The element of surprise.

[raveharu]

I remember vivdly on the day Diablo 2 was finally released, I was treating the manual book like a precious little treasure, and basically for the entire day I was pondering over it while waiting for my turn to use the computer. (My brother was playing the Paladin on SP and we had to share the computer).

I was going through the different classes and most importantly, the skills that they had. I kept reading the character and skills lore over and over again. I was most captivated by the necromancer and sorceress skill tree, which were undeniably the most fascinating things that I couldn't wait to see it on my computer screen!

I was like "wow, meteour, Blizzard, frozen orb, hydra, waaaaaa, and wth is frozen/shiver/chilling armor??!!!! woahhh bone spear, cool, bone spirit... Oooo FIRE GOLEM?!!!", I pestered my obviously annoyed brother who was trying to concentrate on his all-so-awesome Paladin who was chopping zombies in Blood Moor.

You know, I love it this way, of never knowing how the different skills looked like until you tried the game yourself.

I know Blizzard is trying to showcase the awesomeness of D3, but they revealed almost every single skill in their Blizzcons.

Where is the element of surprise?

[Ishtor]

isn't the release date the suprise.... jk. I undertand what you are saying, but seeing how thing work in d3 just make me want to play it more, and being one who is not going to blizzcon, it just a bigger tease. I am all about all the information, and would like to see more.

the big difference between what you described and what is going on now, your having to wait longer than a couple hours to get your turn.

[Krugar]

I feel you raveharu.

I think this is for us to control. I'm making a case of not even visiting such forums as character classes or skills, and avoid any other more intimate aspects of the game elsewhere. I honestly don't know, for instance, anything about runes or most of the skills.

D2 did have some online presence during the development stages, but nothing even remotely close to what we are seeing in D3. Fortunately I've been able to switch off my curiosity brain center and I don't feel I'm losing on anything. Matter of fact is that what I didn't learn today, I will when I buy the game. And, as you pointed out, this time around being much more fun.

Others do seem to like to learn, debate, explore, all the little nuts and bolts before the game launches. That's just fine. Not my cup of tea, but as someone once said, "it takes all type of people to make up the world".

[DragonChi]

While this is undoubtedly impossible and unfathomably unlikely. if they surprised us by saying its out tomorrow. i think i'd have a heart attack and die.

[DWS]

D2 had every skill released before release. Maybe you just didn't use the internet back then.

[Risingred]

D2 had every skill released before release. Maybe you just didn't use the internet back then.

As I recall, that was during the beta. I remember visiting this site when they opened up the beta center, with different blogs from beta testers and everybody was compiling information into what we now call a wiki.
That was mostly optional. I didn't read about any of that stuff before release. I don't seem to recall blizzard releasing it before-hand either until GFrazier did up the arreat summit or whatever it was called for D2 pre-expansion, when that Gaile lady was still around this site.

[Krugar]

As I recall, that was during the beta.

Correct.
There was some information during the alpha stages. But not much, and nothing even close to what we are seeing with D3.

[kavlor]

Well from what Ive gathered about runes they might be the surprise your after as they can alter the way skills/spells work.

[SlechtWeerBeer]

Well from what Ive gathered about runes they might be the surprise your after as they can alter the way skills/spells work.

And there goes that suprise :P

[Starving_Poet]

I'd say the "element" of surprise is definitely lightning. It's so fast and you never know where it's going to strike! :)

[zorro8081]

The element of surprise is difficult to maintain with the internet and while even just reading these forums, but if you can just stay away from the videos, (admittedly not easy to do), then looking over the skills and their descriptions just makes me even MORE excited to get my hands on the game and look at them as opposed to guessing how they look. For example, mirror image is pretty self explanatory, but how awesome might it look and be maxed out with teleport and the multi-strike attack and a rune or two? Thats what the element of surprise is for me. P.S. I poured over the book waiting my turn too.....:thumbup:

[Albebro]

I hear what you're saying to a point, raveharu, but the amount of information we've read, pictures we've seen, and videos we've watched, don't add up to anything close to the actual experience.

Imagine if you had a dream vacation lined up to a remote tropical paradise, and you were sent a brochure, a bunch of postcards and pictures, a video tour, and got a couple of phone calls from people who had been there. Would you say, "I'm not even excited to go anymore. It's like I've already been there."

I understand the element of surprise, but the game is far from released, and is likely to be significantly different from the things we've seen thus far. Beyond that, do you think Blizzard will show it's entire hand before the game is released? Further, do you think you'll be any less excited to hunch over the manual or get your hands on the controls and start tearing *** around the first area?

Also, what if Blizzard had not revealed a single skill up to this point? Sure, a few would be happy at the surprises lined up for the late 2010 release, but most people would be smashing things. "Damned if they do, damned if they don't" seems to be the story fans are forcing the company to face.

[raveharu]

I agree that the runes are a very interesting and refreshing concept, Blizzard has released a little information and some examples. But I hope it stays there, full stop. We, the players should be trying out the different runes and experiment their effects.

I like the way Blizzard continues to keep D3 storyline a big big secret, and hope they maintain this teasing(which they would because it's Blizzard style :D) till the game is out :D


Further, do you think you'll be any less excited to hunch over the manual or get your hands on the controls and start tearing *** around the first area?

I would certainly want to read the manual first, it'll probably provide some useful insight into the different classes, items, etc etc, and most importantly a clue to the storyline. It's kinda silly to start the game without knowing any background info :smug:

Albebro, what I meant was Blizzard shouldn't showcase every single skill, basic low level ones are fine but the epic ones should remain a mystery. Unless it's kinda of like a new BIG features, eg Time Stop spell then its ok.

What I suspect is that they might do this for the 2 remaining classes, I think they would be pretty epic but information will be minimal.

[Edairu]

Well for the most part I think the player has control over how *new* they want the first experience to feel. If you want that surprised and excited feeling when making your first character, then visiting this site regularly is probably a bad idea. So basically if your friends can keep from spoiling everything, and you can fight the urge to read up on every skill on Blizzard.com then this is really a non-issue.

The internet certainly does make it difficult though :\

[Rash]

I remember vivdly on the day Diablo 2 was finally released, I was treating the manual book like a precious little treasure, and basically for the entire day I was pondering over it while waiting for my turn to use the computer. (My brother was playing the Paladin on SP and we had to share the computer).

I was going through the different classes and most importantly, the skills that they had. I kept reading the character and skills lore over and over again. I was most captivated by the necromancer and sorceress skill tree, which were undeniably the most fascinating things that I couldn't wait to see it on my computer screen!

I was like "wow, meteour, Blizzard, frozen orb, hydra, waaaaaa, and wth is frozen/shiver/chilling armor??!!!! woahhh bone spear, cool, bone spirit... Oooo FIRE GOLEM?!!!", I pestered my obviously annoyed brother who was trying to concentrate on his all-so-awesome Paladin who was chopping zombies in Blood Moor.

You know, I love it this way, of never knowing how the different skills looked like until you tried the game yourself.

I know Blizzard is trying to showcase the awesomeness of D3, but they revealed almost every single skill in their Blizzcons.

Where is the element of surprise?


I could have wrote that part :yes:
I had to share my pc with my brother too. On holidays with our parents, we had the manual and planned our chars. Like lvl 60 sorc: how many points would we put int this ability and in the others (without knowing most spells, just had some numbers about the damage output, which werent even correct, because of the many updates. - We were soo dissapointed by "hydra" that spell was so weak despite being lvl 30)

It was really fun in discovering these spells though.

Well but the age of the internet is there now (hadnt it back then yet in 2001/2002) so its not really avoidable. Of course they could release less information, but in todays environment this seems counterintuitive. Everyone wants new informations and internet is the way to go.
There will still be much to discover :jig:

[SlechtWeerBeer]

There's also, like, the game they haven't released yet.
Get amazed when seeing the landscape/dungeons/bosses :)
Or avoid internet like the plague; that could work.

[Cable]

Where is the element of surprise?

As of right now, I believe the element of surprise will come from the lore of the game, higher quality runes, and the tier V skills that were unreleased.

[JonoLith]

isn't the release date the suprise....

Oh Snap Son!

[Wirt]

Oooh I know that feeling, going through that little book when you just got the game. I was on a holiday when D2 was released, and I had some days before I came home, and to my pc. Every picture, every piece of lore was read time and time again, I was building chars in my dreams already.

But also with D2 I had been lurking the forums for a few years, just like now with D3. I loved D1 too and was following everything about D2 on DII.net.

Now I look at it this way: every bit of info I get from Blizzard before launch gives me that same feeling of 'oooh' as if I first see it in-game. In fact, there can be a lot of fun in choking on every picture that is released, posting about it in forums like these, etc. So even a new screenshot gets me happy now. Would it be the same if the game was already released? No. Would I look at and enjoy every detail in the game like I do now with things like the character screen etc? No. So my advise: enjoy the easy ride until release, then put on your savety belt because once released you will still see stuff first-time that makes you jump out of your chair.

Wirt

[Dgvs]

Hi there guys,

i think if you dont like to get new info about the game, you just have to stop searching, and hold back your curiosity. Because some people, like me, love to get all the new info, see if the game is going the way we imagined or even better. Besides that, this is a way to show blizzard our opinion, they can really have a feedback from the comunity, and if the game is so distant to be released, i imagine they are changing a lot of stuff and getting new ideias from us.

For example, the fan classes built by the effort and imagination of some amazing diablo fans are incredible. I think blizzard should take that info in higher consideration, because it reflects what fans like, what fans imagine a great class should be...

Just one more thing, congrats to wirt´s reply, it just said it all. It reflected so well the thrill we have to see new stuff about the game.

[Matora]

I will be pouring over the manual when me and my mates grab a copy each and head back to my place to start it all together. I don't think you'll be unsurprised by the information they release. There will be amazing quests, lore, weapons, interactive environmental features and environments to take your breath away.

And hopefully with a collectors edition, something more.

[raveharu]

As I recall, that was during the beta. I remember visiting this site when they opened up the beta center, with different blogs from beta testers and everybody was compiling information into what we now call a wiki.
That was mostly optional. I didn't read about any of that stuff before release. I don't seem to recall blizzard releasing it before-hand either until GFrazier did up the arreat summit or whatever it was called for D2 pre-expansion, when that Gaile lady was still around this site.

So basically Blizzard released nothing when D2 was announced until beta?
So now we are considered to be very fortunate, no?

[Doppel]

Meh, don't think "skills" is something to be that "surprised" about. (plus you don't know how well they will perform anyways, which is more important) I mean, i can't even remember the amount of RPG's i played (i'm talking about the D&D ones now) and never were skills that much of a surprise, even if you didn't know them.
If Blizzard succeeds in making a good game then combos between runes/skills/items will give us this new "oh wow" feeling. And then there are the promising random quests (and i hope random areas that go with it, and i mean areas that randomly spawn, or not) and all.

[raveharu]

Meh, don't think "skills" is something to be that "surprised" about. (plus you don't know how well they will perform anyways, which is more important) I mean, i can't even remember the amount of RPG's i played (i'm talking about the D&D ones now) and never were skills that much of a surprise, even if you didn't know them.

Totally disagree with this, IMPOV.

What makes a game stand out is how skills are integrated into the classes, especially for RPG's with fantasy theme. It's crucial for skills to look and sound interesting.
Even this applies to MMO's, as majority wants to see how the high level skills look like, and how it works.

So far Blizzard has lived up to their name, everytime they reveal a new class, *BOOM* something new would pop out. That is what I mean by the element of surprise.
But they shouldn't reveal too much, which is the point of this thread.

[Srikandi]

Some people like surprises, others prefer to be fully informed. I'm in the latter class. If you want to be surprised, though, it is really in your hands. Just stay away from this site :p

D2 was the very first game I ever followed extensively pre-release, and I think I knew the entire contents of the manual before I had it in my hands... which was great :)

Regardless of the official info, the manual contents, and even beta reports, there will STILL be surprises... since it usually takes a few weeks or months before all the underlying formulas are extracted and the EXACT gameplay formulas and their consequences for strategy are well-understood and described in the community. There's always stuff that doesn't work at all like it's supposed to ;)