How many Q's Per Act Do You Want To See?

[Bill Cosby]

Hey guys-

Just a thought, how many Quests would you like to see per act if Blizzard was to sick with the same concept? I would like to see there be more quests per act personally and think that around 10 would be a lot (and mean the acts are a lot bigger :)) but wouldnt mind it if they ALL varied to have a different number. I just hope it is a longer game :-D

Any quests you would like to see upgraded for Diablo 3? Like a favorite that could return bigger and better? I would like to see the Ancients come back in some way or form

[MrCanon]

4 sidequests per act with awesome rewards (stat and skill points, + resistance scroll, added slot to item, etc ) just like Diablo II.
Main storyline quests doesn't count with those.

It makes it easier to just join a game and have fun.
Also, it's more alt friendly and makes it easier to redo these quests on Nighmare and Hell.

I HATE these new online games with 100+ boring quests.
WoW unfortunately started the trend.

[Meneldil]

4 sidequests per act with awesome rewards (stat and skill points, + resistance scroll, added slot to item, etc ) just like Diablo II.

Why do you want Diablo III to be just like Diablo II?!

Personally, I'd like to see possibly more quests - or quests with options/different possible ending / mutually exclusive quests. Obviously, I think the rewards would have to be worthwhile, too. :)

[Kryyn]

50. >.> DnD style though, there's main quests, then all the sub-quests that aren't available if you treat an NPC a certain way, etc.

[koeraokse]

around 10 per act, if D3 becomes another game with million quests then it sux

[Angel_of_Wrath]

Definitely more quests than D2, but no stupid fedex quests. Cain doesn't need 10 demon wings from venom lords to do something irrelevant. Stay with the detailed side story and valuable rewards.

Diablo 1 had some random quests where there was a chance to get/not get a quest or questline during game creation. I'd like to see that with several quests of varying randomness (randomness? is that a word?) that would appear from time to time.

[Zeek]

I'd like to see about 10 as well though I'd like them to be arranged sort of differently. Make about 4 main quests and then 6 side quests with valuable rewards but make them much more difficult than the main quests. Possibly making it so that you don't even really have a shot at the time and it's more of an end game thing that you'll have to come back for. I don't want them to have really valuable rewards but everyone just levels up in hell and then comes back when they can fly right through to the reward. They should also be kind enough to let you know the first time through. Like in the dialog activating the quest mention that you better train a lot before you even attempt to take on whatever nasty thing you need to beat to complete the quest.

[MYK]

I want as many as it takes to get to the next act.

[qtpielv]

Q's with different awards for different classes, Qs consisting of several parts with possible multiple storylines.

[mince pies]

I'd like to see the same concept from DI regarding quests. By that I mean that you have a random set of quests for each char. For example, in DI, if you didn't get the Poisoned Water supply quest then you would get King Leoric's quest and to do the Poisoned Water supply you'd have to create a new char. But I'd like that to be in the side quests of the game so that they're optional and aren't compulsory in completing the game. So, ideally, ten (main) quests would suit me.

I'd also like to see quests changing in Nightmare and Hell difficulties (and possibly another difficulty after Hell?) because it gets kind of boring after you've completed Normal then have to do the same quests again in a harder difficulty. The thing about treating NPCs a certain way to determine which quests you get sounds good too

[minizx]

i would like around 10 main quests per act and also i would like to see randomized side quests like "Bob the unholy has eaten my cows ill give you a random rare ring if you kill him and avenge my cattle" or "Griswald has stole my damm leg again ill give you a random charm if you get it back, all the other towns folk are calling me Ileen so help me please"

[NASE]

Wouldn't random quest ruin the play style we have now? Imagine you entering a game where you were cruel to cain so you he doesn't want to give you a certain quest, though the other of the party has been nice to cain and get the quest. That would prevent you from partying, and thus, I don't really see it work.
On the other hand, might be interesting in single player.



I'd like to see as many quest as possible, though not every quest should be mandatory. We don't want to have to a hundred quest with our pvp characters just to get a few stat points. On the other hand, mf characters might have interest in doing some quest to open new area's or to get more money from the ncp's. Crafters might get some quest to get additional features to the horadric cube.
The only thing that would be bad, is to get all the same quest. We don't want a zillion kill-that-monster-quests. Though as long as they are original, I don't see why there should be a limit, just make quests for different types of characters - i.e. stat quest for pvp, though not needed to survive in pvm.

[Flux]

I don't know if anyone but me followed HGL that closely, but the game was pretty much D3 in a new setting. Bliz dumped all (presumably) the work the original d3 team did before bliz north got shut down in 2005, which fully freed up the flagship guys to reuse all of their d3 ideas. In that light, it's interesting to see how they handled quests in hgl.

Well okay... how they wanted to handle quests in hgl. As the game was released it was almost nothing but fed ex quests, many of them dressed up with wacky npc dialogue to slightly obscure their "collect n of X and return it to NPC 1" nature. In their planning for quests though, they had some very interesting ideas.

http://hellgate.incgamers.com/w/index.php/Quests

They had ideas for faction quests; these were ones that would only be available for each faction (class). Imagine quests only for paladins, or amazons, or whatever. The game fiction had the different factions competing with each other, in not entirely friendly fashion. The cabalists and templars didn't like each other, so templars wouldn't get quests from cabalist NPCs, and vice versa. your char would also gain faction points with a given faction by doing quests for them. you could earn promotion or special treatment in your own faction, or gain esteem from other factions, who might eventually have granted your char the ability to use the class-specific weapons of other classes.

Another nifty idea was rare quests. These would only generate every now and then, maybe every 500th game, so they'd be fun and special and different when you found them. /f list everyone! kind of like diablo walks the earth.

They were also going to have a world clock and quests on time limits. You had to return with 10 fuel mods, or whatever, but you only had 5 or 10 minutes from when you were given the quest. These would have been more rewarding than regular quests.

Another good idea that did make it into the game was different rewards. So for a given quest reward you could pick from 3 items of armor, or 3 weapons, and take the one you liked best. The one that was best for your character, or maybe for your friend playing a different class. Flagship used these as a game balancer; by making these quests required before you could advance they made sure you had equipment of sufficient quality to compete in the next area. These were semi-random, so rather than just the potluck rare ring or rare class specific item of d2, you could pick a ring, amulet, helm, weapon, etc, whichever your char needed the most.

The key to these being useful is making the quests interesting and meaningful. No one cares if they get the uber rare quest if it's just another stupid FedEx chore. HGL didn't handle that aspect of things very well. Let's hope the D3 team, operating without the budget/time deadlines that crippled HGL, can improve on their efforts.

[MrCanon]

No random quests and no 10+ quests per act, please.
If you guys actually played any ARPG after D2, you should know D2 was far superior in the end.

Grouping plain sucks if you have tons of quests.
Check Guild Wars, Hellgate:London or even any of the random quests in WoW.

D2 was nice because you could simply join an Act and just easily complete it fully without getting lost or confused in chain quests.

[IrreducibleParadox]

Randomly spawning quests would be awesome if the gamestructure was similar to that of D2 and D1. Then the Qs could also have a rarity rating and spawn like uber D in D2. Sometimes you'd find brand new super rare quests with freaky rewards in the games you are playing and they could always offer up something new. A special quests could be as rare as the zod rune and you could only read about it online and drool to the reward descriptions.

[Mestre Crjspim]

They had ideas for faction quests; these were ones that would only be available for each faction (class). Imagine quests only for paladins, or amazons, or whatever. The game fiction had the different factions competing with each other, in not entirely friendly fashion. The cabalists and templars didn't like each other, so templars wouldn't get quests from cabalist NPCs, and vice versa. your char would also gain faction points with a given faction by doing quests for them. you could earn promotion or special treatment in your own faction, or gain esteem from other factions, who might eventually have granted your char the ability to use the class-specific weapons of other classes.


They were also going to have a world clock and quests on time limits. You had to return with 10 fuel mods, or whatever, but you only had 5 or 10 minutes from when you were given the quest. These would have been more rewarding than regular quests.

(...)

Another good idea that did make it into the game was different rewards. So for a given quest reward you could pick from 3 items of armor, or 3 weapons, and take the one you liked best.

Guild Wars is much like this. Nonetheless, GW has too many quests. I like to do quests, however if they start to be much alike or if the rewards really suck, I'll just do them the quickest way I can, just to complete the game and pass on to other things.

Your idea of rare quests is one of the most interesting things I've heard for a RPG. It could really boost the game's longevity, misticism and "treasure/quest hunt". I recall that my favorite quest in the original Diablo was random and it did't spawn too much - The Warlord of Blood (rings a bell to novel's readers). The weapon racks could bring out some very good items...

[Lanthanide]

I like the idea of the randomized quests, a la D1, but they can't be too random - any less frequent than 1/3 or 1/4 games kind of sucks, because you could easily get quests 1-3 15 games in a row before you finally get quest 4, for example.

The quests also need to be substantially different and not just tweaked copies of each other. Compare Zhar the Mad with Chamber of Bone or Arkaine's Valour for example.

The rewards should not be too different in power levels either - it sucks if you want to do quest X because it has a really good reward, but you keep rolling quest Y instead - this is a problem Mestre noted above with Warlord of Blood. It was quite evident in D1 - King Leoric was a far better quest for Warriors than Poisoned Water Supply was, and it sucked when you got PWS.

[Mestre Crjspim]

Indeed you're somewhat right... I found it pretty frustrating sometimes when I got to Hell levels and there was no Warlord of Blood. Eitherway, it's the randomness and rarity that keeps us pushing forward.

[IrreducibleParadox]

I like the idea of the randomized quests, a la D1, but they can't be too random - any less frequent than 1/3 or 1/4 games kind of sucks, because you could easily get quests 1-3 15 games in a row before you finally get quest 4, for example.

The quests also need to be substantially different and not just tweaked copies of each other. Compare Zhar the Mad with Chamber of Bone or Arkaine's Valour for example.

The rewards should not be too different in power levels either - it sucks if you want to do quest X because it has a really good reward, but you keep rolling quest Y instead - this is a problem Mestre noted above with Warlord of Blood. It was quite evident in D1 - King Leoric was a far better quest for Warriors than Poisoned Water Supply was, and it sucked when you got PWS.

WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. You are all totally wrong! Think outside the box people. Of course a core set of quests should function exactly as you describe above, but on top of these there should be a vast amount of randomized and highly rare quests. Much like uber diablo or items. It would offer up the potential for continuous exploration and make sure that there was always new content to experience.

If certain items can be rare and randomly spawning in only very few games then so can and should a couple of cool quests.

Also I liked the shrines of D1 and wouldn't mind it at all if certain shrines, tomes etc. unlocked hidden classes and or abilites. More things than equippable items should be findable, to automatically limit items to be the only searchable objects would be wrong and totally unnecessary.

[Bill Cosby]

For those who dont want "10 quests", the thing you have to realize is this is assuming its in the same set up as D2 or D2. Like if there were 10 quests for Act 1, 2, 3 etc. The biggest thing is that this game is NOT like WoW. D2 is not like that or even guild wars, and shouldnt be. I dis-agree with the "choose your reward" because that is getting too much like WoW.

I LOVE the idea of a Q that gives a random charm, that would be really cool. Its more of an upgraded D2, that is what I want and the quests can defintely help that. I want a longer game, it should still be easy to get through the acts (so i like the ideas of 4 main quests and 6 sub quests...would the dark tower count as a sub quest? and the Horadric Malus? I say defintely!) So think of it like that.

D2: A1: Find the Mutant Skeleton in the Hole, he killed Warrivs brother, and warriv wants revenge.

Heres an idea of how "random" quests could factor in:

Think of if every 100th game or something one of the "dead rogues" is a "dieing rouge" and if you avenge him by killing something in the den of evil (for example) he would give you a cool merc weapon, or a rare ammy. It cant be something that is TOO godly because it is a random quest, but should be a good reward that if you are in a game and you see this that people woul want to do it. Another reason not to rush through and take your time.

Here's an idea: How would you feel if Nightmare and Hell had completely different quests. I know that this was kind of mentioned before, but what if Normal was acts 1-5, Nightmare was acts 6-10 and hell (which could take place in hell? haha) was acts 11-15, all with 5-6 quests per act. It would make Diablo 2 three times as long, create for a TON more bosses, and would be bad ***!

As long as they have Set Quests (a.k.a not like WoW with a gazillion quests) it will be done correctly to stay true to Diablo form

[aishilee]

More Quest, More Story , More Interesting , More in depth , More Rewads.

Hmm if D3 is going to be like D2, Den i would rather they juz add on another Expansion, Expanding the Expansion.

[Lanthanide]

Randomized quests are good if and only if they can make them interesting at the same time as being random. That means none of the HGL-like collection quests or kill boss monster quests (which are essentially the same thing).

It is, however, very difficult to make a random quest engine in a game like this that goes beyond those simple formulaic/algorithmic types of quests. Even if you managed to do it well, people would still be able to tell "ahh, this is one of the Z-style quests". In contrast if they made say 100 mini-quests that were each distinct and designed them so they could occur over a very wide range of levels/tilesets, then each quest can be very specific and memorable, without all of them being formulaic cookie-cutter quests in the same vein. Honestly, all of the quests from Diablo 1 have their own style and flair about them and work as a very good model to start from in terms of quest ideas (ie, Zhar the Mad is a random boss that protects his Library, Gharbad the Weak will make you an item, Lachdanan wants you to find him a golden potion on the next level, Anvil of Fury is a simple fedex quest).

The problem with this type of content is that it is quite a lot of work for comparaitively little gain. Is it better to spend 1 man-week making a quest that 1/10th of the average players will see, or spend 1 man-week getting something like the Arcane Sanctuary to work properly and look awesome, as opposed to merely neat-o? Baldur's Gate 2 is actually a pretty good example of a game where they went nuts on the quests which players could easily skip - there are about 40-50 quests, some of them very involved, and the majority of them could be skipped (you only needed to do enough to get 10,000 gold, which could be done after completing 3 or 4 of the most highly paying ones).

[IrreducibleParadox]

Heres an idea of how "random" quests could factor in:

Think of if every 100th game or something one of the "dead rogues" is a "dieing rouge" and if you avenge him by killing something in the den of evil (for example) he would give you a cool merc weapon, or a rare ammy. It cant be something that is TOO godly because it is a random quest, but should be a good reward that if you are in a game and you see this that people woul want to do it. Another reason not to rush through and take your time.



That is a pretty cool quest. But remember that you'd be finding her in the wilderness somewhere and not in town. Or if she would be found in town, it should be possible for her to show up at any time in any game as long as the game is open. Because otherwise if its like with the well in D1 people could abuse the game and restart until they got the quest. But if you prevent that then there is no reason whatsoever that the quest should not be able to give a great reward. Just like with items the rarity of the quests should determine the greatness of their rewards. One quest with, say andariels secret sister (or whatever) could for example spawn in 1 / 10000 games, it could spawn at hidden places and have a tremendeously powerfull reward. Great luck to the people that find it at their first playthrough.

These rare quests could also be trememndously more difficult than the other quests because they aren't essential to the main storyline but rather sidequests.

Furthermore I want the cool shrines back, I want the libraries back. I want the armories with way better than average loot back, and put in treasuries where there is lots and lots of gold and gems although they should be rare. I absolutely would like it if the spellsystem was revamped so that some spells are found or can only be leveled to a certain point without books that should become a valueable resource for mages.

[aishilee]

Sound like Dclone to me . Hmph

[IrreducibleParadox]

Sound like Dclone to me . Hmph

The Dclone was not very well made because he had no quest dialogue, the reward for uber tristram sucked a bit since only one charm dropped etc. and the same models and abilities were used by him, well more or less. But otherwise there was nothing wrong with dclone. He was great, I caught him in four games and beat him in all. Felt damn lucky when he appeared just like when an exotic item turns up. They should have more random quests incorporated into the game. Some should ofcourse be semi-rare, maybe once every 5 games or so but some could also be super rare.

One cool idea would be if many of your skills have to be stolen from enemies, so that the first time you encounter a skill it is always wielded by a demon. Then for example you might run into a champion goatman named Garbad the Strong who uses leap attacks. And when you defeat him you'll unlock the ability to put points in leap attack.

With this kind of method for accuiring skills the early acts should ofcourse be full of enemies that use the basic skills "think, zombies with bash, dualwielding skeletons, shamans with firebolts etc..." But certain perhaps more powerfull skills could be found and unlocked only through defeating rare bosses that put up a hell of a fight.

[Bill Cosby]

That is a pretty cool idea to have the skills come from enemies, but it would have to be char specific. I dont want to be able to create a Human who can get all these skills to be whatever, again too much like wow. But let only sorcerers get the fireball from the fireball users.

Also, the "super rare baddies" must be able to be solo killed. Again, this is a game that group is optional and not required to do to gain the best things in the game.

And the optional quest things with the "dieing rouge" think about it, you dont ever see a dead rouge in town, so the "dieing rouge" thing would only be where dead rouges are. This would make people WANT to check the pits, and WANT to do the hole because they could get the Q rewards. by no means would it eliminate rushing but it would make some people want to play through more. Could enhance the game as a whole.

You cant have too many super rare quests because some people will just hunt for that instead of play the game!

[raveharu]

Instead of repeating normal/nightmare/hell with the same old storyline and quests, which is pretty boring, do it such that every act or town (I presume it would be like D2) has enough quests/monsters for at least one difficulty.

For example (using d2),

Act1 and Act2 will be under the Normal difficulty level.
Act3 and Act 4 will be under Nightmare difficulty level.
Act 5 will be under Hell difficulty level.

In respect to changes in the games (multiplayer only),

- implement job advancement system.
this is a pretty factor factor IMO. it makes the game more diverse and complicated then just a one-sided skill system.

- implement guild system

- implement active in-game GMs[GameMasters] (to ban hackers, hold events etc etc)
interactions is pretty important to make the game more popular.
also banning of hackers, annoying in-game botters and spammers.

- act bosses need to be more challenging and have more firepower.
bosses need more coordination and teamwork to defeat rather than getting pawned in less than 3 minutes.

- equality among all the jobs.
just look at what they did to hammerdins in D2.

- implement a better and more challenging leveling system.
I duno, but I can level chars to 80+ in one day in D2.

Just some of my suggestions :afro:

[Zeek]

For example (using d2),

Act1 and Act2 will be under the Normal difficulty level.
Act3 and Act 4 will be under Nightmare difficulty level.
Act 5 will be under Hell difficulty level.
If they're going to do that then I want them to give a storyline reason for the in game effects. i.e. you now have lowered resistances because you're getting closer to some demon stronghold that has a resistance reducing aura. Hopefully something better than a lame idea like that.

[sangfagel]

Instead of repeating normal/nightmare/hell with the same old storyline and quests, which is pretty boring, do it such that every act or town (I presume it would be like D2) has enough quests/monsters for at least one difficulty.

For example (using d2),

Act1 and Act2 will be under the Normal difficulty level.
Act3 and Act 4 will be under Nightmare difficulty level.
Act 5 will be under Hell difficulty level.

In respect to changes in the games (multiplayer only),

- implement job advancement system.
this is a pretty factor factor IMO. it makes the game more diverse and complicated then just a one-sided skill system.

- implement guild system

- implement active in-game GMs[GameMasters] (to ban hackers, hold events etc etc)
interactions is pretty important to make the game more popular.
also banning of hackers, annoying in-game botters and spammers.

- act bosses need to be more challenging and have more firepower.
bosses need more coordination and teamwork to defeat rather than getting pawned in less than 3 minutes.

You don´t need to wait for D3 - just play WoW.

[Rack]

I hope they take some ideas from Sacred and add a "Main Quest Storyline" plus a ton of additional "Side quests".


What I really want is to have no "Norma", "Nightmare", and "Hell" lvls. Just give me one big game with like 15 acts. Acts 1-5 at "Normal" lvl, Acts 6-10 at "Nightmare" lvl, and Acts 11-15 at "Hell" lvl. That game would be just as big (or bigger hopefully. Much bigger) but it won't be nearly as repetitive.

[IrreducibleParadox]

I hope they take some ideas from Sacred and add a "Main Quest Storyline" plus a ton of additional "Side quests".


What I really want is to have no "Norma", "Nightmare", and "Hell" lvls. Just give me one big game with like 15 acts. Acts 1-5 at "Normal" lvl, Acts 6-10 at "Nightmare" lvl, and Acts 11-15 at "Hell" lvl. That game would be just as big (or bigger hopefully. Much bigger) but it won't be nearly as repetitive.

All of the people who bash difficulties and want there to be just acts of different difficulties instead do realize, I hope, that the acts are already supposed to be of increasing difficulty. The normal/nightmare/hell thing is just a way to use much of the same content to extend the game. To take it away wouldn't result in a tremendous amount of new content as the dificulties are primarilly reuse, it would mostly just shorten the game to a third.

[jscore]

All of the people who bash difficulties and want there to be just acts of different difficulties instead do realize, I hope, that the acts are already supposed to be of increasing difficulty. The normal/nightmare/hell thing is just a way to use much of the same content to extend the game. To take it away wouldn't result in a tremendous amount of new content as the dificulties are primarilly reuse, it would mostly just shorten the game to a third.

well games have advanced quite a bit in the last 10 years

i should hope they can fit a long enough game without a complete repetition of the difficulties.

Baldur's Gate had a long game that had no basically no mutliplayer replay value and managed to create a good non-repeatable world

in terms of that, the "Side quests" could be useful, if used properly, to increase interest in the game

how many of us go into the cave, or the masoleum, or wherever else ( i don't even know the names) in D2 ... almost none

if you make those areas a) more interesting and b) have some sort of quest reward that is somewhat useful (maybe money, which could have an actual use in D3, or a unique that you get for the quest, which is good but not great, i.e. Arkane's Valor in D1) then people would visit these areas and viola! you've got your increased game length

[Rack]

All of the people who bash difficulties and want there to be just acts of different difficulties instead do realize, I hope, that the acts are already supposed to be of increasing difficulty. The normal/nightmare/hell thing is just a way to use much of the same content to extend the game. To take it away wouldn't result in a tremendous amount of new content as the dificulties are primarilly reuse, it would mostly just shorten the game to a third.

Did you even read my post?


Acts 1-5 would be considered "Normal", and it's a given that the difficulty would progress from 1 to 5 just like the game does now. Only once you've gotten past 5, instead of starting over the SAME game again in Nightmare lvl, you go on to Nightmare lvl but it's completely NEW acts.

I hope I made myself clear this time. The game right now is 15 acts (5 acts per level * 3 lvls). The game would STILL be 15 acts, only w/o having to do the same acts over and over. And with the way computer technology is now, each act can (and should) be like twice the size of a D2 act.

So the game would not be shortened to 1/3. It wouldn't be shortened at all. In fact, it would be longer/bigger than before.

[jakotaco]

The d1 and D2 concept has been good, much better than the typical fedex quests (WoW) or the "random" "go to x and kill mr y"x100 (Mythos)

As I see it this could work...
A few fixed quests per act or eliqualent with either story progression or stat rewards.
some rare (found or dropped maybe?) fully scripted quests with good semi-random item rewards.
And maybe one "random quest-giver" per act giving a random item or gold reward of about hte same quality as a normal drop. For those who grow tired of endless bossrunning and making you visit some of the undervisited zones.

[Rack]

Another thing I'd really like to see added would be something like the Bounty "Quest" from Sacred/UW. Something to do when you don't feel like doing the repetitive baalrun12 or tombs002 or whatever.

For those that don't know, basically there's a tavern with a clickable signpost outside with a bounty on it, explaining who to kill and where to kill him. You kill him, then return and click the sign again. Then you can go do whatever (hunt tarantulas or something) come back and click the sign again and it'll have a new bounty. After about 20 of them you get a reward (can't remember what it was in Sacred).


Again, nothing that will "Ruin" the game. Just adding options of something to do when you don't feel like doing the same 'ole, same 'ole.


One thing I really liked about Sacred was you can join a game and just go "Questing" if you felt like it. Instead of, "Create game, do baal run, rinse, repeat".

[carnivore]

id like:
- between 10 to 12 story quests divided in 3 or 4 acts/areas/whatever. some of those could be a little more lengthy (not the "go there, kill that" type, more like the seals in cs)
- a specific (shorter) quest-line for each individual char
- a specific quest line for each difficulty
- a couple of super/bonus/hidden quests like dclone, übertrist and cows (without such things as server-hopping please)
- a single non-linear questline with maybe a single quest per act over all difficulties resulting in a special bonus (a d2-example: one way grants you the teleport skill, the other bo, the third gives you static as a character ability; the quest is finishable only as matriarch/patriarch in a special area)
- and also i dislike wow, a couiple of 2 to 4 people coop quests with mild rewards might be nice

[jscore]

the hidden quest ubertrist is kinda crappy though - its just repitition ... i.e. more "boss runs" (For the keys)

i guess it makes sense as it was added on a patch

but hidden boss quests somewhat like Final Fantasy would be cool - where you actually have to travel through a hidden area (not just teleport there) fighting unique monsters and things.

[Bill Cosby]

So something like the weapons of final fantasy? that would be kind of cool. They travel the world so you never know what part of what act they would be in, and low level guys could go in and accidentally find them and get pwnd haha.

One thing I do like about WoW that someone in here previously mentioned that D3 should have is the class specific quest for a skill. To get frozen orb you have to use your abilities as a sorceress from Mallah in act 5 by staticing and assisting the front lines of the army fighting in the foothills (as a cheap example). Again it makes people play more than just skip t hrough but isnt really a pain and shouldnt be something that people would hate doing, it should be fun.

I support the Act 1-5 Normal act 6-10 nightmare act 11-15 hell. (and still think the "hell" difficulty acts should BE in hell. I cant wait for whatever they do

[Mestre Crjspim]

Another thing I'd really like to see added would be something like the Bounty "Quest" from Sacred/UW. Something to do when you don't feel like doing the repetitive baalrun12 or tombs002 or whatever.

For those that don't know, basically there's a tavern with a clickable signpost outside with a bounty on it, explaining who to kill and where to kill him. You kill him, then return and click the sign again. Then you can go do whatever (hunt tarantulas or something) come back and click the sign again and it'll have a new bounty. After about 20 of them you get a reward (can't remember what it was in Sacred).


Again, nothing that will "Ruin" the game. Just adding options of something to do when you don't feel like doing the same 'ole, same 'ole.


One thing I really liked about Sacred was you can join a game and just go "Questing" if you felt like it. Instead of, "Create game, do baal run, rinse, repeat".


Hmmmm... bounty hunting would be something that I would fancy... a lot! Instead of having fedex quests, you could be "paid" for doing some cleaning now and then. Something similar to the Guild of Thieves in Phantasy Star 4.

[Rack]

Hmmmm... bounty hunting would be something that I would fancy... a lot! Instead of having fedex quests, you could be "paid" for doing some cleaning now and then. Something similar to the Guild of Thieves in Phantasy Star 4.

I just read up on the sacred bounty "quests" since I had forgotten what it entailed. You get paid in gold, runes, or items for each and every bounty. Even set items sometimes. After doing all the bounties you get 2 attribute points and 2 skill points. Plus a "Medal of Honor" that gives you some res's and other stuff.


They could even remove the att and skill points and I'd still love to see it in the game.

[raveharu]

So something like the weapons of final fantasy? that would be kind of cool. They travel the world so you never know what part of what act they would be in, and low level guys could go in and accidentally find them and get pwnd haha.

One thing I do like about WoW that someone in here previously mentioned that D3 should have is the class specific quest for a skill. To get frozen orb you have to use your abilities as a sorceress from Mallah in act 5 by staticing and assisting the front lines of the army fighting in the foothills (as a cheap example). Again it makes people play more than just skip t hrough but isnt really a pain and shouldnt be something that people would hate doing, it should be fun.

I support the Act 1-5 Normal act 6-10 nightmare act 11-15 hell. (and still think the "hell" difficulty acts should BE in hell. I cant wait for whatever they do

wow that means there would be 15 towns, naaaa thats like totally sucky and exaggerating.

Not sure if D3 would still be the same as D2, as in each individual creating a world for him/herself when in a new game.
Or rather, create multiple worlds in one server (like one server has 20 channels). Spawnwise monsters will be spawning randomly etc etc ...ok I'm heading towards MMORPG :laughing:

Seriously I'm not sure, you guys want something different but it seems the ideas are limited....unless you can give good examples ? so far all the examples are rather crappy IMO.


Skills wise have a job system instead of the boring one sided tree system.
Too many clones in the game gets boring in a while.
maybe 1st - 2nd -3rd - 4th job? Makes the game more versatile then just "sorcs,pallys and necros".

Obtaining skills... maybe when you reach 3rd you have to hunt them from monsters or do quests that require teamwork.

[Lanthanide]

Did you even read my post?

Acts 1-5 would be considered "Normal", and it's a given that the difficulty would progress from 1 to 5 just like the game does now. Only once you've gotten past 5, instead of starting over the SAME game again in Nightmare lvl, you go on to Nightmare lvl but it's completely NEW acts.

I hope I made myself clear this time. The game right now is 15 acts (5 acts per level * 3 lvls). The game would STILL be 15 acts, only w/o having to do the same acts over and over. And with the way computer technology is now, each act can (and should) be like twice the size of a D2 act.

So the game would not be shortened to 1/3. It wouldn't be shortened at all. In fact, it would be longer/bigger than before.
One big problem with that is that some people may not be interested in completing NM or Hell difficulties precisely because it is too hard for them, so Blizzard would be making considerable content that some people would never see.

Also, you still aren't getting the point. So you now have 15 Acts split into 3 difficulty levels? Why not keep all 5 acts the same 'difficulty' level, and then add in 2 extra difficulty levels on top. Now you have 45 areas to play through instead of just 15.

Hopefully that makes it clearer that difficulty in a game like Diablo is pretty arbitrary.

[IrreducibleParadox]

Did you even read my post?


Acts 1-5 would be considered "Normal", and it's a given that the difficulty would progress from 1 to 5 just like the game does now. Only once you've gotten past 5, instead of starting over the SAME game again in Nightmare lvl, you go on to Nightmare lvl but it's completely NEW acts.

I hope I made myself clear this time. The game right now is 15 acts (5 acts per level * 3 lvls). The game would STILL be 15 acts, only w/o having to do the same acts over and over. And with the way computer technology is now, each act can (and should) be like twice the size of a D2 act.

So the game would not be shortened to 1/3. It wouldn't be shortened at all. In fact, it would be longer/bigger than before.

Yes, but what I am arguing is this. Blizzard now probably spent 9/10ths of their time developing 5 acts that they then spent 1/10th of the time turning into 15 acts, because the latter 10 acts were reuse. So if you want 15 original acts of the same quality and scope they might actually have to work 27/10ths as much or 2.7 times as long to produce it given that these were the actuall numbers. And they could also then, if they did this, turn it into 45 acts with an addition of only 3/10ths of their old time. So the difficulties are a very simple way to increase content compared to not having difficulties. That said if they make it more MMORPG styled there likely won't be any difficulties.

[IrreducibleParadox]

And as for todays computer technology it is an incorrect assumption to think that it leads automatically to more content for less work. Or rather, if they were to make D3 in 2D they could use the technology to get much more content and work done faster, but if they turn it into 3D they will already have a tremendous load of extra work ahead of them. In fact Bioware which was cited earlier in this thread have been very outspoken as to why they aren't making games with 200+ expected game time like BG2 anymore. Instead they make much more streamlined games with 30-40 hours of gameplay and they say that the reason for this is the complexity of the technology. Content creation won't be easier.

[jscore]

Yes, but what I am arguing is this. Blizzard now probably spent 9/10ths of their time developing 5 acts that they then spent 1/10th of the time turning into 15 acts, because the latter 10 acts were reuse. So if you want 15 original acts of the same quality and scope they might actually have to work 27/10ths as much or 2.7 times as long to produce it given that these were the actuall numbers. And they could also then, if they did this, turn it into 45 acts with an addition of only 3/10ths of their old time. So the difficulties are a very simple way to increase content compared to not having difficulties. That said if they make it more MMORPG styled there likely won't be any difficulties.

after 10+ years you'd think they would be able to spend a little extra time.

[IrreducibleParadox]

after 10+ years you'd think they would be able to spend a little extra time.

You know from what I've read of D2 a lot of people were pretty burned out when it was released so I don't think that they didn't press a lot of time into it. What Blizzard has now that could be turned into greater amounts of content is money. Because with money you can hire more modellers/animators, coders etc... The only reason why I'm not so sure that the game will have huge amounts of content is WoW because to be honest I'm quite amazed at how few models I experience that game as having. It feels like you encounter the same enemy in every second dungeon.

[Bill Cosby]

Dude, Diablo 3 was in the works and had a % of it completed. It sucked though, so Blizzard scraped the WHOLE game and we can only assume that it has been started up again. (so they have had time to not be "burned out on working on diablo")

There doesnt have to be fifteen towns, I am just saying i want a longer game. If D3 is the same length of D2 (even with LoD) I will be seriously pissed. What is a way to make it longer? Instead of repeating, make new content! I dont care if it takes 2.7 times as much work, seriously id rather them take that long (its going to take them that long anyway) and make a sick game than rush it and just have a crappy sequel.

So what you are proposing is another short game, that is Diablo 2 but with 5 new acts and you want it rushed out so it isnt a complete game? Also, I dont think it would be "too hard", again the whole reason i want more acts is simply more content. It doesnt have to be "insanely uber difficult" and im not even suggesting it is, but D2 DOES increase its difficulty (even if its arbitrary) so i would expect the same in D3. I love Diablo 2, but I want a fresh, new, longer look into the series, and if it takes them a little longer than the 8 years its going to take them to have the final product anyway, so be it I can wait 9 years if im going to be waiting 8 as it is

[IrreducibleParadox]

I'm not saying that I don't want freakish amounts of content. I'm just saying that I don't know if its as easy to throw in as you people seem to think. D2 spent 4+ years in the making, the expansion also took years. I think they restarted the diablo project from scratch when Blizzard North went down. That's almost five years ago now and that is a good amount of time to be making content. But I don't think I want the game to take 10 more years. However if they tripple the staff, which they could certainly afford, then that'd be a good way to reach your 15 acts of content.

[pantherus]

I reckon that having more randomisation of quests (just like D1 SP was) where you've got a relative "pool" of quests and each new game selects a bunch of them for the game.

I also like the idea of the DnD element of "treat NPC x this way, get this quest" - but it could be hard to implement without delving into Good/Evil elements which I think is not the realm of Diablo at all...

Also - my real gripe with D2 was the number of times that "quests" were just the main story and you ended up doing them all just in your required playthrough. Acts 2 & 3 were the worst at this - the quests seems to just be place-fillers and you suddenly realised that you'd done them all and didn't realise it.
D1 had quests that you had to consciously go off and do and it was more of a "sub-quest" feel rather than a "while you're down there..."

[Bill Cosby]

So your saying you want it to take MORE effort to complete all the quests? But I so loved clicking on an act tab and having them all turn to complete at once! (j/k!)

Also, heres something to ponder: If a game like Diablo 2 were to come out today (in terms of length of the game), do you think it would be successful? I dont know, I would like to say yes, but im not sure. Everyone is trying to get the most game for their dollar (and I think we've all squeezed D2 that is was the best money ever spent haha), so its only natural to expect a longer more fuller game than what we are currently playing if they make D3 :grin:

[Rack]

One big problem with that is that some people may not be interested in completing NM or Hell difficulties precisely because it is too hard for them, so Blizzard would be making considerable content that some people would never see.

Also, you still aren't getting the point. So you now have 15 Acts split into 3 difficulty levels? Why not keep all 5 acts the same 'difficulty' level, and then add in 2 extra difficulty levels on top. Now you have 45 areas to play through instead of just 15.

Hopefully that makes it clearer that difficulty in a game like Diablo is pretty arbitrary.


You're still missing the point. 15 acts * 3 would be better, but it's still the same crap, just on a hard level 2 times. My idea would make the game MUCH bigger than D2 and it would do it w/o the repetition.

And the people you think wouldn't want to play NM or Hell are such a minority it's not even worth mentioning. At least 95% of everyone would at least try to finish the game, not jsut quit after act 5. Get real.



after 10+ years you'd think they would be able to spend a little extra time.

Exactly.


I'm not saying that I don't want freakish amounts of content. I'm just saying that I don't know if its as easy to throw in as you people seem to think.


I didn't say it would be easy. I'd rather wait 2 more years for the way I want it. I've waited this long, I can wait longer and get a much better game.

[stillman]

There are problems in D2 quests that I don't want repeated in D3:
Mallah's scroll gives you res each difficulty, yet the game also takes away your res each difficulty so they somewhat cancel. I don't like this give and take idea.
Anya used to give you a nice rare ashwood bow for your bowazon in an older version, which would definitely replace the garbage you were using before. Now, she gives you a spear or a java which you instantly sell back to her. What good is that?
The personalized item quest is also completely useless as it does not affect the mods of the weapon at all (I think it should give your character a bonus when using it).
The town merchants lowering their prices in act 2 for Atma's quest is also barely noticable, since gold is so easy to acquire.
Obviously, what I'm saying is the quests should all have sweeter, noticable, rewards like the Den of Evil skill point. In fact, so much of D2 seems to be a waste of the game designers' efforts. There are huge areas that are ignored in favor of repetative boss killings. There are huge, complex equations for random item drops, yet the game imo just seems to drop a big random mess of junk regardless of area. There are enormous numbers crunched, yet also decimal numbers used to determine a fracture of one mana point. We're not noticing what they put so much effort into. It seems that Blizzard has made a big mess of D2. I guess I can agree with the previous mentionings of how Blizzard spends their time working on the new game. For example, in the rumor section, it said that in D3 there would be 2 versions of every item--a "light" and "dark" version. This sounded great, but then I read on to discover that there was no effect on the item mods at all, they just looked different. Now isn't that sort of thing just a huge waste of effort and memory space?
I'm glad that they scrapped what they had for D3 and started over. This is a good thing imo. Someone should have scrapped the The Phantom Menace movie and told them to remake the whole thing. Just an example there.
Getting back to quest ideas, what if the word "quest" was taken more for what it used to mean, rather than little 15 minute diversions. Suppose a random side quest could only be completed after 10-20 level gains, kind of like Sir Perseval's 10 year quest to find the holy grail. Of cousre the reward would have to be considerably life-altering for your character. The argument here is obviously going to be "why would Blizzard make a bunch of random quests so long if all players aren't exposed to it?" Well, what I had in mind is that the quest is acually a manual change in your character's behavior. For ex: a paladin or knight character is given a chance to prove himself to some king before being able to join the king's army. The paladin/knight has to spend the next 15-20 level gains adventuring without EVER looting a fallen comrade corpse. Only dead enemies, chests, etc can be looted. If he succeeds, then he gains the reward of getting a magic suit of armor made just for him. To use some D2 examples, a necro can have a quest where he must be selective and only summon demon corpses for so many levels to impress an NPC into giving him a desired item, or a paladin can choose to tithe, giving 10% of all his gold to the town to get a more powerful merc someday.
These quests are really up to the players to commit to, using simple rules in the programming that won't bog down the game/memory space. The rewards should be visible on screen to show other players what kind of personality you have.

[Kiroptus]

Just dont put fedex quests on Diablo2 please. They belong to MMORPGs, in ARPGs those quests just dont work (see HGL).

[Mestre Crjspim]

There are problems in D2 quests that I don't want repeated in D3:
Mallah's scroll gives you res each difficulty, yet the game also takes away your res each difficulty so they somewhat cancel. I don't like this give and take idea.
Anya used to give you a nice rare ashwood bow for your bowazon in an older version, which would definitely replace the garbage you were using before. Now, she gives you a spear or a java which you instantly sell back to her. What good is that?
The personalized item quest is also completely useless as it does not affect the mods of the weapon at all (I think it should give your character a bonus when using it).

1st - The reason for lowering your resistances is to enhance the idea of difficulty change and for you to be compeled to search for new and better gear over and over again. It's almost neverending. And, if I'm allowed to say, Malla's scroll is a really good help, specially if we're not playing with a Barb (Natural Resistance) or a Pala(resistances shields).

2nd - Ultimately, it's not the items that Anya gives you or that Charsi imbue for you that you use "to the end". They are obvious valuable, but with sets and uniques around, I wouldn't bet my life on a random reward. Diablo series are based in fast paced action and in "treasure hunt". That is what makes it the best of them all.

3rd - I agree that the customization of the items are nearly useless. It should be a better reward for that quest. Although, if you happen to craft a really awsome item, it's pretty cool to have you name on it.


There are huge, complex equations for random item drops, yet the game imo just seems to drop a big random mess of junk regardless of area.

4th - I think that you are a casual Diablo II player that doesn't understand a great amount of things in the game. This game has the most fantastic and awsome drop system in the videogames industry. As I said, treasure hunt is one of it's main features. That said, you would have to clearly understand the Magic Find mechanics as well as Treasure Class and Item Quality system. Oh, and it seems that you don't play much on Hell difficulty where the good drops are more likely to happen.