Of course it’s what made them fun! I think a lot of the affixes for magic and rare items were under-tuned.
The problem was that instead of making new stronger affixes for Magic items and Rares they wanted to make runewords matter more for ladder.
IMO, they could have just made runewords viable without completely breaking the itemization system they had and adding more affixes to the game that would make Rares and Magic items the most powerful items again would do that, especially if they could roll with wide variance.
But they were also the reason that D2 had an actual ingame currency that was rare and valuable (runes) that we used to trade with. Not saying that it was a perfect system but it was a hell of alot better than D4 and if u want to make a successor or sequel to a game u need to take the core mechanics and foundations and expand upon them not throw everything in the bin and start from scratch.
At some level, though, ONE type of gear will outshine the other. It could’ve been sets. But it wasn’t. Is that bad? I guess it depends on your personal opinion. I find sets a little too limiting because they are specifically tailored for a class. Again, that’s only my opinion.
I’ve thrown in the towel on this subject because these devs are literally clueless about this. In the last campfire the one guy goes “we want these items to be rare because they represent a significant power spike.”
Thanks for that, Sherlock. Who’d have guessed that? Only problem is that your power spike chase items aren’t “rare.” They are infinitesimal. Saying you may adjust them slightly is equivalent to saying “we are going to take that carrot at the end of the solar system and move it a bit closer to the sun.” Thanks. The rest of the world with an IQ above room temperature is wondering when it will get moved to the end of the stick like every other chase item found within a functional arpg.
The one type of gear that is supposed to be better than all others is Magic items.
It can only roll with 2 affixes and it’s how your suppose to mix-max your build.
Rare items are the second best because they have the most affixes and they round out your build.
You use Sets and Uniques for their unique affixes and attributes that can give you new mechanics to play with or allow you to have a strong character that isn’t exactly the best.
Runewords were supposed to be another supplement. You were only supposed to use them until you got a rare or magic that completed your build.
If an item doesn’t have complete randomized modifiers it shouldn’t be the best item. When an item has completely random modifiers like rare items do then we get truly unique items in the game. One of a kind rares.
Maybe to some degree. But this is also part of the reason that the runes kept their value. There is a fine line between supply and demand when it comes to creating a healthy self sustaining economy. Nerf the runewords too much and the runes will loose their value due to people using other items and its kind of hard to tell where that line is
i get what you are conveying, but i dont think thats even the problem, i think the system would be fine, if coupled with a robust crafting system that gives whites and blues meaning, and decoupled from class loot, so you can find items for all classes with all affixes and trade them for better items.
but most importantly the affixes are boring and uninspired, the affixes in d2 are way more interesting, there were times before runewords in d2, and some slots in d2 best item for some builds was a crafted item or a blue or a yellow item.
although uniques werent bad, but they were too many, i think a good compromise would be 2-3 uniques per build basically, rest of the items yellow. but i think thats kinda what it is now honestly, but the affixes are a chore to deal with and the items drop too often and the aspects arent rare…its just item overload and decision fatigue making everything worse.
I wouldnt mind some extra content added to D2 as long as they respect the artstyle and core mechanics. But i dont think its going to happen since D2 is more or less in maintenance mode
Yup cause they didnt respect the core mechanics and foundations that defined the diablo genre. its no longer the Blizzard North we all loved that pulls the strings, its the corpse of blizzard being puppeteered by activision with all the corporate bs that goes with the territory. D4 is a ghost of what once was and not even worthy of the name and legacy of its predecessors
I guess this is Blizzard gold. They got our money already. If all players just quit, that would be the best outcome for Blizzard. $0 server cost or maintenance. They could fire the PM/devs or move them into another scam.
I personally think the game could have more item tiers, we have:
Rares (that rain)
Legos (that at current state could be replaced by just the aspects droping, since are just orange rares)
Trash Uniques (95% too niche or worst than a Yellow+Aspect)
Non-Existant Ubers
One problem is that between Trash and Ubers we have nothing, in D2 you could get a Blackbog to your poisonmancer until drop (or trade) your Death Web, was an “obtainable” item giving a mid term goal…
Also the lack of any drop table (monster ilvl would help too) and lack of magic find% (cmon! give us an Lucky Elixir) just makes the thing worse since we have no agency to try minimize RNG.
The only obtainable items were the special mobs ones (whose we were already on a trade-off by use since until their Ancestrals were 3 fixed affixes) and until this they nerfed. I feel as playing D2, but doomed to just drop Isenhart forever.
A big issue is indeed quantity over quality.
Affix ranges should be drastically reduced. Having 5-10% crit as an affix range is meaningless, when 8-10%, or even 9-10%, would fulfill the same purpose. Then droprates could be lowered substantially as well.
And while I am fine with the legendary aspects as a system, rares need to be able to shine as rares!
Legendaries need to be able to shine as legendaries. Instead of both just serving as a crafting material for “Legendarified Rares”.
One way could be to have a crafting recipe which added 2-3 more normal affixes to a rare item, disabling the ability to add a legendary affix to the item. Allowing rares to somewhat compete with legendaries.
And for legendaries, add a recipe which somewhat increases the value of a legendary affix, only usable on legendaries that havent had their legendary affix replaced. Making actual legendary drops, with the right stats, a bit better than the crafted “Legendarified Rares”. Wouldnt need to be much, just enough that they would be the better version, offering a chase item.
I definitely agree that the game needs a lot more item affixes, to keep things interesting.
Of course, that might in principle make it harder to find what you want. But that is fine imo, the goal should be to broaden what players want, so finding an item would not be harder.
And yeah, better balance between affixes are obviously always needed. Balance is everything!
Very much this.
ALL affixes should be redesigned to work across most/all classes.
I hope it is.
Building defining items should not exist. Items should enhance builds. Skill trees and paragon boards should define them.
When items become build defining, players will consider them required. Something they must be able to find. D3 becomes the disastrous result.
Any given build should have plenty of items to choose from, that might enhance their builds in various ways, but not be required for the basic builds to function.
Quite a few of the current legendary affixes, and unique effects, should just be moved to the skill tree instead.
Indeed.
No thanks.
And D2 uniques generally was not like that either. They offered some unique and interesting stuff, but it tended to be very general, and not build specific. That is how it should be imo. Legendaries/uniques should basically never change a single skill, or affect a skill skill. That is just a design failure.
That literally is the A-RPG genre.
Agreed, get rid of smart loot.
But no, dont allow trading of these items.
Yeah, another issue.
ALL classes should be able to use ALL items. It might not be viable for a sorc to use an axe, or a rogue to use a wand, it generally should not. But dont prevent it from happening.
I dont think it should be tied to difficulties, that is just silly, but yes, items should have sub-types. Different types of axes, different types of chest armors etc. There is a bit of it with the inherent affixes on weapons and some armor slots. But much more of that should exist.
Eh, the numbers are not too low to matter. Some people just ignore things if they arent 10000% dmg modifiers.
Getting 10% more dmg from an item certainly is notable.
Only if there are too few affixes. If not, then you just pick another affix than dmg to stunned.
Sure, but that is for two reasons;
Sorc having the broken control affix (hopefully nerfed, havent tested sorc in 1.1)
Stagger mechanism on bosses. Tbh, yes, bosses should not be CCable, but the status effects should still apply to them. Like, you use a stun, and they get a stun debuff for the duration, even though they are not stunned, and you deal dmg to them as if they were. That would have been much easier to balance, and not make bosses and normal enemies completely different systems. The stagger mechanism could still exist alongside with this.
Tbh D2 itemization, while one of the better ones in A-RPGs, was somewhat boring and unbalanced.
Just not enough affixes, and some affixes ruled supreme (+all skill etc.)
Which seems fine imo. As long as there are alternative affixes that do not require this (and of course balanced around not having to set anything up, the average uptime etc.).
Indeed.
Any and all talk about just wanting crazy build defining items, is anti-ARPG speak to me.
The random affix hunt is what makes an A-RPG.
Shako and SOJ are not build defining though. They were very generic items, and so much better for it.
100% agreed.
Rares should have the potential to be BiS.
And yeah, runewords in D2 did way more harm than good (if any).
There is no reason that would ever be the case.
Different item types would be better for different roles in a build.
i know for a fact i have probably salvaged or sold a god tier yellow - i’m sorry i just can’t look through all the items it all gets too tedious and hard to do if you’re trying to power through and go fast -
what they need to come out with is a system that let’s you SELECT the affixes you’re searching for and if the SELECTED affixes exist it says 1/4 , 2/4 etc and highlights in green the one you got that you wanted + a check mark or something - THEN - you could make it so it auto salvages or auto SELLS anything that does not meet the criteria 2/4 or 3/4 - as an example - that is a pipe dream though of course - makes too much sense
Agreed. Even if they fixed the issues with the itemization, including the quantity over quality issue, and lowered droprates accordingly, just add a loot filter…