Character customization

[Share]

Has there been any word on if you can choose the looks of your character besides gender? Hair, eye-color and other physical treats like that. Everyone in d2 had the exact same look which sometimes reduced the immersiveness of the game, so it'd be interesting to know if they plan to have some diversity options.

Edit: lol, just noticed how someone created one before me.

[stillman]

From what I've read, they're keeping it simple where you just choose class, name and gender.

I know what you mean; just seeing a barbarian again makes me think of millions of clones out there. The artwork pics for the barb shows some progression into 3 different armors. Maybe they'll go up to 30 and this will be the diversity we would like. I sure hope so anyway.

[casserole]

I believe that I also saw a statement that you're pretty much limited to class, gender, name as far as customization goes. I find that kind of disappointing but it is still a step up from D2. It would be nice to be able to create a character's look myself though.

[Share]

Yep. Although the characters are rather small compared to say MMO's, this game is now 3D which creates more possibilites. At least skin color, hair color and such noticable things should be choosable in my opinion.

[stillman]

I kind of prefer the get-up-and-go feel of the game where you don't need to spend so much time detailing your character. The player customization comes with the leveling and point spending imo. I think a huge armor/helmet/etc selection, plus varrying postures for each would make them all look different enough.

[Arioch]

Looks like gender and gear choice will be your only visual customization options. WoW-style customizations would be nice, but you won't even be able to see your character's face during regular gameplay (probably only during cutscenes), so I don't see that it really matters that much.

In Diablo, you're really not choosing a "class" so much as you are choosing a character to play. In addition to Diablo tradition, they may want to keep it this way for the purpose of creating pre-rendered cinematics.

[ItAllGoesWhite]

I think it's absurd that people aren't more upset about this. Several threads have touched on the subject, and the three main arguments against character customization have been:

1) The developers should focus their attention on more important issues.

2) Who cares?

3) Your character will be covered in armor anyway, so character customization is pointless.

The first argument is ridiculous. It's not a feature that would require an excessive amount of time to implement. They've already included gender, which would be the most time-intensive customization option due to completely different character models. Even something as simple as 3 hair colors, 3 hair styles, 3 faces, and 3 skin colors (this is in addition to the default character model--more on that later) would vastly improve the current state of affairs.


The second argument doesn't even make sense--obviously people care, otherwise there wouldn't be multiple threads expressing disappointment.

The third is the most legitimate of the bunch, however, even if your character is covered in armor, the player still knows what they look like underneath, which is important to a lot of people. Furthermore, the argument is further undermined by my response to #3--implementing it requires a relatively small amount of effort, so why not include it anyway?

There is no excuse to not include even a barebones customization system. We shouldn't have to play as a white Barbarian, or a black Witch Doctor, or a character with red hair or black hair or brown hair, etcetera.

Much older games than even Diablo 2 have included at least rudimentary character customization options--to not include them in a 2009+ PC RPG is outrageous.


Oh, and to the person that enjoys the get up and go style of the game, this could be as easy as having a 'default' option, in which case your character looks like the character select screen. If you didn’t want to deal with the customization, then you could just skip it.

[stillman]

Those are all good points, ItAllGoesWhite.

I'm still slightly opposed to this, however. I learned in another thread about respec that if an option is there, there is a tendancy for most people to take it. They don't simply decide not use an option in the game (at least according to the arguments in that thread). So your default option is good, but people might not use it anyway. Why is this a bad thing? Well, I believe the game designers REALLY want an emphasis on fast paced action--to the extent that they won't allow a slightly longer character creation phase. I figgure the designers have heard too many cries about the slower pace of WoW, and great complements about speedy old d2. They want us to "stay in battle" and not dabble in cosmetics.

I agree the "who cares" argument is arrogance. Lots of people care about uniqueness, since d2 had problems like ideal dupe runeword gear and cookie cutter buillds.

A few mildly good reasons not to have costumization: The barb is old and grey now yet still an elite fighting machine, showing his prowess and experience with the battles 20 years ago. I think his hair must stay grey/white. It's like the big scars on his chest; we can't take away his trauma or experience. Secondly, Blizzard has spent so much time working on d3 that they likely hold their chr designs very closely. They don't want to share their power to design characters (just a guess). Similar to the barb, the witchdoctor can't have the hair color, or anything else (feathers, warpaint) from his flamboyant culture changed in any way. The culture is too great an aspect in his background story. Also, changing the skin color involves changing the race of the chr, which is far too drastic of a change imo. I'm all for customized designs on shields or breastplates and the like. But it's Blizzard's baby, not ours.

As for the argument about how Blizzard should stick to the more important aspects, I think some people have a good point in saying things like that. Since the customized features don't affect gameplay, I'd prefer they spend their work hours on the gameplay issues. Take the waterfall in the D3 video; it is so full of fancy visual effects, but no one is going to look at it after it is revisited several times. It's just in the background and I'd rather they spend more effort on things that will never get ignored like chr animation and gameplay. For instance, I'd prefer to see more items crammed into the game if it meant not having a customization option.

Plus, would it really take minimal effort as you say? It looks like Blizzard is going full out with just about everything. It's not like them to throw in a new option unless it is very elaborate and fills up memory space. I don't know much about computer limitations though, so I'm not sure about this.

I think I would not mind the option to customize chrs, but some people are very much into the background specifics, lore, and historical cultural aspects of the game. These fans would protest if the chrs they studied were altered.

Lastly, it is simple tradition. It was not in D1 or D2. Simplicity was always part of the games from Day 1. In Diablo 1 there was the Dungeon and the Town, nothing else. They cut straight to the chase and developed the core components of a fun RPG. Also, in Baulder's Gate you could customize mid game, but it implies your chr is using hair dye and tanning methods that are too modern for the time frame of the gameworld. Just having the option sort of killed the atmosphere imo. So that leaves only having the option during chr creation. But from D2, there were great trends in making and remaking chrs as fast as possible. I figgure they want to keep this trend going and the option to customize just boggles down this process in the designers view.

[Rcuhljr]

I like the concept of picking a character, not just picking a class and making it look like whatever.

[CarsV]

I like the concept of picking a character, not just picking a class and making it look like whatever.

I like the concept of individuality and freedom of choice.

For the love of god, practically every other game out there has character customization, but Diablo 3 won't? Are the developers too lazy or something?

[Felix]

I'm glad this is a game and just that. Getting real tired of these people who want a little world to play house in every time. I mean outrageous even?? Lol get a grip please, its a game.

[CarsV]

I'm glad this is a game and just that. Getting real tired of these people who want a little world to play house in every time. I mean outrageous even?? Lol get a grip please, its a game.

Is your post suppose to be remotely significant and contributing?

It's about immersion. That is one of the most significant facets of a game, is it not? But you're right, lets all just settle for the bare minimum. :rolleyes:

[Arioch]

I don't think there's any question that character customization would be nice to have. I'm just not sure in this case I'd put it on a list ahead of a more valuable feature.

[theseus]

To be honest for me personally Character Customization doesn't interest me much, I didn't miss it in D1 and D2 and won't be worried about it in D3.

I play Warcraft and love customizing my characters in that, but Diablo for me is less about the character and more about the loot and gameplay.

[HRP]

Shrug.

I'm happy with just being able to choose whether my character is male or female.

[sneakytails]

I agree with CarsV.

If my only female melee choice is the barb then I would rather have her look like anya or a amazon rather than a ashera on steriods thank you very much.

Customization would help me with this problem.

*Unless Blizz brings back the zon with my beloved spear tree*

and Lastly, people who have been playing a game off and on for over 5 years (like me) tend to get a little immersed in it.

[Kiroptus]

I like the idea of picking a character and to have it well defined as one instead of class. The games which offered customization usually are MMOs or games with important moral choices in the course of the story, like Kotor and Mass Effect.

In Diablo you arent really THE character, you control him, but he is one. In the gameplay video once you talked to Cain, the barbarian was talking. He was doing the talking, not you. He has his personality and you have no control of it. So why bother altering him? Why having 1000 variations of the same character with the exact same personality?


I much rather prefer few customization options and a well-defined and charismatic character to play with one with a 1000 variations but no real definition. For example: Team Fortress 2 gave every class a very distinct and well-defined characteristics and it was flawless. Now lets imagine that TF2 was an ARPG and gave you custom options for every character, would it be the same? I doubt. The look of the characters create an charisma of "familiar face". The talented artwork artists created many sketches and concepts arts for all the classes just to have someone go an change them into something else.


Now you would say: But why not have both? Personalities and Custom Visuals? The problem is that it takes out the familiarity of the character. Its not the Diablo 3 barb anymore, its the generic, variation 391, of the barbarian class. See what I mean? Hell... I even think that it was too much too add the gender change but I am fine with that.

[sneakytails]

First of all why choose your characters name yourself when according to you they are just a certain "class" of character and thats the way they are. Just make all barbarians named barbarian in that case then., choosing your own characters name, that in and of itself is a step towards customization.

And lastly I find it hard to believe that every barbarian in sanctuary looks the same or acts the same.

If a modern graphics engine can only deliver clone wars then somebody really missed the point.

Im not saying make every flap and freakin strap customizable. Im just saying that not every friggen female barb should look like the same dang body builder type. I dont want that. So dont force it upon me, especially if your taking away my zon.

[SmittySixTen]

The way I see it, this is the type of thing that you either go all out on, or keep incredibly simple. In the grander scheme of things, it really doesn't matter at all. Is it a nice feature? Yes, but that's all it is, a feature. At the end of the day it does not change how the game plays, and that's all I give a damn about.

[Kiroptus]

First of all why choose your characters name yourself when according to you they are just a certain "class" of character and thats the way they are. Just make all barbarians named barbarian in that case then., choosing your own characters name, that in and of itself is a step towards customization.

And lastly I find it hard to believe that every barbarian in sanctuary looks the same or acts the same.

If a modern graphics engine can only deliver clone wars then somebody really missed the point.

Im not saying make every flap and freakin strap customizable. Im just saying that not every friggen female barb should look like the same dang body builder type. I dont want that. So dont force it upon me, especially if your taking away my zon.

Every barb will look the same because they are all the same character. You can name the character as you wish to add your "signature" to it but the character has a set role in the story which is linear. If there is a game with 8 barbs, they are all the same character, all that varies is how you pick the skills and deal with the action.

And no, its not unrealistic, its a game. If you want to "role-play" you should always join a game with all diferent classes or not play Diablo at all because its RPG elements are limited to items and skills. Because even if there were custom options it would still be unrealistic because every character would have the exact same speech when a conversation is initiated.

So either way its always "clone wars", giving too much custom options just take out the familiarity that the character artwork evokes.

[sneakytails]

Read one of the diablo novel series. How many barbs or characters look the same? act the same? speak the same?

None.

clones are not part of the world of sanctuary.

And frankly. With the way the devs are talking about a unique game play experience every time you play I think "Familiarity" just went out the window.

so why allow it in our characters.

any linear thinking is not progressing the game.

[Kiroptus]

I am quite sure they also had diferent personalities, so their conversation should be diferent as well right? Why would they all use the same words that every barbarian in the game world does on each diferent NPC?

And how has familiarity thrown out of the window? The barb is the EXACT same barbarian of D2, just older because of the 20-years hiatus.

[stillman]

Sneakytails, I don't think you know the full implications of what you're demanding. The Witchdoctor comes from a tribe with a specific culture. You can't just say "But I want his feathers to be pink. I want him to be from the tribe with the pink birds." There is no tribe with pink birds, the feathers mean something vital to the character, and it would be blasphemous for him to alter it. Same with the barb. His scars on his chest, his white hair, his dark eyes...it all means something, and it is all there for a good reason. He's not supposed to be prince charming with baby blue eyes.

And I repeat, it's Blizzard's baby, not ours. They don't want us to tinker with their character designs.

Just becasue every other RPG has customization doesn't mean it's right for Diablo. D3 is very special. D3 is set apart from the others. Maybe newer RPG's will look up to D3 and abandon customization.

[sneakytails]

I would be happy with a few body types and varied armor designs. Some simple choices in hairstyle and perhaps skins color, although I could live without the skin color.

I really don't think thats too much to ask considering how much time we have left before release.

Also stop taking the concept art for the final barb/character designs. Anya was a female barb and she looked nothing like the female barb concept which I really dont like.

These small things would add to a greater depth for the game world of sancutary as reflected in the novels. This is simple and do-able and only increases the fun factor.

Im not talking about huge changes here. Only more choices that still stay true to the lore and allow for more variety.

[Rcuhljr]

There's already varied armor designs... Just voicing my opinion that having played rpgs with customization, and plenty without, I've never once felt the loss. Hell WoW has customization and I couldn't even tell you what my tauren looks like under his armor. I was fine with no custimization in planescape, fallout, GTA series, I'll be fine in D3 without playing pretty pretty princess with my character. The meat of the diablo series has always been the gameplay, not making yourself in a virtual world, I could go play sims if that's what I wanted.

[sneakytails]

This game is very old. Since the last release the world of sanctuary has grown and expanded. Whether through novels or the fans themselves it has. Get over it.

Your making it sound like I want a 2.5 hour design session before your first character hits the dirt, and thats not what I want.

A few simple choices. Big deal. 15-30 seconds max. That doesn't hurt your play time (because you should be able to skip this step if you want) and only increases the enjoyment of mine.

You want characters that are exactly the same to play in a world that is different every time you play?

[Rcuhljr]

Giving my character a ponytail that I'm not going to see after 10 minutes into the game doesn't make my character any different, his skills on the other hand will. Customization means slower load times, more bandwidth wasted in multiplayer games and more memory/processor wasted on fluff instead of flying bodies under my warmaul.

[sneakytails]

Customization should be a option. Don't like it skip it. Hows that sound?

This game wont be released for a year. Computers will grow in power like they do every year. I am pretty sure they can handle this under a custom graphics engine.

[Rcuhljr]

Customization means slower load times, more bandwidth wasted in multiplayer games and more memory/processor wasted on fluff

Just in case you missed it, "Computers will be faster!!!" is not a valid refutation of my point. Now if you want to argue that multiplayer performance should suffer so you can have a skinny barbarian, go for it.

[Joshisapoolie]

Personally I think the balance they had with regards to item classes and their appearance was spot on in D2.

I think by having countless variations of armour/helms/weapons/shields it would be too easy to identify which items they were using, especially if it had a very unique appearance and you might be able to gain some kind of advantage in PvP . I mean imagine if you were able to work out every item your opponent was wearing just from the way they looked, you'd be able to have a rough idea of their defense/resists/attack speed. Obviously there were several examples of this in D2 (especially with full sets, like the glow that Tals/Ik/Mavs gave) but for the most part, it still retained the mystery of whether your opponent was wearing venom ward breast plate, or enigma...unless they suddenly vanished :wink:

[Thyiad]

I would like to see the differences in the appearance of armour (as D2 does), but I am no interest in spending hours changing the colour of my characters' skin, eyes or hair or hair style. I've played games that allow it (WoW and HGL) and frankly, I don't care.

I want a solid role playing experience and if I can role play a 300lb Barb, I can role play a top heavy zon (or whatever).

To add the amount of animation required to tailor each piece of armour (which they've confirmed is going to have a range of appearances) to each personalized characters' body shape/hair style etc, is (to me) unnecessary complication.

What is technically possible is one thing, whether it is worthwhile, is another. In my opinion, it isn't.

[CarsV]

I see a lot of this mentality on D3 discussion boards: 'If it's change, then it ain't Diablo'. To me that's scary.

Personally, I'd like to see some innovation. D1-->D2 did it. The more I read and see regarding D3 the more I feel we're just getting Diablo 2 with upgraded graphics and packaged in a box that says 'Diablo 3'.

One of the changes I was hoping to see was how classes are designed and the character customization. For god's sake, if I'm #22 on the barb ladder, who cares? Every other barb looks like mine; aged features, beer belly, same height, hair color, similar spongy armor, blah blah. I'd like people to see my Barbarian and recognize him as the Barbarian Rock_Lobstah, not just another barb or another berserker barb.

The Diablo games like to call themselves RPG/action adventure games. I have to ask... What's so 'RPG' about them? At least give me the freedom of choice to play a character that looks how I want them to look, so I can feel like I'm playing a unique barbarian instead of a clone.



Sneakytails, I don't think you know the full implications of what you're demanding. The Witchdoctor comes from a tribe with a specific culture. You can't just say "But I want his feathers to be pink. I want him to be from the tribe with the pink birds." There is no tribe with pink birds, the feathers mean something vital to the character, and it would be blasphemous for him to alter it. Same with the barb. His scars on his chest, his white hair, his dark eyes...it all means something, and it is all there for a good reason. He's not supposed to be prince charming with baby blue eyes.

And I repeat, it's Blizzard's baby, not ours. They don't want us to tinker with their character designs.

Just becasue every other RPG has customization doesn't mean it's right for Diablo. D3 is very special. D3 is set apart from the others. Maybe newer RPG's will look up to D3 and abandon customization.

You do know black/African people, aka the Witch Doctor, come with different complextions, right? And you're using extremes to make a point, which is silly. "Pink birds."

Frankly, skin color is the shallowest of human/character characteristics. The option to alter one's hair, body paint, height, etc., speaks more. If a mind-numbing game like Dungeon Siege can do it, why can't Diablo 3?

And I repeat, it's Blizzard's baby, not ours. They don't want us to tinker with their character designs.

Yes, lets swallow whatever the artist conjures, how dare we critique their work. I guess I have no say, despite the fact I paid 50$. My 'share' has no value.

[Rcuhljr]

I'd like people to see my Barbarian and recognize him as the Barbarian Rock_Lobstah, not just another barb or another berserker barb.

Not gonna happen. at most their customization will have say 4 areas that are actually distinguishable after armor, say 5 amazing options for each, There's still gonna be 300+ people running around on BNET who look exactly the same as you, not even counting people making more then one character. If you want to look different, don't wear cookie cutter gear?

You want to know what will really make people look at your character and go "That's Rock_lobstah!" is? It's the freaking name plate under your character that says "Rock_Lobstah" anything else is a flight of fancy in your brain.

[CarsV]

Not gonna happen. at most their customization will have say 4 areas that are actually distinguishable after armor, say 5 amazing options for each, There's still gonna be 300+ people running around on BNET who look exactly the same as you, not even counting people making more then one character. If you want to look different, don't wear cookie cutter gear?

You want to know what will really make people look at your character and go "That's Rock_lobstah!" is? It's the freaking name plate under your character that says "Rock_Lobstah" anything else is a flight of fancy in your brain.

I go to a car dealer. I want a sporty car, but all they have are blue, green, and red mustangs. So I have to settle with a blue mustang. I can nickname it 'Rock_Lobstah', 'Cherry-Tits', 'Sex_Machine', or whatever my brain fancies, but in the end it's still just another blue mustang, one of thousands alike on the road.

In Diablo we play CHARACTERS, not mass-produced vehicles. What's so characteristic about one's character if they all look the same?

Posted by StreetShark in another topic:

Like the topic states, I hope Blizzard really plays D2 and comes to realize they need many more options for high level sets and rare/unique weapons. The problem in D2 became the fact that everyone was wearing one or two sets(outside of PVP players who fashioned their own builds). As seen in game, everyone started to look the same. At the beginning of the game things were allright, everyone wanted frostburn gloves or tarnhelm, but eventually everyone started wearing the same armor and it got rediculous. Couldn't they create numerous very nice items/sets that were both rare and visually appealing? I hope they fix this issue in D3. They need to get out of this whole Tier1/Tier2 that I hope they don't bring from WoW into D3.

Not only could they improve the item variation, but also the character variation. Is that really, really too much to ask for? Is it stepping on your local church? Because as far a I see, those who desire it have something to gain while those who don't care lose nothing. If you don't care, then use the default options, I'm sure that'll take hours to click when creating a new character /sarcasm.

[ItAllGoesWhite]

I would like to see the differences in the appearance of armour (as D2 does), but I am no interest in spending hours changing the colour of my characters' skin, eyes or hair or hair style. I've played games that allow it (WoW and HGL) and frankly, I don't care.

I want a solid role playing experience and if I can role play a 300lb Barb, I can role play a top heavy zon (or whatever).

To add the amount of animation required to tailor each piece of armour (which they've confirmed is going to have a range of appearances) to each personalized characters' body shape/hair style etc, is (to me) unnecessary complication.

What is technically possible is one thing, whether it is worthwhile, is another. In my opinion, it isn't.


Alright, this jumped out at me the most—though I could’ve picked any number of replies to respond to.

First of all, the most basic customization options (skin color, hair color, eye color) are mere color swaps, and would take a minute amount of time to implement. I don't think the developers would need to include different equipment animations for any of the basics.


Secondly, if you're worried about the character customization taking hours (come on), blizzard could include a default option for you and others like you. Problem solved.


To respond to the argument about playing as pre-defined characters due to speech in-game and background mythos...

As mentioned elsewhere, the fact that we are allowed to name our characters proves they are unique in some fashion. I don't think allowing color swaps would ruin the game. Also, I don't think it would be too much to ask for blizzard to create several different voice sets for each class/gender. The protagonist isn’t exactly John Galt. The spoken dialogue (at least from the protagonist) is a small collection of one-liners.

In closing, can anyone arguing against the option of character customization provide a reason why including it would detract from your personal enjoyment of the game?

[Thyiad]

Not just colours. If you look at some of the customizable (is that even a word?) characters in other games you are looking at body shapes, facial shapes etc and if you have to wrap armour around that I can see it taking a lot of effort on Blizzard's part.

Whether it would detract from my enjoyment is to be seen when the game comes out.

Frankly, I doubt the discussion makes much difference. Blizzard obviously have (at least) two characters well-defined. People yelling they want/don't want a certain change that is this fundamental to the game, isn't going to make a difference in my opinion.

Whether there is a hardcore mode - or even the financial model, perhaps - I can see that being 'swayable' (and that may not be a word either).

[stillman]

Yes.

It is indeed steping on the local church. Literally. Since my "pink birds" idea was thought to be too extreme, I'll go with the war paint this time. War paint can't just be whatever color you want it to be. It must be the war paint that the whole tribe uses. You can't just alter the culture and religion of the entire tribe. It sounds nerdy, but people go outside of the game and look up all the background components of the characters they love. For example, I go onto areat summit and read all the fancy descriptions of spells, where the magic comes from, what gods are involved and so forth. It really would hurt my playing experience if there were cool dude witch doctors running around with neon green warpaint when I had just read (hypothetically) about the life and death seriousness of battle preparation rituals, the meaning of warpaint colors, the gods/spirits who don those same colors, etc.
I just don't trust other players to make these big gameworld style decisions. There are too many young punks out there who would want to have radical appearances and it would make the game look silly, imo.

[PullTheTricker]

Every traditional RPG has character customization. I'm surprised they didn't follow this tradition by today's standards.

You won't really be able to see your characters face that well. The game's camera perspective is still isometric, and not free view mode like an Elder Scrolls rpg.

I think thats the reason for it.

[sneakytails]

War paint can't just be whatever color you want it to be. It must be the war paint that the whole tribe uses. You can't just alter the culture and religion of the entire tribe.

Thats why there could be war paint choices that blizz would come up with that FIT THE LORE OF THE CHARACTER. Im not entirely sure why you think every barb has to be a clone to be legit. Any Anthropologist would tell you that culture itself is a very diverse and fluid thing. Not a cookie cutter formula. Even if a barb tribe did paint their faces the same there will still be slight differences in each one right on down to how they wear their sword scabbards across their back.

all of this is entirely do-able and would not effect your gameplay experience if you choose not to make any custom choices.

Myself and others like me have been playing this game for 5 years or longer. I have never strayed to another game during this time. After playing this long I really notice things more, like every scorpion I step on in act two. If D3 is a good game and I like it I will most likely play that one for years. A little more variety sure would add to my enjoyment and others over this time.

The bottom line is that a more diverse looking world including the characters fits with the unique and changing gameplay that blizz wants to give us. clones dont cut it.