Expect More Diablo III Expansion Packs
In a recent interview, senior world designer Leonard Boyarsky said that the Diablo III team doesn't have a shortage of ideas, that they have a "fairly decent" list of things they really want to do with the Diablo III property.
"We've talked about some places in flavor texts of some legendary items that you haven't been to and we talked about lost civilizations," Boyarsky said. "So there's always a lot of places we can go to on the map, but I think there's more to the story in terms of what's going to happen, what's the ultimate end to the sage of the humans, angels and demons."
One of the paths the Diablo III team wants to take is the redemption of Leah's soul. There wasn't a place for that story line in Reaper of Souls; the expansion is all about the Black Soulstone and Malthael. He really couldn't talk about anything specific either, and even admitted that the things they talk about last week are probably different than what they're discussing this week. But yes, they plan to address the Leah storyline eventually.
Earlier in the interview, he was asked about how the team approached the expansion pack given that players have already defeated Diablo. He said it was tough – how do you top defeating the ultimate evil? Eventually, they decided that the angel of death would be an excellent choice. Who would be just as scary as Diablo?
"That's always a challenge when creating a series of books or games," he said. "You know, at [a] certain point you fight the ultimate evil and when you create a new installment, you have to fight extra-ultimate evil. But I'm really happy with how Malthael turned out. You can even argue that he is not... well he's definitely not a villain in his own mind."
He said good characters in fiction aren't evil in their own minds. They think what they're doing is the right thing, whereas the hero finds the actions completely wrong.
The interview also talks about how mankind is now stuck between angels and demons. That path was planned almost since day one, with the hero representing mankind and its quest to do the right thing. Neither angel nor demon really care about humans other than how they can be used as pawns in the never-ending battle between good and evil.
"One of the things about Diablo, I believe that your character is truly a hero and he's doing his best for mankind agenda," he said. "I believe that your hero represents good and that angels represent self-serving good if that makes any sense. Except for Tyrael they don't even think beyond their struggle with Hell, which is what defines them. It's what turned Tyrael around."
To read the full interview, head here.
Stay tuned for our own interview with Blizzard.
Torchlight was designed by two of the original people behind Diablo and Diablo 2 so that is why it feels like Diablo in terms of the gameplay.
Honestly the story surprises me. It is almost as if Leahs death meant nothing to the characters. Then again D3s story was pretty bland.
And of course there will be more XPacs. Gotta keep the cash flowing.
I downloaded it and got to level 3 or 4. The story was boring and the mechanics were very poor. I was quite dissappointed, but what can you expect for a "free to play" game these days.
99% of 'FTP' games arent actually free to play, and involve some sort of game breaking mechanic that forces you to buy something. Thats all I meant. Havent tried out Dota 2 and Ive only sampled LoL; I couldnt get myself into that category of gaming unfortunately. The mechanics of D3 are much better now with patch 2.0 but theyre a bit late. I refuse to pay 40$ for a character, a new gameplay, and an act.
The RMAH is actually closing as is the GAH on the 18th. I never understood why anyone even cared since the game itself has no PvP or ladder so it is not like you are losing a PvE game when someone else buys gear on the RMAH.
But I guess people will always be mad when others buy their way to the top gear. Happens with any game that has that ability, even if it doesn't affect them.
DoTA 2 has items much like TF2. Some are cosmetic and some are weapons but are balanced so they do not outweigh other ones unless it is suited to your specific play style. As well they have item drops and community made items so if you buy certain ones community members get paid.
You NEVER had to use the AH in D3 to progress but some people are too lazy to just play the game and just get the drops. Now Blizzard is taking out the AH, increase loot drop rates (they're ridiculous, a legendary every 2-3 hrs) and having all legendaries bound to your character so you HAVE to play.
It's sad people like you that don't have self control just submit to the AH and blizzard having to take it out in the end.
I personally didn't like the feel of combat in PoE. I haven't found many ARPGs I do like, most are slow and clunky same with MMOs of which I like GW2 but hate most others. VanHelsing was a good ARPG but didn't have a lot of replay ability but right now Grim Dawn is looking really good and feels really good considering it is in only Alpha stages.
You never had to buy gear in D3. That's the thing people don't seem to understand. Even without the AH, the itemization in D3 was just bad. It currently still is pretty poor as it is now geared around the expansion pack instead of the core game.
I personally never bought anything for real money in D3. If I found a really good item, like say a Manticore, I would sell it o the GAH and then use the funds to buy something for my Barbarian. If not I would craft, which I currently have shoulders, gloves, braces and an amulet that were all crafted, a Skorn that my wife found and the rest I got of the GAH with money I made from playing and finding items I couldn't use anyways.
The drop rate is actually lower than before. Of course this is considering the mob density was nerfed and now WW Barbs are slow as crap but before I would run Act 3 in about an hour and find 3-5 legendary items. Mostly crap but I still found more in 1.08 per hour than in 2.0.
BoA to me is stupid as I have found legendary items that would have worked great for my wife as she plays a Wizard. But since she was not playing with me those items cannot be given to her and instead become useless or brimstones.