10-25-2006, 11:13 PM
Quote:Yup. TQ dropped an enormous number and variety of items, but almost without exception (the very occasional set item) I found the contents of majestic chest after magestic chest to be useless for anything except selling, and even that became pointless after a while given how easy it was to accumulate gold. You could buy better, though hardly overwheleming, items (along the lines of good blue items in DII) with a few trips to a merchant. For instance, as an archer, I never found a single bow drop the whole time I played the game (up to nearly the end of epic) that I was remotely tempted to use. I simply upgraded my bow at merchants as they sold better base types. Also (with perhaps a slight degree of exaggeration, I could hardly tell any difference in the quality of the drops at clvl 1 and 15, or between clvl 30 and 45, which seems very strange.
A similar effect can be achieved in Diablo II by actually shopping at merchants. It's just that next to no one does this, so progressively better (but still terrible) weapon drops are picked up until the usable one comes along. Perhaps not as strong, but the effect is definitely still there.
The only real way to prevent this is to either
-make everything usable
-provide a large-scale customization/upgrade system
For the first example, I'm afraid I have to point again to Guild Wars, as my modern game-ology is fairly limited. Items are so unimportant to the game that one can basically equip some random piece of junk found maybe 20% through and use it through the end. The other route is to make obscenely powerful items common, which doesn't seem to work very well unless the enemies have a scaling factor the likes of which I've never seen. Balance is difficult. I wouldn't be too hard on the programmers for not getting there, especially if you have to factor in some randomization.
Quote:I agree entirely. One big advantage of randomized environments is that they can be much more condensed and nonlinear than the huge linear expanses typically required for pre-generated maps , which enhances the game-play . DI was a prime example. Maybe in part because of their eagerness to include outdoor areas, Bliz lost quite a bit of that in DII.
The Act III jungles are the worst, but did Act 1 really need every one of those fields, Act II all those deserts (would anyone miss the Roscky Wastes), or Act IV those plateaus (I doubt that 95% of the b.net population even knows that the Arreat Plateau exists, never mind the Pit of Acheron, except perhaps as a waypoint they might get from someone else to complete the set)? And much as I like the glacial trial and ancients way, are they both essential, not to mention the separate jail and catacomb levels in Act I?
Interestingly enough, most of my favorite (so far as I can extend the term to Diablo II) areas are off the beaten path, and utterly unnecessary. I LOVE the Pit of Acheron. Decently hard enemies (as compared to the Arreat Plateau above it). Higher level enemies, so experience and drops are better. Perhaps best of all, it IS off the beaten path, so all of the idiots who refuse to stop spamming you party invites until you join can't find you while you're down there milking experience in large games.
--me