d3 300 Killstreak Friendly Fire Bug Fixed, Crusader Overperforming

[Starym 3,800]

 

We have a couple of blue posts to cover today, as game producer Matthew Cederquist took tot he forums to address a couple of issues. We have a bug fix for some friendly fire issues from the PTR and commentary on the status of Aegis of Valor Crusader power and the fact that they'll probably be staying this way until the next big patch/season, as well as an announcement of an upcoming dev blog focusing on game balance.

First off we have another fix that wasn't mentioned in the recent balance patch notes, and that is the bug that saw the 300 killstreak seasonal power actually deal massive damage to friendly players on the PTR:

300 Killstreak Friendly Fire (source)

TinneOnnMuin

I looked through the patch notes and I don’t see any reference to this issue being fixed. What do you suppose the chances are it got fixed? If it didn’t get fixed, HC players will be dropping like flies.

(to those not aware: the 300 kill streak bonus was doing massive damage to teammates on PTR)

...

Hey all,

This is fixed in Season 19. Sorry for not communicating in the patch notes.

And secondly we have a post relating to the Aegis of Valor Crusader build, how it will be over-performing for very highly geared and leveled players even after the nerf, and how it will not be nerfed again this season. We'll also be getting a dev blog on the balancing efforts soon.

AoV Crusader (source)

Hey MicroRNA,

Based on our data, If we calculate the Paragon Levels + Gear + Legendary Gems into account, we’re seeing AoV Crusaders anywhere from 4-7GR higher than we anticipated, even with the nerf. Please also note that this is an extremely low percentage of the player base that can achieve such a feat.

We’re not planning on doing another balance patch for Season 19 but that doesn’t mean it’s out of the question for the future to align it to our goals.

In other news, as Nevalistis has stated, we’re going to present a developer blog to help everyone understand where we’re coming from and how we attempt to balance the game from a solo leaderboard perspective. Look forward to hearing from everyone in regards to that in the future.

Thanks again.

 

 

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[Yridaa 490]

Blizzard used to release games and patches "When it's done". But everything changed when the fire nation attacked. A real shame if you ask me.

The way it is now, if you somehow find an unintentional feature in the PTR that would take too long to fix, they'd either disable whatever is causing the bug to make it in time, nerf/disable interactions or outright ban you for doing it. There's no more "We'll postpone it and release it when we fixed it."

I would be very content just waiting it out until they got the balance where they want it. It doesn't delay other forms of development anyway. Artists would still be working on designing sets, developers would still have their meetings on set stats and abilities etc.

This rushing thing they've got going on the past years is just hurting them.

[Starym 3,800]

51 minutes ago, Yridaa said:

Blizzard used to release games and patches "When it's done". But everything changed when the fire nation attacked. A real shame if you ask me.

The way it is now, if you somehow find an unintentional feature in the PTR that would take too long to fix, they'd either disable whatever is causing the bug to make it in time, nerf/disable interactions or outright ban you for doing it. There's no more "We'll postpone it and release it when we fixed it."

I would be very content just waiting it out until they got the balance where they want it. It doesn't delay other forms of development anyway. Artists would still be working on designing sets, developers would still have their meetings on set stats and abilities etc.

This rushing thing they've got going on the past years is just hurting them.

This isn't a Blizzard thing though, it's literally all games, it's what game development has become and you can't really do anything about it, nor can Blizzard. What you're talking about is getting increasingly impossible because every single release and patch would be delayed by months and months and it would all add up (development costs etc).

[Yridaa 490]

Just now, Starym said:

This isn't a Blizzard thing though, it's literally all games, it's what game development has become and you can't really do anything about it, nor can Blizzard. What you're talking about is getting increasingly impossible because every single release and patch would be delayed by months and months and it would all add up (development costs etc).

But that's what I mean. If you looked at the 90's and early 2000, Blizzard was an exception to the rule. They were the one that stood above others; they were able to do those things because of the economy they had going which was unique at the time. They were one of the few that could delay things because of that. They dug this hole themselves. They're no longer solely at the peak and they have to make the people in the suits happy and deliver their promises to them.

They used to be able to do whatever they wanted. They decided to do it differently because they wanted to make even more money.

Other's have been stuck with "What game development has become" since game development ever became a thing, even Blizzard was part of that (The near bankruptcy of the development of Starcraft 1 for example) and they worked their way out of that and were in a truly unique position where they could be "Nah lets just abandon Starcraft Ghost and work on something else".

 

Remember what their employees did with Thrall's statue. That should say a lot.

[pwnz0r 11]

Yeah, it's complicated. The driving motivation behind producing games has obviously changed. But, today's titles vs those before mmog, is like comparing apples to oranges. Game "mechanics" are much more complex today. It's the cost of having seemingly unlimited build choices, and a limited test model. To offer 1000 viable game choices/modes, they have to risk some wild pokemons appearing here and there.

Hopefully they'll have stronger development tools to control balance in the future.

[Starym 3,800]

12 hours ago, Yridaa said:

But that's what I mean. If you looked at the 90's and early 2000, Blizzard was an exception to the rule. They were the one that stood above others; they were able to do those things because of the economy they had going which was unique at the time. They were one of the few that could delay things because of that. They dug this hole themselves. They're no longer solely at the peak and they have to make the people in the suits happy and deliver their promises to them.

They used to be able to do whatever they wanted. They decided to do it differently because they wanted to make even more money.

Other's have been stuck with "What game development has become" since game development ever became a thing, even Blizzard was part of that (The near bankruptcy of the development of Starcraft 1 for example) and they worked their way out of that and were in a truly unique position where they could be "Nah lets just abandon Starcraft Ghost and work on something else".

 

Remember what their employees did with Thrall's statue. That should say a lot.

I think you're vastly overestimating how different Blizzard were from others "back in the day". Sure they were better not not a lot better. And it would literally be impossible for them to function as they did back then now. It's a simple reality of new game development due to the insane budgets and number of people required. You simply can't "take more time" when you have a staff of 300-1000, it's not possible without going bankrupt.

As pwnz0r said, games today are ridiculoulsy more complex (i'm not saying better, i'm saying more complex), with all the online features and 12321312 others you HAVE to have to be competitive with the rest of the industry. I understand and feel what yer saying but this isn't a Blizzard thing at all.

[darkinchworm 20]

I also remember Blizzard taking literal years between patches for SC/D2/War3 after they'd fallen out of vogue somewhat. These days, even their games that are nearing a decade old (D3, SC2) are updated every few weeks. You win some, you lose some.