And for you, kind reader, another mostly truism.

Diablo 3 has most of my attention. So much attention, that its predecessor, dos, has reentered my life. I just finished Normal difficulty with my dual-wielding barbarian. My Necromancer is slowly amassing a skeleton army.

I’m begging you people. Before this game takes back my life, help me. Help me.

I am extremely excited about Diablo 3, and I have nothing bad to say about it. However, other people do. The game wasn’t announced a week ago, and there’s already a petition calling for an art direction which is closer to the original. People think that this new game is too much like Warcraft. Diablo 3 doesn’t even have a release date yet, and there’s only has one gameplay video. The argument is loosely founded on this concept: Because you can see further than two feet past your character and they use colors that Warcraft uses (read: colors other than brown), this game is not “Diablo enough” and too much “World of Gaycraft.”

I can understand the concern. But I do not understand how a rational person can honestly believe “Cartoon'ish art direction, obviously influenced by the Warcraft universe, Diablo isnt Warcraft” (a direct quote) is a logical statement, or even true. Cartoons are generally defined by their lack of detail, as well as their unique body proportions. From what I’ve seen in the concept designs and the game itself, they seem to be sticking to a realistic proportion set. Here's a criticism, a statement rife with... something: “Hand made, pastel looking textures with bold lines, defined contours, smooth colors and clean shapes.” Going back to terrible pixel art would be an improvement. So, good graphics are bad now? That’s…new.

Online petitions are generally worthless, and get nothing accomplished, although usually they are situations that deserve some public outcry. This is a situation where I hope the petition proves worthless.

You have a brightness and a contrast slider on almost every video game out today. I’m sure Blizzard will include said standards.

- Leo

Because we draw things that are sometimes funny, you may feel inclined on occasion to have us draw something you found humorous. We may not take your idea, but we will most certainly take your wallet.

The moral of the story here is that we don’t know how to react to sentences that start with: “You should make a comic about…” We’re not saying people can’t give good ideas, but that most of the time these sentences were preceded by some joke or funny situation that we have already considered for comic potential. Doing this on a regular basis has kind of changed the way I think (I can’t speak for Leo, but I would imagine some similar process at work for him). I can’t run into anything funny without thinking about how to fit it into a 3-panel format anymore. Believe me when I say that by the time I’m told to make a comic I have already made 3 comics in my head and have also made the decision to keep or scrap that idea. Unless you have specific panel layout and dialogue suggestions you can’t really contribute much more to the process.

Generally the situation is awkward at best, since turning down an idea would be tantamount to saying that another person’s humor is bad. Though it isn’t necessarily the case, since a myriad of other problems like complexity or exclusivity (read: “inside jokes”) can prevent us from using the idea. We’re always open to suggestions, but I’d rather have them presented as anecdotes, and if we laugh hard enough, it’ll probably be used some time or another.

- Ling