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Diablo 1/2 project lead shares his opinions of Diablo 3

Majine said:
The longer we get from D3s launch, the more hate it seems to get. A couple of weeks and people will start killing themselves?
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It's classic Oblivion scham. Game tricks you showing you graphic and early content and promise getting even better playing it for xxx hours. Problem is when you start to play more you will see bad design all over the place.

I too loved Diablo 3 for my first 4 acts. After those 3 acts i noticed that my weapons are meaningless only DPS count, good loot never drops and many other things same as many other people.
 
Perkel said:
Please elaborate, i don't understand it.
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No one man makes any game of that size == He did not make D2 on his own. There's alot of talented people that are a part of games that size. But I do understand what you are saying, he was clearly a compass and driving force in its development.
 
I'm pretty sure the entire line is genuine. Its not a fake, I saw people posting facebook links. I didn't click them but it seems legit. I'm surprised they didn't throw shots at the interviewer, he was the one who was seemingly trying to kick some shit. Brevik seemed to be trying to steer away from starting anything.

The way they snapped off on him tells me there must be some bad blood behind the scenes between those two camps that we dont know about. They went for his throat. Either way, probably this thread and the Blizzard official forums are going to erupt later on in the day when everyone else wakes up.
 
I wonder if there's any hidden backstory to this that would explain why the current Blizzard employees are acting like he killed their dog. Like maybe he actually got out of Blizzard with a really good severance package and the guys who were left behind regret not choosing that now.
 
Perkel said:
Yeah and he was responsible for Diablo 1/2.. which is reason why Diablo 3 sold that good.
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This is the truth. I bought Diablo I and II are classic PC games. I don't consider anyone who is responsible for designing and creating two of the greatest games of all time a "loser." I think Jay should thank him for creating an IP and a fan base to allow for the incredible success that Diablo 3 has had.
 
CrookedRain said:
Wow, those Blizzard employees are idiots. He basically just said that he would have taken things in a different direction.
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I can understand their reactions. Blizzard are in a rough spot with Diablo 3 now, and to have a fellow colleague, that has worked on the series before, making things worse with the community with an interview like that......well you can be allowed to be a bit pissed in (what was supposed to be) a private conversation when that happens.

That said, calling someone a looser for taking a huge risk with a new game when said person has been very succesful before, that looks bad when the conversation leaks.
 
Cipherr said:
I'm pretty sure the entire line is genuine. Its not a fake, I saw people posting facebook links. I didn't click them but it seems legit. I'm surprised they didn't throw shots at the interviewer, he was the one who was seemingly trying to kick some shit. Brevik seemed to be trying to steer away from starting anything.

The way they snapped off on him tells me there must be some bad blood behind the scenes between those two camps that we dont know about. They went for his throat. Either way, probably this thread and the Blizzard official forums are going to erupt later on in the day when everyone else wakes up.
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Why did they take the game away from Blizzard North? I'm guessing that they feel like their vision was the best since they survived and North was disbanded. It must suck after all of the sales Diablo 3 has achieved, that most view their game as a drop in quality from the rest of the series. Them going straight to talking about Hellgate: London is proof that they believed they were making the better game. I still say Brevick's work on Diablo and Diablo 2 speaks for itself. His games were an innovation and genre-defining series on PC, while Diablo 3 is merely a very good game in a genre the Blizzard North team mastered.
 
What the hell with the Blizzard employees backlashing on him? I'm honestly surprised at the vulgarity here even though its from Facebook from the looks of it.
 
CecilRousso said:
I can understand their reactions. Blizzard are in a rough spot with Diablo 3 now, and to have a fellow colleague, that has worked on the series before, making things worse with the community with an interview like that......well you can be allowed to be a bit pissed in (what was supposed to be) a private conversation when that happens.

That said, calling someone a looser for taking a huge risk with a new game when said person has been very succesful before, that looks bad when the conversation leaks.
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Were they even colleagues? North has been gone for awhile and they were a completely different studio. I'm sure the new Diablo team probably thinks Brevick is just bitter that South won out and is still a very successful and profitable studio.
 
soxinthebox said:
What's the story behind Blizzard North and Flagship anyway? Did the North team get axed when Activision bought Blizzard out?
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blizzard_North said:
By June 2003 two new games were in production. However on June 30, 2003, several key employees left Blizzard North to form the new companies Flagship Studios (8 moved here including Max Schaefer, Erich Schaefer, David Brevik and Bill Roper) and Castaway Entertainment (9 moved here).

The resignations were partly due to a conflict with Blizzard Entertainment's owner, Vivendi, and partly due to employees wishing to start something new.

On August 1, 2005, Blizzard Entertainment announced the closure of Blizzard North. A key reason for the closure was Blizzard North's poor development of what was to be Diablo III which did not meet the expectations of Vivendi.
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I think this sums it up nicely. Blizzard North was gone about 3 years before the merge with Activision.
 
Perkel said:
Yeah and he was responsible for Diablo 1/2.. which is reason why Diablo 3 sold that good.
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Agreed. I bought D3 based on many hundreds of hours spent on D2, trying to keep the experience as fresh as possible. I suspect I'm not alone in this.
 
soxinthebox said:
What's the story behind Blizzard North and Flagship anyway? Did the North team get axed when Activision bought Blizzard out?
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It is due to North's vision of their Diablo 3 not matching up to what Blizzard wanted. Keep in mind this was done before as the Diablo series was intended to be a turn-based "claymation" before Blizzard told/persuaded North to make it real-time. North was disbanded way before the Activision merger.
 
JABEE said:
Were they even colleagues? North has been gone for awhile and they were a completely different studio. I'm sure the new Diablo team probably thinks Brevick is just bitter that South won out and is still a very successful and profitable studio.
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Well, I meant more like them being part of the same part of the industry more than that they actually sat next to each other in the same office. You can replace "fellow colleague" with "fellow game developer".
 
Cipherr said:
The way they snapped off on him tells me there must be some bad blood behind the scenes between those two camps that we dont know about. They went for his throat. Either way, probably this thread and the Blizzard official forums are going to erupt later on in the day when everyone else wakes up.
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I think it's more problem with people hitting D3

Fetts_Jets said:
Seriously. What's with the immature, overly defensive pack mentality? Those reactions are totally unnecessary.
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I think it's because it is hard to take criticism and he just snapped. Former B North employee stating obvious just made him realize that something is wrong. David responded very humble addressing right of the bat what many people said countless times. Loot system and DPS weapons.

And yeah there will be fallout from Jay response and how defensive D3 devs got.
What's more important is that they never acknowledged that loot system and magic find is broken.

They never said. "Oh i see, well we will improve it in near future"

I don't want to create conspiracy theory but i think loot system is strictly connected to RMAH. It was intention of devs/publisher that you can't find any good loot to make people use AH so they don't want to fix it. But this is only my opinion.
 
Perkel said:
I think it's more problem with people hitting D3



I think it's because it is hard to take criticism and he just snapped. Former B North employee stating obvious just made him realize that something is wrong. David responded very humble addressing right of the bat what many people said countless times. Loot system and DPS weapons.

And yeah there will be fallout from Jay response and how defensive D3 devs got.
What's more important is that they never acknowledged that loot system and magic find is broken.

They never said. "Oh i see, well we will improve it in near future"

I don't want to create conspiracy theory but i think loot system is strictly connected to RMAH. It was intention of devs/publisher that you can't find any good loot to make people use AH so they don't want to fix it. But this is only my opinion.
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Its shocking really. I consider myself a hardcore Blizzard fan having played and loved the tiles of Diablo 2, StarCraft, and Warcraft 3. Seeing this sudden rage at a former employee of Blizzard (who gave out his opinion in a very humble manner) from Jay Wilson and some pack mentality really lowers my respect for Blizzard. Mayhaps not the entire company but the Diablo 3 team to be sure.

And yes I do enjoy Diablo 3 though haven't played it due to hype of upcoming Guild Wars 2.
 
What the hell? These guys really can't take some very light criticism and musing on a project that basically everybody agrees went a little awry?
 
Seriously, how did people think that the Blizzard people would react to the interview.

"- Hey, maybe he has a point?"
"- Yeah.....I suddenly feel like we screwed up here. He has opened our eyes!"

Of course they already knew that a large part of the community is not satisfied, and this interview being sent to all corners of the internet is really not helping them and their situation.
 
Haga left Blizzard to do his own indie studio last year. (I believe.) I think he's more in the clear to talk about being disheartened since he's no longer employed by Blizz, though I didn't find the interview to really throw the d3 team under the bus to begin with.

It's hard to tell if the Jay Wilson account is real. The Silvernail account looks legit.
 
LarryButz said:
Oh Jay Wilson you card.

sQBJ0.png
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Kinda uncalled for by Wilson.
 
Cipherr said:
Oh lawd, it has begun.
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You know it would be awesome if Jay would made speech.

"I'm sorry i was a dick. Yeah we acknowledge problem with loot system and DPS weapons we will improve it. And we will make a poll "what's wrong with Diablo 3" where u can choose what you don't like about diablo 3 and we will improve it."

That would be win and i would probably go back to D3 after patches.
 
etiolate said:
Haga left Blizzard to do his own indie studio last year. (I believe.) I think he's more in the clear to talk about being disheartened since he's no longer employed by Blizz, though I didn't find the interview to really throw the d3 team under the bus to begin with.

It's hard to tell if the Jay Wilson account is real. The Silvernail account looks legit.
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It's real.
 
Man God said:
I played D1 at launch and besides hackers and cheaters loved every minute.

I played D2 right after launch and HATED it. Thought it was a broken mess with crappy loot and a terrible end game.

Came back and started playing D2 about 2 or 3 years ago and they fixed just about every problem I had with it. Got the difficulty just right, the loot system was pretty good, the characters were interesting and the synergies made the game a joy as you leveled up.

This is why I'm not ready to give up on 3 just yet. Gonna let it stew a few years.
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I feel like you got D2 backwards. The endgame and itemization were incredible at launch, and got worse with each revision. The only problem with D2 at launch was Blizzard's servers...which is a problem with every Blizzard launch.
 
Perkel said:
You know it would be awesome if Jay would made speech.

"I'm sorry i was a dick. Yeah we acknowledge problem with loot system and DPS weapons we will improve it. And we will make a poll "what's wrong with Diablo 3" where u can choose what you don't like about diablo 3 and we will improve it."

That would be win and i would probably go back to D3 after patches.
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Not gonna happen, Blizzard's not like that, at best we will get a blue response on the forums if this issue begins to form and sustain as a hot topic for a while.
 
etiolate said:
Yeah, there's a Jay Wilson eats too much food account, but that looks different from the one that posted the comment.
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Jill Harrington comments on Jay's comment in the screen grab and the still alive direct link to the comment. Others who were watching these events as they happened noticed Jay Wilson's comment getting deleted.

Edit: Diablo's boards are going nuts. I don't know if this drama deserves its own thread or an updated thread title, but it's an interesting development.
 
JABEE said:
Jill Harrington comments on Jay's comment in the screen grab and the still alive direct link to the comment. Others who were watching these events as they happened noticed Jay Wilson's comment getting deleted.

Edit: Diablo's boards are going nuts. I don't know if this drama deserves its own thread or an updated thread title, but it's an interesting development.
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lol they really stuck their foot in it now.
 
AnathemicOne said:
Not gonna happen, Blizzard's not like that, at best we will get a blue response on the forums if this issue begins to form and sustain as a hot topic for a while.
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That my thinking as well. But from looks they are in full denial mode. Game is fastest selling PC game and they are thinking it's because it is that good.

If Diablo 3 was named differently game would sold at most milion or two. It's thanks to D1/D2 legacy they sold that much coppies. My coppy is proof to that. I bought it straight from blizzard site knowing only few facts about game.

I will not make that mistake again with D4.
 
The Incgamers website is down now as well, so no one can read the full article.

And those were some seriously unprofessional comments by the Blizzard employees. There will definitely be repercussions of some sort.
 
HK-47 said:
lol they really stuck their foot in it now.
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And from reading the Diablo boards, someone posted a link to Jay Wilson's real twitter with a bunch of candid pictures of him. I'm pretty sure those were Wilson's real comments. Now the Diablo boards are assembling a coup d'etat and calling for Wilson's head. It's an overreaction, but it's interesting to watch.
 
CarbonatedFalcon said:
The Incgamers website is down now as well, so no one can read the full article.

And those were some seriously unprofessional comments by the Blizzard employees. There will definitely be repercussions of some sort.
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There will be a lot of forums posts sure. But real world repercussions? I think its highly unlikely. If they can ship D3 with nearly no end game, and let WoW marinate in liquid feces with no new content for nearly a year and get away with it, a few facebook posts, no matter how politically incorrect aint gonna do anything.

There will be a few stupid memes and a lot of forum posts at best. This would be one hell of a crazy week should the internet manage to prove me wrong though. Not holding my breath however.
 
CecilRousso said:
Seriously, how did people think that the Blizzard people would react to the interview.

"- Hey, maybe he has a point?"
"- Yeah.....I suddenly feel like we screwed up here. He has opened our eyes!"

Of course they already knew that a large part of the community is not satisfied, and this interview being sent to all corners of the internet is really not helping them and their situation.
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I don't think you're going to garner much empathy for snarky children who are in the tough "situation" of acting as curators for the "fastest selling PC game of all time."
 
I could not imagine what would be needed for me to log in Battle.net forums(!!!!), and open threads about wanting to fire(!) people that I have no connection whatsoever other than playing his product. Oh my god.

(That said, Blizzard employees should stop giving ammo to those eagerly awaiting it.)
 
Please make a thread, or rename this one, otherwise this will spill over into the Diablo OT eventually. And noone there wants that.

Silex said:
Poor Jay... Social networks are such a bitch.
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I mean, thats on him really. If he has to eat crap for this, I dont feel bad for him. I understand that people say thing kind of stuff to co-workers when they get upset. I have done the same, but you should know by now to stop saying this shit on social sites. We just had a fucking handful of athletes destroy themselves by saying dumb shit on twitter during the Olympics. There's no reason why these idiots should not have known better than to vent on facebook.

No sympathy here, I just know now how they really feel lol.
 
Haha, people (read haters) are just out for blood, so they are taking this as an excuse.

Both the interviewer and Brevik where complete dicks in that interview. There is no way to know that his version of D3 would have been recieved any better so it is easy to say crap like this after the fact. And yes, going off hellgate does give a hint that his creation might not have been well recieved anyway, so trying to claim that "people matter" (he was probably thinking of himself) sounds ridiculous.

And then people going for blood because the current developers of d3 get upset on facebook out of all places? I sure hope all these people getting upset sets the same high standard for themselves as they do of others.

haha, oh well, it will be fun to follow if anything happens at least :)
 
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