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I'm planning to speedrun the console version of Diablo III. I'm practicing on a PS3 right now (with the game installed to the HDD as downloaded from PSN), and if necessary I may be able to obtain a PS4 if it's proven that a PS4 installation will run faster. Currently the PS3 version suffers from some known framerate and glitchy\frame-skipping\screen-tearing issues (largely graphical), but it's still mostly playable.
For those familiar with the PC version but not the console, here's a list of console differences: http://www.diablowiki.net/Diablo_3_console
Some important considerations before even running the console versions:
1. When you create a new character on the console, they come pre-equipped with certain items that give them advantages (namely Infernal Helm, The Hero's Journey, Drake's Amulet, Leah's Ring, among others). This might be a question for the admins, but will you allow a speedrunner to equip these items, or do you require that speedrunners immediately Junk and sell the items to the vendors as soon as they reach New Tristram towne? IIRC there is no way to drop the items on the ground, but in the Expansion it is possible to junk and sell them which is the only way to get rid of them. If you allow the usage of The Infernal Helm it will give low-level speedrunning characters a slight EXP boost that might be extremely helpful to speedrunning and make things more manageable, but I can see how you might want it so they don't have this advantage. Maybe even consider separate catagories for the usage of Console-Only Special Bonus Items.
2. How to track the time: since there is no in-game clock or timer like Final Fantasy, I'm thinking one of the best ways to have verifiable time is, in each segment, use the PS Home button to bring up the system clock. Note the starting and ending times for each segment and subtract the difference (and maybe apply some kind of rounding penalty) to figure out the time used for each segment.
3. How to verify no cheating has occurred (like unrecorded grinding on the side). At the beginning of each segment, the player opens up their inventory and circles around their equipments using the thumbstick to show each thing equipped for 0.5 seconds. At the end of each segment, prior to hitting Quit Game, the player repeats the process to show their current state of equipment. On the next segment, the verifier can verify that they have kept the same things equipped between segments, by using frame-slowing on the verifier's video playback device\software. I think 0.5 seconds is a reasonable penalty because otherwise without this kind of verification, a player could potentially grind for loot or gamble for weapons in between segments unless he can prove that he didn't do it by showing his equipments\skills\character details stats every time.
• On segmentation, I think ideally there would only be 5 segments, one for each Act, but realistically there'll probably be more due to dungeon randomization. In particular, I'm thinking a player would have to keep resetting until the pRNG was more favorable for their speed running purpose, like the first cemetary dungeon that you enter contains the Crown of The Black King and you don't have to waste time running through the decoy dungeons. Segmentation is tricky because you can't just launch a session, play through it, and if you don't like your performance, reload from the last save. That's now how it works in Diablo. Your experience will be preserved in between game sessions, so really it has to be optimized. It doesn't have to be Single-segment, but it's pretty much all or nothing for each individual segment.
Here's how I'd plan the first part of Act I (initial high level plan)
Segment 1: Outlook Road thru rescue Deckard Cain
Segment 2: Black crown through Skeleton King
Segment 3: The Sword Shards
Segment 4: Wortham through Leoric's Manor
Segment 5: Rest of game through Butcher
• On character names, I've heard that longer character names can add fractions of seconds to an overall time, so naturally the character will be named '.' as in dot.
• On character class, I'm in favor of Demon Hunter\Huntress since they can maintain movement while shooting. Unless you can give me a convincing argument to use another class, I'm going with DH, as I feel the console versions are "biased" in favor of Ranged classes slightly due to the more zoomed-in view. You can actually target enemies slightly off-screen sometimes by pointing towards their general direction, and the ranged DH is best suited to be able to take advantage of this. Not to mention, doing stuff like firing a bow and rolling towards the enemy immediately to increase their speed.
• In the Expansion, destroying 7 jars and other items results in a 1:00 temporary speed boost that is significant (I wonder if Blizzard added it specifically for speed-running purposes) so of course the character should be destroy jars and pots and tables to gain this boost whenever possible. A DH in particular can fire his\her way through enemies and get equipments by clicking on Armor Racks and such while on their way through dungeons.
• I'm thinking for the first Act the DH's primary skills will be Hungering Arrow, Impale, and Rapid Fire. Hungering Arrow and Impale can be employed in a "one-two punch" method to gain resource and use resource, while Rapid Fire is used for taking down enemies and bosses. I anticipate the character will probably reach Level 24 by the time they reach Mt. Arreat in Act III, or possibly higher if they are able to equip the Infernal Helm. Their Strafe skills allows them to move through enemies unhindered, so that may certainly become useful once it is unlocked.
That's all I have for now. I'd love to get more feedback to create an optimized strategy for speed-running the console version of Diablo III\Expansion.
For those familiar with the PC version but not the console, here's a list of console differences: http://www.diablowiki.net/Diablo_3_console
Some important considerations before even running the console versions:
1. When you create a new character on the console, they come pre-equipped with certain items that give them advantages (namely Infernal Helm, The Hero's Journey, Drake's Amulet, Leah's Ring, among others). This might be a question for the admins, but will you allow a speedrunner to equip these items, or do you require that speedrunners immediately Junk and sell the items to the vendors as soon as they reach New Tristram towne? IIRC there is no way to drop the items on the ground, but in the Expansion it is possible to junk and sell them which is the only way to get rid of them. If you allow the usage of The Infernal Helm it will give low-level speedrunning characters a slight EXP boost that might be extremely helpful to speedrunning and make things more manageable, but I can see how you might want it so they don't have this advantage. Maybe even consider separate catagories for the usage of Console-Only Special Bonus Items.
2. How to track the time: since there is no in-game clock or timer like Final Fantasy, I'm thinking one of the best ways to have verifiable time is, in each segment, use the PS Home button to bring up the system clock. Note the starting and ending times for each segment and subtract the difference (and maybe apply some kind of rounding penalty) to figure out the time used for each segment.
3. How to verify no cheating has occurred (like unrecorded grinding on the side). At the beginning of each segment, the player opens up their inventory and circles around their equipments using the thumbstick to show each thing equipped for 0.5 seconds. At the end of each segment, prior to hitting Quit Game, the player repeats the process to show their current state of equipment. On the next segment, the verifier can verify that they have kept the same things equipped between segments, by using frame-slowing on the verifier's video playback device\software. I think 0.5 seconds is a reasonable penalty because otherwise without this kind of verification, a player could potentially grind for loot or gamble for weapons in between segments unless he can prove that he didn't do it by showing his equipments\skills\character details stats every time.
• On segmentation, I think ideally there would only be 5 segments, one for each Act, but realistically there'll probably be more due to dungeon randomization. In particular, I'm thinking a player would have to keep resetting until the pRNG was more favorable for their speed running purpose, like the first cemetary dungeon that you enter contains the Crown of The Black King and you don't have to waste time running through the decoy dungeons. Segmentation is tricky because you can't just launch a session, play through it, and if you don't like your performance, reload from the last save. That's now how it works in Diablo. Your experience will be preserved in between game sessions, so really it has to be optimized. It doesn't have to be Single-segment, but it's pretty much all or nothing for each individual segment.
Here's how I'd plan the first part of Act I (initial high level plan)
Segment 1: Outlook Road thru rescue Deckard Cain
Segment 2: Black crown through Skeleton King
Segment 3: The Sword Shards
Segment 4: Wortham through Leoric's Manor
Segment 5: Rest of game through Butcher
• On character names, I've heard that longer character names can add fractions of seconds to an overall time, so naturally the character will be named '.' as in dot.
• On character class, I'm in favor of Demon Hunter\Huntress since they can maintain movement while shooting. Unless you can give me a convincing argument to use another class, I'm going with DH, as I feel the console versions are "biased" in favor of Ranged classes slightly due to the more zoomed-in view. You can actually target enemies slightly off-screen sometimes by pointing towards their general direction, and the ranged DH is best suited to be able to take advantage of this. Not to mention, doing stuff like firing a bow and rolling towards the enemy immediately to increase their speed.
• In the Expansion, destroying 7 jars and other items results in a 1:00 temporary speed boost that is significant (I wonder if Blizzard added it specifically for speed-running purposes) so of course the character should be destroy jars and pots and tables to gain this boost whenever possible. A DH in particular can fire his\her way through enemies and get equipments by clicking on Armor Racks and such while on their way through dungeons.
• I'm thinking for the first Act the DH's primary skills will be Hungering Arrow, Impale, and Rapid Fire. Hungering Arrow and Impale can be employed in a "one-two punch" method to gain resource and use resource, while Rapid Fire is used for taking down enemies and bosses. I anticipate the character will probably reach Level 24 by the time they reach Mt. Arreat in Act III, or possibly higher if they are able to equip the Infernal Helm. Their Strafe skills allows them to move through enemies unhindered, so that may certainly become useful once it is unlocked.
That's all I have for now. I'd love to get more feedback to create an optimized strategy for speed-running the console version of Diablo III\Expansion.
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