Differences between diablo 2 and 3

[Cairhiin]

This is so full of shit, if Blizzard released Diablo 2 with modern graphics it would be globally shat on and shunned. I played Diablo 2 for years, but I can look at it objectively and not through rainbow memberberry sunglasses.

Pretty much this. I have played diablo 1, 2 and 3 and spent thousands of hours divided over them. I still play D2 at times, but I seriously doubt a D2HD would be received well. I would buy it, and play it but would probably get bored of it quickly. I'd rather play a D1HD in fact. But most of all I'd really just want a new D3 expansion.

[Mamut]

This is so full of shit, if Blizzard released Diablo 2 with modern graphics it would be globally shat on and shunned. I played Diablo 2 for years, but I can look at it objectively and not through rainbow memberberry sunglasses.

And yet I have still D2Lod on my HDD and sometimes Im playing this game while I stopped s8 right after hitting lvl 70 and doing few GRs. I just cant stand this as a core D3 mechanic. I really dont get why everyone call it nostalgia and pink glasses. D2 is dated yes, some features archaic yes but its still decent game and for some people more engaging than D3 in its current state.

Im not saying D2 would be succesfull with simple remake. Im saying D3 endgame is boring and without core revamp its a dead game for me.

[Bigbazz]

And yet I have still D2Lod on my HDD and sometimes Im playing this game while I stopped s8 right after hitting lvl 70 and doing few GRs. I just cant stand this as a core D3 mechanic. I really dont get why everyone call it nostalgia and pink glasses. D2 is dated yes, some features archaic yes but its still decent game and for some people more engaging than D3 in its current state.

Im not saying D2 would be succesfull with simple remake. Im saying D3 endgame is boring and without core revamp its a dead game for me.

I still have both on my hard drive, and I haven't played S8 at all. Getting bored of a game doesn't mean the game isnt/wasnt good. I've played the crap out of both D2 and D3, but simply put there is nothing special about D2 when you look at it from an analytical point of view, if you looked at it as a new player I can't imagine the new player is going to pick D2 over D3 when D3 has masses more content and more engaging/in-depth gameplay.

D2 had one thing good that stood the test of time and that is the gear itemisation, which when D3 came out was a massive issue. If you looked at D2 gear compared with Vanilla D3 then it made D3 look so bad it was an embaressment.. But Blizz got the new team in and they fixed that, pretty much going with a heavily D2 inspired gearing going forward.

So then you're left with just core game systems and content, and D2 just doesn't really have much at all.. It's a super shallow game by modern standards, there is no progression at all, get to hell and farm baal with bots infinitely. D3 took a lot of great ideas from D2, but as a result it has now surpassed D2 in every measurable aspect. But is Diablo 3 tired? Of course it is, but like I said you can't expect to play a game forever, that doesn't mean it's bad.

I challenge you to play Diablo 2 for 7 hours a day for a month straight right now in 2016, see how awesome you think D2 is then.

[chase_the_mofo]

What diablo 2 can offer compared to diablo 3:

1)TRADING SYSTEM
You can actually trade items in this game unlike Diablo 3, where trading is limited for 2h of items that drop in party.
2)RUNES
There are 33 runes in this game, with different effects and if you put them in specific order in certain weapon you get Runeword (aka unique item) with random roll of stats that vary for an example (Enhanced dmg from 170-200%) and so getting best roll means worth more and better item.
3)ENVIRONMENT
Hey just load Diablo 2 today and see how dark and gothic it looks like compared to cartoony diablo 3 =/
4)PARTY (of more than 4 people)
Yes, party up with more than 4 people and slay monsters!

What Diablo 3 has to offer:
1) Better graphics

Yep that's about it.

[glowpipe]

Thats why D3 dies completely just 1-3 weeks in every new season.

No, thats because we have played the exact same game for 3 seasons in a row

[Deleted]

Well if you haven't played it since 2012 you have no idea what you're talking about because it's near enough a completely different game now, Vanilla D3 is worlds apart from current D3.

As for D2. still have my D2 char from like 2006 active, all the others expired.. I play it every couple months too for old times sake.. Like I said I look at it objectively, and objectively you can account for how much content is in the game, the simplicity of the gameplay, the overall depth of systems.. If you think D2 is still an amazing game by todays standards then I can't take you seriously.

It's not a different game at all. It still looks like WoW, has zero atmosphere and the story is written for 5 year old kids who love power rangers. The itemization sucks. You just get items with + on main stat and vitality. So you can tank monsters and not die, wile dealing enough damage to them. You get increased spell damage from wielding a stronger axe, because everything scales from the weapon dmg stat.

The gameplay sucks. And not just because your screen is a diarrhea of brightly colored mess. In D2 the game was made so you could dodge everything and kite your enemies. Completing the game with most classess was not that difficult if you just paid attention. But at the same time even a character with the best gear could die instantly if you just stood still. Gameplay was engaging. In D3 they made it so that enemy attacks connect on swing. Meaning even if you are away when the swing completes you still get hit. Kiting your enemies becomes near impossible. Thus you need good gear to survive. So you hit a treshold where you can't do anything but die unless you get better gear. When you get good enough gear you can tank the mobs with your eyes closed and kill them and move forvard to the next speedbump. Boring.

Gear is ten times as important in D3, and yet it is 100 times more satisfying to get a good drop in D2. Because gear is actually interesting and looks cool. It's not a tiny cartoony picture which just makes your numbers bigger.

[jackofwind]

Thank you, Was starting to think i was nuts for not remembering this amazing endgame people kept comparing d3 too.

The biggest thing is that D2 had trading, but D3 doesn't. At its root the game is about gearing up and collecting stuff, but if you can't trade then the things you collect apart from the gear you wear have no value. If they have no value there's no point in collecting them.

D2 was about collecting gear, trading for pieces you wanted, maybe getting lucky with drops, and working towards a long term goal based on one of the many builds you could use for your character. You barely ever actually got the drops you needed in D2, you almost always traded up for them by collecting other things.

D3 is all about farming the gear that you want. You can't trade, and gear that you're not wearing has no value. When a collecting game reduces the value of the things you can collect to zero what's the point in collecting them in the first place?

D2 has a hell of a lot of flaws, dated controls and painful low resolution graphics, but it still gets the loot system right - and the loot system is arguably the most important part of a Diablo game.

[Bigbazz]

It's not a different game at all. It still looks like WoW, has zero atmosphere and the story is written for 5 year old kids who love power rangers. The itemization sucks. You just get items with + on main stat and vitality. So you can tank monsters and not die, wile dealing enough damage to them. You get increased spell damage from wielding a stronger axe, because everything scales from the weapon dmg stat.

The gameplay sucks. And not just because your screen is a diarrhea of brightly colored mess. In D2 the game was made so you could dodge everything and kite your enemies. Completing the game with most classess was not that difficult if you just paid attention. But at the same time even a character with the best gear could die instantly if you just stood still. Gameplay was engaging. In D3 they made it so that enemy attacks connect on swing. Meaning even if you are away when the swing completes you still get hit. Kiting your enemies becomes near impossible. Thus you need good gear to survive. So you hit a treshold where you can't do anything but die unless you get better gear. When you get good enough gear you can tank the mobs with your eyes closed and kill them and move forvard to the next speedbump. Boring.

Gear is ten times as important in D3, and yet it is 100 times more satisfying to get a good drop in D2. Because gear is actually interesting and looks cool. It's not a tiny cartoony picture which just makes your numbers bigger.

Yeah like I said why are you even talking if you havent played since 2012? You're talking about a version of D3 that has changed many times over the years and you're literally talking about D3 from launch. You might as well be speaking about Vanilla WoW as an argument to why Legion is a bad expansion pack. You realise the itemisation in D3 has completely changed? I mean pretty much the entire game has gone through transformations.

Gear was less important in D2 because D2 had one static difficulty that you could overgear easily, unless you were doing Ubers and then you needed absolute BIS levels of gear, that was not even achievable without the massive duping scene, trading forums and gold seller shops. And as for gear being more satisfying, yeah like I said you haven't got a clue because you haven't played the game since 2012 and the gear has changed multiple times since then, it's not at all like what you're talking about.

You're talking about the launch version of a 4 year old game that has had an expansion and has been constantly developed, refined, improved and expanded on since then. So yeah you aren't even discussing the same game.

[Deleted]

Yeah like I said why are you even talking if you havent played since 2012? You're talking about a version of D3 that has changed many times over the years and you're literally talking about D3 from launch. You might as well be speaking about Vanilla WoW as an argument to why Legion is a bad expansion pack. You realise the itemisation in D3 has completely changed? I mean pretty much the entire game has gone through transformations.

Gear was less important in D2 because D2 had one static difficulty that you could overgear easily, unless you were doing Ubers and then you needed absolute BIS levels of gear, that was not even achievable without the massive duping scene, trading forums and gold seller shops. And as for gear being more satisfying, yeah like I said you haven't got a clue because you haven't played the game since 2012 and the gear has changed multiple times since then, it's not at all like what you're talking about.

You're talking about the launch version of a 4 year old game that has had an expansion and has been constantly developed, refined, improved and expanded on since then. So yeah you aren't even discussing the same game.

And yet you haven't posted how it has changed. Nor did you try to explain why my points are wrong besides just saying ''it changed''.

[Zeta333]

D2 is such a mess by today's standards it makes Classic WoW look godly. I don't think there are actually that many D2 players out there, they are just like Legacy WoW server guys very vocal.

Funniest thing is claiming the endgame offers 'lots of variety'. And if D3 is called imbalanced, I don't think there is a proper word to describe D2 class/build balance.

- - - Updated - - -

'People quiting a few weeks into the season after getting geared' is also a good one.

As if that didn't happen in D2 except for the tiny minority who continued to grid (or bot) out till 99.

you must have not played diablo 2 very much. Diablo 2 had a level cap that was possible to reach but required alot of grinding, the perfect gear took alot of trading and rng drops, heaps better than current loot methods.

The game still has a big population, ffs they still release patchs and have ladder seasons for it.

[plato13]

Well if you haven't played it since 2012 you have no idea what you're talking about because it's near enough a completely different game now, Vanilla D3 is worlds apart from current D3.

As for D2. still have my D2 char from like 2006 active, all the others expired.. I play it every couple months too for old times sake.. Like I said I look at it objectively, and objectively you can account for how much content is in the game, the simplicity of the gameplay, the overall depth of systems.. If you think D2 is still an amazing game by todays standards then I can't take you seriously.

yes it is a completly different game. they actually managed to make it worse. worse itemization, more power creep and less build diversity.
most of d2s flaws are based on the engine. and maybe the stuff like stamina mechanik or low lvl mana issues wich is personal preference.

about static difficulty, its actually a good thing because it makes everything viable even if its not ideal. having a infinite scaling difficulty makes only the perfect build viable.

[Deleted]

I see a lot of posts about "Make diablo 4!! to fix the problems with 3 especially the boring endgame!" while at the same time people still circle jerk over Diablo 2. Can someone please explain the difference because while I was admittedly younger I don't remember Diablo 2 endgame to really be much of anything besides killing the same stuff again and again which is not much different than 3 mind you. Is it just the difference in classes? or a case of rose tinted nostalgia goggles.?

How about....working pvp - with the ability to beat at least half the classes using a single class and a single spec. For every class!
How about...magic find race. No, REAL MF, not the bullshit they've got in diablo 3.
How about...a good story.
How about...mobs that you'd struggle to kill and would drop INSANE rewards (like annihilus; or perhaps the torch). How about requiring a specific build/spec to kill them. Or several.
How about...ultra OP builds or spells. Like a fanadin with life tap. Or like a barb with dual magic damage swords.
How about...the ability to finally become unkillable (well, close to it) by 99,9% of the mobs, but still being able to get two shot by a specific type of mob.
How about...not a 6 buttons game.
How about...a large pool of classes that could satisfy most fantasies with multiple roles (where an amazon could be a javazon or a bowazon - with those split further down the line in multiple other specs, like GA spec, MS spec, strafe spec, magic damage spec etc; or an assassin that could be melee (kick) or trapassin with multiple possibilities as well.
How about...being able to teleport. No, proper teleport, not the shit you've got in diablo 3. On every class.
How about...8 people in a game, not 4.
How about...trading.
How about...runewords.
How about....the ability to farm a boss (using mf gear, of course) by getting to it in under one minute and not having "cutscenes" forced upon you.
How about...bosses dropping meaningful loot. Maybe.

Or how about the fact that diablo 2 was and still is an awesome game and diablo 3 was, is and will be a piece of shit?

Granted, d2 had its problems. Like all sorts of bugs and exploits. So did d3. For a while, so did WoW. It's just that d2 was deemed "too old to be worth fixing", so many of its problems haven't been fixed - not even today.

Last, but not least - if it's not ladder season reset, chances are more people are playing diablo 2 now than diablo 3.

A remastered d2 version with fixed exploits would make diablo 3 a ghost town in a matter of hours.

That is all.

[plato13]

also d3 has too much imersion breaking bs like wings and pets from other games. also alot of content is just badly designed and obvious bandaid fixes. just compare horadric cube recipes to kanais cube recipes. having all the unique crafting materials drop from bounty caches is just weak. also how you obtain stuff from menacherie goblins or magicly get items through achievements wich some are even tied to completly different games. such things have no place in a rpg or arpg as it is one of the biggest imersion breaker and makes no sense from an rpg point of view.

[Sencha]

There are like a million videos about D2 > D3 on the internet.

In short, D3 has been designed for console players.

[Bigbazz]

And yet you haven't posted how it has changed. Nor did you try to explain why my points are wrong besides just saying ''it changed''.

Why should I have to explain? It's not on me to educate you on the discussion, if you're interested in the huge array of changes to the game then the information is readily available for you to find for yourself.

yes it is a completly different game. they actually managed to make it worse. worse itemization, more power creep and less build diversity.
most of d2s flaws are based on the engine. and maybe the stuff like stamina mechanik or low lvl mana issues wich is personal preference.

about static difficulty, its actually a good thing because it makes everything viable even if its not ideal. having a infinite scaling difficulty makes only the perfect build viable.

They made it worse by moving away from pure static wow style gearing and closer to Diablo 2 itemisation? That makes no sense given the direction of the discussion. And the only reason this "issue" didn't exist in Diablo 2 with power creep vs content was because Diablo 2 didn't have endlessly scaling content difficulty, it had a static difficulty like Vanilla D3, the power creep itself still happened on an incredible level with runewords and charms in D2.

[plato13]

Why should I have to explain? It's not on me to educate you on the discussion, if you're interested in the huge array of changes to the game then the information is readily available for you to find for yourself.



They made it worse by moving away from pure static wow style gearing and closer to Diablo 2 itemisation? That makes no sense given the direction of the discussion. And the only reason this "issue" didn't exist in Diablo 2 with power creep vs content was because Diablo 2 didn't have endlessly scaling content difficulty, it had a static difficulty like Vanilla D3, the power creep itself still happened on an incredible level with runewords and charms in D2.

i dont think you can call set items that give you 5000% dmg to a skill d2 itemization. also main stats werent that important in d2 then they are in d3. wich makes it much more like wow. in the first release of d3 you could make almost every skill work with the proper gear w/o the need for such set items.

[Bigbazz]

i dont think you can call set items that give you 5000% dmg to a skill d2 itemization. also main stats werent that important in d2 then they are in d3. wich makes it much more like wow. in the first release of d3 you could make almost every skill work with the proper gear w/o the need for such set items.

D2 itemisation had ridiculously overpowered single items or combinations of items that gave you ridiculous advantages over running standard stat/damage increases, you paired that with stat skill charms that buffed your spells into infinity through % modifiers, it was about exploiting synergy.. Vanilla D3 followed a WoW style gearing where items primarily just gave stats, more linear increase in damage/survival.

Modern D3 follows D2 in that items now give massive bonuses and unique affixes/functionality that can define or even create gameplay builds entirely, to the point where standard stat gear builds cannot even come close, making specific items highly valuable as unique items and not just stat sticks with names. So yes modern D3 follows very much the direction that D2 took on itemisation, making exceptionally overpowered build defining items with unique attributes or functionality.

D2 was full of cookie cutter builds because of the combination of specific Uniques and Runewords, and those builds were in an entirely different league to running basic generic stat stick setups.. It's the same situation as current D3, a crapload more interesting than the WoW clone system that D3 ran with at launch.

[Sorshen]

D3: unequip a set item on you - your damage is down to 5%, lose 50% survivability. Paragon levels... +5 mainstat +5 mainstat +5 mainstat.
Great design indeed.

[plato13]

D2 itemisation had ridiculously overpowered single items or combinations of items that gave you ridiculous advantages over running standard stat/damage increases, you paired that with stat skill charms that buffed your spells into infinity through % modifiers, it was about exploiting synergy.. Vanilla D3 followed a WoW style gearing where items primarily just gave stats, more linear increase in damage/survival.

Modern D3 follows D2 in that items now give massive bonuses and unique affixes/functionality that can define or even create gameplay builds entirely, to the point where standard stat gear builds cannot even come close, making specific items highly valuable as unique items and not just stat sticks with names. So yes modern D3 follows very much the direction that D2 took on itemisation, making exceptionally overpowered build defining items with unique attributes or functionality.

D2 was full of cookie cutter builds because of the combination of specific Uniques and Runewords, and those builds were in an entirely different league to running basic generic stat stick setups.. It's the same situation as current D3, a crapload more interesting than the WoW clone system that D3 ran with at launch.

thats one of the core-mechanics of arpgs find and utilize those synergys. it just becomes a problem when those synergys become stale caused by the lack of support wich could lead to a shifting metagame. it happens in a game that had no balance/content patches in a decade.

[Dangg]

How about...not a 6 buttons game.
.

I wonder if you even played Diablo 2.
The rotation/button needed difference between D3 and D2 is ridiculous in favor of D3.