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Prepare for Diablo II, Warcraft III, and Starcraft Enhanced Editions

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Jan 7, 2012
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Any kind of aspect ratio change would break the game and higher resolution would only work properly in multiples of the original.

Why?

It's a 2D game. If you change resolution you change the field of view (and therefore also change how far the player can see and the overall ranged vs. melee balance). Plus widescreen in particular carries the problem that the horizontal FoV is much larger than the vertical FoV. Then take into consideration battle.net people PvPing and stuff and its just a bad idea.

The way around this would be to lock the current FoV, but then you'd have to also keep an integer multiplier to scale the resolution with (e.g. 800x600 -> 1600x1200) or the sprites look ugly. Something I doubt they would do.

Or they can just mess with the resolution and not give a damn. Bad way to "enhance" an old game, but I wouldn't put it past them. Would be funny to see them literally implement a hack that they banned people on Battlenet for using.

High-res would be okay if they re-render all the sprites. I doubt they still have the ancient art assets/software lying around anywhere.
If they actually did this and produced a whole new version of Diablo 2, that would be mega cool. Definitely doubtful that it would happen though, though I would think that Blizzard probably has the assets lying around somewhere.
 

Perkel

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Any kind of aspect ratio change would break the game and higher resolution would only work properly in multiples of the original.

Bullcrap.

Aspect ratio has only to do with rendering one function. Literally something that can be changed in seconds.
What is Unknown is if UI elements are hard placed or scaled. If scaled there would be no additional work if hard placed then they would need to edit UI position values.

Another bullcrap is that multiples of original. 800x600 isn't multiple of 640x480 that is first. Secondly more problematic would be implementation of resolution due to D2 being essentially 2D game which means everything would be smaller. Imo best course of action would be just to include function that would give z dimention to camera like in case of switching resolution which could be tied to KEY press.

Framerate would be bigger problem though. It is old game and both animations and game logic could be tied down to framerate. If that would be the case then reworking it would take a lot of time but it isn't impossible for skilled programer.
 

Tacgnol

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What about D2? I hear it has the best Necro class in any arpg. Tho I'm not a fan of "pet" builds in modenr arpgs. How is it different/special there?

The Necro in D2 was fun because you could do different types of summoning builds. You could summon an army of skeletons (you could have something stupid like 20 up at a time and the skeletons all had different types), you could summon big powerful golems and just have one up at a time. If you didn't like summoning the Necro had a load of other spells/abilities as well, like curses and powerful offensive spells.
 

Rahdulan

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Robert looks like he could use some sleep. Nice to see patches abound, although I'd like it even more if classics showed up in Battle.net client considering it's mandatory for modern titles.
 
Joined
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Any kind of aspect ratio change would break the game and higher resolution would only work properly in multiples of the original.

Bullcrap.

Aspect ratio has only to do with rendering one function. Literally something that can be changed in seconds.
What is Unknown is if UI elements are hard placed or scaled. If scaled there would be no additional work if hard placed then they would need to edit UI position values.

Another bullcrap is that multiples of original. 800x600 isn't multiple of 640x480 that is first. Secondly more problematic would be implementation of resolution due to D2 being essentially 2D game which means everything would be smaller. Imo best course of action would be just to include function that would give z dimention to camera like in case of switching resolution which could be tied to KEY press.

Framerate would be bigger problem though. It is old game and both animations and game logic could be tied down to framerate. If that would be the case then reworking it would take a lot of time but it isn't impossible for skilled programer.

Changing the FoV is bad for balance, and scaling up or down the sprites to keep the FoV the same at higher resolutions makes the game fugly. There's no way around this. You'll note that absolutely no one played in 640x480 because the smaller FoV really hurt you in Diablo 2.

So it doesn't technically break the game, but massively screwing with the balance and gameplay isn't exactly the ideal way to pay homage to a well-respected game.

60+FPS would be nice but that would be technically impossible without re-rendering the sprites as Severian Silk said.
 

Kutulu

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What about D2? I hear it has the best Necro class in any arpg. Tho I'm not a fan of "pet" builds in modenr arpgs. How is it different/special there?

You have the ability to summon:
Golem (4 Kinds, Clay = normal, Blood = healthpool & leech, Iron = made from an Item and it takes some of the items abilities, fire = aura dmg)
Skeleton Fighters (created out of a corpse)
Skeleton Mages (created out of a corpse)
Revives (Revived Enemies)

You got a literal shitton of support skills:
Bone Wall (To split the enemies or keep them from charging you)
Bone Prison
Curses (For all kinds of stuff, lower defense, more damage, leech whatever)

But he also a set of offensive spells, based on Magic or Poision and can be played without any of the stuff above.

One of the most fun build is a corpse explosion build, you run around with a Golem and collect enemies, once you have enough of them grouped together you kill one and start a chain reaction
of exploding corpses, you can curse them of course for more damage. Works with an Army or without.
 

Baron Dupek

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We’ve also begun working to improve our cheat-detection and hack-prevention capabilities. There’s still work to be done, but we’re making improvements every day.
About decade (and half) too late.

never played Diablo
which class is the most fun?
ARPG experience: Torchlight 1+2, Titan Quest, Grim Dawn

You played 3 garbage games and unfinished one, D1 shit all over them nonchalantly.
Warrior.
PS. play with Diablo: The Hell.
 
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What about D2? I hear it has the best Necro class in any arpg. Tho I'm not a fan of "pet" builds in modenr arpgs. How is it different/special there?

Well the best Necromancer class in any ARPG is in Guild Wars 1, but Diablo 2 definitely comes close.

If you aren't a fan of skeleton armies then it's probably not the best class for you though. Curses/Corpse Explosion are OP but only work well in a support role to either minions or spells, and Necromancers don't have great spells compared to the more pure-spellpower classes.
 
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I used to like the Warrior way back when, but these days I lean towards Rogue as a more enjoyable playthrough. Corralling packs of ranged monsters into corners start to wear on a man after awhile.

Strictly speaking vanilla here, though. The Warrior is probably less tiresome with mods.
 

typical user

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Necros are fun until you reach bugs nest in Act II. But you can run around with 20 skeleton warriors and summon fallen enemies even demons who get increased hp and damage. You can even get endgame set which changes you into lich/ghoul and gives ability to cast firewalls, fireballs and meteors just like the mob liches/ghouls that you willl meet in game.

I truely hope for anti-cheat in Diablo 2 and rebalancing. Nothing discourages me more than seeing bots picking up equipment faster than me noticing it has spawned, having dozens of sessions where one bot kills Baal for xp when rest of the bots just stay behind and leech that xp. The amount of grinding to achieve some good loot viable for trading is ridiculous. Also this game permits broken stuff like Paladin with epilepsia who charges in place teleporting forth and back until he spawns behind you and stunlocks you with shield bash. Or broken runeword giving everyone ability to teleport which is considered meta item for any and all pvp builds.

The best of Diablo 2 MP are pubs or whatever it was called, where random (or not) people would group up and just play the game together to make grinding and beating it less boring. It is great to see that every character is almost same in the beginning and after 30 levels you see druid going full werewolf, barb specing for whirlwind or berserker, hammerdins, bowazons, etc.

They should just get rid of those bots, make grinding quicker while releasing a pvp ranked system and more end-game events like world event or uber tristram.
 

Metro

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Never understood the appeal of summoner classes. You sit there while AI kills stuff for you.
 

Metro

Arcane
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Except it's two different genres? RTS... at least when they used to be good... revolved around build order, research/upgrade order, what units to counter, etc. There's nothing like that involved in an ARPG. You're just killing endless amounts of monsters so the bulk of the gameplay has to be in active combat not passively watching things happen. One is a strategy game, the other is an action game.
 

Ivan

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don't know about Diablo, but in GD equipment you have, support skills, devotion abilities, +crafted items all contribute to the effectiveness of your pets.


aside: which mod would you recommend for a "true to original" experience for Diablo ?

I see 2: Hell and HD (belzebub)
 
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Minion masters still have some control over their minions due to them teleporting together, along with using curses/corpse explosion to handle mobs. Necro Curses and Corpse Explosion are really wonder skills, they scale to match any encounter. One of the problems with HD for Diablo 1 being that it tries to make the game a lot like Diablo 2 yet its conception of the Necro class fails to provide much to do outside of watching minions fight.

And if I can continue shilling for the GW1 Necromancer, there you have to deal with constantly degenerating minions along with dozens of different ways to curse/buff your army that can require specific positioning or countering of enemy builds.

don't know about Diablo, but in GD equipment you have, support skills, devotion abilities, +crafted items all contribute to the effectiveness of your pets.


aside: which mod would you recommend for a "true to original" experience for Diablo ?

I see 2: Hell and HD (belzebub)

Neither of them. The Hell is basically Diablo: Super Hardcore and HD is basically Diablo 1 with a Diablo 2 facepaint on and super ridiculous bosses. Both of them are going to be very un-newbie friendly and are fairly massive alterations of the original gameplay.
 

shihonage

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Except it's two different genres? RTS... at least when they used to be good... revolved around build order, research/upgrade order, what units to counter, etc. There's nothing like that involved in an ARPG. You're just killing endless amounts of monsters so the bulk of the gameplay has to be in active combat not passively watching things happen. One is a strategy game, the other is an action game.

In Diablo2, you can direct where your minions go. You can effectively isolate pockets of enemies using Bone Wall, and stick them with either skeletons, skeletal mages, or blood/iron golems. Depending on the crowd and pet interaction, you use Thorns or Amplify Damage (I think, it's been a decade). There used to be a "blind enemies" and "make enemies attack themselves" spell too, I think. Depending on the crowd, more applicable...

You can control what kind of skeletal mages you have - cold or fire, if I recall. Make a mage army, and they help you deal with those spitters in Act 3.

The summoner class was very much THE WAY IT SHOULD BE. I've never seen a game make a more appealing summoner class.
 

Baron Dupek

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After seeing posts about D2 necromancer I might reinstall it (no mods because most of them sux or not work/are abandoned). Played that class p.short playthrough, dropped quickly and I forgot why.

And I recommended Diablo: The Hell because it does not add silly things, like lightsabres or whatever else you hate in mods. Mods gonna mods.

Never understood the appeal of summoner classes. You sit there while AI kills stuff for you.
So basically - being boss/CEO in the company.
Harvest profits while your slaves do dirty work.
 

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