As we draw closer and closer to the release date of Diablo 3, a lot more information is being released regarding the end game aka Inferno mode.
We’re all familiar with enrage timers from WoW and Diablo 3 will use a modified version of them. Read below to read the quotes from the interview with Bashiok about them.
I know what some boss enrage timers are, but to save spoilers I’ll transpose it onto the Skeleton King. So, as an imaginary example, in Inferno if you don’t kill the Skeleton King within four minutes he starts spawning three times the amount of skeletons. That creates a much tougher situation, but it’s one you could very well handle if played right.
People kiting the Skeleton King around for an hour with their level 3 characters is fun to see. It’s not fun when it’s level 60′s at end game and item drops matter. To make these kills and thus a character’s progression matter we need to try to fight cheesy tactics that allow people to just flop through the game.
Don’t force people to be efficient if they don’t want to be.
The point of the game is efficiency… Killing monsters as quickly as possible to maximize your time to find the drops you want. That is the game. I think you should do whatever you think is fun, absolutely, but if you want to go at a slower pace, not really worry much about maximizing efficiency, and just kind of take it at your own speed you’re going to have a pretty rough time in Nightmare let alone Inferno. Hopefully as the game progresses and difficulty ramps up you’re naturally being encouraged to tighten up your build and scrutinize your gear more and more.
In any case though, as I detailed the enrage timers aren’t “I Win” buttons for the bosses, so a more defensive build should still be able to progress if they’re geared and being played well.
With the Nephalem Valor buff the best loot is off champions, rares, and (assuming the buff is up) bosses. As I said the point is ensuring “legitimate” progression. But if someone wants to farm rares and champions in the beginning of Act I because they can’t beat the Skeleton King, they should absolutely do that. And actually, everyone should be expecting to do exactly that when they reach Inferno.
You can very often achieve the same goal without the metagamey “I Win” button. They aren’t “I Win” buttons.
what exactly does the enrage timer hope to accomplish other than becoming an artificial barrier of progress? Nope! You nailed it, that’s the intent of an enrage timer.
I like how you throw in “artificial” as a negative. It’s a video game. It’s
all designed and artificial. If there’s a “natural” or “organic” way to stymie someone’s attempt to cheese their way through a boss kill I’d be happy to hear it.
Gotta farm up that tier gear before you progress! Hello boring MMO structure. Not a big Diablo fan, huh?
There’s also some interesting informationg regarding item tiers. Most of this was unknown that each act of Inferno will drop a different tier of items.
There’s a confusion of terms making this an issue, but it’s really not one.
We separate out ‘item tiers’ for their visual appearance first and foremost. We have a number of “armor sets” (18?) in the game that match visually, and so we call them ‘tiers’ because there’s no real better way to say it. When all of your items are from that ‘tier’, you’ll match. That doesn’t directly determine their stats, though.
They’re spread out in a logical progression, and items get more awesome looking as you go further in the game. Ipso facto the higher the visual tier the better chance it’s a more powerful item, but it doesn’t preclude the possibility of it being worse. You can absolutely find an item from a visual tier back in Hell difficulty that’s better than an item using a later visual tier in Inferno.
It’s best to just expunge the term ‘tier’ from your minds, because it really has nothing to do with any kind of stair step or item upgrade approach. It’s just models and textures.
Each Inferno act has its own item tiers? Wasn’t he referring to monster level? I’m pretty sure he was. Link?
“And there are items that ONLY drop at level 61, at level 62 and so on; and they’re not small number!” Thanks, I was skipping around trying to find it.
So yeah, I guess the visual looks are separated out by Act in Inferno. As I said though it doesn’t guarantee or preclude an item of a specific ‘tier’ to be better of worse than another of near proximity.
As I said it’s really a non-issue. We need to come up with a better name than ‘tier’ for the matching art sets, it just makes people think the power is tiered too. Matching art sets!? How about that? Art set? nah….
So, in order to progress to later acts in inferno, you need to find all your gear in inferno because of their looks? I’m gonna go curl up in a ball.