Diablo III Wild Speculation and Rumor Mongering Abounds

[ezrast]

Yeah. I had assumed henchmen were gone, because I never felt they really added much to D2 except for meat-shielding ranged characters. Just doesn't really make sense to me as a design decision.

[Xanthippe]

That video tempered my enthusiam. 

[K9]

I thought it looked promising, I guess it depends largely on how the game balances around the presence or absence of a henchman. The ones in D2 were pretty forgettable, but having one that can act like a pet which you can level up and use to balance out the gaps in your own class could be fun.

That said, I generally prefer not to have to control a party in most games.

edit: The music in the video is fucking clownshoes

[Malakili]

That said, I generally prefer not to have to control a party in most games.

Hopefully it will be pretty passive.  I'm fine with outfitting them with gear and abilities, but hopefully they'll just follow me around and kill shit and/or buff me with no fuss on my part.  Either way or make them optional. 

[Paelos]

What happens if they die? Do I have to pay to rez them? Can I just leave them to rot?

I'd be cool with that.

[Ingmar]

I liked the little sidekicks in D2, don't see anything to hate about this.

[Azuredream]

I like the idea, but the henchmens' AI in D2 was horrible and after paying to resurrect mine for the 10th time I just let him rot.

[Hutch]

Can they carry loot, and haul it back to town for you? 

[Malakili]

I like the idea, but the henchmens' AI in D2 was horrible and after paying to resurrect mine for the 10th time I just let him rot.

They were pretty bad ass if you geared them right and got the correct one to compliment your build.  Act 2 Nightmare guy with conviction made sorceresses awesome and it was totally worth the gold cost to keep them alive, especially when doing harder runs/parts of the game.

[Slyfeind]

I always used D2 followers as satellite guns, and I liked it that way. Looks like D3 will allow for the same sort of thing.

[Azuredream]

I know, but it was most definitely not intuitive and something you likely would've had to read somewhere online given that the A2 merc auras are never explained.

And yeah, it'd be nice if the henchmen could sell stuff back to town like the dog/cat in Torchlight.

[Ratman_tf]

Preview of the follower system

Lol. The Scoundrel should just follow you around and ninja all your loot.

[Ironwood]

I don't give a fuck about Henchman - what concerns me more is that the game looks asstastic.

[Paelos]

I don't give a fuck about Henchman - what concerns me more is that the game looks asstastic.

Expound please. I didn't figure you to go all graphics whore on us.

[Merusk]

Maybe he's one of the, "Diablo should be all brown, black and grey with bits of vomit green and nothing else," types.

[K9]

I didn't figure IW to be one of those people who only saw the old games through emo-tinted glasses though.

[Malakili]

Maybe he's one of the, "Diablo should be all brown, black and grey with bits of vomit green and nothing else," types.

I thought if anything it was a gameplay issue in that video.  It just looked clunky.  Compared to some of their other gameplay videos, it looked like the people who made this one didn't know how to play or something.  I know it was trying to focus on the hencemen/follower whatever, but it looked downright boring.    Now, I've seen enough other videos that this doesn't legitimately concern me, but I did think "Wow, that was kind of crappy" when I first watched it, then I realized the point wasn't to show off the gameplay.

[Rendakor]

It doesn't look like this was an official video anyway Malakili (since it's been pulled from youtube) so maybe whoever made it didn't know how to play.

[Malakili]

It doesn't look like this was an official video anyway Malakili (since it's been pulled from youtube) so maybe whoever made it didn't know how to play.

Yeah, that occurred to me, but I wasn't sure if it was official or not.  It looks like it has been taken down now, which confirms that it was probably not.

[kildorn]

It doesn't look like this was an official video anyway Malakili (since it's been pulled from youtube) so maybe whoever made it didn't know how to play.

Yeah, that occurred to me, but I wasn't sure if it was official or not.  It looks like it has been taken down now, which confirms that it was probably not.

It's up elsewhere, looks like that version was pulled just because. But that's the official trailer for it. It looks more like the player is trying not to kill things, just so the henchman has some screentime.

[Malakili]

It looks more like the player is trying not to kill things, just so the henchman has some screentime.

Yes, I think this is what looks bad about it, especially given that the character in Diablo is always center screen.  Anyway, like I said, either way its not a huge concern.

[Ironwood]

Maybe not for you.  The game looks like a subpar shooter without even the charm of Torchlight.  The backgrounds are all faded and washed out and the rest is so PRIMARY COLOUR it looks like a fucking colourblind test.

I've seen Diablo III videos before.  This one looks like they scrapped everything they did and started again in crayon.

[Murgos]

I've seen Diablo III videos before.  This one looks like they scrapped everything they did and started again in crayon.

The answer they've given before when someone has said something like that is, "We have lots of different areas and some of them try for certain artistic effects."

YMMV.

[Malakili]

Bashiok gives some more info re: followers (source: http://www.d3sanc.com/blue-tracker/52-i-am-definitely-not-eating-crow/)

Well, followers are essentially a flavor bonus to those playing through normal the first time by themselves. It provides some story elements, but more importantly it gets the idea in their head of playing with another person. You come across each of them pretty quickly in Act 1, and then they help you throughout the rest of the game if you’d like. They aren’t required to beat the game on Normal, even if you’re playing by yourself. Feel free to leave them behind if you like. But they are pretty awesome.

They’re also tuned so that they become very weak starting in Nightmare, and then are completely unusable in Hell. Even if you’re playing alone, you will probably not be using Followers past Normal – - you can try but they’re going to just be one-shot back to back. They’re there as a bit of flavor, to help get people into the mindset of co-op if they’re a bit reluctant, and… that’s about it. They won’t be usable at end-game, and they’ll never replace the abilities and power that another player can bring.

I kind of wonder if this is going to last, I can see a lot of people being upset at their follower getting one shot over and over again past normal mode.  In any event, if they aren't useful for endgame, I'll likely skip it altogether myself.

[Soulflame]

That is a horrible idea, and I hope they change their minds.  Followers in D2 post some late patch were actually pretty decent, and while maybe not required, at least added auras (there are mercs other than act 2?  you don't say.)

Next they'll announce that in order to play MP, you'll have to pay a monthly fee.

[Reg]

I don't like the way they seem to be emphasizing multiple player. Diablo has always been a strictly single player game for me and if they're planning to shove multiplayer down my throat the way they did in Starcraft 2 I'm not going to be happy about it.

[K9]

How exactly did SC2 force multiplayer down your throat?

[Malakili]

I don't like the way they seem to be emphasizing multiple player. Diablo has always been a strictly single player game for me and if they're planning to shove multiplayer down my throat the way they did in Starcraft 2 I'm not going to be happy about it.

What are you talking about? 

[Shrike]

I don't like the way they seem to be emphasizing multiple player. Diablo has always been a strictly single player game for me and if they're planning to shove multiplayer down my throat the way they did in Starcraft 2 I'm not going to be happy about it.

Seriously? Diablo--of whatever vintage--was always about the muliplayer. That's what made that game. Hell, in the first one you couldn't even get past level 27 in single player. Granted, I spent a lot of time on my own in locked multi-player games since the community were raging jackholes, but it was best as a multi-player game IF you had friends online. I farmed for gear on my own (mostly), but the real fun was with friends in 4-6 player games.

[Sjofn]

I know I'll be playing it both ways, but generally speaking I am perfectly happy to play these sorts of games solo as well.

[Rendakor]

I played most of my D2 single-player as well; I didn't have a stable internet connection back then so Realm play was a no-go, and Open B.net was 90% cheaters so what's the point?

[Tebonas]

Is this a poll? Because I certainly played Diablo 2 only single player and enjoyed it that way.

[ezrast]

The only thing about henchmen I particularly liked was their use as a mine-canary in hardcore. Henchman dies before you can heal him? Monsters are tough here, tread carefully!

Other than that they were always either useless, or a hassle to get revived every time they died. I'm glad they're being scaled back, though I wonder what the point of including them at all is if that's the direction they're going to go with it.

[Malakili]

I guess I don't understand how this is shoving multiplayer down the players' throats.  Yes, it clearly wants them to consider playing with others and according to Bashiok the followers are supposed to get you thinking about it, but it doesn't seem as if their design principles have changed in D3 from D2 in terms of multi/single player to be honest.  I imagine one major difference is going to be that all your characters will be "closed" battle net characters now, I doubt there will be an offline mode, but thats kind of par for the course these days, and while I'm sure we can have that argument for the 100th time, it isn't really relevant to the follower system.

[Rasix]

I played through both single player as well as multi.  Given my current circumstances, I'll likely have to play mostly single player unless I can hook up with other late nighters here.  Co-op Blizzard game with pubbies.. HAHAHAHAHA. no.