Stille og roligt får vi efterhånden mere og mere indsigt i, hvad Diablo 3 bliver for et spil, og jeg er sikker på, at spørgsmålet omkring, hvad max level bliver, er gået forbi de fleste sind et par gange eller tre. Men frygt ej længere; efter en fan stillede spørgsmålet på det officielle forum, gik der ikke længe, før den berygtede Bashiok var klar med en bluepost til at svare på det.
We've been working with a level cap that's quite a bit different. It was something I had alluded to a while back but I think it's probably worth discussing sooner rather than later.
So, we're working with a lower level cap for a myriad of reasons but really the main point that they're more or less all linked to is that we came to the conclusion that a cap of 99 exists for the sake of itself. Meaning that it's a really high number despite all sorts of good things like meaningful player/skill/power pacing, item distribution, balance, etc. It's sort of this long term goal that really didn't matter, almost an Achievement without the flashy graphics or *bwong* sound. You didn't need to reach 99 to do anything, in almost all ways the game stopped somewhere in the 80's (for a lot of people a lot lower), but by stretching the player out over an additional 20 or so levels to 99 it created all sorts of issues we were having problems justifying forcing the game in to. So we're working with a level cap of 60 at the moment.
Max level i Diablo 3 er blevet overvejet længe. Hvorfor have 99 levels som i Diablo 2, når kun en meget lille procentdel rent faktisk når at komme så langt. Langt de fleste stopper omkring level 80-90, da det netop ikke betyder noget, om man rent faktisk når max level.
This is the point where some of you scream "60!? That's like original World of Warcraft!" And then the rest of you /facepalm and say "60!? Couldn't you pick any other number? Now everyone is going to compare it to World of Warcraft!"
Det er meget muligt at det originale World of Warcraft også havde en max level på 60, men i stedet for at sammenligne de 2 spil, burde man overveje, hvad det kommer til at betyde fremover; f.eks. expansions der involverer højere level caps?
Of course it all comes down to an XP curve. We could, for instance, say the level cap in Diablo III is 60 and then pace that curve and gain out over what we estimate it took someone to reach 99 in Diablo II. Of course we wouldn't do that but it should help illustrate that the time from 1-60 in Diablo II does not equal the amount of time it will take to reach 60 in Diablo III. 60 levels versus 99 levels doesn't mean less content or less powerful characters, etc. These aren't uniform levels of power that move from game to game. And in fact we are pushing a longer game than Diablo II and I'd argue our characters feel way more powerful. Ok, that out of the way, moving on!
At der 'kun' kommer 60 levels, betyder hverken, at det kommer til at tage lige så lang tid, som det tager til 99, eller at det kun tager samme mængde tid, som det gør fra 1-60 i Diablo 2. Desuden betyder færre levels ikke, at spillet bliver kortere. Tværtimod bliver Diablo 3 længere end Diablo 2 og da der 'kun' er 60 levels, vil man også komme til at føle at man hurtigt bliver stærkere.
The leveling experience is always going to stop somewhere because the real game is the item hunt. So, instead of letting it drag out to a less meaningful 80 or so levels like most people saw in Diablo II we have 60 levels of awesome; at every level you'll get a meaningful and noticeable increase in power. It has a ton of other benefits and fixes a lot of problems a higher cap causes, but I'll take pause.
Max level på 60 er valgt så man ikke skal bruge alt for lang tid på at level'e, samtidig med at man stadig får følelsen af, at hver eneste level betyder noget for én, da man kan mærke, at man bliver stærkere. Da leveling så ikke kommer til at tage alt ens tid, kan man bruge sin tid på det spillet - ifølge Bashiok - handler om; at finde items!
Man begynder så småt at kunne danne sig et billede af, hvordan Diablo 3 bliver; puzzlespillets brikker bliver stille og roligt samlet, og der går sandsynligvis ikke længe, før nye informationer rammer os. Men hvad synes I brugere om max level 60? Opfylder det jeres ønsker omkring Diablo 3, eller er det helt hen i vejret?
Tråden fra det officielle forum kan læses her (http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=26560838583&sid=3000)