@Seppli said:

@iamblades: @Durandir:

And I believe you are making a faulty assumption. Even if aiming a ranged AoE spell would take longer, it wouldn't matter since you'd retain full movement control over your character whilst aiming, as opposed to the classic mousecursor method.

Also, how is dragging a cursor all over the screen quicker than dualstick shooter controls with full 360 degree aim at your fingertips instantly? Add a little aim assist to that and you got as much precision as you'll ever need. Oh - in case you say 'aim assist' is lame, Titan Quest sure uses aim-assist, likely Diablo itself does too.

Reform is never something sold easily, though often it is for the better. Dualstick analog gamepads do work with Diablo 3 and it will proove to be the superior control method offering full control over movement and aim uninterrupted. Constant full control feels superior - is superior. Just wait and see.

P.S. I've played quite a few Diablo-clones, just not Diablo 1/2.

1) I can move my mouse across my entire screen by moving my hand 2 inches. Unless your sensitivity is set so low that you have to move your arm like 3 feet to drag your cursor, mouse will always be faster.

2) You keep bringing up moving and aiming. That isn't what Diablo is about. You charge in and click, you don't run away. There is no active dodge button to use.

3) It is your opinion that they will be better controls. I wouldn't EVER use them even if they did put them in. It is your opinion that they will be superior. Right now I have to play with a gamepad because I have a broken hand. I hate it. So people just prefer KB&M.

Heresy!

@Surkov said:

I stopped reading at "I never played Diablo 1 & 2."

Same...like what the fuck buddy. This isn't Robotron.

Voted Yes.
 
D2 characters control basically like a Starcraft marine, these are RTS controls taken directly from Blizzard's experience with RTS games. These controls are largely indirect, rather than playing the hero you basically tell him where to go and hope that the path-finding algorithm does the rest. The Warcraft III expansion had a campaign - very much like Diablo - where you contolled a single hero, collected loot, summoned minions and so forth. Controls in both games have been exactly the same.
 
There is an immediate pleasure to be had from well made physics-based direct controls however: like flying helicopters, steering cars and yes, even dual joystick shooters.
 
RTS controls and games mainly offer pleasure for managing stress, rather than providing  a simulation like experience, mouse controlls thrive on their break-neck pace and precision alone. D2: LoD tried to introduce rhythmic charge up attacks on the Druid and Assassin, but they failed to gain popularity simply because stress and rhythm don't mix. Many early games were almost exclusively about  fast paced stress management (Tetris, space invaders, missile command). Well, we have different and IMHO better games now. 

@Von said:

There's an easy way to prove that gamepads is in no way superior to playing with a mouse and keyboard. Install Dungeon Siege III and Torchlight. Now, I find DS3 to be a great game but the damn controls are quite bothersome. The spells usually doesn't target the enemy I want (heck, even the ranged weapons target the wrong enemies more than half of the time) and the inventory is slow and clunky to browse through. Compare this to Torchlight where you can instantly target the enemy you want with either spells or ranged weapons, the inventory handling is a breeze since you just mouse over the item you want and select it, etc.

I want to fight the monsters in the game, not the games controls. I'm not saying that it isn't doable, I just don't see how it is supposed to be better suited. It's been tried, it works, but that's about it.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I picked Torchlight as the second game because the 360 port is gamepad driven. You could try that too and just compare to the PC version and you'll see why gamepad controls are flawed. The inventory handling especially.

Don't both those games use a 'classic' gamepad control scheme, more like a topdown hack 'n slash? Movement and aim are on the same stick. Totally not what I'm suggesting at all.

The beauty of dualstick topdown shooter controls is independent control over movement and aim. I'm sure it'd be much better suited than the gamepad controlschemes Dungeon Siege 3 and Torchlight are using. It has not been done yet.

The problem with inventory management usually is responsiveness and not the control scheme; a technical issue. I prefer hotkey based inventory management. Even in PC games, I hate when games use too many clicks for looting and management. Hotkeys are so much faster. Like putting equip/salvage/scrap/sell/compare on separate hotkeys. It's usually a mix of lack of responsiveness due to a shoddy port/code and the lack of hotkeys and properly designed ui. It can be done right, it just never has been done right.

@Eurobum: You have different games now so why not play those games and leave Diablo III alone for those of us that have been waiting 10 years for the break-neck pace and precision based gameplay?

EDIT: Also oh gods, this thread again? Did we already go over the fact that you don't move and attack at the same time in Diablo? I think we did. Did we?

@Eurobum: You have different games now so why not play those games and leave Diablo III alone for those of us that have been waiting 10 years for the break-neck pace and precision based gameplay?

@Eurobum: I... what? So because a one-armed-banded dressed up as Mephisto is not the be-all-end-all of game design, people who prefer the way Diablo games play and control aren't allowed to have that any more?