That seems like a waste, to be able to max out every skill, using points on skills that you do not use, what is the point?
I don’t know. Maybe they will be trade-able, as currency. But yes, I expect there is a line where you don’t need any more skill points.
They would be doing everything possible to be in the meta regardless then it seems, or everyone would be rolling the exact same builds for certain classes/activities. I’d rather have the flexibility to change than be locked into something I end up not liking. No reason I should be forced to reroll a new character because my rend build didn’t turn out as good as I thought it would be or not as fun.
Say you have a WW barb. You build the crap out if it the way you want. You go around killing all the bosses, progressing through all sorts of keyed dungeons and other endgame activities, then you find a few interesting legendaries and /a mythic for upheaval. And you really like what those items combined do. But you didn’t put points into it. But you have a bunch of skill tomes cluttering your stash. Boom, now you have a decent upheaval build and it just happens to be more fun to play than your WW Barb you were dead set on at launch.
Seems like a better option than rolling another Barb, leveling it up to leve cap and meeting the requirements for the gear, when you can just add points and swap out the talents.
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You missed the point.
Metas, as they are right now, just shouldn’t exist in a game focused on character building and customization, which is what an aRPG is. Leaderboards are just a way for people to show off their own character and gauge how they do against different/similar ones. It shouldn’t be treated as a measuring stick to see which of these two exact same mages got a longer wand.
When all items and all builds are somewhat on the same level, metas would only exist in very tight and small circle, not as broad as they are right now. Which is why having too many sources of stats that promote more damage is bad.
Changing builds/professions is okay, as long as it’s NOT a constant free thing and is encouraged. It should be possible (just as an option), but at a high cost and very high CD.
As long as the leveling journey is fun and rewarding, and it’s not all about endgame, leveling new characters for a different build should be more fun and efficient than just re-building the same character. Plus it adds to replayability and longetivity of the game.
I personally hate alts. I’m not an altoholic. I enjoy spending time on one character and stay true to it, but constantly changing builds because you can’t find any cool activities to do with your own build that you like is a nightmare for me.
I’ve played MOBAs, MMORPGs, Hero-FPS, and all these games always have a role that is least played. When I switch to that role just so I can progress my own original character’s role, it doesn’t make sense. But if I don’t, I’ll be left behind and my friends/guild will just forget about me (“There’s no ‘i’ in ‘team’” and all that nonsense").
Completely agreed.
As for metas, they are likely unavoidable in one sense, but their impact can be lower. in D3 the problem kinda is the zDPS and group buffs characters bring. Without that, it would become easier to just bring whatever character you want to the party.
If the scaling in gear etc. in general becomes much lower in D4, that should also help with reducing the power of meta compositions.
And of course, as with solo balancing, the best way to create build diversity is to create many different types of challenges, so even if there is a meta for one challenge, there might be a different meta for another challenge. With no way to easily respec between the challenges, you have enforced more build diversity, and limited the power of any specific meta setup.
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Ridiculous. Respecs encourage experimentation.
Brevik ain’t god.
Do you know that if he had his way, D1 would have been turn-based?
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As long as there is some form of competition and constant balancing there will be metas. There is nothing besides making all classes be essentially the same but look different. So metas are a product of competition and players figuring out the best options.
As for swapping specs, I have no issues with it costing something. But having the currency be rare or a long CD defeats the purpose IMO respecs are for flexibility. Whether that be to chase the meta or play something new. Making it restrictive outside of cost just shouldn’t be.
Yes, metas are a product of competition and players figuring out the best options for themselves and what they are trying to achieve.
When the developer intentionally adds an item (set), power/buff to specifically alter this meta it removes so much of RPG element, that at that point you might as well just hop onto the train, so it won’t leave you behind at the station.
Again, I will re-iterate…Metas are good in tight circles. A regular player that just wants to find a group to slay demons for fun and extra loot shouldn’t be obligated to switch his setup just so he will be welcomed into that group.
Respecs are for flexibility, but respecs are not for aRPGs. The whole point of leveling journey in aRPG is to discover your character’s power and become what you choose to be.
If you want a flexible character, by all means, put points in every different aspect of your skill/talent tree and become a jack of all trades and master of none.
Like I said, respecs could be added as an option for a costly price and long CD so as to not encourage this blatant disregard to character building.
Just because D3 ignored a lot of RPG aspects of aRPG genre, doesn’t mean it’s the new norm for aRPGs. If you don’t like it, then guess what…newsflash…aRPGs aren’t for you.
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Its such a shame we didnt get a D2 veteran to interview these guys, like, even more veteran than llama someone older who was around year 1 and on. Rhyks a good guy, but hes severely not willing to take a d2 or 3 side, whereas getting someone who understands why d3 messed up so badly to interview these guys would of been ideal, asking the right questions.
I’ve seen this thing so many times wishing just about everyone wouuld get the chance to talk to these guys about diablo.
The best part, by far, of any Diablo interview ever, is when Eric Schaefer said “we dont like games where the way u play it is to lookup online, and then there, that’s your solutions manual play that way”. I’ve been saying this for at least 4 years maybe even 5. Yes, ofc, diablo 2 fell victim to that too, but guess what, it also did not. It both’d it. Ironically, J wilson also said the same thing before 3 came out, yet, what were they thinking, that the game would be lasting on that little itemization, that little of a developed quest line, that little combat, like d3 affixes and zoom skills, bosses not mattering, ele resist, like omg, that little leveling, that little like music everything. Crafting. did they bank on inferno being this end all gauge of not meta, regardless of the game’s other huge shortcomings. J wils said the right thing there, just, they couldnt forsee how not lasting their content was, / misdesigned, let alone unlockable skill runes that can be swapped at any time, as if that’s different than having hard pts that also can be swapped at any time. Having skill runes doesnt meant youtube wont say “here, select these” just as much as youtube going “here, go this skill into that skill” w d2. Its like, come on d3 devs, you were so close w that one comment then just botched everything.
Why?
D2 has a solid, entertaining, solo play focus. W fixed barriers. What does that mean? A, not slideable, dev-made, hurdle. It can be crossed meta, or not meta. That’s why you can “p1 pit zerker” or “P8 light sorc holla windy druid so spellcaster” and be all meta, or you can “P1 idk, immolation arrow zon” and be not meta.
Thats only 1 way d2 has space for not meta, but the biggest.
the other is just playing a not-meta endgame, like collecting all the items, or lld, or things that are not chaosballrepeat or high level duels also known as enigma party and get bored.
So, if D4 (which is already falling off the cliff due to taking after 3 so heavily in foundational areas like art combat camera zoom char movement style and speed) takes the skill tree way, yea, bam, youtube invades it. But, is that really a problem IF they have static diffs to ensure not meta has it’s barrier to ‘beat’ to be not meta. Like, maxed out p8 is the hardest it gets, there is never going to be ‘not meta’ on the absolute hardest difficulty bc if it can do it, its meta. static non slide diffs allow for a lower barrier that’s still hard enough, like beating the game, just not on the max players settings.
I think every blizzard game ever should have "we have thought about youtube’s effect on this game and provided barriers that not meta can overcome’ on it. Or else, it will be like all post d2 games ever, meta dominates, nobody sticks around, bc its all youtube then play.
Erics comment was pure gold, this is WHY these devs ‘get it’ and many new age devs do not. Youtubing a game, then playing it, should not be the way. So, anything group is out the window look at d3, its meta or dont log in. Look at HS, its meta or dont win and enjoy it, outside of when the game was new and the core set was unknown, or about 2-3 weeks after an expansion. That’s why you want solo play as the way, group is it’s own thing but not the core. Eric got it, Max did, and Brev did, these new devs, dont get it. Looking up games online and playing meta is super 2012 or so, not a lasting strat. You can overcome skill trees w static difficulties, like i’ve said and will say forever, static diffs are critical, absolutely mandatory or its ‘hey alexa pull up youtube, ok google youtube d4 best builds’ then log in. Thats super boring, and not what gaming is about.
Total life dream would be to have that shot rhykker got to talk diablo with these guys, streaming is the first step so why not it’s worth the 1 mil shot. There’s another couple hundred thousand out there that also would be so, so happy to get that opportunity rhyk had. Extremely lucky guy.
Most games falls victim to it to one degree or another. D4 will as well, simply because there’s no way they’ll have an in-game way to tell us things like attack speed breakpoints or enemy armor class or treasure zones or exact drop rates or any other similar mechanics (and D4 will have some, no doubt).
The comment is one of those that sounds great but doesn’t translate entirely to the game.
And as we as players look for more complexity in games the more they’ll fall victim to it.
Plus the internet is more of a thing than ever since that interview, which means that even if a game managed to be entirely free of NEEDING to look something up online people would do it anyway.
He is to the D2 fanboys and MrL is the prophet.
How quickly they forget.
Well if they didnt change anything about the tree we saw before this could be a very small update. It looked about as generic as you can get, something from a 2001 game…
I mean ultimately there is nothing stopping players self imposing challenges onto the game.
My concern here is that ultimately it draws away from what appeals me into the genre.
Like many other gamers I have a tendency to optimise the fun out of a game, so I’m hoping that for players like myself they can find the right balance of restrictions.
I really like the idea of my character holding some personality, I also like the extra variety you get to see in multiplayer as people have commited to their builds. You know they had to struggle in one way or another to achieve it and bring it all together.
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Now is your time to tell them what you want to see. The blog should be up in a few weeks.
They know what we want to see. It’s been said enough times lol. End of the day Blizzard are or were pros at Diablo games.
Has it been that long? Yikes. It’s due in September.
Talent trees in September, hopefully items in 4thQ. Next might be the virtual event early next year.
2020 is moving along very fast, for me anyway.
“We are also excited to see the range of topics you want to hear about. Based on your response so far, we think talent trees are by far what you’re the most eager to discuss, so we’ll make sure to queue that up for our very next blog. Items continue to be a popular topic and there was also a lot of interest in music. We are shooting to have more updates around those topics later in the year. Let us know how that sounds.”
I get that. Like I’ve expressed many times having one character that I can change if I want to try something new is far more preferable than starting a new character for a new build.
If there are tight restrictions in respecs, I know I’ll enjoy the game less. By that I mean if they change their stance on skill tomes and maxing out all skills eventually and not having the ability to respec. Since we cannot respect those already.
Now we seem to do it for different reasons. I care not about optimization or efficiency. I just like trying new builds. But in pretty much all cases, once through a campaign is enough, so I’d rather have that option. For me that is the fun. The biggest reason I enjoyed D3 over D2.
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