Proudly presenting: Diablo Evolution

[the Langolier]

- How to read the tables:
1. PR = Beta <span style="color:#FF0000">(Retail)
2. PR <span style="color:#FF0000">(Beta = Retail)
3. PR = Retail <span style="color:#000099">(Beta)
4. PR (<span style="color:#000099">Beta,<span style="color:#FF0000">Retail)
5. <span style="color:#FF0000">Retail=Beta
6. <span style="color:#FF0000">Retail only
7. <span style="color:#FF0000">Retail (<span style="color:#000099">Beta)

Ok this just does not work. Not at all. Even after 10 minutes, I can't be certain I accurately duplicated the key. As I go through the tables, I can see stats that are different between versions, but I have to keep going back to dechiper the key. In the process I gain no persepctive on the numbers and have learned nothing.

For example, when looking at a toad demon, I see its hitpoints are 135-200 <span style="color:#FF0000">(135-160). Now I have to go back to the key and see what this means. Ok, so it had lower HP in the beta and retail (but now if it were italicized it would only have had lower hp in retail). Now, with some concentration, I realize that the developers must have thought the HP range was too great from the original values, therefore they lowered the max HP in the next release, the Beta. Aparently they figured that was good because it remained unchanged into the retail release. OK. Now that is something that is interesting which I did not know before.

Now herein lies the problem. The goal should be to get an overall "feel" of how the enemies changed through development, which is of course the whole concept of the site. In fact, that is one of the few things new things that I can learn about enemies. As the table is now, however, the process of figuring out the differences in the versions is not direct enough to really put the numbers in context. So while there is thousands of factual numbers, they communicate very little meaning. So how is this solved? Well, there are two different ways that I think would make the most sense to Diablo players. For starters, that stats for the PR and the Beta need to be separated into two tables at a minimum. Now, for anything to have any meaning to us, we need something to compare it to; some reference frame. By separating the PR data from the beta data you will be able to compare each to only one other set of data so it won't lose it's context. The question is what to compare the data sets to?

1.) Compare each to the retail data. This will be the most intuitive since we have all played diablo and we have a good feeling for the monsters. The most useful information we want to get is: are the monsters (or this particular monster) tougher or weaker than what we play? This would be very easy to tell by glancing at the numbers and determining which data set is greater than the other. Once we are thinking along those lines, the numbers simply quantitatively demonstrate how much tougher/weaker they are. The structure of the table would not have to change much. I would keep the stats for the particular version you are reviewing all in normal type as it is now. If it were different, the retail data (once again, as it is now) would follow in parenthesis and have a different color. Color can be very effective in communicating the degree of difference. The most obvious is choosing two different colors to show if the enemy is tougher or weaker than the retail version, like red and green. After reviewing very few rows of the table with a color scheme like this, our brains will register the visual connection pretty quicky, the result being that users will be able to get a good idea of the overall difference of the version just by browsing the tables. Since this scenario is comparative to the release that we are familiar with, we will have a good overall impression of the two prior releases.

The only problem with organizing the tables this way is that while we will have a good understanding of how they compare to what we know, we don't get any information about how the prior releases compare to each other, which would tell us how they changed through the development and fits the theme of your site much better, which brings us to:

2.) Compare Beta to the PR and the Beta to Retail. In this scenario, the data for the PR demo is taken as the benchmark, NOT the retail data. It's the data the developers and game balance started with. In the first table, the beta data is listed. Again, the PR datat would follow in parenthesis with different color where it differs. This format would quickly show monsters changed as developers thought enemies were too tough/weak/misplaced through playing. From there, we could then see the additional changes from the Beta to what we have now in Retail.

Like I said before, this format would not only apply to the monster tables, but those for items, spells, etc. as well. Both solutions show slightly different information, so maybe you'd like to do both. Either way there's a few more reminders/suggestions I have for you:

• It is much more important that the tables communicate visually than numerically.<>
  
• Rows that have comparable data (i.e. stats from a different release compared in the parenthsis) should stand out slightly more than those rows that do not. Perhaps a smaller font or slightly grayed-back color for the latter. <>
  
• Meaningful color should be used for the comparable data. It can simply be two colors that show higher/lower values. Gradient color coding can also be used to easily show degree of difference. For example, blue could indicate a slight increase, green a moderate increase and red a large increase. If this is the case, don't use too many colors and keep it consistent. Once our brain relates color to degree, it is very effective.<>
  
• Perhaps seperate or distinguish the content that did not appear in-game from what appears in the code for each version. Also make clear what content was included/removed (at least from in-game) from version to version. For example, "Bone Demons" have stats listed for retail and beta, but they don't spawn in retail (or beta as well?), so make this clear. Also, IIRC, incinerators were never working?<>
  [st]I am quite thankful for your site, as I like to collect anything related to Diablo, and this info will add quite a bit to my library. I just want to be able to read it a little bit better:)