Expansion Destination(s)

[HalfElfDragon]

Where do you guys want to go in hypothetical D3 expansion. And do you think they'll just do what they did with LoD and just add one more act or will they have multiple new acts?

[Vil'rexin]

I'm voting based on where I think we'll go more so than where I want to go. There was a ton of work done on Ureh for it to just rot away and then there are the 10 billion Westmarch references in the first 3 acts so those are my predictions.

Oh and since they said there will be multiple expansions, I think it will be a simple formula of one class/one zone/one new profession.

[HalfElfDragon]

I don't really expect new Professions. They've got the bases pretty well covered.

[Lon-ami]

I already posted a huge wall of text on another forum. A short summary of my bets:

-Malthael will come back for the party. Humans are too powerful, most wise decision is to destroy them all. Or he could just make us believe he's evil, and then show he was just manipulating us to save the world or something.

-The surviving Horadrim (or an anti-demon sect) comes to us and captures/convinces us to help them fight demons.

-Kingsport will play an important role, with an act around it. Some humans will try to control demons, ignorant of the epic failure the previous attempts were. A shard of the black soulstone could be here, too.

-We'll kill Imperius defending the Burning Hells for some "protect balance of the universe thing", and then just kill lots of demons trying to backstab us ("Imperius was radical, but he was 90% right" scenario).

-Something bad will happen at Xiansai. Mage wars could be a nice thing to see, with them fighting for an artifact or something (like a shard of the Black Soulstone, that could be influencing them to actually fight each other).

-An act will start at the Monastery of the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye, which could reveal itself as the organization behind demon hunters (this order was awesome and needs to return). Refugees from Aranoch would be running away from Lut Gholein for some reason. There could be many reasons, but my favorite is Malthael taking up residence at the Arcane Sanctuary, trying to twist Horazon's discoveries on demon enslavement against humans, and leaving another nice meteor crater over Lut Gholein's palace.

Just some for now.

[Xarthat]

I dig the Ivgorod proposition. Would love to see some Russian folktale based stuff in a western game.

[Lowtide]

Anywhere that's not a friggin desert with bees.

[Garotar]

Anywhere that's not a friggin desert with bees.

This.

[Lon-ami]

I dig the Ivgorod proposition. Would love to see some Russian folktale based stuff in a western game.

No idea about Ivogorod's location, but I think it could be near Xiansai, making them be part of the same act.

[Aneurysm]

FBXut_Tb5YU

Everytime I fool around it will be down in Gotham City.

[Xarthat]

No idea about Ivogorod's location, but I think it could be near Xiansai, making them be part of the same act.

Russia crumpled together with Far East... not sure if I like it. There's plenty of Far East in western media. Not so much about more Slavic folktales. Koschei (the original lich), Baba Yaga, Marzanna (probably remainder of a pagan winter goddess), that sort of stuff.

[HalfElfDragon]

No idea about Ivogorod's location, but I think it could be near Xiansai, making them be part of the same act.

http://www.diablowiki.net/images/7/7b/Sanctuary_World_Map.jpg

[Omacron]

http://www.diablowiki.net/images/7/7b/Sanctuary_World_Map.jpg

I believe that the Book O' Cain mentioned that Ivgorod used to be an entire nation who controlled part of the northern Aranoch desert and parts of Entseig (but not the Sharval Wilds).

[Porimlys]

Maybe it's the Witch Doctor in me, but I'd love to visit the Tganze Jungle.

[Omacron]

Maybe it's the Witch Doctor in me, but I'd love to visit the Tganze Jungle.

After Kurast I'm a bit jungled out.

[Porimlys]

After Kurast I'm a bit jungled out.

Considering that was back in D2, I'd hardly say that's a valid excuse :P

[Omacron]

Considering that was back in D2, I'd hardly say that's a valid excuse :P

The fact of the matter is we've DONE jungle already. I hated how Caldeum was a rehash of Aranoch. I don't want another jungle to just go right back over what they did with eastern Khejistan.

[Porimlys]

The fact of the matter is we've DONE jungle already. I hated how Caldeum was a rehash of Aranoch. I don't want another jungle to just go right back over what they did with eastern Khejistan.

But there's more than one way to do a jungle, their art department would have pretty low imagination to not be able to concoct a jungle zone that's different from the Oasis. And again, the graphical difference between d2 and d3 already would make another Jungle zone WORLDS different from Kurast.

Is Tristram and surrounding locals even anything remotely close to looking how it did in D2? Even Khejistan, we the jagged rocks and bone wastes aren't like anything I remember seeing in Aranoch.

[Omacron]

But there's more than one way to do a jungle, their art department would have pretty low imagination to not be able to concoct a jungle zone that's different from the Oasis. And again, the graphical difference between d2 and d3 already would make another Jungle zone WORLDS different from Kurast.

Is Tristram and surrounding locals even anything remotely close to looking how it did in D2? Even Khejistan, we the jagged rocks and bone wastes aren't like anything I remember seeing in Aranoch.

I remember shitloads of jagged rocks and bone wastes in Aranoch, which is precisely why I'm not sure if the team would be capable of rendering a jungle all that different from Kurast.

[Cantus]

Some kind of mediterranean-ish step. An old growth timber forest (think Taiga). Grasslands of some sort, preferably with natural wild animals alongside demonically and angelically corrupted ones. The swamplands south of Ureh. And for once, a full on city instead of one tiny ass walled off section.

[Porimlys]

I remember shitloads of jagged rocks and bone wastes in Aranoch, which is precisely why I'm not sure if the team would be capable of rendering a jungle all that different from Kurast.

http://newd2event.net/img/maps/act2/RockyWaste.jpg
http://media.pcgamer.com/files/2012/05/Diablo-3-Act-Two-610x377.jpg

The artistic differences, for me, are obvious. Even if it's inspired by the same themes, they're drastically different.

But even so, does it have to be different from Kurast? Are the HUGE graphical and artistic improvements not enough to breathe new life into an old zone? Again, compare act 1 in Diablo 2 to act 1 in Diablo 3. Worlds different despite being the same area.

It just doesn't seem like a good reason to not go to a jungle region at all.

[Omacron]

Again, compare act 1 in Diablo 2 to act 1 in Diablo 3. Worlds different despite being the same area.

It just doesn't seem like a good reason to not go to a jungle region at all.


Act 1 in D2 took place in the Tamoe Highlands region of Entseig. D3 took place in the fertile plains of Khanduras, different places completely (aside from that time you get teleported to Tristram).

[Sonneillon]

Know where we haven't gone... the sea. Underdaseablo!

[Porimlys]

Act 1 in D2 took place in the Tamoe Highlands region of Entseig. D3 took place in the fertile plains of Khanduras, different places completely (aside from that time you get teleported to Tristram).

Okay.

Even so. The graphical and artistic differences between the two games make returning to the same/likened locations feel new and fresh. The team has proven that they are capable of making two similar zones in the same act feel distinctly different already. I want to go to a jungle zone. You look funny, you have no friends and ya mamma. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8opPUInhOHQ)

[Sonneillon]

Give me Ureh and the swamplands or give me death! You get your jungle in decay form, everyones happy.

[HalfElfDragon]

And Lon-ami and Cantus gets the awards for 'Best Demonstration of Why Not to Make a Poll Multiple-Choice'.

[Omacron]

Give me Ureh and the swamplands or give me death! You get your jungle in decay form, everyones happy.

Personally, my two best bets for places to visit in the next couple of games are Ureh and the Skovos Islands simply because they have some concept art already (and I think Ureh has a cinematic quality 3d landscape). Plus, the Skovos Isles have amazons and I don't have to tell you how much I love that.

[Mshadowz]

If we get another desert.....

[Lon-ami]

http://www.diablowiki.net/images/7/7b/Sanctuary_World_Map.jpg

That map has stuff the one on the website doesn't o_o.

And Lon-ami and Cantus gets the awards for 'Best Demonstration of Why Not to Make a Poll Multiple-Choice'.

:kawaii:

[HalfElfDragon]

And Lon-ami and Cantus gets the awards for 'Best Demonstration of Why Not to Make a Poll Multiple-Choice'.

Add Garotar and Mshadowz to the list...

[Cantus]

What, you think I'm actually expecting a single new thing? Shit, we'll be lucky to see Kingsport much less anything revolutionary. I just threw out my typical hyper-critical wish list because why the fuck not?

[Garotar]

Personally I just don't have a preference, so I just picked everything.

[Kir the Wizard]

Ivgorod? What the..?

[Lon-ami]

Ivgorod? What the..?

Where the monk comes from ;).

PS: Congratulations for 1337 designer :kawaii:.

[Nozdormu]

We recognize that the item hunt is just not enough for a long-term sustainable end-game. There are still tons of people playing every day and week, and playing a lot, but eventually they're going to run out of stuff to do (if they haven't already). Killing enemies and finding items is a lot of fun, and we think we have a lot of the systems surrounding that right, or at least on the right path with a few corrections and tweaks. But honestly Diablo III is not World of Warcraft. We aren't going to be able to pump out tons of new systems and content every couple months. There needs to be something else that keeps people engaged, and we know it's not there right now.

We're working toward 1.0.4, which we're really trying to pack with as many fixes and changes we can to help you guys out (and we'll have a bunch of articles posted with all the details as we get closer), and we're of course working on 1.1 with PvP arenas. I think both those patches will do a lot to give people things to do, and get them excited about playing, but they're not going to be a real end-game solution, at least not what we would expect out of a proper end-game. We have some ideas for progression systems, but honestly it's a huge feature if we want to try to do it right, and not something we could envision being possible until well after 1.1 which it itself still a ways out.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/6019511928#17

[Omacron]

Space demons?



Space demons.

[Mshadowz]

Really, there isn't anywhere that we could go in the known diablo universe that would be anywhere vastly different from where we have already been. Now that we have been to Heaven, there really is nothing else they can do that won't be a ruined temple/cathedral, a keep of some sort, hell again, snow, deserts, jungles and grasslands.

Of course the diablo universe has many different cultures and architecture, but, as apperent with the city of Caldeum, we never actually see the architecture in question, so going to Ivgorod or some other place would be pretty much a snowy mountain rehash. Any other place would be the same sort of landscapes that look similer to the ones we have seen before. While we have seen a jungle in D2, we havn't in D3, which opens that up (We got another boring fucking desert...), or we could have maybe a wetlands of sorts, but since D3 is less about enviroment and more about killing shit for gear, we can't expect the enviroment to do much for the game aside from keeping us visually entertained for the time we arn't killing things (Another reason I hate deserts, because they are bland).

In terms of story, we have yet to find Adria, who may be hiding in hell or some random place we havn't been yet, or the black soul stone, which is also probably in hell. I would like to have the story of the followers be continued, for instance, going to kingsport and saving Lyndon's brother, taking down the inquisitors in the templar order and doing whatever with whatserface. I'd be guessing the new areas would tie in to the new class/classes added in the expansions as well.