My concerns

[Thunderchild]

After a very brief experience in Wow and a rather long one in DII there are several things which I hope will not be making an appearance in Diablo 3.

Respec- Yes it's annoying to get to around lv 40 and realize your character sucks. Or that you are not pleased with the outcome. But that's part of the gameplay. To try new tactics and advance until you get something that works out for you. In Wow the respec was so obscene... everyone ended up being the same character with the exact same levels in spells/abilities... using the -same- strategies.

Skills in general- The synergies were all nice and dandy but forced far too much focus into a single branch- so by forcing diversity between one character to the next, they denied diversity within the build itself... thus making a character practically useless in many situations rather than simply making the experience challenging.
And some characters like the Druid... heck he was cool as hell, but his elemental skills were horrible to control and use...

[devildriver]

Everyone needs to quit worrying, no offence to anyone at all. You love diablo 1. You love diablo 2. I'm pretty sure the people making D3 wont stuff it up and it will be enjoyable for all. Many of you want to see change and many of you dont in some areas but in the end it will turn out how it will turn out. I'm sure that with diablo 2 running for so long, they (the makers), will take into account the things that work and what don't.
Basically every post in this D3 section is a lot like this is its not a bad thing to discuss what you want/dont want but again dont sweat it The game will be great.

On the topic: I would like to see synergies gone too, i totally agree. Maybe having higher cap for skills so you can have more then 20 but then again Blizzard may find away to make it work with a less point cap.

Also, i notice on the gameplay video that the barbarian never missed a swing. Now if attack rating was incorporated into d3 it would be silly to see a barb do a spectacular attack with a flash of light from his weapons go through his enemies and have it miss. How do you guys think this will work out?

[Manovan]

I played much D2 before WoW too, and I find the replayability of the hardcore mode very satisfying (despite being pissed off the millionth time someone TPPK:ed you past level 80). The skill trees in D2 with skills affecting each other was a brilliant way of adding diversity to the class builds. I remember making poisonmancers, lightningsorceresses, healadins, martyrdins etc, and it's important that D3 gets a similiar skill tree (that allows improvement of low tier skills by investing points in high tier skills and vice versa). But some kind of respeccing is important, because people always make mistakes. I can remember dozens of times I have accidentally clicked a spell one time too many at higher levels and ended up starting over. The respeccing can be expensive, but it should be there.

[Renata]

Yeah, it was a pain to have to reroll rather than respec. Respeccing would also encourage people to be able to play with different builds -- although more than WoW, Diablo 2 at least had very, very build specific gear. It was frustrating to be running, say, a bear druid and get nothing but elemental gear.

...Ren

[Thunderchild]

I am all for the synergies- for the same reasons you posted.
The thing was that the synergies themselves all built up towards 1 or 2 skills... both of which were of the same element, thus rendering you rather useless in other situations.
Sure, synergies can be cool- just make sure that the branches are broader.

Beyond that... well, as an ex Wow player I can only say that I was rather annoyed to see that all the hunters ended up being the same, as did any other class. Diversity was minimal.... part of the fun is individuality... respecing can screw that up insanely.

[Manovan]

Originally Posted by Thunderchild

Beyond that... well, as an ex Wow player I can only say that I was rather annoyed to see that all the hunters ended up being the same, as did any other class. Diversity was minimal.... part of the fun is individuality... respecing can screw that up insanely.

If not respecing would work as in WoW, there could be some kind of partial respecing to fix minor mistakes. You pay a sum to a NPC and get the ability to replace 1-5 skill points. If you would want to respecc more, it would cost too much to do so frequently (experience, % of max gold, durability or some kind of temporary debuff). This would not rule out the possibility of a total respecc, but people would think twice before doing so.