08-02-2004, 04:04 PM
Hi,
I think that I'm always going to look at a constant ability to change your talents as having a King's Sword of Haste (Bastard Sword) with the Godly Plate of Whale, and the Stormshield in the first Diablo. It removes the challenge.
Again, that's "player" think, not "tester" think.
I completely agree that *when the game goes retail* talents should be a permanent decision. That is a big part of the game. But right now, we should be testing, not playing. To test implies to try different things to see how they work.
As to the point of boredom -- that depends more on the underlying quality of the game than on the amount of "stuff" that is in it, or that is held back. D1 had a lot less "stuff" than did D2. I was bored with D2 in about six months, I was interested in D1 for at least five years. I only crank up D2 to "refresh" a few character lists (my own and others). I still occasionally play D1.
Chess is a simple game -- the rules and how the pieces move can all be put on one sheet of paper. Yet it has probably outlasted all the computer games put together. Sure, the sizzle might be what sells, but it is the steak that brings the customer back. So, if WoW has nothing going for it beyond what can be seen one time through (and I think it is rapidly going that way to cater to the "casual" player) then no amount of repetitive content is going to make it good. On the other hand, if it becomes a fundamentally good game, no amount of preview will hurt it much.
But if you think about it, how do we know if there is a talent that sucks for the first 4 levels, but gets good on the 5th?
Exactly -- which is why I think you should be able to "roll" a character of any class, race, and level, with appropriate gear at any time. If you want to see how a certain progression works, it is enough to build it up, one step at a time, and test each step for a little while. No need to spend hours grinding out each level. Remember "testing" not "playing". Doing something a few times is enough to test, you don't need to kill a thousand of the same monster to see if a particular build will work, but you may need to do it to level.
So, yeah. If they make talents changeable (or too easily changeable) in the retail game, that will be a disappointment -- but we're not playing the retail game, we're (supposedly) testing the beta.
--Pete
I think that I'm always going to look at a constant ability to change your talents as having a King's Sword of Haste (Bastard Sword) with the Godly Plate of Whale, and the Stormshield in the first Diablo. It removes the challenge.
Again, that's "player" think, not "tester" think.
I completely agree that *when the game goes retail* talents should be a permanent decision. That is a big part of the game. But right now, we should be testing, not playing. To test implies to try different things to see how they work.
As to the point of boredom -- that depends more on the underlying quality of the game than on the amount of "stuff" that is in it, or that is held back. D1 had a lot less "stuff" than did D2. I was bored with D2 in about six months, I was interested in D1 for at least five years. I only crank up D2 to "refresh" a few character lists (my own and others). I still occasionally play D1.
Chess is a simple game -- the rules and how the pieces move can all be put on one sheet of paper. Yet it has probably outlasted all the computer games put together. Sure, the sizzle might be what sells, but it is the steak that brings the customer back. So, if WoW has nothing going for it beyond what can be seen one time through (and I think it is rapidly going that way to cater to the "casual" player) then no amount of repetitive content is going to make it good. On the other hand, if it becomes a fundamentally good game, no amount of preview will hurt it much.
But if you think about it, how do we know if there is a talent that sucks for the first 4 levels, but gets good on the 5th?
Exactly -- which is why I think you should be able to "roll" a character of any class, race, and level, with appropriate gear at any time. If you want to see how a certain progression works, it is enough to build it up, one step at a time, and test each step for a little while. No need to spend hours grinding out each level. Remember "testing" not "playing". Doing something a few times is enough to test, you don't need to kill a thousand of the same monster to see if a particular build will work, but you may need to do it to level.
So, yeah. If they make talents changeable (or too easily changeable) in the retail game, that will be a disappointment -- but we're not playing the retail game, we're (supposedly) testing the beta.
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?