Well since it is an issue, Ideas for Diablo 3

[Looms]

I was thinking about how the mechanics of the first Diablo game were, and instantly I remembered the fact that all classes could learn spells provided they had the appropriate ability scores and a spell book. What if the characters started off classless and had rolled ability scores as opposed to set scores based on character class. You kill some monsters, and a Book lands on the floor saying "firebolt". You have the required intellect to use it so you read it and poof, you now have use for your mana. Or, you find one that is titled "Jump attack", your strength is high enough and now you have a more barbarian type skill. Maybe I'm just thinking about the 'good ole days' when finding a book on the floor or in a bookcase meant pure zen until I saw the words Heal Other. Classes wouldn't have to be totally done away with either, depending on gameplay preference and your rolls, you pick a certain starting package which includes a basic tome, weapon, and armor. Level up, you get to add to your scores. I just think a more randomized type of class selection throughout the game would provide us with more unique character types.

[BunnyMan]

I was bored and decided to brainstorm ideas for a the class system.

7 classes with the branch class ideas above.
-Sorcerrer/Sorceress: spellcaster... fire/lightning/ice/magic.
-Rogue/Rogue: stealthy, maybe able to go invisable for short times, chance of instant death attack? Assassin could be a tier higher.
-Warrior/Warrior?: Melee combat based.
-Barbarian/Barbarian? or retain the druid name -- i like barbarian more though: Some druidic powers, natural magics, minor summoning, still able to fight tho.
-Priest/Priestess: Paladin could be higher tier, healing magics, still able to fight.
-Ranger/Ranger: Ranged combat based.
-Bard/Bardess: Would have to be well balanced but I would like to see a jack-of-all-trades kind of class.

I would like to see DIII be a little more build based so I thought a attribute/skills/abilities would work.
Attributes: Str, Dex, Vit, Ene.
Skills: Parry, dodge, individual resists, melee weapon proficiencies, ranged weapon proficienties, regen, spell power... maybe 5 points per level, can only have skill = level, has 3 tiers of skill for classes -- a nimble Rogue would max at like 60% dodge, while a slow reflexed wizard would max at 20% and meeting in the middle could be a ranger at 40%. Tiers could go 1:3:3, this feature could allow much less dependance on uber items and more on a balance that works for you.
Abilities: Your ability tree skills and such. Scale the abilites so the progress a little slower but less diminishing effects -- prevent 1 point wonders.

I'd also like the max level to be 100... I want that extra digit and it looks cooler

I was thinking the class branches could go 1-33, 34-66, 67-99, 100- "god" class level that could give you some special abilities or something... would give a reason to hit it.

I just hope that Bliz doesnt implement a currency online that fuels cheating again -- SOJ's or make something similar to enigma

[Ev0 Fir3 2008]

my ideah is more inv. space and more chars. they also could put someone with some kind of gun in it idk just a quick ideah

[Loot_Junkie]

Ideas

I know this is out there but maybe an inventor/tinker/enginer class specialising in traps, bombs and constucted companions. The plans and components could drop from creatures. These skills could be removed from other classes to streamline them. Ie lightning traps(assasin), golems (necro) Item find (barbarian) ETC. also item repair.

I think the barbarian fighter class should be streamed into a more 3 way evolution decision that make the most of the previous incarnations. With potential to move into elite version of class . I will list base choice Ie Barbarian then / elite evolution beserker

Barbarian/ Berseker= huge damage but slow hit rate. gear is damage oriented in its bonus's would be low armor and hold with barbarian apperance Ie fanged helmand ugg boots. Will specialize in two handed weapons Ie Battle axe, War Hammers

Swordsman/ Blademaster= skilled fighter with blade weapons, fast striking rate and high chance to hit. with skill choice can dual weild. Can weild any sword and two handed swords only. With levels increase chance to dodge and interupt enemy attacks. Also with elite evolution strike multiple enemies and excell in mass mob melee. gear bonus's would offer moderate armor and add to speed/chance to hit and dodge and incapacitate/ dissorientate

Iron defender/Dragoon= uses heavey armor, sheild and one handed weapon to make them one hard cat to skin. Very gear reliant, but posses lots of passive skills that allow instant counter strike, chance to stun, and to tire and demoralize enemy the more damage you take. Gear will be high armor and have resistances. also have chance to do spell or damage on hit.

........................................................................................................

[Siberys]

I know this is out there but maybe an inventor/tinker/enginer class specialising in traps, bombs and constucted companions. The plans and components could drop from creatures. These skills could be removed from other classes to streamline them. Ie lightning traps(assasin), golems (necro) Item find (barbarian) ETC. also item repair.

The Engineer class from Hellgate London does that. Although, a fantasy one would be nifty too, like the Artificer from Eberron D&D. Maybe something like that in Diablo 3. That could be a good purpose for "Crafted Items" rather than a horadric cube.

[themaelstorm]

The Worldstone, as corrupted as it was, is destroyed. So, no balance or anything to hold the heavens&hell&world.

So, make two sides and differentiate classes via prestige system.
I mean
Worldly class: Fighter. Uses weapons, armor, blabla.
Heavenly prestige: Paladin. Not much to say, mostly like D2, but with more evil-bashing stuff.
Hellish prestige: Blackguard. Again, a stereotype. Good-bashing, poison-snuffing, bunny-crushing evil guy.

Also add side bonuses. I mean, you start as a human (no special benefits) but when you choose a side, you get to have some resistances and stuff (like bonuses of aasimar and tiefling from D&D).

You can stay core. This way, you won't have an upper hand vs the opposite faction but you will be limited with your class' abilities. If you choose a faction, you gain advantages against the opposites (as do they against you) and unlock new abilities (or trees).


I also would WISH the game would have more atmosphere like it had in D1, but I kinda guess it won't be possible.

About graphics.. Blizzard isn't even accepting 2D works when you apply for a job. So it WILL be 3D. However, they may keep the same camera and will prolly optimize the game well, so a lower-than-average PC will do.

[Loot_Junkie]

pros and cons

I have been thinking again.....dangerous habit really

The more I read on various topics realting to new RPG style releases the more I see a pattern developing in regards to MMO vs not. I think that being Diablo fans we might see something in this that most will not.

You see the genuine drive behind MMO's come from firstly makers who want to get the widest base of subscribers as possible and keep them. Why?.....Money of course

Now there are a lot tricks in the bag to acheive this and alot of them are in no way motivated by what the players want.
Now the main one(and I am mostly referencing the bid daddy of MMO's World of warcraft) is to ensure that players can not successfully play the game solo.
This to me as a Diablo player is not desirable, because quite frankly If I can run around and be a lone wolf or at least with a good friend or two and still make some ground even if it is dangerous and challenging I would rather do that.
When I choose my skill tree path I am making my choices based on hopefully being able at least hold my own against anything even I have to Town portal out a few times and spend all my gold of healing potions. there will be points at which I am holding out on reaching a level to spend to points on a specific skill and during this period things may get tricky, but I accept that in the hope the gamble will pay off.

MMO's are all about keeping the masses happy. And what do the masses want? well it would seem that the want a very medicore experience. The main word here is balance, balance, balance.
And that is not balance within a character ohh no thats balance of the whole game, as this means that no matter what choices you make that means there is a conflict you will nearly always lose just based on pre determined strengths and weakness's of a class.

If I am running along and I see another character of the same level with some insane looking gear I would love to ask them where they got that and hear that they where crawling through some nasty dungeon and the randomised boss creature just happened to drop this freakish one in a million item and I that it is as deadly as it looks and yes thay are very proud of it. I would reply you lucky lucky sod and then mope off feeling very jealous.

With all current MMO's the conversation would go something like this.
"so where did you get that axe man'

Sweet Gear owner:
"I did 500 runs of the mines of boredom with my guild, non stop for three weeks straight.

Me:
So you killed some uber boss and picked it up?

Sweet Gear owner:
Nope Im a Pally I just spam healing while everyone else fights? The sword never dropped I sold I the stuff I rolled for and bought this sword in auction.

Me:
(A peice of my soul just died)
So did anyone else in the party get any sweet drops there?

Sweet Gear owner
No you don't go there for gear the monsters regulary drop pertified yeti dung which sells for 1g

Me:
(very dejected by now)
So your level 50 where do you suggest I level up?

Sweet Gear owner
Don't know I got my brother to level me

Me:
Ohh... ahh thanks, see ya
(I sub sequently log out close my account, uninstall the game and deficate on the hard copy then burn it whilst dancing and chanting ancient pagan prayers of banishment)

The guts of it is the mass market gamer of today is not honourable or imaginative or even remotely driven by 'roleplaying elements' or even remotley interested in being strategic they just follow a build they read on a forum.


Also in particular to WOW is the fact that when you are fighting in an area that is suitably for you level the loot that drops will always be several levels below what would give you an edge.
Now these two things alone are enough to make any Diablo fan cringe. Because lets face is one of the most maddeningly addictive factors of Diablo is that there is always a chance that something is going to drop that will make you an all conquering meataxe for at least a while until the difficulty catches up to you.
Now this is something that in most MMO's would not even consider because they would get thousands of complaints because someone of the same level was able to carve them up and it not fair, just not fair. Not to mention the fact that if that item happened to drop from only one boss that always spawned in the same place all the time, It would be farmed to death already.

So my whole point is if im playing Diablo three MMO or not If I get flogged embarrasingly by somebody who just happens to be lucky enough to have great gear and a creaive build then as long as they did it by honorable means, then hats off to them as long as I have the same random chance to do the same.....on my own....without buying it.....without investing every waking hour for months grinding a single room.....

Diablo 3 should dance to a different tune that we all now and love....random,random random, chance chance chance

[Rhett Butler]

Some things I would like Diablo 3 to feature:

-Hi Def 2D isometric view: Isometric view would make the most sense just because it is the most functional, non intrusive veiwpoint from which to hack and slash, and because of the precedent set by the previous two. 2D because there is no reason to make it 3D, and I also don't know of any hi def isometric games and I would really like to see one. It won't happen though, not a chance in hell. Whatever else it is, Diablo 3 will be 3D.

-Secondary professions. Would be a good way to get some diversity in builds without complicating the class system too much and the inevitable balance problems that creates. Obviously include some new classes, preferably ones *not* copypasta'd from generic fantasy.

-Strong, long SP campaign: Multiplayer is going to be a massive part of any conceivable Diablo 3. I've got nothing against this, just as long as the SP game doesn't feel like an afterthought.

-The level of difficulty we saw in Diablo 2. It's a modern trend to make games easier, because modern gamers don't like dying. This doesn't bother me overmuch in more story oriented cRPGs, there is other stuff going on besides combat, other goals. In aRPGs combat is all there is, so if it is too easy the game is boring.

- Diseases, long lasting poisons and other long term status effects.

- A few roleplaying elements: Talking about roleplaying in relation to Diablo is missing the point. Diablo is aRPG with no pretensions that focuses on hack and slash and it does it well. Trying to make it too cRPG like would dilute this, but things like branching quests and multiple endings are a good addition to almost any game.

-The ability to choose a gender for any class is pretty critical IMO. It only takes a few more character models and it really makes a difference to people's experience. Many players won't play a class of the opposite gender. I know I usually don't.

-A setting that is either on a different continent to the previous games or several hundred years in the future: The point of Diablo is not it's lore, so as long as environments are kept in the same visual style as the previous games I don't think too many fans would go ape**** if the setting were changed a bit, and fleshed out a bit. As is it's pretty bare bones, and uninspiring. A little bit too much of function over form methinks.

-A good construction set.

What I don't want:

-Diablo MMO. I don't like the genre, and will not buy it no matter what universe it's set in.

-More generic fantasy: The classes in Diablo are pretty much bog standard fantasy fare. It isn't fair to criticise it for this considering this is the case in almost all (a)RPGs, but it shouldn't be. People need to start thinking of **** for themselves, or at the very least copying **** that hasn't been copied a thousand times already.

-First person view. I can't believe Blizzard would make Diablo an FPS, but then I was certain Bethsoft would not make Fallout 3 first person and they did. It boggles the mind the silly things people will do to be trendy, so even though I doubt it will happen, it's a possibility. I would still play first person Diablo 3, I just wouldn't buy it.

[Loot_Junkie]

Good point by Rhett

Nice post Rhett

Its the constant pantering to the uninspired gamer that kills off the heart.

In particular the difficulty,risk and reward ratios. If the casual gamer wants to breeze straight through the game, collect some average gear, use a common build thats relatively efficient then I say by all means let them.

But!!

Within the realms of general game play allow the brave and skilful to make the choices and take gambles that will challange them and provide the benifits.

Now I don't mean let you play all the way through and then start again but harder IE Diablo 2 (although this was a great step up in difficulty and gave incentive it was till the same story same maps same bosses).

I mean I want to be able to enter a randomly generated map that will obviously have the key story features (entrances to next main story area) and run along to find a really nasty random creature or an entrance to a difficult dungeon that has a percentage chance of appearing. The chance could be very minimally effected by level, skill choice and maybe an item or two like a map that could drop for it or a series of items that are required(like magic find)

One thing to avoid is final fantasy sydrome, in that to get access to the best areas and items in the game you have to beat everthing that you could possibly need good gear or levels for.

There has to be access to diversity of path all the way through. I want to be able to start two characters at the same time and have two very different outcomes. The random drop system of the previous diablos did this but it still didn't greatly change your path.

This could really make a difference as if you could only get certain items in certain random dungeons then not everyone would look or act the same.

Some areas could only be open to certain classes as a way to get prestige skills or class specific story development and choices.

The beast thing would be that these areas be varying difficulties scaled by reward. Also once you enter them you can't TP out and if you died in them you are returned with you gear but the the entrance disapears and you would have to wait till it spawns again to try again.

Risk, reward and luck all randomised

I would love to be asked by a higher level character where the hell I got that skill or item or even nasty acid belching pet.

[lmf82456]

Customization

Here you can post ideas for diablo 3 if it is ever going to be made. My ideas are
-Keep it the same on a 2D system. Not all of us have good video cards and the game itself was and is still addicting to MANY people.
-A character creation system. Like if it is the same system (80 points for ability scores) then start all at 5 and give the character 60 pointsto distribute.
-Make the skills less limited to certain characters. Like have a barbarian that has some primal druidic instincts and can transform into a bear, or have a wizard that speicializes in many different spells and not just poison, curses, and afflictions. Also, if this is to occur, replace the sorceress with a basic Wizard specialist. Have him/her have transformation, imbuing, elemental, or illusionary skills.
-Make the game a little more open ended. For instance, allow the characters to CHOOSE to accept a quest, but for a final quest, keep it the same.
-Add side quests. LOTS of them.
-Keep Decard Cain. He's cool.
-Ressurect Wart for the next one. He was pretty cool as well.
-Have passive skills that give you knowledge of monsters instead of telling you right off the bat.
-Add a place for pauldrons and greaves as to further maximize your character.
-Add dragons.


These are just a few ideas for the game. I welcome criticism and disagreements, but try and be polite about it. I hate flamewars and the like.

Also, post any ideas you would like to see.

I personally think that there should be more of a character customization. Abit like WoW. Eg... paladin, hair able to keep how it is, long med short etc, clothes long sleeve etc, and more customizations etc
And i also think that they should create some thing like this, paladin (combat) (aura) or (magic), if they choose combat they should do more damage than someone who chooses combat and magic even if they have the same "zeal" skill level without any synergies.

I really hope they make it because i have been looking aver tonns of websites for ages to find out whether they make it or not.

[Salidin54]

Okay my turn

after having read everyone elses posts this list could get a little long, maybe.

1.Possibly add a multiclassing system like Titan Quests. have the player use their class for the first 15 levels then alow them to add another class.

2.Put in some side quests. my biggest bummer from the game was beating the main quests in an act and saying to myself "that's it?"

3.More classes. I got so bored with some of the classes that i started using a sorc as a fighter and a barb as a mage(don't even ask how that worked, IT DIDN'T). A spartan like class would be cool (barbs sucked with spears)

4.Dragons are cool get some of them.

5.Keep Dekard Cain he was pretty useful.

6.Keep the Horadric Cube IDEA not the item itself. Sure its a great little box but using it again would be a little repetitive.

7.More beginner spells/skills the skill "tree" was okay but i think an upside-down skill pyramid would be nice(feel free to disagree i got the idea from a friend).

8.Keep it in 2D. The only reason i don't play titan quest is that my computer can't support the graphics with 5 other games on the computer (i'm not removing them). A 3D game would be too advance for most peoples comuters with the technology today, and for teens like me i'm too worried about how the crap i'm gonna pay for college to spend $500 upgrading my computer to today's standards.

9.Keep gambling but put a cap on how powerful an item you get can be. I remeber me and all my friends would make nonexpansion characters, go throught the first act and max out our stash money, then gamble it all away and end up with some junk and a handfull of unique and set items, and finally convert to the expasion and trade them all for good stuff.

10.Finally (for now) Tyreal (or however his name is spelled) was cool, either keep him around(at least), make angels an available merc type (less likely but cool), or make angel an unlockable class (very unlikely but that would be amazingly cool).