Postby Hercanic » Thu Aug 22, 2013 8:54 pm
Interesting that they reveal this in August. I was expecting them to save the announcement for BlizzCon, two-and-a-half months from now. Ah well, at least we know it's a sure thing that those who go will get to try it out.
Cinematic Trailer
Can't destroy the Black Soulstone, eh? Where's a Mt. Doom when ya need one. So they go to hide it, because that worked so well the last three times. Apparently there are still Horadrim around? Not that any of this buildup matters in the end; cue the Angle of Death. I like the dual sickles he has over the standard/cliché scythe. I'm happy with his design: his elongated hood gives him a gaunt appearance, despite lacking a face, with a creeping forebodance to his motions, such as cocking his head to the side and grazing Tyrael's face with his blade.
Dialogue was succinct. Given past deliveries, I expected a cartoon-quality response to, "The Nephalem will stop you." along the lines of "No one can stop me!" but instead got a weightier "No one can stop Death."
Overall, I like the cinematic. It concludes the silly falling-through-the-clouds 'cliffhanger' in D3 and presents us with a fairly interesting new villain. I'll have to see more of this guy to determine if he will ultimately win me over.
Gameplay Trailer
Blizzard, please don't overuse the "No one can stop Death" line. It worked once, but if you beat it into the ground...
New Crusader looks a tad too chunky, like a Barbarian with crosses. I look forward to reading about his ability set and how he fits in as the third melee class. I'm guessing there will be plenty of shield-based abilities, and the flail will probably be a class-specific weapon like the Wizard's wand.
Auction House
Trade chat spam or a core gameplay element utterly deflated, which is the lesser evil here? I like the Auction House only in theory. It is another game onto itself, one which saps drop percentages and rare-izes most rewards to conform to a global economy. Though Blizzard could mitigate some of these downsides by not designing the loot system around it -- the AH would naturally follow suit by hosting only the most perfect rolls, rather than being the only place you could hope to acquire a build-enabling Legendary.
Itemization
Blizzard could learn a thing or two from Path of Exile. Legendaries in that game offer unique effects and tradeoffs, rather than just being another colored stat stick. Imperfect items, with enough currency, can be finessed into your ideal item. Oh, and not everything boils down to your DPS.
So begins the end of all things...
At least apocalyptic language goes with the Heaven v. Hell genre. It's in Starcraft that it absolutely did not belong. I mean, SC1's conflict, when you get right down to it, was just about an alien species fulfilling its biological imperative.
We mod Starcraft.
~[
