Blizzard ready to make Diablo 3?

[Occhidiangela]

So here we go:

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Greetings, Fragbait
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Well, that was pretty extensive. I'll first address the "less is more" issue.

Armor and Weapons: Per the Seven Lances Mod, area determines styles available. Fewer styles and names, quality the key driver to improved AC. Any armor bought or traded requires a "cost to make it fit you" expense or you can't wear it without sacrificing some of its benefits, your own agility, etc.

Fewer types, more emphasis on weapon quality to differentiate a good one.

You can put on anything you like, no need to ID it first. That "red you can't wear it" feature was a bad idea.

Cursed items need to come back. :D Odds for a cursed affix should increase with qlvl of affix on an item. Cursed affixes would be a bonus affix, not a replacement of other generally beneficial affix. Curses by class a good idea.

Example: Ring +12 to mana and +15% faster casting rate. Curse: for Warriors only, this subtracts a 2 vitality points, or 2 dexterity points, for Amazon's only, 5% "guaranteed miss' rolled for after every successful to hit roll.

Example: Amulet +1 Assassin skills +22% Resistance to All. Curse: Necromancers lose 7% spell effectiveness in ___ skill tree, Sorceresses lose 15% effectiveness on ____ x Tree spells.

Interaction of weapons' effectiveness against various armor types is worth implementing. Mace better versus some types of armor, not others. Starcraft has a system like this for damage types, as does Warcraft III. I like it.

Weapons again. Styles emphasize a combination of speed, damage and "other attributes" and weapon quality becomes the key ingredient of variation. (Enchantments another topic.) A broadsword is a broadsword. What quality is it? "Damascus steel" and "Toledo Steel" versus less well made steel.

Golf equipment analogy: Are you playing Hogans, Pings, or some poorly balanced knockoff brand? A very skilled warrior can make any sword kill, and a finely made sword's advantage is often lost on the rookie warrior. And so on. Hence, quality and level should interact for evoke the best performance out of a weapon.

Magic. The hardest feature of a game to balance, IMO, is the tech/magic element. I have no answers on this. The key to success, IMO, in balance is how one crafts assymety, synergy, and counters. The tendency toward cheese is extremely hard to overcome.

Character avatars. I like what Guild Wars did with this. YMMV. However, in the "no embedded class attribute" approach the "how do I want to look" is a place where I'd like to see more effort.

Encumbrance. Put it in the game!

Chances for magic to be defluxxed or messed up if near certain flux fields. Gremlins are inside items, by golly, and this needs to be reflected in the game.

Example: A teleport/dimension door ring. If too close to X item or X element in weapons or armor, 5% chance teleport doesn't work, or 5% chance it takes you to other than the place you aimed for.

Uniques: One per realm, game world, etc. Period. That is what a Unique should be. One SoJ in a given realm, server, etc. This opens the door for some great thief, backstab, contextual PvP content, and NPC thieves hunting you down to steal the Unique. The quest for the Holy Grail can go on forever as the item gets used and stolen and used and stolen . . . It can be stolen by an NPC if left in a stash long enough, or if the char isn't played for "x" number of days. "There is no security." :lol:

Uniques have to be designed with extreme care. Bragging about having the only SoJ starts to be less wise, information on the whereabouts of a Unique becomes a pricey commodity.

Uniques should have some attributes that No Other item can hold, and some attributes that other items can hold. Uniques should have egos (per AD & D) that interact with a players clvl.

Rares: The general case of high end magical items should be rares. I like the way Rares in Diablo II were implemented conceptually, they tended to eclipse Uniques in variety and raw power. Garbage affixes watering down the Rares needs to go, see previous comment on chance of a curse on high end, and of item ego interacting with char.

NPC AI: reputation and faction alignment variations in WoW are a good enough idea to implement at some level in Diablo III.

I agree that MF and GF are bad ideas.

Leech should be skill based. If on an iterm, on either a unique or an extremely rare on item. This allows for meaningful ebay sales. :lol: (Sorry)

PvP and duels: Generally, if you lose the duel, your opponent gets to loot you for one, two, three or all of your items. An option to have a loot free duel switch, of course, which means consensual honor duels are also viable, whereas generally duelling can cost you everything. So long as the can carry them and your seconds don't immediately swarm him and kill him . . . This is along the theme of Encumbrance meaning something.

Yes, I know this opens the door to ganking and the need for PvP to be administered either on separate servers or via a series of flags, menues, choices.

Runes, charms and gems: good ideas, to be sure, revamp needed on how to implement them.

Crafting: a staple of RPG's. So many ways to approach this, and I'd suggest quests to find materials are a great place to use for "instanced" gaming settings.

I don't see how Diablo III won't be a pay for play. The business models keep changing in that direction.

Other concerns:

1. Diablo III has the potential to be an XBOX 360 game. The line between the PC and the gaming console is blurring. With Mac moving to Intel Dual Core . . . a convergence seems to loom.

2. The rascal in me would love to see Diablo III released "only on PsP" just for the furor that would erupt, but I suspect that won't happen. Unless Sony makes it worth Blizzard's while with a big check.

Occhi