Update from D2R lead producer on what's next for the game

Blubbalutsch wrote: 6 hours ago

Teebling wrote: 18 hours ago

"Nothing for trading" right now. He admits it's funny to have to go to other sites for trading right now, and he'd like players to be more integrated in the game community. He also likes that you have to chat with another person to bargain to get a trade, even if it's on another site.

No, it's not funny. At least IMO. It's 90% wasted time, 10% revenue and good social experience. Like many people in today's real life, people online are even more unreliable and don't appreciate the time you invest in them. I wish there where some ingame option, like auction house.

They don’t really need a new in game option. D2R already supports trade albeit really poorly. They need to fix bugs and improve the existing. There is a proper place for sites like traderie and (the much superior IMO) diablo2.io as a market place. BUT ultimately, all trades need to be carried out in game and that part of the trade experience just demands vast improvement. I almost think focusing efforts on that would provide much greater utility and satisfaction from player base than tweaking 25 uniques…

Improve the lobby so perhaps play games and trade games are separated or colour coded. Use AI to terminate inactive games. ID and get rid of the ad bots and auto channel pushing.

Fix the trade window to allow trades of more than 40 x 1x1s to make it safer to trade. Apply labels that auto display names when items are in trade window to minimise risk of item swap scamming. There are dozens of minor tweaks they could be fixing rather than just saying… ‘yeah it’s funny isn’t it the way trade works at the moment lol’

AardvarksAdvance wrote: 6 hours ago

Blubbalutsch wrote: 6 hours ago

Teebling wrote: 18 hours ago

"Nothing for trading" right now. He admits it's funny to have to go to other sites for trading right now, and he'd like players to be more integrated in the game community. He also likes that you have to chat with another person to bargain to get a trade, even if it's on another site.

No, it's not funny. At least IMO. It's 90% wasted time, 10% revenue and good social experience. Like many people in today's real life, people online are even more unreliable and don't appreciate the time you invest in them. I wish there where some ingame option, like auction house.

They don’t really need a new in game option. D2R already supports trade albeit really poorly. They need to fix bugs and improve the existing. There is a proper place for sites like traderie and (the much superior IMO) diablo2.io as a market place. BUT ultimately, all trades need to be carried out in game and that part of the trade experience just demands vast improvement. I almost think focusing efforts on that would provide much greater utility and satisfaction from player base than tweaking 25 uniques…

Improve the lobby so perhaps play games and trade games are separated or colour coded. Use AI to terminate inactive games. ID and get rid of the ad bots and auto channel pushing.

Fix the trade window to allow trades of more than 40 x 1x1s to make it safer to trade. Apply labels that auto display names when items are in trade window to minimise risk of item swap scamming. There are dozens of minor tweaks they could be fixing rather than just saying… ‘yeah it’s funny isn’t it the way trade works at the moment lol’

I like your idea of separating trade and play games. I play almost exclusively on Steam Deck and would like a few QoL updates, like being able to read game descriptions without switching to the desktop UI.

I'd like an in-game trading platform, with items being "deposited" so you don't have to coordinate being online at the same time as another trader.

"Improve the lobby so perhaps play games and trade games are separated or colour coded. Use AI to terminate inactive games. ID and get rid of the ad bots and auto channel pushing."

Most of that I agree with, but I've passed Horadric cubes between alts in games and would hate to lose items on the Ground just because an overly aggressive AI sees the game before I swap in.

Prysmos wrote: 5 hours ago

AardvarksAdvance wrote: 6 hours ago

Blubbalutsch wrote: 6 hours ago

No, it's not funny. At least IMO. It's 90% wasted time, 10% revenue and good social experience. Like many people in today's real life, people online are even more unreliable and don't appreciate the time you invest in them. I wish there where some ingame option, like auction house.

They don’t really need a new in game option. D2R already supports trade albeit really poorly. They need to fix bugs and improve the existing. There is a proper place for sites like traderie and (the much superior IMO) diablo2.io as a market place. BUT ultimately, all trades need to be carried out in game and that part of the trade experience just demands vast improvement. I almost think focusing efforts on that would provide much greater utility and satisfaction from player base than tweaking 25 uniques…

Improve the lobby so perhaps play games and trade games are separated or colour coded. Use AI to terminate inactive games. ID and get rid of the ad bots and auto channel pushing.

Fix the trade window to allow trades of more than 40 x 1x1s to make it safer to trade. Apply labels that auto display names when items are in trade window to minimise risk of item swap scamming. There are dozens of minor tweaks they could be fixing rather than just saying… ‘yeah it’s funny isn’t it the way trade works at the moment lol’

I like your idea of separating trade and play games. I play almost exclusively on Steam Deck and would like a few QoL updates, like being able to read game descriptions without switching to the desktop UI.

I'd like an in-game trading platform, with items being "deposited" so you don't have to coordinate being online at the same time as another trader.

Nice! Almost like a locker system of some kind. This would be great for in between time zone trades too… like it!!

Inethil wrote: 4 hours ago

"Improve the lobby so perhaps play games and trade games are separated or colour coded. Use AI to terminate inactive games. ID and get rid of the ad bots and auto channel pushing."

Most of that I agree with, but I've passed Horadric cubes between alts in games and would hate to lose items on the Ground just because an overly aggressive AI sees the game before I swap in.

That will depend on how inactive is characterised.. most items disappear after x time on Ground anyway, so having a rule that terminates games longer than that a certain time frame beyond that should hopefully not cause any lost item issues described above.. I’m thinking mainly of those 6- 126 hour long running games on the servers…

Inethil wrote: 6 hours ago

Personally, I feel that nerfing long standing items, like Stealth or Spirit is a serious mistake. In my opinion, the community would be much better served by making never used items and skills relevant, not on cutting the legs out from under existing builds or styles.

Inethil

I'm in the other boat.
Having these insanely cheap OP items brought down a bit, would unlock other potential items to be useable.
Finding a rare sorc orb with +2 skills and 20FCR would be amazing without having access to Spirit weapon that gives 2 skills, up to 35FCR, high mana, fhr etc.
Or a great pala Scepter with some skills and again FCR would now be an item people would be happy to find.

Inethil wrote: 6 hours ago

Personally, I feel that nerfing long standing items, like Stealth or Spirit is a serious mistake. In my opinion, the community would be much better served by making never used items and skills relevant, not on cutting the legs out from under existing builds or styles.

If you want to maintain proper balance, you need both buffs and nerfs. Otherwise it’s a straightforward power creep - and we know how such a series of buffs ends (D3)…
Maybe if the game difficulty was cranked up to compensate the buffs, but I’d still be afraid of an infinite treadmill.