Blizzard Unveils Diablo III "Paragon System"

[kouriichi]

And there goes the D3 Economy over night.... Well, glad i didnt sink to much time into grinding for expensive items to see.

 

[PH3NOmenon]

Completely not ripped from City of Heroes, u gaise.

Do you honestly think that no game before CoH ever had a system like this?

Because that would be wrong.

People leave in droves, complaining about pointless grind and end-game content.

Solution: make the treadmill longer!

Fucking genius.

Not up to speed on the Diablo community? The complaint most commonly uttered was lack of end-game. "Pointless grind." was never a problem. Simply because this is a Diablo game. It's the epitome of grinding. The problem was that at max level, you could spend an entire night trying to farm up new gear and if you were unlucky on drops you would have nothing to show for it. Now, at least you'll have some paragon exp to show for it.

Soooo, yes. They listened to their community. This was exactly what the majority was looking for.

So the gear grind I was doing already will now have extra progression added to it that will make my gear grind easier and more enjoyable?

Win.

See? That's a Diablo player's reasoning right there.

 

[Aeshi]

Do you honestly think that no game before CoH ever had a system like this?

But CoH and Diablo III both use the word 'Paragon' at some point!

 

[Breywood]

I didn't expect to see the level cap removed this soon. Not that this will entice me to buy the game.

As far as the grinding, it's just a part of building a viable character. It isn't a problem for me when I play Diablo II. The lag I get because bandwidth is a bit scare here is more of a problem.

 

[Mortamus]

I'm loving this idea, but it really feels like it's too late and they are trying to make up for the severe loss in player base. (For those that don't know, from date of launch to now, the player base dropped by a little over 80% approximately.) I mean, I love this, and it would honestly get me back into the game, with the exception of one issue: It still centers around the Auction House. (RM or Gold, it doesn't matter which.) That's not say like most in that it "makes it too easy" or "makes it a big grind". It's that the drop rates up until you get to these higher Paragon levels is so stupid low that you MUST use the Auction House just to progress in the game or you won't have gear strong enough to keep going to the point that you won't have to use it. I don't like systems that make me take a break from playing the game...so that I can play the game. In WoW, this isn't really an issue as the gear you want can ONLY be obtained by actually playing. Sure, there is stuff you can buy to help you out, but it isn't the top tier stuff. This Paragon system seems designed to address this problem, but it will take significant time for it to actually be useful to you and your play experience. I honestly feel that alongside this, that drop rates should be considerably increased on lower difficulty settings, and decrease consistently as you progress. That way, you get a great enjoyable play experience, but Inferno still remains the challenge we all love it for and you start to really get into the good juicy bits.

 

[The Lunatic]

Oh boy, it's like progress but in a much more minor way.

 

[synobal]

skinner box is a helluva drug.

The thing is diablo 3 is terrible at even that, not even 1% of the loot in later difficulties are an upgrade for your character. It's all about the auctionhouse.

 

[Chased]

I have this fantastic feeling that a lot of the "LOL DIABLO GRIND FEST" hate posts in this thread are from people that are unfamiliar with the series and have not played Diablo 3 or have reached it's endgame.

People enjoy slaying monsters for loot and they enjoy figuring out the best way to do it via different skill combinations. Players who have reached level 60 in the game are still loot hunting for various reasons and with 1.04, they can receive rewards (increased Magic item find) that improve the overall experience. Also, the RMAH isn't as big as a cash cow as everyone seems to think. A lot of the prices of items have been steadily declining and it was implemented to help prevent another massive black market item economy that flourished in Diablo 2.

If you just see Diablo as a grind fest then ARPG's are not meant for you. Diablo 3 had major problems when it came out and Blizzard has been constantly listening to and responding to fan feedback to make changes to the game to please it's player base. Adding extra content that the community asked for is a great thing. Blizzard doesn't have to do anything to Diablo 3 but they do because they care. Updating a game costs money and even with a system like a RMAH it's hard to project that X amount of updates will give them X amount of money.

Diablo 3 is by no means a perfect game, I wouldn't even call it great but at least Blizzard is trying instead of just abandoning ship and moving onto another project that would guarantee them some quick cash.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[antidonkey]

My goal is to beat inferno. After that....maybe give hardcore mode a go. I have no plans to just grind away with one character for money or slightly better loot.

 

[DugMachine]

People leave in droves, complaining about pointless grind and end-game content.

Solution: make the treadmill longer!

Fucking genius.

You've already posted in this thread three times saying the same thing pretty much. Why are you so adamant on getting your point across? We get it, you don't like grinds.

Anyways, more power to D3 players I guess. I'm not a fan of diablo grinds but running the same WoW raids every week seems to be my cup of tea for some reason.

 

[DugMachine]

Are you sure you get it? I can post again.

Hmm one more time for good measure. I totally get it but I don't know about everyone else!

 

[Ytinasni]

To all of the "pointless grindfest" haters, good riddance. This is as stated a handful of times in this thread...a Diablo game the essence of grinding distilled into it's purest form, the whole point of the series has been to endlessly grind for better gear/more levels. Blizzard is listening to it's fanbase, not the bandwagoners who only heard how awesome diablo 2 was.

This change is an improvment if there ever was one, and I for one am more excited about the balance changes and the -eventual- phasing of MF/GF on high end loot out(it's in the official post on their page). I only took a break from the game because of the exact problems they are adressing in this patch: balance for characters was borked, I picked a monk(for which inferno progression is effectively poop on a stick); I like using abilities like SSS and WoL; I was grinding act 1 inferno 4 nights a week and coming out with an upgrade or auctionable item maybe once a week, at most; and I overall had felt like I had hit a solid brick wall and I wasn't going to spend money in the ah that I didnt earn in the game.

I'm looking forward to 1.0.4 and can't wait to get back into the game.

 

[antipunt]

Oh silly Diablo, you are so dead to me already >_>

 

[targren]

So they basically upped the level cap from 60 to 160, and gave it a new name.

Color me impressed.

 

[shadowstriker86]

so....grinding for the sake of more grinding? hmm...i think this picture is in order

 

[Lunar Templar]

Sounds pretty silly.

Will something this shallow and pointless really keep people from leaving or win back the legion of disappointed leavers? Probably not.

No it's not, and yes it will. People have been asking for this for a long time. People aren't leaving because D3 is a bad game, but because of a lack of progression once you hit max level.

or .... a lack of anything to do after finishing the story (no, the extra diff don't count, i mean real content not doing the old stuff again), the nerfs that are just shallow means of forcing people to the AH, cause god forbid some one beat a boss with less then prefect gear -.-

 

[DracoSuave]

Chrono Trigger is a JRPG from the SNES era that, to my knowledge, is the first major title to have a New Game Plus mode. The difference, as you've stated, is that CT isn't a loot fest ARPG. CT is, at it's core, a JRPG that has 12ish endings, some of which require you to have finished the game at least once to access. Thus, yeah, there really is no real comparison between NG+ in CT and what is basically NG+ in D3. NG+ in CT lets you play through the same game in different ways, actually coming to sometimes radically different endings. NG+ in D3 means you play the whole game over again with exactly the same experience just hoping you get good enough loot drops to keep you moving forward.

Now now, let's be REALLY honest.

CT's multiple endings were not at all from divergent paths, but simply due to when in the narrative you decided to defeat the end boss. That's all. Otherwise, the second playthrough's story is EXACTLY the same, and all the combat is simply a formality because difficulty doesn't change to suit NG+.

D3, on the other hand, actually DOES ratchet up the difficulty, so that the actual process of killing does change. On top of this, your character, unlike CT, will actually acquire new abilities, thus keeping the gameplay varied over time.

Fundamentally, Chrono Trigger's NG+ gimmick is that you get to start powerful enough to take Lavos on and see what-if endings but the gameplay itself is simply an unnecessary timesink. Diablo 3 actually adds depth to the gameplay as you get to higher levels of play.

You're right, they aren't at all different.

Sounds pretty silly.

Will something this shallow and pointless really keep people from leaving or win back the legion of disappointed leavers? Probably not.

No it's not, and yes it will. People have been asking for this for a long time. People aren't leaving because D3 is a bad game, but because of a lack of progression once you hit max level.

or .... a lack of anything to do after finishing the story (no, the extra diff don't count, i mean real content not doing the old stuff again), the nerfs that are just shallow means of forcing people to the AH, cause god forbid some one beat a boss with less then prefect gear -.-

Infinite regression--the game has to be finite. If the game's narrative length is long enough, it's long enough. If people want to play on harder modes, why not?

Besides, the game's only been out for a couple months, isn't the cry for MORE CONTENT a bit premature?

And it's no different in this respect than Diablo 2. Sure, D2 had an expansion pack, but that wasn't right away, was it? Of course not.

The bottom line is... it's an option for people who like that style of play. Some people DO, you know. For those who don't... don't do it. If you just want to play d3 for the main story, and play many alts, go right ahead. No one has any right to tell you to stop having fun the way you like.

And if you happen to be the sort that likes putting in work to get the perfect set of gear, and that's where you get a sense of accomplishment... who is ANYONE to call them stupid for that?

The ONLY fail here are jerks who try to tell others that they're stupid for enjoying a playstyle that the jerk doesn't want to understand. All the cries of 'Skinner Box' and not a single bit of empathy or attempt to understand why these people might actually have a legitimate reason for enjoying it.

For some, they like to see how fast they can accomplish a task. They started off moving slowly and cautiously but eventually they get to a point where they're steamrolling, and they want to see how fast they CAN steamroll. This is -legitimate fun.- Others want to see how high they can get their stats as an exercise in rediculousness. It's okay to do this at the D&D table but when they do it in Diablo it's suddenly 'stupid'?! Bah! Some people just like the feeling of accomplishment when they manage to put together what they see as a finely tuned machine. Hot-rod affectionados in real life don't get flak for this, but do it in a video game and suddenly you're 'an addict?'

Bah. It's disrespectfully judgemental bullshit and nothing more than that.