If Diablo 2 belonged to this era...

In light of the heated discussion over the upcoming patch and the supposed nerfs that the passive tree indicates (which I don't believe, by the way), I wanted to make a topic on a lighter note.

I've been playing video games for the past couple of decades, and in my opinion, the gaming industry has evolved (like everything else) over this period. What I mean by this is that, the core notions behind a game, what constitutes a good game, how games survive (longevity), etc. In the current generation of games, there's a huge stress on constantly updating the game and making the game more accessible (easier). I think the main reason for this is the variety of games available today. When it comes to ARPGs, there are at least half a dozen of them out there. MMOs are even more plentiful. This puts a burden of companies to constantly keep changing their game based on feedback in order to keep their playerbase interested, and not move on to a different game.

That being said, if Diablo 2 belonged to this era, I think some of the topics we might be seeing on the forums would be something like..

- Blessed Hammer is overpowered, please nerf.

- Stats are uninteresting - there are only two options - either stat str for gear, dex for max block and rest into vitality, or stat str for gear and rest into vitality.

- No build diversity - Every chaos runner is either a hammerdin or a lightning sorceress

- Who designed the Shako? Seriously! It's BiS for most of the builds, making other helms useless.

- Buff all the trash uniques. This list includes, but is not limited to, Greyform, Blinkbat's form, Sparkling Mail, Iceblink, Boneflesh, Rockfleece, Spirit Shroud, Iron Pelt, Spirit Forge, Corpsemourne, Gnasher, Deathspade, Bladebone, Skull Splitter, Rakescar, Goreshovel, Coldkill, Islestrike, Guardian Naga, Spellsteal, Cranebeak, Snakecord, Gorefoot, Tearhaunch, Pluckeye, Witherstring, Stormstrike, Wizendraw, Hellclap, Blastbark, Skystrike, Endless Hail, Cliffkiller, Eaglehorn, Leadcrow, Ichorsting, Hellcast, Langer Briser, Pus spitter, Gut siphon, Spineripper, Ghostflame, Hand of Broc, Gravepalm, Ghoulhide, Howl Tusk, Steelshade, Veil of Night, Mahim oak curio, Manald Heal, Felloak, Crushflange, Ironstone, Moonfall, Earthshaker, etc

- Most Runewords are crazily overpowered.

- So much RMT going on. When the ladder resets, bots flood the market within a week with insane gear for RMT.

- The following skills need a buff (no one uses them)
Amazon: Magic Arrow, Fire Arrow, Immolation Arrow, Impale, Fend
Barbarian: Bash, Stun
Druid: Firestorm, Molten Boulder, Arctic Blast, Fissure
Paladin: Sacrifice, Vengeance, Conversion
Sorceress: Frost Nova, Inferno, Nova

- Why are the three prime evils dead already? What are we going to do in the expansion?

oh shako! ty mephisto

Great post, made me think abit about the current situation. its also unfair to compare current games with d2(which the post above mentioned already, however it was just sarcsasm by him/you).
d2 were used to inspire many of ppl who are creating games from today and it were alot of easier to be inspired and interested, not to mention the effort of making d2.

compared to games from today, where alot have to put in, to make them that.


p.s. veil of night (i guess u mean nightwings veil) is good for blizzard sorcs :)

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DirkAustin wrote:

D2 was great for its time but it has run its course and is now overrated as hell when compared to current games in its genre.

I agree fully with this..

Diablo 2 was, and is one of my most favorite games ever, however, I do acknowledge that it was awesome for its time.

It's the same with all the great games. I mean, I can start playing the classic Super Mario or Doom, but I'd get bored fast. Still, that doesn't change the fact that they were great during their time.

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puriburY wrote:

Great post, made me think abit about the current situation

p.s. veil of night (i guess u mean nightwings veil) is good for blizzard sorcs :)

Oh that was a typo, I meant Veil of Steel. Nightwing's Veil was a good helm, but it was the same situation with Nightwing's and Veil of Steel that is currently with Infernal Mantle and Shavronne's Wrappings. Veil of Steel was a decent helm, but whenever a Spired helm dropped, you wanted Nightwing's, and eventually, Veil of Steel became a forgotten relic that was universally unwanted, simply because of how powerful Nightwing's was.

Not to mention the Mephisto fight being horribly broken...

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Veil of Steel became a forgotten relic that was universally unwanted

all good things required an end.

Am more astound about all those people that "fanatically hate" on all the T1 items.
What most don´t grasp is that once a "stick of lightning" gets implemented that doesn´t mean another "stick of more lightning" isn´t allowed to happen.
Then they start to throw words like "powercreep" around.
Then you see what cannot be, devs that are listening to that, and removeing all lightning completely from all sticks.

Accessible =/= Easier

Sure many designers do it that way. But they're not the same thing. You can have an excessively easy game that is unimaginably inaccessible, or an exceptionally accessible game that is ridiculously complicated.

Man I miss D2.

I just made a Diablo Run with my old Hammerdin. Was fun, but oh god is D2 old...