Saving and you.

[Brynjolfr]

What save-system would you like to see in DIII? The old "Save and Exit" one, or the "Save game/Load game" one. I personally think that the "Save game/Load game" one would be the best, since the "Save and Exit" one in DII really annoys me!

[Gamekk]

I assume you didn't play Diablo online a lot...

The save/load game option was in old game until developppers realised that everybody used the option save/load to abuse [just save before a boss, load if you die].

This makes the game much more easier and much less interesting. No thanks.

[Orphan]

I too would prefer the save and exit method of D2 to remain. The game is alot better starting in town each time, which means if you want to accomplish something (such as a certain quest) then you needed to complete it in one sitting. With waypoints and such then there were always "checkpoints" as you went through the game anyway.

[Apocalypse]

need to agree with the above 2, D2 save and exit is best

[Troglodyte]

I'm voting for the save and exit as well. The "Save game/Load game" has too many possible abuse situations, not just with dying but also item finding and anything else that is left to chance.

[mouseman]

Also save before boss/load if crap drops. You could really speed up your item hunt with that one, if the drops weren't pre-calculated at the time the level is created.

[Brynjolfr]

What about "Save game/Load game" in singleplayer only (I won't be playing multiplayer anyway)? I like being able to save before bosses and such.

[Apocalypse]

What about "Save game/Load game" in singleplayer only (I won't be playing multiplayer anyway)? I like being able to save before bosses and such.

as far as i am concerned they can do anything they want with single player lol

[Brynjolfr]

as far as i am concerned they can do anything they want with single player lol

That's what I feel for multiplayer :P
If I want to play with others online, I simply play LotRO or WoW.



I assume you didn't play Diablo online a lot...

Good guess! To be honest, I've never played it online. I've never been interested in trying it either. I think people should leave online-gaming to the MMORPGs, and let singleplayer-games remain singleplayer-games!

[Approon]

even if its a single player game, quicksave and quickload is only there for abuse, I really hate when games and quicksave/load because everything like chance, skill, luck have no impact at all because you can just load and try again, until you complete the task.

Then gaming just becomes a chore of pressing F5 F8 (save / load)

my oppinion, and yes i will be really mad if they make singleplayer into a save button mashing

[stillman]

Remember, there would be people who save their HC game when surrounded by monsters so that they die no matter what. One time I saved a Wolfenstien game with a bullet in the air.

[Divisionary]

I am used to the Save/Load system, it's standard to all games. The Diablo II system always made me feel as if I was rushed to reach a certain point, and it led to the abuse of the Save and Exit option.

[AkumaSlayer]

Save and Exit. :) As stated, it can't really be abused that way.

[redrach]

I vote for Save and Exit, with a further stipulation that it takes 5 seconds or so for you to exit the game. No more exits just before you die ;)
As for single-player, just do what I do with D2 - Backup your D2 save folder every other session. It doesn't take more than a minute to copy and rename it, and you can save all your characters that way.

[Divisionary]

Ctrl+Alt+Del works fine for Single Player, although I feel it breaks the game somewhat.

I also leave the game open when I stop playing to save my progress. Unfortunately, this is not possible in Multiplayer.

[GoldenBird]

as far as i am concerned they can do anything they want with single player lol

Lol, agreed

[Brynjolfr]

I am used to the Save/Load system, it's standard to all games.

Couldn't agree more!


The Diablo II system always made me feel as if I was rushed to reach a certain point

One of the best arguments against "save/exit"! You've earned a jig --> :jig:

[Kaysaar]

I prefer the 'save and exit' method of saving because it's adds a sliver of realism and permanence to a player's actions. Even in a soft core game I'm more careful than I would be with save/load because there are repercussions. Having a character killed with save/load is no big deal because you can simply go back and try again. No repercussions = no sense of urgency or care.

As far as potential save/load abuse, I don't particularly care what other people do on their computer, as long as they keep it out of the SPF trade pool.

[Divisionary]

@Kaysaar
I believe we are talking about two different variations of the same system.

I am talking about the following system:
You can save your progress at any time and leave the game at that time. When you load, you are back to the same spot on the map where you have been where you saved. If you leave or if you die, it saves you as well.

This system cannot be abused, while the save&exit system permits people to leave in the middle of the game if they are in danger, because upon loading they do not return to the saved location.

[Keighvin]

So you want an auto-save feature that will override any previously made saves the player has made, to prevent reloading to undo a death?

[Divisionary]

You have only one save. You cannot go back from it. You may choose to save your progress and not leave the game, but you cannot load back to that progress without leaving the game, where leaving the game will auto-save you.

Two reasons:
a) Sometimes bad things happen. Crashes, power outage, battle.net bug, realm down, etc. You found a godly item, but suddenly there is a huge lag spike... you get kicked out... you return some time later, and your item is not there, you have a whole strip less of experience, and it seems that the past 2 hours of play did not count at all: they were not saved. Of course, battle.net cannot save the character every second. So, what I want to be able to do is if I find a godly item, or kill a godly monster, I want to save that. Myself.
b) Locations. Sometimes respawn is good. Sometimes not really. If I went from Stony Field to Dark Wood, and did not find the Dark Wood waypoint, but I got called to rapidly go somewhere and had to quit my game, I'll have to start over from Stony Field and go to Underground passage, then to Dark Wood. Not particularly exciting.

The issue I see with this, though, is monster respawn. Perhaps if you come back to town you can regenerate the game by some function. Or, maybe, just making a new game on battle.net.

[theBanger]

I like old school games, where there were checkpoints, and lives, and 1Ups and stuff.

You had to reach the check point if you wanted to save your game, otherwise if you died before that, you'd have to start again from the checkpoint. And you'd have X amount of Lives till your kicked back to the beginning.

From what it sounds like, town won't be as easy as a tp away. And if this stays, I hope they make it so that leaving the game resets you to the start of the level or a checkpoint, and not just right to town. This way Hardcore players can't just jump back to town when they leave the game.

One idea would be that if there are say 5 checkpoints in the level, and your on the third, then if you left the game you would start back at the second. If you left again you would start at the first, and if you left again, or any times after that you would start back the the start of the level. Unless you get to a higher checkpoint, then you would start from one under that...

[Troglodyte]

@Kaysaar
I am talking about the following system:
You can save your progress at any time and leave the game at that time. When you load, you are back to the same spot on the map where you have been where you saved. If you leave or if you die, it saves you as well.

This system cannot be abused, while the save&exit system permits people to leave in the middle of the game if they are in danger, because upon loading they do not return to the saved location.

I still feel this can be abused somewhat, assuming I understood this correctly. What would be in place to stop a save before a boss (Pindle) or act boss (Meph), followed by a quick kill and ALT+F4 if the drops are bad? Triggering an auto-save when killing act bosses might fix part of the problem, but it might not be feasible to do the same with each random/unique boss. Of course all this can be fixed by implementing an auto-save whenever the game is closed, regardless of how it was closed.

I like the idea of the player being able to trigger a save anytime they want.


b) Locations. Sometimes respawn is good. Sometimes not really. If I went from Stony Field to Dark Wood, and did not find the Dark Wood waypoint, but I got called to rapidly go somewhere and had to quit my game, I'll have to start over from Stony Field and go to Underground passage, then to Dark Wood. Not particularly exciting.

Unfortunately this tends to be the case with pretty much any games. Whether it's a sports, racing, fighter or (especially) RPG, if the player is called to rapidly go somewhere they're going to lose progress.

[Divisionary]

I still feel this can be abused somewhat, assuming I understood this correctly. What would be in place to stop a save before a boss (Pindle) or act boss (Meph), followed by a quick kill and ALT+F4 if the drops are bad?I believe battle.net records the game due to an Alt+F4, because it's technically leaving.

I said: "If you leave or if you die, it saves you as well."


Unfortunately this tends to be the case with pretty much any games. Whether it's a sports, racing, fighter or (especially) RPG, if the player is called to rapidly go somewhere they're going to lose progress.Diablo III does not need to be one of them. It's more of a forced restriction than anything. Racing and other games come in stages, you finish a stage before anything is decided. Diablo, on the other hand, is a continual game. Witcher, NWN, BG, and other continual games do not auto-save, they use the old save/load system. Diablo II is more of an oddity here.

[Orphan]

You have only one save. You cannot go back from it. You may choose to save your progress and not leave the game, but you cannot load back to that progress without leaving the game, where leaving the game will auto-save you.

This method wouldn't be much of a change from the current system, except you're hoping to be able to force a save without exiting, which might be a useful addition. Currently D2 saves in the following manner (http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?articleId=20769):


When does Diablo II save?

- Your character is autosaved every five minutes.
- Your character is also saved any time any player leaves the game, as well as when you quit the game.
- Your character is saved if you are disconnected from your Internet connection, and it is also saved if your system crashes mid-game.


I believe battle.net records the game due to an Alt+F4, because it's technically leaving.

I said: "If you leave or if you die, it saves you as well."

That is the original intent, but it's not perfect. As linked above the game is supposed to save your character upon disconnection but that doesn't always happen. As a result, unless some changes were done I don't think it would happen 100% later too.

Also, it might be feasible on battle.net but not necessarily single player. If you alt+tab and end the game.exe process then how can the game run the "save on exit" function? On the battle.net servers that might be possible because the bnet servers would eventually drop you out of the game whereby it could possibly do it's maintenance then.



Diablo III does not need to be one of them. It's more of a forced restriction than anything. Racing and other games come in stages, you finish a stage before anything is decided. Diablo, on the other hand, is a continual game. Witcher, NWN, BG, and other continual games do not auto-save, they use the old save/load system. Diablo II is more of an oddity here.

I think Troglodyte was more-so talking about traditional RPG's where you can only save in town anyway. I don't consider it a forced restriction for D2 to shunt you back to town when you load a game, because (especially in multiplayer) the game uses a random level generator as well as re-population of the levels. This makes it a little different to some other games that could be considered the of the same genre, and I consider this feature to be adding milestones into the game. Being able to save and load directly from the location you were last at would detract from it in my opinion, and I guess it does only come down to opinions in the end anyway.

[visom]

Save and exit is what I prefer, you'll be penalize if you give up on quests :D

[Sein Schatten]

The game can save the current map you are on (including all dungeons with an entry on said map) and all monsters and their loot. So if you are on X map and no WP on X but a WP on X-1 and you save and quit. X is safed in its current explored status (with monster kills and stuff). When you play again you teleport to X-1 which is newly generated (but the connections to and from X are equal) and can go to X. This means the maps around X are somewhat restricted. If you safe in X-1, X is of course deleted and will be fresh again.

[Divisionary]

I like that idea, Sein Schatten.

[KillaMike]

another poitless replay, which all been told, and i think thread must be close,
SAVE AND EXIT is best for this kind of game, but body should go back in town, other wise it is super, u got pwnd, ur body in mids of monsters which killed u with gear, and u for some reason could kill them "NAKED"?????????????

[CBGB]

What about "Save game/Load game" in singleplayer only (I won't be playing multiplayer anyway)? I like being able to save before bosses and such.

That's a great idea.

If people don't want to save before a boss, they don't have to. If they don't even want the option, they can play online.

Replaying from a checkpoint is dull, and saving allows you to try different paths. More choice, more fun.

Save and Exit works great for multiplayer, just as well as Save/Load for singleplayer.

[sirwhere]

I like "save at waypoint & exit". As in, if you get into trouble, you die. Saving is not gonna bail you out.

And if you're thinking ALT-F4, unauthorized exits result in death as well :)

[teh_Thrasher]

And if you're thinking ALT-F4, unauthorized exits result in death as well

and if the game crashes or the power goes out? not a good idea.
give the game a save/exit timer so u cant exit quickly when ur about to die.
i want to see an actually acurate hardcore ladder and not just a bunch of losers with chicken hack

[Akse]

What about "Save game/Load game" in singleplayer only (I won't be playing multiplayer anyway)? I like being able to save before bosses and such.

So you want easymode?

For me, no matter what single player I play I try to keep myself in a strict saving routine, about 1-2 time / level, depending on the lenght of the levels. The games that have autosave after loading screens or such I let that handle the saving, if I die then I start from the last autosave.

[CaptainDingo]

Let's just put it this way, I'm a huge Splinter Cell buff and the ability to save and load before every encounter with every enemy made me into a lousy player.

It's also like crack, so I can't help myself.

So save and exit is awesome (for Diablo).

[Gamekk]

I don't understand. What is crack??

[SlechtWeerBeer]

Crack is a drug; he's "addicted" to saving before firing a shot.

[teh_Thrasher]

eww yeah thats pretty cheap dingo. takes the challenge out of the game 100%

i hate how quick u can get out of the game in d2. made for coward players (HC) that didnt want to die so they could easily escape with a quick macro

[CaptainDingo]

I'd say put a 5-second delay on the save and quit, just so we can cackle at people who try to get out of a situation by leaving the game.

It certainly would make hardcore players all the more legendary.

[teh_Thrasher]

YES my sentiments exactly :) no escape for the weak.
the ladder may actually represent skill and not quick S&E
oh and laughing at others expense is the best :D