Sorry to bother, and to the dismay of some aggressive posters, i reply again.
Let me first say that im pretty convinced that DIII wont be a let down, far from it. But i feel very concerned about what you cautiously say. Despite this caution it now seems obvious that we're gonna have boss encounters made largely on WoW bosses model. I take WoW as an example because its from the same company, though scripted behaviour is certainly not the sole property of Blizzard, we all know that.
To the point. You are hoping that i dont dare calling D2 Diablo an interesting and replayable fight. Well i do, because the encounter is very deadly thus challenging when not decked out in some of the best gear of the game.
Why ? Because knowing what he will throw at you does not make him easier.
Now, i understand that from the view of most Devellopers, "telling stories" is far more elegant and self-rewarding than coding stoopid D2 Diablo.
But story means script. Script means predictable behaviour. Predictable behaviour means greatly decreased challenge. Decreased challenge leads to weariness.
The only challenge with WoW bosses is coordinating and managing the hell out of 10, 20 or 40 real guys while trying to apply always the same strategies. I think no one would find much fun in fighting those solo once the strategy has been uncovered and spread on the net.
Sure, there's margin, nuances. Sure, Devs want to make the best DIII possible. But my concerns are legitimated by hordes of disappointing games which, while in devellopment, are supposed to be groundbreaking, even from great Dev Studios.
More and more devellopers partly forget gameplay, replayability and challenge for the sake of writing marvelous stories, modelling stunning scenery and designing kickass characters.
Though understandable through an artistic point of view (and a marketing one especialy), too often is the word "game" forgotten while the word "video" being focused on.
Thats the trend of the market since a while and thats why i may be over-reacting and put such an emphasis on the subject.
Anyhow, darn, what can we do except presuming ? :)
You talk as if the scripted events mentioned by Bash are the only way that health globes will be able to drop from bosses. Sure, it's a possibility. But, at the same time, bosses could keep their semi-random ai behaviour a-la D1 and D2 (though it was still reasonably predictable due to the highly limited amount of skills that each boss had) and randomly "pop" potions if they are critted for example. This would leave a random element to the health problem and entirely take away from the issue you have with scripted events.
Or, even better imo, there could be a combination of the two with scripted events providing a reasonably "secure" level of globe production (though somewhat reduced) and having strikes on the boss give a low random chance of a health globe drop. This would still keep the boss fights reasonably tense and give the devs an opportunity to put in "epic" scripted events that give the boss fights more of a real feeling to them (ie: at any point after hitting X% health, the boss might go into a brief rage and destroy massive swathes of the surroundings, randomly popping some health globes and dealing massive damage to those near enough. Make the trigger point for this semi-random and give the player little warning as to the oncoming danger, and you have yet another opportunity for the boss fight to be equally tense every time you repeat it).
Really, you're just harping on one way of implementing scripted events and not using your imagination in the slightest to see the ways that it could be much better.
The best thing about waking up is the tears. I drink them instead of coffee now.
