05-10-2003, 05:40 PM
Since it seems that part of the LL's charter is analyzing the game, I figured I'd make an attempt at predicting the effects of 1.10 on gameplay. Quotes taken from the Arreat Summit.
What can everyone else infer from what we know so far?
Also, in the interview on dii.net, Flux's buddy said that monsters were speeded up (ala Seven Lances). Though I wonder how I'll manage to enlist aid in single player, I'd guess this will encourage forming parties to play through the game in higher difficulties. I worry that "more skills, greater damage" implies more one hit kills, which means the balance tips (further) away from melee characters and more towards ranged attackers.
This implies that people who are willing to severly twist gameplay are evne more favored than before in creating high level characters. I'd also read that the cow level will be much less rewarding. I worry this just means a delay until the new sweet spot is found, and then that one map will be exploited.
As someone whole replays entire acts for exp, I found that it was already taking a tedious amount of time to reach levels above 75.
From the peek at the inaccurate pages, it seems that becoming a "one trick pony" is going to be rewarded. (Is this some kind of latent envy of Sirian's firebolt-only sorceress?) I predict chaos will ensue on the realms, until the two or three thinking sites analyze the game and new cookie cutters emerge.
We'll see. Just because we haven't seen it before doesn't mean we need to see it now. I'll note my reaction to most of the mods I've played has been "Now I know why Blizzard didn't do that."
I do wish they'd added more set so that each class might have useful low, middle and high end sets.
Given the high level requirements of the new items we've seen combined with the stated experience nerf, I think the gap between "players" and "minmaxers" is going to widen.
Possible consolation for Roland, you could read this sentence as meaning that the ladder items will also drop in the client hosted games - they would be able to prevent someone from making a mod to do so anyway. It's a pity that effective use of the English language isn't one of the Blizzard webmaster's strong points.
Same "we'll see" comment as above.
Roland has already pointed out that this breaks with the back story for the druid class.
On the other hand, this also means a modder will be able to implement a "girdle of sex change" ala D&D. For example a sash that only a barbarian can wear that makes him look like a sorceress. Just imagine the stories Occhi could write with one of those in the game!
The inaccuate runewords were temendously high level. Right now I think several of runes in those recipes only drop in late hell. If rune drops are not altered significantly, this is another gap item.
This is good, depending on what they mean. It will likely encourages full clears. Are treasure classes for normal monsters boosted? Or has the affix pool been cleaned up so that monsters in Act V Hell won't drop a Ring of Craftsmanship?
This can be good and bad. It may discourage rushing, for fear of loing the uber-drop. It may discourage Meph runs, depending on how the non-uber treasure class for the boss is set up. It may bring bakc the bad old days of drop steals and encourage people to solo act bosses in private games.
I think this is good. The people who were calling for lower odds were a bunch of idiots. (We have met the enemy, and they is us.)
(arg! must run! will edit later)
-- CH
What can everyone else infer from what we know so far?
Quote:More Challenging Gameplay - Diablo II players who adventure in the Nightmare and Hell difficulty levels will experience a world in which the monsters have become more powerful and substantially harder to defeat. Players may need to develop new tactics or enlist aid from others in order to face these strengthened minions. The monster improvements include enhanced AI, more skills, greater damage, and higher resistances.
Also, in the interview on dii.net, Flux's buddy said that monsters were speeded up (ala Seven Lances). Though I wonder how I'll manage to enlist aid in single player, I'd guess this will encourage forming parties to play through the game in higher difficulties. I worry that "more skills, greater damage" implies more one hit kills, which means the balance tips (further) away from melee characters and more towards ranged attackers.
Quote:A New World - Players can expect to encounter more randomly distributed unique monsters in every locale and even a few guest monsters where players wouldn't normally expect them. In addition, characters above level 70 will require increasingly more playtime in order to gain levels.
This implies that people who are willing to severly twist gameplay are evne more favored than before in creating high level characters. I'd also read that the cow level will be much less rewarding. I worry this just means a delay until the new sweet spot is found, and then that one map will be exploited.
As someone whole replays entire acts for exp, I found that it was already taking a tedious amount of time to reach levels above 75.
Quote:Enhanced Skills - The skills of each player-character class have been thoroughly revised. On top of that, a new system of "synergies" has been added to each character's skill set. Allotting a point to certain skills will result in synergy bonuses to one or more of that character's corresponding skills. After the patch is released, visit The Arreat Summit for more details.
From the peek at the inaccurate pages, it seems that becoming a "one trick pony" is going to be rewarded. (Is this some kind of latent envy of Sirian's firebolt-only sorceress?) I predict chaos will ensue on the realms, until the two or three thinking sites analyze the game and new cookie cutters emerge.
Quote:Enhanced Class-Specific Sets - The class-specific sets in Diablo II: Lord of Destruction have been significantly improved - some with abilities never before seen in the game.
We'll see. Just because we haven't seen it before doesn't mean we need to see it now. I'll note my reaction to most of the mods I've played has been "Now I know why Blizzard didn't do that."
I do wish they'd added more set so that each class might have useful low, middle and high end sets.
Quote:New Unique Items - Around 100 new unique items have been added to the world (many being elite uniques), some of which can be found only in either single-player, TCP/IP, and Open games or in 1.10 Ladder games.
Given the high level requirements of the new items we've seen combined with the stated experience nerf, I think the gap between "players" and "minmaxers" is going to widen.
Possible consolation for Roland, you could read this sentence as meaning that the ladder items will also drop in the client hosted games - they would be able to prevent someone from making a mod to do so anyway. It's a pity that effective use of the English language isn't one of the Blizzard webmaster's strong points.
Quote:New Unique Item Properties - Some of the all-new unique item properties introduce entirely new twists to the world of Diablo II. Imagine a Barbarian who can shape-shift into a Werewolf.
Same "we'll see" comment as above.
Roland has already pointed out that this breaks with the back story for the druid class.
On the other hand, this also means a modder will be able to implement a "girdle of sex change" ala D&D. For example a sash that only a barbarian can wear that makes him look like a sorceress. Just imagine the stories Occhi could write with one of those in the game!
Quote:New Rune Words and Horadric Cube Recipes - The patch will introduce new Rune Words and new Horadric Cube recipes. Some Horadric Cube recipes will work only in either single-player, TCP/IP, and Open games or in 1.10 Ladder games.
The inaccuate runewords were temendously high level. Right now I think several of runes in those recipes only drop in late hell. If rune drops are not altered significantly, this is another gap item.
Quote:Improved Treasure Drops - The quality of items dropped by regular monsters has been greatly increased.
This is good, depending on what they mean. It will likely encourages full clears. Are treasure classes for normal monsters boosted? Or has the affix pool been cleaned up so that monsters in Act V Hell won't drop a Ring of Craftsmanship?
Quote:Improved Quest Rewards - The first time a player defeats an Act-ending boss monster, the creature will yield significantly better treasure than in subsequent encounters. Some of the other quest rewards have been improved as well.
This can be good and bad. It may discourage rushing, for fear of loing the uber-drop. It may discourage Meph runs, depending on how the non-uber treasure class for the boss is set up. It may bring bakc the bad old days of drop steals and encourage people to solo act bosses in private games.
Quote:Better Gambling Odds - The average quality of items won via gambling has been improved.
I think this is good. The people who were calling for lower odds were a bunch of idiots. (We have met the enemy, and they is us.)
(arg! must run! will edit later)
-- CH