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Diablo II: Resurrected Group Interview Recap!

by - 3 years ago

Here is where you’ll find a recap of the group interview that happened today with the community and Matthew Cederquist (Producer) and Andre Abrahamian (Game Designer).


NOTE: This will not be a 1 for 1 transcription, but a general summary of the questions and answers.


Lord_Fluffy: With controller support being available can we expect to be able to use custom keybinds for force movement?

Abrahamian: Diablo 2 currently allows certain keybinds so with controllers we are trying to be mindful of option for pick up/no pickup options. We are looking at creating custom profiles.

Cederquist: I am hesitant to say that everything will have a custom keybind, but it will be extensive much more then the original.

Leviathan: can we here a little more about shared stash tabs?

Abrahamian: We are currently testing out how big of a stash and how many tabs to give. The different styles of gameplay will still be separated.

Gregg2G: Will the PC version have controller support?

Abrahamian: Yes PC will have controller support as well.

MrLlamaSC: Will we have loot filters? Say I don’t want to see arrows or bolts.

Abrahamian: Currently that isn’t something we are exploring?

MrLlamaSC: Will we have rune stacking in the stash?

Abrahamian: Item will still take up the same amount of space no stacking.

sVr: Will D2R have publicly available API’s?

Abrahamian: Nothing to announce at this time.

Dredscythe: With cross saves being available can we expect crossplay?

Abrahamian: Cross saves will allow a 1 to 1 transfer between different systems allowing new consoles a great way to experience the game. Cross play will not be available though.

Cerquist: We wanted to focus and make sure you can play the game on any system. You can take your PC character and play it on the couch from your favorite console and then later return to your PC. Were are focused on cross progression not match making cross platforms.

Neinball: Will you be fixing long standing bugs like invisible poison clouds?

Abrahamian: Anything we identify as bugs or anything that misinforms the players we are going to try and fix. Somethings though we may identify them as quirks with situational use that will be left as part of the game.

ThaPchild: With Cross Save some consoles have offline mode, Will Offline mode characters be seperate? or how will you address people using offline mode to cheat the system?

Cederquist: With D2R you will not be able to play your battlenet character offline. You will only be able to use your single player character.

MrLlamaSC: So for Single player mode you don’t need to connect to battlenet?

Cederquist: That is correct.

Wudijo: What Patch will we be using? can we expect new patches?

Cederquist: Right now we will be using the exact same patch that is used for current D2. As of right now we have no announcement of future patches.

sVr: in the process of adding quality of life changes did you come across anything that felt like it went against the spirit of the original game? What is an example.

Cederquist: We very much focused on it being a remaster not a remake. We wanted to maintain the pillars that made D2 great. For an example inventory tetris was discussed. We considered going the rout of D3 and having the wheel and list of items. In the end we felt it didn’t embrace the quirks.

Lord_Fluffy: Are you doing anything to address the need to leave and remake games?

Abrahamian: Currently we have not touched the system of joining and leaving games. We have made some improvements in browsing and finding them though.

Neinball: With the move from old battlenet to the new, how will you be dealing with the spawning of Uber Diablo?

Abrahamian: There is a lot of history in how that event takes place. We feel it is part of the game to maintain. We will still be using the same systems underneath that dictate this event. I don’t want to go into detail of how it works and spoil it.

MrLlamaSC: Is there going to be a change to ladder only runewords? Will we see ladder runewords in single player?

Abrahamian: We are currently planning to keep ladder only runewords as is to incentivize ladder play.

Leviathan: Are we going to see Mac support? Or was that a machine or design limitation?

Abrahamian: We are currently targeting Pc and consoles. We do not have anything at this time to announce for Mac.

Gregg2G: Will there be support for ultra wide monitors?

Abrahamian: We are looking at supporting ultrawide monitors, we are trying to keep in mind how that might chage the game experience though. We don’t want to take it to far and give to much information away. Yo may end up seeing black bars or something.

Neinball: It seems like the color choice to differentiate mob types is being lost when switching from the old models to the new 3d engine. What are your plans for this?

Abrahamian: We are currently working on polishing and further developing these systems. The same tints are being used with the switch to 3d lighting we are actively adjusting and it will only get better.

MrLlamaSC: You have siad you would support mods, does this mean we will have private realms or just single player mods?

Abrahamian: We saw the great love and passion for moding D2. We plan to support it in a similar manner, we are still working on the specifics of how that will work though.

Cederquist: D2 is still running so the great thing is all those mods will still be working. With D2R we have worked hard to make more and easier options to allow the moding community more and easier options.

sVr: Will we have api access to make changes to the UI?

Abrahamian: We actually made alot of changes to the UI behind the scenes. It is much more modular and allows for a lot of quality of life changes. The legacy mode UI may look the same but it is controlled by new systems underneath.

Lord_Fluffy: D2R is very dark in some areas, are you worried about creating a meta where you switch to legacy in certain areas for better lighting?

Abrahamian: With the switch to 3d systems we are coming across these kind of issues. The goal however is that no mode will have any visual advantage over the other. We are talking about these issues and seeing how we can improve.

sVr: What has been the hardest challenge? What was the biggest accomplishment

Abrahamian: Announcing D2R was a huge accomplishment. One of the biggest challenges is bringing D2R to consoles and the unique requirements.

Cederquist: Biggest challenge is dealing with all the passion everyone has. Dealing with all the wants give me another act give me another class ect. Realizing we have to maintain as pure a game as possible.

Neinball: About the community how are you going to support them like the Arreat Summit?

Abrahamian: The great thing about keeping the same game underneath mean site like that will still be completely relevant. The cool thing is if you happen to fin manuals or strategy guides they will still work.

MrLlamaSC: Having to do with Monster AI agro and wide screen support. Will the agro range change or when switching to legacy will it change?

Abrahamian: Monster Ai is going to be functioning the same way. That is why we are being aware about giving out to much information away with those ultra wide resolution. Agro on site is still a necessary component that will be considered with these new formats and how they are handled.

ThaPchild: With the modernizing of the game how will that affect the match making and will you be supporting voice chat like other modern games?

Abrahamian: Nothing to report on voice support beyond what Battlenet already does as one of it’s features. Friends lists and chats will be built in like any other game using Battlenet.

Neinball: Will Friendslist have it’s own built in UI element, or will we need to use a /fl command?

Abrahamian: We will have built in UI elements so you can see your friendslist and other element. we will also be supporting jack commands.

sVr: with a technical Alpha around the corner what would you want us focusing on? What one thing should be the focus?

Abrahamian: Everything

Cederquist: Did we maintain those pillars of the game? Does anything not feel like D2?

MrLlamaSC: With consoles there is the UI for 4 6 skills you just push the button, is there going to be something similar available to PC that they can toggle so they can just push a button too.

Abrahamian: When we approached PC we wanted to stay true to the original. The left right mouse button are a crucial feel to the game. PC with a controller is a new area with lots of new options. Even with these new UI elements we wanted to stay true to the gameplay, such as paladin auras only one can be active no matter how many are hotkeyed. When using a right click skill the aura will still turn off like the original game. PC controller will get a ui element it will not be the same as consoles though.

Neinball: With the new 3d updates there are a lot of of flourishes added, will we be getting emotes and customizations?

Abrahamian: We are working with the animations that were already in the game, We staying to 70% origanal with 30% addded for flourishes. We added in coming into a stop or turning. We will also be adding figit animations. Nothing new to announce for emotes. You will still have the ones you new before.

Cederquist: As part of that 30% we are taking ques from the ambiance like wind and environments.

Lord_Fluffy: Was at any point members of the original team consoulted?

Abrahamian: Nothing to say at this time. But many members of the team are huge fans and players of the original.

Cederquist: early in the process we went around to external sites and grabbed crates of original materials and notes.

ThaPchild: What framerates will be supported? Will we get 144 or higher what are the limitations?

Abrahamian: We will get into the technical features further down the line. With the 25 fps it is important to remember that underneath it is always running at the 25 fps. If that was ever changed it would change how Diablo 2 functions.

ThaPchild: Do we know when technical alpha will be?

Cederquist: Soon™


Aaron "BLU3" Thomson

Blu3 the head of Overwatch Oversight, the infamous relic hunter, and occasional Crusader.


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