Diablo III Gameplay and Auction House Panel at BlizzCon 2011
Jay Wilson, Jason Bender, Andrew Chambers, Wyatt Cheng, and Chris Haga took the main stage at BlizzCon this afternoon to offer a comprehensive look at the design and direction of Diablo III.
Senior Game Designer Jason Bender kicked things off by elaborating on how achievements are earned in Diablo III, how player banners work, and how many of the new gameplay elements function. Senior Game Designer Andrew Chambers then explained crafting in Diablo III by first looking at the Diablo II item life-cycle, with an assessment of what worked for players, and what the team set out to improve upon. By explaining the functions of the Mystic, the Jeweler, and the Blacksmith, Chambers proposed a Diablo III item life-cycle that will provide players with a larger set of options than before.
After a brief look at PvP in Diablo III, Game Director Jay Wilson detailed trading systems, including the ways that players will use the auction houses, and how players can and will trade items directly between themselves. Wilson concluded with a look at new features coming in the Diablo III auction house, such as Smart Search, Advanced Search, and the user-friendly ways that the AH will allow stacking of items both for sale and at the point of purchase.
Senior Technical Game Designer Wyatt Cheng explored the final tuning of monsters, skills, and classes that is currently underway, Technical Artist Chris Haga presented a number of videos demonstrating improvements being made to character gameplay, and Jay Wilson continued with a presentation of difficulty levels, touching on the team’s goal of making unusual builds as viable as possible for Diablo III players. Before turning to the live audience for questions, Wilson announced that a way has been found to make Followers viable in all levels of difficulty in Diablo III.
Which gameplay system are you most looking forward to in Diablo III? Tell us about it in the comments below.
Ysondre
Farstriders
Diablo was re-playable (8-16 hours/day for 300 days/year) for many due to the desire to find that seemingly impossible 0.0000001% drop percentage item.
A review of the D3 Items webpage shows that Crafted items may be just as powerful or almost just as powerful of those elite items (base weapon stats only). As a player willing to put in months (if need be: years) of time to find such a treasure, a fractional increase in item quality over an item crafted, is not a rational reason to continue playing after besting the game on the hardest mode.
I realize the counter-argument to this concern will be that those elite crafted items will require disenchanting (don’t know the D3 term for this) other high level Legendary items to craft it in the first place. But in this example disenchanting doesn’t seem very painful: Even situationally speaking, I would be willing to disenchant 10 Eaglehorn Bows if it meant getting something as good as, or 99.5% as good, as Windforce Bow (Diablo II speaking of course). So in that consideration, Eaglehorn Bows would only be a tool to get that top crafted item as good as Windforce and as such yield a significantly reduced value.
So why is this problematic? If players stop playing because they ‘quick’ crafted top level items, deck their character out in this gear (99.5% as good as a legitimate named treasure, a legendary) the probability of ever seeing those ultra-rare Legendary items will quickly decrease proportional to the reduced world kills from the drop offs in play due to ‘satisfaction’ being reached. So although I’m initially prepared to play long term to find ultra-rare items (as many others are also I’m sure), I am concerned that the trap of the 99.5% as good as crafted items will be prevent the true fun of re-playing in the first place: a desire to find an awesome item through the Treasure Hunt. Yes, this is personal choice, but massive amounts of time vs accepting the 99.5% item as acceptable enough is almost an easy choice, which is the most un-fun choice (accepting the 99.5% items and moving on).
Although I haven’t seen the crafting mechanics yet, as a general logic process I think crafter NPC’s should have stopped at Mystic and Jeweler. Armor / Weapons should be kept for world play (from killing demons and sending them back to Hell), but the specialty improvements – magic enchants, jewel upgrades / runes is great to allow players ‘a side effort’ to make their acquired awesome item more specialized in between their projected treasure hunt from items found on the previous hunt.
Other game aspects:
PvP is not a remote interest as a prime deficiency in all PvP encounters as items worn are inherently unbalanced (different gear allows overpowering effects even within a class). This difference makes the process pointless (gear > skill/decision making). If all gear and talents were standardized in PvP (to include all rune effects) then I see it would be more popular as people would have to render skill salutes to one another instead of laying blame on having lesser/greater gear.
The real money Auction House seems like a very intelligent idea. The 15% taxing purchases (a De facto hidden subscription fee of the fortunate/lucky item finders) will hopefully provide funds to secure continued business end attention to D3 and the series as a whole for a long time (but put these funds in the bank incase most players do accept the 99.5% items as good enough and quit shortly thereafter). Though I will be very concerned about getting my BN account hacked and having some cleaver script-kiddy or packet-sniffer putting a $10,000 hole in my real money account so he/she can go out shopping for a Cray’s Supercomputer with my savings. (though I intend on being the first player to earn $100,000 from the real money AH, wish me luck:)
Hope none of this comes across as doom and gloom, just a fan's 2 cents. Oh and thank you for finally producing a sequel (to include all the hard work on the entire D3 team that a major title with great expectations requires). I sure hope it doesn’t end here! Diablo II was great fun for me for a very long time (never thought I’d like it when I bought it with disposable income only because Blizzard made the game, - was a big SCI and Warcraft I/II fan). Only WoW pulled me away as the graphics were just too superior by comparison. (Had 3 copies of DII/LOD)
Waiting with delightful anticipation for my D3CE to show up,
R
/sarcasm
Deathwing
Mok'Nathal
Madoran
Mok'Nathal
Burning Blade
Kilrogg
Mok'Nathal
Silver Hand
Durotan
Think of it like a fast-paced WoW where you can take down huge amounts of mobs with spells/skills that are actually visible and get noticeably bigger and better with each level. Quests are much more engaging and do a better job at progressing the story. And loot GALORE!
Dungeon maps are randomly generated, so each time you go in you will have to navigate it blindly. No raiding, though i do hope they introduce some sort of engaging end game.
Malygos
The game does have a lot of similiarities to WoW which gives me the sour face as well. Diablo was a very distinct game and everything wasn't so spelled out for you as it is in WoW. I appreciated a level of difficulty in the game that they seem to have dummed down a fair amount in some areas. Otherwise, things like AH (which existed long before WoW) and a new system of builds with runes are interesting inclusions into a new Diablo game.
Sorry wowzers, I just have deep love for a hardcore bloody game that birthed greatness long before WoW and its 13 year olds existed. I think all would agree that after the wait for this game, all we really want is something unique and exciting.
AND PLEASE BRING BACK 1v1!!!!!
Anvilmar
Durotan
Though i do agree. They desperately need a 1v1 and 2v2 option. I honestly don't see the harm in them allowing for 1,2,3,4, and 5 member teams. However many friends you have available to form a team should be supported and allow for matchmaking without having to pick up a random person or drop one of your friends.
Dear sleeper:
Yes, its true, this is Diablo III. Not Diablo I. Not Diablo II. And certainly not WoW. And yes dad, I do understand that game "franchises" do change greatly from game to game. In no way would I expect DIII to be anything like previous releases. Yet where would DIII be without its predecessors? No where.
Of course the old system of dueling was completely broken and abusive, but the accessibility of being able to duel in whatever capacity you wish was what made it fun. Especially being able to beat lvl 80's with lld characters, but you probably don't know what I'm talking about.
And if you read carefully, I did say that matchmaking and team dueling has its place. Yes, the dueling system did need to be changed, but I did say a 1v1 option is something that a lot of people would miss and would like to see in the new game. The ability to put your destiny in your own hands instead of having to rely on others is a fun option. I agree about creating a more equal experience, and I have no problem with change. I'm sure DIII will be great regardless; all I want is the “franchise” to stay as unique as possible rather than dragging parts from a completely different game. And no, I don't hate/dislike WoW and its players; I just believe its difficulty factor isn’t as comparable to other games of a similar genre. I have several friends who play and I played for a while myself.
Games do take on new aspects, but not at the expense of loosing their identity. It just stings me sometimes to see so many WoW’s downing a game when it was the Diablo series that broke ground long before WoW, especially by those who have never played a D game.
I do think there are some real ways they could include a non-abusive dueling factor in the game such as a dueling zone in or outside of town where upon leaving said zone, you would no longer be able to slay with free reign, as in the old games where a high lvl character could amok with, killing whoever they like (which I hated). You could duel freely within the zone with anybody at any level for kicks, seeing how you stand, and getting free practice without any type of mm consequences of losing stats, gold, etc… I would also love to see a 1v1 in matchmaking. But again, this is all just personal opinion. I do appreciate your attempt at lecturing me though sleeper :)
i think that they should have a button that you use to challenge people to the arena that you meet in game. some guy being an !@#, challenge them, if they accept, both players moved to the arena and fight begins, this is not a proper sentence, that was the point, yay.
Quel'dorei
Tichondrius
Sisters of Elune
Saurfang