BlizzConline 2021 Pre-Show Welcome

Pretty much this. I’ve never been too big on the cosmetics offered by Blizzcon events, however I’m interested in seeing what the cosmetics for BlizzConline will entail (although I have no plans on getting it), especially if they’re based on what we’ll be seeing at the event.

Did you miss this?

“If you miss anything along the way, don’t worry: you’ll be able to watch it later free in the BlizzConline video archives.”

If all of the Diablo items were in a stand alone package I would pay like $5.00.

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So what does everyone think will be announced if they do not want to show the goodies and spoil it, D2R?

Do you have the list ready yet, I would like to read it.

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If there was an option to just buy the D3 cosmetics, I’d probably buy them if they looked cool. It’s one of the main reasons I bought the RoS DDE, for the Malthaeal themed weapons. But the pack that contains the cosmetics has so much other stuff in it that I’ll just never use.

I don’t play any other Blizzard games and I haven’t played WoW since a couple of weeks into Cataclysm so the 30 days of game-time are worthless to me. If the cosmetics for D3 were $15 or less, I’d be giving them my money. As it stands, there’s not a hope in hell that I’ll buy anything.

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Why don’t they just do it this way, just sell each games goodies together. Why include them with others games? I do not have any interest it the other games.

Everything except the lastest Shadowlands Expansion is free with a Sub, so you could do that, but yeah, I don’t blame you.

I won’t use most of the stuff except for the WoW and D3 items.

I will likely go open the HS card packs just because they are fun to open. heh.

Nah, not yet. I will probably just do it a few days before Blizzcon.

But some questions I have currently in my head are:

  • What do you think about certain skills - especially movement skills like Leap or Teleport - having x Charges instead of a Cooldown to make them more flexible to use?
  • will Health Potions have also have ~3 Charges instead of a Cooldown to strike a balance between spamming potions and just being able to use them once?
  • will you get rid of “Twin Affixes” (aka Crit Chance + Crit Damage, Crushing Blow Chance + Crushing Blow Damage, etc), because these would reduce item and affix diversity for reasons x, y, z, (and maybe only have them on some legendaries).
  • Many people really like Last Epoch’s Skill Tree, so would you also give each skill its own Skill Tree and its own Skill Points?
  • Why not put the skill-specific effects that currently are on many legendaries & uniques right now on the skill tree, so that only more universally useful special affixes are on legendaries and uniques?
  • how do you want to make rare and magic items useful in the endgame, so that they can compete with legendaries and uniques in at least some item slots like in D2?
  • can legendaries and uniques have more than just one special affix?
  • do you think that legendaries and uniques should always only have to have x normal affixes + 1 special affix, or could some of them also have more normal and several special affixes? and why?
  • what do you think about passive skills that instead can only be unlocked by spending several points at once, instead of progressively spending points into them?
  • What do you think about certain skills like WotB or Conduit, and maybe also some Defensive Skills, first starting their cooldown until after their effects have expired, to prevent a 100% uptime in the first place and making balance easier?
  • what do you think about each class need to share the same attributes, just with their effects differ from class to class, or could each class also has their own individual attributes?
  • what do you think about the idea of different kinds of armor having different inherent kinds of Primary Defense, like Energy Shield, Dodge Rating, Armor, All Resistances, Life, etc?
  • what do you think about the idea of subclasses, maybe for expansions?
  • shouldn’t the Sorceress as a master of elements be able to choose and change the element of her skills? (like turning Fire Bolt into Frost Bold or Lightning Bolt, or Fire Hydra into Lightning Hydra or Frost Hydra), maybe even as a permanent or semi-permanent choice?

Well, it looks like not I wrote my list haha. The questions just came as I was writing.
Gonna bookmark it so I don’t have to write it again.
Maybe a few additional things get on the list later on.
Now I just have to prioritize which ones are most important to me, but you also can ask some of the ones I mentioned here that you would want to ask.

You are welcome!

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That is a good list you have.

  • Will death have meaning.
  • Will gold have meaning.
  • Is elemental damage going to be a thing.
  • Will we have pets.
  • Will we have followers.
  • How will the PvP zones be indicated on the map.
  • Will each hero have it’s own stash.
  • In what location do we start the game.
  • Will we need to interact with the world.
  • At some point are we just going to one shot everything.
  • Will the overall pace be slower vs D3.
  • What is the total number of base skill points we will have.
  • What is the total number of talent points we will have.
  • How many points can we exceed the max with gear and other items.
  • What type of items will we be able to purchase in game.
  • Will the damage numbers be toned down vs crazy D3.
  • How many other people will we see above ground at any given time.
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Between the two of you those are great questions. The difference between the two lists is kind of stark.

I love how clueso’s is very much a deep dive chat with the Devs kind of list. The answers to those can take a long time - per question - and are fascinating! You can gain a lot of insight into game dev from the answers. Lots to think about.

Avalon’s is a very up front everyday questions type of list that nearly everyone wants to hear - also easy to answer if they have made decisions.

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Oh gee what a shock…

They have done that for years…for anything live streamed so that they don’t end up reading something that gets the company in trouble or is a waste of time (what is your fav ice cream?!! lololol).

The only live questions were in person at Blizzcon and even those they had to tell the CM/person ushering, what the basics of the question would be. The Devs did not know, but at least the staff checked to see it was family friendly and on topic.

Did you expect them to take live questions from Twitch or something??

:rofl: :rofl:

That would be an …experience.

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This is, quite literally, the only reason I still have Hearthstone installed. To open freebie packs. The game had so much potential and went down the P2W route so now it’s just the rare “let’s see what this looks like when I open the pack” thing. :frowning:

No, but you do have to admit it’s become somewhat of a meme unto itself where most players feel like only the influencers’ questions got any consideration at all. Of course, after the D:I keynote announcement fiasco I doubt we’ll ever see an honest to goodness Q&A that isn’t pre-prescribed. I guess it just is what it is.

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I have such mixed feelings about this. Many of the Influencers spend a majority of their time gaming/streaming/creating content. They spend a LOT of time with the product and a lot of time thinking about it. They also have a means to communicate to the CMs - and are used to phrasing questions in a way that comes off as acceptable to read live - and also be relevant.

Bonus, if their question gets answered they get even more content to discuss - but most of them are really honestly fantastic people with a genuine interest in the game.

The live Story Time with Wyatt and the off session talks were always FANTASTIC!

What was asked? Stuff more like what clueso asked, things that take a lot of in depth discussion but are not something the majority have the patience or interest to listen to.

Two different levels of information consumers I guess.

Well… Most of the good ones are laid down. Here are a few (I mean, loads) from me:

  • Are you planning to separate PvP from open world such as separate arenas or will we have dedicated and isolated areas for it in the realm?
  • Will we have PvE leaderboards just like Greater Rifts?
  • Any plans to separate PvP and PvE gear? Do you think traded PvE gear can impact leaderboards if they exist?
  • Do legendary items have their entire affix combination of 6-7 randomly selected to the brim again? How healthy do you think adding layers of randomization to the item system?
  • What about the game’s combat pace and how high is the progress scale? Does it climb to immense heights?
  • Can you tell anything about the intended combat flow? Is it about tossing everything at once to check a timer or is it about having to adapt on the fly?
  • Can we trust you to keep dynamic combat feel without copying Diablo 3?
  • What about recovery capabilities? Potion spamming or waiting for cooldown is not intriguing for most players. Would you add your own twist to these systems?
  • Will characters have cheat-death passives or will you solve it with instant town portals? Can a balance between two can be striken?
  • How warm you are towards some restrictions for artificial difficulty so players can pick their own way?
  • How punishing the softcore will be? Would there be a huge chasm between Hardcore and Softcore again?
  • Will consoles have an offline mode?
  • Is it possible to experience everything game has to offer by isolating yourself from human interaction further?
  • How are you planning to curb the gap between dedicated players and casual players if there’s any to begin with?
  • How many variables are there for monsters? Are they only damage dealing meat bags or they differ from each other to become varied threats?
  • Is progress linear with leaps to come to an halt later or steadily increasing slow with choices to gain momentum?
  • Do you trust yourself to give player any meaningful choices on progress? Will characters feel obsolete while playing “the meta” of the things?

Well here are the major points when I look at Diablo 3 and Diablo 2.

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Not really. But while most expect those with insider communications lines to get at the very least “first dibs”, the last few years have carried the stench of elitism in that regard to an extreme. I think what a lot of players want this time around is more akin to Blizzard being closer to the old Blizzard than it is to the Activision overlords. This isn’t like any BlizzCon before it thanks to the pandemic, so it’d be one hell of an awesome thing to see something that doesn’t feel like the old boys club, so to speak, this time around.

I’m not trying to rag on them. I could to that in nearly any interview (Ion Hazziokostas’ are…otherworldly, given he seems to be in any reality other than that which the players at large are in). I’m just saying a divergence from the status quo of the non-influencers being second class would be prime. :slight_smile:

I know you have not ever been to a Blizzcon. You have not met the streamers/web site makers/etc. You have not met the Devs, CMs, Producers, etc. You have not met the folks who line up to ask questions on camera in front of millions of online viewers (note most people don’t want that).

I honestly, feel you don’t understand and have a very different idea (from the outside) of what was going on then or now.

Nothing is different. People meet others, make friends, share ideas, chat, etc. Yes, knowing someone does change access, but that is not unique to Blizzard.

Someday you should set up a time on Bnet chat voice and we can just chat about it.

I get it, most people don’t have the access MVPs do (we can talk to CMs) but as you know that does not get you much. Streamers, unless they make personal friends with a Dev, have the same limits as MVPs. Exceptions for focus groups and in person chats at Blizzcon - but those were mostly open to anyone who was around.

I get it though - from the outside it may seem more “elite” than it is.

Well I got just for them, straight from Twitch, Brittany Venti’s Finger Dance, howbowdah??

I checked the talents for the 3 known classes and I did not see any cheat-death talents. However things may have changed over the last 15 months.

Something like a D&D Tiefling would work. Part Demon part Human.

The Angels and Demons create the Nephalem, the Demons a “humans” create a Tiefling.

blizzcon online due plandemic