April 24, 2015
In the months ago, fan requests for auto-pickup of crafting materials and a better interface received some Blue replies suggesting that they might integrate crafting materials into the UI and make them account-wide, much as Gold and Blood Shards are. Since then we’ve received a semi-auto-pickup system in Patch 2.2, and according to a blue post today, their plans for UI storage of crafting mats have been shelved.
November 3, 2014
A couple of related questions about healing mechanics and item modifiers drew down a Blue voice this weekend.
July 18, 2014
June 13, 2014
Legendary Materials were junked in the recent Patch 2.0.6. Why are they gone and how is the game poorer for their absence? Also, ladders and Patch 2.1 anticipation, plus lots of rambling digressions. Featuring Flux and Neinball.
June 10, 2014
The overnight maintenance brought with it a new patch and several big changes. The Monk got some slight skill and gear boosts (needed), all class set gear got a drop rate boost (needed), the in-game DPS will now show elemental and +skill damage (very needed)… but Legendary Materials were gutted. They no longer have any function or purpose, they won’t drop anymore, and all crafting requires just the basic materials.
August 26, 2013
A short interivew from NieuwerwetsTV features Brian Kindregan and Kevin Martens and answering two questions. Just two questions, but they’re both very good questions and each one spurs a lengthy and interesting reply. In fact, the second question could have been the best one asked at Gamescom… if the interviewer had pursued it a bit and not let Brian deflect it as he did.
February 21, 2013
Yesterday’s announcement that a Diablo 3 Console was coming (soon?) to the Playstation 3 and the future Playstation 4 was big news, but not surprising news. After all, Blizzard has repeatedly confirmed that they were “exploring a Diablo-related concept for consoles,” and at Blizzcon 2010 and again in 2011 they announced that the project was scaling up, being led by Josh Mosqueira, and that help was wanted. They even hired a PS3 specialist last June. They were thinking about a Diablo 3 console game long before then, though, as this October 2008 quote from Jay Wilson makes clear:
January 29, 2013
When Jay Wilson announced his departure from Diablo 3 I read over a bunch of old interviews with him, both to update the wiki article and to refresh my memory on Diablo 3’s development. This interview with GamaSutra from right around the time of the game’s launch last year, had some good stuff, but I especially wanted to highlight the Seven Design Pillars and reflect on how they were incorporated and executed in the game.
December 7, 2012
You hear a lot of player comments and gossip about crazy Auction House prices, and I’ve heard players believably claim to have sold items for 50m, up to 100m. How about the higher prices, though? You can find items selling for 500 million and even one billion in the Gold Auction House. Are they for real? Lots of players think not, and believe those items never sell for those amounts and that their prices were set by gold farmers to try to create inflation and more demand for their gold. There’s probably some truth to that, and there’s certainly truth to inflation from gold botting, but that’s all open to debate.
September 2, 2012
One of the non-intuitive functions in Diablo III is how elemental damage works. During development we saw stats for Arcane, Cold, Poison, Fire, Lightning and other types of damage, and most fans thought the game would function much as Diablo II did, where weapons and skills were generally physical damage, unless specifically stated as elemental damage, which usually tacked onto your physical. Plus D3 promised that critical hits from different elemental damage types would do cool things, such as fire inflicting a DoT burn, Lightning granting a stun, Arcane “Silencing” monsters, etc.
June 28, 2012
A rather long and uncannily accurate article has popped up giving voice and perspective on the rampant Diablo 3 nerdrage seen in recent weeks. The author nails the heart of it, starting with the definition of the term and how it relates to each individual gripe. The tone is possibly the most objective I’ve read as of late, so if you’re looking for a piece of relatively unbiased material on the matter of D3 nerdrage, this piece is the one for you.
May 19, 2012
There’s such a glut of Diablo III news around the ‘net these days that you guys wouldn’t have time to read it all even if we took the time to post it all. So instead of everything, here are a few interesting pieces I saw this afternoon that are worth a look.
Blizzard did not have one of its best days when they launched Diablo 3. We had many problems in the first few hours and some problems are still there but on a much lesser scale than before.
April 24, 2012
Bashiok has entered one of the longest back-and forth debates on customization that I’ve seen in a long time. In fact, rarely has a thread racked up 13 responses before. We’ve recently reported on Bashiok’s response on a similar thread, but he elaborates his points in a fashion that has not been witnessed in quite some time. While he maintains the familiar line on customization and the ideals of the beta and its designed hand-holding, there are some insights (albeit few) to be gained from both the OP and subsequent responses.
February 21, 2012
Flux is joined by aspiring game developer Grug, and D3 econ guru Azzure to talk about the brand new Beta patch 13. All the guys got in some play testing time Saturday night, and by Sunday they were ready to weigh in on the major game system changes. The biggest, of course, is the new skills system, which integrates runestones right into the interface. Azzure accurately predicted this system several weeks back, and after his verbal victory lap, the discussion turns to the nuts and bolts of the new system. How does it work in practice, what’s wrong with the UI, how will this system play out long term and in the end game, what does this do to character customization, is it really casual-friendly, and more.
