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Perhaps he was speaking generally, but I just want to get this out of the way out of the gate: F*$# ESCORT QUESTS. No more hapless AI's hell bent on their own destruction(and failing the quest without your politely requesting it).

That said, this sounds super cool, and similar to what a lot of games seem to be doing these days. I'd thank Warhammer for it, but the randomly encountered quest concept might pre-date them. Now with Rift and Guild Wars 2, this seems to be the status quo. Same locations, randomly generate content.

Quote from PhrozenDragon

Quote from mckeifus

Personally, I have always seen Diablo as a leveling game, rather than a race to end-game. I always thought most spent their time leveling(and releveling) characters, with a few really relishing the grind of the end-game.

I suspect you're one of the few. At least of the still-active crowd.

Quite the opposite, in fact =D. I usually get bored after around level 30, though I have had a few high 80's MF characters. I usually go through end-game experiences once or twice, and then start making new characters and experimenting with builds. I never get to the point where I feel I need the best equipment in a game like this.

Regarding uniqueness: I could care less, personally. It doesn't bother me if another character and I are wearing exactly the same items(the likelihood of which should be low if they itemize correctly). Of the millions of combinations of class/gender/items/colors that will exist, the chance of having two of the millions of players in the same game in the same place with enough time to actually worry about how they look...well it's a very small concern. If this did ever happen I guess I found my twin. If you ragequit at this point you are a lost cause anyways, and Blizzard(and any other developer) is not making this game for you(I hope).

As for massive grinding of loot hotspots...I rarely to never engaged in such behavior, and from what I've read Blizz seems to be developing against this kind of behavior in the early game. Obviously end-game behavior will be looking for the best items in the game, and there is little that can be done for that, but it sounds like D3 will be a game where grinding for items at low level won't be necessary(not that it ever really was in Diablo/Diablo 2 or most games really, I never did any grinding until end-game and got by just fine with sub-optimal builds).

I for one hope they keep a very similar system as in Diablo 2, where there are appropriate sets for each level to chase and if you want to grind for a better item you can. I'll be wearing my Arctic Furs til level 40, thank you very much.

tough call...maybe i don't see as many problems with sets as many do. there were a few sets I thoroughly enjoyed chasing at low level...arctic furs, berserker's, cleglaw's. I had no problems completing these sets, or enjoying the 2/3 piece bonuses they had, and transitioning them out with higher level sets. They are generally far superior for similar loot at their levels anyways, even without set bonuses! I think it would be a shame to make set items end-game only. Personally, I have always seen Diablo as a leveling game, rather than a race to end-game. I always thought most spent their time leveling(and releveling) characters, with a few really relishing the grind of the end-game. To put what was a very enjoyable part of the game out of reach for most of the playing population seems very...rune-wordy.

I am deeply concerned here...this is how PvP started in WoW too. First the honor system, then battlegrounds. Pretty soon the devs were engaged in a constant battle to maintain balance, sometimes even on a 1v1(aka ridiculously miniscule) level. PvE balance suffered constantly, as PvP related nerfs/boosts would lead to PvE related stress. There is only one game which had an excellent PvE and PvP game, and that game died when they destroyed the balance between PvE and PvP. I really hope this will be just a fun diversion, and does not do to D3 what it did to WoW.

Rangers and rogues are both very core archetypes. The stealthy hero is definitely a popular one. I think a Ranger or similar character is likely, a physical ranged character that uses bows or guns or some kind of projectile. It's the largest hole left in the roster. A ranger could and generally does have melee oriented skills. Just because they are bow-focused doesn't mean they will be useless in close quarters(see: Wizard). A physical ranged/melee hybrid would be something totally new for Diablo, and could be pretty interesting. A character that can quickly switch between the two would be pretty great.

As for the Rogue, I do remember hearing that the Barbarian is the only returning class,(the Monk was from Hellfire, which was created by Sierra. I don't think they count that.) so that is probably not an option.

I would have to agree: the presence of bows strongly supports the concept of a range-focused attacker. That doesn't mean the class would be useless in melee, just focused on range.

Quote from Magistrate

The difference being that Zod's, and everything in between, can drop from monsters, but gems level 6 and up can't

Makes a huge difference when you can drop a rune that's worth 5 million l1 runes, and everything in between. The issue is that it takes 20k gems just to make one...it's insane.

Quote from leftfoot

I like the idea of having a chance to find a stack of gems up to 5x .... I also think that gems should be able to stack close to infinite. Example, one player goes through the game but doesnt care much for the higher gems but still collects the lvl 5 gems. After finishing the play-through he could have perhaps 200x lvl 5 gems in one stack, easily trade-able to someone for some gold.

In addition to that, "tramsmuting" gems to a higher level could be like, you just transmute the 200x stack and get 1x lvl 10 gem and 1x lvl 9 (or whatever lvl it would go to). It would take the hassle out of transmuting thousands of 3x gems.

Totally agreed. If gems are going to be this ridiculous to collect, they should stack to high heaven. Esp if you have to return to town to XMute them!

Honestly, the crafting system was one of the best aspects of WoW. As uneasy as I am with some of the other 'borrowed' aspects, this is one I am certain will prove rewarding. I like the idea of every item you drop having some value other than gold, which in Diablo 2 was almost useless.

Hmmm...a few concepts! Randomly generated bosses(or at least A randomly generated boss of end game difficulty). Crafting. User generated content. Extra hard-mode bosses with exceptional loot/special items(think Weapons from FF7). In-game "tavern"/world nexus. As someone said, a Colosseum-type area would be cool. D2 never had any built-in place to PVP and would just be world brawling. Some structure to PvP would be neat(but not the artifical VERY forced structure of WoW.)


As a special request, please DO NOT implement stupid achievements(though I assume they will anyways).

Hmm...a class could be considered a "feature". They are smarter than saying "we are going to reveal the fifth class at Gamescon" and destroy all buzz and speculation about it. That said, they are surely going to release the fifth class at Blizzcon.

Very nice analysis. Perhaps #5 will be some sort of Alchemist? Firebombs and burnination abound! Perhaps some manner of gunslinger - with a fucking CANNON.

I doubt they'd bring the Amazon back; she's been played to death I'm sure.