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Guns in Diablo 3? Nope.
By Flux January 22, 2010 1
A ranting fan posted a fairly provocative mini-article on the forums today, advocating his support for damn near any wacky thing the Diablo 3 team might want to throw into the game. Healer class? Jester class? Colorful graphics? Guns and gunpowder? Go for it! His heretical views weren't especially well-received, and while Bashiok didn't address everything, he and some fans did explain (for the Nth time) why there aren't guns in the Diablo world.
Larzuk appeared to be on the verge of discovering gun powder, but shortly thereafter he was killed as the mountain exploded on his head. Thus the secrets of gunpowder are lost forever and have no chance of being rediscovered. Because we say so, and that's how fiction works.
Also hot air balloons now that we talk about it. He wanted to use those to scout over Baals forces. Are those lost forever too now? Malah gossip:
"Larzuk possesses a good soul, but at times his mind seems quite unsound. He once asked me for twenty of my finest sheepskins. He said he would fill them with hot air and float like a cloud above the battlefield to spy on Baal?s legions. I worry the siege has driven him mad."
Bashiok: Nice! So then yeah, air travel, dead forever.
Well, the problem with introducing guns is that they dramatically change the feel of the game. Even though you could balance them with long reload times or whatever it would just stand out too much. If creativity and constantly moving forward was the big reason for introducing guns then I suppose we would have to see laser pistols in the expansion!? (Ok, so I exaggerated a little)
Bashiok: Yeah a little bit of exaggeration but you got the general sentiment right.
Guns are decidedly scientific, and the Diablo world is decidedly magic (with a lot of impaling people on pikes). Not that guns and magic can't mix, but when they do it becomes something entirely different. So I don't think it's an issue of guns not being fun or just not working, it's nothing like that. It's simply a setting and tone issue, and guns would very certainly change it.
Click through to see the full text of the OP, since his rant/editorial is worth reading, if only to think why you disagree with it.
Reading posts and such about What is the 5th class, or mainly, what someone would like to see as a 5th class doesn't bug me, it's reading the responses. Some of these people say, "You're wrong because that's not in the Diablo Universe" and "Nope, not happening." Are some of the ideas dumb? Yeah! But that doesn't make them impossible. Even the dumbest ideas can be refined to something great.
Why not? Who says something can't. Blizzard can do whatever they want. It's called creativity and seems like some people have lost touch with theirs.
If they want colorful graphics, so be it. It's their product, they can do what they want.
A 5th class that's a healer. "It'll be unbalanced." So? I for one, would like to see a healer. Heck, I'd love to see a class weaker than the others. It'd bring back the Diablo 1 days of the naked mages. I personally would make them weak at solo play and PvP but their ability to heal others in the party makes that great in team play. "Well they wouldn't stand a chance in PvP. It wouldn't be fair." So don't play them in PvP. They have Normal, Nightmare, and Hell difficulty. Why not classes that have different levels of challenge to play as well?
What about something goofy, like a Jester. Has odd ball skills, may not be good at actual fighting but has skills that increase item drop rates. Or skills that have more luck involved like the Dice of Doom. Make them an easter egg unlockable class, something not meant to be balanced and ban-able from Tournaments like some cards are in Magic the Gathering or some Pokemon from gameboy events.
Pistols don't belong in the Diablo Universe. Why? It's been how many years between D2 and 3? Gunpowder in the real world have been around a lot longer than some of the swords used in Diablo 2.
Point is, nothing is written in stone. Do you want a strictly defined rehash of Diablo 2 or do you want a wider, more creative world to play in. You can make whatever you want when you program a game, much like when a writer writes a novel. You can suggest the craziest ideas and then work them in. Look at the Secret Cow Level of Diablo 2. Too many people are so sure of themselves on things they really have no clue on. Imagination, it's a good thing.
—Haladay
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