Another Difficulty?

[Fleshvirus]

We already have three. Why not making things completely impossible this time? Hell was never impossible but it sure gave you loads of pressure.

But easily could overpowered morons go through with ease and no challange got in their way.

Difficulty name: Abyss.
All monsters are now mini bosses and have twice as much health as a boss.
All bosses are now in Uber forms.
Your health allways drains by 20-
Your Mana never regenerates.
Drop rate is decreased but You are able to get stuff that you cant achieve in Hell mode.
All Resistances are decreased by 250%

You will not Respawn when dying. But you can rejoin the game or get revived by fellow players.

Players Movement is now decreased by 20%
You have Unlimited Stamina.

By making this mode. It will force people into making groups to actually win.
Maybe by excluding it from SP would sum up the morality.

[Grawner]

then it would make the game exclusively a party game, and i would like to do the quests alone as well.. so no, i dont support that idea at all.

[sicilian]

Even a group wouldn't really matter if you lowered the resistances by 250%! Two words: Burning Souls.

[Chase]

Its a little over the top, but aside from that...

It mandates grouping which isn't something Blizzard wants to force on the people who prefer SP.

[Omikron8]

no because this is what will happen

1) put a new difficulty where grouping is forced
2) put the best items in this new difficulty
3) a few that are masochistic enough with enough lame friends (those who play games 8+ hours a DAY) will find these best items
4) these players will then obliterate everyone in pvp ("skill" has never mattered in diablo) and not party with anyone in pve that isn't as "elite" as them

you know what i just summarized ? the gameplay of every MMO out there

[Sein Schatten]

no because this is what will happen

1) put a new difficulty where grouping is forced
2) put the best items in this new difficulty
3) a few that are masochistic enough with enough lame friends (those who play games 8+ hours a DAY) will find these best items
4) these players will then obliterate everyone in pvp ("skill" has never mattered in diablo) and not party with anyone in pve that isn't as "elite" as them

you know what i just summarized ? the gameplay of every MMO out there

But not WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!! (I hope.)
But essentially you are correct. Hell will be tough enough, I guess. Or at least should provide some challenge. We will see. IMO, too many difficulty levels are overkill. IIRC, Sacred had 4 or 5? That's too much.

[stillman]

I'm all for 4 or even 5 difficulties. But some of the OP's suggestions are unacceptable. Mana regen is a mod which should not become useless.

[Sein Schatten]

3 is a nice balance, 4 is okay but 5 is too much. But that is just imo. :)

[Raynor]

If it's impossible, who's going to play it if they can't beat it (even with a party, oh my god it would probably still be impossible).

[phool]

Any further increase in difficulty should be primarily by increasing SU density and boosting movement speed and AI while reducsing freeze cold stun and curse duration, not just taking all the numbers like defense ar damage health and increasing them by a factor. Adding new skills to enemies would also be good, e.g. fallen shamans get lower resistance fallens get frenzy etc. Perhaps quite a few enemies that summon rapidly or slowly cast very powerful skills that require interruption. More powerful items aren't needed or there'd basically be no point in adding another difficulty, just an improvement to elite and exceptional drop frequency and xp.

In a game impacted by skill as little as Diablo though there's really not much point. Teamwork is the way forward in terms of making harder areas that aren't just more of the same but that doesn't really work for D2, it would just estabilish a few new cookie-cutters. Diablo can't be made hard in any rewarding way without some key gameplay changes.

[WzWz]

Bad .

[Sein Schatten]

Any further increase in difficulty should be primarily by increasing SU density and boosting movement speed and AI

I would rather like them to add new skills to the mobs.
Example: Instead of Fallens only revive dead and throwing fireballs, they get a new skill that enrages other fallen and letting them do more melee damage. That would be cool and not just increase dmg/hp. Boooooring.

[Omikron8]

why is everyone suggesting enhancements to monster melee damage ? you know that diablo 2 has always been lopsided in the favor of ranged attacks (physical or ranged) because the aggro of summons/mercs is huge right ?

try out titan quest as a ranged summoning character against a hard hitting melee pack, most monsters in that game move extremly fast compared to those in diablo 2 and almost all of the pets in that game give NO aggro at all

in that game you can let a pet beat on a monster for a minute, as soon as you take a few shots with spells or your staff or your bow they will swarm you right away

people who constantly recommend these increases across the board for monster damage would quickly change their mind if their mercs and summons were invisible in terms of aggro to the enemy

[konfeta]

Because Diablo 3 will totally have the same aggro mechanics or same ranged vs. melee balance, amirite?

[5zigen]

I would support an extra difficulty setting, but I would rather have a challenge that doesnt increase your characters power. In hell mode, you're on your way and you generally gain around what, 15 - 20 levels, and a whole lot of new items to increase your characters power.

I would like to see another difficulty that's meant ONLY for high level characters with good gear *(not necessarily duped gear, as I never used a single duped rune or duped runewords, in fact the only high end runeword I ever ended up with was hoto, which I got all of the runes from hellforge runes).

The difficulty basically would drop the same gear as hell difficulty (potentially with lower chance of dropping normal / nightmare gear) and have enemies which have significantly more health, are more agressive, and do not stop pursuit ever.

That's just what I'd like to see, I'd be perfectly happy if they did that with the current 3 modes, and made the character progression arc essentially top out at the end of NM and then have hell be the real challenge for high end characters. I realize the untwinked players / players who hate running things more than once would be extremely opposed to this suggestion, and I understand why.

Because Diablo 3 will totally have the same aggro mechanics or same ranged vs. melee balance, amirite?

Well I doubt there will be a "mmo Aggro" system because that's just not diablo and there's no holy trinity representation in diablo games.

However I agree there wont be the same imbalance of melee vs. ranged.

[Omikron8]

Because Diablo 3 will totally have the same aggro mechanics or same ranged vs. melee balance, amirite?

if it will get ready to see 95% caster builds in pub games

[Sein Schatten]

try out titan quest as a ranged summoning character against a hard hitting melee pack, most monsters in that game move extremly fast compared to those in diablo 2 and almost all of the pets in that game give NO aggro at all

Lich/Earth elemental build. I could breeze through the game. :D

[visom]

I think that's a bit too much lol.

In "abyss" mode, this is what I think is more like it:

-You lose more resistance than you do in hell (don't remember exact amount)
-All monsters are pretty much minibosses (but doesn't guarantee a drop in magica/rare/set/unique items or else farming would be too easy in abyss mode)
-items are more expensive
-bosses has a greater chance of dropping rare items than in hell mode, and also drops multiple runes (mostly crap to decent runes, sometimes good ones) and also drops loads of lower grade gems

anyways i'd love a 4th difficulty, seeing as in hell (current toughest besides hardcore) you get all your good items but you never get a chance of properly use them (by the time you get those godly items the game is too easy to enjoy them) in the 4th difficulty the godly items won't be good enough to easily beat monsters but can stand a fair chance. If this was implemented I'd get loads of fun and challenge with my enigma/fort/botd and more

[Onehouse]

We already have three. Why not making things completely impossible this time? Hell was never impossible but it sure gave you loads of pressure.

But easily could overpowered morons go through with ease and no challange got in their way.

Difficulty name: Abyss.
All monsters are now mini bosses and have twice as much health as a boss.
All bosses are now in Uber forms.
Your health allways drains by 20-
Your Mana never regenerates.
Drop rate is decreased but You are able to get stuff that you cant achieve in Hell mode.
All Resistances are decreased by 250%

You will not Respawn when dying. But you can rejoin the game or get revived by fellow players.

Players Movement is now decreased by 20%
You have Unlimited Stamina.

By making this mode. It will force people into making groups to actually win.
Maybe by excluding it from SP would sum up the morality.

I often wished for an Ironman setting when creating a character as an alternative to Hardcore. If you don't know what Ironman is, google is your friend.

[Xeteh]

I often wished for an Ironman setting when creating a character as an alternative to Hardcore. If you don't know what Ironman is, google is your friend.

I used to love playing Ironman games back when I actually played D2 online. Fun stuff.

[Lockinvar]

I would support an extra level of difficulty (or two) as long as (pretty much) the only reason to play it was the prestige of that extra title. Difficulty should go right through the roof and the benefits should be close to nothing. If there are actual benefits to playing an insane difficulty (rather than 'hell' as we know it) it will strongly limit your viable build options for what will then be perceived as the new 'end game'. I guess what I'm trying to say is that additional difficulties should just be for the challenge/fun, and shouldn't be the 'end game'.

And I love that Ironman character creation option idea :)

[Apocalypse]

i like the way diablo is set up already with 3 dif levels but i would be ok with a 4th assuming it had

1. no extra drops. everything that can be found here can also be found in hell
2. not a requirement for anything else that can be done in the game. dont force people to do it
3. the ideas of the op are far too much. constant hp drain in a game with limit potions?

[Xitium]

There already is a fourth difficulty mode.

Its called hardcore. You should try it sometime. :evil2:

[Omikron8]

take out lag and TPPK and we'll gladly try it

[Grogtank]

It would be really interesting to hear some of the new ideas Blizzard is tossing around for end game. I honestly feel 3 difficulty levels is fine.

I think more encounters such as ubers or dclone would be great, although selling soj's to spawn dclone is extreme for legit players. The encounters need to be somewhat accessible.

[Xitium]

take out lag and TPPK and we'll gladly try it

Lag, I agree it sucks.

Having to S&Q the moment a long spike occurs just to make sure to live through the moment is horrible.

As for TPPK's, you could play only private with trusted friends. I am pretty paranoid of TPPK's, so I never pub.

[Omikron8]

Lag, I agree it sucks.

Having to S&Q the moment a long spike occurs just to make sure to live through the moment is horrible.

As for TPPK's, you could play only private with trusted friends. I am pretty paranoid of TPPK's, so I never pub.

if i was forced to never pub i would play SP instead

[MooCQ]

How about the last difficulty = hardcore, no turning back once you get there.. muahahah

[Lockinvar]

if i was forced to never pub i would play SP instead

Since I love hardcore, but can't stand the constant TPPK morons on the realms, that's exactly what I'm forced to do unfortunately.

[Ghoulz]

Even a group wouldn't really matter if you lowered the resistances by 250%! Two words: Burning Souls.

*coughimpossiblecough*

[5zigen]

Since I love hardcore, but can't stand the constant TPPK morons on the realms, that's exactly what I'm forced to do unfortunately.

You realize you could still play in PW protected games online that way you could still interact with your friends. Not that you couldn't I guess.

But of course SP gives you char save files, mods, and /players 8 or 7 or 6 or whatever.

And HC isn't another difficulty, the game was 'alright' difficultywise when you were starting hell difficulty. Once you got a set of hell gear it was pretty much easy though.

[Omikron8]

show me this gear that will save you from lag spikes, because 50% DR + 4000 life + max block + max res isn't going to do it

[hankhenry]

When you force players into a party for good items, it sounds a bit like WoW

[Onehouse]

When you force players into a party for good items, it sounds a bit like WoW

Single player will be there...

[Omikron8]

if diablo 2 battle.net forced you into grouping for the best items it wouldn't still have 50k+ users online 8 years later

[Spero]

I think there should be a single difficulty and the game should just get harder as you progress through it.

It's boring enough playing through the same stuff 3 times to get to the end. I don't want to play through 4 times!

What are you nuts!

JK man, but you know what I mean? Blizz if possible should invest the development time so that when you play through to the end you are playing through everything.

I also agree that forcing parties is not the way. I like to get up early and play for a few minutes and MF solo. That's some of the best parts of the game.

If you love parties play in them, though. :-)