Re: 1.13 Public Test Realm online!
I don't like this rune drop change at all.
It now becomes very easy to get the high-end stuff without putting much effort in. Finding high-end runes is no longer something to be exited about.Granted, this was mostly the case since 2006 when LK was discovered but it still took quite some effort to get multiple high runes. Making an Enigma, BodT now becomes not an accomplishment but a matter of a couple of weeks running Cows. Those like me, who put in tons of effort into farming Enigma, Dual Dreams, Infinity etc (~ 55K LK and 1K Cows, in my case specifically runehunting-wise) I think will likely be quite upset with this patch.
I expect people to post BodT, Last Wish, etc in the IFT on a regular basis now. And the worst thing is, there is now no going back. Even if they were to change the drop rates back, one could still install 1.13b Beta, get the runes and bring them foward. Sad for D2, imo.
One of the problems with mods like Median and Eastern Sun is that once you have Uber items (rather easily), the desire to keep playing diminishes. I have played both mods quite a bit and eventually they become sort of pointless after a while. Vanilla/RWM is (was) different. The low drop rates mean that there is a long term goal and loads of effort to reach it and one of things that, for me at least, keeps the desire to stick with this game for so long. I wonder if people will become bored with D2 far more quickly, once they get all the Uber stuff?
Now all Bzzard has to do to "improve" the game is reduce the XP cap so that level 99 can be reached in two days and while they are at it greatly reduce the drop rates of TC 87s so that Tyraels can drop as soon as you step out of the Blood Moor. Who needs challenges, right? :/
This may be the unpopular opinion, but here we go:
0.) Without putting much effort in? You need to revisit probability and statistics to learn that just because odds are reduced, doesn't mean they are easy. Related to this, finding most of the high runes still represents a significant accomplishment. Not only is it still quite difficult for some high runes to drop, but did you ever consider the accomplishment required just to get a character to the point of being in the area required to get that drop? I'm not talking about BS rushing - but the time involved with truly playing a character through - maybe the time spent should warrant a nice reward such as a high rune drop in fewer than X million kills. What's wrong with that?
1.) LK chest runs are based on exploiting a discovered "glitch" in the game. Take it for what it is - glitch doesn't necessarily mean bad - but it's a glitch nonetheless. We are all impressed at the perseverance that has gone into creating the rune word items that have been created thus far, even under the glitched scenario - but that doesn't make it bad that other people want to join in the FUN without going to such lengths.
2.) Related - games should be FUN. Running the same thing for 65,000 runs and still not finding the rune you want = not fun. It becomes work. I don't care who you are. I game because game = FUN != WORK. Yes, when you find it, you feel great and that you have accomplished something nobody else has. But was it REALLY fun? And back to my point, was it really rewarding knowing it was based on exploiting point #1 (a glitch)?
3.) Not everybody has X hours / day to spend on D2. See point #2 - this is supposed to be fun - spending X hours / day and never achieving your goals is not fun.
4.) The odds have not changed to make a ZOD drop every 2 kills. It will still be rare - just not as rare. What's wrong with that? Creating a Zod based runeword will still be a respectable accomplishment - it just won't take 1+ years to accomplish.
5.) On the contrary - if we took a poll of the forum - I'd bet you money that the interest in the game has actually INCREASED due to the patch and due to the prospects of potentially achieving a new goal. Refer to point #4 - this goal is still not EASY to attain - so it's still a challenge, just not quite as astronomical of odds - so I would say you will actually get increased interest from the casual D2 gamer. Isn't that a good thing? Isn't that why the developers still patch the game a decade after release - to continue to drive interest?
6.) Many players continue to play D2 to obtain the grail and furthermore to try out a whole bunch of different char builds - in fact, that was one of the original selling points of D2. Additional rune drops do not change this - people will continue to play D2 to achieve various personal goals. Just because your personal goals are driven by runes, does not diminish the multiple goals of different players in our community.
7.) The community here is intelligent. People understand that increased rune drop odds make BoTD a little less special. I will guarantee that everybody understands that and that you won't find many people gloating over their created runeword items. You'll likely see a return to grailing, set completion, and truly special charm rolls, etc. pop back up in more frequency in the IFT than runeword creation. So what?
My 0.02.
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