As others have mentioned before me, it is nice to have a thread on a fresh topic. And it is a verywell thoughout one as well.
I like the ideas you have listed. I definately think that we will be visiting the northern regions of Sanctuary, perhaps to the homelands of the Druids, but more likely to the Isle of Xinsai (unless it is Druid terratory as well). Since there are some hints to asian architechture in a cold environment in the concept art I think that is what we will see at Xinsai.
And from the poem/legend/prophecy that many have pulled clues to the plot of D3 from (I cant find it right now, but its in the game booklet and its partly recited by Mephisto in D2) it mentions that the evils will move South to more ancient lands. IMO this, along with the edits made to the Skovos Isles (Amazon Isles) in the D3 map of Sanctuary (compared to the one for D2) suggests that we will visit the homeland of the Amazons.
However with so much improvement to the map of Sanctuary and with the floating thought of class specific quests, I would like to see each character class to have a chance to perfom a quest/mini-act in their homeland (perhaps before the majority of the game - ie. you must fight off evil from your homeland and then you venture on to see what has been stirring such evil in the world).
A "prologue" feature? That would be a pretty cool idea IMHO. All in all, I'm very pleased with the focus of the development team in fleshing the classes this time around. For example, take our old friend the barbarian, what has he been up to all those years? Working as a BBQ chef?
I was doing a bit of pondering the other day, and it comes to me that there is a slight possibility that Drognan may be in fact a disguised Horazon... could it be?
Also, while looking at the DIII map for the billionth time, I came up with a rough progression for the acts that I came up with:
Act 1: Kingdoms of the West, fairly obvious since the developers have stated that. But it occurs to me that this time, instead of traveling across the mountains to the East, we may take a ship in Kingsport... and that leads to:
Act 2: Amazon Isles, we end up in Skartara (one of the new islands introduce in the DIII map) by virtue of an unnatural storm of unknown origin that sinks the ship that was traveling to the Eastern Continent.
Act 3: Kehjistan, the original destination of the ship, due to the rumors of great unrest in the city of Caldeum and the possibility that there is a demon behind all the chaos.
Act 4: Xiansai & Scosglen, perhaps a messenger from the Druids pleads us to go and help defeat the demonic powers that are corrupting their lands? By the way, the artwork that depicted an asian looking settlement in a cold environment is no more in the official website...
Act 5: Former Barbarian Highlands, were the armies of Hell have taken a foothold, and were all the remaining heroes of Sanctuary are rallied to make the final stand at Arreat Crater, the massive rift to Hell that pours endless demons into the world...
I was doing a bit of pondering the other day, and it comes to me that there is a slight possibility that Drognan may be in fact a disguised Horazon... could it be?
Unlikely. Drognan adviced you to go into Horazon's arcane sanctuary to find the location of Tal Rasha's Tomb. If he really was Horazon he would have known where it is.
But I do agree that there's more to Drognan than we know. He sometimes says something like: "I have been practicing magic for longer than you could know. I'm older than I look and blah blah..."
D3 Pros: Outdoors environment, night time environment, female Barbarian, rune spell system, the Wizard class
D3 Cons: Fantasy architecture, fantasy armor, fanstasy weapons, no shaders.
Ah yes, good point.
Still though, it would be neat nonetheless to venture downwards...
It's time to welcome the other 80% of the color wheel to a Diablo game.
Yeah the Arreat Crater will be pretty awesome I have a feeling.
Shards of the worldstone are bound to be lying all around. Who knows what effect they would have on the surrounding area, inhabitants, and demons.
I really hope Blizzard does 'open up the world' a little bit. Hopefully in a way that isn't over or underwhelming.
I like the ideas you have listed. I definately think that we will be visiting the northern regions of Sanctuary, perhaps to the homelands of the Druids, but more likely to the Isle of Xinsai (unless it is Druid terratory as well). Since there are some hints to asian architechture in a cold environment in the concept art I think that is what we will see at Xinsai.
And from the poem/legend/prophecy that many have pulled clues to the plot of D3 from (I cant find it right now, but its in the game booklet and its partly recited by Mephisto in D2) it mentions that the evils will move South to more ancient lands. IMO this, along with the edits made to the Skovos Isles (Amazon Isles) in the D3 map of Sanctuary (compared to the one for D2) suggests that we will visit the homeland of the Amazons.
However with so much improvement to the map of Sanctuary and with the floating thought of class specific quests, I would like to see each character class to have a chance to perfom a quest/mini-act in their homeland (perhaps before the majority of the game - ie. you must fight off evil from your homeland and then you venture on to see what has been stirring such evil in the world).
Also, while looking at the DIII map for the billionth time, I came up with a rough progression for the acts that I came up with:
Act 1: Kingdoms of the West, fairly obvious since the developers have stated that. But it occurs to me that this time, instead of traveling across the mountains to the East, we may take a ship in Kingsport... and that leads to:
Act 2: Amazon Isles, we end up in Skartara (one of the new islands introduce in the DIII map) by virtue of an unnatural storm of unknown origin that sinks the ship that was traveling to the Eastern Continent.
Act 3: Kehjistan, the original destination of the ship, due to the rumors of great unrest in the city of Caldeum and the possibility that there is a demon behind all the chaos.
Act 4: Xiansai & Scosglen, perhaps a messenger from the Druids pleads us to go and help defeat the demonic powers that are corrupting their lands? By the way, the artwork that depicted an asian looking settlement in a cold environment is no more in the official website...
Act 5: Former Barbarian Highlands, were the armies of Hell have taken a foothold, and were all the remaining heroes of Sanctuary are rallied to make the final stand at Arreat Crater, the massive rift to Hell that pours endless demons into the world...
Unlikely. Drognan adviced you to go into Horazon's arcane sanctuary to find the location of Tal Rasha's Tomb. If he really was Horazon he would have known where it is.
But I do agree that there's more to Drognan than we know. He sometimes says something like: "I have been practicing magic for longer than you could know. I'm older than I look and blah blah..."
I thought that for the longest time.
D3 Pros: Outdoors environment, night time environment, female Barbarian, rune spell system, the Wizard class
D3 Cons: Fantasy architecture, fantasy armor, fanstasy weapons, no shaders.
Almost every game has to have one of THOSE characters, ya know?