First, I am a huge Diablo2 fan, and no, I do not want the game to be nothing else than d2! However, I still want the game to have an active player base, consisting of humans and not bots.
I started thinking, how do you make sure people keep on playing the game?
Currently goals:
Ubers: Yes, that is fun the first couple of times, but currently there is no point of grinding for the perfect Hellfire Torch.
Diablo clone: Incredible hard to grind, and especially without duping which is perfect, but once you get the first, the point of hunting the perfect one also dies.
99: Yes, but you know it most people will probably give op during the grind, and quit.
I would love to keep on grinding for the perfect roll of all my gear slots, but currently I find it hard to see the point of it.
How can we make it interesting to keep on farming over and over again? Yes, competition! - We want to be the best, we want to show off our awesome gear!
My suggestion, add some more leaderboards!
Collection log: Let Cain or someone else keep track of all your unique founds, and showoff the sum on a leaderboard, like 96/386.
GR: You know it, the main reason for people still playing d3, people want to beat 150 Greater Rift in the fastest possible time! I know this would be new content, and I am sorry, but I would love that! BUT you are right, we do not want a new meta of farming, so it should only be for the show off on the GR leaderboard, which means NO DROPS, neither items or experience!
Speed: Different kind of Solo, Duo, Quartet, Octet speedruns leaderboard.
It’s impossible to determine the value of an item… the game is about slaying monsters, and it’s more relevant to be good at that and find the correct items for a great build, and not just farm for something specifyed by a list of item value.
Thats why ubers are not a goal. Also why should I not be able to do ubers with better gear than you?
Thats the things pretty much everyone in Diablo 2 wants.
I have to change my statement tho. Lvl 99 might be goal for some players. YOu are right about that. But I dont think they would stop playing after reaching lvl 99, unless its end of season.
There is definitely a point to grinding Dclone to get a perfect Anni and ubers for PTorch.
One is economic, the other is that ultimate goal to have a perfect or near perfect character.
There’s a reason a 141 shako is often worth 2 or 3 times what a 138 shako is.
This game already has trophies, you just need to know what you’re looking for.
Try to find a couple of 40% MF rings. Sure, they’re not all that much better, from a practical standpoint, than 35% MF rings…but they’re so hard to roll as 40% that their value skyrockets.
It’s well established what top gear is in D2. It’s a stagnant-patch game, with little change in years.
Sure, there may be slight differences in build, like if you’re choosing to use CoA or a 2/20 Diadem on your hammerdin…but every build in D2 is well established.
And yes, getting rich is pretty much the end game for D2, it is a game completely driven by the economy, unless you decide to be Self Found, which is fun too.
What else is there in this game but getting rich so you can make whatever character you want, whenever you want? Some of the offshoot “fun” builds are very item intensive, so you can’t play them without great gear.
Profile Icons or Elite Item/Set Item Holy Grail type checklist, similar to Wc3 Icon chasing.
Keep it simple and give each account the ability to find and cross each item off the list.
Instead of an icon beside your name or a level, just make a different color glow behind the character or something along those lines to show who puts the time in and has found a ton of loot over their D2R career.
The reason I say a profile icon or a behind character glow is I do not want them to remove the in lobby unique character.
I know, that is why I keep on grinding but i do not see how you will make that as a ladder leaderboard… or how you want to show off?
But the way it is done in d3 GR is pretty nice, imo! The leaderboard in d3 basically show who got the skill to use the wealth to beat the GR.
And blizzard should not start giving all items a wealth value, e.g. 141 shako = 10points and 138 shako = 3points, then people will end up only farming that one place where the chance is highest for getting that one item with the best point value / drop chance.
My suggestions do not change anything the “original” players love, but with such improvements I believe it will keep the average player longer in the game because there are other “visual” goals than just the 99 leaderboard.
People already do that… You target what you want/need and farm the best place to get it. Why are you implying that is an issue?
Magic Finding is a huge part of this game and it is very competitive given the low drop rate for the high end items. Allows any player to decide what they want and value instead of following the same as others, even if their are META builds out there
I would like to see them make a 2nd portal that opens up once you kill baal that leads you into a new throne room but monsters have 100% more HP and 50% more damage but give more EXP. Being able to do it endlessly make game more exciting then AFK baal runs that only need 1 hammerdin to clear… making game very boring for leveling.
uh not even close to what i said… I talking about endless scaling of baal runs giving more exp, not a portal that opens up uber bosses to get torch…
You asked for a portal to higher quality monsters… That is exactly what the uber portals are, with a torch at the end. Only instead of having to work for it, you just want it post Baal… Got it
You missed the point completely, its to have a more fun way to level characters instead of the boring easy monster baal runs turning them into challenging runs that take effort, ubers don’t even give good exp based on time it takes to farm keys and such.
No I didnt miss the actual point, to make the game easier for you.
There is also the Cow level post baal. All they need to do is un-nerf that and make it great again as a secondary option for exp and runs that you are looking for.
Ubers used to give phenomenal experience, that was nerfed, so that point is moot there. It used to be worth it for much more than just the torch.
No its not making the game easier, its making it harder, as i said monsters hp and damage increase thus making chances of dying and losing exp higher so its risk for reward.
Though I guess it would just turn into D3 where people find best team setups to do them so whatever guess not best idea. Still be little more fun then how it is now.
but i do not see how you will make that as a ladder leaderboard… or how you want to show off?