Blizzard on the new damage and defense system

Having decided to take a little break from reading heroic interviews (but I will finish them all, honestly!) and Mass Effect (don’t expect me to be away for long!), I went back to my home blog. Today’s topic is the mechanics of combat. More specifically, how damage and armor currently work in Diablo III. More on that below.

FIRST WAS CHANCE TO HIT..

If you hit this beast the old-fashioned way, you’ll end up covered in ashes.

First, let’s recall how the damage and armor system worked before, in Diablo II. Introduced back in the first part of the franchise, the chance to hit parameter was a key criterion determining the success of your attack. Well, at least one of the key criteria. This chance was affected by the target's dexterity and armor, whether they had a shield, the attacking abilities, and the attacker’s dexterity. As you probably remember, the main problem with act bosses was the very low chance of hitting them. You would sometimes stand right next to Baal, kicking him, and the scoundrel wouldn't flinch. Out of a dozen attacks, if two or three were successful, you were lucky. The logic, of course, was minimal: one would think that if a monster stands two steps away from you, it shouldn’t be that hard to hit it with a hammer. But it was like that in Diablo II.

Not long ago, Blizzard revamped the old stat system, replacing old Strength and Dexterity with Attack [Attack] (which increases the damage dealt by the player) and Defense [Defence] (which reduces the damage taken by the player). After reading the description of the new parameters, players became concerned. The new breakdowns suggested that any attack would hit the target and deal damage. Naturally, they had to seek clarification from Bashiok. He didn't take long to respond.

Bashiok: "In many ways, that's true. In fact, all attacks can miss with a 5% chance. The exceptions are most spells, area-of-effect skills, and resource-intensive abilities. There’s no singular rule, and unfortunately, I can’t clearly outline which strike will hit the target and which won’t. It all depends on the specific case. Most melee attacks have a 5% chance of missing, but some will always hit the target, as their use requires a significant amount of resources, like energy or mana, for example.

This system is intuitively understandable to any sane person. Any ranged attack needs to be "aimed"; you must have contact with a moving target. The chance to miss directly depends on the player's abilities, and there’s no need to impose it additionally on the skill itself. Area-of-effect skills logically should not miss: after all, the monster is within the area of damage. Abilities requiring significant costs will always hit, balancing out their price. If they were to miss at their energy cost, that would be quite disheartening. Generally, those skills that can miss are usually the cheap, easily repeatable melee skills. And no, there will be no ways to reduce the chance of missing.

By the way, this applies to both monsters and players."

EVERY HIT - ON TARGET!

Shields have lost their hyper authority over the minds of meticulous players.

Thus, we get a completely different system compared to Diablo II. While previously a lot of armor meant that a monster simply wouldn’t hit you (wow, dodge armor! Give me two!), now it will very much hit you. But it will work differently. Defense is somewhat analogous to resistances: it reduces a certain percentage of damage dealt. Good armor doesn’t make you immune to hits; it simply reduces the damage you take. Simple and clear. By the way, shields now also differ in the amount of damage they can absorb.

According to Bashiok, this system is logical. If you're standing with a pillow in front of a heavily armored monster, you'll definitely hit it. But you’ll deal little damage because the armor will absorb the impact. This approach makes battles more predictable. Monsters will kill you consistently, and you’ll be able to decide when to use a healing potion, unlike before when you had to wait for a super-hit to break through your shields and drain your life. The same goes for monsters: you’ll be able to see for yourself how quickly you destroy them. By the way, since your strikes will hit more often, critical hits and other similar goodies will also happen more frequently. This innovation will benefit those who love to fight with weapons in both hands: while previously you could achieve a block rate of 75% with shields, effectively forcing every character to use shields, in the third part that imbalance has been removed, and shields are no longer a cure-all for every hit.

The moral of the new system is straightforward: everyone will take hits. The consequences depend on the armor of the area being hit and the weapon that delivers the strike.

MARCH OF THE DISSATISFIED

No armor - no skeleton!

However, as usual, this innovation didn’t please everyone, and there were gentlemen who (apparently out of habit) began to complain. Moreover, they did so in advance without seeing how these features work in the game. The essence of their complaints was that Blizzard was again simplifying everything, and soon any newbie in Diablo would be able to defeat a veteran because pressing buttons and conducting battles couldn’t be any simpler. To top it off, they kicked Blizzard for removing the elements of gameplay mechanics that everyone enjoyed. And for this, someone should be hanged at least. Bashiok armed himself with logic and common sense.

Bashiok: "Wait, the old damage/armor mechanics were removed not for that reason at all. It wasn’t very logical, and many were confused, not seeing the connection between the armor level and the hit percentage. The new system is logical and understandable. Besides, you will still easily defeat those so-called children. But not so much because you know the principles of gameplay mechanics, but because you feel your character better, you handle it better.

You say that Diablo II fans liked to see their attack level grow. I would assume that fans generally enjoy it when the right numbers grow, and the chances of success increase. What’s the fundamental difference between the growth of attack level and damage dealt, say? There’s no fundamental difference. You can still enjoy the growth of your metrics.

Furthermore, I want to remind you that this is not Diablo II, and the previous health recovery system is not here. If we were to keep the old damage mechanics, it would be pretty grim, I assure you. Action should have an opposing action. You cannot just drink the treasured healing potion at any moment. Therefore, if monsters attacked you like before, with a chance to instantly rip out your liver and kidneys, you would quickly regret having entered a battle. You simply wouldn’t be able to heal in time, so the new damage system is much more logical than the old one."

SUMMARY

Missed your close attack? That nonsense is now over.

In summary, I can note that battles with monsters will likely become more predictable in terms of receiving and dealing damage. For those who are ready to stomp their feet, I say: gentlemen, let’s at least survive until the beta, and then we can argue. As someone who has died several times in Baal runs under spirits, with no chance to pull out a (quite armored) body from hell, I say this innovation pleased me more than it disappointed me. That’s it.

Text and translation - me.

Sources:

- One

- Two

P.S. Soon expect material on runes and locations. If, of course, you are interested.