Diablo 3 Discussion Thread

I was there and remember that, however I could see a chance that mats don't change, new recipes just require more. Currently, mats are based off the difficulty level, and they aren't adding a new one. So it could be a double hit to the demand for mats - yellow drops decrease, and recipe requirements go up.
 
I was there and remember that, however I could see a chance that mats don't change, new recipes just require more. Currently, mats are based off the difficulty level, and they aren't adding a new one. So it could be a double hit to the demand for mats - yellow drops decrease, and recipe requirements go up.

Mats are not based on the difficultly level, they are based on the item level. So if you want to slice it that way, the item level is going way up. Not sure what they will call it but if we're getting ilvl 63 drops right now, I'm assuming the max will be ilvl 73. There is the possibility then for two additional sets of mats. A level set 64-68 and the max mat set 69-73. I base this on the fact that there is a cutoff on ilvl 58 versus 59-63 now.

So, to reiterate or simplify, there could just be one additional level of mats or two, depending on what Blizzard tests and thinks is necessary.

However, a question that I wonder about is gems. Marquise are already prohibitively expensive. Not sure if those will change or if they will change the price of those, or if higher end gems will drop in the world. This is why I asked earlier what they are going to do with gold. If they increase the drop to inflate the game more to make 20 mil attainable (plus the materials cost which is a minimum of 75M) for the masses to upgrade everything they could also increase the 2B cap on the GAH. That also means that the amount of gold necessary to buy anything will go way up and of course it would be intentional inflation.

With all the boosts to gear, they will either have to not have crit damage inflation or figure out some way for people to make more money to afford even more insanely priced out gems.
 
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Been out of the loop for a while now, but I stopped playing on a positive note... just drifted onto other things and didn't get around to firing it up again. I'm looking forward to this!
 
I'm still really suprised that they drop this bomb at gamescon.

I'm really interested to see what they have up their sleeve for Blizzcon.

I'm confused. They did make the RoS announcement on gamescom.

Can't wait to play Crusader. I'm curious though if the expansion only has one new class.

EDIT: And in my excitement about the announcement, I didn't read carefully enough. I read "I'm still really surprised that they didn't drop this bomb at gamescom." Didn't is the key word that wasn't there. heh
 
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I'm confused. They did make the RoS announcement on gamescom.

Can't wait to play Crusader. I'm curious though if the expansion only has one new class.

He was saying that he was surprised they didn't save the announcement for Blizzcon. Which makes him wonder what they are going to show at Blizzcon.

It seems like they are going for only one new class... so each there will be two classes with each primary stat. Crusader is going to be a STR class. The other thing to note of course is that there will be new skills and new runes. If they even added one new rune to each skill that's a huge amount of new combinations. If they had 2 new skills to each class, that's still a massive change as it will have 6-7 new runes times two skills which is a big deal.

Hopefully the new skill changes will truly open up new styles of play while allowing old styles of play to still exist... or in other words new dimensions for customization.... rather than what we have now which is maybe 1 to 2 Tier 1 sets of skills.
 
He was saying that he was surprised they didn't save the announcement for Blizzcon.

Well, you have to remember that Gamescom is the largest game convention on the planet. It makes sense to announce it there, even if Blizzard has its own little convention a la Blizzcon. I think more people have access to Gamescom anyway than Blizzcon with limited ticks.
 
I want my akon to have 100%MS!!!

MS?

He was saying that he was surprised they didn't save the announcement for Blizzcon. Which makes him wonder what they are going to show at Blizzcon.

It seems like they are going for only one new class... so each there will be two classes with each primary stat. Crusader is going to be a STR class. The other thing to note of course is that there will be new skills and new runes. If they even added one new rune to each skill that's a huge amount of new combinations. If they had 2 new skills to each class, that's still a massive change as it will have 6-7 new runes times two skills which is a big deal.

Hopefully the new skill changes will truly open up new styles of play while allowing old styles of play to still exist... or in other words new dimensions for customization.... rather than what we have now which is maybe 1 to 2 Tier 1 sets of skills.

They don't have to add new skills to make more options. They just need to pull their heads out of their asses and fix up all the old and never used moves. I was really hoping for tweaks like this which apparently will never come.

Who knows though--maybe they'll actually add in fire ball, chain lightening, and frozen orb. Not holding my breath tho.
 
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It looks like currently there is a 50 point cap to the points you can allocate to each stat. That's a good thing IMO if there are "unlimited" paragon levels.
 
Ahh. Your're a monk aren't you? =P Monks and their movement speed i swear!

Also, do we know if paragon points are only able to be allocated once? or will there be a respec?

Monks have enough movement speed with Tempest rush.

Pretty sure he said he was a wizard. They are the slowest...because teleport is stupid.

I doubt they'd do something as cool and remove the movement speed lock. I'm not sure the game could handle it with the massive rubber banding and all.
 
It looks like currently there is a 50 point cap to the points you can allocate to each stat. That's a good thing IMO if there are "unlimited" paragon levels.

Hopefully there is a little more to paragon points than just stat allocation and things like crit chance. It's a good step, but more details are needed.
 
Unlimited might not be bad if it were diminishing returns a la bL2 badass points.

I dunno which one would make me play longer. If there is a cap, I might be compelled to max out as much as I can.
 
Softcaps tend to piss off the already vocal crowd. I like them, since it is easier to tweak diminishing returns than retooling set values all the way down the line. Mild adjustments to soft caps can often be done without pulling the rug out from under your playerbase.
 
They don't have to add new skills to make more options. They just need to pull their heads out of their asses and fix up all the old and never used moves. I was really hoping for tweaks like this which apparently will never come.

The rune changes and equipment changes are coming. They'll be launched in what Blizzard is calling Diablo 3 2.0. The only real question is whether they will be released before the expansion or not. Blizzard has already stated that this will effect vanilla even without the purchase of the expansion, but we don't know when either is going to drop.

As far as actually switching out other skills for new ones, it probably won't happen. Wizard of course is the most guilty of having useless skills/runes. I'd say that Demon Hunter is second.
 
If anyone feels like dinking around I will be on for a few hours leveling a second barb for some easier paragon. kettchxxii#1281
 
Softcaps tend to piss off the already vocal crowd. I like them, since it is easier to tweak diminishing returns than retooling set values all the way down the line. Mild adjustments to soft caps can often be done without pulling the rug out from under your playerbase.

And how many times did they do that in wow?
 
I was hoping some of you might be able to help me out. Currently stuck on what to upgrade now gear wise. I am comfortably farming keys at mp5 right now. Would like to mp 10 eventually but 7 or 8 is what I want to get to soon. Here's my setup..
 
I was hoping some of you might be able to help me out. Currently stuck on what to upgrade now gear wise. I am comfortably farming keys at mp5 right now. Would like to mp 10 eventually but 7 or 8 is what I want to get to soon. Here's my setup..

Looks like Critical Hit damage is your weak point.

All upgrades will cost you time or gold.

If it was me I'd start with the Chandodo's Will. Get one with a socket or 90 critical hit damage. Then Drop the Blackthorns pants for INna's Pants. Get a hellfire ring. Craft Better Bracers, Gloves, and Amulet.
 
Anyword on ladder seasons for a fresh economy when the expansion launches? Will be sorely dissapointed if this doesn't happen.
 
That loot 2.0 video is good.

It's funny though, how they're talking about those things now, in that way. Goes to show just how bad the current loot is when they say things like, "We don't want to just fill up your bags with items you don't care about. When you do find an item you care about, it gives your character a meaningful change."
 
Based on that video, I'm really glad they promoted Josh Mosqueria to Game Director. He seems to understand completely what makes the Diablo games fun.
 
It's still the nature of ARPGs to have trash: its always all relative.

At some point with any model, you will be in and upper tier of gear, where more things will look like trash. Even if they let you roll an affix on a legendary, legendaries that don't have the other correct affixes will become trash.

This was the damage that the AH caused: it wasn't the real money trading, but such a facilitated trading system that allowed people to hit the "everything is trash" status in a very short time. Given enough time, any ARPG will hit that in the general community.

Personally I thought gear progression through hell and up to inferno was perfect. If they can recapture that progression in the expansion plus keep some resemblance of that progression at max level, I'd be really happy.
 
It's still the nature of ARPGs to have trash: its always all relative.

At some point with any model, you will be in and upper tier of gear, where more things will look like trash. Even if they let you roll an affix on a legendary, legendaries that don't have the other correct affixes will become trash.

This was the damage that the AH caused: it wasn't the real money trading, but such a facilitated trading system that allowed people to hit the "everything is trash" status in a very short time. Given enough time, any ARPG will hit that in the general community.

Personally I thought gear progression through hell and up to inferno was perfect. If they can recapture that progression in the expansion plus keep some resemblance of that progression at max level, I'd be really happy.

Very true. Add in that the fact you only need like 20k DPS to pass the game. 150k DPS to do MP10 pretty good..........and 500k DPS the come CLOSE to maxing out your build further exacerbates the term 'Trash'.

Having Blasted 10+ characters through HardCore I can say the Item progression is actually pretty good all the way up into inferno. The problem becomes end game and maxing out. In Diablo 2 there was a pretty firm max out point where Diablo 3 doesn't giving the illusion that there is always something better...because there technically is.


While this does sound promising its still a patch over a broken system vs fixing the issue. Its going to further extend the gap between trash and epic instead of maxing out at 500k DPS it is going to sky rocket to like 1000k making it much more difficult to manage balance, difficulty, and reward.....Its also a nightmare for trying to get something like PvP off the ground unless they do PVP only gear.

Still likely going to be a huge step and I am quite excited for it.....Just hope it doesn't come out anywhere near March 2014 because it will be the back seat to Dark Souls 2 which will suck because all my friends will be playing D3.
 
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Thanks for the link, that was a great video. I can say I really like what they have in mind, they're really doing their best to give items much more unique characteristics to them.


I'm not sure if I fully understood, but did he say legendaries can now drop at different levels? For example a Deadman's Legacy at level 60 and one at level 70, with the latter having higher stats? If that's true it would add even more variation to all the legendaries and make even the low level ones (like ones that now drop at 20 or 30) important to the game.


I was initially a little disappointed with only one new playable character, but having seen the Crusader in action I'm pretty excited about him. I love the abilities shown so far, they are "over-the-top" but in a good and fun way. I actually find myself really looking forward to play him.
 
Thanks for the link, that was a great video. I can say I really like what they have in mind, they're really doing their best to give items much more unique characteristics to them.


I'm not sure if I fully understood, but did he say legendaries can now drop at different levels? For example a Deadman's Legacy at level 60 and one at level 70, with the latter having higher stats? If that's true it would add even more variation to all the legendaries and make even the low level ones (like ones that now drop at 20 or 30) important to the game.


I was initially a little disappointed with only one new playable character, but having seen the Crusader in action I'm pretty excited about him. I love the abilities shown so far, they are "over-the-top" but in a good and fun way. I actually find myself really looking forward to play him.

Well its possible they want to extend out D3 for a long time and have multiple expansion packs. Each one rendering the gear in the previous one useless and offering a new class each time.

The level 70 Cap vs level 99 cap is all I am basing this off of. Xpack 1 = 70, Xpack 2 = 80, Xpack 3 = 90, Xpack 4 = 99. an extra 160 bucks to blizzard...Plus all the AH people who will upgrade their gear between packs.

I already forgot but I think I read they are planing on having ledgendaries scale to your level. Not sure if that means when you find a level 20 Item it levels up with you and its values increases with your level or if it means you can find low level ledgendaries late in the game that are pumped up. Either way is cool.
 
Simply allowing all legendaries to drop in Inferno is enough to get me excited.

There are already many cool legendaries from 1-58 that would be so sooo awesome to build around if only they weren't screwed by the ridiculous jump from 59 to 60. Rolling with a lvl 70 Odyn Son or Death Watch Mantle will be freaking awesome.
 
Wonder if Set Items will also drop at all levels?

I feel like those set bonuses would be a pain in the ass to balance since they'd have to account for every level range.
 
I was happy to post the video guys.

I think my own personal thoughts about it so far is thus: If they can make the gearing in the game more reasonable and attainable from drops there will be a big shift in the enjoyment of playing the game. I kind of wonder if they internally dislike this move because ultimately the best form of Diablo 3, or any game for that matter, is one that doesn't require cash systems to be successful (and of course inherently a company's first motive is profit). I don't think trading is an issue or even the auction house is problematic, as collecting or having unique things to buy and sell add enjoyment or character to the game. This is true in other types of game systems and of course was true in previous Diablo games. It simply needs to not feel impossible. It still took quite a bit of time to top out in D2 equipment wise. In D3 with 1000+ hours in, I still haven't gotten close. D3 top-tier is unattainable in its current state (except for those that pay cash or that have been playing since the beginning with constant trading and exorbitant in game wealth).

If this one thing changes, realistic drop rates, many ways to get to where you want to go, BUT still a challenge then at least one of the major flaws in the game will be plugged.

Still playing it right now though, so despite my complaint I do enjoy the game. After all, why play a game for 1000+ hours that you hate?
 
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Another Crusader tidbit: " - Heavenly Strength: enable the crusader to hold a 2 handed weapon in main hand, but only if you have a Crusader shield in the other, in addition you lose 10% movement speed"
 
I was happy to post the video guys.

I think my own personal thoughts about it so far is thus: If they can make the gearing in the game more reasonable and attainable from drops there will be a big shift in the enjoyment of playing the game. I kind of wonder if they internally dislike this move because ultimately the best form of Diablo 3, or any game for that matter, is one that doesn't require cash systems to be successful (and of course inherently a company's first motive is profit). I don't think trading is an issue or even the auction house is problematic, as collecting or having unique things to buy and sell add enjoyment or character to the game. This is true in other types of game systems and of course was true in previous Diablo games. It simply needs to not feel impossible. It still took quite a bit of time to top out in D2 equipment wise. In D3 with 1000+ hours in, I still haven't gotten close. D3 top-tier is unattainable in its current state (except for those that pay cash or that have been playing since the beginning with constant trading and exorbitant in game wealth).

If this one thing changes, realistic drop rates, many ways to get to where you want to go, BUT still a challenge then at least one of the major flaws in the game will be plugged.

Still playing it right now though, so despite my complaint I do enjoy the game. After all, why play a game for 1000+ hours that you hate?

I really doubt they make that much money from the Auction house....In fact it may very well be possible they lose money on it. So they get 15% of each transaction and assuming they don't split any of that with ebay or anyone else how much would it cost to break even over the cost of the equipment, electricity and manpower to maintain the auction house.

D3 sold around 10 million. Lets assume the average person spent 10 bucks on the RMAH ( I feel that is WAY higher than what the average actually is BTW) so that makes 100 Million and 15% of that is 15 million. This is chump change in the grand scale of things. Take into account the cost of the servers, facilities, and people maintaining them and its probably pretty close to breakeven...Drop in the RMAH development cost and the fact that the RMAH usage has dwindled to near nothing and profitability is more and more unlikely.

So from a financial standpoint I can definitely see them seeing the Auction House as an unprofitable investment for D3 thus not caring about doing account bound items.

In fact Blizzard probably made more money off of diablo 2 sales then RMAH....So they are likely truly trying to find ways to get people to continue to invest into Diablo 3 by making real improvements.

My knowledge is limited though. If the average spent in the RMAH is 100 bucks then I am dead wrong and they are making a pretty solid profit.

Another Crusader tidbit: " - Heavenly Strength: enable the crusader to hold a 2 handed weapon in main hand, but only if you have a Crusader shield in the other, in addition you lose 10% movement speed"

WOW> Skorn + shield with 10% crit chance and 300 strength seems pretty broken and awesome too me.
 
Don't really need a large team to maintain servers SteveDave. Google has a massive $600 million server farm here in NC and it employees 19 people. This is what a Google server farm looks like. I doubt Blizzard needs anything that looks like this to maintain the RMAH.

:)
 
Don't really need a large team to maintain servers SteveDave. Google has a massive $600 million server farm here in NC and it employees 19 people. This is what a Google server farm looks like. I doubt Blizzard needs anything that looks like this to maintain the RMAH.

:)

I worked in a server farm you are missing much information as its far more then just the hardware techs who maintain it. System Admins, dba's, Performance techs, disaster recovery, project managers, business analyst, ect ...

Having been a part of many large and small server hosting operations I can tell you that the cost are huge even for something as small as the Auction House.
 
Don't really need a large team to maintain servers SteveDave. Google has a massive $600 million server farm here in NC and it employees 19 people. This is what a Google server farm looks like. I doubt Blizzard needs anything that looks like this to maintain the RMAH.

:)

Maintaining the hardware of a server farm is just a fraction of resources compared to developing and maintaining the software and data used on them.
 
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