DiabloFans

Quote from "mockery" »

A member on the Battle.net forums recently inquired about whether or not people would have to pay fees in order to play Diablo 3 online. Bashiok responded with the following information:

Bashiok then went on to discuss how some pay-for ideas could possibly work for the game.

Obviously, none of us would like to have to pay additional fees in order to use Battle.net. If nothing else, I believe anybody who buys the inevitably pricier "Collector's Edition" of Diablo 3 when it comes out should never have to pay Battle.net fees to play the game.

However, this does raise the question: What special features would you pay Battle.net fees for with Diablo 3 other than the chance to resurrect a fallen hardcore character? Is there anything that you feel would be worth spending a little extra cash on to make the online gameplay more interesting?

Quote from "nefaust" »

While there is obviously going to be an amazon type ranged class, probably with some light melee skirmishing abilities, the name could be anything. My personal favorite is nomad, marauder strikes me as more of a pillaging barbarian-type warlord.
Other, if more generic, posiblities include bandit, ranger, or thief. But thief seems to have fallen out of favor since about 2nd Edition AD&D in place of rogue, which is already taken in the diablo universe. /$0.02

Quote from "Azylium" »

I still think we can all safely agree that the biggest problem with D2 stats was that you didn't pick stats because it improved your characters abilities, you picked it to use gear (Vitality being the only exeption to this, because you needed it for life, which in turn = survivability). That gear, in turn, improved your abilities (Just the mindset of using only enough stats to use gear tells us how poor increases stats gave). So whether you guys want auto-stats or hate them, I think all of you want the stats to make a bigger difference on your character than they did in D2. For example: Willpower now giving extra spelldamage is one of those attractive things. That way, maybe a Wizard would have invested in Willpower, had there been manual stats.

Considering the above, I know what you mean Doppel. You used stats for gear, and that lead to everyone wanting one particular piece of gear, which in turn took away all customization (Not exactly, but for the most part). All this because stats were worthless for actually making your character stronger (once again, except vitality). Though I do still believe that if there is something ultimate, the freedom to customize is gone, cause you have to use that alternative to be able to be good.

And even if they make several "perfect" choices, it will still be more limited than auto stats give. The more they control in their developing of the game, the more balance they can achieve, thus giving us more options to experiment without necessarily fucking up. They could never hope to balance the game if they let us put our own stats (look what happened to D2). Then we'd have to wait 5 more years for the game.

I just realized, we can argue all day about whatever is better, but the stats will still be auto. Blizzard has already stated that, and I'm confident they have good reasons. I'm not really against manual stats, I just like the possibilities of auto-stats more (Possibilities as in: More focus on other things than stats, which no other player will notice anyway).

Quote from "kefka666333abc123" »

Lol yup......But you should be using griffons..........

Quote from "AngleWyrm" »

Complexity is an amazing creature: Take a look at this promo for Heavy Rain. At first it seems like the promised land -- until you see the little "click X now" buttons appear on screen. Then all of a sudden it looks a lot more like that 1983 coin-op arcade laser-disc cartoon Dragon's Lair.

I worried that the transition to 3D would cost the game, but I have some faith. The Wall of Zombies spell, Mirror Image spell and Time Bomb spell are beautiful works! But there's something else to consider, and I don't mean pulse-pounding pacing: Have you played Age of Conan?

One of their worst enemies was complexity: It was much too difficult for the team to engineer the player's timeline of experiences. They attempt to sell loot on a time-card basis (see Perfect World for a better business model) but lost control of loot table organization.

But enough background, on to the meat of the matter: Auto-Assigning Stats. I come down completely in favor of this, and here is why: Stats become a more detailed version of the player's "level".

Instead of a sword needing a level-12 player, it needs a level-12 Barbarian or level-20 Wizard. It gives meaning to the choice of Barbarian or Wizard -- a transfer of decision making, not a removal. And the level of information is presented directly to the player, but more importantly it is also presented directly to the designers. They will have it available at the first level, and so less errors due to head explosion.

I hope that it helps design loot drops, so that creatures can use their loot.

Quote from "Doppelganger" »

I don't think the staff will be used as a melee weapon (if the concept art correctly portrays it), most likely (s)he will be able to wield a "magical" staff (boosting skills, giving certain powers, kinda like the fetishes of the necro) and a dagger to lash out in close combat.

Quote from "nesnora" »

Barbie with a spear? This looks ridiculous.

Ugh Blizzard, grow up and try something we haven't seen in video games.

Quote from "tents" »

Ok, as i was "scanning" the internet for diablo3 news, i came to a diablo 3 fan site called Maxfreak.com and they posted the following news on their site.

"Now, prepare to be surprised by some of the reasoning behind this “news”. Diablo 3 release date has been a hot topic and we’ve all heard the usual Blizzard rhetoric that Diablo 3 will come out WHEN the game is ready.

First, some background: a guy who played Diablo 2 for years got a DOL rune and experimented with it until it crushed the game. He got an error message … a series of meaningless numbers. Or are they?

64 69 61 62 6c 6f 20 33 20 20 30 39 2f 30 39 2f 30 39.

So why is this significant in ANY way? OK, this is the geek part: 64 69 61 62 6c 6f 20 33 20 20 30 39 2f 30 39 2f 30 39 is hex for : Diablo 3 09/09/09. That means that if you translate the hexadecimal code, it gives you Diablo 3’s release date.

Now, the critical part. How likely is that Diablo 2 developers knew in advance when Diablo 3 will be released? NOT LIKELY. At the same time, if I were head of development at Blizzard and I was a bit of a numerology freak… I’d pick EXACTLY this date. Why?

Well, it’s pretty obvious. 09-09-09 represents 666 if you turn it upside down. The number of the beast! (cue the Iron Maiden song here)"

Ok, i admit i have no experience with hexidecimal stuff at all, so i haven't checked if the hex code is actually the same as the release date when translated. Also i think it's quite stupid, why would blizzard do this?
The latest diablo 2 update was quite a while ago, so they had to know the release date of diablo 3 at that time, wich sounds impossible in my ears. And how could messing around with a dol rune give such an error in the first place?

To be honest i'm pretty sure it's all made up, but i'm just checking it and seeing how u guys think about this.

Quote from "Ferret" »

Yes, but almost every character class has the same priorities once the target gear has been made available.



Glass cannon or survival build, can be applied to both builds. Difference would be Str requirement for Java and Dex for Bowazon. The main preference was in nearly all cases was still Vitality, which has nothing to do with class-specific stats.



While my stats may have probably differed from WW barbs (for gear requirements), they were identical to most other caster builds from all classes. In fact, my Hdin, Trapsin, Sorc and WCBarb all used the same gear, and had identical amount of stats invested across the board because of this. This speaks even less for diversity and importance of stat distribution.



D2 didn't offer what seven classes should have in terms of diversity. There were two major stat preferences - no max block and max block. Any other kind of differences were made accountable to gear requirements only. The way D3 looks to be set up, it will make each class unique instead of making all classes similar except for gear required stats. Since Blizzard will set up the auto distribution logically, a Sorceress won't be running around with a War Maul in hands, and a Barb won't use gear that is normally ideal for caster classes. On the other hand, Blizzard won't give classes skills they can't use because of this limitation. In other words, each class plays differently and hence the game becomes more diverse.



No, Diablo and WoW are completley different in that aspect. Some things can be taken, this one can't be taken 1 to 1 from WoW. Diablo's bosses are more accessible than in WoW, were it can take anywhere from 30 minutes to multiple hours to reach a boss for loot. A Diablo player will go back and try again if soemthing didn't drop, a WoW player just realized he spent multiple hours for nothing, and has a timer to keep him from doing it again until the next day at the earliest. PLUS - WoW bosses do drop specified loot, but even from here its usually from a pool of 4-8 items. I had to spend a few weeks waiting for my Feral Druid's staff to drop although I always killed the required boss. World drops are horrible way to get gear in WoW, but a good unique is always "just around the corner" in Diablo.

Your rhetorical sarcasm just doesn't make enough sense to be funny to those who know how Diablo differs from WoW, and for those who don't know, you're just creating a hate towards a game they have never played. Good job!

Quote from "PPsyche" »

One of the main point of RPG is building your character the way you like it, the more diversity, the more you are attached to your character because it is just the way you want it to be. Taking out custom stats, you decrease the pleasure of player to be different from others and to be able to build his character the way he wants it. Which is not good thing imho.

About "being screwed if you not properly distribute stats points", well, it is not like you will play D3 only with 1 Barbarian character for example. Ppl will try different builds and will take different approaches to how to beat the game or to play certain class. I dont see a problem with making a new character just to try something new.

Quote from "Ivaron" »

Meanwhile, in the Blizzard HQ..

"So, the game is finally done. What do you guys think we should do now?"
"Dude, are you kidding? We're gonna play the friggin game!"
4 days later
"You think we should take a break?"
"What, I can't hear you. The awesomeness is too loud."
4 weeks later
"Hey man, I just realised people are getting a bit starved out of information right now. You want me to post a release date?"
"No man, I don't got time for releasing the game now, I'm having way too much fun playing it. Just post some crappy screenshots and old artwork on the site or something"

True story.

Quote from "Eldius" »

Well, the screenshots are nothing new (for the most part). However, the artwork doesn't disappoint.

Quote from "Rostovf" »

Darn, I want to upgrade my pc, and am terrified it won't run the new version. Come on Blizzard get this game out and cheer up the world economy. Please give us some news.