rotates to the next element. These elements are Fire, Cold, and Lightning." Doesn't lock you into a skill, doesn't force you to 'wait for a window'. Just a suggestion.
5) Current Crafting. D3's crafting is just... not engaging. It's far too simple. Honestly just copy + pasting the way POE handles crafting would work. That system, while complicated at first, works VERY well to balance the line between deterministic crafting and RNG. You could change the currency orb system to where you have the same options, but at the bench and they would just cost different amounts of dropped mats.
6) Stats. D3 uses main stats to tell players who gets to wear what items. Vitality is also on everything, making both of these just a shoulder shrug when you see them. There's also a huge problem with resistances. Why on earth it was decided to add complication to resistances is beyond me. Not only does it create something that's harder to balance since the max resistances can vary so wildly, it's also confusing without a good reason. Is 97 to all resis good? I don't know, I have 19,000 resis!
'Main' stats need to instead provide the same bonus to every class, which in turn makes them sought after depending on what build you're trying to make. Instead of 'oh I'm a Demon Hunter, I have to stack dex', the player could instead say 'I want to play my Demon Hunter differently, so I'll stack strength for armor', without wrecking their damage because they didn't use the stat they 'have to'.
7) Gold pieces as currency. D3's currency is gold, and that system just flat out does not work. First off, in an effort to balance the fact that the only currency drops from the very first act of the game in the same form as the end game, you start off with 1-3 gold pieces dropping, and end up with millions in the end game. Second problem, it's easily farmed by bots, because it always drops. It's also not 'taken out of the economy' with any great rate. People just accrue more and more.
A quick suggestion would be to replace gold as it currently is, with a variety of single drop items that are fairly rare. A gold bar could drop (hypothetically a rare occurrence even at the end game) that would actually have value. It could have multiple uses; using it on an item could re-roll the stats. It could be used in crafting for the highest end crafts. It could be used to augment whatever rift / map style end game we get to make it more difficult / give better rewards. Anyone who's played POE might notice I just essentially suggested chaos orbs or exalted orbs, and for good reason; that system kicks ass. Not only would something like this be constantly pulled out of the economy because of it's multiple uses, it also introduces a very badly needed item in the form of a currency to trade with.
8) Dropped items that are just armor / weapons. There needs to be more then *just* armor and weapons to drop. The above mentioned currency item is a start. I'd also add even rarer types of the gold bar I suggested, such as say Crystal Orbs, Unobtainium Chunks, you name it.
We can actually take a look back at D2 for this category; Gems dropped, Runes, Charms, and Jewels. This all adds to the ever important part of a loot based ARPG; 'what could drop next'. POE has a dropped item, the divination card. They're essentially pieces to a whole item, with varying rarity. Sure the chances of that awesome giant 2 handed greatsword dropping are very low, but hey you've found 3/7 of the cards that'l turn into it. Maybe you could trade some players for the other cards? Adding a system of 'pieces' of an item could be another fun thing to add to this category.
9) D3's Gambling. A fun side mechanic from D2, but it's my opinion that it's FAR too prevalent in D3. That of course is just another symptom of D3 HAVING to drown you in uniques because otherwise builds won't work. It could be kept in D4 for sure, but I would make it pretty expensive to do so, so it's not spammable, keeping it leaning towards it's use from D2.
10) Ancient uniques. The idea that 'yay omg this awesome weapon dropped..... buuuuuut it's not its super mega rad elder void touched sun forged ancient version' just sucks. There's no good reason to carry this system over, because there shouldn't be a situation where we NEED to introduce power creep.
11) Not having Runewords. I, let it be known, LOVE runewords. It adds SO MUCH to the game! Hear me out. First, runes introduce chase items. Those highest end runes are what we dreamed of dropping back in D2 days. Secondly it's a pseudo deterministic system of getting an item since you get to choose which runeword to make, and what base item to use it in. Runes themselves are a form of trading currency. Runes also act on their own to augment gear, so there's a choice between gaining that stat or waiting for that 3 socket shield to drop so you can make that runeword, as an example. It also is an untapped potential for adding actual mystery to the game. Every season could see the introduction of say 1-3 runewords, but the players would have to find out what they are. And if runes cannot be unsocketed then it would be fun seeing if people are willing use their highest runes to try and find out the new runeword.
12) Uniques raining down. I honest to god forgot until this point that they're called legendaries in D3, it's been a quick minute for sure. Either way, I think it can be agreed upon that they need to drop far, far less. For a really, really bad example of what good drop rate would be, lets say it's Friday night and we sit down for a good 5 hours of playing some D4. I'd like to think somewhere in the realm of finding 4-5 during that time would be ideal. That's not accounting for people who will sit by their stash for 3 out of those 5 hours, and also not for the super speed clear people on the other end of that spectrum. I'm sure others would want double or triple that, it's just how I feel on that matter.
There's even more topics to cover, but this a good summery of what I'd personally like to see in that hypothetical D4.
I think there's wayyy to many things to try to touch on so i'll just talk about the main things i dislike in D3 or even PoE that I don't want to see in D4
1. Set items and powerful legendaries. I don't necessarily feel that Rares should or could be better than legendaries should be the way to go. However, I think that they should not be mandatory like they are now. The increase to specific skill damages is just dumb. I think it's fine that legendaries rain from the sky. However, I think that they should just have interesting affects on them that could change how certain mechanics work. Instead of a huge stat boost that makes them a mandatory item. I think that every unique/legendary should be useful and not just junk. That's what the lower tier rarities are for. Seeing a legendary or unique drop should be really exciting.
2. I think that one thing PoE really got right was how they balance of power that affects your character's overall damage and survivability. I'd like to see more of this in D4 however I'd like to see an expansion on this idea. I think that Diablo attempted this with legendary gems and paragons. However, these are very 2 dimensional. There's very little choice when it comes to which legendary gems to use due to some being completely useless and do we even need to talk about choice with paragons?
3. Economy. I don't want to say PoE has the right idea but neither does D3. For veteran ARPG players poe's trading system is not complicated but can feel complicated to new players. Trading shouldn't be complicated. Trade should only take up a small portion of your time in the game. we should be out killing stuff and finding loot. Not sitting in trade chat or staring at an Auction house all day. I think an auction house could work however, the useable currency needs to be controlled better. It can't be so easily obtained like it is in diablo 3. It also needs multiple gold sinks in the game that prevents inflation. Also, markets can easily get saturated with people constantly finding gear. Having a system that also reduces the number of items on the market is good too. Something like Bind on Equip mechanic or even a crafting system that allows you to upgrade your item but every time you upgrade it has a chance to break.
4. Replayability - D3 has some terrible replayability. It if wasn't for seasons I probably wouldn't go back and play much. Even when the season comes out I don't play for very long. Same with PoE. I go back for every league but get burned out eventually. I like the diverse character building in PoE this is what causes me to come back and play multiple characters a league. I get the character to the level I'm happy with. do maps for a bit and if I really like the build I did then I push further. However, eventually I get burned out and leveling another character can seem annoying since you have to go through every act all over again. I think going through the story again to level should be optional, because if i could just level characters in PoE without going through the story again I'd probably play it a lot more. Because I do find making new characters fun for the sake of trying out different builds. In regards to D3, The whole being able to just switch gear and skils and now your'e doing a new build is dumb. This completely removed a whole level of replayability for many players (obviously me included). It's not even about being burned out. you just get bored because you've tried every build there is in the game and not everyone finds pushing GRIFT 130 fun. Every season they slightly buff a few builds. We come back and play a build we've already played before but maybe now we can push slightly higher in Greater rifts with it. In this PoE wins hands down, every time i go back to play the new league i make atleast 2-3 characters and have yet to make the same build twice. However, it's not perfect since I really only go back for the leagues.