GGG: How did you react to D3 announcement?

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OldeSchool wrote:

Diablo 3 is out?!

"Why the HELL aren't I notified about these things?"

I started playing it about a week ago, and it's actually a very lonely experience. I missed my chance to join the collective voice decrying it and what I am learning, everyone else knows.

But I might just do a write up on my little 'why I choose PoE over D3' thread over in the off topic. D3 is even worse than I expected and yet not for the reasons I thought.

Anyway, I will leave it there, as this is neither the time not the post.

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Charan wrote:

There are actually plenty of indicators how they reacted in the interview links I have provided, but you need to read between the lines.

Probably the best such indicator, however, is on your very computer, maybe even your desktop, in the form of a shortcut to a little game they KEPT making no matter what.

I am interessted in how a little game-company can keep up the good vibes about their development when it could seem as an impossible task. I guess, when GGG decided to make this game in 2006, they thought it would be a great idea, because people from D2 really wanted a new ARPG in same genre. Therefore a D3 announcement in 2008 might have been a punch in the stomach - it could have made it hard to get funding, new employees and so on.

I think it's pretty interesting to hear some "stories" from the devs about how they managed to get through such phases, being able to get funding and new developers to the team.

I am not sure if I understand your answer, Charan, I do know, that they kept making the game, I do not no how. So that I have PoE on my desktop doesn't actually indicate anything other than they kept making it.

I am pretty sure D3 and TL2 only work for the better of POE. It does so for people who think those games are good and for those who think otherwise. ("You think D3 is good? You should also check out POE, it's also cool/even better."; "You think D3 is bad? Check out POE instead, it does everything better.")

A lot of people that did not play D2 and did not hear about POE got interested in D3. A lot of those people later heard about POE being in development. Some others (like me) played other Diablo games and heard about POE but didn't get interested in it until D3 (simply because it was a reminder of a game that was too early in development to get excited about).

So my conclusion is: I can't imagine GGG would think of D3 being developed as a danger for their game.

What bothers me about TL2 they've made the same mistake as TL1, D2, and D3 by designing acts with decreasing details. Act1 is unbelievably rich of content, random dungeons and quests all the way, and the last act is very flat and boring and to top it all it's too short (D2LOD not included into this because it's an expansion).

I hope GGG will not make the same mistake with their act3, but act2 seems promising to me. I love that i have choices in act2's main quest, i hope act3 will also contain similar things.

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ongZ wrote:

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Charan wrote:

There are actually plenty of indicators how they reacted in the interview links I have provided, but you need to read between the lines.

Probably the best such indicator, however, is on your very computer, maybe even your desktop, in the form of a shortcut to a little game they KEPT making no matter what.

I am interessted in how a little game-company can keep up the good vibes about their development when it could seem as an impossible task. I guess, when GGG decided to make this game in 2006, they thought it would be a great idea, because people from D2 really wanted a new ARPG in same genre. Therefore a D3 announcement in 2008 might have been a punch in the stomach - it could have made it hard to get funding, new employees and so on.

I think it's pretty interesting to hear some "stories" from the devs about how they managed to get through such phases, being able to get funding and new developers to the team.

I am not sure if I understand your answer, Charan, I do know, that they kept making the game, I do not no how. So that I have PoE on my desktop doesn't actually indicate anything other than they kept making it.

True, even because nowadays it's Really,Really,Really hard for a small software house to compete on a large-scale market like the MMORPG's one. I discovered this game today and i am looking forward for the open beta; i loved diablo 2 and i hope this game can make us live an outstanding experience like diablo 2 did :)

Actually, I think of Grim Dawn (spiritual successor to Titan Quest) as more of a competitor to Path of Exile than Diablo 3. I mean, Diablo 3 sucks :)

But Grim Dawn is a year away, so PoE will be out first.

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Alternalo wrote:

What bothers me about TL2 they've made the same mistake as TL1, D2, and D3 by designing acts with decreasing details. Act1 is unbelievably rich of content, random dungeons and quests all the way, and the last act is very flat and boring and to top it all it's too short (D2LOD not included into this because it's an expansion).

[...]

There's actually a reason for this: Every player sees the beginning, and increasingly fewer players see the end. That's especially true for reviewers. Then you have time constraints, a tight budget (well, D3 maybe less so ;-))...

Add to that that a game needs to hook you in the beginning, and not the end, and you have "Xen Syndrome": The beginning of the game is great, but the further you progress, the less effort the developers put in.

But I agree: It's grating.


@Charan. Please do. I always enjoy reading a nicely phrased opinion.


@topic: I think that many had mixed feelings. On the one hand, Diablo was THE household name for ARPGs. It's like you're fighting a small skirmish with mid-level Orcs, and suddenly, Godzilla.
On the other hand: D3's announcement rekindled a lot of interest in ARPGs in general, and that can only be positive for other games in the genre.
Hand, the third: I think after the initial "awe/holy crud moment", they buckled down on their work with a vengeance, eyes on their game. Because D3 should not influence how good a game PoE should be: The best they can make it.

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Alternalo wrote:

What bothers me about TL2 they've made the same mistake as TL1, D2, and D3 by designing acts with decreasing details. Act1 is unbelievably rich of content, random dungeons and quests all the way, and the last act is very flat and boring and to top it all it's too short (D2LOD not included into this because it's an expansion).

Act3 of TL2 is even better than acts 1 and 2. Sure, act4 sucks. I think it is some sort of weird tradition in game design to make act4 very bad and short.