View Full Version : Party size
seripham
11-02-2009, 07:00
Looking for oppinions here from people who have played both styles, possibly with WoW and Diablo. Do you like the potentially huge party sizes of WoW, the 8 player party size of Diablo, or the 4 party size of NEW Diablo and why?
Aren't parties in WoW 6? Or are you refering to raids? I think they should make D3 have at least 6 in a party, 4 just seems to small.
Id say at least 6 as well. Its kind of *** only have 4, especially since its just you and 3 others.
Did they mention somewhere lately that they had decided on a party of four? I distinctly remember them sayinn they were aiming at 8 players. Four players sounds like they are pre-planning for split screen console gaming and that would make me very very sad if so. I already have more than 3 other friends I plan on playing D3 with.
As for what I prefer, it's not so much the party size but the party requirements I'm looking forward too again. Not having to look for a tank or healer? Just playing with your friends regardless of what class or spec they have chosen is a huge draw for me.
Well, with D3, all spells and abilities are larger and more colourful. I think it might be a bit headachy to watch a screen with more than 4, it's likely why they chose that amount in the first place...
I agree though, 5 (WoW) or 6 or so would be a nice max.
mallemout
11-02-2009, 15:16
My concern is nicely worded by Leord, with all the colorfull and flashy spells, it could be hard to see what is happening and who is standing where. Then again, I think of baalruns where all the sorc are blizzarding and meteoring along and you still didn't have a problem with finding monsters (just look for a name/life bar).
My personal preference for party size would be seven at least since I like it if you have the potential to have at least all character classes present in the party.
sicilian
11-02-2009, 19:31
My personal preference for party size would be seven at least since I like it if you have the potential to have at least all character classes present in the party.
This is my thought, that there should be at least one spot for each class. Maybe they can start with five, then up it with an expansion if they find it's not a big problem?
Knight_Wolf
11-02-2009, 21:29
I think 6 party members is a very nice number .. it will keep performance steady .. things will still be recognizable in the heat of battle ... and will offer enough variety in parties (including a party that has all 5 classes).
Not to mention 3vs3 duels will be lots of fun ^_^
Phat Wolf
12-02-2009, 02:25
I like the 8 party member thing, I just prefer to see a variety of chars or just playing with a bunch of people at the same time.
Doctor Salvador
12-02-2009, 22:08
I'm thinking that four player parties will promote general friendship more than the eight player ones. With only four people in a party, there will be less word pollution on the screen, so you will pay more attention to people talking when they do, rather than ignore it. It seems like having a conversation with your whole party will be easier when you put that in perspective, so that there is a higher chance of getting a bigger friendlist.
I'm definitely digging smaller parties, but hopefully getting in a game doesn't suck.
Tanksaabas
12-02-2009, 22:41
The more the merrier imo. D2 had 8 and it should continue as 8 players max.
tommerbob
12-02-2009, 22:48
I'm more for smaller parties than larger ones. It'd be nice to have a party big enough to have all classes involved, but when I really think about it, it doesn't really matter.
A party of 4 or 5 is a good solid number for me.
Does this include the max number of players in a game as well? Or just parties? Will there be a different number? I hope so. I'd like to see new create game options that would make some things easier, such as a Trade flag, which permits more than just the max party number, allowing for greater players to trade back and forth without having to search for a game that's not full yet. You could also have a PVP flag for games, with "all for all", "2 v 2", "3 v 3", etc. options. Or w/e.
The larger the group the more chances of lag and I can guarantee not everyone will have a pc capable of handling more than 5. I also like the idea of 4 players per group because everyone becomes more involved in what they are doing.
For me it doesn't matter the number of players. I trust in Blizzard.
They know the game, and they know which number works well or not. Then, they decide, and it will be ok.
Personally I prefer little groups; with 6-8 players the parties are too chaotic for me. But I will be ok anyway they'll decide.
The only problem for me is I would like to have, at least, one player of each kind in a game. Then I think 5 players would be great for me, at least before expansion. I would like to watch all 5 characters party together in the same game.
Demetrium
13-02-2009, 01:28
For me it doesn't matter the number of players. I trust in Blizzard.
They know the game, and they know which number works well or not. Then, they decide, and it will be ok.
The only problem for me is I would like to have, at least, one player of each kind in a game. Then I think 5 players would be great for me, at least before expansion.
I like the way you think.
In Diablo2, all that really mattered is that you had a hammerdin, BO barb and whatever other scraps decided to join. There was zero strategy in having multiple players besides group buffs and getting around immunities. You could minimally do this with 2-3 players. Four players should be plenty, and may actually require more skill and coordination.
chenghao
13-02-2009, 05:21
how can partying up be more beneficial ?
previously we had shared experience . is there any other way to benefit by partying up ?
Agree. enough for at least one of each player to be in the game. 5 is fine, more if they wish, I am in-different as a whole as long as its 5.
Knight_Wolf
13-02-2009, 07:02
how can partying up be more beneficial ?
previously we had shared experience . is there any other way to benefit by partying up ?
It's quite obvious, 4 players killing monsters together can kill hordes of monsters in a very short time ... and with the new item drops system the group will have tons of items to trade between them first and after that with others.
Not to mention that one member getting a health globe heals all other members so it makes staying in a group more beneficial for everyone.
how can partying up be more beneficial ?
previously we had shared experience . is there any other way to benefit by partying up ?
You're forgetting the number 1 benefit: Playing with friends!
Even if some people can't play with 8 or 10 or whatever they decide as the max players in a game due to lag or not liking all the effects in the same area, people can still password protect their game and run around in a group of 2 or 3.
Really the only reason I see them not letting you have 8 players like D2 did is if they are already planning to develop D3 for consoles (they said it was a possibility) and they want to keep it consistent across the board. i.e. 4 player split screen.
stillman
13-02-2009, 11:41
With destructable environments and AoE barb skills, just seeing a video of the wizard and barb was kind of confusing. Be careful what you wish for.
I'd like to see the party size increase to 16 or maybe even higher. Let there be bosses that require big parties to drop. If you don't like big parties, set the player cap on the game like you did in D2. Then everyone wins!
I think it's pretty clear that the party size restriction is about the game scaling. In DiabloII the way the monsters hitpoints and damage scaled made playing with 8 people a completely different game from playing by yourself.
Some of the mechanics just didn't scale right in 8 player games. For example the fire enchanted stygians who would kill you in one explosion because their death damaage was based on the hitpoints.
I think that the party size limiting has as much to do with gameplay balance as it does with graphical limitations.
Demetrium
13-02-2009, 18:21
I'd like to see the party size increase to 16 or maybe even higher. Let there be bosses that require big parties to drop. If you don't like big parties, set the player cap on the game like you did in D2. Then everyone wins!
This seems rather pointless to me. Yeah, you could have three different builds of every class, but chances are you're going to become overly redundant with their offerings.
Sure, you might have a barbarian doing physical damage...but the paladins and whatever other classes probably will be too. Just like the witchdoctor might be doing fire damage and a fire-build sorceress would bring nothing to the table except more fire based damage.
Quantity is not always quality.
Doctor Salvador
13-02-2009, 19:14
I'd like to see the party size increase to 16 or maybe even higher. Let there be bosses that require big parties to drop. If you don't like big parties, set the player cap on the game like you did in D2. Then everyone wins!
Diablo 3 isn't an MMORPG, 200ft tall bosses with sixteen people hacking away at him for an hour isn't very appealing to me. Remember too that there is more weight being put on the idea of every char being a 'hero', you aren't very hero-ish if you need fifteen other 'heros' and their mercs to help take down some fallen.
tommerbob
13-02-2009, 20:41
Diablo 3 isn't an MMORPG, 200ft tall bosses with sixteen people hacking away at him for an hour isn't very appealing to me. Remember too that there is more weight being put on the idea of every char being a 'hero', you aren't very hero-ish if you need fifteen other 'heros' and their mercs to help take down some fallen.
Completely agree.
callsignapollo
13-02-2009, 21:34
woah ! HOLD YER HORSES !!!
someone PLEASE site where they said there will be parties of 4 .... ???
and then we'll talk
-Callsign
Knight_Wolf
13-02-2009, 23:03
woah ! HOLD YER HORSES !!!
someone PLEASE site where they said there will be parties of 4 .... ???
and then we'll talk
-Callsign
It's hard to find which interviews they mentioned that in, but it is quite obvious from all the gameplay vids, the max number of players seen in every gameplay vid (many) was always 4.
I'm sure someone is more organized than me and can point out which interview did they say in that they are thinking about limiting it to 4 (yeah .. not final number).
raveharu
13-02-2009, 23:56
D3 emphasizes on team play, so what I think Blizzard wants is to force all 4 characters in the same game to party up and kill together. If they made it to 8 players, like in D2, there would always be extra players running off to do their own runs, which can sometimes destroy the game.
Example, say a player makes a "Act1-5 Help" game, then a high level hammerdin or sorc comes in and kills all the Bosses in the game.
Then again, we still do not much about the game, or how difficult it would be.
Like I said many times, D3 is also a single player game.
My one suspicion is that for muliplayer, whenever a new player joins the game, there would be an immense increase in the difficulty of the game.
It would not be just like D2, whereby monsters have a little boost in health and damage.
woah ! HOLD YER HORSES !!!
someone PLEASE site where they said there will be parties of 4 .... ???
and then we'll talk
-Callsign
They don't say there will be 4 by sure.
They only said they were testing the game and, for now, they found 4 players party are the number they think are working better in game mechanics, in appearance, fluid game and fun-cooperative way.
They also said this is not a definitive number. They of course could change.
They're just testing. Or were testing.
someone PLEASE site where they said there will be parties of 4 .... ???
There hasn't been any confirmation on party size in any interviews. You can pretty much bet it will be anywhere from 4-8 players. Here are some interviews that talk about party size:
http://www.destructoid.com/diablo-3-eight-players-is-a-party-nine-could-be-too-much-107363.phtml
http://www.warcry.com/articles/view/conferences/blizzcon_08/5358-Blizzcon-08-WoW-Diablo-3-Press-Conference
http://au.pc.ign.com/articles/919/919059p1.html?RSSwhen2008-10-11_134300&RSSid=919059
One idea, I am sure nobody will like, and that is to have evolving party limits based upon the game, i.e as the game progresses the more people that can join.
But overall I want to have 8. If it is too much, then give the players the choice or freedom to chose the limit they want (like now). My fear is that 4 may be too limiting. I don't think that any number between 4-8 will enhance or necessarily take away teamwork. What does that is the gameplay itself.
I would not mind seeing a 16 player, 8 vs 8 dueling arena. See it, just because it would be funny, not saying I necessarily want it though.
Bladewind
16-02-2009, 09:58
I prefer 8. 5 is too limiting, at the max party size should increase with the number of classes ingame.
Farmrush
16-02-2009, 11:59
Having been playing L4D a lot, I'd like to have parties of four. Three is just too little, and with five it would become chaotic. Especially if they include anything like built-in voice support (which would be nice). I'd like to actually see what is going on as I fight monsters.
There is an advantage for 4-5 level maximum too. There will not be a lot of leechers, like in D2.
In D2 there were a lot of games with 2 players killing, and 6 mules for rush, or leech, or ruin-game things like that.
I hope Blizzard will eradicate the rush, the leech, and give us all a real, non-rush/leech, cooperative game.
Bladewind
16-02-2009, 14:03
Guess you guys don't do baal walks then. My zsmiter walks through the crap that even some hammerdins don't dare tele through :/
I like 4 or 5 player. It not to limiting. I willy hope here is a way that you cant be leeching. Like when you are leeching by a boos, the boss bite of your head:D
One thing to take into consideration. They may put the limit at the number of different classes, then expand to whatever number of classes they introduce in the expansion. I.e. I believe there will be 5 classes for D3, then an expansion introducing 3 more could allow 8 classes in the game under an expansion.
Just a thought at how they might play things out over the course of development.
Knight_Wolf
17-02-2009, 20:02
One thing to take into consideration. They may put the limit at the number of different classes, then expand to whatever number of classes they introduce in the expansion. I.e. I believe there will be 5 classes for D3, then an expansion introducing 3 more could allow 8 classes in the game under an expansion.
Just a thought at how they might play things out over the course of development.
That actually sounds like a good plan ... they test out 4 players per party for D3 for example ... if people didn't like being limited to 4 they can demand the Devs to increase it to to 6 or 8 per party in the next expansion ... but if many people enjoyed it they might leave it as it is.
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