Maplehamwich
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Unfortunately, I too think that is the most likely reasoning.
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Diablo 3 Discussion Thread
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Unfortunately, I too think that is the most likely reasoning.
Krenum
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I don't follow.....what plot hole?
LeninGHOLA
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I doubt they will come up with any reason why the sword doesn't hurt him. I think instead of having it make sense, they will explain nothing. Either that or major retcon.
Good post and very well worded. Although I'm afraid it might just be a plothole I like your reasoning why the sword didn't hurt him. I noticed they slowed down that specific moment, maybe we should give the developers a bit more credit and there is a deeper meaning hidden there.
Personally I would lean towards the sword not hitting him because (like you said) he has taken up the role as Death and now fullfills a role of balance. I'm not sure if he wants to kill only Nephalem or the human race in its entirety but his plans seem to come dangerously close to pure genocide. Just look at the massacres in Westmarch.
His intentions may be good/justified, but he seems to go about in an entirely wrong way.
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Krenum
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To us, (Humans) and our way of thinking its looked upon as genocide and bad, but to the Angles specifically Malthael it might be the only way to restore balance and peace in Sanctuary. Or it might be that Malthael was driven mad in search of the Worldstone. Maybe what sent him over the edge was when Tyreal destroyed it at the end of Lord of Destruction....
There have been rumors around the internets that Covetous Shen from Diablo 3 was actually the mortal representation of Malthael....a bit of a stretch though, but who knows..
Maybe I just didn't pay enough attention to the story or something...but why would anyone think the Gemologist guy we found in a barrel was actually the mortal representation of Malthael? As far as I noticed, he is just a regular NPC with some amusing lines.
Even if it turned out to be true, I think my reaction would something like: "uh, okay then?"
Ruoh
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Got D3 reinstalled via PlayonLinux this weekend, but it just wasn't very fun. I had MUCH more fun in TL2. I might give it another shot once the expansion comes out... but it just feels like SOS.
LeninGHOLA
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It's fun to speculate. More fun than realizing the writing team for this game isn't going to come up with anything interesting enough to sit through without pounding the escape button every time story or dialogue pops up after the first playthrough.
I find fan theories to be half of the fun.
So there's no actual reason? Just utter blind speculation?
I agree as well that the destruction of the worldstone might have drove Malthael over the edge. If I remember the Worldstone kept the powers of the Nephalem suppressed, without it humans could possibly reach a level of power they never had before. Malthael, and probably also Imperius may actually fear humans as they could both surpass Demons and Angels. And then what would happen to them?
It does seem Malthael wants to protect the Heavens, and in order to ensure its survival the Eternal Conflict must be ended, with any means necessary.
There's definitely more to Covetous Shen than you would think at first glance. I wouldn't be surprised if he's some kind of deity or powerful being, but (like Krenum said as well) him being Malthael would be a stretch.
It would actually hurt the story IMO. He would be much more suited having an interesting side-story or quest.
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LeninGHOLA
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For Shen, it's speculation. He is more likely some avatar for a trickster god.
Krenum
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Well , he is mad, and Malthael went mad looking for the Worldstone after it was stolen from the Pandemonium Fortress. He is also a Gem collector.....
Maybe Covetous Shen is the mortal representation of Mathaels mind before his transformation into what we saw in the Reaper of Souls Trailer.
Like it says, only fun speculation
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Again...why??? Why wouldn't you be surprised that the old man we found trapped in a barrel is actually some kind of deity or powerful being? Is there something, anything story-wise to back up that line of thinking?
LeninGHOLA
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Because Blizzard had very little reason to introduce his character otherwise. If he only exists for comic relief, my opinion of their writing drops even lower.
Plus, if you're familiar with WC or WoW lore, they always try to make the next thing more Badass TM than the last. It's the same reason why comic book franchises need to be rebooted every so many years. Things build and build until they are so over the top they don't even make sense anymore.
UnknownSouljer
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*SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS below... if you haven't played D3, don't read this post. But I'm guessing that if you're in here, you probably have*
You may prepare to be surprised then...
Most of the characters introduced in D3 were throwaway characters. None of them really had a fantastic sort of story Arc. They tried with Maghda (ooooh she's in two acts!) and again with Kulle (whom I think was probably the most interesting antagonist in the game, and then unceremoniously just killed off...).
None of the people in the camp are super interesting either. I've heard every piece of dialog every one of them has to offer. Including all three followers and NPCs that are only found in 1 act. Shen draws interest because he appears to be more than he seems, or he could simply be a wizened old man whom knows that perception is an odd thing and has felt that more things are a series of greys rather than black and white in his old age.
It's unfortunate that the story in D3, at least in terms of characters was so thin. Surprisingly I think they did more with less in D1/D2 by just saying an ancient evil has to be stopped and you're the only one standing in the gap... there isn't anything special about you, just someone that is a "true believer". The nephalim sort of thing makes you seem special, and I guess in a way explains why you can defeat Lords of hell, but it makes you less of a hero if you think about it, as you're not just an ordinary joe facing massive odds. Also kinda annoying that no matter where your character is from in the world, they're still a nephalim. Wizards and Witch Doctors come from like opposite ends of the planet, but still by some chance happen to be the mystical Nephalims...
Anyway, I digress a lot, but all just to say that it would be MORE surprising if Blizzard had some good story arcs up its sleeve, because D3 focused more on CG cutscenes and throw away characters to fill in plot holes than anything else.
Breath_of_the_Dying
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Best recap of everything announced so far.
http://www.diablofans.com/news/1984-the-massive-expansion-recap-everything-we-know-so-far/
http://www.diablofans.com/news/1984-the-massive-expansion-recap-everything-we-know-so-far/
Krenum
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All I can tell you is to read the Sin Wars and the Book of Cain and Tyreal.
nice read.....But I'm a bit confused on this >
- Each Paragon Level adds one paragon point to all your characters. You can distribute them differently for each character
- Retroactively Paragon Points will be determined by your overall experience gained so far, not the sum of your Paragon level number for your characters
Based on this it sounds like you get a 2 phased paragon approach. You start the new expansion with a handful of paragon points based off your current EXP gained. Then from there it resets your paragon points to 0 and you gain 1 point per paragon level.....It would have to reset your paragon wouldn't it or make every paragon level require the same amount of EXP. If it didn't then the translation of EXP to Paragon level would work correctly.
starting paragon based off of EXP is the fairest option...but I'm still a bit let down as I have 227 paragon points currently......But now that I know this I can finally stop playing that fucking demon hunter.
UnknownSouljer
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If it's EXP based it's not like you're actually losing Paragon points. You're simply converting them to the new system. More EXP, more Paragon. This comes from understanding that the levels gained aren't equal as you state. 25% of the experience as an example under the current system is gained from 91-100%. If it wasn't EXP based in theory leveling more characters from 0-50 would be more beneficial than having p100 characters despite level 73(?) being the actual EXP half-way point. In other words, it would be highly unfair.
TwistedAegis
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Interesting, paragon level is account wide but point allocation is character specific. Actually kind of nice allowing for more tailored specs.
Breath_of_the_Dying
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Yep, and you don't have to put all your eggs in the same basket.
Yeah but that is only half of it. basing the retroactive paragon on EXP is only fair if they clear out your paragon points. If they don't clear out the Paragon points people with a bunch of low level paragons are going to get screwed.
1 account with 5 characters at level 20 which should = 100 paragon points @ 2088000000 total exp and 1 account with 1 level 100 paragon = 10454400000 exp
so if they don't clear the paragon levels or make each paragon level require the same EXP the person with 5 characters is going to get screwed because he is going to get less paragon points for his 100 paragon points.
10454400000
-2088000000
=8366400000......about 20% of the exp.
Say Paragon 100 translates to 100 paragon points in the new system. The total Paragon points you can have is 600 ( 5 new classes at lvl 100 + 100 carried over)
based off of EXP 5 x 20p would translate to 25 Paragon points (20% of 100) thus making the total Paragon points (80 * 5) + 100 = 500 total paragon points.
They'd lose 100 total paragon points. Unless they cleared out the paragon points.
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UnknownSouljer
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Everything that needed to be said was in the your first post. I think you're misinterpreting what I said.
It's EXP based not Paragon level based, so therefore there will be conversion. It's the only fair system.
D
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Adding a Gold cost to the Paragon Respec would be a pretty decent Gold sink for the game. Something like base 50k (doubles after every respec, resets after a month or w/e) + 5% character gold.
chockomonkey
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As if the ridiculous gem prices weren't enough of a sink.
LeninGHOLA
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Yea, the game already has too many contrived gold sinks.
TwistedAegis
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Lot of gold sinks, and if you're not an AH tycoon, not a lot of gold to start with.
Breath_of_the_Dying
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What's this talk about "resetting"? It's not that complex.
Ignore any paragon levels you have before the transition, just sum up the exp. After the transition, use all that exp saved and allocate it to account wide paragon. There's no shift or individual character paragon levels anymore, and no need to reset anything.
Once you figure out your new account wide paragon (which we have no idea how quickly or slowly you gain them), all characters will get to use that many paragon points each at all times. From then on, as you gain more account wide paragon levels, all characters benefit.
This is the fairest way. The person who has 5 plvl 20 characters should NOT have the same amount of account wide paragon points as someone who rolled only one character but made it to 100.
Ignore any paragon levels you have before the transition, just sum up the exp. After the transition, use all that exp saved and allocate it to account wide paragon. There's no shift or individual character paragon levels anymore, and no need to reset anything.
Once you figure out your new account wide paragon (which we have no idea how quickly or slowly you gain them), all characters will get to use that many paragon points each at all times. From then on, as you gain more account wide paragon levels, all characters benefit.
This is the fairest way. The person who has 5 plvl 20 characters should NOT have the same amount of account wide paragon points as someone who rolled only one character but made it to 100.
cageymaru
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Not sure what will happen with the Paragon system, but I just want SteveDave to keep playing the Demon Hunter until it gets better than his Monk.
D
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Well I guess it's a situational problem, since I forgot a lot of people here have 5-10 characters. But if you only play 1 character (like me), then eventually you end up having way too much money and absolutely nothing to spend it on.
chockomonkey
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Exactly my problem with the prices of the gems.
They should be attainable through vendoring and picking up gold. The AH however is absolutely necessary if you ever want good gems.
Awe I was mistaken. I thought that each character would still have his individual paragon levels but his points from those levels would roll up into the group paragon. I wish I was drunk and could blame it on that but I'm just a tard.
UnknownSouljer
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I've never purchased a single gem. Don't plan to either. It's much cheaper to make your own, provided you pick up your own mats, which I do.
However, I do agree with you about Gold Sinks. I think I would appreciate them more if a lot more of the Gold Sinks were for things that affected aesthetics or for show/fashion.
Well, at least we got it cleared up.
chockomonkey
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I've never purchased a gem either, and i feel like i played a lot. I meant that the amount of gold required for each craft becomes so absurd that you absolutely MUST sell things on the AH to get enough gold to keep clicking the button. No way in hell are you going to raise the amount required for one Tier1 gem through picking up gold and vendoring trash (which is a more fulfilling way to grind it out IMO)
Breath_of_the_Dying
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Yeah, the amount of gold in game is too high, they really shouldn't have made gf so effective, especially with Monster power. It should be like if you can't handle monster power at high levels, your gold would reflect that. It may be good exp still under geared, but you wouldn't profit from it. As it is now, the gf from high monster power offsets repair costs even if you die a lot.
UnknownSouljer
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I know it's fun to bash the AH, but I think the gold AH was a fantastic addition. It certainly cuts down on my time spamming in trade forums or in games asking for 15SOJS for my 195% Ballista. It really removed a big problem with the last game with knowing/understanding pricing, spam, and... well just ease of use. Without an AH, it favors those with knowledge (as a result of much more play time) even more.
At least gold has an actual purpose and value in D3, unlike D2 in which is was quite literally purposeless (only used for repairs...) Still, I hope loot 2.0 fixes the problems of D3, which is the problematic drop rate, and useless equipment.
TwistedAegis
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I agree the AH is an improvement over spamming trade chat (trying to trade anything in PoE is a headache). But on the other hand, it's so easy now and with such a large pool of items, it sets up a system where the .0001% items command huge premiums and everything else under them is nearly worthless.
I'm not sure what would fix it, TBH. Creating AH regions of X number of players (say, 50k) and randomly assigning people to them for that day. Something to break up the number of people contributing to the same pool of items, but not completely break cross region trading. IE, you could join a game and trade manually for super high value items, but the AH would be more used for everything below that, which would gain somewhat in value with the hundred million/billion gold items taken off of it and manually sold, creating more transactional friction and perhaps even lowering the value of those super star items.
I'm not sure what would fix it, TBH. Creating AH regions of X number of players (say, 50k) and randomly assigning people to them for that day. Something to break up the number of people contributing to the same pool of items, but not completely break cross region trading. IE, you could join a game and trade manually for super high value items, but the AH would be more used for everything below that, which would gain somewhat in value with the hundred million/billion gold items taken off of it and manually sold, creating more transactional friction and perhaps even lowering the value of those super star items.
If they didn't have an AH I would of just used a Chinese site. After spending thousands of hours working up to a single ZOD rune in D2 only to find out a year later I could of just bought it for 1 dollar sucked ass.
I'd say the only problem with the auction house is it puts more focus on the real issue which is how they designed their items, gems, skills, cost structure, and a few other things that are exacerbated like botters.
Once I gave up trying to use MP 10 and dropped down to MP 4 I had a bit of fun with the demon hunter using free Chakram's and Beastly Bombs.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/dirkdirden-1579/hero/10075785
But seriously DH needs some serious work. Same quality of gear gets me MP10 ready for every other class.....Just imagine if you removed Shadow Power as well.
Off the top of my head I'd bump up Cluster arrow to at least 400 % damage and make sharpshooter do 3% chance and 5% damage per second make brooding gain life, hate, and discipline.....I'd also make a passive that drops attack speed and amps up damage so you can do more of a power hit type build.
I'd say the only problem with the auction house is it puts more focus on the real issue which is how they designed their items, gems, skills, cost structure, and a few other things that are exacerbated like botters.
Not sure what will happen with the Paragon system, but I just want SteveDave to keep playing the Demon Hunter until it gets better than his Monk.
Once I gave up trying to use MP 10 and dropped down to MP 4 I had a bit of fun with the demon hunter using free Chakram's and Beastly Bombs.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/dirkdirden-1579/hero/10075785
But seriously DH needs some serious work. Same quality of gear gets me MP10 ready for every other class.....Just imagine if you removed Shadow Power as well.
Off the top of my head I'd bump up Cluster arrow to at least 400 % damage and make sharpshooter do 3% chance and 5% damage per second make brooding gain life, hate, and discipline.....I'd also make a passive that drops attack speed and amps up damage so you can do more of a power hit type build.
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chockomonkey
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From my short experience with the DH, there are simply way too many moves which they expect you to spam. They really need some more powerful abilities on CD or high hatred cost. It's a mobility character, you shouldn't be standing there throwing grenades in one spot. All the grenade moves are tarded.