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[Diablo 3] Diablo walks the Earth in 5 days. Single digits omg
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Won't there still be bosses in Inferno that have a higher drop rate than non-boss mobs?
As far as I understand it, the idea is that unique mobs (Champion packs, etc) will have better loot than bosses to discourage boss runs. However they added this Nephirim Valor (sp?) thing where if you kill those champions, etc, you get a Magic Find buff which will probably make doing the bosses worthwhile too.
Agreed on the SC2 front, even if they set the stage for in in Brood War. As I said, the most redeemable thing in my eyes is if we find out, yeah sure, they may be being controlled/directed, but undirected, the zerg are still all kinds of merciless killers that would have overrun the galaxy. (And then we'll have people bitch it's too similar to Arthas in WoW, so Blizzard still wouldn't be able to win with that one)
But from WC2 on, it was pretty much straight up laid out that the Orcs were used by the Burning Legion to attack Azeroth, and possessed by demonic powers and what not. The whole deal of Aegywyn and Sargeras was right in the manual for 2, along with the fact that none of the Alliance races actually gave a shit about each other until push came to shove, and you got to do the whole going after Gul'dan thing right there in the Orc campaign. This wasn't exactly a out of the blue twist come Warcraft 3.
Regarding SC2 - I suspect that will be the case. You can't just "humanize" a bunch of space cockroaches. I think maybe you could say that the Overmind was perhaps smart - you could say maybe he fought the fact that he was flat out being controlled, because that sucks, or maybe the stupidity of engaging all these other alien races front-on that would probably love to nuke your ass (or, you know, crash a Carrier into your face). I think that the zerg as a whole those are largely animals. They probably aren't smart enough to not just attack everything in sight because they are predators. The Overmind/Kerrigan/whatever keeps them in check, yeah.
As for WarCraft, this was a thread from WarCraft Adventures. As far as I understand it, the idea was that the orcs being "rawr big scary monsters!!!!" was boring so they tried to add some nuances to that. WarCraft Adventures was going to be where they explained that, but it was cancelled. There were actually a couple books that did start to go into it before WarCraft III, but WC3 was largely where most people got that story from. I think they did a pretty good job though. I'd say WarCraft orcs are certainly more interesting than, say, Lord of the Rings orcs. Or most fantasy orcs. They are sort of like the Klingons. They are a war-hungry race (even without demon control) but they have honor as well.
Boo this change.
"Boo!" I say.
I don't know how anyone could not like the change. More to do and more chances for loot this way.
No. It doesn't come into effect until you hit 60, but it's not Inferno only. And I didn't think they told us any numbers yet, where'd you get those?
If anyone has an account to loan, I already have the beta installed. All I need is a login (PM me!)
Now for some useful comments!
If some of you guys are lagging on the D3 story, or if you'd just like a well-done refresher, the link below has a GREAT video playlist of what's happened so far in the Diablo universe.
I think we're pretty much screwed. I can't imagine they'd need any more players to stress test. They've been giving out keys for seven months now.
Last hope is to refresh twitter for six hours tomorrow.
Lose: The opposite of win
Loose: Your mum
They seem to have done it to make character progression feel exciting all the way to 60.. which is understandable. But I was under the impression that the incentive to burn through all three difficulties was already covered by both unique looking loot and the variety inherent in the enhanced enemies and randomized environs.
I do agree that taking runes out of the loot tables might have some benefits.. but it makes the process of customizing your skill set seem artificial and not really.. a choice. For example, the first time you get a rune, you pretty much *have* to use it, because otherwise the skill will suck in comparison. I haven't delved very deeply into looking at if the higher level runes are truly "better" than the lower level ones (more damage output, cooler effects etc), but if they are, its a no brainer to just use the newest unlock and ignore the rest.
They're not. Or at least they're not meant to be.
I think you are missing the point of the runes. The higher level ones are not inherently more powerful, they are simply different. They alter the skill in a different way that allows for various builds and ways to play your character. You may not want to use a new rune if it doesn't work with your playstyle. Or you may want to change your playstyle to try out a new rune. They don't get more damaging or cooler the higher you go (subjective of course), they just change how your skills interact.
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Or did you?
Ah well, maybe tomorrow.
So the appeal of runes comes from.. playing your character how you want to play them? Customization? Interesting.
What happens when one wants a specific rune for a specific skill? In this system, a player might have to wait until level 57 to get the rune they desire.. to simply personalize their experience of playing that particular character ( I am assuming of course that the player has foreknowledge of what the runes do, look like ect, like most of us here would). For 56 levels, the player is not having an optimal experience because that skill they like isn't working how they want it to work, and will not for the majority of the experience, so they are forced to either go a completely different direction or use the skill in a sub optimal way (according to said player's preferences)
In the loot based system, the player could just hop on the AH and spend some of his hard earned gold on the rune he wants and be pleased as punch.
It seems to me they are framing a system initially meant for customization instead as a tiered and gated reward system that would appear, at first glance ( a first glance which, for every single player, initiated or no, occurs at level 6) as a *power upgrade* system. The average player understands why more powerful abilities and gear are gated behind playtime.. everyone knows you get more powerful and godlike in an RPG as you play. As you say, runes are not meant to appear this way. They are meant to appear as equally viable options. However, a rune you get at level 6 and a rune you get at 57 are two vastly different things to an everyday player. One is "That ability you get early on" and the other is "that ability that you have been waiting ages to access."
Players expect the "abilities we have been waiting ages to access" to be a reward. To be more powerful, more flashy, more useful.
If blizzard caters to this paradigm, then they effectively remove choice from the equation. If they do not, they confuse and frustrate players who simply want to play thier character the way they want to before the end of Hell difficulty.
They seem to have worked themselves into a bind, here.
Dohaeris210 on PSN / SniperGuy710 on Xbone Live
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That is part of the progression. If you are absolutely dead set on a certain rune it may be irritating. But so far at least for me they have been different and interesting enough in their own right that I am having fun discovering them.
The runes are an extension of the Skill system which works in a very similar fashion. You gain new skills but they aren't necessarily better or worse than your old ones. Just different. So as you level up you change your build around, add stuff, remove stuff, maybe ready old ones that weren't great but maybe work better now with a different rune. The whole system is much more fluid and maleable. Compared to D2 where it was much more rigid and structured. Same problem still applies, in D2 you couldn't get access to certain skills until you reached a certain level.
At least in this system if you come up against a road block or fight that doesn't work with y our current build, you can shuffle things around and try different approaches instead of just trying to outlevel it or scrap the character and making a new one.
Each system has its pros and cons. Personally I much prefer the system in D3, but I can understand that people have misgivings about it.
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I wouldnt base that decision solely of of beta, considering how limited (and easy) it is.
They are more pleased with the benefits of gently prodding players into experimenting with the full array of rune effects than they are concerned about that guy who's going to be frowning for 57 levels because he can't immediately have a giant toad or whatever.
Bashiok puts it much more eloquently than myself :oops:
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I just wish they didn't hype up previous game systems so much. Many of the previous iterations presented could have easily gone to market after being polished and worked just fine. Being given insight into the development process is interesting but it really plays with your mind/expectations when they turn shit around so quickly and implement something with just as many obvious flaws as the previous system.
It really seems like Bashiok, in that post, is basically saying: "look, I know there are some problems with this shit but we have to ignore them because we have changed our minds too much already and its crunch time. It could be much better (admitted when he himself suggested "rune points"), but thanks to our loopy development environment we ran out of time. Sorry! Here is what's good about it..:"
None of this will matter once the game is released, of course. We will all be far too high on the game proper to care much about the past!
Find the rune, use it up, and now you "know it". Borderlands did it.
edit: Or, if would prefer it to remain level based, you could get runes unlocks instead. Like, at level 8 you unlock a Crimson rune. Use it as you please.
I haven't read the thread in awhile so I apologize if this has been discussed ad nauseum
Obviously Blizzard does not agree with your assessment that previous iterations were good enough.
They don't feel the proposed "improvements" like rune points offer enough of a real benefit (or worse, have their own drawbacks) to an already successful system to spend time designing, implementing and testing it when they are in the home stretch. That isn't loopy development, that's brass tacks. Loopy would be if Blizzard spent time redesigning systems they are already happy with.
No, what he's saying is "This is a great system that gradually introduces you to the skills and runes and encourages you to test them out and experiment as you level up. Sure, it's got the downside of making you reach level X before you can use skill Y, but that's not a huge deal in exchange for the large upsides of the system."
Item model is even more restrictive then the current one and causes all sorts of other headaches. It's best to not make the skill customization part of the item system.
The rune unlock has been proposed and there's pros and cons there as well. The system they have now helps them craft a more structured playing experience for the noobs while also giving you incentives to level the whole way through. Every level you unlock something new to test out and you can look forward to getting a specific upcoming ability. With unlocks, the last chunk of your leveling is just sorta unlocking the junk you didn't feel like grabbing earlier.
More general "choose one skill/rune" unlocks aren't bad or anything, but there's reasons to go with a more structured system.
I'm on Vista
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
Try here: C:\ProgramData\Battle.net
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Well, now it just sits at the first window that pops up before the actual client loads up: Updating setup files....
Ending agent.exe*32 lets the green bar progress a little more, and then agent.exe pops back up and it reverts back
Sure hope Blizzard gets this fixed before May 15
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
See if anything in this topic helps you http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/3595575394
Also did you completely delete the battle.net folder, then kill the agent*.32 process, then try to repatch and wait 10-15 minutes even if it looks like it is frozen?
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I waited like 6 months for the mac release of starcraft 1, didn't get D2 beta, Wc3 beta, WoW beta, SC2 beta (until it was basically open), D3 beta. THAT'S IT I BOYCOTT I'M NOT BUYING D3.
That said... I'm still on the fence on this one. I won't rehash the same lore discussion that's poped up in regards to Starcarft II ad nauseum, but it's definitely made me wary.
Rorus Raz illustrated the reason for my hesitation. I actually didn't preorder the Collector's Edition, which would be blasphemy to the me of a few years ago.
For what it's worth, I don't mind the Dark Wanderer retcon at all. It makes sense, and fleshes the character out beyond the original "well... he's an adventurer with a sword... and has a really big hand in the concept art." It makes Leoric's family more than a footnote in this saga, which I like. The trailer with Azmodan did a lot to whet my appetite for the storyline, but again I feel like I've been burned by SC2.
-Z