D2 Brevik on Diablo 2 Resurrected Alpha Reception, Extra Content, Charms

david-brevik.jpgFollowing the last weekend's Diablo 2 Resurrected alpha test, David Brevik shared his thoughts on the remaster.

David didn't actually have an alpha key to test with which is a shame but when asked if he's pleased with how the community has responded to the remaster and whether he feels validated that they are remastering a 20-year-old game, he said:

"I don't know if I feel validated over anything. I do feel proud of the Blizzard North team. The fact that Blizzard is updating Diablo 2 and not making gameplay changes is quite an honor for a 20+ year old game. It is amazing how warm the reception from the community has been."

David also thinks that new content is unlikely apart from maybe some new runewords or a new character class. His involvement won't ever happen either he says:

"There is almost no chance I will work for Blizzard again, it pains me to say. I think for new content, they are focused on D4, so new D2:R content seems unlikely unless it was something small like a new character class or new runewords or something like that."

I think even a new character class would be enough to get the community super excited to be honest but it would be a lot of work.

Finally, on the subject of separate space for
charms in the inventory, which has been one of the requests from players, he clarifies why they take up large chunks of space in your inventory and why they never added extra slot spaces.

"Well, a few things: 1) We didn't think of it. 2) The whole idea behind the design was space vs. power. That was the tradeoff. That was the point. I like how it balances that. In the end, there are few items you want to pick up anyhow. Plus I'm a big anti-inventory-space designer."

It's always great to hear what the original creators of Diablo 2 are thinking and I'm sure David will jump into the test at some point.

Update: You can read our final thoughts in the Diablo 2 Resurrected Alpha
here.
 
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A new character? Maybe one that would tie into D4?
 
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What about adding one of the D3 chars. After all, they have all the skills etc already done. The problem with that though is many are spin-offs from Diablo 2 classes so would be too similar.
 
I think the biggest draw for me about DII was the amount of consequences the game made me deal with each playthrough.
-Limited stash and carry space, different sized armor and weapons I would have to learn to sort to fit in my inventory, non-stackable gems and runes, a potion belt I would have to manually fill all the time and use 4 different keys to use, skills and attributes which were not easy to re-spec, balancing how many charms to lug around compared to how much space I wanted to reserve for loot, etc.

For me this is why DII has always remained a game I've played over the last two decades, and why DIII seemed to splutter and burn out in a couple of years. Games which take away consequence simply rob me of the ability to make meaningful, rewarding choices.

I had to make hard decisions often, and felt fully engaged in every playthrough. Instead of hanging onto uniques and items forever, I had to toss what I simply couldn't carry. For me, that's where the charm in DII is.
I had to make hard decisions about what skills to choose and what attributes to give my character. I had to be extra careful about what I socketed into every object. I was invested, fully, into every choice I made. Because of this, every character was special and unique.
 
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I'm still on board with a separate charm inventory, I think it is a QOL issue beyond a doubt and really only impacts one area in basically a HC tournament setting (the Ancients). To say there isn't a ton you want to pick up anyways is really tongue in cheek if you ask me, because any item that is rare could be awesome with the right mods and availability to make it into an elite base.
 
I would prefer just fixes and improvements, including things like adding separate space only for charms. Addition of a new character could have a negative impact.
 
I would prefer just fixes and improvements, including things like adding separate space only for charms. Addition of a new character could have a negative impact.
I'm wondering if he is referring to the cleric that he has stated it was going to be in the next expansion. With his comment I'm wondering how much of it was actually done and completed.
 
My biggest hope is for a new non-ladder bow runeword. All of them, good or bad, are locked behind ladder. I don't have issues with that and I intend to play ladder on b.net, but I think it would be a good design choice for there to be a somewhat average bow runeword available for non-ladder. Other than CTA/BOTD, there's nothing.
 
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