Act 4 COULD have a new quest idea ?!

So wait..not officially. Not yet. And not in a long while.

No seriously BUT just a couple hours not long ago I had some wierd ass Dream.
Maybe Shadowplay is one of my fav post punk songs (RIP Ian Curtis)

Is there more they can possibly add - content wise - to D2r , and not just adding for the sake of mere updating?
Afterall, the post LOD patches (1.10 super update!) with the addition of new RW & of course new game modes (TZ..Sunders) in D2R?

Act 4 stood out easily to me simply because the act is just too short as a result of rushing the release in 2000.

[*]

Izual was great it forces a closure on reading the Lore that came with the D1 manual. (The character was referenced but never appeared in D1.)
[*]Mephy's soul Stone smash-up was kinda cool because it poped a

Gul but it doesn't matter coz

Mephisto is coming back next ANYWAYS.
[*]And Big D was a given.

The area we know now as the

City of the Damned felt sparse and ...souless. But there existed in the Lore A

Lost City..and hence a direct connection. Coincidental?

Right to the south and the east of Caldeum, in Kehjistan & nestled on high Ground lies the hidden Dead City of Ureh.

Like it's name sake how it became a shadow of it's former self was a tragedy.

Ureh is known as the Golden City - the light of lights in Sanctuary. It's ruler - Juris Khan - was a sorcerer.
However he was deceived by none other than the prime evil Lord Of

Terror himself.. Diablo in the guise of an Arch-angel...instead of elevating his city a step closer to Heaven, it very nearly opened a portal to the plane of Hell instead.

In a mere stroke of luck, one of Lord Juris's advisors Gregus Mazi - also a sorcerer- managed to devise a counter spell timely enough, and although it did not pull the entire city into the hellish planes the back stroke cause Ureh entirely..to

Fade from the material plane..into that of the ethereal plane. Neither dead or alive..and vanish.

So the Lore goes. The access to Ureh can be opened up to a portal using 2 Keys.

A

Key of light*..and A

Key of Darkness*. Cubing them while at an Altar in the

City of the Damned shall invoke a portal which shall

Teleport the player to the fabled city of Ureh.

Where both Keys are to be found is open for discussion..and perhaps a 3rd component is missing which i cannot think of. (D2 works in 3's afterall...)

To further the challenge in this plane of limbo, Ureh dungeon requires players to gear up Light radius items..or promote team play. As only monsters will appear in such light radius, leaving those outside this radius immune to any player damage. Monsters exposed to light radius have their inherent resistance to physical damage reduced by X%.

It is said..that the city left behind various treasures and elixirs....for those brave enough to enter.

What do you guys think?

If only it were real, would love content addition in act 4 !

I also like the idea of making light radius more important. When the sun goes dark in act 2, the game is more fun (for a bit, i always just rush to the

Claw Viper temple TBH)

Necrarch wrote: 10 months ago

If only it were real, would love content addition in act 4 !

we all wish..and i quickly got the idea down in case i've forgotten it.

And something to talk about prior to the ladder reset..

Nate2.0 wrote: 10 months ago

I also like the idea of making light radius more important. When the sun goes dark in act 2, the game is more fun (for a bit, i always just rush to the

Claw Viper temple TBH)

ikr! Light Radius is super under utilized. Nobody care for it. Why is it even there?
Current game mechanics allow mobs to notice you earlier...at the expense of seeing more around you.

But with the history of Ureh..light radius could finally have some real use.

Obviously they would be re-using existing textures in Ureh but the monster types are already established.

Lots of undead - wraiths...wisps...dolls...those we all love. The caveat being..you cannot see them until light radius reveals them.

Players that stick together in packs would also benefit because they share light radius,too.

I'm in awe! *_*
That would be coolio... But ye, not only that game was rushed I think I heard some interview that Act 4 was suppose to be epic and different because, at that time, it was "ending" part. It was planned to have that "culmination" and a closure effect and LoD was (at least in early stages) meant to represent a true additional content in terms "if you wonder what happens next", like a sneak peak of what usually happens after the story ends and also to give themselves an opportunity to continue story if needed (and that's exactly what happened in a way). I personally think they left enough room and that only mistake was that what made LoD so spectacular is what fans expected whole next game was suppose to be (as in D3).

I would have loved it so much if LoD never came out and instead they made a whole new game, named it Diablo 3 and if it was put on bases of LoD and then just built on top of that.

TheDoo wrote: 10 months ago

I'm in awe! *_*
That would be coolio... But ye, not only that game was rushed I think I heard some interview that Act 4 was suppose to be epic and different because, at that time, it was "ending" part. It was planned to have that "culmination" and a closure effect and LoD was (at least in early stages) meant to represent a true additional content in terms "if you wonder what happens next", like a sneak peak of what usually happens after the story ends and also to give themselves an opportunity to continue story if needed (and that's exactly what happened in a way). I personally think they left enough room and that only mistake was that what made LoD so spectacular is what fans expected whole next game was suppose to be (as in D3).

I would have loved it so much if LoD never came out and instead they made a whole new game, named it Diablo 3 and if it was put on bases of LoD and then just built on top of that.

hehe thanks i guess i was bored while waiting for Dclone - LoL!

Well re: D3...it's too late D3 was released and i can say..it's a totally different game and the previous game director J Wilson...well i'll not say anything more & possibly derail this thread heh.

@Nate2.0 already mention that existing assets / functions are already in the game. For instance, the map can be turned Pitch dark just like how the Serpent quest & how TZ works...purplish hue.

And with the introduction of D1 to the web store, i recall there being a quest in D1 called Halls of the blind. Where monsters actually disappear and re-appear. IF they can program that for a game in 1998 maybe they can make something work in D2R...who knows?

With the nature of the Lore - Ureh being in the ethereal plane - what they can do is have increase drop chance for

Eth items to drop there, too.

Also bring back Elixirs - permastat ability items that increase your stats by +1...or even Greater versions of it. Greater Potion of Vitality anyone?

Excellent idea, I'm totally down for them to add this to the game in some patch. I've always enjoyed the light radius concept and wearing items that help with it was actually more beneficial in D1 I believe. Act 4 has always been my least favorite act, with the exception of the

Pandemonium Fortress being a really awesome town, and obviously could use some fleshing out. Blizzard, hire the OP to help with story ideas please.

vectorViridian wrote: 10 months ago

Excellent idea, I'm totally down for them to add this to the game in some patch. I've always enjoyed the light radius concept and wearing items that help with it was actually more beneficial in D1 I believe. Act 4 has always been my least favorite act, with the exception of the

Pandemonium Fortress being a really awesome town, and obviously could use some fleshing out. Blizzard, hire the OP to help with story ideas please.

Hey man appreciate the kind words there, rly! Act 4 truly has the potential for added quests / content or even zones.

Man..it seems D4 already has it planned out (in the works?) for future expansion.
:edit: tidied up OP.

I wouldn't be surprised if they added this to D4, as they seem to be pulling out all the stops to retain/gain as many players as possible. It would be a much better idea to add it to D2R, as this game does not have retention issues and is quite simply a much better game. My hopes for this happening are not high unfortunately, but I suppose it's enough that they're still offering seasons/updates for D2R.

vectorViridian wrote: 10 months ago

[..]
It would be a much better idea to add it to D2R, as this game does not have retention issues and is quite simply a much better game.
[..]

While probably accurate, that "better game" and "no retention issues" will go away as soon as they start messing with D2:R and adding content on the "quality" level of their current products. They won't magically start caring and being good again just because they're adding stuff to a different game instead. Leave the new, badly designed, half-assed, game-ruining BS for D4 and the eventual milking failure that will be D5, don't take down D2:R with it.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love another true expansion to D2(:R). But today's blizz simply won't realistically be able to pull it off without ruining all of it. And they'll likely never sell the franchise to someone with the necessary Passion and patience to do it right so...not gonna happen.

That having been said, if an expansion were to ever happen, a simple cube portal would be a rather clean way of doing it I suppose, seeing how you can achieve that without touching anything within the existing acts. Plus you already have the same concept (i.e. "simple portal") moving from A3 to 4 and A4 to 5 so it wouldn't be without precedent and hence wouldn't really feel out of place.
What lies beyond that portal..that's where it becomes quite easy to just ruin all of it.