Personally, i think the art direction color scheme is a little overblown. I'd like it maybe a bit darker - somewhere in the middle of the before/after screenshots that have been circulated. Not too set on it, though.
The big puffy pauldrons howevr, have to go. They look ridiculous.
If you overexaggerate the style, the game loses its horror-vibe. And that means to lose the character of the series. Surely the art directors don't think being creative means copying wow which copied japanime. Do they know what game they're making? I can accept improbably big style to an extent. But this is really too much. It's about as scary as bobble-heads (which are scary, but the wrong kind of scary).
If a new class is announced each month then we can expect Christmas IMO.
Yeah, if they do. I doubt we'll get another class announcement until September, personally. If we get one at the beginning of September, then it is going past Christmas for sure, and probably not until June.
Another thing we can use to gauge progress is to look at the hiring boards for D3. They will stop hiring for that game a minimum of 4-6 months before it comes out, you'd think. In other words, if you see them hiring for anything but QA testers for D3, we've got a minimum 4-6 month wait for the game. It takes time to go through the whole hiring process, interview, etc - and it takes time to ramp a person up once they're hired before they become productive (and time must also be spent by others on the team to train them). If the game's release is sooner than 4-6 months, it isn't worth it for the company to hire anyone for the project.
I don't think anyone should get their hopes up for Christmas 2008 for a pile of other reasons I argued earlier. On the other hand, I think Christmas 2009 is just as unlikely (it will almost certainly be out before then).
Something we can use to gauge the progress of the game is how quickly they release info about the other 3 classes. If we get another class announcement next month, I think we can expect the game out much sooner than we might otherwise expect. They're going to use the class announcements to maintain hype, and they won't want to blow their wad on that too soon. They won't, for example, announce 1 class per month for the next three months if the game won't be released for another year, or the bloom will go off that rose. Once they've finished announcing all the classes, I think we have at most 6 months to wait for the game to hit the stores - probably less.
The reasons for it not coming out sooner, even if it was done, are primarily that SC2 and Lich King are coming out, and they wouldn't want D3 to step on their sales. Expect Lich King to come out by Dec. 2008 for the XMas rush. Possibly SC2, as well. Lich King sales will likely not step on SC2 sales too much, since the genres are so different. However D3 sales would step on Lich King sales for sure (both are rpg), and would probably step on SC2 (both are action-oriented). Once D3 comes out, WOW memberships will take a hit. They will want it to come out 3-6 months after Lich King, to maximize sales there, and keep people paying the monthly fee while they fully explore the content. SC2 won't have the same longevity for the majority of people who will play SC2. Most RTSers are casual - they will only play the game about a month before they get bored of it. Also, there won't be a monthly passive revenue coming out of SC2, so Blizzard won't care so much if people stop playing it to play a new game. They could safely release D3 after 3 months of SC2 without worrying about either game impacting the other's sales.
Now, all that said, D3 is not as far along as either Lich King or SC2. Both of those games will come out first. To maximize D3's sales, they will want either a late June release or a December release. Late June is a good target if the game is done, as college students are out, and younger players have their school go to end of June. D3 will be a major time commitment, so releasing end of June will give it a chance to build hype among those demographics, as well as give them the whole summer to sink into the game (if there is a monthly fee, that is a good thing). Releasing a game of this magnitude in the Fall is less of an ideal slot, since parents are less likely to buy a big game for their children when school is starting, and college students are consumed with their studies. If they can't get it out by end of June, and with no other major releases scheduled Blizzard will probably choose December.
It will probably be June or Dec 09, and not later, because as we've gathered from the panelists and interviews the game is quite far along. They have multiplayer, classes, skills, and core game engine finished. Game engines also have a best-before date. They can't let it go too long before the game engine gets stale technology-wise, and the game itself begins to look dated before it is even released. The designers not involved in programming have also had a lot of idle time (over 4 years) to figure out the story and the acts, and probably quite a few quests. If you look at the hiring boards for D3, it is all artists and level designers. Pardo also said they basically just need to fill in content. With the first act nearly finished, and estimate another 3-5 acts to go (which have probably all been started to some extent), a year will probably be enough time to complete the game. On the outside a year and a half. They also said they try to announce games a year to a year and a half before they come out.
Finally, June 29 was the day of the year both D2 and D2 expansion came out. The date has significance for the series beyond good marketing timing. The announcement was the 28th - 29th of June. They will try and hit that June 29th target, ideally.
0
The big puffy pauldrons howevr, have to go. They look ridiculous.
If you overexaggerate the style, the game loses its horror-vibe. And that means to lose the character of the series. Surely the art directors don't think being creative means copying wow which copied japanime. Do they know what game they're making? I can accept improbably big style to an extent. But this is really too much. It's about as scary as bobble-heads (which are scary, but the wrong kind of scary).
0
Yeah, if they do. I doubt we'll get another class announcement until September, personally. If we get one at the beginning of September, then it is going past Christmas for sure, and probably not until June.
Another thing we can use to gauge progress is to look at the hiring boards for D3. They will stop hiring for that game a minimum of 4-6 months before it comes out, you'd think. In other words, if you see them hiring for anything but QA testers for D3, we've got a minimum 4-6 month wait for the game. It takes time to go through the whole hiring process, interview, etc - and it takes time to ramp a person up once they're hired before they become productive (and time must also be spent by others on the team to train them). If the game's release is sooner than 4-6 months, it isn't worth it for the company to hire anyone for the project.
I don't think anyone should get their hopes up for Christmas 2008 for a pile of other reasons I argued earlier. On the other hand, I think Christmas 2009 is just as unlikely (it will almost certainly be out before then).
0
0
The reasons for it not coming out sooner, even if it was done, are primarily that SC2 and Lich King are coming out, and they wouldn't want D3 to step on their sales. Expect Lich King to come out by Dec. 2008 for the XMas rush. Possibly SC2, as well. Lich King sales will likely not step on SC2 sales too much, since the genres are so different. However D3 sales would step on Lich King sales for sure (both are rpg), and would probably step on SC2 (both are action-oriented). Once D3 comes out, WOW memberships will take a hit. They will want it to come out 3-6 months after Lich King, to maximize sales there, and keep people paying the monthly fee while they fully explore the content. SC2 won't have the same longevity for the majority of people who will play SC2. Most RTSers are casual - they will only play the game about a month before they get bored of it. Also, there won't be a monthly passive revenue coming out of SC2, so Blizzard won't care so much if people stop playing it to play a new game. They could safely release D3 after 3 months of SC2 without worrying about either game impacting the other's sales.
Now, all that said, D3 is not as far along as either Lich King or SC2. Both of those games will come out first. To maximize D3's sales, they will want either a late June release or a December release. Late June is a good target if the game is done, as college students are out, and younger players have their school go to end of June. D3 will be a major time commitment, so releasing end of June will give it a chance to build hype among those demographics, as well as give them the whole summer to sink into the game (if there is a monthly fee, that is a good thing). Releasing a game of this magnitude in the Fall is less of an ideal slot, since parents are less likely to buy a big game for their children when school is starting, and college students are consumed with their studies. If they can't get it out by end of June, and with no other major releases scheduled Blizzard will probably choose December.
It will probably be June or Dec 09, and not later, because as we've gathered from the panelists and interviews the game is quite far along. They have multiplayer, classes, skills, and core game engine finished. Game engines also have a best-before date. They can't let it go too long before the game engine gets stale technology-wise, and the game itself begins to look dated before it is even released. The designers not involved in programming have also had a lot of idle time (over 4 years) to figure out the story and the acts, and probably quite a few quests. If you look at the hiring boards for D3, it is all artists and level designers. Pardo also said they basically just need to fill in content. With the first act nearly finished, and estimate another 3-5 acts to go (which have probably all been started to some extent), a year will probably be enough time to complete the game. On the outside a year and a half. They also said they try to announce games a year to a year and a half before they come out.
Finally, June 29 was the day of the year both D2 and D2 expansion came out. The date has significance for the series beyond good marketing timing. The announcement was the 28th - 29th of June. They will try and hit that June 29th target, ideally.
whew!