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Diablo 3 Q&A Session answers 1.0.7
Hello, my name is Sibcoe, welcome to another episode of "General Chat," the show where
we talk about all things gaming: from the Kardshians of Azeroth to the gangsters of
Black ops 2 - we got it all right here for you to enjoy.
Today we are talking about the recent Q&A session answers from the Diablo 3 team, and
the game in the background is Diablo 3 from Blizzard Entertainment. Let's get right too
it.
Brawling:
The short and sweet of the majrity of the answer from the devs on brawling was simply,
this is it, no plans for more. They did seem to hint at a whiff af an idea to develop a
more meaningful PvP system at a later date, but it is clear from their answers that it
rates somewhere between Diablo 4 and Titan in development time, if ever.
In terms of balancing brawling, the same message we received in the past was stated clearly
again, there is no balance, nor will there be any. Brawling is a no holds barred kind
of experience for a bit of fun. Nothing else. This is not a big surprise, and honestly,
it is exactly what was promised with this limited system. I don't ever see this sytem
expanding.
In the same vein, there will be no points system, betting, rules etc, as it is today,
so it will be. Anything else will be added through the creativity, and risk, of the players.
In terms of being able to better find players for brawling, the developers did mention another
item of concern, that is also painfully obvious to anyone playing the game since beta, and
that is the social aspect. The social aspect is such a step down from Diablo 2, it almost
doesn't bear thinking about, but at least the devs acknowledged it "could use improvement,"
which I think is being overly generous.
Another clear message on brawling and pvp in general, was that open world pvp or a slash
duel feature will never exist. Apparently the game was not designed for it, and they
don't wan tot see it used for griefing in public games. They claim a strong PvE focus
as the core of the game, so I am left wondering why there are no competitive PvE modes.
Crafting:
Wyatt Cheng specifically states that the new crafting items are not for everyone. He highlights
2 groups - high end players looking for upgrades and those running self-found gameplay. Is
it just me or does this severaly limit the usefullness of this much talked about system,
to really, a small portion of the playerbase? It certainly comes across as pretty lack luster.
In comparing the crafted recipes to AH gear, Wyatt basically explained that the coparison
depends on where you are in gold cost to upgrade. The more it costs you to upgrade via the AH
the more appealing the crafting items will be, and to be honest, this makes prefect sense
from a logic point of view. However, it does nothing but highlight boldly the degree to
which general crafting is a broken system. In essence, the crafted recipes will be an
almost 99%'er type of appeal, with little to offer the rest of the playerbase. At least
Wyatt acknowledges the fact that RNG makes it pointless for most players to craft, and
while he hopes to find a fix, they seem perplexed as to what it might be. Perhaps they should
take a look around at how other games are doing it better, that being said, as I mentioned
in my crafting /Rant recently, it is a part of game design that is currently severaly
under-represetned, and their point is valid.
Auction House:
The team also noted that it was a goal of the new bind on account items to focus players
away from playing the AH, and more into playing the game. While a great idea, it begs the
question - why is it there when it clearly detracts from the game so much so that new
systems need ot be made to counter it. This is just one of many such counter changes designed
to offset broken systems, rather than replace them. The bandaid fix is quickly becoming
the norm for Diablo 3. I think their goals are in the right place, but it just seems
like such a counter logical approach.
Gems:
A question close to my heart - thorns Marquis gems, and why bother since they have never
upgraded Thorns in the game - why is that? The team agreed that Thorns is broken and
needs a buff, and are considering allowing your primary stat to affect thorns damage.
While this sounds like a great idea, given that we are stuck with the highly limiting
single stat to rule them all philopsophy, it was noted that this is nowhere to be seen
on any development timeline, another big disappointment, and another setback for any hope of build
diversity.
Wizard:
I myself have noted that the Wizard is certainly a mismatched class with a design identity
crisis, with CM and Archon builds still, even in 1.0.7 being the only truly effective ones.
it seems like the team know this, and that is a good thing. They do plan to review Arcane
Orb in whole and to problems with channeled spells. Which is a good direction for the
class. They also hope to address the need for all wizards to essentially run arcane
power on crit builds for the sustain.
Monk:
Overall the team seem pretty happy with the Monk, but the dreaded nerf to One with Everything
seems closer than ever. The team specifically said they would like to see this changed.
They discussed a couple of different options, none of which strike me as that good, but
they do want to make sure that whatever solution they end up with, that it does not invalidate
existing Monk gear, and that has to be a good thing.
Overall, this Q&A session was pretty revealing in that a lot of core systems in need of help
are not likeyl to receive them any time soon. That being said, there are some good things
to look forward to in 1.0.7 for some of the playerbase, such as the