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Quotes from the D3 Dev AMA - Frag - 06-07-2012 One that struck me as interesting: Quote:Quote:[–]chicagorocks3 11 points 1 hour ago I'm wondering if they're going to be doing League of Legends/Dota2 type balancing (This is under used, give it a 5% internal boost and see if people use it), or a Diablo 2 style balancing (FOTM TIME!). I ask this because I've used Exploding Palm, Ancient Spear and Strafe and found them all decent, if not very good, and I think we've all seen the uber Sacrifice build at this point. Edit: Quote:[–]wyattcheng[S] 157 points 2 hours agoGuess we're not crazy, Swirly! (He & I had a conversation about this not 2 hours before this AMA) RE: Quotes from the D3 Dev AMA - RiotInferno - 06-07-2012 (06-07-2012, 03:11 AM)Frag Wrote: One that struck me as interesting: Strafe is okay, and fun, but in comparison to other skills @ 60, not playable. There's no reason to spend Hatred on Strafe when Nether Tendrils, Multishot and Evasive Fire do it better. Granted, NT is sort of silly good, but that's a whole 'nother discussion. RE: Quotes from the D3 Dev AMA - Elric of Grans - 06-07-2012 Frankly, Strafe compares poorly to Hungering Arrow I tried and tried and tried so very hard to find a niche for it, but it is just a poorly balanced skill. I read more of this myself. I do not see why they think Shielding needs nerfing (it seemed fun to me as-is), but their `solution' to Invunerable Minions does not address the issue at all. I can see them needing a second fix in 1.0.4 :\ RE: Quotes from the D3 Dev AMA - Concillian - 06-07-2012 (06-07-2012, 03:11 AM)Frag Wrote: Guess we're not crazy, Swirly! (He & I had a conversation about this not 2 hours before this AMA) Yeah, when you can just search for items with +resist all and whichever resist you're stacking it kinda ends up a much, much better passive than if you're smithing random items. Thing is, I don't see how they can possibly tone down this passive aside from two possible ways: 1) Make the tooltip a war and peace sized tooltip explaining it will give xx% of the value between your highest resist and lowest resist to all your resists, but no resist can exceed your highest resist. 2) make 3 other passives so overwhelmingly powerful that you can safely ignore this passive. Quote:'m wondering if they're going to be doing League of Legends/Dota2 type balancing (This is under used, give it a 5% internal boost and see if people use it), or a Diablo 2 style balancing (FOTM TIME!) I think they'll do it FOTM style. Exploding palm is a good example, I think. The issue at high difficulties with Exploding Palm is that it: - is primarily a single target DOT ability, but with some AoE? The only time it's not a single target ability are when you're killing something before the full damage is applied (easy stuff that can be handled with any other AoE ability). This means it's DESIGNED to not do it's full damage? You either don't do the full DOT damage or you don't get the explosion? WAT? You don't get the full DOT if you get the explosion, and you don't get the explosion if you get the full DOT? This aspect of the skill gives people a headache when they try to figure out how to best use it... Is it a single target DOT or an AoE ability? Does anyone even know? Regardless, there are better AoE abilities that don't require something be dead to release the AoE. Single target damage abilities in Hell and inferno better have secondary utility to be worthy of taking up a skill slot... and exploding fist has neither of these. The name of the game at that point is AoE, utility and defense, and exploding palm has none of that. Buffing damage can make it worthwhile vs. other spirit spenders, but then you still have the issue that it has little utility outside the single target 80% slow rune. Crippling wave (tsunami rune) is MUCH easier to apply an AoE slow that is 60% instead of 80%. It costs no spirit (spirit builder) and you don't even need to be in melee range, the slow application has a much larger range. The other runes have similar issues... +12% damage to that one target for 3 seconds? Deadly reach rne gives 18% for 30 seconds to EVERYTHING for no spirit cost... Breath of heaven rune gives 15% to everything for 45 seconds for a lower spirit cost... my favorite is the rune that makes it do the exact same damage, but take double the time to apply that damage. Wat? I mean I get that it gives you longer to make the exploding portion, but really? They're gonna have to re-design the runes of this skill for it to be worthwhile. The 6 skill limitation coupled with the difficulty of inferno means that you're looking for skills that can serve multiple purposes. You usually can't afford a spirit spender that is pure DPS... and if you can, you're likely killing things fast enough that a DOT with a 30% weapon damage explosion is not even on your radar. Buffing 5% damage here or there isn't gonna get people to use the skill. You have to make a rune that serves a defensive build well (apply a lasting debuff to multiple enemies when it explodes) or an offensive build well (significantly increase the explosion weapon % or make chaining the AoE easier since an offensive build is not going to be looking at DOTs as viable.) Alternately they could let the DOT component trigger life on hit, as this would give it significant utility. Ironically, this would actually make the rune that extends the time, but does the same damage actually decent. You essentially spend spirit for a periodic trigger of life on hit that happens to do some damage... this is utility with some damage. That kind of thing will get used. Damage increases, unless extreme, will not. The kinds of things needed to make this skill something people would use are things that will make the buffing they do FOTM type of buffs. ----- Let's look at the others: Ancient Spear -- A victim of other skills being good at multiple things while it's good at only one. For example Threatening Shout + taunt does a reasonable job of getting something to you that you're chasing, but also serves another purpose for other mob types (decreasing damage taken in a wide area). Also leap and Furious charge serve similar purposes while having AWESOME runes like HUGE self-healing, HUGE armor buff, etc... How do you make ancient spear a choice without making it completely OP compared to leap and such? I'm not sure you can. Sacrifice -- A victim of summons being poor and requiring multiple other skills to be even usable. This has potential to be okay with just a damage buff, but the main issue is your dogs need to be attacking the target you want when you sacrifice them. No amount of buffing will help your minions with attacking the target you want them to attack. Energy Twister -- Essentially a purely offensive DOT spell with easily avoidable pathing. I was totally amused when I fought Diablo and in the realm of Terror my self-image stood stationary 30 yards away and shot energy twisters that meandered 10-15 yards in my general direction while I obliterated her from range. Purely offensive DOT spells will always have a hard time in the Diablo universe. Spells with an uncontrollable direction will also. Where do you even start with this one? Other skills are easier to apply the damage (Hydra, among others) or offer additional utility (Blizzard, applies a slow, can be runed for much larger area effect) I actually haven't tested this with life on hit to see if it applies like meteor does (the DOT ticks of meteor proc life on hit). If it does, then the "twist in one place" twister does have potential with a spectral blades wizard build like I'd like to do with my softcore wiz. That would potentially give it some use. Strafe -- I think this is about the only skill that a slight damage buff might get more people using it. All but strafe have severely limiting mechanics issues that prevent their use as much as any damage issues. To get Energy twister or Ancient spear to be used regularly would take HUGE damage buffs for people to not choose competing skills that do a similar job with additional utility. You're going to have to make D2 style changes that fix the mechanics issues to get them used more. RE: Quotes from the D3 Dev AMA - Ruvanal - 06-07-2012 (06-07-2012, 03:11 AM)Frag Wrote: I'm wondering if they're going to be doing League of Legends/Dota2 type balancing (This is under used, give it a 5% internal boost and see if people use it), or a Diablo 2 style balancing (FOTM TIME!). Frag this is Blizzard. Of course it is going to be FOTM TIME!. I have seen too many times that their developers are working on the basis of 'do not do little piddly 5-10% changes to adjust things since it can take too long to get to good level, do x2 and x4 adjustments to really see the effect of what they have done. Then followed by a number of patches doing a cycle of super buffing and heavy nerfing, they will start to get to balanced point. Then its time for a super patch or expansion to change a bunch of the game mechanics so it all has to start over again. RE: Quotes from the D3 Dev AMA - MongoJerry - 06-07-2012 (06-07-2012, 09:24 PM)Ruvanal Wrote: Frag this is Blizzard. Of course it is going to be FOTM TIME!. I have seen too many times that their developers are working on the basis of 'do not do little piddly 5-10% changes to adjust things since it can take too long to get to good level, do x2 and x4 adjustments to really see the effect of what they have done. Then followed by a number of patches doing a cycle of super buffing and heavy nerfing, they will start to get to balanced point. Then its time for a super patch or expansion to change a bunch of the game mechanics so it all has to start over again. At least this time we don't have to reroll our characters -- just farm gear to support the skill if we need it. I thought this quote was very interesting: Quote:The auction house has absolutely no effect on drop rates. There are conspiracy theories and misunderstandings but I do want to re-iterate, the is NO interaction whatsoever. Bashiok mentioned earlier that we took the AH into account, so let me expand a little bit on that. This matches well with my experience and what I've seen other people be able to do. When I was at a lower level, I could believe all the conspiracies about drops being tuned based on the AH and making "using the AH" a requirement. But as I get to a higher and higher level and I see what people are able to do in hardcore without using the AH, I realize that no, people who insist that "using the AH is a requirement" simply don't have patience to play the end game content as it was designed -- with slow and steady grinds until you are able to get the gear that will allow you to play in the next act. RE: Quotes from the D3 Dev AMA - Ashock - 06-07-2012 (06-07-2012, 10:40 PM)MongoJerry Wrote:(06-07-2012, 09:24 PM)Ruvanal Wrote: Frag this is Blizzard. Of course it is going to be FOTM TIME!. I have seen too many times that their developers are working on the basis of 'do not do little piddly 5-10% changes to adjust things since it can take too long to get to good level, do x2 and x4 adjustments to really see the effect of what they have done. Then followed by a number of patches doing a cycle of super buffing and heavy nerfing, they will start to get to balanced point. Then its time for a super patch or expansion to change a bunch of the game mechanics so it all has to start over again. You can believe what you want, but if you are melee, then w/o extensive use of the AH, you will be going nowhere past Act1 Inferno, if you are soloing. RE: Quotes from the D3 Dev AMA - Concillian - 06-07-2012 (06-07-2012, 11:15 PM)Ashock Wrote: You can believe what you want, but if you are melee, then w/o extensive use of the AH, you will be going nowhere past Act1 Inferno, if you are soloing. How are hardcore people playing in Act 2 then? Yeah, they're using the AH, but they aren't using the AH like softcore people are (buying items from people in Act III/IV to prepare themselves for Act II). How many people are even in hardcore Act I? There can't be a whole lot of items out there. And yet, the people progressing furthest, fastest in hardcore are melee... Hardcore continues to exhibit that the arguments about softcore issues are largely fallacies. Melee is more reliable when death has any real penalty, and you don't NEED items from further acts to progress into Act II and III. It demonstrates that people arguing that the AH is a necessity are merely impatient. It was months of me playing D2 (with way more playtime per day than I can play D3 now) before I got any truly good items, but people are complianing that great items aren't raining from the sky in D3, that you MUST use the AH to get anything decent. Whatever. Selective memory of D2, or used to the post synergy patch era of dupes and stupidly OP player classes. RE: Quotes from the D3 Dev AMA - MongoJerry - 06-07-2012 (06-07-2012, 11:15 PM)Ashock Wrote: You can believe what you want, but if you are melee, then w/o extensive use of the AH, you will be going nowhere past Act1 Inferno, if you are soloing. If push comes to shove, you can always farm goblins. This quote from Wyatt was also excellent: Quote:Alright so I'm going to take a stab at this question. RE: Quotes from the D3 Dev AMA - Quark - 06-07-2012 (06-07-2012, 11:15 PM)Ashock Wrote: You can believe what you want, but if you are melee, then w/o extensive use of the AH, you will be going nowhere past Act1 Inferno, if you are soloing. Why do you keep bringing this up as if it's a point about the AH? It's a point about Inferno difficulty passed Act 1, which they've already said they're nerfing. The horse is dead. Stop it. RE: Quotes from the D3 Dev AMA - Concillian - 06-07-2012 Something they didn't answer during the AMA, but are going to add to the transcript because they wanted to answer it more completely than they had time for during the AMA http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5590647017#8 RE: Quotes from the D3 Dev AMA - LochnarITB - 06-08-2012 (06-07-2012, 11:29 PM)MongoJerry Wrote: If push comes to shove, you can always farm goblins. Just a quick aside that I've been wondering about. When moving from normal to nightmare, did they make treasure goblins disproportionately harder to kill. I don't think I've been able to kill a single one since starting nightmare. Once he decides to pop his portal, nothing I do can dissuade him from jumping through. If I can't pump out enough damage, *giggle* *poof*. The best I can do is turn him around once, maybe twice, before he makes a portal but he inevitably poofs without giving daddy his yumyums. RE: Quotes from the D3 Dev AMA - Concillian - 06-08-2012 (06-08-2012, 12:15 AM)LochnarITB Wrote:(06-07-2012, 11:29 PM)MongoJerry Wrote: If push comes to shove, you can always farm goblins. You appear to have to do enough damage in a single hit to trigger a 'hit recovery' recoil animation. Doing any kind of CC will also do it (blind, freeze, confuse, etc...). In normal, they have low enough life that just about anything you do will trigger a 'hit recovery' recoil animation, which is perhaps the difference you're seeing as mob life increases faster than the damage you're doing. RE: Quotes from the D3 Dev AMA - Roland - 06-08-2012 (06-07-2012, 11:29 PM)MongoJerry Wrote:(06-07-2012, 11:15 PM)Ashock Wrote: You can believe what you want, but if you are melee, then w/o extensive use of the AH, you will be going nowhere past Act1 Inferno, if you are soloing. I wish they would just start with the damage / health changes in Inferno and go from there, rather than exponentially increase the item drops in the first Act. I can farm enough gold to buy better gear in less time than it takes to find it in Act I, and although it would be nice if ALL gear in Act I was level 59-60 (instead of the 50-60 spread we have now), then 60-61 in Act II, 60-62 in Act II, and 60-63 in Act IV I'd be very happy. As it stands there's just too much useless junk in Act I Inferno, but I don't think sliding that scale all the way to the other end is the right answer. Give us slightly better drops, so our chances of finding that more worthwhile gear is improved, and gives us a bit more crafting material to work with so we can utilize the Blacksmith more. As it stands it takes days of farming to get enough gold & materials to make even 10 items. I'm not opposed to that entirely, but I'd happily trade the loss in gold from vendoring for slightly more crafting materials (which would bring gold income down, and increase the rate of gold sinks via crafting). As others have said, Blizzard seems to only be capable of balancing with a sledgehammer. I really wish they'd take smaller steps in their changes. Already I can see the damage and health nerfs in Inferno will make my defensive gearing of my DH better, and maybe even allow me to take my first steps into Act II (whereas right now Act I is easy farm mode, and Act II is all but impossible). I guess some things never change, no matter how much personnel has. Ah well. I'll enjoy 1.0.3 when it comes out. I just hope they don't muck things up too much. Some of us don't mind actually working for our rewards. RE: Quotes from the D3 Dev AMA - MongoJerry - 06-08-2012 (06-08-2012, 03:48 AM)Roland Wrote: Give us slightly better drops, so our chances of finding that more worthwhile gear is improved, and gives us a bit more crafting material to work with so we can utilize the Blacksmith more. As it stands it takes days of farming to get enough gold & materials to make even 10 items. I'm not opposed to that entirely, but I'd happily trade the loss in gold from vendoring for slightly more crafting materials (which would bring gold income down, and increase the rate of gold sinks via crafting). They also said they're reducing blacksmithing costs, too. I don't know in what way or by how much. I'm hoping they reduce some of the tomes costs for some items. And speaking of which, have they said when 1.0.3 is likely to be released? I'm wondering, because I've been thinking about doing a lot of farming this weekend, and if it's going to be released on Tuesday, then I can save up the materials and possibly use them after the blacksmithing costs have been reduced. RE: Quotes from the D3 Dev AMA - Elric of Grans - 06-08-2012 1.0.3 is coming `this month'. Probably not as early as Tuesday, is my guess. I believe they commented somewhere that Tome costs would be reduced on high-end Blacksmith crafts. RE: Quotes from the D3 Dev AMA - Ashock - 06-08-2012 (06-07-2012, 11:28 PM)Concillian Wrote:(06-07-2012, 11:15 PM)Ashock Wrote: You can believe what you want, but if you are melee, then w/o extensive use of the AH, you will be going nowhere past Act1 Inferno, if you are soloing. They are playing there by not being melee. Besides, if you finish Act1 and enter act2, you are playing Act2. That does not mean you are progressing in Act2. The first time I went through Act1, I died once in the whole act. In the same session, after killing Butch, I went to Act2 and immediately had several near deaths as soon as I left town in Act2 from just the dragonfly things right outside of town. I then proceeded to die twice to the first champ pack I met, and 5 times to the next. Obviously, if I played HC, I'd been more careful, but this is just to illustrate the difference between acts 1 and 2 in inferno. RE: Quotes from the D3 Dev AMA - Kevin - 06-08-2012 (06-08-2012, 04:19 PM)Ashock Wrote: They are playing there by not being melee. Considering the first HC Inferno Belial kill was by a barbarian this is wrong right from the start. I also see quotes in the chat that seem to say that there are as many melee as ranged on the top end of the HC progression as well and since that currently is Act II and one or two people in Act III that would tell me that there are ranged and melee progressing in Act II Inferno on Hardcore. So again, how are hardcore people playing in Act 2 then? RE: Quotes from the D3 Dev AMA - MongoJerry - 06-08-2012 (06-08-2012, 04:28 PM)Gnollguy Wrote: Considering the first HC Inferno Belial kill was by a barbarian this is wrong right from the start. I also see quotes in the chat that seem to say that there are as many melee as ranged on the top end of the HC progression as well and since that currently is Act II and one or two people in Act III that would tell me that there are ranged and melee progressing in Act II Inferno on Hardcore. Correct. From the comments of some of the top hardcore players, it's actually the melee who are having the easier go of it in Act 2, after they gear up in Act 1. RE: Quotes from the D3 Dev AMA - ViralSpiral - 06-08-2012 How's your progress been, MJ? Don't think I've seen any updates from you in awhile. |