Time to remove Cruel?

Removing cruel would make playing up a character a few days shorter for me. I spend more time in act IV normal than I do in Act 1-3 cruel and normal combined. I probably spend as much time in Koam's Stronghold than the rest of the entire playthrough.

I hate Cruel that much. It's a chore with no real reward other than getting it done.

Ok, let's try to justify it's existence. It smooths out the learning curve for new players. That's important, I guess. But once you've "learned to play" it's a hindrance.

I wonder if they could make it optional somehow... that might be explored.

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NeroNoah wrote:

Detail? I hear some like Cruel because of the character progression, but I've never heard of someone saying they like to repeat the acts so much.

Well, yea cruel is the calm before the storm. You don't have to worry about resists that much, your items still don't matter that much, things don't hit as hard as merciless, your anus gets penetrated just the right amount. What's more, you can see how your character is progressing in a more relaxed setting and it feels way smoother than in normal because you are higher lvl. Then you get to merciless and shit hits the fan. You need to worry about resists, dps, hp etc...

If i had to remove a difficulty i would remove normal so that i can start at lvl 40+

2.0 was the time to remove it before they did a bunch of work to streamline acts 1-3. We're stuck with cruel until act5.

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Pyrokar wrote:

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NeroNoah wrote:

Detail? I hear some like Cruel because of the character progression, but I've never heard of someone saying they like to repeat the acts so much.

Well, yea cruel is the calm before the storm. You don't have to worry about resists that much, things don't hit as hard as merciless, your anus gets penetrated just the right amount. What's more, you can see how your character is progressing in a more relaxed setting and it feels way smoother than in normal because you are higher lvl. Then you get to merciless and shit hits the fan. You need to worry about resists, dps, hp etc...

Well. What about removing the Act repetition but preserving that progression?

For example, adding act V, it would be something like: Act I, II and III normal (like pre 2.0) and Act IV and V Cruel (toning down some of the bullshit in Act IV so it's smooth). And putting some extra difficulty in Normal if possible (I'd love to have difficulty adjustments a la Torchlight).

Maybe by act 5

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NeroNoah wrote:

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Pyrokar wrote:

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NeroNoah wrote:

Detail? I hear some like Cruel because of the character progression, but I've never heard of someone saying they like to repeat the acts so much.

Well, yea cruel is the calm before the storm. You don't have to worry about resists that much, things don't hit as hard as merciless, your anus gets penetrated just the right amount. What's more, you can see how your character is progressing in a more relaxed setting and it feels way smoother than in normal because you are higher lvl. Then you get to merciless and shit hits the fan. You need to worry about resists, dps, hp etc...

Well. What about removing the Act repetition but preserving that progression?

For example, adding act V, it would be something like: Act I, II and III normal (like pre 2.0) and Act IV and V Cruel (toning down some of the bullshit in Act IV so it's smooth).

I imagine that is the way it's gonna happen when they decide to do it. Or maybe link the increase of difficulty with things you do in the game i.e. When you break the vaal seal in a2 you might lose 10% res and monsters will grow stronger and then in a4 when you enter the belly of the beast, the gemling queen gets weaker and therefore the monsters stronger. Then the same thing happens the second playthrough, only this time you lose 20% res twice. Suddenly losing resists when changing acts would feel confusing.

Cruel is like training wheels for merciless. It's the first time players are hit with a resist penalty and an added death penalty. Additional game mechanics are slowly introduced/increased in frequency (corrupted zones, boxes, masters, exiles, ghosts, monster mods, etc). And it gives some time for players to incorporate some of the cruel skill gems before tackling merciless.

And all of the extra quest rewards/skill points are nice.

With the act 4 content release GGG shortened/removed some zones, moved some waypoints. It looks like they opted to streamline acts 1-3 rather than eliminate cruel. I'm fine with that.

Maybe with an act 5 added, there will be enough content to scale down to 2 difficulties, while maintaining sufficient training wheels. Normal to merciless still seems like quite a jump though - I'm concerned a too rapid difficulty/penalty ramp up will scare away new players.

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Well. What about removing the Act repetition but preserving that progression?

For example, adding act V, it would be something like: Act I, II and III normal (like pre 2.0) and Act IV and V Cruel (toning down some of the bullshit in Act IV so it's smooth).

I think it's really important to be able to experience a full play through of the game without a death or resist penalty. Players need an opportunity to learn the bosses, monsters, mechanics, etc.

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Vhlad wrote:

I think it's really important to be able to experience a full play through of the game without a death or resist penalty. Players need an opportunity to learn the bosses, monsters, mechanics, etc.

I see players accepting the resist penalty if properly explained in game like Pyrokar proposed, but you have a good point about the death penalty. Bosses like Piety, the abomination would be too frustrating.

Then again, what's the point of experience penalty in Cruel?

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Disrupted wrote:

Maybe by act 5

We are not getting act 5 within the distant future.

It took three years for act 4. I know I could not put up with cruel for three more.

i disagree, the lenche of the game at the moment is fine, and the number of points you can get for your skilltree in addition with having to see everything 3times over with different rewards, removing cruel completely would be way to much work and in like 5.0 act 5might be released, which would seem logical, in the form of a number and the fact diablo 3 has 5acts, so onces act 5 comes out, they will probably remove cruel or like you said, they might concider removing cruel earlier, but that depends on the blanacing and difficulty of doing so, having a higher level cap and a long adventure like we have at the moment gives me a reason to play