Weapon switch hotkey - Revision history

Flux at 23:07, 23 May 2013

2013-05-23T23:07:47Z

Flux at 12:25, 7 August 2010

2010-08-07T12:25:44Z

Flux: /* In or Out? */

2010-08-07T12:19:28Z

‎In or Out?

Flux: /* In or Out? */

2010-08-07T12:15:59Z

‎In or Out?

Flux: /* In or Out? */

2010-08-07T12:15:09Z

‎In or Out?

Flux: /* Blizzard Comments */

2010-02-10T00:25:46Z

‎Blizzard Comments

Flux: /* In or Out? */

2010-01-19T12:15:17Z

‎In or Out?

Flux at 12:14, 19 January 2010

2010-01-19T12:14:48Z

Flux: Created page with 'The weapon switch hotkey was added to Diablo 2 in the expansion pack, and was a highly popular and much-used/abused feature of the game. This hotkey, a standard feature in virtua…'

2010-01-19T12:14:11Z

Created page with 'The weapon switch hotkey was added to Diablo 2 in the expansion pack, and was a highly popular and much-used/abused feature of the game. This hotkey, a standard feature in virtua…'

New page

The weapon switch hotkey was added to Diablo 2 in the expansion pack, and was a highly popular and much-used/abused feature of the game. This hotkey, a standard feature in virtually every RPG at this point (many games allow full outfit swaps, and/or cycling through multiple weapon sets), allows characters to exchange their currently equipped item (usually just their weapons) for another weapon or weapons with the single click of a button.

There are no current plans to include a weapon switch hotkey in Diablo 3, a fact that most experienced Diablo 2 players greeted with shocked horror. The planned exclusion of this feature was most recently confirmed by Jay Wilson in an October 2009 interview. [http://www.diii.net/blog/comments/jay-wilson-exclusive-part-vi-lightning-round/]

::'''''Diii.net: '''Weapon switch hotkey?
::'''Jay Wilson: '''No. We took that out.

::'''''Diii.net: '''Oh, I loved that feature in D2.
::'''Jay Wilson: '''Mostly we took it out because the only examples we could come up with of how people used it were somewhat exploitive. Most frequently people used it by accident and wondered where the freak my weapons went. So it didn’t seem a useful feature for anyone but a very small portion of the audience that used it to swap items for magic find purposes, which seemed not a great super fun reason to swap weapons. There were probably some other uses, which I’m sure I’ll be reminded of in the forums.

::'''''Diii.net: '''There were a lot of specialized builds that found it essential to use two sets of weapons. Hybrid Amazons, chiefly. Used a bow and also a javelin/shield.
::'''Jay Wilson: '''Yeah.

Jay's bland dismissal prompted that interviewer to launch into a (written) rant about the idiocy of removing that feature when the interview was posted, and the news thread had soon attracted more than 75 comments, most by fans weighing in on the issue.

Some months prior to Jay's interview denial, [[Bashiok]] had made a comment on this same issue in July, 2009. [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/bashiok-on-weapon-switching/]

::''Will there be a quick weapon switch (‘W’ in D2) implemented in Diablo 3?''

::'''Bashiok:''' Just like Diablo II we’re saving secondary weapon/shield slot and hot key for the expansion.

::Kidding! ... probably. We don’t have it now, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be one. I don’t think it’s an irrelevant question, maybe just not the most pressing one.

::I don’t think it NEEDS to be there. It’s not really an iconic part of the game. The gameplay dictates its necessity, and if there’s no reason to hot swap weapons mid-fight, then having it there just clutters the UI.

::Personally I just used it in Diablo II for extra item storage.

It's apparent from these and other past comments that neither Jay or Bashiok (or anyone else on the D3 Team?) played a great deal of advanced Diablo 2, and expert D2 players have been known to despair at the inexperienced comments coming from the team making the sequel -- an unfortunate side effect of the almost complete team churn caused by delays, disagreements, and the closure of [[Blizzard North]] and ultimate restart of the project at Blizzard Irvine in 2005.

==Pros and Cons==

The weapon switch hotkey is just a convenience; after all, players can simply carry extra swords, shields, suits of armor, etc, in their inventory, and change into them as the situation demands. The whole point in having a special hotkey for this is to allow players to do it very quickly, as is required in a fast-paced action game like Diablo 2 or Diablo 3. Since the feature is optional to use, and simply adds more control options, it's odd that the D3 team would want to remove this one, since they're adding so many other features in Diablo 3 to make the game easier to play.

The D3 team's stated opinion that it's an exploit came as a shock to experienced Diablo 2 players, most of whom had used it constantly in that game, and considered it an integral aspect of the play experience.

===Exploitative Uses===

With some uses of the switch, the accusation of "exploit" is hard to argue against. None of these are "exploits" in terms of being cheats; they're just smart uses of a game feature. The most common trick with the weapon switch hotkey was to change to a [[Magic Find]] boosting weapon/shield an instant before killing a boss monster. This was a very useful technique, a fun technique to master, and added to the item game, putting a much higher value on +MF gear for all characters. That said, it was physically unrealistic, as well as favoring of some characters over others. A spell-caster could easily finish off a monster with any type of equipment in his/her hands, while combat characters could not finish off an Act Boss with a wand and shield at the ready.

Other arguably exploitative uses of the weapon switch were to cast spells enabled by unique/runeword weapons, or to boost your character's skill levels before casting a buff.

Many players simply used the switch for extra inventory space, which was a convenience, but not an exploit.

===Essential Uses===

Other Diablo 2 characters or play styles quite required the weapon switch to function at all, or at least without the frustration of constantly opening the inventory window and clicking and dragging weapons around. Including that feature enabled numerous builds that would otherwise have been almost unheard of.

The extremely popular '''hybrid Amazons''' are the most obvious examples, with a bow on one switch, and a javelin/shield on the other. Other characters in various patches, notably '''Paladins''' and '''Fury Druids''', required a regular melee weapon, and a second one with high elemental damage on their switch, to deal with Physical Immune monsters.

Furthermore, many low level characters, especially those without quality [[twink]]ed items, were wise to use the weapon switch to change between different weapons in the early going. A blunt weapon for fighting the undead, a sword for animals, a throwing weapon for fleeing enemies, etc. This sort of use will be just as necessary in Diablo 3, and numerous expert Diablo 2 players found themselves already missing this option even during their brief Diablo 3 playtime at Blizzcon in 2008 and 2009.

==In or Out?==

At this point, there's no telling if the feature will remain out, or return. The game has a long way to go in development.

One mitigating factor comes from the different types of mods on Diablo 3 items. The D3 Team has said they do not want to include +skills items, and if there are no items that add +3 to warcries, or enable specific skills, then a great many of the exploitative uses of the weapon switch hotkey vanish right there. There is also a design goal to require spell casters to use weapons that boost their killing power, which removes another easy +MF exploit from Diablo 2, since mage characters could kill easily no matter what their weapon's stats.

One compromise solution could be to include a weapon switch hotkey, but putting some sort of cool down timer on it. Switching could only be done so often, or would require a few seconds to take effect. After all, a character would logically need a few seconds to sheath a sword and pull out a mace, or a halberd, from his invisible, all-encompassing backpack.

This is the sort of feature that gets evaluated in more detail in the later stages of game design, when the controls are fine tuned, and beta testers get to put in their input, so it's quite likely that we've not yet heard the last of this issue.

[[category:interface]]
[[category:controls]]
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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-The weapon switch hotkey was added to Diablo 2 in the expansion pack, and was a highly popular and much-used/abused feature of the game. This hotkey, a standard feature in virtually every RPG at this point (many games allow full outfit swaps, and/or cycling through multiple weapon sets), allows characters to exchange their currently equipped item (usually just their weapons) for another weapon or weapons with the single click of a button.
+There is no weapon switch hotkey in Diablo 3. Though that control was a popular feature in Diablo 2 and a button to enable quick weapon and/or gear switches is found in most modern ARPGs, the Diablo 3 developers felt it was not a necessary feature in Diablo 3. Much of Diablo 3's [[UI]] is based around a minimum of buttons and making things very easy for new players to control, sometimes at the expense of allowing the full control options that expert players desire.
 ==Blizzard Comments==
-The planned exclusion of this feature was most recently confirmed by Jay Wilson in an October 2009 interview. [http://www.diii.net/blog/comments/jay-wilson-exclusive-part-vi-lightning-round/]
+The planned exclusion of this feature was confirmed by Jay Wilson in an October 2009 interview. [http://www.diii.net/blog/comments/jay-wilson-exclusive-part-vi-lightning-round/]
 ::'''''Diii.net: '''Weapon switch hotkey?
@@ Line 42: / Line 43: @@
-It's apparent from these and other past comments that neither Jay or Bashiok (or anyone else on the D3 Team?) played a great deal of advanced Diablo 2, and expert D2 players have been known to despair at the inexperienced comments coming from the team making the sequel -- an unfortunate side effect of the almost complete team churn caused by delays, disagreements, and the closure of [[Blizzard North]] and ultimate restart of the project at Blizzard Irvine in 2005.
+Many Diablo 2 experts were angered by these comments, as they made clear that neither Jay or Bashiok (or anyone else on the D3 Team?) had played much high level Diablo 2. This aggravated existing tensions in the Diablo community, as it seemed another sign of the general Diablo or ARPG inexperience of the Diablo 3 team.
 ==Pros and Cons==
-The weapon switch hotkey is just a convenience; after all, players can simply carry extra swords, shields, suits of armor, etc, in their inventory, and change into them as the situation demands. The whole point in having a special hotkey for this is to allow players to do it very quickly, as is required in a fast-paced action game like Diablo 2 or Diablo 3. Since the feature is optional to use, and simply adds more control options, it's odd that the D3 team would want to remove this one, since they're adding so many other features in Diablo 3 to make the game easier to play.
+The weapon switch hotkey is just a convenience; after all, players can simply carry extra swords, shields, suits of armor, etc, in their inventory, and change into them as the situation demands. The whole point in having a special hotkey for this is to allow players to do it very quickly, as is required in a fast-paced action game like Diablo 2 or Diablo 3. Since the feature is optional to use, many players found it odd that the developers would remove it, rather than including it for those who wanted it.
 ===Exploitative Uses===
-With some uses of the switch, the accusation of "exploit" is hard to argue against. None of these are "exploits" in terms of being cheats; they're just smart uses of a game feature.  The most common trick with the weapon switch hotkey was to change to a [[Magic Find]] boosting weapon/shield an instant before killing a boss monster. This was a very useful technique, a fun technique to master, and added to the item game, putting a much higher value on +MF gear for all characters. That said, it was physically unrealistic, as well as favoring of some characters over others. A spell-caster could easily finish off a monster with any type of equipment in his/her hands, while combat characters could not finish off an Act Boss with a wand and shield at the ready.
+With some uses of the switch, the accusation of "exploit" is hard to argue against. None of these are "exploits" in terms of being cheats; they're just smart uses of a game feature.  The most common trick with the weapon switch hotkey in Diablo 2 was to change to a [[Magic Find]] boosting weapon/shield an instant before killing a boss monster. This was a very useful technique, a fun technique to master, and added to the item game, putting a much higher value on +MF weapons (that weren't useful in other situations). That said, it was physically unrealistic, as well as favoring of some characters over others. (A spell-caster could easily finish off a monster with any type of equipment in his/her hands, while combat characters had much more trouble doing that last sliver of damage to a big enemy while using a low damage dagger or wand purely for the +MF.)
 Other arguably exploitative uses of the weapon switch were to cast spells enabled by unique/runeword weapons, or to boost your character's skill levels before casting a buff.
@@ Line 64: / Line 64: @@
 Other Diablo 2 characters or play styles quite required the weapon switch to function at all, or at least without the frustration of constantly opening the inventory window and clicking and dragging weapons around.  Including that feature enabled numerous builds that would otherwise have been almost unheard of.
-The extremely popular '''hybrid Amazons''' are the most obvious examples, with a bow on one switch, and a javelin/shield on the other. Other characters in various patches, notably '''Paladins''' and '''Fury Druids''', required a regular melee weapon, and a second one with high elemental damage on their switch, to deal with Physical Immune monsters.
+The popular '''hybrid Amazons''' are the most obvious examples, with a bow on one switch, and a javelin/shield on the other. Other characters in various patches, notably '''Paladins''' and '''Fury Druids''', required a regular melee weapon, and a second one with high elemental damage on their switch, to deal with Physical Immune monsters.
-At this point, there's no telling if the feature will remain out, or return. The game has a long way to go in development.
+==Aftermath==
-One mitigating factor comes from the different types of mods on Diablo 3 items. The D3 Team has said they do not want to include +skills items, and if there are no items that add +3 to warcries, or enable specific skills, then a great many of the exploitative uses of the weapon switch hotkey vanish right there. There is also a design goal to require spell casters to use weapons that boost their killing power, which removes another easy +MF exploit from Diablo 2, since mage characters could kill easily no matter what their weapon's stats.
+As hinted at during development, the weapon switch hotkey was not included in Diablo 3.  It might be added in an expansion, but nothing the developers have said since release gives any reason to expect that.
-One compromise solution could be to include a weapon switch hotkey, but putting some sort of cool down timer on it. Switching could only be done so often, or would require a few seconds to take effect. After all, a character would logically need a few seconds to sheath a sword and pull out a mace, or a halberd, from his invisible, all-encompassing backpack.
+Ironically, weapon and armor switching to get a big [[Magic Find]] gain just before killing a boss or opening a chest, was hugely-prevalent in the early days of Diablo 3, when few players had the quality of gear to boost MF and DPS/EHP at the same time. This exploit was attacked by the team in several ways, and ultimately largely minimized with the inherent MF/GF/EXP bonuses from higher [[Paragon]] levels.
-Discussion has also touched on skill-related weapon switching; some characters are known to have weapon-specific skills;[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/jay-wilson-exclusive-full-transcript/] some Monk skills only work with [[Fists]] or with [[Staves]], and it's possible the D3 team will include some sort of weapon switching ability, tied exclusively to weapon-specific skills. There is no official word on this; it's purely fan speculation.
+The main regret of players who miss the WSH is the lack of variety of play. Weapon switching would have been abused for the Magic Find bonus -- 41-45% MF from the Sun Keeper {[http://diablonut.incgamers.com/item/sun-keeper db]) and 20% MF from a shield would have provided an easy ~60% MF for last boss hits to every knowledgeable player -- but players would have found many other uses for the bonus. Some possible options:
-This is the sort of feature that gets evaluated in more detail in the later stages of game design, when the controls are fine tuned, and beta testers get to put in their input, so it's quite likely that we've not yet heard the last of this issue.
+That said, many of the uses of a WSH from Diablo 2 didn't translate into Diablo 3. Without +skill bonuses on gear there's no reason to switch to get a bigger buff before casting an aura or warcry, and the lack of throwing weapons is another major factor.

@@ Line 77: / Line 77: @@
 One compromise solution could be to include a weapon switch hotkey, but putting some sort of cool down timer on it. Switching could only be done so often, or would require a few seconds to take effect. After all, a character would logically need a few seconds to sheath a sword and pull out a mace, or a halberd, from his invisible, all-encompassing backpack.
-Discussion has also touched on skill-related weapon switching; some characters are known to have weapon-specific skills; some Monk skills only work with [[Fists]] or with [[Staves]], and it's possible the D3 team will include some sort of weapon switching ability, tied exclusively to weapon-specific skills. There is no official word on this; it's purely fan speculation.
+Discussion has also touched on skill-related weapon switching; some characters are known to have weapon-specific skills;[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/jay-wilson-exclusive-full-transcript/] some Monk skills only work with [[Fists]] or with [[Staves]], and it's possible the D3 team will include some sort of weapon switching ability, tied exclusively to weapon-specific skills. There is no official word on this; it's purely fan speculation.
 This is the sort of feature that gets evaluated in more detail in the later stages of game design, when the controls are fine tuned, and beta testers get to put in their input, so it's quite likely that we've not yet heard the last of this issue.

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← Older revision		Revision as of 12:15, 7 August 2010
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	One compromise solution could be to include a weapon switch hotkey, but putting some sort of cool down timer on it. Switching could only be done so often, or would require a few seconds to take effect. After all, a character would logically need a few seconds to sheath a sword and pull out a mace, or a halberd, from his invisible, all-encompassing backpack.		One compromise solution could be to include a weapon switch hotkey, but putting some sort of cool down timer on it. Switching could only be done so often, or would require a few seconds to take effect. After all, a character would logically need a few seconds to sheath a sword and pull out a mace, or a halberd, from his invisible, all-encompassing backpack.
		+
		+	Discussion has also touched on skill-related weapon switching; some characters are known to have weapon-specific skills; some Monk skills only work with [[Fists]] or with [[Staves]], and it's possible the D3 team will include some sort of weapon switching ability, tied exclusively to weapon-specific skills. There is no official word on this; it's purely fan speculation.

	This is the sort of feature that gets evaluated in more detail in the later stages of game design, when the controls are fine tuned, and beta testers get to put in their input, so it's quite likely that we've not yet heard the last of this issue.		This is the sort of feature that gets evaluated in more detail in the later stages of game design, when the controls are fine tuned, and beta testers get to put in their input, so it's quite likely that we've not yet heard the last of this issue.

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:15, 19 January 2010
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