Diablo 3: We need a thread

[Смерть]

Awesome anime short; would like to see more.

[shawn]

Q: I know that Diablo 3 is a click-to-move type game, but for sufferers of Carpel Tunnel syndrome, it can be very painful to click that much. Is controller support available in the future, if not, can players use applications such as xpadder for use with controllers on the computer?

A: Right-click drive mode allows you to automatically attack while moving when you hold the mouse button down instead of clicking. Several of use this to reduce clicks. (You can imagine how many times we've click in the process of making the game!)

http://www.d3rmt.com/news/123/diablo...loper-chat-qa/

[Alaris]

http://www.d3rmt.com/news/123/diablo...loper-chat-qa/

I found that even keeping the button down got painful. Totally worth it though, but how hard is it to implement WASD? Even if you don't allow move & shoot? It's trivial, that's how hard.

[shawn]

Q:I will like to start of by saying the game is looking amazing so far, and I'm new to Diablo. Can you use the WASD keys for movement or just the left click on the mouse?

A: Jason Regier - Basic control in Diablo 3 is very simple. Just click to move, and click on monsters to attack them.
A: Jay Wilson - We don't support WASD for movement. We don't think it feels good as a movement scheme from an isometric view.

Trival or not, Blizzard typically makes decisions based on gameplay reasons. Such as that.

[Alaris]

Trival or not, Blizzard typically makes decisions based on gameplay reasons. Such as that.

Trivial, as in I implemented that long time ago in my game and it was easy.

Gameplay decisions, sure, I can understand that. I don't care to argue beyond my point, clearly the Blizzard guys know their market... but to me gameplay decisions come in many flavors. Not allowing WASD is forcing a control scheme on me while not actually having an impact on gameplay. WASD felt good as a movement scheme from an isometric view in Bastion. It would be trivial for Blizz guys to give the option and let the players pick their favorite gameplay method.

Of course, if they do give us the WASD, then I'd ask for casting while moving, and that is not going to happen. But even with WASD I would be far more likely to spend money on D3.

Anyway, two personal reasons why I'd pay more to play Bastion 2 than Diablo 3. D3 still has plenty to offer though. The wall monsters were pretty cool.

[Zalis]

Holding the mouse button down for long periods is just as bad as the clicking, IMO. I understand that it was a design decision, but WASD would be a smart choice. They're eventually bringing it to consoles, so I don't see why it can't eventually come down the pipeline.

[Alaris]

For simple stuff like this, I say give the players the option unless there is a solid reason *not* to. Just have it not be the default option. Players who really want it despite the game not being optimized for it will be able to set it up for themselves.

[Zalis]

I think the obvious reason is that WASD kills the skill usage that's bound to numbers 1-8. They could still implement a mode where your mousewheel scrolls through which skill from there is selected, though. Not super efficient, but doable.

It's admirable to take a stand for design integrity, but it's slightly less admirable when your interface is already flawed. (and perhaps irresponsible) I don't actually have diagnosed RSI or Carpal Tunnel, but I already know that a month of playing D3 regularly would give me wrist soreness. SC2 did it, too.

[Alaris]

Diablo 3's skill system is pretty well suited imo to WASD because (1) you can't do two things at once, or rarely can, and (2) most spells take some time to cast and have a recharge, meaning you don't need to alternate a lot between skills. The game design is quite optimized for a casual control scheme.

It's quite common to assign functions to QERFVZC12345 shift ctrl and spc in WASD+mouse games. It would be quite trivial to remap the D3 commands to those keys. GW2 is WASD too and quite similar to D3 skill-wise, and it plays very well.

[Zalis]

Yeah. Just make it like GW. Problem solved.



Seriously, though, GW was a huge UI improvement over D2.