Let's get metaphysical.
The tone of this post is rather harsh. I do recognize that fact, but think about why I didn't go back and change the tone. It's intentional. It's not to hurt your feelings. It's to get a point across.
If there's one thing I know about editing, it is that it starts at the writer, not the editor. Not the words. It's a mindset the writer must always have. You must pour passion into something, and then you have to have the ability to cut off all emotional ties for a short period of time to evaluate. My grandfather, wizened sage, once told me that "emotions are for feeling, not for thinking" and that's one of the most valuable pieces of advice that I've cherished my entire life.
I'm being harsh in this post, and I'm talking down to you because, as your editor, I think it behooves me to do so, and you will gain benefit from it if you approach this with an open mind. I only want to help. Let me help you.
So.
The cure for MF gear swapping is so simple. Go back in time and actually read the forums full of great suggestions that were thrown at you on an hourly basis.
As game limits and not allowing MF to check on chests shows, a "solution" should not involve fucking over the entire playerbase. That's not a solution. That is, by verifiable definition, a problem.
So here's what we have: players performing behavior that you don't like. It's okay that you don't like it. Drop your ego. I realize that you made this game and have a specific vision for how it should be played, but you also know that isn't how it works out. This is a sign that you care about your work, which is good. I do not doubt your passion. I do not doubt your dedication. But there's a right way and a wrong way to eat a Reese's. Currently you are dipping it in acid and throwing it into a hole, letting it germinate before gnawing at it with tear-filled eyes and bleeding gums. All of your proposed changes have the reflects damage modifier on it, and you're bleeding.
It's just like writing. Say you write a book where the theme is friendship is valuable. You didn't quite support this in the text, the book is released, and it is read by many (and analyzed) as having the theme that friendship can be harmful.
Do you know what the theme of the book is, then? That friendship is harmful. It doesn't matter what your intentions were. What matters is what is supported in the text, how it is read by the readers. You don't get to decide that. Once a book is set to ink, it's dedicated and on a course that you have no control over. You have no control over. You have no control over.
Diablo III is now dedicated to ink. It's time to let go.
You do not get to define what fun is. Especially coming from the people who brought us Desecrator, Jailer, Arcane Enchanted, Invulnerable Minions.
But we're talking about "botters" right? Those ephemeral awesome farmers that apparently exist in high enough numbers to change core aspects of the game.
You guys released a list of possible "solutions" to the "mf problem". None of them were solutions. They were simply more problems. If you have to fudge around with core gameplay systems to stop players from right-clicking before and after they open a chest, maybe you are going down the wrong path.
If you feel the need to mess with a core gameplay system to address a problem to begin with, maybe you are going down the wrong path.
There's only two solutions:
1. Leave it alone. Just let them swap out gear if they want, who cares? Seriously. If you want to talk about the psychology of the adrenaline-fueled gambler, their moment of euphoria, think of gear switching before opening a chest as kind of like foreplay. It just makes it all the better! I don't do this. I honestly don't give a shit if someone does. It doesn't affect me at all.
2. Remove magic find on gear. If this is one problem then more problems will arise. You will make a change, we will turn it around on you and game it in ways you can't imagine. You know this is true. Just remove the goddamn thing. As multitudes of hardcore fans of the series suggested for years on end during development.
I would leave one item, one particular item, in the game simply for leveling purposes. I would leave helm topaz with magic find. That's it.
So what do we do with all the lost magic find? You want to force people to play a certain way and this is the best way to do it. It's also the best way to ensure that a bot can never have the most efficient farming method, ever.
Every minute you have a stack of NV up, your magic find increases by 2%. Maybe have this number scale up with more stacks of NV, or maybe have this only be in effect when you are at a full five stacks. Put a cap to MF. Have it be the soft cap currently in place. Find a sweet spot for time here, and let that be the end of this "problem". Being that nephalem valor is max level only, this is why I suggested keep in the topaz helm effect in. "But won't people just switch helms?" Who cares?
What about Gold Find? If you're swapping out your dps gear for gold find gear you're just a fucking idiot anyway. This isn't an issue.
Here's the piss: The D3 team looked at the D2 community and thought it was neat that they sacrificed killing power for MF. This isn't what happened and we screamed out for change. Nobody listened.
Here is what happened. We felt forced to use this system in order to maximize efficiency in farming because we felt it was mandatory, and we didn't enjoy it. We enjoyed the benefits, yes. But we didn't enjoy this aspect, outside of the fringe whackjobs who would enjoy inflicting unspeakable acts to their genitalia in order to see gold text in D2.
We are not gearing for MF, we are being inflicted with it.
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