Diablo III is for real

[Wyrm]

Hardcore or softcore? East or West?

Occhi

East, Softcore

I'll play HC (and used to almost exclusively before I stopped) eventually but figured I should start with SC since I haven't played in about 3 years or so (aka the length of time Guild Wars has been out). At some point I intend to go for Kingship on a Paladin.

[Zarathustra]

We had some great Lurker action on the "Friends of Blizzard" list, testing things out back in the day.

I remember a few of us managed to fill the town of Lut Golein with purple pots, carpetting the entire map with them... but for the life of me I can't remember all the names who were in on that one. =o)

I really wouldn't mind an encore.

[Occhidiangela]

We had some great Lurker action on the "Friends of Blizzard" list, testing things out back in the day.

I remember a few of us managed to fill the town of Lut Golein with purple pots, carpetting the entire map with them... but for the life of me I can't remember all the names who were in on that one. =o)

I really wouldn't mind an encore.

LoD beta test, right? IIRC, I was there earlier in the night, but was logged off before the purple passion happened in Lut Gholein.

See you in town. :D

Occhi

[TheKingofKewl]

Thanks for the article, I'm going to check it out now. Have a good weekend.

I would enjoy the assassin "ninja" being able to mostly stay shadowy/invisible to others unless attacking. Witch doctor is probably one of the new classes, and I expect there may be a few more new "hybrid" classes. I also expect the return of the reworked traditional necromancer, druid, amazon, sorceress, and paladin. You could look to the mythos to get some insight as well. Perhaps an "Iron Wolf" type class that blends fighter/mage, or maybe like the act two merc which combines paladin/polearm fighter.

P.S. Here is an article reporting from Worldwide Invitational 2008 where Leonard Boyarsky, Brian Morrisroe and Jay Wilson talk about character class creation in DIII.

[Occhidiangela]

Thanks for the article, I'm going to check it out now. Have a good weekend.

I am feeling a bit maudlin at the moment, but I fear that I won't be able to enjoy Diablo III with Sirian, who, all rhetoric and forum posting fun and games aside (the rules are the final arbiter, and no, this is not Starcraft) is a great deal of fun to game with.

:(

Occhi

[Roland]

I am feeling a bit maudlin at the moment, but I fear that I won't be able to enjoy Diablo III with Sirian, who, all rhetoric and forum posting fun and games aside (the rules are the final arbiter, and no, this is not Starcraft) is a great deal of fun to game with.

:(

Occhi

Has he moved on from our friendly shores? I know I haven't seen his face around RB in a long time, but then I hardly do more than lurk there anyway... Pity, thinking of him, his stories, and his exploits has been invoking a desire to play Diablo II once more, like it was in the glory days.

Mayhap I shall finally be able to game with you again, come Diablo III. I look forward to seeing many old faces.

[Griselda]

I've heard from Sirian within the last few months, so he may not be as far gone as he seems.

Unless you've heard otherwise, I guess. Last I heard, he was enjoying WoW. :lol:

[DeeBye]

the rules are the final arbiter

I'm pretty sure it was 'The code is the final arbiter".

[Pantalaimon]

Pity, thinking of him, his stories, and his exploits has been invoking a desire to play Diablo II once more, like it was in the glory days.

Haha, the first thing I did when I heard D3 was coming out was re-read, for the umpteenth time, the story of Softcore Wussie.

*sigh* Such a fanboy :whistling:

[Occhidiangela]

I'm pretty sure it was 'The code is the final arbiter".

Indeed it was.:)

[roguebanshee]

An interview as to why they aren't going to follow the fans' ideas on how D3 should look, includes comments on a bunch of "How it looks/How (particular fan thinks) it should look" pictures.

Quick summary:
1) You'd be hard pressed to distinguish enemies (and sometimes allies from enemies) to prioritise targets
2) What's possible in Photoshop is not always easy or fast to do in a real time 3D engine
3) The environments would become more monotonous than the jungle part of Act 3 in D2.

[--Pete]

Hi,

. . . why they aren't going to follow the fans' ideas on how D3 should look, . . .

After reading the interview and rinsing out my mouth to get the bad taste out, I mentally summarized what they said. I came up with two points: "Your suggestions are stupid because we don't know how to implement them.", and "We're Blizzard, you're not. We're geniuses, you're morons. Send us your money and take what we give you."

Ah, well, the more things change . . .

--Pete

[kandrathe]

An interview as to why they aren't going to follow the fans' ideas on how D3 should look, includes comments on a bunch of "How it looks/How (particular fan thinks) it should look" pictures.

Quick summary:
1) You'd be hard pressed to distinguish enemies (and sometimes allies from enemies) to prioritise targets
2) What's possible in Photoshop is not always easy or fast to do in a real time 3D engine
3) The environments would become more monotonous than the jungle part of Act 3 in D2.

I think Wilson has good points. Also, we should trust the Game Designers to design the game. If they want some areas to be less threatening and lighted sunny, bright and with rainbows, then it only adds to the darkness and malevolence of the darker areas. I can think of HL2 for example, on the beaches in the buggy fighting bugs is very different from Ravenholm. It adds another dimension and source of drama to the game.

[Quark]

Penny Arcade has their take on it as today's comic.

[Wyrm]

It's official, the art style won't be changing.

http://www.rpgfan.com/news/2008/1337.html

[Mordekhuul]

It's official, the art style won't be changing.

http://www.rpgfan.com/news/2008/1337.html

Also, the blog associated with today's PA comic has a link to this article that explains some of their reasoning.

[FoxBat]

Many people voiced complaint about bright colors, the altered screenshots focused on that, and thats what they chose to respond to. I've already said the colors aren't an issue for me, and I have to wonder how many people who are irked by the art are aware of what is actually bothering them.

Something like Titan Quest would be fine as a 3D realization. Most environs are bright, dungeons aren't dark enough to obscure anything and yet light radius remains for the flavor, enemies range from semi-realistic to slightly cartoony, theres no problem figuring out what is going on. D3 has conciously chosen a non-photorealistic, stylized look that they acknowledge shares some inspiration from Warcraft, between the exaggerated proportions and smooth textures with minimal depth. In this series thats about as immersion killing as laser guns. But then this team is cut from the Warcraft cloth and not B. North.

That said I don't fault them for ignoring their fans. They're in a position where they can make it look however they want and still sell it, so they will stick with what they enjoy doing. It's just too bad that Schafer & co went and sunk their fortunes in HG:L and left Warcrafters to write the next in this IP's line. On the other hand, that probably means we will get sturdier coding and better balance, which matters more in the end.

[Occhidiangela]

That said I don't fault them for ignoring their fans. They're in a position where they can make it look however they want and still sell it, so they will stick with what they enjoy doing. It's just too bad that Schafer & co went and sunk their fortunes in HG:L and left Warcrafters to write the next in this IP's line. On the other hand, that probably means we will get sturdier coding and better balance, which matters more in the end.

Good points Foxbat, which fits nicely with this line from Wilson:

We wanted an art style that really feels like Blizzard

Blizzard North was a different look and feel.

Occhi

[Elric of Grans]

I think it is way too early to get overly worried about things. For all we know, this visual style may feel appropriate after we play the game for five minutes. Heck, it could end up looking different in play on our systems in two years time compared to what we see there! I seem to recall people voicing similar complaints about Diablo II before it was released, and I do believe most of us have a black spot in our memories around that time where several years seemed to just go up in a puff of smoke. Yes, these screen shots do look far more vastly removed from Diablo II than it looked from Diablo, and I bet the same will be true for how it `feels' in play, but we may as well be complaining about the design of the shuttle for the first manned flight to Mars. It may suck now, but by the time is actually matters it will probably suck a lot less and we may find we enjoy it. I know I am yet to play a bad Blizzard game (though I did not touch World of Warcraft, so I cannot comment on it), so I remain optimistic for the moment.

[Occhidiangela]

I think it is way too early to get overly worried about things. For all we know, this visual style may feel appropriate after we play the game for five minutes. Heck, it could end up looking different in play on our systems in two years time compared to what we see there! I seem to recall people voicing similar complaints about Diablo II before it was released, and I do believe most of us have a black spot in our memories around that time where several years seemed to just go up in a puff of smoke. Yes, these screen shots do look far more vastly removed from Diablo II than it looked from Diablo, and I bet the same will be true for how it `feels' in play, but we may as well be complaining about the design of the shuttle for the first manned flight to Mars. It may suck now, but by the time is actually matters it will probably suck a lot less and we may find we enjoy it. I know I am yet to play a bad Blizzard game (though I did not touch World of Warcraft, so I cannot comment on it), so I remain optimistic for the moment.

I just got a nostalgia rush. I'll go and wash it down with a Guinness. So good to "see" you, Elric. :)

Occhi