10 years of diablo

[GriffonSpade]

this next year, 2006, diablo will be having his 10th birthday.  i think its an important date, for many reasons. having said that, shouldnt we, as a community, or even blizzard do something about it?

do what about it, you say? well i dont know, do a week full of tournaments on b.net, in game celebrations w/e.
(on blizz part, an patch would be a real good 'birthday present' [i really dont believe they´ll do it])

i wish to know how you guys feel about the ideia..(and please, give more ideias)

thanks for you time.
D.
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Hah, what I'd like to see is a full synchro patch, fix all the little bugs that are scurrying around everywhere, that seem like they would be rather easy to fix, allow all of the uniques to be found and NOT morph, prevent impossible things from transmitting/receiving(such as damage that isnt actually possible), some way to block crashers, and...a message log! (worst part about diablo 1 is the lack of a message log. Take a drink, and by the time you turn back the text is just disappearing and you're like nooooo whatd you say?)

Edit: Some way to reverse Black Death Max HP damage would be nice too

[[vL]Kp]

Hah, what I'd like to see is a full synchro patch, fix all the little bugs that are scurrying around everywhere, that seem like they would be rather easy to fix, allow all of the uniques to be found and NOT morph, prevent impossible things from transmitting/receiving(such as damage that isnt actually possible), some way to block crashers, and...a message log! (worst part about diablo 1 is the lack of a message log. Take a drink, and by the time you turn back the text is just disappearing and you're like nooooo whatd you say?)

Edit: Some way to reverse Black Death Max HP damage would be nice too
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Changing unique generation would likely cause morphing of existing items, and is therefore undesirable. Blocking crashes is as simple as performing correct validation of input from the network. A message log can be easily implemented by blocking the game from clearing stale messages. Full synchronization is not possible without some underyling changes which would have undesirable effects. Specifically, if activity is synchronized, then your character cannot change state until everyone is ready to see it change state. Hope you didn't *really* need to cast Teleport immediately... :)

[Toverkol]

who needs the quest log anyway, or a message log in sp for that matter.

[Force]

I just want Blizzard to make a patch to eliminate dupin (period), make hackin somehow a lot more harder (or better yet, impossible, although I doubt this can be possible), and make the Lightforge (for some reason, this mace looks interestin to me) a possible item drop (although it should be rare) in multiplayer. It can drop on rare occasioans in single player, but it morphs into another item when you start a new game; Blizzard should fix that, too. Also, it would be interestin if they actually added one new monster each in the Church, Cats, Caves and Hell from some of the unused monster files.

[GriffonSpade]

I just want Blizzard to make a patch to eliminate dupin (period), make hackin somehow a lot more harder (or better yet, impossible, although I doubt this can be possible), and make the Lightforge (for some reason, this mace looks interestin to me) a possible item drop (although it should be rare) in multiplayer. It can drop on rare occasioans in single player, but it morphs into another item when you start a new game; Blizzard should fix that, too. Also, it would be interestin if they actually added one new monster each in the Church, Cats, Caves and Hell from some of the unused monster files.
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Wishlist
1) Make acquirable uniques not morph
2) Fix monster stat bugs(diablo's hit%, super uniques not gaining item levels for nightmare and hell, Flayed one's getting the strong secondary attack, and toad demons getting the same as overlords and mud demons, etc)
3) Add Quest Unique monsters into multiplayer, maybe even with a small chance of dropping their associated quest item?
4) Manual screen text clearing option
5) Hitting/Getting Hit PvP synchronized
6) Occasional resynchronization of other people on your screen(every time they take a step maybe?)
7) Input validation from Bnet(as simple as preventing corrupted data, killing people with heal other or ressurect, & editing other people, or as complex as preventing impossible damage levels and the like)
8) A way to reverse or nullify black death max hp damage
9) Balance warriors and rogues with sorcerers(maybe just give them a doubled bonus to HP from vitality?)
10) Remove or provide a way to nullify those stinkin ornate, sacred, and fascinating shrines(Along with #8, maybe add a shrine(s) that resets max mp &/or hp?)!

[NatNit]

I know this is a wishlist and all, but to provide my 2 cents (mostly opinion).

@ Force:
You can try to fix hacking and cheating all you want, but as long as Blizzard D1 servers have "open" characters, duping is more or less impossible to avoid.

@ Griffon:
I (personally) don't see any validity in points 8 or 10. Diablo 1 (most obvious when compared to Diablo 2) has means by which you can alter your character permanently. With enough time, you make any item indestructible (or close enough), and you can have a level 1 character with maxed stats.

I think it's fair enough to ask that players try hard to avoid the hazardously yellow BDs, and to not touch any of the FOS shrines. Just my thoughts though. :)

--NatNit

[GriffonSpade]

I know this is a wishlist and all, but to provide my 2 cents (mostly opinion).

@ Griffon:
I (personally) don't see any validity in points 8 or 10. Diablo 1 (most obvious when compared to Diablo 2) has means by which you can alter your character permanently. With enough time, you make any item indestructible (or close enough), and you can have a level 1 character with maxed stats.

I think it's fair enough to ask that players try hard to avoid the hazardously yellow BDs, and to not touch any of the FOS shrines. Just my thoughts though. :)

--NatNit
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Hah, maybe they should give some monster a point of permanent max mana damage too? Just to be fair of course ;)

I just find it a bit annoying that your character can be permanently fubared with no hope of ever getting it back to normal. Wouldn't be so bad if there was a way to get it back, no matter how small the chance or risk(I'd definately be willing to lose another 20% mana if i had a chance to get my original amount back. The fact that the most dangerous monster in the game is a zombie on level 3 is a bit odd to me too. Something with THIS level of impact should be something roaming down around level 15 or 16.

[Toverkol]

problem with getting such stuff 'back' is that there will come a way to gain them, and people will be searching fro those increases in hp and mana%'s all the time...


my wishlist wouldn't be very great, apart from that message log.
What i would very much like however, is some added stuff, like the mentioned new monster per tileset, or rather yet, extra unique monsters. And what i'd like most then is unique packs a la the blood star goats, hidden overlords, fast spit terrors, etc. The only things that caves and hell have now are unique monsters with resist all, in contradiction with their pack (like rustweaver).
The second thing i'd like is that there would be more reward for playing on NM or Hell difficulties (or less for normal), right now you'd only do that for xp, dots and a little bit increase in base item drops. I'd love some altering of the droppable mlvl, so a hell advocate can drop better than a normal advocate. Gives me reason to go there, instead of chaining my way trough normal in seconds because the item drops are pretty much the same.

[[vL]Kp]

I just want Blizzard to make a patch to eliminate dupin (period)
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Fixing the duplication bug is very easy. Zed did it for his v1.07 mod. I think Z&Z ported it to Hellfire: The Dark. I have it for v1.09.

make hackin somehow a lot more harder (or better yet, impossible, although I doubt this can be possible)
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Unrealistic. As long as the players get to run Diablo on their own systems, they can cheat. Live with it, and play only with those you trust.

Also, it would be interestin if they actually added one new monster each in the Church, Cats, Caves and Hell from some of the unused monster files.
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Most mods do this, to varying extents.

[[vL]Kp]

2) Fix monster stat bugs(diablo's hit%, super uniques not gaining item levels for nightmare and hell, Flayed one's getting the strong secondary attack, and toad demons getting the same as overlords and mud demons, etc)

Easy enough. It's best fixed by rewriting the combat routines, and a few tweaks to the monster stat table.

3) Add Quest Unique monsters into multiplayer, maybe even with a small chance of dropping their associated quest item?

As I've explained before, this is very unwise. Quests don't synchronize well across systems, and quest uniques are generally very powerful for the time at which you get them.

4) Manual screen text clearing option

Neat idea. A five minute hack, most of which is spent adding the new keybinding to request the clear.

5) Hitting/Getting Hit PvP synchronized

This is difficult. It's mostly the fault of the general lack of synchronization about monster positions. If all players agreed where the monsters were, there'd be very few mis-aimed projectiles. Getting melee right is even worse, since the reaction needs to be immediate. This goes back to my earlier post about how hard it would be to make the game fully synchronized (and the responsiveness consequences that entails).

6) Occasional resynchronization of other people on your screen(every time they take a step maybe?)

Player positions are synchronized pretty regularly already, although there's perhaps not as much warp-synchronizing as there could be.

7) Input validation from Bnet(as simple as preventing corrupted data, killing people with heal other or ressurect, & editing other people, or as complex as preventing impossible damage levels and the like)

Although worthwhile, this is extremely difficult due to the sheer complexity of the Diablo in-game protocol. Every single message handler needs to be checked and probably rewritten.

8) A way to reverse or nullify black death max hp damage
10) Remove or provide a way to nullify those stinkin ornate, sacred, and fascinating shrines(Along with #8, maybe add a shrine(s) that resets max mp &/or hp?)!

This should be relatively easy, once you bind some event to trigger the fix.

9) Balance warriors and rogues with sorcerers(maybe just give them a doubled bonus to HP from vitality?)
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Warriors already get more HP from vitality...

[[vL]Kp]

@ Force:
You can try to fix hacking and cheating all you want, but as long as Blizzard D1 servers have "open" characters, duping is more or less impossible to avoid.

True, but it can be made more difficult. In particular, it's very nice to have the traditional item duplication method (where one item is exchanged for another) blocked. I don't cheat, and I still value having this fixed just so I don't convert potions into gold, weapons into potions, etc. :)

@ Griffon:
I think it's fair enough to ask that players try hard to avoid the hazardously yellow BDs, and to not touch any of the FOS shrines. Just my thoughts though. :)
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Agreed. However, Cauldrons and Goat Shrines can also roll FOS shrines. This makes them essentially forbidden to any non-throwaway character. If people only got FOS shrines when they intended to get them, it'd be quite different. :)

[[vL]Kp]

problem with getting such stuff 'back' is that there will come a way to gain them, and people will be searching fro those increases in hp and mana%'s all the time...

This could be prevented. There are well known formulas for the life/mana that you should have, given your character level, statistics, and items. Such a "recovery" event could cap the returned values at what you should have, so that you can recover life lost to Black Deaths, but you can never go above the life you would have had you never met the Black Deaths in the first place. The same principle applies to mana.

What i would very much like however, is some added stuff, like the mentioned new monster per tileset, or rather yet, extra unique monsters. And what i'd like most then is unique packs a la the blood star goats, hidden overlords, fast spit terrors, etc. The only things that caves and hell have now are unique monsters with resist all, in contradiction with their pack (like rustweaver).

You should play more mods and less Classic. :)

The second thing i'd like is that there would be more reward for playing on NM or Hell difficulties (or less for normal), right now you'd only do that for xp, dots and a little bit increase in base item drops. I'd love some altering of the droppable mlvl, so a hell advocate can drop better than a normal advocate. Gives me reason to go there, instead of chaining my way trough normal in seconds because the item drops are pretty much the same.
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Playing in dangerous areas should be its own reward. There's really no risk associated with Normal/Hell for high level characters, since they so outrank the monsters that they can win naked. On the other hand, it's possible for even a high level character to get in trouble in Hell/Hell, since monster damage outstrips maximum character level and thus you can get stunned if you don't have some form of gear to back you up (or a buddy to save you).

[GriffonSpade]

Kp,Apr 15 2006, 12:02 PM]Easy enough.  It's best fixed by rewriting the combat routines, and a few tweaks to the monster stat table.
As I've explained before, this is very unwise.  Quests don't synchronize well across systems, and quest uniques are generally very powerful for the time at which you get them.
Neat idea.  A five minute hack, most of which is spent adding the new keybinding to request the clear.
This is difficult.  It's mostly the fault of the general lack of synchronization about monster positions.  If all players agreed where the monsters were, there'd be very few mis-aimed projectiles.  Getting melee right is even worse, since the reaction needs to be immediate.  This goes back to my earlier post about how hard it would be to make the game fully synchronized (and the responsiveness consequences that entails).
Player positions are synchronized pretty regularly already, although there's perhaps not as much warp-synchronizing as there could be.
Although worthwhile, this is extremely difficult due to the sheer complexity of the Diablo in-game protocol.  Every single message handler needs to be checked and probably rewritten.
This should be relatively easy, once you bind some event to trigger the fix.
Warriors already get more HP from vitality...
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No, not the quests themselves, just the unique monsters that are in them spawned on the regular dungeon level to provide more flavor, the dropping their quest item was just a thought



Honestly I'm not 100% sure how it is currently synchronized, but this is how I'd like it to be personally.

Is it not possible to simply have it show a reaction without actually affecting stats, and then they send the stats back whenever they ping back?

Example 1:
Warrior attacks Rogue, and his hit check fails so the rogue does not enter hit recovery on the warrior's screen
Rogue's check has her getting hit, losing hit points, and going into hit recovery
Warrior then sees the rogue lose hitpoints, despite seemingly not being hit, but noticably stopped attacking and walking for a moment.

Why does it have to be immediate at all? Is it possible to make PvP impact simply not trigger showing hit recovery or block on attack, and simply have the target go "ah" every time you get a successful swing(hit, miss, or block)?


Example 2:
Warrior attacks rogue, and range check passes, rogue makes "ah" sound, no hit recovery is yet shown
Rogue receives and applies attack, hitting her shield, causing her to go into block
Warrior sees rogue go into block


(Side thought, seeing other players go into attack, hit recovery, or block always done in minimal number of frames possible)

Yah, more warp-synchro would be very nice
Yah, but what is that vitality(90 * 2?) compared to a sorcerer's magic(250 * 2?) who can rapid fire kill most monsters from a great distance en masse, and when they cant can still use golem and stone curse easily, compared to a warrior who has to chase everything around, get up in their face, and kill them 1 at a time.
This would give them the equivalent of 360 hp(sorcerers get -1/3 damage from mana shield correct? this essentially gives them 750 hp from magic! Still nearly double the new amount a warrior would have! Though this is balanced due to them needing this for offense as well...warriors ARE supposed to be the ones able to absorb damage, right?)
I doubt the rogues getting more hp makes much of a difference, as it doesnt provide much advantage to those who use mana shield.
Maybe it would allow the poor warriors to survive a couple fireballs in the arse as well :P

PS Toverkol, its would be +25%/-20%, since to gain back what you lose from 20% you would need 25%(1 * .8 * 1.25 = 1) :P
Edit: Perhaps even change the FOS shrine effects themselves, having them each have 50% chance to do what they originally do, and 50% chance(only if you actually have any spells!) to give +25% current max mana(up to normal max) and +25% current max hp(up to normal max), at the cost of X levels in a random spellX-was originally thinking 2, but could maybe make it costly to get this back, and make it 5

[Force]

I just realized how much harder and scarier Diablo would be if his To Hit was actually what it was meant to be (340%)..

Also, about the Unique Monsters and Quest Items thing, it would make the game somewhat uninterestin in Multiplayer. Think of it this way - King Leoric drops the Undead Crown, which is very much like the Helm of Sprits. Now imagine if everyone online had an Undead Crown, or some other very good/powerful item, and had gotten it rather easily, too. It would make things somewhat uninterestin. The random generation of magical/unique items should be good enough already.

[GriffonSpade]

I just realized how much harder and scarier Diablo would be if his To Hit was actually what it was meant to be (340%)..

Also, about the Unique Monsters and Quest Items thing, it would make the game somewhat uninterestin in Multiplayer. Think of it this way - King Leoric drops the Undead Crown, which is very much like the Helm of Sprits. Now imagine if everyone online had an Undead Crown, or some other very good/powerful item, and had gotten it rather easily, too. It would make things somewhat uninterestin. The random generation of magical/unique items should be good enough already.
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Eh, like i said, offhand thought, and yes he would be rather scary wouldn't he?

[duner]

this question might sound idiotic, but what was the actual release date and month of diablo in '96?

[Necrotising(BD)]

30th November

[duner]

ok thanks :D
we should really start the buzz about it