Diablo dev admits Diablo III direction wasn't the route he would have taken

Diablo and Diablo II creative director Stieg Hedlund has admitted that the direction Blizzard took with Diablo III wasn't what he would have done.

When asked, "What did you think of Diablo III?", Hedlund stated, "It’s hard to separate personal feelings about something like that from how the game was perceived. I think the audience really didn’t react to it very well. A lot of the changes were things that they perceived as negative."

[Dunpeal]

hindsight is 20/20

[elhebbo16]

Ya don't say.

[Death]

I have to admit I was disappointed with 3. :(

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

From what I'm noticing despite it's critical success in sales, no one seems to be happy with the final product, gamers, critics, and even the developers of the game. Really questionable as to what went wrong here.

[Fireseed]

Questionable? I'll summarize it's problems in 3 easy points.

1.) Extremely low graphical fidelity.
Hey we get you guys made WoW and SC2 and they were really great games... but hey guess what they don't have to have the same graphical fidelity of them.

2.) Lack of Content.
I've never been one to complain about a game not having enough in it. Heck I though Halo 2's ending was fine. But seriously when you design you're game to play the same levels over and over and over and over and over. You've done something wrong.

3.) Auction House
Seriously I was able to but better loot than I could ever hope to find in the game with 3$ worth of gold. Great idea.

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

Oh, no I didn't mean what went wrong with the game itself, but with the people involved. They don't seem to like the choices they made at all. So it's curious as to what made them make the choices they made.

[NeoTribe]

Your reason 3 is correct. Reason 2, diablo itsepf is a repetative hack and slash, loot grinding game. I played d2 doing mephesto, baal and the same cow runs for 4 years without getting tired of it. The genre itself is repetative, so if its not your thing, you shouldn't play it. Reason 1, blizzard and diablo in particular are not about crazy graphics. They want a large install base. My only problem with d3s graphics is that there's way to many colors flashing everywhere. With a game of 4 people, I have no idea wtf is going on. Just massive explosions of color everywhere... with 2 people in game its pretty good. While I was very disappointed in the beginning, they have patched a decent amount of content in and have tons of plans for the future. The real money auction house in my opinion has ruined some of the game though. Like you said 3 bucks can buy you more gold than you would find in a years time selling items.

[cyril sneer]

I will tell you what went wrong there greed.

[Shad0wRunner]

I agree. Diablo 3 wasnt the route I would've liked to see them take, either.

As far as the PS4 goes, Blizzard should've ported WoW to the PS4. It has the horsepower to do it, dont gimme that BS. The specifications of the PS4 can run ANY MMO. Decently.

You would've had more success and made more money if you would've just put WoW on PS4. Idgaf about Diablo 3. Come out guns blazin, with your cash cows...or gtfo Blizzard.

[Raf1k1]

WoW's gameplay would need to be changed for it to work on a console largely due to having fewer buttons.

With the number of different spells each class has I can't imagine being able to play the game on a console without mouse and keyboard support.

[Shad0wRunner]

Yeah, thats BS too. Square-Enix did it for FFXIV. They optimized FFXIV for the PS3 and PS4. They made it so you can access your hotbar and spells all with the PS3 controller. If SE can do it...so can blizzard. They're just prejudice about putting their star franchise on a console. Thats all it is...and it's BS.

Check it out. FFXIV optimized for the PS3 controller (and its just like Wow)

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[Raf1k1]

I can only speak from my experience but I can't see you being able to have the same kind of access to your spells that you'd have on a keyboard.

You can certainly give players the ability to assign spells to buttons and to set it up so you can swap between sets of spells but you're not going to be able to react quite in the same way as on PC. This could be just fine though as long as it doesn't feel gimped in any way.

I wouldn't mind trying FFXIV on console to see how it works out.

edit: Thanks for the vid link. Seems like a good control scheme. It'd be interesting to see how the same would work for WoW.

[xPhearR3dx]

@Shad0wRunner

Why would Blizzard not want to put WoW on consoles? They have what? 7 million subscribers? They could probably double that by releasing on Xbone and PS4. It's nothing to do with the console itself, it's more the controller. Even gamers have created control schemes using Xpadder for popular MMOs like Guild War 2, and even then, you still have to pick up the M/K at some points.

There's just so many options, things to do, and heavy amounts of customization that unless you find a perfect control scheme for consoles, it's not worth the hassle. Not to mention, WoW is an ever evolving game. Not only would Blizzard have to slow down time working on WoW for PC, they'd have to port the game + all the expansions and have them working on a console.

On top of that, they would no longer be support just one platform but three. When you have a game as big as WoW, being on three different platforms each with their own set of problems, it creates a TON of work. Plus the Xbone and PS4 aren't as open like PC's, Blizzard doesn't have to go to Sony or MS like hey, we want to patch this, or release this. They just do it.

There's a lot more to putting an MMO on consoles than just the power itself.

[Jdoki]

WoW is old news, but totally doable on PS4. It's much more likely Blizz will launch it's next MMO on next gen consoles, which is why Titan has been delayed.

[papashango]

Both new consoles can handle WOW it was designed for the lowest end pc's to be able to run it.

The problem is you couldn't even be half decent at raiding with a controller. When I played I about ran out of hotkey's for my macros and abilities.

[Shad0wRunner]

You guys are acting like the PS3 and PS4 dont/wont support mice and keyboards. Have you all forgotten that the PS3 fully supports BOTH the mouse and keyboard and im pretty sure the PS4 will, as well. So...there goes that arguement.

Using a controller COULD work for WoW, if Blizz did it right...in the same way SE did with FFXIV. It's not a matter of "is it possible or not"...you can map every damn thing to a controller, right down to the spells, hotbar, macros, emotes - EVERYTHING!

But if using a standard mainstream controller for an MMO like WoW defies simple logic for some of you, Blizz could always continue to use the keyboard and mouse, on next gen consoles. Unless you somehow think that the PS4 with all its mighty power and glory, somehow cannot provide support for USB or bluetooth powered keyboards and mice...and thats just funny, to say the least.

@xPhearR3dx

Blizzard could just as easily create a whole new WoW MMO, specifically for consoles. It doesnt have to be the same WoW on PC's...but even if it is, they could indeed port the core game + all expansions to the PS4, if they really wanted to. And there is virtually no difference between the PS4's architecture and that of a common PC - so dont gimmie that "The PS4 isnt built for MMO's like WoW" crap. Again, if Square-Enix can port and optimize a game like FFXIV for the current gen PS3 and have it running just fine, even with controller support...I know damn well Blizz can do the same thing for WoW on the PS4.

Im not really hearing any valid counter points and evidence to suggest it isnt possible, or it couldnt happen.

[Spinal]

WoW on a console would Fail hard and wont work. Won't be worth the time or the money.

DC universe on the PS3 is fail i had the game got bored after like an hour or two. Console MMOs are sooo poorly done they just don't work on that platform.

If you really want to play a game get it on the right platform for the best experience. I wouldnt buy the iPhone version of a PC game if i knew the best experience was on the PC.

I'm buying GTA 5 on Ps3 but as soon as it goes on PC the PS3 version is gettin sold ASAP.

Funny enough what console players think of iOS version of their games is what PC players think of console versions of their games. Dumbed down graphics and poorer controls. Example See Battlefield 3.

[reeereeeree]

I hope people realize that Steig Hedlund worked on D1 and DII, not DIII. So comments like "Hindsight is 20/20" and "Ya dont say" Are pretty stupid, considering he never contributed to the garbage mountain that is D3.

[Master-H]

Diablo III was not surprising since they became one with the plague aka Activision , the only thing they try to achieve is maximum profit with minimum effort , it's like the code Activision lives by.

[CrusRuss]

What went wrong was Jay Wilson and his cocky "we know better" attitude. He did NOT listen to ANY feedback from the community. The itemisation was terrible and still is. For a loot based game this is unacceptable. The AH wrecks the fun of finding and trading also.

[Krosis]

Accidentally disagreed with you.

[CrusRuss]

:(

[vastra]

Played d2 for 10 years, played d3 till lvl 11 and deleted it. What went wrong? It's not diablo anymore

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

Is that a character from a specific show in your dp or just a random drawing? It looks very familiar.

[Ogygian]

They had a simple job to do and failed.

As far as I can tell, Blizzard are stuck in 2005 with the quality of their games but have adopted the worst of DRM and 2010+ business models.

[CheexInk]

Why should anyone care? This guy was the creative director, and while I agree that the story and lore was better in the previous Diablo games, they weren't what made Diablo 1 and 2 good, and they weren't the significant issues with Diablo 3.

[CLOUD1983]

D3 is garbage nothing can be done now to fix it the whole game go wrong from the start let's hope that D4 in 4-5 years will be better just don't put this WoW-f@g Wilson in charge again & maybe this time won't be completely garbage..

[Krosis]

You're kidding about D4 being out in 4-5 years, right?

[Krosis]

Diablo 3 essentially failed because of greed. Auction House was Blizzard being greedy and placing the mighty dollar over quality and pride for the IP. They went backwards as a result. As a fan I only hope D4 (in 10 years) is product better because of the education they received.

[aLiEnViSiToR]

I'm sorry but D3 is a complete fail in every way. I just hope they and others learn from this...

[Tzuno]

they are so full of themselves that they cannot look at d2 and see what made that game great and then to use that in d3 to make it even better.

[LocutusEstBorg]

At leasts there's no DLC.