Auction House Online: The Game (Diablo 3) is a MASSIVE decline

[Black]

Wonder if this will get to be as big as the Mass Effect 3 thread.

Nah, D3 simply isn't EXTREME enough.

 

[Damned Registrations]

'if' a duplicating bug is discovered? Thats a fucking certainty. Has there been an online game anywhere that managed to go without an item duping trick at some point in it's lifespan?

What a glorious shitstorm that will be. Everyone who already had the item being duped will want rollbacks so their shit is still valuable. Everyone who bought duped shit won't. Either way people are going to be getting fucked out of their money.

 

[joeydohn]

'if' a duplicating bug is discovered? Thats a fucking certainty. Has there been an online game anywhere that managed to go without an item duping trick at some point in it's lifespan?

What a glorious shitstorm that will be. Everyone who already had the item being duped will want rollbacks so their shit is still valuable. Everyone who bought duped shit won't. Either way people are going to be getting fucked out of their money.

Okay, when a duplicating bug is discovered WoW recently had one that tanked the 'economy' for several expensive items in /a lot/ of servers, rumour has it that the technique was being sold for $20k. Blizzard officials lied to the player base telling them that player's accounts had been hacked and used steal from guild banks.

 

[Semper]

Anyone else remember how sales went in EQ? Before auction houses? Just hundreds of people in a zone spamming the shit out of the chat trying to sell their shit.

yeah, but in diablo the global chat is in the lobby and not ingame. first this means that your game experience won't be disturbed if you're not in a public game where bots login just to spam a line of shit. second i don't think that you can link items/auctions to chars/ah. since as long as i know there are no names displayed in the ah and you can't search for it, therefore spamming the lobby chat won't be of efficieny. still there's enough left spamming about - just look @d2.

Eh, there's still a good chance for getting them trying to aid and abet money laundering, terrorism and the likes.

dunno, but with high enough fees and a limitation of 10 auctions per acc you can't really get "rich". given the assumption that an item will cost 3-10$, or whatever curreny is used, average and the fact the money laundering is needed to shift tons of money, i don't think that a wannabe al capone out there will abuse d3 for his drug money. there are way more easier, more established and quicker ways to do so.

Seriously, kill yourself.

easy, pal. just relax.

 

[DwarvenFood]

Jesus Christ you guys are upset about Diablo 3. You're not even talking about the real money auction house or the always online requirement, you're bitching about the gameplay (Even when shown Diablo 3 has more character builds and character customization than Diablo 1 and 2) and if it's RPG enough to be in GRPG. Skyway was a given, but damn. Didn't expect so many other Codexers to derp this hard.

Yeah we get it, you're upset it's not on Steam

 

[Revenant]

And besides, if we're going to talk about BG or any other D&D1/2 computer game, outside of dual-classing it's not exactly the most customizable of character systems.

AD&D2 had both weapon proficiencies and non-weapon proficiencies (a.k.a. skills) that the player had to choose on gaining levels. The first was implemented in the Infinity Engine games and allowed for pretty specialized characters, especially in Baldur's Gate 2, where every weapon had its own proficiency, so you had to make decisions in order to have a balanced party.

Every priest is going to have the exact same spells, every mage is going to have the exact same spells <...>

This might be true in IE games, where the abundance of scrolls is generally present (although even in IWD2 if you had more mages in your party you couldn't find enough scrolls for all of them), but in magic-scarce settings like Dark Sun, scrolls were very rare, so your magic user's picked spells were really important decisions.

On top of that, stat points mean absolutely nothing outside of combat, so no one but larpers are going to roll sub-optimal stats; most everyone puts 18 in their main stats.

D&D is a combat-oriented system, so there is nothing wrong that stats were mainly influencing combat. Even so, charisma mattered in conversations and shop prices in BG for sure, and I am also quite sure that in IWD your intelligence and wisdom also influenced dialogue options.

All in all, stats were probably the most important character building aspect in AD&D2 and one shouldn't judge them based on their implementation in the IE games, as IE games actually haven't followed the AD&D2 rules in stat generation. Not a single official stat-rolling method of AD&D2 allows a player to definitely have an 18 in any attribute, so the player had to make tough decisions how to arrange the stats, especially if he aimed for a class with high requirements. Allowing you to freely distribute the stat points in D&D CRPGS was a decline that made you think that "everyone puts 18 in their main stats so every character is the same".

 

[Average Manatee]

Why even bother talking about detecting money laundering? You just know that when the question comes up "should we prevent these guys from giving us 10% of their $x million dollars?" the answer will be NO. The most that will happen is that Blizzard will eventually get caught, be forced to pay back a fraction of a percent of what they earned from it, and promise to start monitoring it better.

 

[Raghar]

Money laundering is shitty excuse. All these attack on fiscal transfers, while they reduced money IRA is getting, it allso killed all possibilities for sponsoring political activists, and victims of anti terrorist raids and heavy handed actions of democratic governments. Also it forces mafia to be even more deeply integrated with government to the level it receives the money even legally.


BTW

DraQquoted your post in the threadDiablo 3 is a MASSIVE decline.

8:58 PM

Alerts should show you when someone is responding in iconography. DraQ you didn't answer if you'd rather play FF VII crisis core than D3.

 

[nihil]

One thing I do think they nailed is the "feel" of everything. Bashing monsters, especially as the Barbarian is just a lot of fun in a very basic kind of way.

I actually disagree with this. In the first two Diablos, the hits had great impact. The weapon stops upon impact and the sounds are really satisfying. The deaths have great animations with enemies crashing to the ground, sometimes twitching or similar.

In Diablo 3, you swing your weapon in an arc and send monster ragdolls flying in a floaty way 20 feet straight ahead. It's somewhat satisfying in its own way, but it's a huge diversion from Diablo 1 and 2, and it's not my idea of good impact. The monsters seem way too light, and ragdolls are always less satisfying than good animation.

More generally, I really dislike that it still feels "Bloodrayne" comic gothic horror, instead of gloomy and oppressive in atmosphere like the first game, or at least serious in tone as Diablo 2 was. And it's not only the visuals. The characters, like Deckard Cain, feel like paroidies. Or the whole "I shall save this town!" unconvincing story telling.

I could go into the MMO feel of the game and all the flashing stuff that breaks the fourth wall, but I'll just stop here for now.

 

[sea]

One thing I do think they nailed is the "feel" of everything. Bashing monsters, especially as the Barbarian is just a lot of fun in a very basic kind of way.

I actually disagree with this. In the first two Diablos, the hits had great impact. The weapon stops upon impact and the sounds are really satisfying. The deaths have great animations with enemies crashing to the ground, sometimes twitching or similar.

In Diablo 3, you swing your weapon in an arc and send monster ragdolls flying in a floaty way 20 feet straight ahead. It's somewhat satisfying in its own way, but it's a huge diversion from Diablo 1 and 2, and it's not my idea of good impact. The monsters seem way to light, and ragdolls are always less satisfying than good animation.

Fair enough. I really liked using the bash attack and seeing pieces of the game world literally flying away from the impact (or just the shockwave). Yeah, you're right in that it's not really as brutal or gritty or anything like that, but the feeling of wreaking chaos on the environment with all your powers and spells is still pretty nice. I haven't seen a 3D Diablo-like that's managed anything similar.

 

[nihil]

Fair enough. I really liked using the bash attack and seeing pieces of the game world literally flying away from the impact (or just the shockwave). Yeah, you're right in that it's not really as brutal or gritty or anything like that, but the feeling of wreaking chaos on the environment with all your powers and spells is still pretty nice. I haven't seen a 3D Diablo-like that's managed anything similar.

Yeah, the destructible environments are pretty nice I guess, and it's not like it's totally unsatisfying to send stuff flying, but I think it misses the point by just going over the top. And knowing Blizzard's usual polish, I really wasn't expecting flying ragdolls. I would've thought they had a handful satisfying death animations for each creature.

 

[sea]

Maybe, but I'm not sure the old style would have worked so well in 3D. Sprites work because limited frames of animation let your mind imply a lot more than literally meets the eye. It gives it an almost animated or comic-book feeling that smooth 3D graphics can't replicate. That applies to the visual design of the whole game, in fact - the darkness and grittiness of the 2D graphics is something you just can't do in 3D without the game becoming difficult to look at or play.

Sound effects are a different story, but truth be told I think the sounds are actually a minor part of the picture - important, but it's more their relationship to the visuals that matters. A powerful "smack" only feels so good because of its juxtaposition to what we're seeing on-screen. And again, I haven't seen a 3D Diablo-style game that feels anywhere near as good to play as Diablo or Diablo II, so unfortunately there's no example to turn to that can be said to be better (although granted, I haven't played Path of Exile yet).

 

[nihil]

Maybe, but I'm not sure the old style would have worked so well in 3D. Sprites work because limited frames of animation let your mind imply a lot more than literally meets the eye. It gives it an almost animated or comic-book feeling that smooth 3D graphics can't replicate. That applies to the visual design of the whole game, in fact - the darkness and grittiness of the 2D graphics is something you just can't do in 3D without the game becoming difficult to look at or play.

Sound effects are a different story, but truth be told I think the sounds are actually a minor part of the picture - important, but it's more their relationship to the visuals that matters. A powerful "smack" only feels so good because of its juxtaposition to what we're seeing on-screen. And again, I haven't seen a 3D Diablo-style game that feels anywhere near as good to play as Diablo or Diablo II, so unfortunately there's no example to turn to that can be said to be better (although granted, I haven't played Path of Exile yet).

I was going to type that Path of Exile actually does a good job with both the visuals and the feeling, and then I saw you mentioned it at the end. Definitely try that. It's a bit shiny, but otherwise it looks and feels almost perfect (basically Diablo 2 in 3D). It lacks the $1B polish of Blizzard, of course, but it's getting there.

 

[Stabwound]

I'm not sure if this was posted before, but it might be something some people would be interested in. Basically, someone came up with a darkening/sharpening filter for the game, which arguably makes it look a lot better and more in tune with what you might expect from a Diablo 3. It removes the "cartoony" look along with the glowing effect on the models, which I think looks a lot better, but I'm sure some people will dismiss it as trying to be "grimdark."

I don't know why Blizzard doesn't just give an in-game option to remove the glowing/blurry shit. It looks so much better when sharpened. Like the filters/shaders for Morrowind, this also effects the UI so it's arguably useless to some people.

Anyway, link with screenshots: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/3967848172

 

[Brayko]

So many Diablo 3 and Mass Effect 3 threads. :/

 

[sgc_meltdown]

darkening/sharpening filter for the game

definite improvement, I approve

too bad I'll still be playing path of exile instead

 

[Whisper]

So many Diablo 3 and Mass Effect 3 threads. :/

Many threads for older games get little to no attention - from list i am playing now: dark spyre, crystal dragon, alethar, avernum.

 

[nihil]

too bad I'll still be playing path of exile instead

See you in patch 0.9.9.

 

[Livonya]

I have been playing Path of Exile myself.... though I haven't had much time in the last few weeks.

Working on a Witch. Fun, though don't take it too seriously as I realize there will be a wipe when the open beta comes... or when the game gets released... mostly just playing around with how the passive skill tree works... interesting. Theory-craft is fun at work with that one.

 

[funkadelik]

Bros, I just got beta access to Path of Exile. I will be playing when it is ready.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Those filters looked like ass.

 

[Average Manatee]

I'm not sure if this was posted before, but it might be something some people would be interested in. Basically, someone came up with a darkening/sharpening filter for the game, which arguably makes it look a lot better and more in tune with what you might expect from a Diablo 3. It removes the "cartoony" look along with the glowing effect on the models, which I think looks a lot better, but I'm sure some people will dismiss it as trying to be "grimdark."

I don't know why Blizzard doesn't just give an in-game option to remove the glowing/blurry shit. It looks so much better when sharpened. Like the filters/shaders for Morrowind, this also effects the UI so it's arguably useless to some people.

Anyway, link with screenshots: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/3967848172

Looks a lot like what I do with my Nvidia driver settings (40% brightness, 60% contrast, .80 Gamma, 80% digital vibrance). A lot of games look a better when you actually make darkness dark. The fact that every area in D3 looks like it's covered in some kind of weird light mist looks horrendous.

 

[DraQ]

YOU PRE-ORDERED YOUR GW2 YET, FAG?!

MY WUT?

D&D2 in general might have that, but Baldur's Gate doesn't

Which is irrelevant. What's relevant is whether you believe that completely castrating even shitty and limited character system creates a better one.

DraQ you didn't answer if you'd rather play FF VII crisis core than D3.

I'm terribly sorry that I didn't express myself with sufficient clarity. Allow me to correct that regrettable mistake on my part:

Would you kindly GTFO and kill yourself along with your fucking JPGs?

 

[Stabwound]

D&D2 in general might have that, but Baldur's Gate doesn't

Which is irrelevant. What's relevant is whether you believe that completely castrating even shitty and limited character system creates a better one.

Dude, I didn't say that. In fact, in the original post you quoted, I even basically said the same thing as you.

I don't think non-permanent character choices are better than permanent ones. I saw this picture of the skill system from 2009 and it made me cry inside. There's no reason why they couldn't have taken the skill system of D2 and expanded/modified it. Hell, I don't like Titan Quest but it had a super-customizable system. You can dual class and use the skill trees of both classes. Fucking awesome.

I don't think the current system is better by any means. I just don't think it ruins the game.

Old system:

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

I don't see what was so bad about the old system... but I don't mind the new system either.

 

[DraQ]

D&D2 in general might have that, but Baldur's Gate doesn't

Which is irrelevant. What's relevant is whether you believe that completely castrating even shitty and limited character system creates a better one.

Dude, I didn't say that. In fact, in the original post you quoted, I even basically said the same thing as you.

I don't think non-permanent character choices are better than permanent ones. I saw this picture of the skill system from 2009 and it made me cry inside.

There's no reason why they couldn't have taken the skill system of D2 and expanded/modified it.

I'd be happiest if it found some happy medium between D2 (skill trees) and D1 (spell books) systems.

Something with random consumable items bestowing actual abilities, but also with tree of some sort, maybe used to modify stuff or add extra effects combining with the previous system.

I don't think the current system is better by any means. I just don't think it ruins the game.

Well, I think that loss of atmosphere and move to derpy mmo-like mechanics in D2 is what ruined the series. But doing away with actual character system is what delivers the actual coup de grace.