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This Diablo thread is like 800x600, bleh

NogginNoggin Registered User regular
edited September 2021 in Games and Technology
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This thread is for all things Diablo:
...the originals by Blizzard North (Resurrected!), Diablo III, the infamous Immortal, and of course, Diablo IV!!
Please feel free to ask questions, share stories and items, plans for new seasons, hopes for new content, and so on!
CLASSES
  • Barbarian is able to use 4 weapons, and switches between them based on skills.
  • Sorceress' cold skills will increasingly chill, and ultimately freeze. Druid, + 2 unannounced classes, choice of gender and appearance.
  • Druid has certain skills that will shapeshift them into a bear or wolf, providing buffs.
  • Rogue will mix both blades and bows, can imbue their weapons, and choose a specialization.
  • 1 more unanounced class...
  • Choice of gender and appearance for each.
  • Skill points earned by leveling and finding tomes in the world. Elective Mode-style.
  • Talent trees.

ITEMS
  • Uniques are back, and will have a strong focus on defining builds.
  • Items can add ranks to talents, going past the cap or providing a talent you don't have.
  • Less emphasis on sets. Mythic items will have four powerful effects, but you can only wear one.
  • Runes are socketable items with a condition or effect, i.e. "when you use a potion, activate the next rune" paired with "reduce a random skill cooldown by 15%"

STORY
  • "Return to darkness", bring back the feeling of the earlier games. 20yrs later- Heaven is closed, Evils have returned, Lilith!?

GAMEPLAY
  • Large, open map with world events and other players. Dungeons are solo or party of four, and are seamless with no load screens.
  • However, Campaign areas in public zones are private until after the campaign objective has been completed. Entire game can be soloed.
  • Clans are back, including a clan bank.
  • Includes PvP, hardcore, seasons, and trading! (certain items will bind)
  • Controller support confirmed for PC, including option for Bottom-Left or Bottom-Center action bar
  • Endgame: so far...
  • dungeon keys are drops that will bring a specific area to higher level, with modifiers, allowing you to plan ahead for the content.
Diablo II: Ressurected
It's actually happening, and is expected for 2021! It appears that it will feel more like an overhaul to graphics and quality of life, while leaving the majority of the mechanics the same. That said, we've been told to expect increased stash size and the option of gold auto-pickup.
Diablo III PC: How to join the PA Clan - The Merch Hungers
You can always ask in thread, but the suggested method is to join the community PAF and request an invite. Clan officers are watching the community chat and will be able to invite you.

Switch player list
akjak - 4133-1546-2720
Bullhead - 8584-3896-5292
DoctorArch - 6732-9515-9697
eMoander - 3304-2356-9421
Kreutz - 1865-7515-8884
Kyanilis - 2835-3370-3810
Lindsay Lohan - 4979-2868-8944
Russad - 5307-0485-5998
Septus - 3333-7299-5216
skeldare - 3353-5433-5137
Stormwatcher - 5961-4777-3491
themightypuck - 1501-9129-2620
TimFiji - 2322-2047-3148
TNTrooper - 6905-2510-1809
UncleSporky - 5443-2358-9118
urahonky - 0354-0000-5457
Wraithverge - 0125-6851-0236
Entaru
Rehab
mojojoeo
DarkMecha

How to disable legendary item notifications in PC clan chat
  • Open the clan window ( Hotkey N )
  • Click the "News" tab
  • Above the top-right corner of the feed, click the "Gear" button
  • Uncheck "Items"

Season 23 Information:
Season 23 has no theme per se, but includes a long awaited follower revamp! They will now be able to use almost every item slot, will scale with their main stat, and will offer the player an additional cheat death! The following items will "emanate" when worn by the follower, benefitting the player as well:
Broken Crown
Homing Pads, Spaulders of Zakara
Goldskin
Custerian Wristguards, Nemesis Bracers
Gladiator Gauntlets, Gloves of Worship
Dovu Energy Trap, Rakoff's Glass of Life, The Flavor of Time
Avarice Band, Krede's Flame
Sage's Journey (3-pc) [ helm, boots, gloves, belt ]*
Cain's Destiny (3-pc) [ helm, boots, gloves, pants]*

* You can combine sets with RoRG. (not shared!) Basically, if you lock in Sage's belt & Cain's Pants, your options from there are:
- boots of one, gloves of the other, Broken Crown for gems
- boots of one, helm of the other, Gloves of Worship for shrines (not pylons!)


The free sets will be:
Barb: Wastes - Whirlwind
Crusader: Roland’s - Sweep Attack
Demon Hunter: Unhallowed - Multishot, Generator
Monk: Raiment - Generator
Necro: Rathma - Army of the Dead
Doc: Helltooth - Bears, Gargs
Wiz: Tal Rasha - Multi-element, any skill

Rathma and Firebird sets were revamped! Firebird burns it all down, with the most powerful variant focusing on channeling while mirror images (?!) slice everything up with flame blades. Rathma gets a pile of minion meatshields, then spams Army of the Dead.

Bones of Rathma 2-Piece Set: Your permanent minions reduce the cooldown of Army of the Dead by 0.50 second each time they deal damage. Your skeletal warriors spawn faster, and your revived minions no longer expire.
Bones of Rathma 4-Piece Set: Your minions no longer take damage. You gain 1% damage reduction for 15 seconds each time one of your minions deal damage. Maximum of 75 stacks.
Bones of Rathma 6-Piece Set: Each permanent active minion increases the damage of Army of the Dead by 500%, up to 9000%.
Defiler Cuisses: Bone Spirit's damage is increased by 400% to 500% for every second it is active and will also freeze enemies on impact. Maximum of 5 seconds.
*New item* Bonds of C'Lena: Army of the Dead deals 75% to 100% increased damage or double this bonus against an active target of Command Skeletons.

Firebird's Finery 2-Piece Set: Disintegrate Ignites enemies, causing them to take 3000% weapon damage per second until they die. When you die, a meteor falls from the sky and revives you. This effect has a 60-second cooldown.
Firebird's Finery 4-Piece Set: Casting Disintegrate adds Combustion stacks that reduce the cooldown of Teleport by 2% per stack. Stacks up to 50 times. You gain 80% damage reduction while maintaining Combustion stacks.
Firebird's Finery 6-Piece Set: You gain 5000% increased damage while Ignite is applied to a target. Hitting an Ignited enemy with a non-channeling fire spell deals Ignite damage multiplied by Combustion stacks.

Conquests:
Avarice: 50mil gold streak
Speed Demon: <2min Torment X rift
Boss Mode: Boss rush
Divinity: GR 75 solo
Masters of the Universe: Master 8 dungeons

Level 1 gambling opportunities: ( Challenge rift cache after season starts + Kadala )
Barb - Lut Socks ( leap boots ), Slam/Hammer bracers, Band of Might ( toughness ring )
Crusader - Heart of Iron ( thorns chest ), Blessed Hammer bracers / shield, Sweep Attack shield
DH - Hellcat Waistguard ( grenade belt ), Wraps of Clarity ( toughness bracers )
Monk - Crudest Boots ( 2x allies ), Wave of Light/Exploding Palm bracers, LTK boots
Necro - Nailuj's Evol ( 2x mage ring), Grasps of Essence (Corpse explosion gloves)
Doc - Spirit Barrage mojo
Wiz - Ashnagarr's ( absorb bracers )

Finally, some other helpful resources: Official Site | Maxroll.gg |Diablofans.com | Builds | Difficulty Levels & Drop Rates | r/Diablo Subreddit

- Thanks to Previous Thread makers Skab, GoodKingJayIII, Bethryn, Shen, SkutSkut, HexDex, & _J_

Battletag: Noggin#1936
Noggin on
«134567100

Posts

  • NogginNoggin Registered User regular
    edited November 2018
    To carry over a bit from the last thread... there's a PTR coming this week! Dehumanized had a pretty good summary:
    the tl;dr:

    -more armory sets
    -greater keystones are now a Material
    -primal legendaries get distinct new visuals from regular legendaries when on the ground
    -paragon points can't be swapped in GRs anymore (this will probably shift up the meta a bit, with wizards no longer able to paragon swap from Int to Vit to phase through mobs with Mutilation Guard)
    -new seasonal bonus is a Permanant RoRG effect for all players
    -primal legendary guaranteed drop from first GR70 clear of the season
    -LoN buffed to 500%
    -almost every class set's 6-bonus massively buffed too

    For some context on those set buffs... currently people tend to think of Condemn crusader, Firebird Star Pact wiz, and Corpse Lance necros as the top of the solo board. This provides a good frame of reference for what first appears to be nonsensical set buffs. Doubling your damage gets you roughly 5 more GR levels, quadrupling gets you about 10, and so on. Many builds just really are that far behind the top builds!

    Now there's going to be A LOT of builds at (or close) to that GR potential.

    If you've played it before, it's probably back. So much so that it's much easier to list the exceptions: Helltooth, Vyr, Inna, and Zuni seem like they'll still be on the lower end, but may now be on par with Rathma necros, which is pretty good.

    The only real losers are non-condemn akkhan ( blessed shield / heaven's fury ), Grace of Inarius, and Legacy of Nightmares. The buff to LoN isn't enough, and also cannot benefit from the seasonal RoRG effect.

    Noggin on
    Battletag: Noggin#1936
  • BetsuniBetsuni UM-R60L Talisker IVRegistered User regular
    Woo, time for that new ash smell.

    oosik_betsuni.png
    Steam: betsuni7
  • DaimarDaimar A Million Feet Tall of Awesome Registered User regular
    With the buffs I think I'll give the next season a go as long as I can get a permission slip from Warframe.

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  • UncleSporkyUncleSporky Registered User regular
    I'm not done-done yet but I got Civ 6 and then Warframe today. But I do want to finish the season journey and I got 2 more weeks to do that 20 min speed run. And of course will be back to try a new character next season, and the January Tristram event. :o

    Switch Friend Code: SW - 5443 - 2358 - 9118 || 3DS Friend Code: 0989 - 1731 - 9504 || NNID: unclesporky
  • fortyforty Registered User regular
    Noggin wrote: »
    If you've played it before, it's probably back. So much so that it's much easier to list the exceptions: Helltooth, Vyr, Inna, and Zuni seem like they'll still be on the lower end, but may now be on par with Rathma necros, which is pretty good.

    The only real losers are non-condemn akkhan ( blessed shield / heaven's fury ), Grace of Inarius, and Legacy of Nightmares. The buff to LoN isn't enough, and also cannot benefit from the seasonal RoRG effect.
    So should I interpret the changes to mean that all but one Necro set (I forgot which one and don't have a link to the notes) are considered top tier?

  • UncleSporkyUncleSporky Registered User regular
    forty wrote: »
    Noggin wrote: »
    If you've played it before, it's probably back. So much so that it's much easier to list the exceptions: Helltooth, Vyr, Inna, and Zuni seem like they'll still be on the lower end, but may now be on par with Rathma necros, which is pretty good.

    The only real losers are non-condemn akkhan ( blessed shield / heaven's fury ), Grace of Inarius, and Legacy of Nightmares. The buff to LoN isn't enough, and also cannot benefit from the seasonal RoRG effect.
    So should I interpret the changes to mean that all but one Necro set (I forgot which one and don't have a link to the notes) are considered top tier?

    And even the necro set being modified is getting like a 15% boost when every other set is getting a 200% or 300% boost.

    Switch Friend Code: SW - 5443 - 2358 - 9118 || 3DS Friend Code: 0989 - 1731 - 9504 || NNID: unclesporky
  • see317see317 Registered User regular
    forty wrote: »
    Noggin wrote: »
    If you've played it before, it's probably back. So much so that it's much easier to list the exceptions: Helltooth, Vyr, Inna, and Zuni seem like they'll still be on the lower end, but may now be on par with Rathma necros, which is pretty good.

    The only real losers are non-condemn akkhan ( blessed shield / heaven's fury ), Grace of Inarius, and Legacy of Nightmares. The buff to LoN isn't enough, and also cannot benefit from the seasonal RoRG effect.
    So should I interpret the changes to mean that all but one Necro set (I forgot which one and don't have a link to the notes) are considered top tier?
    A link to the PTR notes: https://us.diablo3.com/en/blog/22753282/patch-264-ptr-preview-11-19-2018?linkId=100000004082190

    I think I'd interpret it as "We're really interested in testing these sets on the test realm, and the best way to guarantee that we'll have people testing them is to give them bigger numbers.".
    But that's kind of assuming there are some additional changes to the sets that they didn't publish, which I don't know if that's a thing Blizzard does or not.

  • NogginNoggin Registered User regular
    forty wrote: »
    Noggin wrote: »
    If you've played it before, it's probably back. So much so that it's much easier to list the exceptions: Helltooth, Vyr, Inna, and Zuni seem like they'll still be on the lower end, but may now be on par with Rathma necros, which is pretty good.

    The only real losers are non-condemn akkhan ( blessed shield / heaven's fury ), Grace of Inarius, and Legacy of Nightmares. The buff to LoN isn't enough, and also cannot benefit from the seasonal RoRG effect.
    So should I interpret the changes to mean that all but one Necro set (I forgot which one and don't have a link to the notes) are considered top tier?

    In a way, yes.

    I haven't looked at the highest records in a while, but both Pestilence and Trag'Oul variants of the Land of the Dead Corpse Lance nonsense had very high clears. The bone spear/corpse explosion/blood nova/blood mages versions of those sets are not considered top tier for GRs, but see play in T13 farming.

    Rathma is in a weird spot where it's not the best solo but has been the best for 4 player speeds.

    Battletag: Noggin#1936
  • DehumanizedDehumanized Registered User regular
    rathma is just broken when provided infinite health globes, which it requires support from other players to acquire

  • KlatuKlatu Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi OiRegistered User regular
    If you buff Trag'Oul too much you invalidate Pesti lance build. Trags is currently the least used set afaik.
    If you buff Inarius, you inadvertantly buff the best GR 120+ RGK (Rift Guardian Killer for those new to the thread) build going at the moment, when it doesn't really need buffs.
    If you buff Pesti, you further invalidate Trags.
    If you buff Rath you solidify the Rat xp Meta.

    Necro is in a weird spot at the moment. In Lord fluffys video about the PTR patch notes he suggests removing blood variant of corpse lance from the game, and removing thorns from Necros/pets. After those 2 changes you could buff Trags and Inarius without destroying other sets or making Inarius RGK mandatory.

    Steam id:Klatu - PS id: Klatu_PA - 3DS FC: 0920-0528-6680
  • themightypuckthemightypuck MontanaRegistered User regular
    I have no problem with D3 letting unexpected combos break the game for a season.

    “Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.”
    ― Marcus Aurelius

    Path of Exile: themightypuck
  • UncleSporkyUncleSporky Registered User regular
    Jokes on him!

    I already have zero thorns!

    Switch Friend Code: SW - 5443 - 2358 - 9118 || 3DS Friend Code: 0989 - 1731 - 9504 || NNID: unclesporky
  • KlatuKlatu Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi OiRegistered User regular
    I have no problem with D3 letting unexpected combos break the game for a season.

    You missed season ... 7 or 8 then, where firebirds had a bug that would let people clear 107s - which at the time was 10-15GRs above the average top 5%. It didn't affect me personally, but it destroyed the wiz leaderboards that season and affected the others to a degree as everyone went wizard to push that high for the first time. It wasn't hard to accomplish either as it was based on the set bonus rather than individual pieces, though if you had ancients you were better off as your max dps was better, and you would definitely hit max.

    Steam id:Klatu - PS id: Klatu_PA - 3DS FC: 0920-0528-6680
  • ZekZek Registered User regular
    Every balance change they make seems simply to be targeted at buffing everyone to match whichever build is topping out the GR charts at the moment. I'm not a big fan of that strategy though, because it seems to disregard "common sense" balancing of the rest of the difficulty levels. GRs are on an expontential curve, so a build being behind by a few GR levels means it needs its DPS to be doubled. But then the earlier progression pacing is out of whack, and Torment difficulties become trivialized again, and they don't seem to care much about that. Torment 7 wasn't even needed until patch 2.3.0.

  • KlatuKlatu Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi OiRegistered User regular
    LOL someone on /r/pathofexile bought the playdiablo4.com domain and made it redirect to the Path of Exile official website. They received a trademark infringement notice from Blizzard's lawyers. This is where the website redirects now.
    Znf9P28AorhEbVy-_gQ4PY0FhwXZZGaOxKToEVLWXwo.png?width=1024&auto=webp&s=692457c526eb1d1542c099878e9f2af2c4c37f93

    playdiablo4.com

    Steam id:Klatu - PS id: Klatu_PA - 3DS FC: 0920-0528-6680
  • fortyforty Registered User regular
    I will never complain about any change that makes it easier for me to grind for a stash slot in a season.

  • WraithvergeWraithverge Registered User regular
    It's weird that no one seems to be having the issue we're having here. It makes our Switch Demon Hunters nearly unplayable unless we stick to grifts because there's only one big drop to deal with. Interesting note: It only happens when we both play our Demon Hunters.

  • BetsuniBetsuni UM-R60L Talisker IVRegistered User regular
    I wish I had D3 on the Switch so I could test it out since I usually (always) play a DH.

    OH, only thing I thought of is that for the blood shards. On the PS4 if one person was full of shards the other could steal all of them. Was that the case for yours?

    As for the gear problem, I know that Seasons sucks since you can't "share" your loot drops on consoles. One of the main reasons I stopped doing seasons on the consoles.

    oosik_betsuni.png
    Steam: betsuni7
  • fortyforty Registered User regular
    The main reason to do seasons on PC and not console is to carry/drag my season character through his or her journey after yours is all geared up.

  • KwoaruKwoaru Confident Smirk Flawless Golden PecsRegistered User regular
    Zek wrote: »
    Every balance change they make seems simply to be targeted at buffing everyone to match whichever build is topping out the GR charts at the moment. I'm not a big fan of that strategy though, because it seems to disregard "common sense" balancing of the rest of the difficulty levels. GRs are on an expontential curve, so a build being behind by a few GR levels means it needs its DPS to be doubled. But then the earlier progression pacing is out of whack, and Torment difficulties become trivialized again, and they don't seem to care much about that. Torment 7 wasn't even needed until patch 2.3.0.

    I definitely wouldnt call it "good" balancing but it is decent enough as a long term life support thing where the likely alternative is letting total stagnation set in

    2x39jD4.jpg
  • UncleSporkyUncleSporky Registered User regular
    People hate nerfs so just regularly buffing everything seems like a good plan.

    Switch Friend Code: SW - 5443 - 2358 - 9118 || 3DS Friend Code: 0989 - 1731 - 9504 || NNID: unclesporky
  • DrezDrez Registered User regular
    Powering non-optimal builds to match optimal builds is much, much, much better than nerfs. Much better.

    Just like moneysinks are better than deflation for in-game currency, though I think actual deflation and/or currency removal is rare in single player games.

    The Kingdom of Loathing devs had a whole series of posts/writeups on why value-added/content-added balancing is much more preferable to nerfs. And I agree.

    Switch: SW-7690-2320-9238Steam/PSN/Xbox: Drezdar
  • DelduwathDelduwath Registered User regular
    Kotaku has an article about D4 and the overall future of Diablo. I only started reading it, but it's pretty interesting so far:
    https://kotaku.com/the-past-present-and-future-of-diablo-1830593195

    From the intro:
    I’ve spoken to 11 current and former Blizzard employees, all of whom spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak to press. They’ve told me about a canceled second expansion for Diablo III, and about Diablo IV, which is indeed in development but was rebooted in 2016.
    (If you're unsure of whether you can trust this kind of article or not, I would say that if there's one games journo you can trust to dig out information that a company isn't making public, it's Jason Schreier. Not that everything he digs up is 100% accurate and reflective of the company/game, more that it's as close to truth as you can get without being an executive at the company in question.)

  • DonnictonDonnicton Registered User regular
    Those who remained on Team 3 began talking about what Diablo IV might look like. Josh Mosqueira, the Canadian transplant who had started on the Diablo III console team before taking the franchise’s reins as director of Reaper of Souls, would lead development on the new project, which was code-named Hades. The goal was to take the franchise in a very different direction.

    Mosqueira and team designed Hades as a Diablo take on Dark Souls, according to three people familiar with the project. It would be a gothic, challenging dungeon crawler. Rather than maintain the isometric camera angle of the first three Diablo games, it would use an over-the-shoulder, third-person perspective. It was such a departure from previous games, some at Blizzard thought they might not even end up calling it Diablo IV. From 2014 until 2016, it was Team 3’s main project, developed alongside a handful of patches and light content updates for Diablo III. Then, like Diablo III’s second expansion before it, Hades was canceled.

    ...

    For example, developers told me, quite a few people at Blizzard play Pokémon Go, the massively popular mobile game that lets you use your phone’s camera to catch wild creatures. As one developer explained, the iconic orc statue in the center of Blizzard’s campus is a Pokéstop, and staff wage war over who gets to control the landmark on a daily basis.

    The natural extension of that was for one of Blizzard’s incubation teams to develop a Warcraft version of Pokémon Go, which is in development for smartphones now. Surely it occurred to the decision-makers at Blizzard that this Warcraft spinoff could be a massive revenue generator, but the game is also in production because lead designer Cory Stockton (formerly of World of Warcraft) is a huge fan of Pokémon. (People who have played the Warcraft mobile game say it’s also got a lot more to it than Pokémon Go, including single-player mechanics.)


    ffffuuuuuuccccckk yyyyoouuuuuuuu

  • UncleSporkyUncleSporky Registered User regular
    Delduwath wrote: »
    (If you're unsure of whether you can trust this kind of article or not, I would say that if there's one games journo you can trust to dig out information that a company isn't making public, it's Jason Schreier. Not that everything he digs up is 100% accurate and reflective of the company/game, more that it's as close to truth as you can get without being an executive at the company in question.)

    He was the one who wrote an article about how Diablo 4 was going to be at Blizzcon and then wasn't at the last minute and the company had to make him retract it though.

    Switch Friend Code: SW - 5443 - 2358 - 9118 || 3DS Friend Code: 0989 - 1731 - 9504 || NNID: unclesporky
  • DelduwathDelduwath Registered User regular
    Delduwath wrote: »
    (If you're unsure of whether you can trust this kind of article or not, I would say that if there's one games journo you can trust to dig out information that a company isn't making public, it's Jason Schreier. Not that everything he digs up is 100% accurate and reflective of the company/game, more that it's as close to truth as you can get without being an executive at the company in question.)

    He was the one who wrote an article about how Diablo 4 was going to be at Blizzcon and then wasn't at the last minute and the company had to make him retract it though.
    Yup. The article in question:
    https://kotaku.com/sources-blizzard-pulled-diablo-4-announcement-from-bli-1830232246
    Jason said that his sources indicated that a video about D4 was made, and was going to be shown at BlizzCon. Blizzard then said "We were not going to show a D4 video at BlizzCon", and Jason updated his article with their response. I suspect that people can interpret this as making Jason more credible or less credible, depending on their personal lens. To me, this just seems like responsible reporting.

    Here's him addressing that issue in this article:
    Earlier this month, I reported that Blizzard had made a video for BlizzCon in which co-founder Allen Adham talked about Diablo IV. Blizzard later disputed that the video had been made for BlizzCon. In conversations since then, two sources told me that regardless of the company’s statement, there had been plans throughout 2018 to announce the game this year. “In January, they were still full set on, ‘We’re going to do this right, we’re going to have a playable demo,’” said one. “By the time we’d hit May, that game wasn’t far enough along. It’s normal problems. Things going slower than they’d like.” By the summer, that person said, they were still under the impression that a tease was happening. “I think it’s semantics… If they changed their mind at any point, they can say, ‘Oh, it wasn’t scheduled.’ At least what we were told as a development team, it was supposed to get teased, that was always the intention.”

    On the flip side, a current developer in a non-Diablo department who was involved in BlizzCon planning told me that to their knowledge, there was no Diablo IV announcement ever planned for the show.
    This is the kind of thing that I meant when I said "it's as close to truth as you can get without being an executive at the company in question". Maybe that's weasel-language that can be used to excuse any and all mistakes on his part. On the other hand, even the most ardent critic has to agree: unless he is literally sneaking into their offices at night and downloading emails to a thumbstick/rifling through shredded documents, he will not be able to report on Things As They Are. At best, he can report on the Things He Is Told by people who only know a part of the full story (and who are fallible themselves). Two separate sources told him "Yes, they were gonna show a video", and this is what he reported.

    Based on my experience of games journalism, Jason seems to have the widest network of contacts, and/or is the journalist people are most willing to talk to. He routinely produces stuff about the inner workings of companies that few other reporters manage, and his reports tend to end up being accurate more often than most people's. My impression is that he is trustworthy.

  • ZekZek Registered User regular
    edited November 2018
    Although I think they really botched the PR with Immortal, there isn't that much in that article that really worries me. Even former employees are fairly optimistic about D4 now. I think ditching a second expansion in favor of D4 made sense. I just wish they hadn't wasted two years on "Diablo Dark Souls" - as much as I'd like to play that game, there are lots of studios making games like that, and hardly anybody making Diablo-style isometric ARPGs. So I'd rather Diablo remained as the flagship game of that genre. And the design concepts I'm hearing from them aligned with what I wanted - rethink it from scratch with a more grounded design and light MMO features. I like the gist of what Immortal seems to be doing there, where you have a shared open world and you can match with people in-game as you enter a dungeon.

    Zek on
  • DrezDrez Registered User regular
    I dunno. I’m playing Diablo 3 on the Switch right now wondering why they should even bother with a Diablo 4.

    I mean, Diablo 3 is a refinement of Diablo 2 which was a refinement of Diablo. And at this point, it’s pretty damn well refined. If the narrative weren’t vomitously bad, I would be hungry for a continuation. But since the series essentially just offers engaging gameplay, how much more can they refine the formula?

    A genre shift would have made sense - i.e. Dark Souls of Diablo - but I’m not sure how much more they can do with this point-n-clicky formula, even within a generous margin of alteration.

    Note: None of the above is a criticism of Diablo 3 (except the bit about the narrative). But it sounds like Bethesda, once again, flirted with the idea of an experimental genre shift that could have been interesting and then wimped our. I think Diablo 4 would need to be significantly different from a gameplay perspective for me to be interested. The series does nothing for me narratively anymore. But it sounds like they don’t want to go in a different direction.

    I think a Diablo Souls would have been something else. Something really good. And they could have focused on the narrative, which has a lot of promise but just sucks.

    Switch: SW-7690-2320-9238Steam/PSN/Xbox: Drezdar
  • fortyforty Registered User regular
    I don't feel like I need a Diablo Dark Souls. If I want that experience, I'll just play Dark Souls or the other Souls-likes.
    Drez wrote: »
    Note: None of the above is a criticism of Diablo 3 (except the bit about the narrative). But it sounds like Bethesda, once again, flirted with the idea of an experimental genre shift that could have been interesting and then wimped our.
    Wrong "B" company!

  • BahamutZEROBahamutZERO Registered User regular
    edited November 2018
    I'd play a diablo dark souls, I wouldn't really like it if that killed the ARPG diablo series in the way that world of warcraft killed the RTS warcraft series, but I'd still be up for an action game spinoff in that vein.

    BahamutZERO on
    BahamutZERO.gif
  • DelduwathDelduwath Registered User regular
    They said in the article that the Diablo Dark Souls prototype turned out to be so different from other Diablo games that they were thinking of giving it a different name.

    I am 100% in favor of spin-offs and experimental games in a series, but I also prefer that the main series not stray too much from what made it a hit to begin with. Like, I think Fallout 76 is an awesome experiment (which may or may not end up succeeding, whatever) and I'm glad it got made, even if I am not aflame with desire to play it - but if subsequent Fallouts just became multiplayer survivathons, I'd be bummed.

  • DrezDrez Registered User regular
    forty wrote: »
    I don't feel like I need a Diablo Dark Souls. If I want that experience, I'll just play Dark Souls or the other Souls-likes.
    Drez wrote: »
    Note: None of the above is a criticism of Diablo 3 (except the bit about the narrative). But it sounds like Bethesda, once again, flirted with the idea of an experimental genre shift that could have been interesting and then wimped our.
    Wrong "B" company!

    Haha whoops I can’t believe I did that.

    I meant to say Bungie.

    Switch: SW-7690-2320-9238Steam/PSN/Xbox: Drezdar
  • UncleSporkyUncleSporky Registered User regular
    Drez wrote: »
    forty wrote: »
    I don't feel like I need a Diablo Dark Souls. If I want that experience, I'll just play Dark Souls or the other Souls-likes.
    Drez wrote: »
    Note: None of the above is a criticism of Diablo 3 (except the bit about the narrative). But it sounds like Bethesda, once again, flirted with the idea of an experimental genre shift that could have been interesting and then wimped our.
    Wrong "B" company!

    Haha whoops I can’t believe I did that.

    I meant to say Bungie.

    Surely you meant Bioware??

    Switch Friend Code: SW - 5443 - 2358 - 9118 || 3DS Friend Code: 0989 - 1731 - 9504 || NNID: unclesporky
  • DrezDrez Registered User regular
    Drez wrote: »
    forty wrote: »
    I don't feel like I need a Diablo Dark Souls. If I want that experience, I'll just play Dark Souls or the other Souls-likes.
    Drez wrote: »
    Note: None of the above is a criticism of Diablo 3 (except the bit about the narrative). But it sounds like Bethesda, once again, flirted with the idea of an experimental genre shift that could have been interesting and then wimped our.
    Wrong "B" company!

    Haha whoops I can’t believe I did that.

    I meant to say Bungie.

    Surely you meant Bioware??

    I think it's my phone. Keeps autocorrecting Bohemia Interactive to Bohemia Interactive.

    Switch: SW-7690-2320-9238Steam/PSN/Xbox: Drezdar
  • BahamutZEROBahamutZERO Registered User regular
    I didn't know Broderbund made diablo

    BahamutZERO.gif
  • UncleSporkyUncleSporky Registered User regular
    I didn't know Broderbund made diablo

    Black Isle Studios worked on the Switch port.

    Switch Friend Code: SW - 5443 - 2358 - 9118 || 3DS Friend Code: 0989 - 1731 - 9504 || NNID: unclesporky
  • rahkeesh2000rahkeesh2000 Registered User regular
    edited November 2018
    Drez wrote: »
    I mean, Diablo 3 is a refinement of Diablo 2 which was a refinement of Diablo. And at this point, it’s pretty damn well refined. If the narrative weren’t vomitously bad, I would be hungry for a continuation. But since the series essentially just offers engaging gameplay, how much more can they refine the formula?

    The oh-so-obvious direction is the MMO lite, which Immortal and Torchlight Frontiers are already doing. Less instancing and more connecting people in an open world. More challenges that encourage grouping, smarter boss mechanics often seen in raids, etc. Probably some tighter balancing to enable that. Rolling content updates supported by some kind of ongoing revenue. This was supposedly the *original* plan for Diablo 3, back when it was a Blizzard North project!

    With Blizzard games increasingly shifting to microtransaction services, that direction seems inevitable. Hades on the other hand might've been a difficult sell because none of the games in that genre to my knowledge have extensive microtransactions. Also any whiff of pay to win would just completely ruin a game style all about challenging yourself and/or killing other players.

    rahkeesh2000 on
  • TheStigTheStig Registered User regular
    Donnicton wrote: »
    Those who remained on Team 3 began talking about what Diablo IV might look like. Josh Mosqueira, the Canadian transplant who had started on the Diablo III console team before taking the franchise’s reins as director of Reaper of Souls, would lead development on the new project, which was code-named Hades. The goal was to take the franchise in a very different direction.

    Mosqueira and team designed Hades as a Diablo take on Dark Souls, according to three people familiar with the project. It would be a gothic, challenging dungeon crawler. Rather than maintain the isometric camera angle of the first three Diablo games, it would use an over-the-shoulder, third-person perspective. It was such a departure from previous games, some at Blizzard thought they might not even end up calling it Diablo IV. From 2014 until 2016, it was Team 3’s main project, developed alongside a handful of patches and light content updates for Diablo III. Then, like Diablo III’s second expansion before it, Hades was canceled.

    ...

    For example, developers told me, quite a few people at Blizzard play Pokémon Go, the massively popular mobile game that lets you use your phone’s camera to catch wild creatures. As one developer explained, the iconic orc statue in the center of Blizzard’s campus is a Pokéstop, and staff wage war over who gets to control the landmark on a daily basis.

    The natural extension of that was for one of Blizzard’s incubation teams to develop a Warcraft version of Pokémon Go, which is in development for smartphones now. Surely it occurred to the decision-makers at Blizzard that this Warcraft spinoff could be a massive revenue generator, but the game is also in production because lead designer Cory Stockton (formerly of World of Warcraft) is a huge fan of Pokémon. (People who have played the Warcraft mobile game say it’s also got a lot more to it than Pokémon Go, including single-player mechanics.)


    ffffuuuuuuccccckk yyyyoouuuuuuuu

    Mannnnnn. Diablo: Hades sounds like exactly what I want.

    bnet: TheStig#1787 Steam: TheStig
  • NogginNoggin Registered User regular
    On PTR, apparently legendary potions are now slotted on the bar and removed from inventory.

    Also someone claimed to have found a witching hour with 5 primary stats.

    Battletag: Noggin#1936
  • BetsuniBetsuni UM-R60L Talisker IVRegistered User regular
    Noggin wrote: »
    On PTR, apparently legendary potions are now slotted on the bar and removed from inventory.

    Also someone claimed to have found a witching hour with 5 primary stats.

    Ooh no more accidentally destroying mine.

    oosik_betsuni.png
    Steam: betsuni7
This discussion has been closed.