I am not sure that you can make that claim confidently. We know that >4,000 self-reported D2 players who responded to a survey (meaning that they knew about the survey and spent time to fill out the survey) want changes.
You can see what Blizzard considers QoL changes (or at least labelled as QoL) because they labelled 17 changes just that in their own survey.
I agree they shouldnât make it only for charm inventoryâŚsorry if I wasnât clear. I definitely think the new realm should have most of the modern things people have become accustomed to in modern ArpgsâŚpersonal loot, charm inventory, stacked gems/runes, etcâŚ
I agree it would be silly to have an extra realm with just one thing.
Ya know, something Iâve been thinking of today, after perusing a few of the old survey topics (since I was trying to remember everything Blizzard has asked). It has been posted a few times the copy/paste of Blizzcon where they stated ââŚbased off of 1.14, the current liveâŚâ
If you really look at the context of âbased uponâ it doesnât mean exact carbon copy. Similar to how a movie or book is âbased upon true eventsâ there are certain artistic licenses and exaggerations. We already see this in the art design and some of the known implemented QoLs. So yeah, maybe a bit of a stretch, but after 2 official surveys and mention of the survey QoLs and Reddit survey in the last major interview, I can see âbased off of 1.14dâ being that the game will have features of 1.14d:
-Synergies
-Ladder System
-OSkill Runewords
-Uber events
-Respec
-Etc
So basically, the core functions of the additions since 1.10, but these could always be tweaked and it would still be âbased off of current live.â
I agree it would be silly to have an extra realm with just one thing.
Well my reaction is practicaly same, it would be bad idea to make two separated realms. They need to have one big player base because thats what makes experience on battle net better.
This is unique opportunity how to make Diablo 2 better.
I kind of dont like their aproach tho. I think they should give access to anyone who is interested and they should keep implementing different QoL changes so players can test it and then make seurveys which ones most players like to keep.
I for example have experience playing game with certain changes you are afraid of. You presented some arguments why it could change core of the game but I dont think so. But we will never know if it will not be tested on big player base. Maybe you would change your mind when you would see it in action how its not affecting core of the game. Maybe some players would find ways how to abuse new change and I would have to change my mind. BUt we will not know. I think blizzard should work more closely with player base on implementation of changes.
I am not sure that you can make that claim confidently. We know that >4,000 self-reported D2 players who responded to a survey (meaning that they knew about the survey and spent time to fill out the survey) want changes.
Self-reported, meaning they could have played the game for one hour, 100hours or 1000hours. They could have played mods only, singleplayer only etc. Or mabye they didnât play the game at all. We donât know that for sure. But what i do know for sure is that the Diablo 2 community does not hang out on r/Diablo. Mabye a few, but not many. Atleast not before said survey. Reddit isnât a suitable platform for Diablo 2 discussions in regards to trading and player interactions.
Diablo 2 has sold 4 million copies, mabye 1-3% still plays to this day, and i think a small minority of the people on the survey is apart of that %.
Self-reported, meaning they could have played the game for one hour, 100hours or 1000hours. They could have played mods only, singleplayer only etc. Or mabye they didnât play the game at all. We donât know that for sure.
True. However, do you really think that a bunch of people who never played D2 at all decided to go to reddit and fill out the survey and lie about playing D2?
My common sense says no. Moreover, I have gone through a calculation in another thread about what the consequence of 10% misinformed means. It turn out it makes very little difference in the overall numbers.
But what i do know for sure is that the Diablo 2 community does not hang out on r/Diablo.
True. However, the reddit survey was open 2 weeks and was advertised on reddit, Blizzardâs D2R forum, d2jsp, and Rhykkerâs youtube channel, so it was not simply reddit users.
Diablo 2 has sold 4 million copies, mabye 1-3% still plays to this day, and i think a small minority of the people on the survey is apart of that %.
If D2 sold 4 million copies than 1% of that number is 40,000. The reddit survey had more than >4,000 respondents. That is not a trivial percentage.
Irrespective, Blizzard did their own surveys so the bias of internet polls is irrelevant. They themselves said that there was player support for more changes than what has been done already.
However, do you really think that a bunch of people who never played D2 at all decided to go to reddit and fill out the survey and lie about playing D2?
Thatâs a possibility yes, eventhough, the question shouldâve been have you played Diablo 2 more than x hours instead. Many people see this as a new Diablo 3,5, a game to play while waiting for Diablo 4. D2:R has brought alot of hype with it, bringing in new players. People from twitch etc. Those i fear are mostly the people on reddit. And ofcourse they want the game to change more into the modern arpg style because thatâs all they know.
If D2 sold 4 million copies than 1% of that number is 40,000. The reddit survey had more than >4,000 respondents. That is not a trivial percentage.
Just goes to show that there were alot of people, not playing Diablo 2, who responded to the survey. 10% of the actual playerbase did not respond to that survey. Thatâs naive to think.
Irrespective, Blizzard did their own surveys so the bias of internet polls is irrelevant. They themselves said that there was player support for more changes than what has been done already.
A blizzard survey sure is better, but then again, i havenât gotten the survey. So i find this survey to not be representative aswell.
When you create an account on Diablo 2 battlenet you need to connect it to an email adress. The people who has an active account should definately recieve this survey, but obviously they have not, atleast i didnât. I think when it comes to a remaster, first of all, there shouldnât be any need for any community input. A remaster is a remaster. Secondly, if there was, it should first and foremost come from the players who actually play the original. Drastic changes would be a massive rugpull for the diehard fans, me included.
When you create an account on Diablo 2 battlenet you need to connect it to an email adress. The people who has an active account should definately recieve this survey, but obviously they have not, atleast i didnât. I think when it comes to a remaster, first of all, there shouldnât be any need for any community input. A remaster is a remaster. Secondly, if there was, it should first and foremost come from the players who actually play the original. Drastic changes would be a massive rugpull for the diehard fans, me included.
Due to this being old bnet, I donât know how easy this would be to do. Those that have the digital version, sure, but how well do they have of records kept for those that simply play off the old retail cds? Also, how many of these are duplicate accounts, since the game has been active for over 20 years? Random sampling of all bnet accounts was the best, most reliable method to survey a population.
Even sending a survey to all that pre-purchased D2R wouldnât work. Blizzard wants to bring in new players as well, not just the old crowd which includes the ones super rigid or bitter over D3. Iâd say a good portion of people pre-purchased mainly for the forum posting privileges, in hopes of guiding the development team by representation of the Diablo 2 fanbase. Some of these people include very skewed populations such as those from D2JSP, who want the game to be the same as it is currently, so that their forum gold has use in the new game as the old game will probably die out soon after release (unless a mass exodus of players go back because they swear up and down about non existent changes or canât support some artwork or some asinine reason). This same style of crowd (not just jsp, but those like them) wants to keep the game easily abusable too. Look at what happened to alpha. What do you think that crowd will do to the actual released game?
Blizzard made the best decision on their survey choice.
lizzard wants to bring in new players as well, not just the old crowd which includes the ones super rigid or bitter over D3.
We all want new players. But that doesnât mean they should change the game to cater for those new players.
Iâd say a good portion of people pre-purchased mainly for the forum posting privileges, in hopes of guiding the development team by representation of the Diablo 2 fanbase.
I pre-purchased just for this reason, to discuss and defend the values of Diablo 2, and to try to help people understand why this game is legendary and how fragile it is. I refunded though while i still could, because i want to know what im buying before comitting to my purchase.
Some of these people include very skewed populations such as those from D2JSP, who want the game to be the same as it is currently, so that their forum gold has use in the new game
Their forum gold will work in the new game whether there are changes or not, so thatâs an invalid argument to be honest.
This same style of crowd (not just jsp, but those like them) wants to keep the game easily abusable too. Look at what happened to alpha. What do you think that crowd will do to the actual released game?
There will always be people abusing exploits, in every game. People do whatever they can do gain an advantage, legit or not.
Blizzard made the best decision on their survey choice.
Most reliable way to survey a population mabye, but is it the right population? Who knows.
In the end of the day i still think a remaster should remain a remaster. And honestly, i think that is what is going to happen aswell. It seems like Blizzard knows what core values Diablo 2 stands for and wants to protect it, so Iâm not that concerned anymore, atleast not as concerned as i was before. But weâll see what happens. Hopefully there will be some more official statements about what the game will be like, so i can make my decision on whether to purchase it or not. But i can wait untill release day
We all want new players. But that doesnât mean they should change the game to cater for those new players.
Diablo 2 has a reputation as having a pretty toxic community, as well as being run by hackers and scammers. If they could change something that wouldnât drastically alter the game, and that would bring in new players, they want to know it and possibly implement it. The old playerbase even wants changes, as well as âWhat do you want to minimally see implemented in order to justify upgrading?â Considering every change since 1.10 has primarily been player driven, this also makes sense. The patch that removed Iron Maiden from Oblivion Knights was a community driven patch, as well as the fact fans have been calling for Hammerdin nerfs since 1.10 as well (and they did receive a small nerf as well). Increase and shared stash space has been a major community wanted change as well for years.
I pre-purchased just for this reason, to discuss and defend the values of Diablo 2, and to try to help people understand why this game is legendary and how fragile it is. I refunded though while i still could, because i want to know what im buying before comitting to my purchase.
Iâm assuming you did this recently, which is why you are still posting. While yes, the game is legendary, you have to remember that fans have always craved for more, and that those that left after 1.10, remember it being legendary before those changes. D2 has 4 distinct fanbases: Classic (before and after 1.10 changesâŚwhich kind of makes 5 totalâŚ), LoD pre-1.10, LoD post 1.10, and LoD Mods. While mods originally were just to make a remixed and drastically altered game, the current mods are mainly to function in place of updated game as well as features that were never added to single player (plugy for ladder and online only content).
Their forum gold will work in the new game whether there are changes or not, so thatâs an invalid argument to be honest.
It may work, but it might not have the same weight as it does on the current live. And certain changes, such as implementation of personal loot, might devalue it more since if pickit and bots donât mess with actual players getting loot, those holding forum gold that bot/use pickit, might not have the advantage anymore. Or if skills are balanced so more options outside of the cookie cutters see play, again, it would change the value of their FG or RMT aspects.
There will always be people abusing exploits, in every game. People do whatever they can do gain an advantage, legit or not.
Absolutely true. However, this crowd that abuses it now, wants to keep abusing it, thus is fearful of any change that might alter that ability.
In the end of the day i still think a remaster should remain a remaster. And honestly, i think that is what is going to happen aswell. It seems like Blizzard knows what core values Diablo 2 stands for and wants to protect it, so Iâm not that concerned anymore, atleast not as concerned as i was before. But weâll see what happens. Hopefully there will be some more official statements about what the game will be like, so i can make my decision on whether to purchase it or not. But i can wait untill release day
Remasters are not strict in their implementation. Even in music, remasters of old albums change up sound mixes so that even the instrumentation, vocals, melody, etc donât exactly match up. Gaming is no different, as usually has something added into the mix. Single player games are pretty easy to do, since they donât have as many changelog versions for retail, however multiplayer online is tougher, especially for RPGs.
I donât see them doing anything to drastically change the overall gameplay or overall mechanics structure, but I do see the potential to address balancing concerns, play ability concerns especially where a controller is involved, etc.
Diablo 2 has a reputation as having a pretty toxic community, as well as being run by hackers and scammers.
Yes, true. But the big majority of old players want these issues adressed. I havenât read one thread or post about people wanting to keep botting or duping methods.
The old playerbase even wants changes
The old playerbase would easily pay 40$ just for Battlenet 2.0. Graphics and the small QoL already announced are just a bonus.
Iâm assuming you did this recently, which is why you are still posting.
Nope, been awhile. Didnât expect to be able to continue posting, but i still can, so i still will.
While mods originally were just to make a remixed and drastically altered game, the current mods are mainly to function in place of updated game
Well yes, but i highly doubt if the original team was to continue updating the game it would look anything like the mods. However, i think the mods definately should have itâs place in D2:R, for the people who liked them. But i donât think the mods should completely take over and rugpull the diehard fans.
Absolutely true. However, this crowd that abuses it now, wants to keep abusing it, thus is fearful of any change that might alter that ability.
No, not true. The big majority, if not all of the old players want these issues adressed. I havenât read one thread or post about people wanting to keep botting or duping methods. If youâre talking about bug abuses like BaalQ bug, then most of the playerbase wants keep that. Itâs an alternate way of creating a toon after you have leveled the first toon, which people have come to love.
I donât see them doing anything to drastically change the overall gameplay or overall mechanics structure, but I do see the potential to address balancing concerns, play ability concerns especially where a controller is involved, etc.
Weâll just have to see. Addressing balance and some âplayability concernsâ might be a dealbreaker for me though. Depending on what that means.
Remasters are not strict in their implementation. Even in music, remasters of old albums change up sound mixes so that even the instrumentation, vocals, melody, etc donât exactly match up. Gaming is no different, as usually has something added into the mix. Single player games are pretty easy to do, since they donât have as many changelog versions for retail, however multiplayer online is tougher, especially for RPGs.
Never heard of a remaster where they change the instruments, vocals or melodies. That sounds like a remake, edit, cover or a remix to me, not a remaster.
Remaster (also digital remastering and digitally remastered ) refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic.
Yes, true. But the big majority of old players want these issues adressed. I havenât read one thread or post about people wanting to keep botting or duping methods.
There were threads on both reddit and jsp about players saying game needs the bots or else economy will suck. I doubt most people that wants those things are going to have the balls to post that here. People lie, an undeniable fact that people will say one thing, but mean another. PvP crowd was pretty big on botting, iirc from what little I seen on the jsp threads.
If youâre talking about bug abuses like BaalQ bug, then most of the playerbase wants keep that. Itâs an alternate way of creating a toon after you have leveled the first toon, which people have come to love.
I would be for fixing this. I think it harms the game, and playerâs knowledge of it more than it does good. It creates a rush culture where people skip most of the game, then complain about it being too easy and boring. And it creates exploitation of the newer playerbase and creates more the leech culture that advanced players seem to hate, but donât realize they play a role in creating.
Well yes, but i highly doubt if the original team was to continue updating the game it would look anything like the mods. However, i think the mods definately should have itâs place in D2:R, for the people who liked them. But i donât think the mods should completely take over and rugpull the diehard fans.
I believe we would have seen skill balancing, new events, and some modern implementations from the original dev team had they stayed. They spent all that time on 1.10 to make skill balancing easier for their purposes, they intended to use it. Other things were limited by the tech of old bnet (such as expanded/shared stash), but some things could have or have not been implemented depending on the frame of mind of the devs at the time.
Never heard of a remaster where they change the instruments, vocals or melodies. That sounds like a remake, edit, cover or a remix to me, not a remaster.
Maybe instrumentation was the wrong word. Many song remasters highlight different pieces of the instruments over the others, and may lower or heighten vocal parts. Usually they will say remixed and remastered, but even some remasters have a different âfeelingâ sound from the originals. Itâs the same song, as the song itself hadnât been changed, but it is still different.
There were threads on both reddit and jsp about players saying game needs the bots or else economy will suck.
I have been pretty active researching D2:R and i have seen nothing of the sort. The bots and dupes is what breaks the ecomony, not what keeps it.
I would be for fixing this. I think it harms the game, and playerâs knowledge of it more than it does good. It creates a rush culture where people skip most of the game, then complain about it being too easy and boring. And it creates exploitation of the newer playerbase and creates more the leech culture that advanced players seem to hate, but donât realize they play a role in creating.
It does not harm the game, it helps keep the game alive. Things like these has been apart of Diablo 2 forever and is pretty much considered a feature instead of a bug. Noone has ever complained about it being easy and boring , thats just speculation on your part. However i agree that it does create a leech culture. But then again, you can easily avoid leeches by setting the level cap before creating your game. In D2 people always do Diablo runs to help out leveling players, or else it wouldnât be benificial to do the BaalQ bug. If people didnât want leechers in their public diablo runs, the BaalQ method would quickly die out.
Maybe instrumentation was the wrong word. Many song remasters highlight different pieces of the instruments over the others, and may lower or heighten vocal parts. Usually they will say remixed and remastered, but even some remasters have a different âfeelingâ sound from the originals. Itâs the same song, as the song itself hadnât been changed, but it is still different.
Like i said, remastering is upping the quality of the song, picture, movie or game. It does not alter the song, picture or scene in any way.
In music they use EQ and compression to master or remaster a song to increase the quality of the end product. In music they often make several mastered versions of a song for different uses such as forexample radio.
In movies they increase the resolution and picture quality. Such as upscaling or adding HDR compitability.
In games they increase the graphics and port it to have better compitability with newer systems or consoles.
We need separate servers for the more controversial changes. That or make an option when creating a character. If they donât want to segment the player base, they can even segment it by room. Itâs impossible to make everyone happy! There are people on both sides of the fence and a few balancing on the top of it. Just give us options so we can filter it ourselves.
BaalQ bug is extremely unreliable in public games, how would it possibly create or enhance a culture of leeching?
It actually does the opposite of that.
(Never mind you guys are talking about Grushing, but using the wrong lingo I think.)
Based on context, are you talking about bumper chars getting lvl1 in hell, or are you talking about Qbugging Baal, which is entirely different. ?
I have been pretty active researching D2:R and i have seen nothing of the sort.
It is hard to navigate d2jsp without a search bar or being able to move ahead more than 3 pages, but I have seen topics there awhile ago people saying game will suck without bots. Pretty sure Iâve seen it before on reddit too.
It does not harm the game, it helps keep the game alive. Things like these has been apart of Diablo 2 forever and is pretty much considered a feature instead of a bug. Noone has ever complained about it being easy and boring , thats just speculation on your part. However i agree that it does create a leech culture. But then again, you can easily avoid leeches by setting the level cap before creating your game. In D2 people always do Diablo runs to help out leveling players, or else it wouldnât be benificial to do the BaalQ bug. If people didnât want leechers in their public diablo runs, the BaalQ method would quickly die out.
Both times I have loaded battlenet in the last 3 years, the game is mostly bots. Chant bots, chaos bots, baal bots, chaos and baal bots, help me mf bots, etc. Last year when I played, it was multiple bots in the same game. Maybe occasionally, an actual player ran run in these areas, but near 100% bot runs. Normal difficulty is almost all dead except for park games, pvp games, and bot games. Currently, there are probably more actual people playing since D2R announcement, but I would hardly call the game âalive and thrivingâ in the last few years. It is my speculation, newer players that get rushed to end game, will not last beyond one ladder season, and will not get to fully appreciate the game in itâs entirety. As for players running the leveling areas for othersâŚpurely for enhanced drops, especially in chaos for runes. Again, part of the machine that runs rush and leech culture.
Any glitch that allows progression beyond what is originally intended. This would include town Duriel kill (act 2 is really a mess of progression bugs), act 3 skip to council kill and take durance waypoint, bumpers on baal quest, etc.
It is hard to navigate d2jsp without a search bar or being able to move ahead more than 3 pages, but I have seen topics there awhile ago people saying game will suck without bots. Pretty sure Iâve seen it before on reddit too.
That is horrible, but if a topic or post is that hard to find, it has to be a very very small minority.
Both times I have loaded battlenet in the last 3 years, the game is mostly bots. Chant bots, chaos bots, baal bots, chaos and baal bots, help me mf bots, etc. Last year when I played, it was multiple bots in the same game. Maybe occasionally, an actual player ran run in these areas, but near 100% bot runs. Normal difficulty is almost all dead except for park games, pvp games, and bot games.
You are correct. But the diehard fans doesnât want it to be like this.
Currently, there are probably more actual people playing since D2R announcement, but I would hardly call the game âalive and thrivingâ in the last few years.
The game is very much alive and thriving during ladder resets, but bots usually kill it within a month.
It is my speculation, newer players that get rushed to end game, will not last beyond one ladder season, and will not get to fully appreciate the game in itâs entirety. As for players running the leveling areas for othersâŚpurely for enhanced drops, especially in chaos for runes. Again, part of the machine that runs rush and leech culture.
Newer players canât BaalQ bug. It doesnât seem like you know what this does, but you definately want to level atleast one character the regular way before trying BaalQ with a new toon. BaalQ bug is a separate way for you to levelup a toon without having to go through the entire game 3 more times, which everyone appreciates. Even new players will like it, as most people do not want to go through the acts and stories more than once or twice. Itâs a healthy thing to keep people playing, and encourage people to create new toons.
A blizzard survey sure is better, but then again, i havenât gotten the survey. So i find this survey to not be representative aswell.
This is not how surveys work. Surveys typically are random sampling of a larger population. A survey does NOT need to get everyoneâs opinion. It is a subset.
Secondly, if there was, it should first and foremost come from the players who actually play the original.
And yet when you see a survey with >4,000 D2 players, you claim it is not valid. It certainly has sampling bias but is representative of the respondents.
Drastic changes would be a massive rugpull for the diehard fans
I am a diehard fan. At the time, D2 was my favorite game. However, D2 has flaws that are worthwhile to correct.
I pre-purchased just for this reason, to discuss and defend the values of Diablo 2, and to try to help people understand why this game is legendary and how fragile it is.
D2 is fragile??? For the most part, the suggested changes are far less than 1.09 to 1.10.
There were threads on both reddit and jsp about players saying game needs the bots or else economy will suck.
I saw these too.