Diablo III Character classes: What do you think?

[jasoncyrus]

Putting a subscription on D3 would be a suicide bid by blizzard, WoW is expanding its customer base every day AND they are encouraging multiple accounts to each person (refer a friend system was their response to people boxing multiple accounts). Plus with WotLK coming out more and mor epeople are pre-ordering because it looks AMAZING. The skills have had an almost total overhaul in some places, classes have been rebalanced and its a continent bigger than outland. This make many people very happy bunnies. Most of these people are hardcore D2 fans aswell.

Basically putting a sub on D3 would split gamers short on cash, do i pay for WoW or d3?

 

[TaboriHK]

From what I've seen, they seem to be taking cues from WoW a lot in interface and a little bit in looks and customization. All good things, but I can't help but fear that this will still be more of the same mindless slayfest.

But I like the mindless slayfest. In both 1 & 2 there was nothing so great as going out, meeting a bunch of monsters that wanted to kill me and having a grueling battle that only ended when I was standing in a pile of my enemies' broken bodies.

Yeah it was fun but it has no distance as a game. D2 got old too fast. I need more depth. Not a ton of depth...just more.

 

[ZantetsukenQ]

Once the news about Diablo 3 being in production reached me, I promptly told my friends "Sorry in advance"

Seriously, I loved D2 and LOD. The bitching about what D3 is going to be like is getting old, and there isn't even a release date or a full array or character classes. Some people need to sit back and chill. The old argument of "Its not like it was in the old days" doesn't cut it. These aren't the " old days" and I for one think this game will be wonderful.

The appearance is lush. The fact there are some lighted areas is good. It means that i'm not staring at brown and grey throughout the entire game, and that when it does go gothic in say a dungeon, I'll be able to appreciate it more.

I really hope the classes are innovative and demonstrate some amazing skill builds. I recall hearing that the old classes will not be returning for the most part (Only the Barbarian will be present). Not sure where I heard it, or if its true, but it will be interesting to see. Lets face it, does everyone who played vengeance Paladin really want to play it again with a difference in graphics? Hopefully not, since Diablo 2 is right there if that is what is wanted. (In saying this I am a bit hypocritical as I would love to see the necromancer again )

 

[Slycne]

I finally found the interview. Just to put this subscription nonsense to bed.

GameSpy: Back in the days before it was formally announced, it almost seemed feasible that Diablo III would be some kind of free-to-play game. That isn't so much the case anymore. Did you ever consider any alternate commerce models?

Jay Wilson: The way we tend to approach things is, we make the game we want to make, and then we figure out the financial model that works for that game. We never -- it's actually a big deal -- we never, ever go, "Hmm, microtransactions would make us lots of money! Let's figure out a way to force them into the game when it's not appropriate!" That, to us, is a recipe for failure. Now, on the other hand, you can't make a game and then go, "this financial model won't really support us, but who cares?" It's gotta be a balance, but the game has to come first. We actually haven't decided on a financial model for Diablo III at this time.

One of the keys is that every region is different, and we are an international company now. We sell games in Asia, Europe and North America, and we just now released WoW in Russia and Latin America. We're going to try and hit as many markets as we can, and we're going to look at each one of those markets and try and decide a financial model that works. So, if we were to say, for example, that we're not going to have any subscription fees for Diablo, that may not be true in some markets, so we can't really say that.

Is our intent to make a subscription-based game like World of Warcraft? No. We're not an MMO. That's not our goal. So we are leaning towards more of a boxed product. Would we consider microtransactions? Yes, we would -- if it was right for the game. Would we consider some kind of subscription-based, or pay-to-play? Maybe in some regions. Or maybe for North America, if it was right for the game, and if it felt like a "win" for the fans. We want to make money, obviously, we're in business for that, but we don't want to gouge our customers, we don't want them to have an experience that feels worse. What we prefer is to offer them a service that they feel is worth paying for. And that's how we tend to approach things: "This is a service that we want to offer. How much is it going to cost us? OK, it's going to cost us this much, so we do need to supplement. Is it something we feel is worth paying for?" And if the answer is yes... obviously, no one likes paying for anything. I'd love to get everything for free. That would be awesome, right? But the truth is, we wouldn't ever get anything.

Edit found another one

1UP: Speaking of the WOW experience, other action-RPG games have attempted a subscription model of sorts, can you talk at all about that for Diablo III?

RP: Well, ultimately, we'll decide on the final business model of the game in the future, but I don't think you're going to see a subscription model in the realm of WOW. It's a boxed product game, it will be more similar to say, the Diablo II or the StarCraft II model.

 

[Pigeon_Grenade]

its Pay to play online Huh?... well yet another game To Avoid... even if i enjoyed the first 2... the companys these days are all about the Money, and not about the games for the most part, just about the cash..

unless they by chance cancel it, or make it part of some Premium Model or something

 

[Mister Benoit]

where did you guys read that you would have to pay to play online? I have yet to see this anywhere. I'm pretty sure that if they stick to the D2 or SC model of battle net they won't make you pay. Although 5$ per month for a pristine hack free server would be very very nice, but that be a priority of theirs without a free.

 

[PxDn Ninja]

I think it will be a bland, boring, bleh game, just like its predecessors.

What?? Ok, well you must be in your mid to early teens.

That, or action-rpgs aren't your thing. I remember the release-date for Diablo 1 and 2 (Though I was much younger for number 1) and those games were priceless to virtually anyone who was into PC gaming. Critically acclaimed, countless copies sold, and D2 is still being played online today.

C'mon. At LEAST add 'IMO' or whatever the acronym is.

Actually, I'm 24 and work in the game industry. I actually really enjoy action-RPGs, however I barely consider Diablo to be action-rpg. When I think of action rpg, I think of Infinite Undiscovery, Mass Effect, and the like of it. While it is technically an action rpg, the action is bland. Just click click click a lot. Oh, almost dead, hit H.

It is extremely popular, and I commend Blizzard for their work with it, however I feel it is a very subpar game with little replay value.

But it is of course just my opinion. I respect anyones opinion of the game who likes it. I'll even pick up Diablo 3 considering how but of an impact it will have on the industry. I don't, however, expect it to be the second coming or anything like that.

 

[Slycne]

They say they don't want to make a sub-based game, but the thing is they'll charge you per month for the new Battle.net, that's what they mean. Stupid hypocrites.

Show me where this is being said by Blizzard, because I sure can't find it.

 

[TaboriHK]

I will never, ever, EVER pay subscription for a game as shallow as Diablo.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Nowhere have they said there will be subscriptions for anything.

 

[Decroux]

In fact it was explicitly shown that subscription would not be the case in 2 previous posts.

All of you are judging this game as if you've played it, clocked it and put it back on the shelf when none of you can actually TOUCH IT! You're complaining about a game solely on it's first demo. No matter what is released for it you're all going to just complain about that too because your expectations far exceed your will to pay games.

Yeah you're all going to ***** about it and exclaim with vigor the reasons you'd never play it. You'll be the first ones buying the Collector's Edition Box.

And what is with you all and rainbows? It's a subtle watermark and a natural occurance generally after a bout of rain, so if it was raining then it was cloudy. If it was cloudy then you have your melancholy color scheme you're all drooling over. So in that light rainbows are fine.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

Because Diablo is supposed to be dark, gothic, evil, scary. This one has statues with smiley faces, and rainbows (which by the way are not a prank by the graphic artists like Mr. Pardo says).

Congratulations on finding room on that bandwagon. Did you get on early, or is it just a big wagon?

Next, there's subscription. No way. Diablo was meant to be played free online. Stupid money-mongering bastards. There's no love for the game anymore, it's just money now. I would rather go broke by making a game that's played online for all eternity than make billions by screwing people up.

Congratulations on being misinformed, or drawing-up some assumption that you pulled out of your ass. One of the two.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

...

Linky to the bit saying that the games going to be subbed please.

There was mention of Blizzard exploring alternate pricing models in an interview. I believe it was with MTV, but I am having trouble finding it now. Until the game releases nothing is set in stone or finalized though.

Right now I am trying to not form any hard opinions on Diablo 3 one way or the other because of this.

Edit from http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/faq/

How much will Diablo III cost? Where can I buy this game?

Pricing and availability for Diablo III will be determined and announced closer to the release of the game.

All that means is they don't know what price they'll put on the game yet, nor who will sell it. Granted it'll probably be $50 like everything else on PC (or is the usual price upto $60 now?), but since anything could happen between now and when the game is released, they aren't going to announce a final price until it's closer to launch. Who knows, maybe games will be up to $70 in 30 years from now. They don't want some quote from back in the stone-age biting them in the ass when they said it was only going to be $50 at the game's announcing.

 

[Meado]

All of you are judging this game as if you've played it, clocked it and put it back on the shelf when none of you can actually TOUCH IT! You're complaining about a game solely on it's first demo. No matter what is released for it you're all going to just complain about that too because your expectations far exceed your will to pay games.

Yeah you're all going to ***** about it and exclaim with vigor the reasons you'd never play it. You'll be the first ones buying the Collector's Edition Box.

And what is with you all and rainbows? It's a subtle watermark and a natural occurance generally after a bout of rain, so if it was raining then it was cloudy. If it was cloudy then you have your melancholy color scheme you're all drooling over. So in that light rainbows are fine.

QFT.

I'll say here what I said elsewhere; The game is a few years away from release, not a few weeks. Don't poop all over the game before you've played it. I have no doubt that there will be a free downloadable demo before release so you can decide then if it's "not Diablo".

And the best thing is, there is nothing you can say to counter this idea without sounding like a ignorant jack-a.

 

[Dictaternutz]

It's already been stated in several places that because online will be hosted on Battle.net it will be free to play.

As for it being better than the others. In my opinion Diablo 2 was leaps and bounds better than Diablo, maybe we an hope for the same with 3. (even if it's the same thing as 2 with a few addons I'd still abandon WoW in a heartbeat for it.)

Release date wise, I thought I had heard something about late 2009, but that could very easily be wishful thinking.

 

[Graustein]

I will buy this game for the Wall of Zombies.