Yesterday IncGamers was at E3 checking out all the PC gaming goodness and Deirdre Hollis spotted Diablo 3 being demoed and decided to get some hands-on time.
Last night we recorded a special E3 podcast where we talked about some of the games including the PS3 version of Diablo 3 where DD gave her initial impressions of the console port. You can tune in to the podcast which is available now on IncGamers.com.
With so much going on at E3 over the past three days it’s hard to keep up, but if you want to check out a live stream of Diablo 3 from the event, there will be one running at 1:00PM PDT (9PM GMT ) on the Sony stream. This will be a live demonstration with Diablo 3 console developers.
Wyatt Cheng spoke a bit about the joys of Diablo 3 ladders during his recent live stream conversation, and yesterday Lylirra fleshed out the topic, asking for fan input on what sort of features and functions you’d like to see in a Diablo 3 ladder.
Muertdogg’s post is actually a great example of feedback that’s great for me to pass on. I love the pro/con breakdown he provided for all the different types of ladder options out there, and why each option is meaningful (or not meaningful) for him as a player. Would love to see more discussion along those lines. 
Lylirra started off by quoting Wyatt’s livestream ladder comments, but no need to read them all since they’re quite simple to sum up. He said there are two fun aspects of ladder wipes: 1) starting a new char and finding constant upgrades if you’re self-found and untwinked, and 2) the fun of racing to level up and see your name in lights.
Those are both valid points, but the one I think most people like best would be numbered 1.5, and it’s the theoretical experience of entering a clean, fresh, legit, balanced, even economy. You don’t have a bunch of gear and characters, and neither does anyone else. This is basically a version of the main point most people stress about what they want in an 
Ironborn mode. Equality. Anyone can just go self found on their own right now, but the real fun is having an economy, an ecosystem of other who are following the same rule set as you. Being self found is a lot less fun when you’re joining games with chars who have 10x your DPS thanks to the AH.
A while back IncGamers was told by an inside source that the Diablo 3 team have been planning to add a ladder system into the game but there was no timeframe as to when it would happen. The idea was to also run the ladders without the ability to utilise the auction house.
Some more footage of the Diablo 3 Playstation 3 version courtesy of Gametrailers.
Interesting conversations of late about the Demonic Essence Drop Rates now experienced in Diablo 3. Currently the odds of a Demonic Essence dropping from an elite, a Gobby, a golden chest, or another qualifying game event is 15% on MP0, and it increases by 10% of the previous value at each higher Monster Power level, up to a maximum chance of 38.9% on MP10. This is much less of an increase (with higher MP) than monster hit points, experience rewards, etc. So does that mean DEs should drop more in line with those other scale ups? Or are DEs fundamentally different in value and function and thus scarcity?
It’s worth debating, and a Blue reply to a “make moar DEs drop!” thread raises some issues for thought.
Couple of questions for you so I can get a bit of context for where your feedback is coming from (anyone is welcome to chime in):
The key issue is the fact that DEs can’t be bought, sold, traded, or even given away. They therefore require play time, and while lots of gold can buy all the other mats, and uber gear that allows for faster killing, it still takes time to build up DEs, even on MP10. (In fact, DEs are faster farmed on lower MPs, since the monster hit points scale up much higher than the DE drop rates.)
It’s very much a rich vs. poor argument as well. Players with huge bank rolls generally think DEs should drop much more often and/or be tradable. It’s only logical; if you’ve got the gold to buy all the mats and pay for all the crafts you want, then the only thing limiting your crafted item production is the fact that DEs can’t be bought or found that quickly.
On the other end of the economic spectrum, poorer players can easily build up far more DEs than they can afford to use. Mats cost money, crafts cost money, and if your goal or play style is being good enough for say, MP2, then you don’t really need uber gear and it’s not worth it spending thousands of crafts trying to perfectly optimize each of the five crafted item slots. Even if you could afford them.
The larger issue, and one I think Blizzard’s devs embrace with their ongoing “reduce the impact of the Auction House” design theory, is the fact that DEs are the one aspect of Diablo 3′s item system where success can’t just be purchased. Players must play to earn DEs, and that puts a limit on how much crafting anyone can do. Sure, gold helps, and a player with a lot of gold (or RMAH $) can buy other great gear and thus increase their DE acquisition. But Demonic Essences do put a cap on any pay-to-win approach, since it’s impossible to simply charge 50,000 of them and craft all night.
So what do you guys think about the overall DE drop rate, and is anyone arguing a balance point that’s not totally reflective of and beneficial to your current play style and economic strata?
Loading ...Every time Blizzard talks about the changes they’ve made to the console version of the game we get a burst of QQing about “PC version wuz 18 month beta test!” and the like. It’s hard to take those arguments on good faith, since you know if the console was exactly the same game then the same haters would be QQing about, “Lazy Bli$$ard maed no improvs in 18 moinths!”
That aside, it is interesting to see what sort of changes the console version is getting, and trying to interpret what that tells us about upcoming changes to the *real* version of the game. Lylirra offered a lengthy reply to a thread on that topic today:
While the core of the console game is based on the PC game — you get all the same content, systems, classes, skills, and runes on the console as you do on PC — the console version of Diablo III is really its own thing. It’s a familiar, but ultimately unique experience. Our goal when developing Diablo III for console was to deliver that same visceral gameplay you get with a mouse and keyboard, but at the same time feel completely natural when using a controller. (Basically, whichever platform you prefer for gaming, you can pick that version and know that it was tweaked to be best suited for the platform of your choice.)
In order to achieve that, we’ve made a variety of tweaks to the the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, including a complete re-design of the UI and character controls, inventory management, as well as combat pacing and boss fights. The item game is predominantly the same, but we’ve also made some minor adjustments to itemization. Items will drop less frequently, but will typically be of higher quality. There’s a chance that when a white or gray item drops, that it will be automatically converted to gold too. These changes were made to help manage the flow of gameplay and keep players in the midst of combat (and out of their inventory screens) as much possible. Inventory management is a little more difficult on the console version than it is on the PC, where you have a mouse to quickly navigate through menus, so this was a pretty key tweak for the PS3 and Xbox 360.
Many of these adjustments inspired future changes we’d like to make to PC, and many of them were inspired by plans we already had for improving itemization as a whole. Since we use staggered development (meaning, the PC and console games more or less have separate teams and development cycles), though, it’s possible that one game will receive changes before another. Over time, which game that is may switch back and forth. Even so, PC will always be the lead platform.
Regardless, here are a few interviews and hands-on reviews from PAX East you may want to check out. I’ve only highlighted ones where itemization on console gets addressed, but I figured this was kind of important, as it lets you get the information directly from the developers.
All of those media pieces linked to are from March and April, so none of the info is newly-revealed. (Like I said at the start, this same issue comes up every time we get a burst of console news.)
There is something new today, though. I spotted it in one of the new Diablo 3 console screens released at E3. As you can see in the screen crop below, it’s a Calamity. In the PC version this is one of the best Demon Hunter weapons in the game, with blazing fast firing speed, inherent Critical hit Damage, and the highest possible DPS for a hand xbow. Naturally, it’s a level 63 item and can only be found in Inferno.
In that console screen though, the Calamity has the same inherent properties, but the values are much lower and it’s an item level 31 item. Que?
Well, one idea we’ve heard repeatedly from Travis Day and others is that they want to allow lower level legendaries to drop later in the game, with appropriately scaled up stats. (Which wouldn’t seem to work, unless they redid their inherent bonuses as well.) As far as I know, they haven’t publicly said anything about high level legendaries going the other direction though, with ilvl 60+ items dropping earlier in the game, with appropriate scaled down stats. And yet that’s exactly what this console Calamity seems to be doing.
Ironically, given all the talk about improved legendaries and changes to itemization on the console… that lvl 31 Calamity sucks. I base that opinion not on the PC version (since we don’t know how precisely DPS and other stats can be translated between platforms), but on a comparison to the hand crossbow the character already has equipped. That one’s not any good, just a blue with some bonus poison damage, but it’s the same Ilvl as the Calamity, has considerably higher DPS, and it’s not even socketed! Stick any level of Ruby in there and it’ll be vastly better.
That aside, what do you guys think about not only finding lower level legendaries (with bumped up stats) in Inferno, but also finding higher level legendaries (with bumped down stats) earlier in the game? I’m not a huge fan of either possibility. It’s already so hard to find any of the good legendaries that adding even more low level legendaries to dilute the pool seems treacherous. I’ve found something like 30 Andy’s hats vs. 2 Mempos ever. Given that, the prospect of having to wade through upgraded versions of Broken Crowns, Giant Skulls, Blind Faiths, and Leoric’s Crowns doesn’t exactly thrill me.
Of course I’m thinking of the current version of those items. The real hope is that Bliz does manage to improve legendaries across the board. If they pull that off then my objection goes away, since every time you found a legendary you would get excited for the potential ID, and not just pray to find one of a few specific legendary items, then double-pray to the Malicious Lord of RNG for a great roll on top of that.
Kind of a weird “news” item today saying that the Diablo 3 Expansion has been delayed into 2014.
The Diablo III expansion was never announced with a specific launch date in mind, but many were expecting that it would arrive in 2013. We have learned from a source that it has definitely been delayed. And even with some reassigned employees who came over from another project, it’s clear that the expansion will not arrive until 2014.
It’s odd they’d put this up, even for the links and gossip *cough*, since no one seriously thought we’d see the Diablo 3 Expansion this year. Though early word has it testing very well internally, the title hasn’t even been announced yet, and won’t be until Blizzcon in November. Did anyone seriously think Blizzard would reveal a game in November and release it a month later?
Honestly, I’ll be delighted if we see D3X in late 2014 at the soonest. Crack that whip, Josh!
Loading ...Flashback, if you will, to the internal timeline revealed in that leaked Blizzard Product Slate. It projected 18 months from D3 to D3X (and another 18 to D3Y), but that was as of early 2010, at which time D3 was projected for release in Q4 2011. Delays happened and D3 didn’t ship until May 2012, which meant Q4 2013 was the most optimistic possible date for D3X. Now that it’s mid-2013 and the game hasn’t even been announced yet, that’s obviously not on the table.
Blizzard has released info on console-exclusive items. These are all included with the game for players who buy with pre-orders, much like the Angelic Wings D3CE buyers can use to fly fly fly their way to glory in the PC version. Both consoles get the cosmetic bonus items, while only PS3 users also get the bonus items with useful stats and features. (I’d use Leah’s Ring right now on my Paragon characters, were it available in the PC version.)
Here’s the Blueth:
Exclusive PS3™ In-Game Items:
Players who purchase Diablo® III on the PS3™ will also receive five additional PS3-exclusive in-game items:
Please note that console preorder bonuses and PS3-exclusive in-game items cannot be transferred across platforms, and players will need a connection (to Xbox LIVE® or PlayStation® Network, respectively) in order to receive these items.
Weird that PS3 users get all the cool items, while there’s nothing functional for XBoxers. Did Bill Gates steal Bobby’s chair at the annual entertainment tycoon luncheon, or what? Perhaps Xbox bonus items will be revealed later? We’ve months until the release date, after all.
The shots that were released earlier are all very nice but how does the PS3 multiplayer look in action? Blizzard released a gameplay trailer featuring the co-op with four players on the single screen.
Hot off the E3 presses comes new screenshots for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Diablo 3. These shots show s four player co-op game on a single screen. As you can see the skills and health orbs take up quite a large portion of the viewing area, a little different to what you guys are used to.
Xbox 360 Screenshots
Playstation 3 Screenshots
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