Stay Awhile, and Listen
A podcast from the D2R community, where we discuss all things Diablo 2 Resurrected.
Stay Awhile, and Listen
Stay Awhile, and Listen | Episode 12 (S2E1): Pre-BlizzCon Speculation
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In Episode 12 (S2E1), we look back at Season 1 before turning our attention to what’s next for Diablo II: Resurrected. We break down Blizzard’s recent D2R player survey, share the features we’d most like to see, and discuss our newly commissioned Stay Awhile, and Listen artwork.
Then we look ahead to BlizzCon — separating our dream announcements from what we realistically think Blizzard may have planned for D2R.
Reddit post about podcast artwork: https://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo_2_Resurrected/comments/1v2pzv2/a_small_glimpse_of_whats_coming/
Reddit post about Blizzard D2R Player Survey: https://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo_2_Resurrected/comments/1uqxnsu/if_blizz_implements_any_of_these_changes_how/
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Youtube: youtube.com/@BreakYoBaals
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Reddit: reddit.com/r/Diablo_2_Resurrected
This is Break Yo Bales coming to you from my Sanctuary on the D2R Discord. On this episode, we do a quick retrospective of season one of Stay a While and Listen. Then we dig into the D2R survey from Blizzard from back in February. Then we'll briefly talk about the art piece that we commissioned for the podcast, some stuff from Reddit, and then lastly, we discuss speculation for BlizzCon, which is coming up in September. Enjoy. So guys, here we are. We are joined by, as always, Tyriol and Crude Sash. You guys want to say hi? Hello.
SPEAKER_03Welcome to my shop. Well, I think.
SPEAKER_02You wanna you wanna try that one again?
SPEAKER_03Okay, fair enough. Hi guys.
SPEAKER_02So it's been a little while since we've recorded. We took a little break after the llama episode, which was really awesome. If you haven't listened to that, I recommend going back and listening to episode 11. But as we embark on what I'm calling what we're calling season two, I prepared a little statement, kind of reflecting on things. So I'd like to read through that here real quick before we get into everything else. So with that, as we begin season two, we wanted to take a few minutes to look back at the first season of Stay A While and Listen. When we started the podcast, the idea was fairly simple: create a place for thoughtful conversations about Diablo 2 and the people who have helped keep its community alive for more than two decades. Across our first 11 episodes, we had the opportunity to sit down with creators and community figures, each with their own history, perspective, and connection to the game. We talked about how they discovered Diablo 2, the paths they have taken within the community, and why the game continues to hold such an important place in their lives. Every conversation was different, but a common theme continued to emerge. Diablo 2 has endured because of the people who continue to play it, create around it, share their knowledge, and welcome others into the community. Season 1 also helped us better understand what we want the podcast to become. The conversations and personal stories will always remain at the heart of the show, but the Diablo 2 community extends far beyond the personalities most players recognize. It includes artists, developers, modders, event organizers, tool builders, and many others who work whose work continues to shape how the game is played, experienced, and remembered. That broader vision begins with season two. So before moving forward, we wanted to thank every guest who uh trusted us with their time and their story. We also want to thank everyone who watched, listened, subscribed, shared an episode, left a comment, or helped introduce the podcast to someone new. Episode 11, featuring Mr. Llama SC, brought our first season to a fitting close. With episode 12, we begin a new chapter, continuing to highlight the people behind the community while expanding the conversation to include projects, tools, events, and ideas helping uh move it forward. Season one helped introduce the people. Season two will explore even more of the community they and others have helped build. Thank you for staying a while and listening, and welcome to season two.
SPEAKER_01I'm immensely thankful, as you stated, for the time that so many people took out to join us and give us perspectives that were outside of our own, and I think expanded our views and what we think about this game that all of us love immensely. Whether it was Mr. Llama, you know, whose voice is huge in this community, um, down to Willie D, who's just a funny and kind-hearted guy, to Misho, who cracked us up, and everyone else in between. They all brought their own flavor to this podcast. And I think they also invited new thoughts and ideas to our player base and our listening base with their views and their jokes, their attitudes. Just we had such a smorgasbord of, like I said, views, the the ideas that they threw out, and just some unique perspectives, and even getting you know Jordan on here from Blizzard, it was really neat to you know kind of get a peek behind the curtain. So my thoughts are just you know being thankful for everyone who joined us.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I would say grateful is a good way to put it. You know, oh for sure. Of course, of course, I I didn't want to leave anyone out, so like macro, thank you. Um smalps, thank you. Like it's it's this first season uh has been wonderful. I think far exceeds anything that uh any of us even anticipated when we started episode one. Yeah, it's it's been it's been an incredible ride already, and I'm really looking forward to what's to come, uh, especially with the potential upcoming updates uh that have have yet to be uh released. Um just there's still a lot of unknowns, and that's exciting for me, and I think for a lot of players, you know, for the first time kind of since uh things went quiet a while ago. We covered, you know, ad nauseum leading up to it. And uh you know, I think what they've done so far is pretty awesome. There's still some tweaks that I think need to happen. Um, that I hope happen maybe with the next updates that we get. Um but uh overall I think fantastic job. And it's been it's been really fun talking talking to so many folks in the community. And of course, we've only scratched the surface, like there's so many people, and I think that's kind of one of the things that um makes this kind of a such a daunting task because it almost feels like you know, we did so much, but when you look at it, there's still so many people in the community um that that we haven't talked to yet. So I'm looking forward to figuring out what that looks like in the future.
SPEAKER_03And I'll throw out a big thank you to all of our listeners and the people who've been with the show and um, you know, left their comments and you know, really showed us that they they liked it and they engaged with it. Our our community supporters have been so helpful and amazing. Um, you know, it's been awesome to meet these people in the community and hear their stories and learn from them and joke with them. And you know, it's just been a real blast. And I just just grateful, grateful for the opportunity and really excited to see what we're with, you know, what we're gonna do this year.
SPEAKER_02Indeed. I guess kind of piggybacking off of the upcoming, unannounced, unknown updates that we all think are going to happen relatively soon here. I thought we maybe we go back. I know we've talked about it in other episodes, but I don't think we'd actually done a drill down on the player survey that came out back in February, shortly after ROTW launched. And I thought it might be fun for us to go through the entire list and say, yes or no. We'll record our answers now, and then post BlizzCon. Hopefully, we get some news about D2R there. Uh we'll we'll revisit the list and see how things kind of worked out from the things that we wanted to see, and see how looking back hindsight's 2020, it would be cool to kind of revisit that in the future. So I thought we would do that, and then we'll get into uh maybe our top three or top five um things that we would like to see from that list. So, first question: a new act with six quests continuing the story. Would you like to see that? I'm gonna say yes. Absolutely, yes, I'll record that absolutely as a yes. All right, moving on. Uh, a new playable class added to Diablo 2 Resurrected. I'll say yes, but uh it's kind of weighted, like it depends on what else there is, but uh I'll say I'll say yes just because it would be cool, but you know, there's a lot of implic implications, like that implies a lot of different things. So I don't I don't want to waver on it too much, I'll just say yes.
SPEAKER_01I will say yes, uh also weighted, as long as it is approached with the same care and consideration that warlock was, and is also lore friendly.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I guess the other part I would add to that also is you know, if it's if it's instead of something else like Act 6, then no. I'd prefer Act Six over, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01So it's kind of like Yes, but after.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yes, but there's higher priority things, I guess is what it comes into. Sorry, Kurt, go ahead.
SPEAKER_03Uh I'll say no. I think we have enough. I think we have enough archetypes covered, and I think it would just add more clutter and yeah, I just think we have enough.
SPEAKER_02You think it would dilute the game?
SPEAKER_03I think it would dilute it. I'm I'm happy with where we are right now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_03I solid take there too.
SPEAKER_02You're right. I respect that answer. Yes. Um, so three new quests to finish act four. I'm gonna say yes.
SPEAKER_01Yes or more. Yes, for sure.
SPEAKER_02New environments or zones added to the game. Yes, because I feel like that kind of like if you add new quests to act four, maybe there wouldn't necessarily be new zones or environments, but there could be, but definitely with act six. Although I guess they could do that without adding an act six, but why? Yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Uh mine is an emphatic maybe if it is as you said, tied to this is this is yes or no. I I know I I can't give a that answer. If it's in line with an act six or something like that, yes. If it's riffs or something like that, absolutely not.
SPEAKER_02All right, minus one point. Moving on, crude.
SPEAKER_03Yes, I think I think it broadens the scope of the game and makes uh endgame farming a lot more interesting, but there is a saturation point.
SPEAKER_02Uh expanded cube recipes and crafting options throughout the excuse me, throughout item progression. I'm gonna say yes. Now, I could be wrong here, but I'm pretty certain that there at one point people extracted some uh new unused crafting recipes and things out of it.
SPEAKER_03Yes, they did.
SPEAKER_02Yep. And and I haven't heard or seen anything more about that recently. Um, and in fact, I think I at some point I tried to go back and look for it and I didn't see it anymore. So I don't know what happened with that, but but I would like that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Uh as long as the care is taken, you know, to match the same kind of vibe. Absolutely, let's do it.
SPEAKER_03I say yes as well.
SPEAKER_02New monsters added to the game. I feel like again, that is kind of a loaded question because if they added an Act Six, naturally there would be new monsters added to the game. I don't think you you would reuse the same ones. Because I answered yes to six. I'm gonna say the caveat being with the new monsters, it would be part of so I'm gonna say yes.
SPEAKER_01I think I'm with you. Uh yes, as long as it's organic to other changes like in Act Six being added. I'll say yes, but it's not a high priority for me.
SPEAKER_02Uh, improvements that raise the power of lower performing builds and balance the meta. I would say yes, with the caveat that it's not, it doesn't like wildly change everything. Could it be cool if they revamp everything? Sure, but I I feel like that's too much at one time, and so lower performing builds, yeah. I mean, there are a lot. There are more builds that are bad than there are builds that are good. I'm gonna say yes, but it just depends, like how they do it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I I could see it uh being a good thing. In fact, I'd probably rate that right under a new act as far as like an important thing for me. Just as long as it doesn't, you know, take an F tier build and make it a triple S over everything else.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, that's a fair point. If we're talking about just kind of moving stuff from F tier to D tier and stuff from D tier to C tier and so on and so forth, I'm not saying that that's the approach they should take, but I think it needs to be done tastefully.
SPEAKER_03Yes. Uh yes, and as someone who enjoys a class that's yes, yes, we know.
SPEAKER_02Yes, and and and Barb. Okay, we're moving on.
SPEAKER_01No, go ahead. No one, no one saw that coming.
SPEAKER_03No, I was I was actually I was just gonna add that uh you broke my chain of thought. I'll have to come back to that one. But yes, I think I want to see that. It's okay.
SPEAKER_02Reduced disparity between caster and melee classes through item build and balance. I'm gonna say yes. I feel like one of the things um that I see across all the forum like the forums that I uh participate in, that seems to be a common thread. And I I tend to agree, like melee classes generally suffer from not enough damage output. I would just I'll just keep it simple. I'll say yes.
SPEAKER_01I will also say yes, and I'm gonna steal Crude Sash's thunder here. Uh, and I think the easiest way they could do that would be adding AoE to melee characters.
SPEAKER_02So to be clear, I mean I guess technically spa splash damage would be AoE, but to to be a hundred percent clear, splash damage from swinging, you know, makes sense it'd be able to hit more than one target at once. Uh but I I don't I don't necessarily think it should be like magical splash damage where you're casting uh ring of fire type AoE, right? It just to be clear, it's AoE based on the idea that you're swinging and you have an area of effect in front of you, right? That's the physical interaction.
SPEAKER_03Yes, and to tie back you've got five minutes. I'll use them quick. To tie back to the previous question, I think that having more um more classes that can do more builds and more specs that can be competitive and endgame, I think it it improves ladder play more than anything else because it provides people with a little bit of variety and a little bit of breaking up that that knot where it's gonna be just sorks and warlocks at the top. Um, so I think that's important. I think it gives people who enjoy those other classes an opportunity to to feel like, yeah, m my guy is up there, you know, my gal's up there. And working on what you're saying about the AoE from Melee, one of the things you have to think about is envision the barbarians from D3 and D4. They're channeling the power of the ancients through them. So, yes, it's technically magic, but it it's coming in in a way that uh it's not it's not breaking the the concept of what the barbarian is. The barbarian, you know, he's he's building and he's working from that point of the ancients are with me, and I'm I'm using that ability to kill these demons and kill these undead. So, yes, when I smash my hammer into the ground, it's radiating out all that energy of destruction. So I I would disagree with you there, Break. I don't think it needs to just be a melee AoE specifically, I think it's a melee, and here comes the rest. And that's the concept of Hammer of the Ancients, Seismic Slam, things like those things in other Diablo games. Ancestral Rage.
SPEAKER_02So I'm gonna put you down for a yes then.
SPEAKER_03Good good job.
SPEAKER_02Adding a new mercenary type to act four. Yes, that's easy. Uh, I think that uh that would be really interesting. I don't know what that would be. We've kind of talked about it on previous pods. Uh it'd be interesting if maybe you could uh have uh a demon that became good that switched sides kind of thing. So maybe one of the monster types uh in in the act could build lore around that in some way. Uh so I think that could be interesting. But certainly there's there's other options. I just, you know, I think succinctly, yes.
SPEAKER_01Yes. I don't know what exactly that would look like, but it'd be a holy warrior or a raised demon or whatever, but yes, something would be neat.
SPEAKER_03I have to say no because it's in my bottom half. It's not a huge priority for me, but I will say that that idea did intrigue me, and I wonder if we could have something maybe where like the mercenary is kind of like a necro and helps raise demons slash undead to help to fight for you. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, I guess to me, it kind of ties in with finishing act four. Like if they finish act four, then I think it naturally makes sense for there to be a mercenary as well. That's fair. But I but I I think it would be I would want it to be not that mercenaries necessarily have lore associated with them, but I think it would be cool if it was somewhat constrained to the story in some way. Uh new skills added to every class to expand build options. I'm gonna this might be unpopular, but I'm gonna say no, but only like I guess for now. There's too much going on with all the stuff that's being added. I feel like let's not tip over the apple cart and go in that direction first. Let's let's add some additional stuff to like content to tackle and um you know buffing stuff is fine, but I I I guess I'm not in favor of adding new skills to every class.
SPEAKER_01I am also going to go no. I would not be opposed to revamping underutilized skills, but as far as just adding new ones to add new ones, absolutely not.
SPEAKER_03I'm also a no, and same thing as Tyriel said, I wouldn't mind seeing some skills changed or uh improved upon, but definitely we have enough, I think.
SPEAKER_02More meaningful itemization with clear trade-offs and less automatic best in slot behavior. I'm gonna say yes, but I guess it depends on on the specifics.
SPEAKER_01I'm also gonna say yes as well as as long as it's done carefully and tactfully. Uh trade-offs would be huge because it's literally, for instance, you see a smiter, there's absolutely best in slot gear, and that's it. Like, yeah, it can run with other stuff, but if you want to be top, there's top.
SPEAKER_02So if we could see uh some more Yeah, okay, so I just want to inter- sorry, I want to interject. You can smite without having best in slots. Like there are s there are smiters that can take on like Uber Diablo and have subpar gear. So yeah. But I will say, as a smiter, it sucks at multi-target, right? Oh, absolutely. So so that's the trade-off, like you're incredibly powerful single target, but you're still slow compared to like Javazon or Novasorg or Hammerdin, whatever. Pick your build there.
SPEAKER_03Uh I'll say yes. I think I think it adds to possible uh improvements in endgame itemization.
SPEAKER_02Skill tree expansion that allows dynamic changes to existing skills. Skills. I'm gonna say no, that's two, D3, D4.
SPEAKER_01I am also going to say no to that, and actually going up to the two questions about new skills, this is Diablo 2, not Path of Exile.
SPEAKER_02Oh shit, shots fired.
SPEAKER_01Oh, absolutely.
SPEAKER_03Also, no, same reasons.
SPEAKER_02New NPCs in town. It's a weird one because again, if you're completing act four or act or adding act six, naturally there would be new NPCs. I think it would be tough to do that without adding additional NPCs. So, well, I mean, I guess they could get away with it in Act 4. You just reuse the ones that are there. But naturally, if you add in Act 6, there's gonna be new NPCs. So it's kind of a weird question. I'm gonna say standalone without adding new areas. I'll say no. So this is assuming that they either build out act four uh or add act six. If they do, then I guess the answer is yes, but if not, no. I I'm gonna stick with no.
SPEAKER_01I think I'm gonna have to go with no too. Um, because it's like you said, it's kind of open-ended. Are we talking about standalone? No. Well, if it's like if we're talking like let's call it minutia, just you know, like other NPCs wandering, I don't see any value added in that. And even vendors, like new vendors, I don't yeah, I don't think so.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, if it's standalone, I think no. Nah.
SPEAKER_03Also, no, it it it just doesn't seem like a like a valuable uh addition to me.
SPEAKER_02Uh new town, new characters, each with their own stories and services. Again, to me, this feels like it would go with act six. Um, but if it's standalone, no, with the caveat in the exception being if there's act six, then yes.
SPEAKER_01I am going to go no and verbatim the same reasons you gave.
SPEAKER_03No, and again, without new content, it doesn't really seem to add a lot.
SPEAKER_02Skill trees for individual skills. No.
SPEAKER_01No, see previous reasons. Yeah. No, God, no.
SPEAKER_02What do you mean? You guys don't want skill board?
SPEAKER_04No.
SPEAKER_02Alright. Uh, server-wide activities where all players contribute to shared goals and earn and earn rewards. I'm kind of torn on this because while I think it could be cool, so there are kind of server-wide activities now. Um, well, one in particular, which is D-Clone. Uh, but that the way that that's set up is it only drops one thing, so even if like you're in a game with other people when it spawns, it's more of a competition. Uh basically competing with other people for that drop. So, you know, the that current iteration of it is you know, and it is, let's be honest, kind of dated now. There's there are no duped SOJs, certainly there are botted SOJs. I I mean, I guess I don't don't believe there are any duped SOJs. I feel like they've fixed that.
SPEAKER_00If their art is far less prevalent than it once was.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I feel like the whole idea behind it acting as a sponge for duped items doesn't apply anymore. Um, it's tough. Like, I would have to see it. I will I will say yes, but it depends on on what that looks like. Um, I just I can't really envision it now. We'd if they did come out with something like that, but I'll just say yes for now.
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna say no for now unless they can show us a working system that fits into the restraints or constraints already in the game that work.
SPEAKER_02Respect. Okay.
SPEAKER_03I'm gonna say yes because I think I'd like to see D-Clone and maybe other things happen through other means than what you've said. Um, you know, and we kicked it around a little bit in in our general chat on the Discord. Um, you know, maybe through uh different types of selling, uh gambling, uh, you know, any anything, you know, what there's a lot of ways you can do it, and I think it would be interesting and cool, especially on ladder play, uh, to see those kind of things and how they might develop.
SPEAKER_02Uh a new map-based challenge system where you select specific encounters for specific rewards. Hard no.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm I'm gonna have to go with no too.
SPEAKER_03Uh, it's a no for me. Uh this is actually a thing that they added in Diablo 4 called War Plans. It's interesting, but ultimately not high on my list.
SPEAKER_02Uh, a new Paragon style talent tree system, hard no.
SPEAKER_01No for me, dog. It is almost the very bottom of my list. Absolutely no. It might be under the bottom of the list for me.
SPEAKER_02Meta progression where achievements or progress on one character benefits another. I'm gonna say no with one caveat, and that is in a previous episode, I don't remember which one, I had floated the idea of maybe providing an armor set that that you can get at the high end. Um maybe that only drops in like high level terror zones, um that has like base stats on it or something that you could that has no level requirement, so that you could take that and put that on a new character. Not that it is not that it would be like crazy overpowered or anything, but it would be like your starter set that maybe scales up to uh you know through normal or maybe uh partially through nightmare. Like just kind of uh I know people might scream uh power creep, but but uh like tastefully done in a way that uh gives you a benefit of playing through to the end of the game, getting to like you know, uh in the 90s, where that could when that could drop, uh maybe make it a TC87, I don't know, but then make it so that it's not really effective for high-level play, but you could take it back. So uh that would be the only meta progression that I would be interested in. It would be item based, and that could potentially benefit your future characters. So I'll I'll say yes, but only for that per particular instance.
SPEAKER_01So I'm thinking like a super stiggens is kind of what I'm feeling with the way you described it. And I do.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, kind of, but but it also but also like it scales with your character, it's not just like set. Okay.
SPEAKER_01I believe, by the way, that was the D2RC episode, because I think they gave away something like that, but it wasn't something you unlocked. Oh yeah and that was your argument that it changed.
SPEAKER_02They bought it, yeah, yeah. So it came with it came with the their different packages, it came with like a version of this uh a different version of the Saigon set. Something like Emperor King's Raymond or something like that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah. So for me, um I'm gonna go with a no with the asterisk that if it was something like you suggested, but overall it's a no for me.
SPEAKER_03It falls really in the middle of my choices. Uh the only good thing I could see out of it is if they did something where every ladder they picked a different class that would get a set, excuse me, that would get a set that would help that class as a starter, and you could work towards that. So, you know, you could, you know, you could maybe again. I I love the concept of they did that in D3, I remember that. Yeah, of introduce to the seasons. Yeah, yeah. So you kind of introduce, you know, to people who maybe haven't played a druid or a barb or a sorc. I mean, how many of that, but whatever. Um, just uh yeah, I think it would just promote uh playing more classes.
SPEAKER_02So is that a yes or no?
SPEAKER_03I'm gonna lean yes, but it's right in the middle. So I'll just say yes though.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Group focused features where players work together towards shared goals.
SPEAKER_01I kind of feel like it's a rewording of a previous question.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it is like number 33 there. Right. Uh on line 33. Similar. So that one's server-wide, this one's group, so it would be like in the same game. Yeah. I don't want to say no because it could be interesting and it could be cool. I'll say yes, but like I don't know how, and I would be upset if they again, the same thing with the server-wide activities. I would be upset if they introduced uh like D3, D4 feeling type stuff. Uh, it would have to be done in a way that I think fits the feel of D2. I would I would be okay with it. So I'm gonna say yes, but I I would be very skeptical of how it's done.
SPEAKER_01So upon further reflection, I'm not only am I gonna give this one a yes, but I'm also gonna change my server-wide one to yes. Um, under the thinking that it could be something like kill so many of this creature, and that's server-wide, and once that's done, maybe the following weekends, like a one and a half XP type weekend or something, that I would be okay with because it's not gonna be something that breaks the game necessarily.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I guess the only thing uh like I'm worried about is it getting too cutesy. I I think it could it could be done in ways that I can't haven't thought of or like I haven't sat down to friendly. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So so it again, it's kind of uh it depends.
SPEAKER_03Uh it's a hard note for me, and the real quick reason is I don't want any systems that have the potential to create uh walls where there is content or gear or anything of that nature that's locked behind having to do that. People uh do really enjoy their single-player things, and even when you group group up, I think it's important, an important distinction. And in D2R, you group up when you want to, not because you need to, and I don't I really don't want to ever change that dynamic.
SPEAKER_02Okay, that's fair. I the only thing I would say is if it's not linked to it says shared goals, so it doesn't necessarily say that it's linked to gear, it could be linked to uh, for example, with the grail, right? There are specific rewards, uh different rewards for the different pieces of the completing different pieces of the grail. Um so there could be a reward that is cosmetic, and I don't think that that's problematic. Again, depending on how it's implemented, I guess. Um what the actual group focused feature would be.
SPEAKER_03If it's cosmetic, it doesn't bother me as much.
SPEAKER_02For server-wide activities, for group activities, I would be more willing to say yes. Again, depending. I know I'm being kind of wishy-washy here, but but I think it it it really depends on a lot of stuff. Um but all but ultimately, ultimately, I think those types of things shouldn't result in gear. It shouldn't improve your your power, uh, your player power, your you know, whatever. That's the hill I will die on there. Uh the ability to build or create structures in game such as statues or town elements. Holy shit, no. This is this is not the game for that. Go play Minecraft.
SPEAKER_01I am gonna go with Noah as well. As a huge Fallout fan, they tried that in Fallout 4, and it is one of the most hated aspects of the game.
SPEAKER_03No, it's absolutely at the bottom of my list. Uh no reason for it, does it just does not belong in this game.
SPEAKER_02Uh, crafting changes where item level is no longer included in recipes. I'm gonna say no. I think that's a really interesting dynamic stripping that out. Uh, I think it makes it feel like it's less meaningful.
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna go also with no. I could see maybe revamping it so it's an ever so slightly lower, but even that I'm kind of iffy on.
SPEAKER_03Kind of a mild yes. It's not hyper important to me. Um, I I don't know. I I I mean I I I could I could take it or leave it, but I'll say yes.
SPEAKER_02Support for cross-platform play. I'm a resounding yes. Um I won't touch on it now, but I'll just say yes for now, and then we'll talk about that piece later.
SPEAKER_01Yes, because this is a game about community. 100% yes.
SPEAKER_02Uh skill effect combinations where one skill can trigger or enhance another. Hell no.
SPEAKER_01Would it be neat to see visually? Yes, but I think it'd really take away from the game, so no.
SPEAKER_03Uh mine's a no, but if they added it, I could I could wrap my head around it, but I I'm not I'm not an advocate. Fair.
SPEAKER_02I just I have nightmares of I only played the beta for d4, but I remember there's stuff where like if this happens and this happens, then this happens, and I'm just like, why? Why? Why are you designing stuff like this?
SPEAKER_03I just yeah, I I think I think it just changes the core, it changes the gameplay structure too much. That's the biggest concern is that D2 has never been that game, so that's such a radical departure. I I think you'd have to revamp the entire combat system to make it work.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's so unnecessarily complicated just for the sake of being complicated. All right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm imagining from like a Dungeons and Dragons perspective, using like something like magic missile and frickin' fireball procs every time one hits, like, no, I'm good.
SPEAKER_02Cursed items and affixes that unlock after completing special objectives.
SPEAKER_01See, I'm I'm kind of I'm in the same headspace you are, because like my first like knee jet jerk reaction is to say no, but take the cursed out of it, and what is an annihilate small charm? It's something that only unlocks after completing a very special objective.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so you know how in D3 D2 doesn't really have special objectives currently. Like, like when you think about in D3, how like stuff would pop up on the right hand side and it would have like different objectives based on the zone that you're in. Um it would like check stuff off as you completed it and it would like disappear off the screen. Um I I don't want that. Um, I don't think that really fits.
SPEAKER_01If it's that for then no. If it's something like different things similar to like D clone or Ubers, then yes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I guess maybe I don't fully understand the question, but also it kind of feels it it it makes me feel a little bit too much D3, D4. I'm gonna say no.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and until we get some clarification, I'm gonna go with no too.
SPEAKER_03I don't need clarification, absolutely not. I hate the concept, I I don't like it at all. I hate items that have any kind of negative connotation or negative effect on your character, so no.
SPEAKER_02What about malice? Again, it's a rude word. Although I it's existing.
SPEAKER_03It is. I I will say one thing though. Uh sacrifice, but see, sac see, it's interesting because even malice and sacrifice, when you use them, they there is a punishment to them, but they're not game-breaking. And but again, I I never make the malice rune word, I wouldn't use it unless I had no other choice. And the only reason why I even use sacrifice at all is because you have to use something until you get to zeal. And you know, and you don't do enough damage early on that it's really affecting you, but once you get to zeal, you stop using sacrifice anyway.
SPEAKER_02Hmm.
SPEAKER_03Fair.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, I I think just hard nodes across the board. Uh augmenting gear by adding specific adding a specific affix directly onto an item. So this is kind of uh D4 mechanic. I think it's also um D3 also. You can do it in D3.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, you can re-roll specific things.
SPEAKER_02Well, I don't think this is re-rolling. This is literally like you're adding a new effix that didn't exist on an item before. I mean, I know that other versions, heavily modded versions of D2 have uh similar mechanic. Um the the only like it could be cool. My only my only thing is really just feels like power creep for the sake of power creep, and unless they're gonna add harder areas or up the the max level of monsters or do something to to scale the difficulty with the ability to do some of those things, um then I don't like it. And and even if they do that, it just feels like you you're inf like you are adding potential for infinite scaling. Uh where where does it stop? You're just basically making all the players more powerful, so you know, are you gonna continuously make the monsters more difficult? Like, where's where does it stop? I hate to use a slippery slope uh kind of uh argument, but but it kind of feels that way to me. If it's something small, like oh okay, well you're adding 10 decks or 10 strength or something like that, but if but if it's really creeping power, so I'm gonna say no. I I know I really spent a lot of time thinking through that. I I guess I'm kind of torn on it. It depends on how it's done, but for now I'm gonna say no.
SPEAKER_01I think I'm gonna hardline no as well, just because I think that would further limit like going back to the whole itemization thing of before where we could open up builds. I think that that would just further push best in slot meta.
SPEAKER_02And I guess just to clarify, if they did it, I wouldn't want things like where they're adding FCR or they're adding skills or they're adding uh anything that's too overpowered, because the some of the fun of the builds is that the itemization, like it forces you to use certain items in certain slots to hit your breakpoints, so on and so forth, and that kind of just circumvents the whole trade-off thing, and I I don't I don't want that.
SPEAKER_03Uh no, and and I do need to elaborate a little bit on this one. So the first part of the no is when you take a look at an item, and you how are you going to add a skill to that? Are you just gonna plop something extra on it? That seems a little bit OP to me. Are you gonna replace something? And if you are, is it gonna be random? Because then you run the chance of bricking the item. Um or uh do you get a removal of a specific one, in which case you're always gonna remove the worst one, the most useless one. So those items that have you know, plus the stamina or mana return, you know, damage goes to mana, you know, you're gonna take those away and get your Primo one. And again, this is gonna go into the D3, D4 thing. And the thing I want to elaborate on real quickly is I don't ever want my comments to be construed as I don't like D3 or D4, as I think less of them as games. I think they're both a lot of fun in their own space. I just I'm looking at it in the context of how how they compare to D2. So in D2, I don't like that concept. I think it changes the game again too much. So this one is uh pretty solid no for me.
SPEAKER_01I think I want to iterate on that. I I'm I'm with you there. Uh I I like my Diablo 2. I played Diablo 3 for years, I played Diablo 4 for a while, and they are good in their own rights. But I want to play Diablo 2 as Diablo 2, I don't want to play Diablo 2-3-4.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_02Load-in improvements that prevent loading into death. I'm gonna say yes. Uh, I know I don't play hardcore, but I know that I've seen a lot of complaints about stuff surrounding that, or even like logging out when they thought they were safe, and then they log in and their character's dead the next time they're in. Like, you know, you never know what's really happening. When people post about that kind of stuff on forums. Like maybe it was user error and they weren't safe when they thought they were. Um, but I think it happened so it's so prevalent that I have to believe that there's some kind of like weird latency stuff going on that's that's penalizing them more than what's necessary. So uh I'm gonna say yes.
SPEAKER_01So I'm also going to say yes there, and I don't play the hardcore either, but if hackers can use the size of your uh internet browser in order to like locate you or whatever, I don't see why there's not a reason they couldn't have something in the program that can detect that you are actually visibly seeing something on the screen so that you know you're not getting killed in a black screen or something.
SPEAKER_03Yes, because I think it's an improvement to the game overall. Uh, but I do I do I do wonder what kind of hardcore player just logs out in the middle of the field and doesn't town portal first. And if they're not town portaling first, they're trying to save an exit, which in the hardcore community is the coward's way out.
SPEAKER_02So Yeah, yeah, that's true. That's a good point. I I will say that I have seen posts where people said that they actually went they logged out in town and still died. So uh that that's a good point.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I don't know. I'm kind of right that's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_02That's what I'm saying. You don't know what to believe.
SPEAKER_03Because you can't you can't even you can't even die from poison in town, it just brings you down to one.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, yeah. I understand. I'm simply saying what I've seen, and uh if they're if they're putting it in here, then they must know that there is something to it.
SPEAKER_03Or at least there's that's fair or the or the perception of it. But yeah, you have a point. Yeah, you're right. And and again, there's really no logical argument against it.
SPEAKER_02So so do I have you as a yes or no?
SPEAKER_03Oh, yes, 100%.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I want to um add on to that crude. Um, I know it's not this game, but I worked at an amusement park and lived in their employee housing, and my latency was so bad when I was trying to play Halo Reach back in the day, um, and I have clips of it. I was dying with nobody on my screen. So it was showing me in places where I wasn't, or it was not showing place people in the places they actually were. So I'm wondering if it's something where like there's not there's a disconnect between where you look like you are and where you aren't, and therefore the poison not being able to kill you in town would kill you in town because as far as the game side server is concerned, you're still out of town. That's a very fair point. Yeah, yep, yeah, that I did not think of.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. That could be that could be what's going on. Um, or that could be a good good example of of how things could could do that.
SPEAKER_01Now, how do you fix that? That's for somebody far beyond my pay grade, so yeah, that maybe some kind of caching or something.
SPEAKER_02I'm not sure, but yeah, uh more customization for loot filter and better highlighting for rare drops. I that that's kind of a weird phrasing for rare drops. I doubt they mean actual like yellow rare items. I'm assuming they mean something like Terials or Yeah, I think I think probably what they're talking about is adding additional options to loot filter so that it would like put it on the minimap or not mini-map, but put it on the map, or you know, like in I assume it does the same thing in yeah, like it makes that that really loud, like metal falling, clanking noise. Um or even those little lighting thing. Right, yeah. So uh I guess I would be okay with it as long as as long as it was not like ridiculous and yeah, and you had the customization to to like affect how it like the mechanic of how it works. I got yeah, I wouldn't be against it, but like personally, I've been playing for so long. You know, you when you hear a charm drop, even if there's not a even if you have the loot filter on and like you hear a charm drop, but it's not being displayed because you have let's say you have large charms turned off. I think for veteran players that probably doesn't add a lot of value. For new players, I feel like that would be beneficial. Uh there's in all the time that I've been playing, there's only been one time where I like pathed, I like killed monsters and I pathed away, and I went and killed more monsters and I doubled back that same way, and there was a Shako or a Shako, however you want to pronounce it. Um, and like so I had missed it initially. If I hadn't crossed back over, I would have missed it. Um, so I could see how maybe that could be um good for anyone. So I'll just say yes.
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna say yes. Uh, not necessarily for me, but I can understand it being helpful for other people. Also, yes, and if if I didn't like it, I just wouldn't use it.
SPEAKER_02As long as they provided an option to not use it, right? So it depends on how customizable it is. Uh, charm bag that lets you store charms inside a dedicated inventory container. Alright. We talked about this a lot in the last episode with Llama. Uh, he's a big fan. It seemed like that was his number one thing that he wanted. At first I was kind of skeptical. I'm kind of warming up to the idea of it, but only if it's done in a in a way that is tasteful. And by tasteful, I mean it should be no more than eight by four. And also, it should mean that charms no longer work in your regular inventory. Um, so they only work in the charm bag. Uh, and that that also uh also includes um unique charms, so your annihilates, your torch, um, and then you know, other various charms that you uh would put in there, large charms, small charms, you know, the magic. Uh well, I guess also geeds, uh, and then and then your your sunders as well. I'm gonna say yes, uh, as long as it's implemented in in that fashion, um, that takes into account for the space that would be taken up by uh two tomes and not that everyone carries them, but I feel like uh uh two tomes and the cube take up that uh two by four space. So that eight by four space would be what's remaining. And I I wouldn't want it to be ten by four the same size as your inventory.
SPEAKER_01I I'm gonna go with guess and maybe expand a little beyond that. I think and I hadn't thought about it before either, so I'm gonna have to say kudos on the thoughts that charms don't work in your normal inventory. I like that idea. Not much bigger than Sunder Geeds, Torch, Annihilus, maybe enough space for two more uh charms, and I think that would force people to really open up how they go about building their builds.
SPEAKER_02Some builds are reliant on um having a certain number of skillers or uh having I want to say three 2020s, but variations of that kind of stuff, um, or like one to whatever it is, 80 something, one to eighty-three, uh lightning small charms. Like there's a there are a lot of builds that are dependent on charms, and I feel like we don't I wouldn't want to take those build variations away. Yeah, it's your answer, so whatever, but it I just like I feel like there's more nuance to it.
SPEAKER_03Uh yes, an 8x4 uh that locks out the inventory. Uh I had this idea, and I'm not the only one, but I had this idea back in I don't know, 2003, 2004. Uh it made so much sense that I still cannot believe to this day that they didn't implement it 20 years ago. Honestly.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, I I spend a lot of time on the Blizzard forums, and there are certain people that are just like, no, your character wouldn't have two bags. Um, yeah, okay. Yeah, they would. Yeah, but it's just like, you know, also your your gigantic Colossus blade wouldn't fit inside of a cube. You know, like yeah, so anyway, magic here, folks. Yeah, yeah. All right, the ability to re-roll staff mods in the cube to change the modifiers on a rolled item.
SPEAKER_03That's a lot like a previous question, also.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it could be cool, but I feel like I'm just gonna say no simply for the fact that just don't like it. I don't know. I don't know what to say beyond that.
SPEAKER_01I don't pretend to know everything about this game. Um, from what I just I had to look up for staff mods, are those hidden modifiers? Is that what I'm understanding? Or are those actually something you can see?
SPEAKER_03I believe staff mods are like the the core of like I I think staff mods are along the lines of uh like staves having sorceress skills, uh druid pelts having druid skills. That's the way I thought I thought I thought of it. Maybe I'm wrong though. That's that was my impression.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I'm gonna go with I I'm gonna go with no just because I'm not a hundred percent sure on how that all works, but could change depending on if my knowledge base changes.
SPEAKER_03I'm gonna say yes, because this falls in line with the idea that I had where you would take a rune, put it in the cube with an item, and give that item that that rune's effect, but keep the item otherwise intact. Uh the thought process was imagine an ethereal uh, you know, item that you put in the cube with a Zod. Now it's indestructible, but guess what? It's still ethereal, and you can make your rune word in it as you did before. I think it opens up a lot of possibilities, and I think it gives certain runes a lot more value than they have right now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we I think you and I talked about that. Yep, like not on the pod. Uh yeah, yeah. And and I guess I wouldn't be opposed to something like that, however, and I think I brought this up before, I feel like it should cost more than just the one rune, because there's no penali, there's no penalty for just doing something that that is potentially very overpowered. So I would I would say I would say it would require two of the rune.
SPEAKER_03I don't know. I mean, if you think about it though, think about it.
SPEAKER_02That would be really tax. That would that would be very unfair to single player.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and also uh think about it in this concept. When you think about the high runes, a lot of them don't some of them don't have things that you're gonna rush out and get. Some of them are good, some of them are okay. But uh in the case like like with Indestructible and Zod, Zods are so super rare anyway, that using one in that fashion, that is a sacrifice. You're you know, you're you're you're taking it uh out of your rune word pool and you're but you're focusing on you know uh you know being able to use an item that's ethereal with a rune word that isn't that isn't indestructible already, like Oath. Um and you know, and and to me I think that's a decent trade-off, but but I could see it both ways. I could see like saying, okay, Azad and some other item, you know, like yeah.
SPEAKER_02Right. There has to be something else because think about it. You're taking oops, you're taking an ethereal item, making it indestructible, and then putting another rune, potentially putting another rune word into it. Right. That that you're getting the benefit of the indestructible from Zod from another like that would be inherent in another rune word. So uh I I would be careful. It feels like it could really um be OP. But I I get what you're saying. Like that that could be cool. Alright, remote in-game trading uh for item bartering without joining another player's game. Holy shit. Yes. I would say uh that a question to me indicates it would be uh uh a really well fully developed trading system. Uh in-game trading system. Um by in-game I mean within the game, not necessarily that you're loaded into a specific uh game name. Like maybe you access it from the lobby. Resounding yes.
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna hop back to the other one. I did some quick research. Um, crude was right. I don't think it should be able to reroll the staff mods um from looking at it. Um and on the remote in-game trading, I'm absolutely for it. I think though, to mitigate any potential problems, if you put up an item for trade that needs to at least temporarily be removed from your inventory, and it's kind of in like a holding place. And then once that person has traded, that stays in that holding place, like the item swap, and you get yours next time you log in or whatever.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I agree. Um the like the mechanics of how that would work do matter your point exactly. Um, also, like, I know that they would they would naturally think about this, and it they wouldn't implement something where like in a situation where that happens and you don't have enough room in your stash, and somehow like you know, the item gets lost or something stupid, or like it leads to being able to dupe in some way. Like, obviously that stuff would be tested out, but uh but uh you know uh that it does potentially I my point is that it does potentially introduce uh ways that things can be exploited, so they need to really, really uh spend some time designing and thinking out how it would best work.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because that like you as soon as you started saying it, my mind flashed back to early Pokemon days where you'd like pull the link cable and both you and the person you're trading would end up with like the same Pokemon. So definitely need to do some playtesting and then maybe have it say, you know, like you said, if your inventory is full, either pop it into a main inventory tab or have it pop up a warning that's like, hey, you know, remove some items and make some space in your inventory, try again.
SPEAKER_03Absolute 100% emphatic. Yes, I believe this would be the biggest quality of life improvement in Diablo 2 history, even beyond the shared stash that we received. Uh, I do want to say though that the the best way to implement it would be that uh everyone, every character every person has uh when you log in, you have a secluded uh stash. There's another word, not secluded, um that I'm thinking of. But basically what it is is that trade place, but yeah, it's a trade stash. When you put stuff in there, exactly like Teriel said, uh, you cannot use it, you know, during for the duration of the trade window. Uh it's it's in there, and if it gets traded, it gets traded. If it doesn't, it comes back to you. But you don't need uh like warnings and things like that. It could act we we already have that uh technology in D2. It's the the rollover stash for the seasons. You just use that same technology for this.
SPEAKER_04Interesting.
SPEAKER_03It's stare until you pull it out, and if you don't pull it out, uh maybe you lose it at some point. I don't know, but uh but yeah, it just stays in there and you go pick it up when you're ready, once the trade's done. And there's some other back-end things that I thought about to help fight the duping and stuff. I don't want to go too far into the weeds, but basically something along the lines of the server can basically create a uh an exact copy and give it to the other person and then delete yours, that kind of thing. But again, like you said, a lot of testing has to go into it to make sure that it doesn't open the door for uh for exploits. But absolutely, I think it's the most the most important change the game's ever seen, in my opinion.
SPEAKER_02Uh a hotkey that instantly initiates trading, such as control left click. I mean I'll say yes, but it's like so low on the priority list, like there are so many other things that I think should be prioritized over that that doesn't really add a whole lot of value.
SPEAKER_03Did overbait them. Same. Yeah, it's like like okay, but we don't really need it. Not important.
SPEAKER_02Making previously one-off quest rewards such as socketing or imbuing repeatable. I'm torn on this. I know it might be an unpopular opinion, but I like the fact that it is not something you can just get without work. I don't think you should be able to just go and kill Shank again to get a soccer quest or repeat the quest to to be able to do it again. Uh I I would hope that they would be able to come up with something that's a little bit more well thought out than just that. What that is, I don't know. I'm not saying that I have the answer. I'm just saying it needs to be a little bit more uh complicated. And again, not for the sake of complication, but just uh feels like the fact that it is something that you earn as you like progress through the game. The the ability to just like once you're in hell, you're doing teas, like everything's relatively easy to be able to easily go back and do it in infinitely just doesn't feel right to me. So I wouldn't be against it, but it depends on how it's implemented. I'll say yes.
SPEAKER_01I will say yes, and I think the word I'm looking for is uh on a hyperbolic curve where you the first time is base level, the next time you do it, it's one and a half times stronger, then one and a half times stronger, one and a half times stronger, so that there is an upper limit and it's harder to kill each time. And maybe it's two, two point five times, whatever it is, it needs to have an increasing difficulty scale for each attempt.
SPEAKER_03Uh, I'm gonna say no, but I I I need to tell you guys that I conflated this option with uh a thing that I've desired for a long time is to improve the dead quests in different difficulties like Anya and and uh Blood Raven, those kind of things. So I I really messed up. I conflated that. I had it very high on my list because that's what I was thinking of, and I didn't read the read it correctly.
SPEAKER_02Uh but this I would say no to just so hold hold on, just to clarify. So you're saying were you saying there should be better uh quest rewards from those other quests that basically don't do anything?
SPEAKER_03Yes, and that's not one of the options. Um, but but in that regard, no, I I think yeah, I I think the the the socketing and the the imbuing and stuff, I I I don't I wouldn't mind seeing it pop up in other places. Maybe maybe yeah, maybe in Nightmare when you maybe you get it. Yeah, something like that. But not or but not not infinite and not infinite infinitely repeatable.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Uh also yeah, they could add a soccer quest to Act Six.
SPEAKER_04True.
SPEAKER_02I wouldn't be against that. Um, an option to disable chat entirely. Yes, but also I feel like the better option would be a revamp of how chat works in its entirety. I think there's like there's a limit of how many accounts you can ignore or block. Uh I think there's Should be better spam controls. Like there were several times where chat was completely broken. I haven't had that happen to me in a while, like in-game chat being broken, where like you're talking, but people can't see what you're saying, or vice versa. There's there's certainly, I think, room for improvement with chat. Even even like in original D2, you could have your own private channels and things like that. It's just like there needs to be more around that. And especially for um console players. I know that the I don't I have it on Switch, I don't really play it on there, but uh, you know, I know it's I know it's tough to implement chat on console. Uh I don't know how that would even work. Right now they can only like say certain like pre-programmed thing. Um so maybe it doesn't apply there. I don't know. But I'm answering the question different than what's being posed. Um, I'll just say yes, but I also think that in general the the chat system needs improved.
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna go no, but it does need a rework.
SPEAKER_03I'm gonna say no, but I kind of get the idea for people who don't like interaction with other people. But overall, I don't think it's a big uh I I the chat thing is so like like who cares about it in some ways that uh unless they did implement it, and then if they implemented big changes, then yes, I would like to say yes, so it depends.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I yeah, that's the point I guess I'm saying is yeah, it should be part of a bigger revamp as an option um to the chat system.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, if there were no changes, then why? Who cares?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. That's all I'm gonna say. This one's kind of a hot take. Uh well, I wouldn't say it's a hot take, but people are definitely talking about it. Uh solo cell phone mode with no trading or outside help. I mean, here's the thing. I wouldn't be against like I'm not against it because some people prefer to play that way, and I think it does add a level of difficulty. Um, like if it's a ladder where it's actually tracked, so you can only progress by yourself without help from other people, uh, and it's it's actually a standalone ladder. I think that'd be could be cool for other people. It's not for me, I don't think I would do it, but I could see why like some people want to be able to show that they're able to play the game better than other people, and while that's not really my thing, uh I could understand why there might be interest in it. So I'll say yes.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, give people hermit mode.
SPEAKER_03Uh yes, and as a longtime single player offline, uh it kind of fits. I generally like leveling uh solo. Uh but I I I've grown to like group play more, and you know, and especially like Unique and I play so much together that uh Unique being my son, uh that I think you know, I I I I'd kind of be torn a little bit, but I do like the concept of that challenge of living off the land finding stuff, so yeah, yes for me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but like to be fair, I think this would imply that you wouldn't be playing with other people. This is strictly by yourself.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it yeah, it's yeah, it's always gonna be only you, and although I'll I'll tell you something. If they do a solo self-found, do you let those people have the players option?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's what that's one thing I was gonna touch on. I I think the answer is I think the answer is yes, but that would be the only exception for online. So it would be solo self-found online ladder.
SPEAKER_03I I I think if you gave them the players option, I think too many people would jump at it. I think it would, I think it would I think that would be the same thing as giving as as just adding players function online. So I would say don't add that. I uh because I'm against that.
SPEAKER_02If you're playing solo, if you're playing solo, be solo, you know, be yeah, but offline, but if you're play yeah, but if you're playing offline, you s you already have that option.
SPEAKER_03Right, but when you're online, you you're gonna at some point that so if it's always isolated 100%, even even like through the non-ladder, then yeah, let them go players eight.
SPEAKER_02But if at any point that's what I'm saying, it would it would be only you can only play by yourself, no one can join the game, and the only the only benefit would be that people can see your progression so you can show everyone that you're a better player than everybody else. Like that's the whole idea. That's that's the idea.
SPEAKER_03I'll add I'll add this caveat to my answer then. Caveat. Um so yes, only for ladder play, and at the end of the ladder, that character goes into your your your overall non-ladder pool. And there's no and there's no SSF on non-ladder, only for ladder play. That's how I would do it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. It would have to it would be very segmented.
SPEAKER_03And the only reason why is just because so, say, for example, you're on your solo self found and you're doing all this and you find, you know, I don't know, let's say um Wind Force, you know, just for argument's sake, and you're playing a sorceress. What are you gonna do with it? You know, right. If if it's always you're you just you know that that's that's worthless then. So, but I think at least if you know in the back of your head, hey, I can I can move when I move this to non-ladder, I can trade it, or I can give it to one of my other characters, then yeah, that that that I think makes sense. But but doing it on the ladder where you can eventually mix it, no, I think that's not fair. That's an imbalance in the economy. I agree. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I agree. It it should remain separate. The whole idea again being that you're competing against yourself only.
SPEAKER_03And and just as a quick aside, in Diablo 4, when they edit the solo self-found, that's basically exactly how they did it. You're solo self-found, you're all on your own, you cannot, you don't group up with anybody else, you can't join a party, and at any point you can just stop and just revert your stuff to normal. Um, but because that game doesn't have the uh economic impact the way D2 does, that's why I that's why I would say it's only for ladder and you're locked on ladder until until the season's over, and then you could then it then it goes to your then it just goes into your general. Sorry.
SPEAKER_02Okay, new appearance options for town portal visuals. Uh I'm gonna say yes. I think it would be cool for there to be rewards for certain like completing certain things. Like they already did that with with the grail. I think that as long as it's done kind of sparingly in a way that makes still makes it rare and unique, but also feels rewarding. Uh, I would I would say yes. It has to be measured, like it can't just be willy-nilly, like everyone gets a different town portal color or whatever.
SPEAKER_01I'm also gonna go with yes. Uh, it's not necessarily high on my list. Yeah. Like there's more important things, but it'd be neat.
SPEAKER_03Kind of indifferent. Uh, I kind of want to say no because I don't want to take away from anything special, but uh, if it's something that is rare enough that it makes this reaction happen more often, then I'll say yes. I was in a bail run the other day, and somebody who had completed their rune words popped a portal, and immediately two people went, Wow, what's that? That's good. That's kind of cool. And that was cool. Yeah, so and I, you know, and I typed in it's you know, it's a rune word completion reward. So keeping it like that, where it's you know, something rare and unique that will will will visually pop in multiplayer games, or just for the just for your own sake of doing, you know, hey, this is cool. So yeah, I I I think yeah, but not not to the point of saturation, like we were talking about.
SPEAKER_02All right, awesome. So we've got all those answers logged. Um, we'll see what what is uh you know, I guess what becomes real and what doesn't, but uh yeah, it'll be something to reflect on later. The other thing I wanted to touch on is like top maybe top three and why. I'll just briefly go over mine and kind of explain it uh together. Uh cross-platform play number one, trading modernization, number two, load-in death fixes, and technical stability number three. The reason why I'm choosing those as opposed to an Act Six, um, a charm bag, item is like there's I have actually have a list of other ones, but um my top three are focused on infrastructure and and unlocking the ability for uh people to play together more. You know, they're more kind of infrastructure and stability things. Well, it's not flashy and and as fun as the idea of having new content. Um this is under the assumption that that it won't be a one-and-done type situation where they're only gonna do one more update and then things are gonna be just like left um for years at a time. Um this is assuming that that's not the case and that they'll continue to do more stuff. I guess more of it's kind of prioritizing um making everything more stable and and opening up the ability to more people to play together. I feel like that sets a better foundation, and then go and do the other stuff. So that's that's just my thought. The cross-platform play, trading, modernization, and uh technical stability.
SPEAKER_01I don't necessarily have a top three, I got top four because I really couldn't pick. Um, my top one, just because I'm a big fan of new content, I'm gonna have to go like a new act slash finishing act for. Um two for me is a rebalance. I would love to see some of those underutilized builds start getting used again. Um, it's always nice to see some breath, some fresh breath put into some things that have been kind of dead for a while.
SPEAKER_02Fresh breath. Choose some gun.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes. Orbit. Um not a sponsor. So my third one would have to be crossplay. That has been my biggest takeup. Like, I have friends that play on Xbox, which I do have one, but I play Diablo 2 primarily in computer. I have another buddy who plays PlayStation 5 who would probably get into it if he could play with me. So being able to get all of us into that same ecosystem would be amazing. And then my fourth one is the in-game trading. I think that that would be a massive boon to the game. And it should have been probably done years ago.
SPEAKER_03Alright, my number one is in-game trading. Um, if I didn't say it before, I'm emphatically um champion championing that uh whatever, I want it. That's I'm losing my words here. But yeah, I I really think it it'll be such a big quality of life change. Uh I just look forward to it so much that I I gotta say, I rarely get disappointed when things don't happen because when you've played Blizzard games for a long time, you get used to the fact that a lot of the things you want just won't happen for whatever reason. But that's one that I really, really want to happen. I I think it'll be such a huge thing. Um, number two, the charm bags. I think it's a huge quality of life change, especially for people who like to pick up and look at stuff in endgame. Uh, you know, as you're leveling, it's not as big a deal because you don't carry that many. But boy, when you get into the you're like level 75, level 80, and now you really need those charms to, you know, flip finish out your resistances or beef up your life. It just would, you know, be such a quality of life change to have those things there and still be able to pick up and look at, you know, this item, that item, so on and so forth. And it doesn't add anything to player power to do it. So I'm all for it. And my uh third one is the improvements that raise the power of lower performing builds and balance the meta. I I really think that's a huge um you know upgrade in you know, in getting the end game to be more diverse among classes, to promote different specs and get people interested in different I I think there's so many things that branch off there that uh it would be just such a really big thing to make a really nice big long pass and take some of those bills that nobody plays and beef them up a little bit.
SPEAKER_02So we're gonna take a quick break, and when we come back, uh we're going to talk about uh some special stuff that's upcoming that we're really excited about, so stick around and we'll be right back. This episode is brought to you by our D2R Discord and subreddit. Come join our community of over 100,000 combined members. Ask questions, interact with other players, get real-time updates on Diablo clone and terror zones, join voice channels and kill hordes together, enter our giveaways, or just hang out and chat. If you love D2R as much as we do, be sure to check it out. Links in the description. Alright, and we are back. So, first up, uh, I wanted to talk a little bit about, real briefly, about uh the art piece that we commissioned for the podcast. We received quite a bit of feedback on the subreddit. Um, you know, I I know that there are a lot of people that are against AI, and I'll admit, yeah, we use I used AI to create some of the thumbnails that we used uh in the past for some of the art uh you know for YouTube uh and then uh for some stuff on the on the subreddit. And this isn't really necessarily a response to that. Um it was more like it was something really cool for the community to do. Um so we uh reached out to an artist um who uh did an oil painting for us um that's thematic to the podcast. We're very excited to unveil it. We're not gonna do it just yet, um, but keep an eye out for that. Um it's really cool. Um, and thank you to Austin for for doing that. It's really cool. We'll be making prints available. We look forward to to sharing that with the community. Uh probably closer to BlizzCon. I know I'm gonna take a few prints with me to BlizzCon to give out as gifts and then also um maybe get some some uh signatures from folks, maybe the dev team if we're able to, things like that. Keep an eye out for that. We're we're really pleased how it turned out. And again, thank you, Austin. And then the other thing I wanted to touch on real briefly before we get into BlueScon speculation, just a little bit ago, someone had posted on our subreddit about they well, they stated that they are the origin the original or the originator of the uh ring point system, the evaluation system that's used for PvP. Um I I did not confirm whether or not they are who they say they are. I can't say that for certain. Um, but I just thought it was really cool they they uh did an AMA. I just thought it was really neat, uh, not something I expected to see, and I just thought it was worth mentioning. It was really kind of cool to see that. If he is who he says he is, then uh that's pretty cool. And thanks for doing that. I guess before we get into the BlizzCon speculation, did you guys have any thoughts on uh either of those two points?
SPEAKER_01I'm excited to see the reaction prom our listeners as well as our community members uh on the art. I think that's gonna be cool. And I'm curious to once we're done with this, look through and see what our ring guy had to say.
SPEAKER_03I'm glad that we were able to get someone who's a fan of Diablo and an artist to create that piece for us, and I'm excited to see how everybody feels about it as well.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he was yeah, he was really excited to to be able to uh to do that and share his art with the community too. Um really was was a awesome interaction and working with him was great. Um, so I guess I would just plug him here and say, uh, if you guys are looking for any uh neat Diablo art, I'm sure Austin could hook you up. Uh BlizzCon speculation. What I thought we could do here is maybe uh talk about two things. What would you like to happen, like best case scenario, and then also what do you think will actually happen? Um, I think this is interesting because it there there's kind of a a tension between the two. Just because you want something to happen doesn't necessarily mean it will, and you know what what do you think will actually happen makes you kind of be more restrictive in in your thoughts. So um I guess maybe I'll go first. Maybe we'll just do uh what would you like to have happen first for each of us, and then and then we'll do what do you think will actually happen. So I guess it's it's not a secret at this point. Um, we've talked about it multiple times. Crude and I are going to BlizzCon, so we're hoping that there will be awesome news uh to to discuss, and uh, we're looking forward to hooking up um and and talking with some of the previous guests that we've had on the pod. But what would I like to happen um as far as what they announce? First, I think, and I again complete speculation, but what I would like to see happen is they release some stuff immediately, kind of like how they shadow dropped ROTW. Um, but not everything. I don't want it all. Uh, I want I would like them to release a little bit some really cool stuff. You know, we talked about all those things from the survey. Some of those things, I would like to have them basically say, here are all the things that are that's going to be released. We'll do a PTR, and the next ladder will include these things, and it'll start like a week or two weeks after BlizzCon, and then uh follow that up with an announcement about maybe Act Six, uh, or something even bigger, you know, saying that uh that it will that it will be either there will be more information uh early next year, maybe January, or um maybe specifically state what it is and when it'll come out early next year. Uh I think that would be a best case scenario. Um as far as what specifically is released in those two time frames, you know, we kind of talked about, we already talked about stuff from the survey. Um, but again, I'll I guess I'll just say my top three were cross-platform play, trading modern modernization, uh, and uh technical stability fixes. Beyond that, melee caster disparity and build balance, itemization and crafting improvements, new content, um, including Act 4, new zones, new monsters, Act 6, uh, new mer mercenary options, uh, potentially an expanded mercenary system, uh, and then the charm bag. Uh, in what order? Kind of still in that same order. Like it would be really awesome if they came out and said, you know, next week, crossplay across you know, across all the platforms. Trading and technical stability fixes that will roll out next week and then and then early next year act six. Like I think that would be really, really good. Will that happen? I don't know. Uh but that's the way I would that's how I would do it if it were me.
SPEAKER_01My best case scenario would be a roadmap. Not necessarily, you know, June 6th, we're gonna drop this, you know, February 8th, we're gonna do this, but maybe like quarterly have, you know, Q1 2027 this, Q2 this. And I think that would be really neat, especially if it had the four things that I was really excited for, like the Act Six, Act Four finish, the rebalance, crossplay, and in-game trading. Uh, and of course a few other ones, but those being my top picks, a roadmap that includes those things, and sooner the better, but done in such a way that they're not gonna fall short on those promises.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's always important to underpromise and over-deliver rather than the other way around. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so my best case scenario is we get a discussion about Diablo, the lights fade, and up comes a cinematic that introduces uh a brand new expansion. Uh, I know some people will be like, I don't want to spend more money, but I want them to make me want to spend my money. So I want a full expansion, preferably a whole new act. Um, but you know, a lot of the stuff we said, you know, chock full of all kinds of updates and upgrades and a commitment to the game moving forward, because that's what that will be. If we see that happen, we're we're getting it. That's that's the commitment. We're we're getting a commitment that this game is important to Blizzard and that it's gonna continue on and they're gonna invest resources because if they're gonna do all that, they're gonna, you know, they're gonna expect it, you know, we're gonna expect it rather, and that's what's gonna happen. That's my best case scenario. Uh I get so excited that I levitate four feet above the ground.
SPEAKER_02I and I do like I do like how you painted the picture of of the anticipation uh actually while we're there. I I hope you're right.
SPEAKER_03Uh yeah, would be incredible. At BlizzCon 2019, which was a year following the do you have phones, debacle? I I didn't know. You know, I I went there, I did not know, I was hopeful, I did not know what was gonna happen. Um, I knew that there was gonna be a WoW trailer because they announced and you know, they I knew they were gonna announce that, so I was ready for that. Uh, was not ready for the Diablo 4 announcement. I was not ready for that amazing trailer. I'm not expecting that for this, but a nice good two-minute full, you know, gets the full blizzard treatment, you know, uh, will be just so exciting and so such a pump up moment, and then tell us, hey, guess what? You can play these new features on the on the demo floor, be like, yes.
SPEAKER_02So that'll be really uh I'm cautiously, I don't want to say cautiously optimistic. I'll just say I'm optimistic, but I'm I'm prepared to be disappointed. I don't know. But I I hope uh joking aside, I hope that uh you know this being my first BlizzCon that it's kind of I wouldn't be disappointed if it's the if it's like the pinnacle of all the BlizzCons that I could go to and all the other ones are gonna be sad and disappointing. I'd be okay with that if they if they actually deliver on like just blow it out of the water on the D2 stuff. Also, on the cost thing, I want to say that I think that whatever the next part is, whatever they announce, I would like it to be included for that twenty dollars or you know, whatever it was, the the $40 for the expansion. I guess if you didn't have the game, then it was forty dollars, but just just the expansion was $20, right?
SPEAKER_03$25, I think. $25, $25, I think.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, okay. Thank you. I would expect maybe not Act Six as part of that initial $25, but I feel like just getting a character, I think that the next thing that's released should still fall within that initial cost. Um, but then if they do go ahead and announce Act Six in the near future, I wouldn't be opposed to paying a little bit more money for that. Um, but not like a full game cost, and also I just it would feel bad. I would understand why they would. Um after all, it is a business, they're there to make money. But I feel like in service to the fans, they could probably give us a little bit more before they uh ask us to you know fork more over.
SPEAKER_03But but since it's not a subscription-based game, I think if we get a new act, maybe a new class, which uh, you know, a low boatload of good features that we've been looking for, quality of life, balance, all those things. To me, it's worth it for a full price game. I I I think, you know, especially if it's a good act, I mean, like that that gives you some meat to work with, you know, I feel like it would be worth it.
SPEAKER_02But it depends on how they roll it out.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it does. Yeah, it does. So what do you think will actually happen, Brake? Let's turn it over now to you. And what do you think will actually happen?
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna have to put my money where my mouth is on this. Um, I think we will get an upgraded chat system and and uh a trade system implemented. I would say that would happen first, and then later on, act six and then character balancing and and like item balancing. Um we didn't really get into it. I think it was in the list, but like making some of the old uniques and sets worthwhile, like I feel like that could be uh part of the the secondary piece um that they hopefully announce would be maybe a little later on. But certainly some stuff now um that's included for that $25 that we already paid, and then more stuff later. There's a lot of stuff on that list. Uh you know, I I wouldn't be surprised if some of the stuff that they uh asked about on the survey wasn't already stuff either uh uh completed, like it was just uh done and sitting on a shelf and didn't get pushed out with uh with the updates that we got, uh, or if it wasn't our stuff wasn't already in development and they were just looking for confirmation. I don't I don't know that for certain, but I it it feels like something that would be a smart way to do it. That feels like a a a good way to to move everything forward. I I don't know, again, speculation. I that that's my thought on.
SPEAKER_03So what I think will happen, and I want to preface this by saying that this is me thinking from Blizzard thinking of it from a business point of view. I think that what we what's going to happen is that we're going to get a full-blown expansion at a full price, even though that might rankl some. And I think I don't know what the exact things will come of it, but I think that's what's going to happen just just from the safe just from the standpoint of I feel that the warlock expansion or DLC, whichever you want to call it, I think it really was the litmus test for Blizzard to see if there was profit to be made. And I think that they saw that. I don't know the exact numbers. I I have not followed an earnings call from them in quite a while, so I don't really know. I'm optimistic that that was enough for them to say let's continue on and move this forward. Obviously, they have they have to have some plans with Diablo 4 moving forward as well. It's it's possible that D2R might get a squeeze there where Diablo 4 may take precedence. Maybe they feel that's you know a better place to put their resources. That being the case, then we might see something more like a second DLC where it's smaller, where we don't see maybe a full new act, maybe we just see a couple of new quests, and you know, maybe some of the quality of life features that we we talked about. But I feel like if we're shooting, you know, if in our first pass we went, this is what we want, and everything else. I think thinking what will happen, just thinking of it from uh from like instead of looking at it from the business point of view, more like a worst-case scenario, if you will, as opposed to a best case, I think is that we just get some feature upgrades uh that are basically baked into the price we already have, and they're not super exciting, but they're all they're also still positive upgrades for what we're doing. Uh I don't I don't think that's gonna be that bad. I have a feeling we're gonna get a little more, you know, flash and bang from it. But I but I think that that's a reasonable floor. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I think that's a reasonable floor, is that we're like, hey, you know, uh the warlock thing was a big hit, and you know, D2R players, we didn't forget about you, so we're gonna be doing, you know, these few things here or there. And you know, that you know, that's what we have coming. Uh but I really feel I don't know why, I just have this feeling that that we're gonna be seeing something really, really, really cool happen, and I'm excited to see it. It's hard for me to it's hard for me to temper my expectations.
SPEAKER_02So, what you think will happen is they'll blow our socks off.
SPEAKER_03Yes, I I am expecting to be blown away.
SPEAKER_02And uh but I I think it could be both things. Like we could get, like I had said, we could get some stuff that falls into hey, here's some additional stuff that falls under the DLC, you know, for the $25 we already spent. And then here's Act Six and uh a whole whole additional expansion, maybe another character, you know, rebalancing, you know, all kinds of stuff. Like that to me, that would be maybe that's a best case scenario, but I I still think that it falls within what might actually happen.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it it's hard for me to think down. I'm just so optimistic and and hopeful. And and I don't mind. Like if it doesn't work out, I don't get devastated. It's like, okay, it it you know, it it wasn't really what I wanted, but I'm you know, look, at the end of the day, if they did absolutely nothing, I can still, you know, when I get home, I can still go online, you know. My son and I can still go, you know, do magic finding runs or XP runs or whatever. You know, I'm still we're still gonna have our podcast, we're gonna have our stuff. So it's still gonna thrive, it's still gonna grow. Uh, but I I just feel like I I think they've realized that there is a big you know, a big community out there that's ready for more, and I think we're gonna be happy.
SPEAKER_01So I'm gonna go a little more conservative with what I think's gonna happen. I think, like I said, my best case would be the the roadmap, but I think that it's more likely that we're going to get a conservative, there is more coming, and it will be stuff that everyone is happy about, but I'm not expecting it to go much beyond that.
SPEAKER_02I'm hoping that I am so you think that they're just going to tease that there will be more, but they'll but they won't actually share anything. Correct. Oof. I hope that's not true.
SPEAKER_01But I I hope I'm wrong. I I sincerely hope that I am wrong, but maybe I'm a little jaded from you know past circumstances.
SPEAKER_03Hmm, fair. You gotta be like a goldfish, tier. You ever watch Ted Lasso? Be a goldfish.
SPEAKER_01Being sold at fairs and usually put in way too small of containers. No, I meant I meant being swallowed by drunken frat boys. Yeah. Oh boy. You know, I don't know that I want to touch that.
SPEAKER_02Oh boy. Uh let's keep it family friendly. Uh yeah, I I get what you're saying. I guess we'll we'll find out here soon.
SPEAKER_01So let me let me be clear. This is the one time that I am willing to take an absolute L on my prediction. Like I would love that.
SPEAKER_00I would love to be wrong. Yeah. Yes. Fair.
SPEAKER_03And to put even a to put another cloud on there or to put a uh a little check mark next to what Tyr says, I'm usually wrong. Almost everything that I predict is I can tell you all the times, like when I'm speculating about what's gonna happen on the next WoW expansion and everything, I'd be like, oh yeah, we're gonna get this, we're gonna get this. No, we didn't get any of those things. You know, so it yeah, I but like I said, I I can't help it. It's just it's just my nature to to hope and be optimistic and see what happens.
SPEAKER_02All right, guys, I think that does it for this episode. You guys have anything else to add before we uh call it a day?
SPEAKER_03Just want to say I'm looking forward to BlizzCon and I hope it's a great thing for everybody, whether whether they are attending or not. I hope it you know brings happiness to everybody.
SPEAKER_02One last thing real quick. Uh, our next episode, we're gonna try to squeeze one in between now and and uh BlizzCon. I don't know if it's gonna happen, but we're working on an episode where we bring in tool builders from the community. Uh people that have created uh different different uh services and tools from from our Discord and Reddit community that we'll showcase uh some of their work and and what they're working on and uh really really neat stuff um that I'm excited to talk about uh with them. So if if we are able to figure out timing and uh scheduling and get those things get those conversations recorded, then we will uh hopefully have that out before BlizzCon. So with that, tier crew, thank you. Uh and thank you everybody for listening. We'll see you next time. Before we close this one out, I would like to give a shout out to our community supporters. These are folks that are supporting our efforts across the podcast, subreddit, and discord with a small monthly subscription via our new stay a while and listen plus option. Community supporters enjoy some special perks, including early access to podcast episodes, occasional access to small pre-show hangouts with the hosts and podcast guests, supporter-only input opportunities, access to VIP only areas of our Discord, and credited in the podcast post role as a community supporter, and more. If that sounds like something that interests you, the link is in the description below. So, the following folks are our founding community supporters Apropos, Kozan, Damage Corp, Jonx, Crassle, Mr. Shackelford, Planetary, Roe, Tireless Tracker, Trucker Ducky X95, and Unique Sash. Your presence honors us, and if you enjoy our content, please consider joining our community on Reddit and Discord. And as always, farewell until next time.
