By: Lesley Smith
Diablo III is so in right now. After the unsurprising announcement about Blizzard Entertainment’s latest game, we pinned down man of the moment, lead designer Jay Wilson, down for a chat about the latest installment in the Diablo franchise. Kotaku: So, Jay, what can you tell us about the storyline of Diablo III? Jay Wilson: In the previous two games, Diablo and his two brothers, Mephisto and Baal, were the three Prime Evils of a world called Sanctuary. Where we start off in Diablo III, it’s twenty years later (after Diablo II: Lord of Destruction) and the brothers are gone, they’ve been vanquished. Essentially everyone was kind of geared for Hell to actually invade. At the end of Lord of Destruction, the Worldstone was destroyed, it left a giant crater and everyone was expecting the hordes to come pouring out of it and nothing happened. So, Deckard Cain is one of our main characters from the first two games, he’s spent the last two decades trying to find out where the last two Evils are, what they’re doing and why the invasion didn’t happen. A lot of the rest of the story focuses on Tyrael, the Angel of Justice, and what’s happened to him since that event as he was actually the angel who destroyed the world. Kotaku: From a lore point of view, the mythology of Diablo seems just as complex as it is for Warcraft or Starcraft, do you think this is important? Jay Wilson: Yes, absolutely, it’s one of our main focuses of the game. What was funny was that when I gave you the synopsis of the game, it feels so simple! We love the story. Kotaku: You said earlier that you’d been working on the game for what, four years? Do you think that taking longer over a game improves the final product significantly? Jay Wilson: Four …. or five, somewhere in that area. I think taking as long as a game needs to take guarantees that it’s a good game. It’s hard to say whether it improves the end product but sometimes it’s necessary. Blizzard only releases great games so if it’s not great we just don’t release it. One of the things I would want to say, especially to our most patient fans – the ones that have been hoping for Diablo III - is that I hope they see it’s a testament of our love for the franchise that we wouldn’t release it before it’s good and ready. We’ve really spent this time trying to make a sequel that was worthy of them. Kotaku: In the demo you showed during the Opening Ceremony, you gave us a glimpse at the Witch Doctor class which seems to use several spells similar to those found in World of Warcraft. Do you worry that some fans will think you’re just copying aspects of WoW?
Jay Wilson: No. Do I think people will say that? Yes, I think they will. One of the things I like to remind people is that it’s okay to steal from ourselves. A good idea is a good idea and a good skill is a good skill and so when we look across all our games we borrow from each other all of the time. But the really key and important thing is do we play like World of Warcraft? No! We don’t play anything like it, Diablo has a different feel to it and that’s fine. If we look at the history of Blizzard games, at Warcraft I and II, the spell Blizzard appeared, it also appeared in WoW and Diablo II. I almost think it’s more like a signature but as long as a game has enough original stuff that it stands on its own and plays like its own game, that’s what matters. Kotaku: In that case do you think that this might work in your favour, that WoW players, for example might be persuaded to try Diablo III? Jay Wilson: Yeah, actually, I do think that. I think players like things that they are familiar with and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with them saying: “Oh, this class is like the warrior in WoW. Cool, I wanna play that!” Especially if it’s going to get them into the game. I think we gain as much as we could lose, people love to see something familiar and the reaction to Whirlwind was a great example.
Kotaku: You only joined Blizzard recently, does your passion for Diablo stretch back further than that?
Jay Wilson: Yes, I am a Blizzard fan. My first Blizzard game was Rock N’ Roll Racing so yeah. Warcraft I, II, StarCraft - I’m a huge StarCraft fan, Diablo I and II; Diablo used to be spoken of in hushed tones in my house because I was so excited and I pretty much played Diablo II since the day it came out. It’s one of those games that’s great to go back to. Kotaku: Why do you think Diablo has captured so much attention?
Jay Wilson: I think you could pick out a lot of things: the setting’s darker and people like that, especially now. I actually think Diablo II wins on the fun scale. All of the Diablo games, they’re fun to play and that’s important. You could take the most flawed game in the world and as long as it’s fun it’s okay. Diablo II’s super easy to play, you could teach your grandmother to play it in five seconds.
Kotaku: With the popularity of WoW and other online games, Battle.net seems to have nearly disappeared into the background. Do you think Diablo III will breathe new life into the service?
Jay Wilson:I can’t really talk about Battle.net but I will say, Battle.net will not be a background. I’ll be huge, the next version will be absolutely Blizzard’s focus. Everyone is going to be thrilled when they see the kind of stuff we have planned! It feeds into our overall focus of providing a really great service for our players.
I hightlighted the interesting bit in red well all of it is interesting but you know.
I don't think I have enough user power to do URL linking yet.
Also any speculation on how many players d3 will support online? i.e d2 had 8 d3 16, 32?
Jay Wilson said something along the lines of.
Diablo 3 can handle 8 people, but it's most fun with 4. They may just go with a max of 4 players a room. Maybe 8, but from what I got from it, he said he probably wont go higher than 8.
Shoot I was afraid of that tradingyo. I have a guild/clan who plays guild wars but all of (50 members) came from diablo 2 we are going d3. I was hoping maybe 16 but I am not triping about it...it is diablo 3 im statisfied enough XD
Exactly...I wonder if it is a interface like PS3's Home my theory is that all future blizzard games will use this so you have one MAIN account which has all other accounts under it so you may access all of them with one account like Valves Steam.
Shoot I was afraid of that tradingyo. I have a guild/clan who plays guild wars but all of (50 members) came from diablo 2 we are going d3. I was hoping maybe 16 but I am not triping about it...it is diablo 3 im statisfied enough XD
In terms of the engine and its current state, where do you see the maximum number of co-op joint players?
Right now we support the same number as Diablo 2, which is 8. We can actually do more if we wanted -- it's not a technical problem, it's a gameplay issue. What we've found is that the game is actually better with a smaller number of players, even smaller than 8. When we play, we have the most fun with about 4 -- and that's because of the camera and the nature of the game. So we're gearing towards that and really trying to encourage that. But whether we enforce it or not [with a strict limit on the number of players] ... it's hard for us to say at this point.
In terms of the engine and its current state, where do you see the maximum number of co-op joint players?
Right now we support the same number as Diablo 2, which is 8. We can actually do more if we wanted -- it's not a technical problem, it's a gameplay issue. What we've found is that the game is actually better with a smaller number of players, even smaller than 8. When we play, we have the most fun with about 4 -- and that's because of the camera and the nature of the game. So we're gearing towards that and really trying to encourage that. But whether we enforce it or not [with a strict limit on the number of players] ... it's hard for us to say at this point.
maybe they are making battle.net some kind of town where you can walk around with your character, like mmo's but with less people because its channel based.
Reading it again he may mean that it will not be in the background and ignore but will be the focus. I could be very well be wrong but just my two cents.
I think that Battle.net will become the ultimate online station. Before, it was just a means of finding a game and joining it with some chat options. I don't think it will be like a "town" as someone above mentioned but rather an entire online array of clan support, tournaments, PvP, trading, etc....
Pretty much anything that isn't single player will take place on battle.net.
I think that Battle.net will become the ultimate online station. Before, it was just a means of finding a game and joining it with some chat options. I don't think it will be like a "town" as someone above mentioned but rather an entire online array of clan support, tournaments, PvP, trading, etc....
Pretty much anything that isn't single player will take place on battle.net.
Sorta like a MMO?
Is that what you're getting at?
servers and towns?
I think your account will be accessed from Battle.net website, people will be able to see your caracters stats, xp and items. They will be able to see the items you wanna trade etc. Like that WoW thing they made, and the warcraft ranking thing.
Like guild wars ? You make a party in a "trade center town" and then you enter an "instance" ?
I think that would be nice for Diablo in fact if you check out the world map for diablo 3 its rather damn big =) so it is quite possible which would be nice.
I don't think there will be physical "towns" where your character enters and then walks around into different instances which are essentially games like in DII. I think that what this simply means is that battle.net is going to be more than the vessel through which the game connects people to play Diablo, but an entire community where clan support, PvP, trading and cooperative play will be easier, greatly supported and encouraged. Expect to see specific areas/methods of trading, automated matchmaking system ala Warcraft 3 that can pair up similarly-levelled people into instant parties/games so they can fight together. They even mentioned a matchmaking system during WWI so I think we're on the right track.
I conclude from his remarks that Battle.net will be gearing towards providing endless amounts of statistical data and anti-cheat measures to ensure a positive experience for all players. This would also allow for players to be better matched with equivalent competition so as to not become discouraged and stop playing online altogether.
This may come as a disappointment to many, perhaps a lock-down or bandwidth issues, but I've always trusted Blizzard to make good decisions regarding their franchises and player-base.
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Heres the link to the orignal story:
http://kotaku.com/5020721/the-man-behind-diablo-iii-talks-plot-lore-and-battlenet
I don't think I have enough user power to do URL linking yet.
Also any speculation on how many players d3 will support online? i.e d2 had 8 d3 16, 32?
Jay Wilson said something along the lines of.
Diablo 3 can handle 8 people, but it's most fun with 4. They may just go with a max of 4 players a room. Maybe 8, but from what I got from it, he said he probably wont go higher than 8.
*jz_owns_all
Willing to help xfers/mods.
Exactly...I wonder if it is a interface like PS3's Home my theory is that all future blizzard games will use this so you have one MAIN account which has all other accounts under it so you may access all of them with one account like Valves Steam.
In terms of the engine and its current state, where do you see the maximum number of co-op joint players?
Right now we support the same number as Diablo 2, which is 8. We can actually do more if we wanted -- it's not a technical problem, it's a gameplay issue. What we've found is that the game is actually better with a smaller number of players, even smaller than 8. When we play, we have the most fun with about 4 -- and that's because of the camera and the nature of the game. So we're gearing towards that and really trying to encourage that. But whether we enforce it or not [with a strict limit on the number of players] ... it's hard for us to say at this point.
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/29/joystiq-chats-with-jay-wilson-on-diablo-3/
*jz_owns_all
Willing to help xfers/mods.
thank you.
Reading it again he may mean that it will not be in the background and ignore but will be the focus. I could be very well be wrong but just my two cents.
Pretty much anything that isn't single player will take place on battle.net.
Sorta like a MMO?
Is that what you're getting at?
servers and towns?
*jz_owns_all
Willing to help xfers/mods.
hai there? Aim me/PM me
Would be nice IMO.
Like guild wars ? You make a party in a "trade center town" and then you enter an "instance" ?
I think that would be nice for Diablo in fact if you check out the world map for diablo 3 its rather damn big =) so it is quite possible which would be nice.
With probably 4-8 people. POSSIBLY a bit more.
Many of you guys are describing servers and mmos...
DIABLO 3 IS NOT A MMORPG.
And Diablo 3 will not become like wc3 with realms like lordaeron etc...
*jz_owns_all
Willing to help xfers/mods.
This may come as a disappointment to many, perhaps a lock-down or bandwidth issues, but I've always trusted Blizzard to make good decisions regarding their franchises and player-base.