3.0 Speculation - Increased Technical Difficulty

I firmly believe with the move to 10 Acts with no replays we well see a steady increase monsters, environments, etc. that reward technical play instead of absorbing/dealing the most damage.

Reasons:
1) A complaint against replaying acts in that monster AIs in the first act were as simple as ever. Since we are not revisiting those monsters (except in maps) we can have monster AIs steadily get more intricate.

2) If one pays attention to how long 3.0 was being planned, the Labyrinth was created with full knowledge of 3.0s direction. While the Labyrinth feels very out of place in game-play now, I strongly feel that it will not feel as out of place was 3.0 rolls around. I feel it is likely that the Labyrinth was a testing ground to see if GGGs players could adopt to interacting with their environment or to get players ready to be able to do so.

3) After the Labyrinth was added, when the atlas rolled out, there were many new map bosses that are built around technical play. From making sure you dodge a jumping goat, to hiding behind a pillar to end a bosses attack, to cracking eggs to enrage a boss for more loot, etc.

4) GGG prides itself in appealing to hardcore gamers. A move to rewarding technical play over online suggested builds and equipment fits this theme. I feel that GGG wants to decrease the effect of just doing what others do and of real money on the game while keeping no limits on it.

5) Hints from 3.0 spoilers. I remember (I SERIOUSLY APOLOGIZE if this was a dream) a brief spoiler of a quest in a later act where players have to escort a pillar to a certain area (just like in the labyrinth). Mechanic things like this are currently not found outside of the Labyrinth and maps.

Bonus: increased technical difficulty would cut back on usefulness of bots

Thank you... my stock in tin mines just went up.

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CidAvadose wrote:

Bonus: increased technical difficulty would cut back on usefulness of bots

That is not something I thought of. Interesting thought and probably interesting problems for botters to solve.

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CidAvadose wrote:

4) GGG prides itself in appealing to hardcore gamers. A move to rewarding technical play over online suggested builds and equipment fits this theme.

This was true in Closed Beta. Unfortunately, through expansions and leagues, the game no longer sticks to its roots.

Just look at the support gems over the past few releases - no mechanical stuff; just "more" multipliers on damage.