Originally Posted by ABarbarian
i dont see how you get this from what has been said. d2 is far worse than d3. i would play nothing but the beta zones of d3 before getting back into d2. its junk
Not if they took the lack of progression to its logical conclusion and eliminated progession in Inferno while keeping it extremely difficult. The only problem with flat difficulty is if you try to insert progression into it for sake of having progression.like i said it may not be the best solution for end game but its far better than what they had. flat dif levels means act 1 would have been harder than act 4 and that makes no sense at all.
Look at it this way:
Before, we had Normal to Hell ---> Farm up ---> take on Inferno
Now, we have Normal ---> Hell ---> Farm up ---> Inferno Act 1 ---> Farm up ---> take on Inferno Act 2 ---> etc.
We simply got an extension of what we already had at expense of having the said ultimate challenge be in an act of our choice.
By the way, I give it a few days before some groups just steamroll the entirety of inferno with some unbeatable 4-man group setup. It's just inevitable nowadays with so many dedicated people playing and sharing ideas.
i understand your point i guess we just see it differently. i like the idea of always moving forward, even at a slow pace. to me this just gives me another goal to reach for. i never grinded in d2, i hated it with a passion. now i have another difficulty level to play with before having to camp the char and start a new one. also that dif level should take a good amount of time
@Konfeta - Let's take a look at it from a new player's perspective that is liking the game and wanting to take it to the next level. They hit inferno. And they say...
"Hey, I could just farm Act I all day long because it's the same difficulty as Act IV and I'll still have the same loot. Sure, I can work up to a new local, but what's the point? Everything I need to farm is right here in the Weeping Hollow."
Well, to be honest, there wouldn't be any point but to have a new background to play in. That's really not all that cool, or that enticing. I'm sure some would complete Inferno because they're a completionist... but to what end? If Inferno was really as hard as they say, why would they bother getting to all of the other acts if the best was handed to them on a silver platter the moment they step into Act I?
You might say that "well, it's all brutally difficult, so it's not on a silver platter." Well yeah, but that's not what I'm getting at. It effectively negates any rhyme or reason to progress past the first Act except for aesthetics or completionists.
@Nizaris
There is no working up in the proper solution. You are in the main menu, you select Inferno mode, and choose your location on a spruced up shiny UI based on whenever you are feeling like Sand or Snowy Castles or Waterfalls with Rainbows, and you jump in.
Forcing progression from Act 1 to Act 4 from the start was the major mistake of Inferno, they seem to have realized it, but fixed it the wrong way.
In retrospect, should have expected this. Bundling area designed to challenge players while allowing them to overpower it by simply by virtue of progression was contradictory design. There are really only two outcomes to it and they took the lazy path.
@Apoc
They could have still had that exact thing you described while simultaneously keeping a flat end-game difficulty. They didn't. That's the problem.
P.S. Oh, lawl, now I feel like the PvP players did. Though, I suppose I shouldn't, Inferno was always a temporary solution. They might still pull off a genuinely interesting, permanent PvE end-game concept later on.
You can't get by just saying that. What's the other outcome you were thinking of?
What I described already. Tune the Normal-Nightmare-Hell into the current format of progression of "level to max, then grind items to progress." If handholding is so precious, so be it, keep Inferno and current difficulty curve as presented by Bashiok.
Next, take the designated flat difficulty and spend time working on it to ensure that it is actually truly flat. If Act 1 monster are by design simple, lack strong synergy, lack numbers, etc. - offset it. Add new abilities, adjust behaviors and spawn patterns, etc. Throw in monsters from later acts if necessary. Unlock every WP from the moment of unlocking the act. Minimize the item progression in form of farming better gear so the mode actually does not get difficult, i.e. design appropriate rewards for fighting in a flat difficulty that is supposed to be unbeatable by virtue of farming in it alone.
Achievements, banners, special unique/set items that horizontally expand player build options without obviously making you stronger upon acqusition, etc. as rewards for doing this mode. Now players have an actual goal as to "what do we do with out super beefed up characters and their perfected/farmed builds that is not PvP?"
@Konfeta Yep, I dig that. Still sounds like some people would find it boringish though because that won't obviously help improve their toon any more than finding and grinding the easiest sections.
Not saying it would work as well here, but Brother Laz came up with what I think is some of the best end-game content I've seen. Isn't necessary and is obviously not central to the game but is a change of pace, gives different rewards, and encourages build diversity because people need it to access/beat these new areas. Check out the Uberquests and Challenges sections http://modsbylaz.hugelaser.com/
very bummed that Blizzard went with what I also think was the easy route on this.
The main thing I'm wondering is, higher acts of inferno will have better gear drops now, but I'm wondering how much better.
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