The Pace of the Game

[Archon_Wing]

At the moment, I'm almost about to quit unless 1.04 can make a change around. Thus, this is my last train of thought in an attempt to post constructive criticism because I believe there's still a non-zero chance to please the disgruntled people.

As I've posted before in my previous thread, that simply making loot drop better will not change things. We don't want the Diablo 2 item system either. You know those ridiculous runewords that can't be made without cheating? No thanks. Diablo 2 also dropped crap, but just happened to have more usable crap with a greater longevity.

The main thing about Diablo 3 I feel is that that the rush isn't strong enough in this game. We want to get the adrenaline pumping; it's a video game. Diablo 1 was a slowpaced game since you moved so slow, and packs were small, but everything was so frightening so that you were willing to take every step carefully. The tension was consistent. Diablo 2 was on a larger scale, where you dropped tons of monsters at the same time, and people loved it! The action was consistent. See what I'm getting at? Diablo 1 and 2 always set a certain pace that fit well with the atmosphere. It always got more crazier and hectic as you spiraled down into hell, but the gameplay remained solid and consistent.

So we must address the pace breakers: things that remove your control of the game and the potion cooldown. The reason why Diablo 1 and Diablo 2 could keep up the constant stream of action since you could charge into battles and gulp down those potions. But it's evident that unrestricted potion using made the game too easy.

All control imparing mechanisms should be telegraphed ala Diablo's bone prison. That way, if you get hit by it, you have nothing to blame but yourself. This means long cooldowns for boss abilities, and a casting delay that can be interrupted by hitting them hard enough.

I've already highlighted some suggestions in another thread. Vortex could create actual vortexes that suck you toward them. Jailer could create a forced arena with you and the boss. Invulnerable Minions should be ethereal. Actually, wouldn't it be fun if it were changed to "elite minions"-- yes, a unique monster leading an elite pack worth 2 valors? Sick, deadly, scary, yet beatable if we followed these changes.

In addition, monsters should stick to a certain area. They should not follow you halfway across the map to be picked off. This also allows the player some retreating room, but also harder to zerg a single member.

But Archon, that would make the game too easy! Which is why I think monster base stats should be buffed a bit. This way the threat is consistent and there's always something to do.

Now, let's talk about potions. Potion cooldown is not a bad idea, but the long ones in this game encourage a lot of running away while it comes back. This is one of the other things that causes lulls in the action. In my view, potions should have about half the cooldown they have right now, but in exchange are about 20% weaker and are more expensive to buy. Example: Mythic heals for for 9500 but costs 900 gold now.

Suddenly, you might see people trying to find those half priced vendors and O_O let's allow potion sales on the AH.

Speaking of stuff in a bottle, why do we only have only healing potions? What happened to those amusing grenade potions? Diablo 1 had disposable scrolls that acted like one use spells. Something like that on a cooldown would make for a wonderful commodity.

I think the stamina potion could use a comeback. There's no stamina in D3, so instead these potions increase your movement speed briefly. Once again, this is an item that would speed up the pace and decrease boredom, as we don't really move that fast in D3. If one wants to go out, let it be with a bang and not a whimper.

This isn't about making Diablo 3 more like its previous incarnations. But sometimes you don't want to reinvent the wheel. The goal is to have a game where the player's fate is within their own hands and said fate is worth caring about.

I'll just stick for that with now. We could get into the loot for now, but that's something that's been talked about too much, and suits the other thread better anyways. Feel free to post your own suggestions and ignore mine, or comment on mine.