I posted this in General on Bnet, but it moves too fast for responses. Obviously if I posted on this forum originally, I could forego explaining how long I've been a Diablo fan....
Don't get me wrong, I am still enjoying the game. However, as it is right now, I can not possibly see myself playing it for years like I played D1 and D2.
First off, this assumes that there will be content patches BEFORE the expansion. If there are none, the game is sunk.
This does not include a PVP patch, as that is assumed in the first place.
1. The game needs to be opened up. None of this follow the quest chains in order for the next area to be available. It needs to be a much more opened world, where all you need to do to progress to the next act is to kill the end boss. Yes, like in D2.
2. The gold AH. I don't care about the RMAH. However, the gold AH is defeating Diablo 3's biggest purpose.
That purpose is to look for loot. It takes 10 minutes to find an item on the AH that would normally take weeks or months to find by just killing things.
Item hunting is one of the two most important reasons why D1 and D2 were so popular, the other being smashing mobs. Those two are combined nicely when item hunting. If there is no incentive to item hunt, there is no incentive to kill things. Hunting the AH.... not so addictive.
We all know that the AH is here to stay. Therefore, what needs to be done is something like this:
When the new series of Legendaries and Sets come out (and they will, just like they did in D2), they should not be buyable through the AH.
The AH should just exist for Blues/Rares and base legendaries that are available now. That way you could use the AH to gear up just enough to be able to go out hunting for the REAL treasure.
Those of us who played D2 from the beginning before LOD, remember that Unique and set items for Exceptionals and Elites did not exist before LOD. In fact Elite items of
any type did not exist before LOD.
It is imperative that the BEST items in the game are not buyable off the gold AH. RMAH - this is how Blizz expects to make some money, so there is nothing we can do about that. But the gold AH needs to be prohibitive.
3. Bnet chat rooms need to be redesigned and recreated. What we have now is a WOW inteface, however in WOW you are already surrounded by people, so this is fine.
In Diablo, the present Bnet interface is stifling and gives you a feeling of being isolated from the community, like you are playing SP instead of MP.
Community is one of the biggest reasons why D2 had so much staying power. This is very important.
4. Public games need to be more easily accessable. Period.
5. Runes/runewords/jewels/charms. Yes, they are all from D2. Yes, we need some. As is, the items in the game are too plain. 12 years have spoiled gamers. We expect more than we did when D2 came out.
That's just some basic thoughts. There are more issues, of course. This does not take into account the numerous tech problems still plagueing the game. This does not address class balance or game difficulty.
I am 100% sure that Blizzard is planning to implement lots of new features when the x-pack comes out. Maybe some old, maybe some new.
My point is that these need to be implemented WAY BEFORE the expansion, or by the time it comes out, not many will care. When D2 came out, it was revolutionary. Every feature was either new or different.
Well, D3 came out, and none of it's features are anything special or new or different.
Lots of games have similar features. Let's face it, this is D2, stripped down, with an AH and with better graphics.
I am as big a fan of the Diablo series as you can find, and I know that without big changes, this game will be in trouble soon.
2-3 months tops.
I don't want this to happen.
Don't get me wrong, I am still enjoying the game. However, as it is right now, I can not possibly see myself playing it for years like I played D1 and D2.
First off, this assumes that there will be content patches BEFORE the expansion. If there are none, the game is sunk.
This does not include a PVP patch, as that is assumed in the first place.
1. The game needs to be opened up. None of this follow the quest chains in order for the next area to be available. It needs to be a much more opened world, where all you need to do to progress to the next act is to kill the end boss. Yes, like in D2.
2. The gold AH. I don't care about the RMAH. However, the gold AH is defeating Diablo 3's biggest purpose.
That purpose is to look for loot. It takes 10 minutes to find an item on the AH that would normally take weeks or months to find by just killing things.
Item hunting is one of the two most important reasons why D1 and D2 were so popular, the other being smashing mobs. Those two are combined nicely when item hunting. If there is no incentive to item hunt, there is no incentive to kill things. Hunting the AH.... not so addictive.
We all know that the AH is here to stay. Therefore, what needs to be done is something like this:
When the new series of Legendaries and Sets come out (and they will, just like they did in D2), they should not be buyable through the AH.
The AH should just exist for Blues/Rares and base legendaries that are available now. That way you could use the AH to gear up just enough to be able to go out hunting for the REAL treasure.
Those of us who played D2 from the beginning before LOD, remember that Unique and set items for Exceptionals and Elites did not exist before LOD. In fact Elite items of
any type did not exist before LOD.
It is imperative that the BEST items in the game are not buyable off the gold AH. RMAH - this is how Blizz expects to make some money, so there is nothing we can do about that. But the gold AH needs to be prohibitive.
3. Bnet chat rooms need to be redesigned and recreated. What we have now is a WOW inteface, however in WOW you are already surrounded by people, so this is fine.
In Diablo, the present Bnet interface is stifling and gives you a feeling of being isolated from the community, like you are playing SP instead of MP.
Community is one of the biggest reasons why D2 had so much staying power. This is very important.
4. Public games need to be more easily accessable. Period.
5. Runes/runewords/jewels/charms. Yes, they are all from D2. Yes, we need some. As is, the items in the game are too plain. 12 years have spoiled gamers. We expect more than we did when D2 came out.
That's just some basic thoughts. There are more issues, of course. This does not take into account the numerous tech problems still plagueing the game. This does not address class balance or game difficulty.
I am 100% sure that Blizzard is planning to implement lots of new features when the x-pack comes out. Maybe some old, maybe some new.
My point is that these need to be implemented WAY BEFORE the expansion, or by the time it comes out, not many will care. When D2 came out, it was revolutionary. Every feature was either new or different.
Well, D3 came out, and none of it's features are anything special or new or different.
Lots of games have similar features. Let's face it, this is D2, stripped down, with an AH and with better graphics.
I am as big a fan of the Diablo series as you can find, and I know that without big changes, this game will be in trouble soon.
2-3 months tops.
I don't want this to happen.