Hello,
Wanted to give some general feedback/suggestions/ideas as I’ve come close to 100hrs in the game so far.
First off, the game is incredible and I am very inspired by your vision and what this game will bring to us in the future. I will focus on suggestions and feedback rather than what the game does really well since I believe the game does really well in so many areas.
As a big Diablo 2 fan, what caught my eye was the mention of this game being inspired by d1/2 and Thomas referencing some not so known knowledge of blizzard north and what they envisioned. Hense why many of my suggestions will stem from d2.
Itemization- in my opinion, might be the biggest design choice in a loot based game, and I really haven’t had the experience in itemization that d2 brought to us. Wicked does have a great foundation, and while I’m not sure what you have up your sleeve for the future, here are my ideas.
Runewords- no game has recreated this system to my knowledge, and I think that’s a shame. While RWs in d2 aren’t perfect, the biggest flaw in d2 was they were overpowered to the point of excluding other items (enigma, grief, and now mosaic, etc)
I do believe wicked could benefit from it, whether you add a rune system, or utilize the gems, adding a mechanic that allows players to create gear in a system like runewords would go a long way. It adds a layer of itemization, player flexibility, and some serious dopamine effects. This could work even using the gems in game now, by possible having a recipe of if you socked a certain TYPE of weapon, in a specific order, you get the runeword for example.
Lastly, to piggy back on the runewords idea, something that I believe goes unnoticed for runes in d2 is their ability to streamline the trading economy. Having lots of items is great, and being able to trade is also great, but the general idea of a community accepted currency such as runes made trading and building wealth really stamped longevity into the game.
Followers- not exactly sure it would be a walk in the park since the level design and traversal is so intricate, my thought is that since multiplayer will come around, and I can fight with a friend or two, why not add a cpu friend as well. Much like d2, gearing a follower is where much of the joy came from.
Which leads me to auras! Other than the cool appeal of having auras on your char, in d2 the functioned well since they were typically used as a mix of abilities from other classes, and since wicked has no “classes” this would need to be somewhat different. Thou I do like the idea of auras giving yourself and others buffs.
Alive system - very nice! Suggestion to add randomized “terror zone” d2r style. Tougher monsters, limited event.
Corruption system - this idea comes from project Diablo 2. They added more items, end game system etc, which bloated the game with items since you could efficiently farm more gear. Their solution is corruption- a resource that you add to the cube with any item, the result is that the said your item will either gain additional affixes, some good some not so great, it may add a socket, or it even might “brick” your item making it worthless since you took that risk.
Imagine getting 5 shakos, corrupting them, some turned into rares, one got an additional socket, another added +1 all skills to the item in addition to it having one. This system is absurdly fun, and works wells with funneling out items.
That’s all I have for now, I know the games state is a fraction of what you’re setting out to accomplish, and for the first time ever, I think a d2 replacement will finally come to my life after a couple decades. MUCH MUCH MUCH LOVE MOON STUDIOS!!