** OFFICIAL Diablo 3 Thread **

[Czar]

Originally posted by: ShadowOfMyself
Theres a huge thread over at diablofans.com about the horrible artistic direction the game is taking, and the biggest thread at the official battle.net forums is also about that, pretty every true fan of the series is disappointed because D3 looks more like Warcraft than any of the previous Diablos

Someone made a petition because of that: http://www.petitiononline.com/d3art/petition.html

It has been linked in several forums and is up to nearly 1500 signatures... Starcraft fans made Blizzard darken Sc2, so Diablo fans should also be able to do it

This is something I thought was hogwash untill I looked at the screenshots of what they want, then yes yes yes this is missing! better lights, darker feel, light centers on you.

Signed

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: jonks
Aight, confession time. I never played D1 or D2. Maybe I'm missing what all the excitement is about. From the gameplay vid it looks like you just go around clicking on the bad guys which makes it about as much fun as Dungeon Siege, which was alright but fairly basic. What's the Diablo draw? Where's the 'addictive' gameplay thing come in? Is it just the leveling and swag grabbing?

I'm looking forward to D3 if only b/c it'll give me a chance to see what the fuss is about. I'm a bit of a graphic snob and would probably not enjoy D2 at this point.

Dungeon Siege, Diablo, and Titan Quest are all members of the same genre of game. It's the overhead hack n slash RPG. What you've said is basically the same as me saying "Well I've seen Daikatana, Halo 3, and Deus Ex, what do you do besides jump around and fire rockets in these games?" Well, technically that is a big part of what you do in those games, but there is certainly a world of difference between Deus Ex and Daikatana. And realize I'm not necessarily calling Dungeon Siege Daikatana either, but I would be calling Diablo the Deus Ex of the genre.

I don't know if all hack and slash games consider their origins in the roguelike genre. But I do know that the original Diablo was almost a direct throwback. I'm telling you this because I can't exactly answer your question of where the fun comes from, I mean I know I enjoy playing these games, but you'd probably be hard pressed to blink an eye at them. If I combine the roguelike genre with the hack n slash genre, for the most part the roguelikes would be like Shinobi (or DMC) is to the action genre. You have this massive learning curve and difficulty where the designer almost wants the game to punish the player and for some that is really fun (me personally). Where as your average hack n slash game is more like God of War, where button mashing can get you pretty dang far. Diablo walked the line between the 2 despite the sequels going further and further into the hack n slash and monty haul arenas.

I guess I still haven't answered what is fun. Exploration, gaining power, overcoming tough enemies, all of your standard RPG elements. The game play might look easy, especially from the video, but I can bet you they were using over powered characters for the sake of demonstration, which is often the case. In fact, even the boss fights seemed like the players were holding back and you can see this by the way they needlessly run around the room as if to lengthen the battle. The Diablo series can be surprisingly deep for a clicky game, especially when you get to areas where the monsters can kill you in seconds.

 

[lupi]

Had to get up about 3 this morning so I only played about 30 minutes of D2 last night. Just enough time to walk around a bit relearning the interface and clearing the first dungeon. Got a blue charm from a mob drop and a blue sword and yellow bow from the first boss.

 

[BadRobot]

I have never played diablo. i'm going to install it and play it later today. Any tips?

 

[Kabob]

Originally posted by: BadRobot
I have never played diablo. i'm going to install it and play it later today. Any tips?

Don't die...

Seriously though, play on closed battle.net rather than single player. The game is EXACTLY the same but you can have help.

 

[Kabob]

Originally posted by: skace
Dungeon Siege, Diablo, and Titan Quest are all members of the same genre of game. It's the overhead hack n slash RPG.

I need to play Titan Quest...I've still never given it a whirl.

 

[BadRobot]

any class that is inherently better?

 

[Kabob]

Originally posted by: BadRobot
any class that is inherently better?

Not really, although some are easier to start off on. I'd start with a Barbarian or Amazon as your first ever character since they're so straight forward. Barbarian will have alot more life and defense so you'll live longer.

Barb gets my vote as your first. Find a forum member who has a few decent items to give you and build your character around that.

 

[Onita]

Originally posted by: kabob983

Originally posted by: BadRobot
any class that is inherently better?

Not really, although some are easier to start off on. I'd start with a Barbarian or Amazon as your first ever character since they're so straight forward. Barbarian will have alot more life and defense so you'll live longer.

Barb gets my vote as your first. Find a forum member who has a few decent items to give you and build your character around that.

I'd strongly disagree with that as first chars. General consensus would be either a sorc or necro for a first character. Sorc would be so you can MF, necro because it is the least item dependent and can pretty much solo its way through A5 hell untwinked.

 

[BadRobot]

I like the idea of the necro, what should I focus the points on

 

[Onita]

As a first character, I'd choose a summoner. Go to diabloii.net, check out the necromancer section in the forums, and read the guide for the "fishymancer".

 

[Kabob]

Originally posted by: rpkelly

Originally posted by: kabob983

Originally posted by: BadRobot
any class that is inherently better?

Not really, although some are easier to start off on. I'd start with a Barbarian or Amazon as your first ever character since they're so straight forward. Barbarian will have alot more life and defense so you'll live longer.

Barb gets my vote as your first. Find a forum member who has a few decent items to give you and build your character around that.

I'd strongly disagree with that as first chars. General consensus would be either a sorc or necro for a first character. Sorc would be so you can MF, necro because it is the least item dependent and can pretty much solo its way through A5 hell untwinked.

Guess we'll agree to disagree but considering he's a member of a forum with tons and tons of D2 players I think "item dependence" isn't as big of an issue. Go for a necro, only thing for me is that they play...slow. Also, you've gotta be sure you can kill those first few enemies so you can make your skeletons.

You'll have low life and not enough mana to start out with though.

 

[Onita]

Originally posted by: kabob983

Originally posted by: rpkelly

Originally posted by: kabob983

Originally posted by: BadRobot
any class that is inherently better?

Not really, although some are easier to start off on. I'd start with a Barbarian or Amazon as your first ever character since they're so straight forward. Barbarian will have alot more life and defense so you'll live longer.

Barb gets my vote as your first. Find a forum member who has a few decent items to give you and build your character around that.

I'd strongly disagree with that as first chars. General consensus would be either a sorc or necro for a first character. Sorc would be so you can MF, necro because it is the least item dependent and can pretty much solo its way through A5 hell untwinked.

Guess we'll agree to disagree but considering he's a member of a forum with tons and tons of D2 players I think "item dependence" isn't as big of an issue. Go for a necro, only thing for me is that they play...slow. Also, you've gotta be sure you can kill those first few enemies so you can make your skeletons.

You'll have low life and not enough mana to start out with though.

Necros are fine on life/mana. They don't use much mana to begin with, and shouldn't be hit too often. I'll give you the point that they are a slower class - but being his first time playing D2, that shouldn't be too much of a problem. They can also solo anywhere in the game. Amazon, though, probably wouldn't be too bad to start off with either. They can have good survivability, and limited item dependency.

 

[Kabob]

Well...I suppose they aren't as mana dependent as sorcs, but they do consume a good bit (assuming you have one or two PB skills).

In the end anything will work, I think that as a first character though familiarizing yourself with the game the barb is about as easy as it comes. See an enemy, click on it, clobber, rinse, repeat.

You'll do fine with whatever you pick. Go with a necro if it intrigues you. They've got one of the easiest to find +2 skills weapons in the game (gravespine).

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: ShadowOfMyself
Theres a huge thread over at diablofans.com about the horrible artistic direction the game is taking, and the biggest thread at the official battle.net forums is also about that, pretty every true fan of the series is disappointed because D3 looks more like Warcraft than any of the previous Diablos

Someone made a petition because of that: http://www.petitiononline.com/d3art/petition.html

It has been linked in several forums and is up to nearly 1500 signatures... Starcraft fans made Blizzard darken Sc2, so Diablo fans should also be able to do it

Outside scenarios with vivid colors, beautiful forests with colorful vegetation, shinny and beautiful waterfalls where even rainbows take place.

AHHHHHH!!! <Runs away in horror and jumps out of window>

<Dusts self off from 3 foot plunge>

Blizzard on the art style direction

Why did Blizzard choose an art style for ?Diablo III? that would anger so many fans? I got answers in Paris last weekend before people were really asking the question.

And I know of at least 14,000 people who?d like an answer. Those are the thousands of diehard ?Diablo? fans who have signed a petition against the game?s new art direction (with more than 1,000 signatures added every hour).

When I asked lead producer Keith Lee about ?Diablo III??s new art style at the Worldwide Invitational in Paris, he explained why Blizzard went in that direction.

Some context first, if you?re not familiar with the old ?Diablo? titles: they featured dark, shadowy landscapes and dungeons (in which the player-characters needed a radius of light to see), and an overall realistic art style. With ?Diablo III,? the environments and textures are noticeably more vibrant and colorful, both inside and outside dungeons. Blaming the influence of ?World of Warcraft,? the petitioners complain that the game is too ?cartoon?ish? with ?unrealistic elements? and ?outside scenarios with vivid colors, beautiful forests with colorful vegetation, shinny [sic] and beautiful waterfalls where even rainbows take place.? (The petitioners have a full laundry list of complaints and suggestions here.)

So this is what Lee had to say about the art direction when we spoke in Paris: ?One of the things that we considered when we were working on the visuals for ?Diablo III? is the fact that color is your friend. We feel that color actually helps to create a lot of highlights in the game so that there is contrast. A great analogy is like in ?Lord of the Rings? ? not everything is dark. It allows you to see what a creepy dungeon can be like but if everything is dark it doesn?t allow you to have a lot of contrast.?

He continued: ??Diablo I? and ?Diablo II? are darker, and I think that the one of the main reasons why is the fact that in ?Diablo I,? you?re basically in a dungeon the whole time. And in contrast to ?Diablo III,? you?ll be exploring outdoors, you?ll be in dungeons, you?ll be experiencing so many different areas. We want to bring as much variety as we can when you?re playing the game so that you?re excited to check out new environments. We don?t want everything to look the same and that?s really what we?re trying to aim for.

?What we also tried to do is create very clean textures so that you can really focus. It?s a stylized feel and in that sense, it?s very sort of a Blizzard philosophy. It?s just really pushing the envelope in terms of the visuals so that everyone is excited about how everything looks. We think that ?Diablo III? is going to be better in so many different ways. We?re just building and improving upon the the first and second ?Diablo? games.?

I also asked Lee about how and when the dev team will take fan feedback into account. He wouldn?t go into specifics, but said:

?We?re very involved, because everyone?s very passionate about our games. Blizzard employees, we spend a lot of time actually iterating on [the game], and so in terms of the next phase, what we?ll try to do is a proof on concept on lot of different gameplay aspects. And we really want to get as much feedback as possible so that we can improve on the game and ensure that we meet Blizzard quality for our fans and for ourselves as players.?

 

[Kabob]

Originally posted by: Queasy
And I know of at least 14,000 people who?d like an answer. Those are the thousands of diehard ?Diablo? fans who have signed a petition against the game?s new art direction (with more than 1,000 signatures added every hour).

3 of those are me (I'm so bad...)

 

[CottonRabbit]

I think its pretty interesting that as of right now, Diablo 2 battlechest is number 1 in pc gaming sales on amazon.com again. Bnet needs some fresh blood .

Edit: and also out of stock.

 

[Xavier434]

From the article:

We feel that color actually helps to create a lot of highlights in the game so that there is contrast. A great analogy is like in ?Lord of the Rings? ? not everything is dark. It allows you to see what a creepy dungeon can be like but if everything is dark it doesn?t allow you to have a lot of contrast.?

This sort of thing make a lot of sense to me and I have enjoyed many games which follow that idea. I love the Diablo series and how dark and hellish it can be, but variety is very important to me too. It makes a game more fun when done properly.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: CottonRabbit
I think its pretty interesting that as of right now, Diablo 2 battlechest is number 1 in pc gaming sales on amazon.com again. Bnet needs some fresh blood .

Edit: and also out of stock.

This is actually making me want to pull out my old Diablo 2 disks. I just don't know where they are in my house.

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: CottonRabbit
I think its pretty interesting that as of right now, Diablo 2 battlechest is number 1 in pc gaming sales on amazon.com again. Bnet needs some fresh blood .

Edit: and also out of stock.

This is actually making me want to pull out my old Diablo 2 disks. I just don't know where they are in my house.

I thought I read that Blizz made the game available for download now. You will still need the key though which I guess means you need to hunt for the disks hehe.

 

[TridenT]

Originally posted by: Xavier434

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: CottonRabbit
I think its pretty interesting that as of right now, Diablo 2 battlechest is number 1 in pc gaming sales on amazon.com again. Bnet needs some fresh blood .

Edit: and also out of stock.

This is actually making me want to pull out my old Diablo 2 disks. I just don't know where they are in my house.

I thought I read that Blizz made the game available for download now. You will still need the key though which I guess means you need to hunt for the disks hehe.

The cases actually.

I want to play with some "local" Anandtech forum members on US East. (ALWAYS PLAY ON US EAST EVEN IF YOU LIVE ON WEST!)

 

[Drift3r]

People need to get it into their thick skulls that Blizzard isn't going to change anything once they've gone this far into development. The game looks fine as is and frankly having knee jerk reactions and nerd rage spams over simple color choices is just a tad bit stupid. Not to mention that the only ones complaining are a vocal minority as always on the Blizzard forums. When D3 launches it'll probably sell a million copies on the first day and frankly Blizzard knows thus these folks can make all the e-petitions and sign them with as many fake sigs as they want to but it won't mater in the end. When this game launches I can guarantee you the whiners will be buying a copy.

 

[Drift3r]

Originally posted by: Foxery

Originally posted by: CottonRabbit

Originally posted by: ShadowOfMyself
If it had an item bind system dupes would be pointless, and trading would be alot more balanced, so I hope they look into that

Soulbound items would turn the economy in WoW's, not Diablo 2's.

For what it's worth, items in WoW can fall under 3 possible rules:
1) Crappy items never bind
2) Medium quality items are bind on equip, so you can sell cool things that you find, but not after using them yourself.
3) Rare, high quality items are bind on pickup, so only you can reap the rewards of your own efforts. Nobody gets a free ride to the top.

Blizzard's franchises do have a lot of mechanics in common, and many parts of the D3 gameplay video looked like they borrowed ideas from WoW.

WoW also borrowed from D1-D2. Where do you think they got the idea for talent trees? Blizzard has never claimed to be a originator of ideas. They take their own past concepts from previous games and other peoples ideas and refine them down to perfection to be used in other games they develop.

 

[skace]

I don't see anything wrong with the D3 graphics and don't necessarily believe the graphics had anything to do with how scary the original game was. Although, the light source is a pretty significant issue, I think the light source is independent of graphics. I'd fully expect they can tweak light sources in dungeons without redoing a metric shit ton of graphics.

 

[Zenoth]

Pure speculation from me, no bases, but I am ready to say that Diablo III will be the best selling game on the PC plaftorm since years, if not of all time, really, the worst that could happen is that it sells just a little less than WoW, but if DIII manages to be #1, then the Diablo series will be the greatest (in terms of sells) one of all time on the PC platform. Usually I don't like to speculate, since it serves no purpose, but DIII has success written all over it already.