A wave of interesting information from Bashiok came in today. I'll go from most important to least important:
From Twitter, Nekrage had an interesting question about the Barb's fury resource:
Official Blizzard Quote:
How come the Barbarian has to build up rage in order to use abilities..when other classes can spam them all day?
Not all barbarian skills require fury to use, and some even generate it...
And not all other classes can just spam abilities, they have resource requirements too.
On the Bnet forums, Bash divulges about Monk spirit and mechanics:
Official Blizzard Quote:
Does spirit naturally deplete after not being used for some time?
No. Spirit is static. It doesn't regenerate, and it doesn't degenerate. Punching demons and using melee skills builds Spirit, and most monk skills spend it.
Is it true the Monk's auras function more like the Barbarian's war cries now?
The barbarian shouts are powerful, limited duration buffs that you must re-cast once they wear off. Monk auras are very similar. (editor's note: this is exclusive info! It used to be that Monk auras were like Paladin auras from D2 - they were just 'on'. Now this appears to have changed.)
Will the UI allow for keeping track of which combo you're on? His combo skills are really exciting but I'm worried it'll become too much of a chore playing the entire game counting out my attacks in sequences of 3. It would be unfortunate to unleash a 2nd tier hundred hand attack at range expecting to dash forward because you miscounted (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePyKl_bgNVQ&list=PL1A7FB5ACC97E7873#t=7m44s).
We don't want tracking of combo stages to be so important that there needs to be a UI element to keep track. It should be that if you're up on your game you're tracking combo stages and it helps you get a slight edge, but if not you're kicking ass anyway and will probably do fine. Also, we have made changes to skills so they're consistent; such as making all stages capable of a dash. We don't want the situation you've described to be an issue.
Do charges expire, or can I hold onto my level 3 charge until I want to unleash it?
It will reset after a time, but it's a good amount of time.
An interesting (but not trivial) tidbit on player collision detection:
Official Blizzard Quote:
I'm going to PK in HC and get rich doing it. You don't need to hostile, you just need to back stab.
My first character will be the Witch Doctor, and I will trap people next to monsters using Zombie Wall, there will be no escape except death. Then I will loot their corpse, rinse and repeat.
There's no player collision. You can't block others, only monsters can do that. (exception being in the arena against enemy players, of course)
A little bit on item dying:
Official Blizzard Quote:
Most of the loot we've seen on characters in game is made of at least 3 or so colors. Will dye apply to only the items base color, or will the system be more intricate, allowing you to dye highlights/secondary sections as well?
No, an item can only be dyed one color at a time.
Bashiok posted that a strong possibility for "end-game" dyes would be a dye that didn't change the colour of the item but the style of it (looking older, more ornate, darker etc.)
There is little-to-no possibility of that happening for the release game. I was musing about how gear looks could be swapped around if we ever thought people were looking too similar at the very end game. In no way is it a system that's currently being planned, designed, or even thought about.
And there's actually a lot more information in there, I just don't have time to go over all of it in detail right now.
2) Is it true the Monk's auras function more like the Barbarian's war cries now?
The barbarian shouts are powerful, limited duration buffs that you must re-cast once they wear off. Monk auras are permanently active until you enable a different aura, or die.
straight from the blizztracker
Dun see how your post says auras n warcries are the same :P?
Bash said that first in the thread, then corrected himself later.
2) Is it true the Monk's auras function more like the Barbarian's war cries now?
The barbarian shouts are powerful, limited duration buffs that you must re-cast once they wear off. Monk auras are permanently active until you enable a different aura, or die.
straight from the blizztracker
Dun see how your post says auras n warcries are the same :P?
Bash said that first in the thread, then corrected himself later.
True, but he misspoke, which is fine. Even Blizzard makes mistakes. *ghasp*
Spirit is static. It doesn't regenerate, and it doesn't degenerate.
Complaining about this "Spirit-thing" again. The Spirit bar way too white! It looks like a giant blob of sperm floating around on the screen. Tone it down a bit plz!! Make it look more "ghostly" and transparent to give it a proper feeling of supernatural and inner power.
I wouldn't mind if it stayed that way come release, though I do expect it to change. it would be interesting if they could somehow make it look like it was filled with light instead of liquid, just a thought.
“We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.” - Albert Einstein
From Twitter, Nekrage had an interesting question about the Barb's fury resource:
Official Blizzard Quote:
Not all barbarian skills require fury to use, and some even generate it...
And not all other classes can just spam abilities, they have resource requirements too.
On the Bnet forums, Bash divulges about Monk spirit and mechanics:
Official Blizzard Quote:
No. Spirit is static. It doesn't regenerate, and it doesn't degenerate. Punching demons and using melee skills builds Spirit, and most monk skills spend it.
The barbarian shouts are powerful, limited duration buffs that you must re-cast once they wear off. Monk auras are very similar. (editor's note: this is exclusive info! It used to be that Monk auras were like Paladin auras from D2 - they were just 'on'. Now this appears to have changed.)
We don't want tracking of combo stages to be so important that there needs to be a UI element to keep track. It should be that if you're up on your game you're tracking combo stages and it helps you get a slight edge, but if not you're kicking ass anyway and will probably do fine. Also, we have made changes to skills so they're consistent; such as making all stages capable of a dash. We don't want the situation you've described to be an issue.
It will reset after a time, but it's a good amount of time.
An interesting (but not trivial) tidbit on player collision detection:
Official Blizzard Quote:
There's no player collision. You can't block others, only monsters can do that. (exception being in the arena against enemy players, of course)
A little bit on item dying:
Official Blizzard Quote:
No, an item can only be dyed one color at a time.
There is little-to-no possibility of that happening for the release game. I was musing about how gear looks could be swapped around if we ever thought people were looking too similar at the very end game. In no way is it a system that's currently being planned, designed, or even thought about.
And there's actually a lot more information in there, I just don't have time to go over all of it in detail right now.
No collision sounds good.
thanks!
Bash said that first in the thread, then corrected himself later.
True, but he misspoke, which is fine. Even Blizzard makes mistakes. *ghasp*
It looks fine, maybe your brightness is too high?
Monk > Wizard > Barbarian > Demon Hunter > Witch Doctor
Monk > Wizard > Barbarian > Demon Hunter > Witch Doctor