Diablo 3 Lead Designer Jay Wilson sat down with Multiplayer Blog to explain how the health system works in Diablo 3 and how it differs from Diablo 2. In short, you can’t add a new feature without removing an old one, in this case we’re talking about health potions.
The goal is to broaden the Diablo audience to more than just the hardcore fans. Lets be honest with ourselves, the health potion system was way too far out of control (broken?) By mid-game or earlier, half the character inventory was full of potions and you might have just purchased shares in the potion selling company with all the spending you’ve done there. The health potion system created the infinitely powerful character, in essence, by making them immortal.
Activision Blizzard has learned a bit about their success with broad audiences in games like World of Warcraft, which has surpassed game sales over Diablo 2, their most successful game title. What they’ve decided to do in this release of Diablo is to limit the characters ability to heal and make them “mortal” again, requiring the player to use strategy, tactics and skills to defeat enemies. Rather than charging forward pressing “1” then “2” then “3” and the other hot keys for potions, you’ll be forced to back away during strong stomp attacks, mind your enemies special attacks and defend yourself.
“One of the things that happened in ‘Diablo II’,” Wilson continued, “was the player was faster than most of the monsters and had pretty much infinite health because they would just pop as many potions as they wanted. So when you have a player who has more mobility, more health and endless power, essentially the only thing you can really do to challenge [the players] is to kill them… by just spiking the difficulty.” (multiplayer blog)
Gating the users ability to heal is a classic RPG/Adventure game mechanism for changing the playing field in terms of difficulty. You can make a game with weaker enemies in abundance and still cause you harm, take a look back at Gauntlet in the arcade for an example of this method. You can build challenging enemy styles and dungeon traps to cause the player to mind their step, look at the classic Zelda series and some of their crazy enemies. A great example is the Darknuts from The Legend of Zelda, it was a small knight that could only be attacked from behind but had a sharp little dagger if you bumped them from the front. You had to use tactics to wipe out a full room of Darknuts.
Activision Blizzard will now have the option to create some fancy enemies with challenging special abilities that do not involve insta-kill upon contact battle tactics. You control a super hero character, not an immortal; there should be some challenge besides hacking and slashing through mobs of enemies. Wilson went on to say, “We can make a monster that affects your mobility, we can make a monster that has different kinds of attacks that are dangerous to you and that you actually have to avoid. And so it makes the combat a lot more interesting.”
One of the criticisms to the Diablo franchise has always been the “click fest” of battle. You sit still and click on enemies until everyone is dead. Perhaps, without having infinite potions you’ll be challenged to use your brain on occasion, like a real RPG and have more creative use of your money rather than investing a half-billion into the potion vendors.
Where does that lead the hardcore Diablo fans? Activision Blizzard hopes they’ll see a title with a lot more depth, a new style of challenge and a long term appeal.
@Diablo III‘s Wilson on former Diablo dev’s mixed feelings on game: “F- that loser”
The criticism sounds fair. I’m with Jonah on this subject, Diablo 3 didn’t do as good as expected, so it could be that the current team ended up venting some of their frustrations.
I’ll stick with how I feel about Blizzard after opting for all time Internet connection DRM: f*ck Blizzard.
I like what Brevik said:
“so I am happy that it has come to light that how talented that group was and how unique and special that group was. I am hoping that, as this happens very often in the industry, you see it with Call of Duty and things like that , when the people leave the game changes and it shows how critical people are in this industry.”
@C&C: Generals 2 will be multiplayer-only at launch
🙁 … why … I liked the story mode in Generals …
If however they release also modding tools for it, I can see fan made stories.
Thing is, if the game is MP only, I can see it forcing you to play with a constant online internet connection, no modding tools available.
Hmm ….
Jordan does have a point, to me the story sold the game. I did play MP and lots of skirmish, but it was the story that hooked me.
I will give it a play though, who knows …
@QOTW: I guess 2-3 months before announcing the next generation.
What happened to the “There’s a zombie on your lawn” song?
Hmm, “I can see” too much 😛 …
It’s good to hear that Paul is all right. We really need that “Paul touch” he adds to the podcast. I already miss his emotionally spurred illogical arguments. Reminds me of my ex-girlfriend.
@Diablo 3 bitching
It’s easy to see why Blizzard gets so emotional about that comment. It takes a lot of time and effort to develop a game. When someone criticises your work, you are bound to lash out. But if you do it on twitter and it makes into the news then you are daft and should probably go back to school. Next time just break into the guys house and discreetly take a shit on his carpet.
In reality, Diablo II was better and more successful then it’s sequel. That is a fact for many. But that was a long time ago. Blizzard attempted to modernise III to contemporary standard. This may have been a mistake. Poor fan service. Still, the game is out and nothing will change that.
@Guildwars
Wanted to play the original but never had an opportunity. For me there was always a barrier to playing MMOs. As I am a student, I am forced to own a laptop rather than a desktop. That means I can play an hour of an MMO at most before the thing goes into a critical meltdown. Recently I got a PS3 and downloaded DC Universe. I played the game before on my laptop but had to quit because of heating and lag problems. With the PS3 that problem is gone and I am actually enjoying myself. Wish they would release more MMOs on consoles. I am actually looking forward to FFXIV.
@Command and Conquer
The series is just not the same after Westwood fell apart. I enjoyed Red Alert 1 and 2. Played C&C 3 and wanted to kill something. That game was cancer. I still prefer to stick to Red Alert 2. Believe it or not, but there are still a 100 or so people hanging out on the on-line servers there.
@Prey’s great escape
Prey was a launch title for Xbox360 as far as I remember. Wouldn’t surprise me if they made Prey 2 for the next gen launch. A bit too risky to release games at the moment, unless they start with Halo, Assasins or Call.
@QOTW
Depends on the popularity of the console and the economic situation. In standard cases, you should cut the price a year or so after the release. By then most of those interested in shelling out full price for the console probably bough it. Others need an incentive and the price cut will do the trick. In special cases like PSVita, you should cut the price preferably before the sales figures go into negative numbers. With cases like PSP GO you shouldn’t make the console in the first place.
PS: I was enraged when BBC NEWS spent most of it’s report on Brevik’s conviction talking about how he played WOW and COD. Cause obviously all mass killers are influenced by video games. Should make a decent QOTW: does playing games make you want to pick up a gun and massacre people?
Greetings from Portugal!
Can’t wait to get a chance to play Guild Wars 2. I’ve already got enough games for now. If it receives enough praise by the end of this year, I’ll probably buy it. I’m also mildly excited for Plants vs Zombies 2, the original was great.
@QOTW: I think that any time hardware is not coming close to target sales, that should be the time that the company considers a price cut.